Author: Tamamian Anna

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

IN A LETTER TO HIS HOLINESS ARAM I FRENCH PRESIDENT SARKOZY REAFFIRMS HIS
SUPPORT
FOR THE RECOGNITION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

The following is the text of the letter of President of the French
Republic, H.E. Nicolas Sarkozy sent to His Holiness Aram I, English
translation follows French text:

Sa Sainteté Aram Ier
Catholicos de Cilicie
Catholicossat arménien de Cilicie
Antélias
LIBAN

Votre Sainteté,

Vous avez bien voulu m’adresser une lettre de félicitations après mon
élection à la Présidence de la République française. Je tenais à vous en
remercier chaleureusement.

Je mesure l’honneur que m’ont fait les Français en m’élisant à la
Présidence de la République. Je ferai tout pour être digne de la confiance
qu’ils m’ont témoignée.

Vous pouvez être assuré, comme l’ensemble des Arméniens à travers le
monde, de la continuité de notre action envers votre peuple. Je m’attacherai
à resserrer, sur tous les plans, les liens séculaires qui ont forgé l’amitié
franco-arménienne et à défendre les valeurs communes qui la cimentent. Je
suis sensible à votre évocation de mes prises de position concernant le
Génocide. Sa reconnaissance par la Turquie constitue de mon point de vue une
exigence morale. Vous pouvez comptez sur mon plein engagement à continuer de
m’exprimer – et d’agir – en ce sens.

Cet engagement rejoint le combat que la France s’honore, plus largement,
de mener pour les droits de l’homme. Vous me trouvez sensible aussi à votre
évocation de ce combat. Il constituera un des axes prioritaire de l’action
diplomatique menée sous mon autorité.

Mon engagement à faire tout ce qui j’ai annoncé pendant cette campagne
concerne aussi, naturellement, la présence indéfectible de la France aux
côtés du Liban. Au nom de l’amitié séculaire qui les unit, la France
défendra toujours la souveraineté, l’indépendance et l’intégrité du Liban.

Je serais très heureux et honoré de pouvoir bientôt vous retrouver, lors
de votre prochain déplacement en France ou lors d’une visite de ma part au
Liban.

En vous renouvelant mes remerciements pour vos félicitations, je vous prie
d’agréer, Votre Sainteté, l’expression de ma haute considération.
Nicoals SARKOZY

*****

His Holiness Aram I
Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia
Antelias, Lebanon

Your Holiness,

You were so kind as to send me a congratulatory letter upon my election as
president of the Republic of France. I express my warm gratitude on this
occasion.

I feel honored that the French people elected me as a president of the
republic and will do my best to prove worthy of the trust shown towards me.

You and all Armenians living around the world can be assured that our
approach towards the Armenian people will continue. I will exert all efforts
to strengthen the centuries-old ties that have formed the French-Armenian
friendship on all levels as well as defend the common values that bind that
friendship.

I am touched that you referred to my position on the Genocide. In fact, I
believe the recognition of the Genocide by Turkey is a moral responsibility.
You can be certain that I will continue to speak out and work on this issue
with full commitment.

This commitment is related to the broad struggle on human rights that
France has the honor to fight. I am also touched that you refer to that
struggle, which will form one of the axis of the diplomatic activities held
under my authority.

Alongside the commitments I made during the electoral campaigns was a
strong support of France for Lebanon. In the name of the French-Lebanese
centuries-old friendship that binds the two countries together, France will
always defend the sovereignty, independence and integrity of Lebanon.

It would be a great honor for me to meet you during your next trip to
France or my visit to Lebanon.

Once again, I thank you for your congratulatory letter and express my
profound respect to Your Holiness.

Nicoals SARKOZY
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

"FATH EL-ISLAM" AND… ARMENIA

AZG Armenian Daily
14/06/2007

"Al-Akhbar" newspaper, Lebanon, reported in June 12 that the law
enforcement structures had detained Ahmed Marey, one of the leaders of
"Fath Al-Islam" terrorist organization, which has long been involved
in struggle against Lebanese governmental armed forces in Tripoli.

The terrorist was arrested in Ashrafiye, Christian community of Beirut.

According to information received, Marey had a false passport,
representing his name as either Akop or Hakob. He had traveled to
Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Cyprus, Denmark, Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan and
even Armenia. Pro-Governmental forces of Lebannon assure that Ahmed
Marey is in secret cooperation with Syrian special services, and the
opposition, including the Armenian national "Dashnaktsutiun" party,
believe that he is the person providing link between "Fath Al-Islam"
and "Al-Qaeda".

Twosome meeting of Robert Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev lasted about three
hours

Arminfo
2007-06-11 12:45:00

Meeting of presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Robert Kocharyan and
Ilham Aliyev was held in St.
Petersburg in the "Baltiyskaya Zvezda" hotel. The meeting was dedicated
to the issues of Karabakh settlement.

As the News Bakililar.az reports, the twosome meeting of the presidents
lasted about three hours, after which OSCE MG Co-chairs Yuri Merzliakov
(Russia), Bernard Fassier (France) and Matthew Bryza (USA), as well as
the foreign ministers of the two Caucasian states joined them. The
meeting details are yet unknown, the source reports.

To recall, this is the first meeting of the two states’ presidents in
2007. Earlier, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan held
negotiations on the Karabakh conflict settlement on November 28, 2006
in RF Embassy in Minsk. The two countries’ foreign ministers and OSCE
MG co-chairs participated in that meeting.

To note, before the meeting, OSCE MG co-chairs thought they had
succeeded to approach the conflicting parties to agreement on the basic
principles of peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict. In
particular, the American Co-chair M. Bryza said in an interview to AP
that if the meeting passes successfully, the conflicts on the basic
principles of settlement "may be brought to naught". For their part,
the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan assessed such prospect from
the meeting in St. Petersburg more frostily.

Fradkov invites Serge Sargsyan to Russia

ArmRadio.am
11.06.2007 18:02

Head of Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Fradkov sent a
congratulating message to Serge Sargsyan for his appointment as
Armenia’s Prime Minister. The message says, in part:

`Dear Mr. Sargsyan,
From the bottom of my heart I congratulate you on your appointment as
RA Prime Minister. Your appointment to the Prime Minister’s position,
as well as the results of the recent elections to the legislative body
evidenced the greater trust of the citizens in the policy implemented
by the Armenian President and Government. I note with great pleasure
that the deepening of Armenian-Russian strategic partnership relations
is an essential part of this policy.

I appreciate your active participation in the development of
cooperation in different spheres, your strategic view of the
perspectives of its enlargement. I invite you to pay an official visit
to Russia to discuss the issues of further improvement of mutually
beneficial Armenian-Russian cooperation.

I wish you new successes in your multifaceted activity for the sake of
Armenia and reinforcement of true friendly relations between the
peoples of Armenia and Russia.

Eurasia Daily Monitor

Friday, May 25, 2007 — Volume 4, Issue 103

RUSSIAN TROOPS IN MOLDOVA — MAIN REMAINING OBSTACLE TO CFE TREATY
RATIFICATION

by Vladimir Socor

With Russian troops on their way out from two bases in Georgia, the
international politics of CFE Treaty ratification focuses increasingly on
Moldova. The OSCE’s Permanent Council-Forum for Security Cooperation special
joint meeting on May 23, with Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei
Lavrov’s participation, reflected this development. As Russian officials
from President Vladimir Putin on down threaten to scuttle the treaty unless
Western countries ratify it, Moldova may come under growing pressures from
now on.

The continuing presence of Russian forces in Moldova remains the
single biggest obstacle to Russia’s push for ratification of the
1999-adapted CFE treaty. Russia can now be expected to grow bolder in
demanding ratification of the CFE Treaty even as Russia keeps its troops on
Moldova’s territory. Russian diplomats also rely on some European
counterparts to agree that Russia’s military presence in Moldova should not
hinder the broader goal of bringing the CFE Treaty into force as part of the
European arms-control agenda. For some Europeans, that kind of sentiment can
more easily lead to concessions to Russia when only Moldova is involved,
once the Russian troops are out of Batumi and Akhalkalaki in Georgia (albeit
retaining the Gudauta base there).

Russian arguments and rhetorical devices include:

1) Russia undertook no `obligation’ or `commitment’ in 1999 regarding
its forces in Moldova (although the 1999 documents show that it did);

2) Russian forces are stationed `in Transnistria’ (implying a separate
status for Transnistria, outside Moldova);

3) Russia is willing to remove its massive arms and ammunition
stockpiles `from Transnistria,’ but Tiraspol’s authorities presumably `do
not permit’ this;

4) Russian troops must stay on to guard those dangerous stockpiles;
and

5) Russian troops there `keep the peace’ and would not withdraw until
a political settlement is in place (which Russia in the meantime
stonewalls).

Western officials sometimes call vaguely for withdrawal of `Russian
ammunition’ (omitting troops); or troop withdrawal `from Transnistria’
(implying some change of status; particularly counterproductive when phrased
as `from Georgia and Transnistria); or withdrawal linked to political
settlement of the conflict (the 1999 Istanbul agreement actually eliminated
such a linkage, which Moscow had previously introduced). Such remarks
sometimes reflect imprecision of language, sometimes political signals. In
either case, Russia can well interpret such remarks as an encouragement to
keep the troops in Moldova while pressing for CFE treaty ratification
regardless.

Moscow hopes to exploit the weak position of Germany’s Ministry of
Foreign Affairs in this regard. That ministry, along with a few other
European chancelleries, is prepared to exempt Russian `peacekeeping’ troops
from the obligation to withdraw. As Ottfried Nassauer, head of the Berlin
Information Center for Transatlantic Security, sums up that position,
`Germany accepts that parts of Russia’s troops in Moldova and Georgia can be
regarded as peacekeepers on the basis of agreements with Russia.
Consequently, Russia has basically fulfilled its [Istanbul 1999] pledges’
(Der Tagesspiegel, April 30).

Furthermore, Germany informally leads a group of four or five West
European countries that want to see a political settlement of the
Transnistria conflict before the Russian troops withdraw from Moldova.
However, this approach only reinforces the intransigence of Tiraspol’s
authorities, who stonewall the negotiations in their capacity as `party to
the conflict’ with Moldova (whereas Russia is the real party to the conflict
with Moldova). Negotiations in the shadow of Russian troops could lead
either nowhere (which has been the case for 15 years) or to terms of
settlement distorted in Russia favor (as almost happened several times in
recent years). Moreover, Berlin’s position gives Russia an incentive to
block a political settlement indefinitely, citing the settlement’s absence
as an excuse for keeping Russian troops in place.

In the OSCE’s May 23 special meeting, Moldova’s delegation responded
to Lavrov in more explicit and forthright terms, compared with the
collective statements of the EU (with which Moldova aligned itself as a
partner country) and NATO. It said, `The Moldovan authorities firmly insist
on the complete and unconditional fulfillment of commitments undertaken at
Istanbul concerning the early and complete withdrawal of Russia’s troops and
armaments from the territory of Moldova.’

In Chisinau’s view, `complete’ means no exemption for Russian
`peacekeeping’ troops; `unconditional’ means not linked to a political
settlement or to Tiraspol’s consent; and `early’ means not sequenced with
some other, hypothetical developments on the ground. The United States comes
close to supporting this position, as in Ambassador Julie Finley’s response
to Lavrov in the May 23 Permanent Council session at the OSCE.

Moldova calls for an international mission of civilian and military
observers to replace the Russian `peacekeeping’ troops and open the way to
the country’s reunification. Chisinau has not wavered in this two-fold goal
since adopting it in 2004-2005. However, Chisinau has recently miscalculated
by seeking Moscow’s consent to those goals in return for far-reaching
Moldovan political concessions to Tiraspol and Moscow. Furthermore, Chisinau
negotiated with Moscow bilaterally, under the pressure of Russia’s year-long
economic embargo, venturing outside the 5+2 international format from a
position of unprecedented weakness (see EDM, April 13).

While its May 23 statement at the OSCE indicates that Chisinau has
(again) dropped its illusions about Moscow, a somewhat different message
emerges from President Vladimir Voronin’s long interview with RIA-Novosti,
published that same day. There, Voronin invests his full hopes in Putin
personally while blaming Russian officialdom and other factors for not
letting Putin deliver a good settlement in Transnistria.

Russia will likely act on two fronts in parallel: Pressuring or
cajoling Moldova to consent to the stationing of Russian troops while
suggesting to West Europeans that Moldova is worth sacrificing for the sake
of arms control and relations with Russia. If Moldova succumbs and accepts
the stationing of Russian troops under some formula, many European countries
would be ready to ratify the adapted CFE Treaty and bring the three Baltic
states under its purview. Developments could take a different course,
however, if a preponderance of European countries along with the United
States consistently demand the withdrawal of Russian troops from Moldova’s
territory, internationally certified closure of the Gudauta base in Georgia,
and the identification and removal of unaccounted-for treaty-limited
equipment accumulated in Transnistria, Abkhazia, and Armenian-controlled
territory of Azerbaijan.

(Interfax, Itar-Tass, May 23; OSCE Permanent Council session
documents, May 23)

–Vladimir Socor

Agence France Presse — English
June 10, 2007 Sunday

Cossacks ride again on Russia’s southern steppe

by Victoria Loguinova

NOVOCHERKASSK, Russia, June 10 2007

Warrior horsemen who once struck fear into the hearts of nomads and
tsars alike, Russia’s Cossacks are looking to seize power again —
this time through peaceful means.

In newly opened schools scattered across their historic homeland in
Russia’s south, young Cossacks are learning spectacular horse-riding
and sword-fighting techniques in an attempt to revive a culture
smothered by decades of Bolshevik repression.

"We did not succeed in seizing power in our traditional homeland when
we had the chance" after the Soviet collapse, said Colonel Yury
Dyakov, a top official in the Don Cossack leadership.

"Today we have another objective, to create an elite cadre to claim
political power through civilized means."

Emerging in the southern steppe in the 16th century, the Cossacks
were former slaves who turned to militarism to survive on the Russian
frontier.

Developing into armed groups who served the tsars in colonizing
Siberia and the Far East, the Cossacks were later crushed as
counter-revolutionaries by the Bolsheviks after the 1917 Revolution.

Today there are officially 600,000 Cossacks in Russia — spread
across their traditional lands along the Volga, Dnepr and Terek
rivers and in the Ural mountains — although their leaders claim
there are ten times more.

The Don Cossacks alone boast 150,000 members, and a Cossack leader,
or ataman, is deputy to the governor of the surrounding Rostov
region.

To shore up their ancient culture, the Cossacks have opened six
schools in the Rostov area since 1991 to hone a new generation of
warriors. Some 1,500 boys aged 10-17 attend.

The corridors of the Alexander III school in Novocherkassk are again
teaming with young Cossacks after an earlier generation of students
was sent into exile 80 years ago.

Today the uniformed boarders wake at 6:30 am and file to the canteen
for a prayer and a modest breakfast.

"We prepare these young people to serve the state and the fatherland.
Our objective is to form Russia’s future elite," said principal Yury
Fileyev, a former officer.

In addition to the ordinary Russian curriculum, the 300 boys study
Cossack culture, Orthodox religion and the legendary horse-riding and
weapons skills of their forefathers.

"When I am older, I will become soldier and defend my Motherland",
said Pasha Fyodorov, 13-years-old, who like many of his schoolmates
hopes to continue in a military university.

Entry to the Cossack schools is tough, with as many as 10 boys
competing for each place in a battery of physical and personality
tests.

When they graduate, many follow their tsarist ancestors in serving
the government in Moscow.

Some 1,200 Don Cossacks are involved in law enforcement in Rostov
region, after a 2005 federal law provided the legal foundation for
their service in the army and police force, said Dyakov, the top Don
Cossack official for military liaisons.

"Our men also serve in the special forces, the Northern and Black Sea
fleets and in the presidential regiment in Moscow," he said.

Alongside the Cossack tradition of service to the state is a
reputation for brutality they earned while fighting ethnic minorities
on Russia’s borders.

After the Soviet collapse, Cossack volunteers reclaimed their
military heritage, fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in
Moldova’s Transdnestr, and Georgia’s Abkhazia and Ossetia regions, as
well as battling the independence movement in the Russian province of
Chechnya.

There is no ethnic requirement to enter the Cossack academy, but
those recruited are expected to be Orthodox believers, said Dyakov,
noting that there was a group of Cossacks in his region from Armenia,
an Orthodox ally of Russia.

Over the years the Cossacks have occasionally challenged the
leadership in Moscow, with some Cossack regiments rebelling against
Nicholas II in 1917.

Today’s Don Cossacks are clear where their allegiance lies, though.

"We work closely with United Russia," the fiercely pro-Kremlin party
of power, said Igor Kazarezov, deputy to the region’s top Ataman, as
a large photograph of the President Vladimir Putin loomed above him.

"We support the policies of President Putin."

San Antonio Express-News
June 7, 2007 Thursday
STATE&METRO Edition

‘Eye in the sky’ will put horror only a click away

Rebeca Chapa

It looks like some sort of macabre video game, but unfortunately,
these images are as real as it gets.

Amnesty International Wednesday launched , a
project dedicated to visually bringing the tragedy of the Darfur
genocide to people all over the world.

The site, called a "human rights eye in the sky," shows satellite
images of 12 villages that have been deemed highly vulnerable to
attack. The list includes villages such as Kafod, where the non-Arab
Tunjur people fear an attack is imminent.

New images will be added every few days, according to site
organizers, to allow viewers to track destruction over time. Project
leaders say the images of troop movements, for example, could be used
to warn potential victims of an oncoming attack.

Irene Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International, said the site
will send a message to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir that the
world is watching.

"Our goal is to continue to put pressure on Sudan to allow the
peacekeepers to deploy and to make a difference in the lives of
vulnerable civilians on the ground in Darfur," Khan said in a press
release Wednesday announcing the site launch.

The site will also allow viewers to send messages to al-Bashir.

The project follows a similar one by Google Earth, in cooperation
with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Since the brutal civil war began in 2003, more than 200,000 have been
killed and more than 2.5 million displaced. Rapes, theft and
abduction are common, according to eyewitness accounts and reports
from the ground.

Some of the descriptions — men being forced to watch their wives and
other female relatives gang-raped, children fleeing villages, animals
being slaughtered — read like fictionalized social commentary.

That’s why sites like these are so important. They make us see
something we’d rather not.

Technology is an equal opportunity tool. It can transport us to
fantastical worlds and contort the political process into theater. It
can connect us with like-minded people from distant lands and allow
us to peer into the very building blocks of life.

It can also, in the case of the Darfur sites, reveal the raw
brutality of man’s inhumanity.

In a world that is increasingly ruled by the use of technology for
personal comfort and convenience (think the soon-to-be-released $600
iPhone), it’s energizing to see it employed in a way that seeks to
get us out of that very comfort zone. The only downside is knowing
that for every Darfur that gets intense coverage, there are others
that we’ll never know about.

I ask myself, must I have immediate access to satellite images of
faraway tragedy to place myself in the world?

I think the answer is no. Consider the Armenian genocide in 1915. As
controversial as it is tragic, the extermination of up to a million
people is considered one of the first such genocides for its
magnitude and ferocity.

There were no real-time images of the starving bodies and worn faces
beamed across space, only news accounts, photos and the specter of
something terrible happening across the ocean.

And yet, an American relief organization donated more than $110
million to the Armenian cause. The "starving Armenians" became a
rallying cry in this country. They cared. They did something about
it. What’s our excuse?

In truth, it’s not that information isn’t available; it’s that we’re
too wrapped up in our own selves to engage with the rest of the
world.

It’s only when we’re thrust into a global perspective that we begin
to see what else is out there.

"Out there" is now just a click away.

Russia urges U.S. to shelve missile plans, look for alternatives

17:45 | 09/ 06/ 2007

MOSCOW, June 9 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s foreign minister said Saturday
the U.S. should put on hold moves to deploy a missile shield in Europe
pending talks on Moscow’s recent offer to jointly use a radar in
Azerbaijan.

President Putin reiterated Friday at a news conference following the G8
summit in Germany that the U.S. missile defense plans are directed
against a nonexistent threat, and would jeopardize Russia’s national
security.

"The sharing of data from this [Azerbaijan] facility will enable the
United States to abandon plans to deploy missile defense elements in
Europe, as well as plans to deploy space based components," Sergei
Lavrov said.

He said the U.S. plans would undermine UN efforts to resolve the
Iranian nuclear problem.

"Nobody has proved that the Iranian nuclear program has a military
component," Sergei Lavrov said. "Missile shield deployment in Europe
may hamper [the UN] efforts and cast doubt over Iran’s desire to
cooperate."

He said that if the U.S. really seeks stability, it should avoid
actions affecting the security of its partners, adding that the two
leaders would consider the issue during Putin’s visit to the U.S. July
1-2.

Putin said earlier that if Washington accepts its offer, Russia would
not be forced to deploy its own missiles in its European exclave of
Kaliningrad, or move its missiles closer to Russia’s western borders.

Despite repeated U.S. assurances that the Central European missile
shield would be directed against unpredictable states such as Iran and
North Korea, the president said Moscow is convinced that the plans
"jeopardize the security of Russia and its citizens."

The Gabala radar, located near the town of Minchegaur, 120 kilometers
(75 miles) from the capital Baku, was leased to Russia for 10 years in
2002.

The radar has been operational since early 1985. With a range of 6,000
kilometers (3,700 miles), it is the most powerful in the region and can
detect any missile launches in Asia, the Middle East and parts of
Africa.

Under current agreements, the radar, Russia’s only military facility in
Azerbaijan, cannot be put into full combat mode without Baku’s consent.
Its status has been a source of environmental and other concerns in
recent years.

In an interview with the Associated Press Friday, U.S. Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice appeared to throw cold water on Putin’s
proposal, saying the U.S. would continue its talks with Poland and the
Czech Republic on its missile shield plans regardless of whether
negotiations begin on the Russian offer.

ARFD WILL PRESERVE PORTFOLIOS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF HEALTH MINISTER

A1+
[07:05 pm] 06 June, 2007

ARF Dashnaktsutyun members Levon Lazarian and David Lokyan,
respectively the Minister of Education and Science and Minister of
Agriculture, will preserve their portfolios. It is beyond the ARFD
to recall or to replace them.

Under the Partnership agreement ARFD member Aghvan Vardanyan will
hold the post of Minister of Labour and Social Affairs though the
portfolio belongs to the Republican Party.

Vahan Hovhannisyan remains the NA Deputy Speaker. The Standing
Committee on Foreign Affairs will be chaired by Armen Rustamyan.

Arthur Aghabekyan will be "elected" the Chairman of the NA Standing
Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs.

PEOPLE’S PARTY OF ARMENIA REDUCING NUMBER OF ITS TERRITORIAL OFFICES AND CLOSING HEADQUARTERS

ArmInfo
2007-06-07 13:38:00

"During the election campaign we had constantly working territorial
offices and a great number of pre-election offices, which are
being closed now. In connection with the seasonal decline in the
country’s political life, we temporarily close a definite number of
our territorial offices," Ruzan Khachatryan, Press Secretary of the
People’s Party of Armenia, a member of PPA Board, told ArmInfo.

Hereby, the party tries to avoid unreasonable expenses as it is in
heavy financial situation, she said. National Unity and Republic
opposition parties are also closing part of their offices. As regards
the pro-government parties, the greatest part of their offices has
been closed, despite the few panels of the Republican Party of Armenia
and Prosperous Armenia still seen in the city.