Author: Toneyan Mark

‘ARMENIA AND ARMENIANS WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF WORLD CULTURE’ CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN KRASNODAR
Yerkir
20.03.2006 17:31
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – “Armenia and Armenians within the Context of World
Culture ” scientific conference will be held in Krasnodar April 25,
reported Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia.
The event was initiated by the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, the Kuban State University, the North Caucasian History
Institute and the Armenian community of Krasnodar. A collection of
speeches will be published upon completion of the conference, which
is dated to the to the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the
Ottoman Empire in 1915-1923 when about 2 million of Armenians were
killed. It should be noted that a conference dedicated to the Armenian
Genocide was held in Kransodar in 2005 as well.
That time Turkish Consul General in Novorossiysk Ahmet Riza Derimer
protested the event and addressed a formal letter to the rector of
the Kuban State University. Nevertheless the conference took place
and a statements calling on the Turkish authorities to recognize the
Armenian Genocide was adopted upon its completion.

AMBASSADOR SAYS GERMANY DOES NOT TOLERATE DENIAL OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
ARMENPRESS
Mar 20 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS: In an exclusive interview to Armenpress
Armenian ambassador to Germany, Karine Ghazinian, said debates in
Germany over the Armenian genocide have reached a point when the fact
of the genocide is not questioned any longer and the focus is now
on how a nation that experienced the aftereffects of the Holocaust
could tolerate efforts to deny the first genocide of the last century.
She said only 70 Turk nationalists had gathered on a square in
Berlin on March 15 where an Armenian student, Soghomon Teilerian,
had killed Taleat Pasha, one of the major masterminds of Armenian
massacres in the Ottoman empire, in 1921. She said there was another
protest rally of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and also Germans who
protested against Turks.
Ms. Ghazinian also said another demonstration by Turks in Berlin
on March 18 was attended by 2000 Turks who were flying Turkish,
Azerbaijani flags and also flags of the Turkish Republic of the
Northern Cyprus.
She said the rally was being filmed by police and that was why its
participants were vigilant and did not fly anti-Armenian posters,
instead flying others describing Armenia as ‘aggressor’ that has
seized Azerbaijani lands. She said a court decision to overrule a
police ban on the March 18 demonstration was unprecedented as it came
to fill a gap in a 2005 June 16 Bundestag resolution urging Turkey to
acknowledge the Armenian genocide. The court ruled that any denial
of the fact of the Armenian genocide, in written form or verbally,
was a punishable crime.
She said the court ruling showed that German authorities remained
committed to democracy and on the other hand, it introduced a
restriction, which comes as progress in efforts for international
recognition of the Armenian genocide. She said the German media was
full of articles on those days condemning the activity of Taleat
organization and providing information about Taleat and Soghomon
Teilerian.
In 2005 June 16 all factions of the German Bundestag approved a
resolution regarding the Armenian Genocide. The word `genocide’
was used in the resolution only once, when stating that `numerous
independent historians, parliaments and international organizations
qualified the deportation and extermination of Armenians as
genocide.’ The document called on the German government to press
Turkey to investigate the killings and foster reconciliation.
In its motion, the German parliament said it was “convinced an honest
historical review is needed and represents the most important basis
for reconciliation.” The resolution also recommends establishing a
commission composed of Turkish, Armenian and foreign historians to
study the past events. It is said in the document that the Turkish
authorities `oppress attempts to start a debate on this issue inside
the country.’ The resolution stated that `Germany bears a special
responsibility in the matter of reconciling the Armenians and the
Turks, because the German Reich once turned a blind eye to the actions
of its allies in World War I.’ The lawmakers called on the Foreign
Ministry of Germany to open its archives related to that period.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL CONSULTATIONS ON ARMENIAN-GERMAN FINANCIAL AND
TECHNICAL COOPERATION TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN ON MAY 20-21
YEREVAN, MARCH 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Intergovernmental consultations
on the Armenian-German finnacial and technical cooperation will be
held in Yerevan on May 20-21. NT correspondent was informed at the RA
Ministry of Finance and Economy that during the meeting the sides will
address a number of financial and technical programs. Particularly,
they intend to discuss issues related to the energy, health and
municipal infrastructures sectors, the mortgage crediting market,
as well as issues of assistance for small and medium business.
The Armenian Co-Chairman of the Intergovernmental Commission is the
RA Minister of Finance and Economy Vardan Khachatrian, and the German
Co-Chairman – the Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development
of Germany Rolf Baldus.

Australian Associated Press Pty. Ltd.
AAP Newsfeed
March 17, 2006 Friday 8:54 PM AEST
Wght: Sarkisian bows out on sad note
by Sam Lienert
MELBOURNE March 17
Australian weightlifter Yourik Sarkisian’s long, illustrious career
came to a sad end at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne today.
The 44-year-old retired from the sport in disappointment immediately
after failing to win a medal in the 62kg division.
After failing in his final attempt of the competition, he removed
his shoes and held them up to his hometown crowd, the traditional
weightlifting gesture of retirement.
However, he later suggested the retirement might not be permanent.
“Today I am stopped, next year I don’t know,” Sarkisian said.
Sri Lankan Chinthana Vidanage won the gold medal, with a total weight
of 271kg.
India’s Arun Murugesan, the pre-event favourite, lifted the same
weight, but Vidanage won because of his lighter bodyweight.
Malaysia’s Roswadi Bin Abdul Rashid took the bronze medal with a
261kg total.
Sarkisian finished in eighth position with 255kg.
He said he felt he had been capable of winning gold, but had faltered
under pressure before his home crowd.
“Too much pressure, I never feel this pressure before,” he said.
“I feel nervous, that never happened before too.”
It could have been worse, he failed in his first two attempts at
the snatch, with 113kg on the bar, before making the lift with his
third attempt.
That put him in equal fifth place after the snatch, 8kg behind leader
Murugesan.
It meant he had to do something special in the clean and jerk to win
a medal.
After lifting 142kg with his first attempt, he moved up to 149kg,
which would have been enough for the bronze medal.
However, on both of his attempts at that weight, he could not even
complete the “clean” part of the lift.
After his final failure, he thumped the back wall with his hand,
raised his palms upwards with a look of resignation, before removing
his shoes and holding them to the cheering crowd.
Sarkisian, a native of Armenia who migrated to Australia in 1994,
won five world championship gold medals during his long career, broke
23 world records and won an Olympic silver medal for the Soviet Union
in 1980.
He also won three Commonwealth Games gold medals, in Manchester in
2002, and three silvers, in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.
Australian Weightlifting Federation president Sam Coffa said it was a
shame Sarkisian’s career did not end with a medal, after his amazing
contribution to the sport.
“He’s been a great competitor throughout the world, he’s possibly
one of the most decorated athletes our sport has ever seen,” he said.

MORE OPERATIONS BY MEANS OF BANKING SYSTEM TO ATTRACT MORE INVESTMENTS IN ARMENIA’S ECONOMY
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 15, 2006
YEREVAN, March 16. /ARKA/. The increase in the number of operations
by means of Armenia’s banking system will ensure an increase in
investments in the country’s economy due to internal resources through
accumulation of funds. This statement was made at RA President Robert
Kocharyan’s meeting with the newly appointed Chairman of the Union
of Banks of Armenia (UBA), Director General of Agricultural Corporate
Bank of Armenia (ACBA) Stepan Gishyan.
During the meeting, Gishyan informed the RA President that an
increase in the banks’ advances portfolio was observed in the 1st
quarter of 2006. Also, consistent steps to increase the amount of
attracted deposits are being made. The sides also addressed the
situation on the mortgage market, particularly the expected radical
changes in the sphere, which will afford new opportunities to the
population.

FINAL ACT – JUGHA CEMETERY A FIRING RANGE
AZG Armenian Daily
17/03/2006
The photo accompanying this article was made only 5 days ago by very
rev. Topuzian, and depicts the Armenian cemetery that only 15 years
ago had 10.000 khachkars but due to Azerbaijani barbarism this number
was reduced to 3.500. A caption by very rev. Topuzian underneath
the photo reads: “As an eyewitness to this sacrilege I can say this
is the evidence of ‘final act’ (Friday, 10 March 2006) when we saw
the great territory of Old Jugha cemetery completely destroyed…
wiped away… transformed into a firing range.”
It goes without saying that other monuments of Armenian history
and culture invisible from the Iranian border were eliminated long
ago. The Azeri state has one goal: to demolish all traces of Armenian
presence to avoid another headache in future.

ARMENIAN MOD HEAD THANKED US FOR EFFORTS TO SOLVE KARABAKH DISPUTE
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2006 23:04 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan suggested
monitoring contact line between Armenian and Azeri Armed Forces more
frequently and openly publishing the results. As Spokesperson of
the Armenian MOD Head Seyran Shahsuvaryan told PanARMENIAN.Net, the
Defense Minister proposed it at a meeting with US Assistant Secretary
of State Daniel Fried and US Co-Chair of the OSCE MG Steven Mann.
Sargsyan said the measures will allow to prevent breaks of the
cease-fire. He thanked the US for efforts to settle the Nagorno
Karabakh issue, made within the OSCE MG. Sargsyan was optimistic and
believed the efforts will be a success.

30 MILLION DOLLARS TO DEVELOP HEATING SYSTEM
Panorama.am
13:26 15/03/06
Today an exhibition of heating technologies was opened by the
initiative of the Government and US Agency of International Development
(USAID) which has been organized in Armenia for the first time. The
exhibition will continue until March 17. About 30 companies will take
part in the exhibition. The councilor of the Prime Minister Gagik
Martirosyan, representative of USAID Yerevan office Robin Phillips
and UNO representative Consuella Vidal were present at the opening
ceremony.
The exhibition has been organized to represent the activity of heating
system. As the organizer of the program Gagik Hovhannisyan mentioned
the aim of the exhibition is to inform wide circles of the society
about the modern heating technologies existing in the market as well
as establishing business relations in this sphere.
To note the program of flat heating has been working in Armenia
since August 2005. In his speech the councilor of the Prime Minister
G. Martirosyan mentioned that in the future 30 million dollars will
be given to develop institutional opportunities of heating system,
12 million of which at the expense of credits, and the other part at
the expense of grants.

ARMENIA MAY PROVOKE “NEW” WAR TO HALT AZERBAIJAN’S ECONOMIC GROWTH – ANALYST
ANS TV, Baku
8 Mar 06
A political analyst has said Yerevan may try to provoke a new war with
Azerbaijan before it starts making billions of dollars in oil revenues.
Speaking to ANS TV’s “Point of View” programme on 7 March, Eldar
Namazov, former head of the presidential secretariat, said Azerbaijan
should not give in to the Armenian provocation.
“Armenians are very concerned. They realize that Azerbaijan will
start making large amounts of money once its oil starts running to
the world markets,” Namazov said and called for caution.
“The Armenians may resort to various forms of provocation. In any
case, we know the Armenians well. If they realize they is no other
way of preventing us from gaining superiority, they may use various
forms of provocation to strike a blow to Azerbaijan,” Namazov said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 10 2006
COURT HEARING OF ARMENIAN CEC’s POLICY AT CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM
TO BE HELD ON MARCH 13
YEREVAN, March. 10. /ARKA/. On March 13, 2006, the minor court of
Yerevan’s Kanaker and Nor Nork communities is to hold a hearing of a
claim concerning the inaction of the Central Electoral Commission
(CEC) during the constitutional referendum in Armenia. The Public
Commission formed to supervise the legality of the referendum reports
that about 70 claims lodged by the Commission Coordinator Ruben
Torosyan are to be considered. According to the press-release, the
claims contain the information on violations committed by the RA
President, Vice-Speaker of the RA Parliament, RA Foreign Minister,
Rectors of Armenia’s higher schools, a number of TV companies and the
RA Academy of Sciences.
The constitutional referendum was held in Armenia on November 27,
2005. P.T. -0–