Author: Torgomian Varazdat

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:
A LECTURE ABOUT THE WCC 9TH ASSEMBLY IS DELIVERED IN THE SEMINARY
A lecture entitled “The 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (14-23
February 2006, Porto Alegre, Brazil): An Attempt to Evaluate” was organized
in the Seminary of the Catholicosate of Cilicia on the evening of March 10.
Sub-deacon Hagop Kortmossian talked about the 9th Assembly of WCC and the
ecumenical movement in general during his opening remarks.
The keynote speaker was Bishop Nareg Alemezian (Ecumenical Officer) who
briefly explained the timeliness of the Assembly’s main theme (God, in your
Grace, transform the world) particularly in light of the unconstructive
political and social conditions of the current world. He also spoke about
the course of the Assembly and the main topics discussed during its
sessions, focusing on the leading of His Holiness Aram I as the Assembly’s
chairman and the contribution of the Catholicosate’s large delegation.
“A responsible and conscious participation in the ecumenical movement, the
World Council of Churches, the Middle East Council of Churches and others
such organizations is essential and is conditioned by reading, studying and
having the necessary formation,” Bishop Alemezian said.
“Our father, His Holiness Aram I is the tangible example of this statement.
His Holiness opened up to ecumenical life starting in the 1970s and due to
his pursuant efforts he reached the high post of the moderator of WCC, which
he occupied with great capability during the last 15 years. It’s not enough
to be justly proud of our Catholicos; we are obligated to follow his steps
and bring our contribution to the mission of our Church the Cilician Holy
See and the Seminary,” he concluded.
Rev. Fr. Housig Mardirossian (Staff-bearer), a member of the Cilician
delegation to the Assembly, also spoke during the event relating his
experiences as a participant in the sessions and emphasizing the role of the
youth in the ecumenical movement.
Bishop Alemezian and Rev. Fr. Mardirossian then answered the questions of
the students.
V. Rev. Fr. Krikor Chiftjian delivered the closing remarks, thanking the two
speakers on behalf of the Seminary’s administration and assuring the
commitment of the students to the ecumenical movement as an important source
of enrichment and opening up to other churches.
##
View photos here: tm
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Theological
Seminary 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.

NK CONFLICT HANGS OVER GEORGIA’S ARMENIAN-POPULATED REGIONS
By Zaal Anjaparidze
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
March 15 2006
Tensions are running high in Tsalka and Akhalkalaki, two regions of
Georgia that are predominantly populated by ethnic Armenians.
The latest problem began in Tsalka on March 9, when a trivial brawl
at a restaurant between local Armenians and Georgians resulted in the
death of Gevork Gevorkian, a 24-year-old Armenian, and injuries to
four other Armenians. However, Maria Mikoyan of the Armenian Union
in Georgia (Nor Serund) claimed that the fight began because the
Georgian young men were irritated by the Armenian music playing in
the restaurant.
Although police have arrested five Georgian suspects, about 500
Armenian protesters gathered outside the Tsalka administrative building
on March 10, calling for prosecution of the suspects. On March 11,
the upheaval spread to Akhalkalaki, a town in the predominately
Armenian populated Samtskhe-Javakheti region in southern Georgia.
About 300 participants in the Akhalkalaki rally were Tsalka
Armenians. They later took their appeal to the Georgian government
and demanded that Tbilisi “stop the policy of pressure by fueling
interethnic tensions” and “stop the settlement of other nationalities
in Armenian-populated regions.” Later, the protesters voiced demands
related to the right to conduct court proceedings and government
business in the Armenian language. Specifically, they want the central
government to make the Armenian language a state language equal to
Georgian in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region. Reiterating the alleged
threat to the rights of Armenians in Georgia, the appeal also demanded
political autonomy for the region.
The rally soon turned violent. The protesters, mostly youth, left
the government building and raided a local court chamber, ousting
a Georgian judge. They also attacked a building on Tbilisi State
University’s Akhalkalaki campus and a local Georgian Orthodox Church.
Later on Khachatur Stepanian, a representative of the council of
Armenian civic groups in Samtskhe-Javakheti, which organized the rally,
attempted to soften the anxiety and called the incident a “provocation”
staged by “someone else.”
On March 11, leaders of the public movement Multiethnic Georgia and
the Armenian Union in Georgia complained that police had brutally
dispersed the rally in Tsalka where “ethnic confrontation is
increasingly becoming a reason behind crimes.” They said that if
tension in Tsalka and Samtskhe-Javakheti continues, then Tbilisi
would be forced to establish direct presidential rule there.
Although Georgian Public Defender Sozar Subari investigated the Tsalka
incident and ruled it to be a “communal crime,” the majority of the
Armenian communities in these regions consider the incident to be a
demonstration of ethnic hatred towards Armenians, which they believe
is the result of the Georgian government’s misguided policies towards
ethnic minorities. They further alleged that Georgian law-enforcement
agents were working in tandem with those who committed the crime.
United Javakh, a radical Armenian organization in Samtskhe-Javakheti,
issued a statement accusing Tbilisi of “discriminatory policies”
against “the Armenian population of Javakh,” the Armenian nomenclature
for the region. They described the recent dismissal of the region’s
ethnic Armenian judges for ignorance of the Georgian language
as “cynically trampling on the rights of the Armenian-populated
region.” Georgian authorities insist the judges were dismissed for
misconduct.
The United Javakh statement warned about “destructive trends in
the Georgian government’s policy” aimed at artificially creating a
“climate of ethnic intolerance” and “crushing the will of Javakh’s
Armenian population to protect its right to live in its motherland.”
Finally the statement demands that Tbilisi show “political prudence”
and put an end to the “infringement” of the Armenian community’s
rights.
The content and tone of this and previous statements by United Javakh
and other radical Armenian organizations reportedly have strong
backing from political forces in Armenia. In fact, the statements
recall the language used by the Armenian community in Karabakh in its
relations with the Azerbaijani government before war erupted. Vardan
Akopian, chair of the Javakh Youth organization, argued, “The current
situation in Javakheti is a cross between situations in Nakhichevan and
Karabakh.” Several protestors explicitly cited the Karabakh precedent.
Symptomatically, on October 8, 2005, Garnik Isagulyan, the Armenian
president’s national security advisor, bluntly warned Tbilisi to be
“extremely cautious” with regard to Samtskhe-Javakheti “because any
minor provocation can turn into a large-scale clash” (EDM, October
12, 2005). Various Armenian political parties, officials, and media
have actively discussed the problems of the Armenian community in
Samtskhe-Javakheti. Some Armenian members of the Georgian parliament
linked this activity with the approaching parliamentary elections
in Armenia.
Recently Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sarkisian released a paper
on security issues in which he expressed concern over the situation
in Samtskhe-Javakheti. The excessively critical tone of the Armenian
minister towards Tbilisi’s policy in Samtskhe-Javakheti reportedly
alarmed Georgian politicians and analysts, but they preferred to
stay tight-lipped, perhaps to avoid upsetting the already-complex
Georgian-Armenian relationship (EDM, August 3, June 7, May 24, March
23, 2005). Russia has tried to capitalize on the problem by fueling
tensions in Akhalkalaki, location of a Russian military base slated
for closure.
Although the Georgian government is continuously downplaying the
ethnic aspects of the disturbances in Armenian-populated regions,
this factor appears to lurk beneath the surface. Georgia remains
Armenia’s sole transport route to Russia and Europe due to the ongoing
blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan. Thus an unstable Samtskhe-Javakheti
would hardly be a gain for Yerevan. However, the “Karabakh syndrome”
should not be removed from the agenda.
(Resonance, March 9, 11; Akhali Taoba, Civil Georgia, Rustavi-2,
Regnum, vesti.ru, March 11; Imedi-TV, March 10, 11)

DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF THE UNION OF GEORGIAN ARMENIANS DENIES EXISTENCE OF THE DANGER OF AN ETHNIC CONFLICT IN THE TSALKA DISTRICT
Source: Svobodny Gruzia (Tbilisi), March 10, 2006, EV
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
March 15, 2006 Wednesday
Van Baiburt, Deputy Chairman of the Union of Georgian Armenians,
lawmaker, and Vrastan newspaper editor-in-chief, denies existence of
the danger of ethnic clashes in the Tsalka district. “I do not expect
ethnic clashes in the Tsalka district of Georgia that may follow the
March 9 incident, when Gevork Gevorkjan, 24, was murdered and Karen
Balojan wounded,” Baiburt told journalists at the Georgian parliament
on March 10.
The incident in the district center of Tsalka in East Georgia was
reported by the Press Service of the Interior Ministry on March 10.
What information is available indicates that the incident took place
in a restaurant in central Tsalka the previous day. Officers of the
territorial office of the Interior Ministry of the Kvemo Kartli region
detained five suspects. Investigation is under way. Some Georgian TV
channels report that it was a clash between Gevorkjan and Balojan on
the one hand and several Georgians of Svan origin on the other. All
participants of the incidents were drunk.
Conflicts between the indigenous Armenians and the Georgian settlers
(mostly victims of various natural disasters moved to the district)
flare up in Tsalka every now and then. In the latest period of tension
in spring 2004, the Interior Ministry deployed its special forces
in the district and set up checkpoints in Georgian and Armenian
villages. Law enforcement agencies refer conflicts to mundane issues.

PUNITIVE MEASURES TO BE APPLIED TO BODIES THAT GRANTED CERTIFICATES TO TURKISH GOODS NOT METING REQUIREMENTS OF NORMATIVE DOCUMENTS
Noyan Tapan
Mar 15 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 15, NOYAN TAPAN. In the period of January-February
2006, the RA Quality Inspection made examinations of 103 samples of 45
Turkish goods taken from 42 economic entities at 6 test laboratories
in Armenia. It was found that 11 types of chocolate bars, 3 types
of chocolate sweets, chewing gums of 5 types made in Turkey, as well
as one type of Turkish wafer, chocolate cream, tinned peas and soap
did not meet the requirements of the normative documents, technical
regulations and the RA Law on Foodstuff Safety. Georgy Gyozalian,
Deputy Head of the State Quality Inspection of the RA Ministry of Trade
and Economic Development, said at the March 15 press conference that
the inspection will send a letter to the RA Accrediting Council with
the request to apply punitive measures to the bodies that certified
the above mentioned goods.
According to G. Gyozalian, the examinations were made after the press
publications about the chocolate bar “Safari” of the Elvan company
being made in Baku. The examinations revealed that the chocolate
“Safari” imported to Armenia was made in Turkey.
Based on the results of the conducted checks, orders were issued to
discontinue and forbid the sale of the above mentioned products not
meeting the requirements of the technical regulations, while Hasmik
Manukian enterprise that conducts wholesale trade at Surmalu Fair and
imports the production of the Elvan company (Turkey) was instructed
to remove the production from circulation, inform consumers about it
and to take these products back from consumers. Administrative fines
in the amount of 2.3 mln drams were imposed on the executives of the
economic entities engaged in the sale of products not in line with
the requirements of technical regulations.
G. Gyozalian said that the inspection also examined the chocolates of
Russian and Ukrainian production sold in Armenia, and no violations
of the normative documents’ requirements were found. Besides, the
tea “Azerchay” made in Azerbaijan was examined, and its sale was
discontinued due to the reason of not meeting the requirements of
normative documents. It was noted that the inspection will complete
checks at the perfume market late next week. The water colors of
Iranian production are now undrergoing tests, which were initiated
after a child was poisoned as a result of using these products.

ARMENIA ABLE TO BREAK TURKEY-AZERBAIJAN TANDEM
PanARMENIAN.Net
15.03.2006 00:37 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia should maximally keep the distance from
the history. Only in this case normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations is possible, expert, political scientist Stepan Grigoryan
stated in an interview with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words,
ARF Dashnaktsutyun is guilty in conclusion of the Moscow Treaty on
March 16, 1921, which signed it on behalf of Armenia. “It was exactly
when we lost everything and the Kars Treaty, signed October 13 of
the same year, merely fixed that loss,” he remarked. In his words,
no party will win anything in case of revision or denouncement of
the Moscow Treaty. “I am repeating, if we do not refer to history,
but start establishing relations with Turkey, it will notably weaken
Azerbaijan’s position in the region. In fact Armenia is able to break
the Turkey-Azerbaijan tandem for its interest,” Grigoryan emphasized.
According to the Moscow Treaty Turkey had agreed to yield sovereignty
over Batumi port and town, as well as territory making part of Batumi
District, to Georgia, “Nakhichevan region in the boundaries, indicated
in the attachment to the present Treaty forms an autonomous territory
under the patronage of Azerbaijan, stipulated that Azerbaijan will not
cede it to a third State. Russia pledges to makes steps regarding the
Transcaucasian Republics, so as these without fail recognize articles
of the present Treaty that refer to them in treaties to be concluded
between them and Turkey.”

ARMENIAN DM REP ON RAMIL SAFAROV TRIAL
YEREVAN, MARCH 14. ARMINFO. It seems the Azeri sides also wants the
early end of the Ramil Safarov trial, says Armenian defence ministry
representative Hayk Demoyan.
Recently Safarov made a statement that could as well bring him to court
in Azerbaijan or Turkey. He said that Azeri and Turkish soldiers and
officers are trained in Northern Cyprus.
To remind, Azeri officer Ramil Safarov axed his Armenian counterpart
Gurgen Margaryan in Hungary Feb 19 2004 and is facing from 15 years
to life in prison.
The lawyer of the Margaryan family Nazeli Vardanyan says that
during the Mar 7 hearing the Budapest court heard the testimony of
two Hungarian witnesses from the institute were both officers were
taking English courses. They said that there was no quarrel between
the officers before the murder.
The fourth medical examination of Safarov – by psychologist,
psychiatrist and stress expert – has shown that Safarov is sane. But
the experts are a bit doubtful of the fluency of his story. He seemed
to tell it by heart. He said he said that his whole family is victim
to stress, especially his brother, but his brother has turned out to
be ill from birth.
The court declined the petition of Safarov’s lawyers to summon the
second Azeri officer Anar Aliyev.
Demoyan notes that the second legal action against Safarov followed
his fight with wards. The reason was Safarov’s stress after a phone
talk with his lawyer Adil Ismailov.
Demoyan urges the Armenian media not to spread viewpoints of those
local politicians who are trying to raise their rating on this
tragedy. One such politician is the leader of Progressive Party Tigran
Urikhanyan who has promised $125,000 for the head of Safarov.
Demoyan and Vardanyan refrain from forecasting the court verdict.
They just say that the court is very professional and unbiased. They
do not very much care for how long a term Safarov will get. They care
for the principle itself: “It is important that an Azeri officer should
be tried as convict who can nothing but kill a man in his sleep.” They
say that Safarov has small chances of extradition to Azerbaijan.

EU SAYS SERBIA CAN’T RULE KOSOVO AGAIN
Kosovareport
March 9 2006
Serbia should admit that it cannot rule Kosovo again, EU enlargement
commissioner Olli Rehn said while speaking about enlargement in Athens
on Thursday (9 March), Balkans agency DTT-NET.COM writes.
He stated that Brussels expects “realism that there can be no return
for Kosovo to Belgrade’s rule, and there must be willingness to
ensure a sustainable settlement that creates a stable, democratic
and multiethnic Kosovo in the European framework.”
The commissioner added that the ethnic Albanian leadership of Kosovo
must reach out to the Serbian ethnic minority as a matter of urgency.
“[Kosovo’s] status can only come with standards, especially as regards
minority protection and decentralisation measures, the implementation
of which must be urgently intensified,” he stated.
“The implementation of EU standards now and not in some unspecified
future – it should be the first priority of the new government
of Kosovo.”
Belgrade wants to freeze Kosovo status Mr Rehn’s words on Serbian
rule are unlikely to get a favourable reception in Belgrade, which
last month proposed to the UN that the issue of Kosovo’s final status
should be frozen for 20 years.
The commissioner’s comment is in line with statements by senior UK
diplomat John Sawers in February that Kosovo should be independent.
Kosovo legally belongs to Serbia but has been under UN administration
since the EU and the US intervened to stop ethnic clashes in the
region in 1999.
Pristina and Belgrade are currently in UN and EU-sponsored negotiations
on the possibility of Kosovan independence, with the next round of
talks tabled for 17 March.
Ethnic Albanians, pushing for independence, make up 90 percent of
Kosovo’s 2 million-strong population.
Tension surrounding the talks rose last week after Pristina nominated
a former guerrilla general indicted for war crimes by Belgrade,
Agim Ceku, to be prime minister.
Belgrade asked the UN to block the appointment but the Serbian request
was rejected by the international community despite quiet concerns
in Brussels about the fragility of the Kosovo peace process.
Kosovo as universal precedent The prospect of Kosovan independence
could also have repercussions for other separatist states in the EU
and its neighbours.
Serbian contacts told British conservative MEP Charles Tannock in
February that if Kosovo becomes independent, the ethnic-Serb enclave
of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina will also call for
independence.
Meanwhile, Russia is pushing the idea that the Kosovo solution should
set a universal precedent for handling Northern Cyprus and breakaway
Moldovan republic Transniestria, as well as Abkhazia, South Ossetia
and Nagorno Karabakh in South Caucasus.
“What’s so unique about Kosovo?” Russian ambassador to the EU,
Vladimir Chizov said in an interview with EUobserver on Thursday.
“There are similarities in the international community accepting
or rejecting the self-determination of an unrecognised character,
unrecognised entities. It’s not only Abkhazia and South Ossetia but
also North Cyprus.”
/eu-says-serbia-cant-rule-kosovo-again.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZG Armenian Daily #044, 11/03/2006

Open letter
`ARMENIAN SOLDIERS ARE NOT AFRAID OF THREAT’
Letter of Artsakhi Freedom Fighters to Armenia
First commander of Nagorno Karabakh Army, Arkady
Karapetian, chairman of “Tigran Mets” Military
Council, Khachatur Galstian, former commander of
Shushi regiment, Zhirayr Sefilian, commander of
“Kornidzor” squad, Ara Khudaverdian, commander of
“Nartsis” squad, Paylak Kirakosian, field commander
Voskan Gyulumian, commander of “Artsakh” squad Mikael
Apresian, field commander Paykar Khalumian, commander
of “Unified Armenia” squad Aramayis Mkrtchian and
founder of Hoktemberian offshoot of “Army of
Independence”, Levon Sahakian, applied to Armenian
society with an open letter responding to the
statement of Artsakhi intellectuals, clergymen and
public figures on February 23 who complained of the
fact that Armenia negotiates with Azerbaijan and its
defeatism in the talks.
“It was official Yerevan’s strategic mistake to step
in the talks with Baku ousting Stepanakert thus
opening way to diplomatic defeats. But today it would
be not less unacceptable if Stepanakert continuous
negotiations on its own. Armenian-Azeri dialogue will
be possible only when Baku stops anti-Armenian
hysteria, recognizes that Artsakh belongs to Armenians
as well as takes responsibility for forced deportation
of Azerbaijani-Armenians and for provoking war. Only
after that it will be meaningful for Stepanakert to
receive Baku’s suggestion to negotiate,” the letter
reads.

WORK ON FORMATION OF SECONDARY MORTGAGE MARKET TO START IN ARMENIA FROM 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, NOYAN TAPAN. A non-profit non-commercial
organization “The Union of Armenian Mortgage Market Participants” has
been set up for the purpose of assisting the development of the
mortgage market in Armenia. The founders of the union are:
Armeconombank, the Armenian Development Bank, ArmSwissBank,
Inecombank, Arminvestbank, Unibank, Ararat Bank, Areximbank;
Washington Capital and First Mortgage Company credit companies; SIL
Insurance, Private Insurance, Nairi Insurance and Prime Insurance
Brokers insurance companies, Alta Vip, M & M, Premier Realty and
Elefant Realty realty agencies. During the constituent assembly on
March 10, Ashot Osipian, Armeconmbank’s Executive Director, pointed
out such primary tasks of the newly established union as the creation
of all the necessary preconditions for efficient operation of the
secondary market of mortgage credits, participation in the strategy
development and improvement of the legislative field, etc. In the
words of Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Tigran
Sargsian, CBA attaches importance to the formation of the union and
will assist it. He noted that there are two strategies for developing
the mortgage market – ensuring equal rules of game for all market
participants through adoption of mandatory normative acts, or a
voluntary unification of market participants and the development of
common standards. T. Sargsian assured that CBA that considers the
second option as more acceptable will cooperate with the
union. According to him, CBA “will not adopt any normative act related
to the sector without discussing it with the union and receiving a
conclusion about it.” CBA Chairman also attached importance to the
fact of participation of KfW Bank’s Armenian Reprsentative Karapet
Gevorgian in the foundation of the union.

ARMENIAN DEVELOPMENT AGENCY THE 5TH AMONG SIMILAR STRUCTURES OF 147 COUNTRIES BY QUALITY OF RENDERING SERVICES
Noyan Tapan
Mar 13 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 13, NOYAN TAPAN. On March 9, in Geneva, a representative
of Armenia was given the prize won by the Armenian Development
Agency by the results of the 2005 study conducted by the World
Bank’s Multilateral Investments Guaranteeing Agency (MIGA). Armenian
Development Agency Director General Vahagn Movsisian informed about
this at the March 11 press conference. He reminded that according to
MIGA report of 2005, the Armenian Development Agency was recognized
the 5th among 147 agencies of the world by the quality of rendered
services. MIGA’s study was conducted, in particular, according to
standards of answering questions, preparing for exhibitions and
business forums.
M.Movsisian informed that MIGA delegation’s visit to Armenia is
expected in late March. Issues of cooperation with the Armenian
Development Agency will be discussed during the visit.