Author: Torosian Aram

STRONGEST ARMENIAN USHUISTS TO TAKE PART IN EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP

Noyan Tapan
May 23 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. A regular Armenian championship of ushu
was held at the Dinamo training ground of Yerevan. Over 260 sportsmen
performed in two competition styles, taolu (exercises without arms and
with different arms) and sanda (single combats). At that, 45 of the
sportsmen were from the neighboring Georgia. It is the second time
the Georgian sportsmen take part in the competition on taolu. The
competitions of sanda-ushu were especially tense.

They were held in 6 age groups. The two-day competitions made clear
what sportsmen will prepare for the Europe Championship to be held
on November 2-12 in the Italian city of Venice. Tigran Chobanian,
Chairman of the Traditional Ushu Federation of Armenia, mentioned
in his interview to Noyan Tapan correspondent that we can expect the
Armenian sportsmen to perform successfully in the sanda competition
style, where Armen Grigorian, Arman Avetisian, Haroutiun Simonian,
Arman Grigorian and world silver medal-winner Felix Smoyan perform
very well. But, according to him, the same cannot be said about the
sportsmen performing in the taolu competition style.

EXPERTS CONSIDER FINDING A-320 FLIGHT RECORDER GOOD FORTUNE

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.05.2006 13:17 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The flight recorder of A-320 airbus of Armavia air
company that was lifted from the sea bottom yesterday is not sent
to the Inter-State Aviation Committee (ISAC) for decoding yet. “The
speech recorder of A-320 is in Sochi and is not provided to us yet,”
reported head of the ISAC Center for Air Transport Investigations
Rudolf Teymurazov. He also noted, “It is good fortune to find even
one flight recorder among the fragments.” Earlier the experts doubted
the flight recorders could be found.

“I am skeptical over the opportunity to find anything at the Black
Sea bottom farther than a kilometer away from the coastline,” Rudolf
Teymurazov said a day after the catastrophe.

“There are real mountains under the water and their tops are covered
with silt,” he added. In the expert’s words, in case a plane falls into
the sea, maximum 3% of its fragments are found, reports RIA Novosti.

On the night of May 3 a Yerevan-Sochi flight of Armavia airlines
crashed in the Black Sea 6 km away from Adler airport killing all of
113 passengers, including 6 children and 8 members of the crew. Among
them were 26 Russian citizens, one Ukrainian and one Georgian citizen,
while the rest were Armenian citizens.

ARTHUR BAGDASARYAN WASN’T IN THE HALL TODAY

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[02:12 pm] 23 May, 2006

Today the Parliament resumed its work rather actively and efficiently
passing 31 bills unanimously within the first 30 minutes. By the way,
the most striking was that the bills were supported by deputies who
quitted the Orinats Yerkir and by deputies who are still members of
the party. Mainly it was Vram Gyurzadyan who voted for all the bills.

NA deputy president Tigran Torosyan presented Gegham Manoukyan, deputy
of the Dashnaktsutyun party elected by proportional system who has
so far participates in the voting process with abstentions. Arthur
Bagdasaryan was not present in the hall today.

Viktor Dallakyan, secretary of “Justice” bloc informed that so far
25 signatures have been collected in order to discuss aviation
issues. This step was initiated yesterday at 13:30 p.m. If they
don’t get the required sum, 44 signatures, he is going to give his
evaluation of the matter during the parliamentary announcements.

On the whole, parliamentarians look forward to the time of
announcements where they predict to hear interpretations on the
“accusations” and “explanation” of the parties Orinats Yerkir and
National Unity.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER RESIGNS

Interfax, Russia
May 22 2006

YEREVAN. May 22 (Interfax) – Armenian parliamentary Speaker Artur
Bagdasarian has tendered his resignation.

Bagdasarian made the decision to resign and to quit his party following
disagreements with the president and two other parties in the ruling
coalition.

“We think democratic reform should be deepened further, the fight
against corruption stepped up and human rights defended more actively,”
Bagdasarian told the parliament on Monday.

“Recent opinion polls indicate that more than 70% of Armenian citizens
live in an atmosphere of fear, and we will fight against this,”
he said.

FRANCE DEFERS ARMENIAN ISSUE
Lara Marlowe in Paris

Irish Times
May 19, 2006

FRANCE: There were cries of protest from left- and right-wing benches
when Jean-Louis Debre, the speaker of the French National Assembly,
suspended a stormy debate on the Armenian genocide yesterday.

Armenian visitors in the public gallery chanted in unison:
“Vote! Vote! Vote!” as gendarmes removed them.

When the socialist parliamentary group filed the proposed law last
month, few imagined it would be so divisive. The law is an addendum
to that of January 2001, which publicly recognised the Armenian
genocide of 1915. The new law, which may now never come to a vote,
would make denying the Armenian Holocaust an offence punishable by
up to one year’s imprisonment and a fine of 45,000.

After the national assembly voted the 2001 law, Turkey cancelled
contracts with the French groups Thomson, Alcatel and Bouygues. Some
French products were boycotted, and taxi-drivers in Istanbul and
Ankara refused to take French passengers.

This time the French and Turkish governments did their utmost to
prevent the law passing. President Jacques Chirac appealed for a
“spirit of responsibility” on this “sensitive question”. The French
ministry of trade circulated a list of French contracts with Turkey –
worth $4.7 billion (3.7 billion) last year.

The French nuclear power company Areva hopes to build Turkey’s first
reactors soon, and the French minister for foreign trade will visit
Turkey with the heads of 40 companies on June 14th.

The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, threatened trade
sanctions if the law passed, while the Turkish foreign minister warned
of “irreparable damage” to relations.

“Dear colleagues, we resisted the United States during the Iraq
crisis,” the right-wing UMP deputy Roland Blum said. “Surely we can
stand up to the Turks!” His outburst was widely applauded.

Western historians are nearly unanimous in recognising that, as the
centre-right UDF deputy Francois Rochebloine recounted yesterday:
“From April 1915, the Young Turk government unleashed the horrible
process of the extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, through
organised massacres . . . which prefigured the Jewish Holocaust
two decades later.” French deputies who followed their heads –
and pocketbooks – opposed the law. Those who followed their hearts
supported it. The main parties splintered, and there was plenty of
hypocrisy to go around. The right dragged out debates on two other
laws, to eat up the socialists’ time slot before the Armenian debate.

French opponents of the law do not deny the Armenian genocide
happened. But many were burned by a 2005 law praising the alleged
benefits of colonialism, which had to be rescinded due to public
outrage.

Jean-Marc Ayrault, the leader of the socialist parliamentary group, who
accused the right of obstruction, is known to be at best a reluctant
supporter of the law, because he wants historians – not politicians
– to judge history. Mr Ayrault and fellow group presidents must
now decide whether to continue the Armenian debate during the next
socialist slot in November.

In the meantime, there is bitter disappointment among many
parliamentarians, not to mention the Armenians who demonstrated
outside the assembly yesterday.

“They gave [ the law] a third class funeral,” said Patrick Devedjian,
a UMP deputy of Armenian origin. He alluded to the defacing of
memorials to the Armenian Holocaust this spring. “Memorials abroad
are the only sepulchres we have, so it felt like a desecration to
Armenians,” he said.

Mr Devedjian corrected the foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy,
when he alluded to “the memory of massacres committed in 1915”,
emphasising, “The genocide, Monsieur le Ministre”.

“The Armenian cause is just,” Mr Douste-Blazy continued. “It must
be defended and respected. But national representatives must take
account of the interest of France . . . The text submitted to you
would be considered, like it or not, as a hostile act by the vast
majority of Turkish people.”

MINISTER OSKANIAN PARTICIPATED AT 116TH SESSION OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE CE

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[08:35 pm] 19 May, 2006

more images Minister of Foreign Affairs Vartan Oskanian is in
Strasbourg to participate in the 116th session of the Council of
Ministers of the Council of Europe.

This marks the fifth year of Armenia’s Council of Europe membership,
and the first since the passage of the Constitutional Referendum which
has made possible the signing of the 13th Protocol of the European
Convention of Human Rights on abolition of the death penalty in all
circumstances.

Minister Oskanian addressed the Council in French and spoke about
democratic processes, democratic reforms and in that context, he
raised three issues:

He said, “First, even as there is a momentum the world over toward
adopting democratic processes which assure the development of free
societies where freedom of expression is an essential component of
life, the Turkish government has become more and more aggressive in
denying the Armenian Genocide abroad and criminalizing its discussion
at home. As a result, there is a natural response to such denial in
some of our member countries, to attempt to legislate against all
denialist efforts. The irony is that the Turkish government considers
this a travesty of freedom of speech and expression while sustaining
their own right to punish their own citizens who use the term.”

The Armenian Foreign Minister also addressed issues of human rights. “I
can only wish that the ideas and ideals of Europe came automatically
with membership.

Perhaps then I would not be here today to mourn the irreversible,
irrational, intentional destruction of a medieval Armenian cemetery
on the territory of Azerbaijan. Thousands of massive, unique stone
sculptures which had survived through centuries are no longer there. A
cemetery has been wiped out and the hillside has been turned into
a shooting range. This destruction is a blatant attempt to wipe out
traces of Armenian presence on those lands.”

Finally, in addressing the Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution,
the Minister said, “Upon membership, Armenia and Azerbaijan made
a commitment to see a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict.

There are positive elements in the negotiations process in which we
have been involved over these last several years, but that can produce
results only if the parties understand – and clearly declare – that
they don’t have a military option here. Europe offers a new context for
negotiation, regional cooperation and post-war reconciliation. This
is the Europe – the place of peace and cooperation – to which our
two countries belong.”

In the framework of the Ministerial, Minister Oskanian met with Thomas
Hammarberg, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe.

On the evening preceding the Ministerial meeting, a special informal
gathering, hosted by Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of
Europe, featured former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, Special
Envoy of the UN SG for the Future Status Process for Kosovo.

WHAT SCARED SERGE SARGSYAN AND ARTASHES GEGHAMYAN?
Melik Avanyan

Lragir.am
19 May 06

The secession of the Orinats Yerkir Party from the coalition and the
resignation of Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan sent the country into a
psychosis. The political party and its speaker received strictures
from everywhere. Meanwhile, it seems absurd when they accuse someone
who quits power and leaves them alone with their right to enjoy the
benefits of power the way they can.

Everyone has their reason to blame Orinats Yerkir. However, some of
them attract attention, for behind their assessments and statements one
can discern fear which can hardly be concealed. In the meantime, they
consider themselves to be quite odious. Among them are the “unique”
friend-foe tandem, Serge Sargsyan and Artashes Geghamyan. Over the
past few days they have not missed a single opportunity to assure the
public that nothing serious has happened in the country, and what is
more important, nothing has changed.

They state, not quite persuading, of course, and with an implicit
anxiety, because not only they do not believe it, but they also lose
their nerve. Then they immediately contradict to themselves. For
instance, several days ago Serge Sargsyan admitted that Arthur
Baghdasaryan’s resignation had foiled his plans. Moreover, he said his
political plans are not a dogma and he was going to modify them. Why,
if he assured that nothing had happened? He may have realized that
there had happened the worst thing for him: life progressed, leaving
the “superminister” in the blind alley of history. Artashes Geghamyan
also realized this. For although the roles of these two political
merchants have been different over the past years, they have been
united by something.

Serge Sargsyan, for instance, has instilled in people that he is
almighty “by nature” and by biography. He would never fear what
people would talk about him, all he needed was loud speeches about
his power. But he would always get nervous if anyone mistakenly stated
that Serge’s entire resource is his offices and Kocharyan’s protection.

Nevertheless, he has always aspired to occupy more and more positions
to have a long “service record.” Thereby he wanted to show that his
hands are long. From time to time he was successful, he even believed
in his own power, until the unexpected unveiling of this personage.

The same is with Geghamyan. He was well aware that he had to create
an image of an almighty savior and the only defender of people’s
rights. He did this with care until Serge Sargsyan stopped him not
to become obsessed; the suffered people might believe him. Geghamyan
was satisfied with a pleasant and secure political position, and
most importantly, very useful for Serge Sargsyan: who could build
the image of an almighty with more care than Geghamyan the orator.

Thus our “artistes” lived, singing to one another. But what bad
luck! Someone sent all this system to hell for reasons that were not
clear enough and without notifying anyone. As usual, Serge appeared
on air and let anyone know that it was his victory and no one could
do anything in this country without his participation.

Well, of course, he did not appear personally, they sent a protégé to
justify. However, nothing came out of it, no one applauded. It does not
interest people. Only one thing is important: will Arthur Baghdasaryan
become Sahakashvili? Here Artashes Geghamyan again proved useful,
and he was called for help. The “savior” again voiced how great and
powerful Serge and Kocharyan are, while playing down Baghdasaryan. It
is beyond Baghdasaryan to remove this couple, only the greatest
orator of the century can do it. If Arthur repents, Geghamyan will
accept to his “patrimony.” But Geghamyan appears to have realized
that Serge is “naked.” Fear crept into his heart that he could lose
his “patrimony” and the role that always seemed eternal. What would
he be telling people if the “couple” was not there anymore? After
all, the great Armenians will “cease”, and people will get bored by
biblical “readings.” Whereas he is used to his role. On top of all,
he cannot get over anxiety, for he will have to account to people
for his years of hypocrisy and deception. For he is well aware that
without his total deception the dictatorship of “the almighty” would
have disappeared long before. There is a positive thing, however:
the time of manipulators in Armenia is coming to an end. There is
another positive thing: the manipulators failed to notice how this
happened. Let them preserve their comfortable world in an eternal
status quo in words, for they act so because they are unable to modify
the state of things. When our Lord decides to punish someone, deprives
him of reason. Even Geghamyan has difficulty understanding the truth:
fear disturbs him and shuts his eyes before the truth.

–Boundary_(ID_Qh9ZIOtti2nneL/F2wL05A)–

VIOLATION OF JOURNALISTS’ ACTIVITY IS A CRIME

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[08:40 pm] 18 May, 2006

Narine Avetisyan, executive director of “Lori” TV Company and member
of the Journalists’ Union of Armenia, has twice been intimidated
(in April, 2005, and in February, 2006) while committing her duty of
a journalist.

The Journalists’ Union of Armenian, the Yerevan Press Club and the
Committee Protecting Speech Freedom made a joint announcement in
which it is said;

“The indifference of local law enforcing bodies to the first two
events paved a way for a new violence. On May 16, 2006, unknown people
threw stones at Narine Avetisyan’s car. Several days have passed but
the investigation has given no result. We wonder whether the local
authorities don’t want or are unable to reveal the case. Otherwise,
what factor is their indifference determined by if we take into
consideration the fact that one and the same journalist has been
subjected to intimidation three times within a year whereas the people
responsible for the assault are not identified yet? We remind the
authorities of Lori and Vanadzor that the violation of a journalist’s
activity is considered a crime (Article 164 of RA Criminal Code)
and demand legal bodies to hold objective investigation of this and
previous facts, punish the real criminals preventing the further
violations.”

ARMENIAN BOOKS IN THE USA

A1+
[06:14 pm] 18 May, 2006

An international exhibition “BOOK EXPO 2006″will be held in
Washington on May 19 – 21 where Armenia will be presented in a
separate pavilion. About 50 books and periodicals among them samples
of historiographic, fiction, encyclopedian and children literature,
published within the recent years will be presented by the national
publishing association and “Edit Print” publishing-house.

Publishers from 46 countries are introduced in the exhibition “BOOK
EXPO 2006.” Apart from Russia,Armenia is the only CIC country which
will be introduced in a separate booth.

CEMAL USAK: THE WEST AFFECTS ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS NEGATIVELY

Regnum, Russia
May 18 2006

“There are problems between Armenia and Turkey, which originate in the
far past, but they are solvable,” Platform of Inter-Cultural Dialogue
Secretary General, Vice President of the Istanbul Journalists and
Writers Foundation Cemal Usak stated to a REGNUM correspondent.

According to him, Turkey wishes peacefully to live with its neighbors –
“our problems are the conflict, which originated last century. We want
peacefully live with Armenia. We have been living with the country
for many centuries, for a very long history.” At the same time,
Usak stressed that “some partiality of the 1915 Armenian Genocide’s
research hinders” in Armenian-Turkish cooperation. “The problem of
Genocide should be studied relying upon unbiased sources.

Armenian politicians and government should be ready to cooperate,”
he stressed. Answering the question, whether the Turkish government
itself is ready to have a dialogue and cooperate, Cemal Usak stated
that “Turks are ready to do it, but pressure of the countries,
which are not involved in the problem, should be minimal.” “It is
fraught with danger that negotiation process may be broken. Many
problems appear neither because of Turkey nor of Armenia. Western
force interferes in the conflict,” the deputy president of Istanbul
Journalist and Writer Foundation believes.

Speaking about “Western force,” Cemal Usak meant, first of all,
the European Union, which, alongside with many other conditions,
requested Turkey, which strives for the EU membership, to recognize
the Armenian Genocide of 1915.