Author: Tavakalian Edgar

SERGE SARGSIAN: NOTHING EXTRAORDINARY HAPPENS, WHEN SPEAKER OF RA NATIONAL ASSEMBLY RESIGNS
By Gohar Gevorgian

AZG Armenian Daily
16/05/2006

“I do not think that anything extraordinary has happened,” Serge
Sargsian, RA defense minister, said in response to the question
about the resignation of Artur Baghdasarian, chairman of RA National
Assembly.

As for the recent withdrawals of the members of Orinats Yerkir party,
Mr. Sargsian said that no pressure was exerted on them. He assured that
people join a party for certain goals to support a certain force and
when that force has problems with the authorities, they have nothing
to do but to leave the party they had joined earlier. Mr. Sargsian
advised to interview Mr. Baghdasarian about his resignation. Mr.

Sargsian added that they do not confront and do not struggle against
each other.

RUSSIAN STATE DUMA MEMBER OFFERS TO FORM STRUCTURE SIMILAR TO ARF DASHNAKTSUTYUN

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.05.2006 13:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Former leader of Rodina (Fatherland) party, Russian
State Duma member Dmitry Rogozin offered to form in Russia a structure
similar to ARF Dashnaktsutyun, he stated in an interview with Russkaya
Liniya Internet edition. In Rogozin’s words, the success of the future
Russian patriotic movement will be conditioned by the experience
of “other persecuted nations”. “Let us take Dashnaktsutyun Party
as an example, whose name is translated as Armenian Revolutionary
Federation. It was the major anti-Turkish force already during the
Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire. Armenians were
dispersed, but they had Dashnaktsutyun party, which had its branches
in different countries, the International Bureau. The center guided
various initiatives: political and women’s organizations, youth unions,
journalists’ associations. We should form a similar structure,” the
Russian MP said, reports the Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians
of Russia.

Anatolian Times, Turkey
May 14 2006

Turkish Parliamentary Delegation Continues Meetings In France

PARIS – Turkish Parliamentary delegation continues its lobbying
activities in Paris against the draft law which envisions
imprisonment to those “denying“ so-called Armenian genocide
(submitted by French Socialist Party).

The delegation, which is comprised of Justice & Development Party
(AKP) parliamentarians Mehmet Dulger and Musa Sivacioglu as well as
Republican People`s Party (CHP) parliamentarians Onur Oymen and
Gulsun Bilgehan Toker, held its first meeting with Herve de Charette,
deputy chairman of Foreign Affairs Commission of French Parliament.

Following the meeting, Dulger told A.A that parliamentarians of
French ruling Popular Movement Party (UMP) promised to do their best
to prevent adoption of the draft law at Parliament.

On the other hand, Oymen said, “we conveyed parliamentarians that if
the draft law is adopted, it will ham Turkish-French relations on a
large scale. From now on, relations between the two countries should
be based on a more different structure to eliminate lobbying
activities against Turkey.“

CHP parliamentarian Toker said, “this draft law is not moral. Even
if it is rejected, the draft law has already harmed Turkish-French
relations.“

The draft law will be debated at French Parliament on May 18th. It
must be accepted at senate to become law.

A DETACHMENT OF 50 MEMBERS IN JAVAKHQ

A1+
[09:18 pm] 11 May, 2006

According to “A – Info” the Ministry of Defence of Georgia sent
a detachment of 50 members to Javakhq stating that their act is
determined by the fact they want to contribute to the safe removal
of military technics from the Russian military base of Akhalkalak.

The Georgian soldiers are in the regional police station premises
at present.

Let us add that the first group removal of military technics will be
held on May 15.

WHOLE GAIN FROM SALE OF WORKS BY PUPILS OF COLLEGE AFTER TERLEMEZIAN TO BE GIVEN TO FAMILIES OF VICTIMS OF A-320 PLANE ACCIDENT

Noyan Tapan
May 11 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 11, NOYAN TAPAN. An exhibition-sale of works by pupils
of Painting College after Terlemezian dedicated to the memory of the
passengers who died in the accident of Yerevan-Sochi plane opened on
May 11 at Yerevan Mayor’s Office. 113 paintings are presented at the
exhibition under the title “Let’s Support Those Alive” organized on the
initiative of the HayArt cultural center of Mayor’s Office. According
to center Director Rita Sharoyan, the whole gain from the sale of
the paintings will be given to the victims’ families.

According to her, the pupils of the college tried to render assistance
to the families of the victims this way. The first picture presented
at the exhibition, amounting to 90 thousand drams (200 USD), was
bought by Mayor Yervand Zakharian.

FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY SAYS IT IS “VERY ATTENTIVE” TO TURKISH ANGER OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

Pravda, Russia
May 10 2006

The comment from France’s Foreign Ministry came as Turkish legislators
lobbied their French counterparts to vote down the Armenian genocide
bill. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday likened
the issue to a “virus,” hinting of possible repercussions for ties.

“The relationship between France and Turkey is not an ordinary
relationship,” he said. “The French parliament will not inject a
virus like the so-called Armenian genocide into such an important
relationship.”

Earlier Wednesday, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau
said: “We are very attentive to the Turkish authorities’ reactions
on this subject.”

He did not comment further, referring reporters to an earlier
declaration and to lawmakers who drafted the bill.

The proposed law would make it a crime to deny that the mass killings
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks at the beginning of the 20th century
constituted a genocide.

Turkey says the death toll given by Armenians is inflated and that
Armenians in Turkey were killed in civil unrest – not genocide –
as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

The French bill was proposed by the opposition Socialists. It is
similar to a law making it a crime in France to deny the Holocaust
ofWorld War II.

The visiting Turkish legislators from Erdogan’s ruling party and the
opposition met with senior French legislators from the ruling right
and opposition left.

Lawmaker Onur Oymen said they “relayed the Turkish people’s strong
reaction to our French colleagues” and warned that there were calls
for a boycott of French goods in Turkey and that Turkish-French
relations would be severely harmed if the bill is passed, Turkey’s
Anatolia news agency reported.

Bulgarian lawmakers on Wednesday refused to recognize the mass
killings as a genocide, saying this could endanger relations with
neighboring Turkey.

Legislators voted 81-56 with 33 abstentions against a draft resolution
proposed by the ultranationalist party Ataka, calling for “the
recognition of the Armenian genocide by the Turks.”

The motion was rejected with the votes of the parties from the
Socialist-led ruling coalition that also includes a mainly ethnic
Turkish party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, the AP reports.

“This is a resolution … that aims to complicate our relations with
neighboring Turkey,” Socialist lawmaker Mihail Mikov told parliament.

According to official statistics, Bulgaria – a tiny Balkan country
of 7.8 million – has an 800,000-strong ethnic Turkish minority.

About 11,000 ethnic Armenians also live in Bulgaria, and most of
them are heirs of Armenian refugees who fled Ottoman Turkey during
the early 20th century massacre.

PREMIER RECEIVES TURKISH ENVOYS TO FRANCE, CANADA ON ARMENIAN ISSUE

Anatolia news agency
10 May 06

Ankara, 10 May: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received
on Wednesday [10 May] Turkish ambassador in Paris Osman Koruturk and
ambassador in Ottawa Aydemir Erman.

Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ali Tuygan also attended the meeting
at Prime Ministry building in Ankara, lasting for nearly one hour.

The two ambassadors were asked to visit Ankara to hold consultations on
so-called genocide discussions in the countries where they are serving.

RA PRESIDENT AWARDS PRIZE FOR SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION IN AFFAIR OF RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO EDGAR HILSENRAT

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 05 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. RA President Robert
Kocharian handed at the May 5 sitting of the “Hayastan” (Armenia)
All-Armenian Fund the prize for significant contribution in the
affair of recognition of the Armenian Genocide to German writer Edgar
Hilsenrat. Noyan Tapan was informed about it by the RA President’s
Press Office. By the President’s April 15 decree, it was awarded to
the poet for his novel “The Tale of the Late Thought”.

NON-FOOD COMMODITY PRICES INCREASE 1% IN ARMENIA IN APRIL 2006

Noyan Tapan
May 03 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 3, NOYAN TAPAN. A 1% price growth in the non-food
commodity market was registered in Armenia in April on March 2006,
which was mainly due to a growth in the prices of horticultural goods
(6.5%), detergents (3.9%), jewelry (1.3%) and building materials
(1.4%). According to the RA National Statistical Service, a 0.1-1%
price growth was registered in the indicated period in the commodity
groups of furniture, kitchen itensils, carpets, textiles, domestic
electric appliances, stationery, clothing and footwear. The prices
of fuel and medicines declined by 0.1-0.6%, while the prices of
decoration goods remained unchanged in April on the previous month.

RUSSIAN NATIONALISTS INCITING RACIST VIOLENCE
by Chris Stephen in Moscow

The Irish Times
May 3, 2006 Wednesday

RUSSIA: Russia has seen a second weekend of racist violence unleashed
by skinhead gangs against foreigners, leaving five people wounded.

Three Syrians, a Cameroonian and a Turkish man were beaten in separate
attacks in the northern city of St Petersburg, wrapping up a bloody
month of racist violence.

It comes with police hunting a gang of skinheads who stabbed a
17-year-old Armenian to death in Moscow city centre a week ago.

The skinheads chased him along a platform of one of Moscow’s busiest
stations, knifed him and slashed his girlfriend across the face,
then leapt on to a tube train to make their escape.

On April 20th, an Indian student was stabbed to death and on April
16th a Russian student, carrying anti-fascist posters, was killed,
also by skinheads.

Other cities have reported similar racist violence, including a Tajik
cook left critically injured after being dragged out of his restaurant
by 20 teenagers and beaten up.

Dozens of graves in Jewish and Muslim cemeteries in towns outside
Moscow have been smashed in recent days.

Human rights monitoring group Sova says 79 people have been injured
by race attacks this year across Russia.

The attacks come as 13 teenagers begin a trial for the murder of a
student from Peru in the southern city of Voronezh last October –
an attack local sources say was carried out in the mistaken belief
that the man was from the Caucuses.

News of the attacks is reported, and glorified, on dozens of neo-Nazi
websites which serve an estimated 20,000 skinheads. Several sites
feature an online Manual of Street Terror, which advises skinheads
on how to corner and beat dark-skinned people.

Aficionados of such sites include 20-year-old Alexander Koptsev,
who was jailed for 13 years in April for attacking seven worshippers
with a Samurai sword in a Moscow synagogue last January.

He told his trial that he shared the belief of the websites that
Russia must be purified.

Despite scores of arrests, the authorities seem unable to quell this
tide of violence – there are always more skinheads ready to fill the
places of those caught.

Diplomats of African and Asian states have circulated warnings
to staff, one official told The Irish Times, after several were
threatened.

Last year two Polish diplomats were beaten up close to their embassy.

Some diplomats are considering moving their families out of Russia.

The attacks come amid a hardening of nationalistic opinions across
Russia. In December, nationalist opposition party Rodina, or
Motherland, was banned from Moscow local elections after screening
an advertisement that compared dark-skinned people with garbage.

One reason advanced for the rise in racism is the war in Chechnya
and terror attacks like the Beslan high school massacre. Another
is ever-growing friction with the West over issues ranging from gas
prices to the Orange Revolution.

President Vladimir Putin has condemned racism, but some think his
government is exploiting the issue to gain votes for the presidential
election in two years’ time, hoping a traumatized will turn to the
Kremlin.

“The spectre of rising nationalism will be used to frighten us into
voting for the incumbent,” said columnist Yulia Latynina in the
Moscow Times.