Author: Torosian Aram

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
—————————————— —-
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
375010 Telephone: +37410. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +37410. 562543
Email: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

19-04-2006

Minister Oskanian Receives Grigory Karasin Deputy Minister of Foreign
Affairs of the Russian Federation

On April 18, Minister Oskanian received Deputy Minister Karasin,
who was in Armenia on a regional visit.

During the meeting, the two discussed the dynamically developing
relations between the two countries, as well as a number of
international and regional issues of mutual interest and great urgency.

They focused on developments in the South Caucasus, and specifically
the prospects for searching for ways of settling the conflicts in
the region. They also touched the possibility of reactivating the
transport network stressing in this context the importance of a
peaceful and negotiated decision.

Minister Oskanian and Deputy Minister Karasin also discussed issues
having to do with the situation in Iran, as well as Armenia-Turkey
relations.

PRESS RELEASE
The National Citizens’ Initiative
75 Yerznkian Street
Yerevan 375033, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 27.16.00, 27.00.03
Fax: (+374 – 10) 52.48.46
Email: [email protected]
Website:

April 20, 2006

NCI Targets Corruption in Armenia

Yerevan–The National Citizens’ Initiative (NCI) today convened a
roundtable on “Corrupt Society: Who is to Blame?” The meeting brought
together social and political activists, human rights advocates,
analysts, experts, and media representatives. Members of world donor
organizations were likewise invited to the event.

NCI coordinator Hovsep Khurshudian welcomed the audience with opening
remarks. “One of the key problems facing the Armenian society is
corruption by the ruling authorities and this vice has also spread
onto a large segment of the body politic like a virus. The mentality
of and the mode of operation by many has become fraudulent, and
based upon petty self interests, the deception, the swindling, and
the abuse of official and social status have grown to be ordinary
and even acceptable occurrences,” he said. In Khurshudian’s words,
the first ones to fight against this phenomenon that aims at damaging
different social strata must be the media, the NGOs, the political
parties, and the international donor associations in particular by
whose subsidies the civil society is established to a great extent.

According to Khurshudian, at times the financing by these
associations is itself turning into grounds for corruption and this
is impermissible.

In his intervention, the first speaker, chairman Karen Hakobian of
the “Huis” NGO briefly presented the history behind and the cases of
corruption inside the “Professionals for Civil Society” NGO. He stated
that they had even appealed to the court in order to tackle this evil,
but it had become clear that the court’s ruling was already made prior
to hearing the case. In Hakobian’s words, this is not a single instance
and has become prevalent and widely accepted. All this, according
to Hakobian, brings about the incorrect handling of grants. He also
pointed out that since the Machiavellian precept of “the end justifies
the means” is still widespread and the constitutional amendments are
passed by way of falsifications in Armenia, these allotments cannot
serve their true purpose: the better protection of human rights and
societal interests.

During his talk concerning “Legalized Arbitrariness at the National
Academy of Sciences,” the next speaker, Academician Anri Nersisian
charged the Academy’s former president Fadey Sargsian of violating
numerous rules and regulations, unlawfully privatizing the property
belonging to the Academy and ineffectively managing the state funding
being made to the Academy. In Nersisian’s firm belief, this comes to
prove that Sargsian had acted in marginal self gain and usurped to
a large extent.

In her intervention on “Art and the ‘Distribution’ of Funding,” art
expert Susanna Giulamirian talked about the story of an unsuccessful
attempt at providing a grant. As the tale goes, since individual
petitions are not accepted for unknown set of rules, Giulamirian had
to appeal to a local social association in order to petition the “Open
Society Armenia” NGO for sponsoring a project called “European-style
Remodeling in the Post-Soviet Space.” And by winning the grant, she
started the project which also included the holding of an exhibition of
the works by arts and craftsmen of the region. However, the chairman
of the “Actual Art” local social association, through which the
funding project was introduced to the “Open Society Armenia” NGO,
demanded ten percent of the financial support.

Giulamirian naturally refused. Then “Actual Art’s” chairman started to
threaten the latter as a result of which Giulamirian made an appeal to
“Open Society Armenia” so as to change her partnering association. But
she was denied on the grounds that her evidence concerning the local
NGO’s dishonest conduct was impossible to confirm. Subsequently,
Susanna Giulamirian was com pelled to discontinue the grant.

The remainder of the session was devoted to exchanges of views and
policy recommendations among the public figures and policy specialists
in attendance. Also noteworthy were interventions by Armenia’s first
Ombudswoman Larisa Alaverdian; Valery Brusov Yerevan State Linguistic
University professor Hrach Tatevian; legal attorney Zaruhi Postanjian;
research director of the Armenian Center for National and International
Studies Stiopa Safarian; chairman of Armenian Helsinki Association
Mikael Danielian; Ruzan Khachaturian from the People’s Party of
Armenia; Tamar Gevorgian of the United Labor Party; Gevorg Kalenchian
from the Heritage Party; Vazgen Karapetian of the Catholic Relief
Services; Gohar Armenakian from the Soldier’s Protection Committee;
chairwoman Artemis Lepejian of the “St. Sandukht” NGO; Vakhtang
Siradeghian from the Transparency International Organization; members
of other social organizations; men and women of arts and crafts;
and many others.

The National Citizens’ Initiative is a public non-profit association
founded in December 2001 by Raffi K. Hovannisian, his colleagues,
and fellow citizens with the purpose of realizing the rule of law
and overall improvements in the state of the state, society, and
public institutions.

The National Citizens’ Initiative is guided by a Coordinating
Council, which includes individual citizens and representatives of
various public, scientific, and educational establishments. Five
commissions on Law and State Administration, Socioeconomic Issues,
Foreign Policy, Spiritual and Cultural Challenges, and the Youth
constitute the vehicles for the Initiative’s work and outreach.

For further information, please call (37410) 27-16-00 or 27-00-03;
fax (37410) 52-48-46; email [email protected]; or visit

ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSIONS ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO BE HELD IN SLAVYANSK-ON-KUBAN

Yerkir
18.04.2006 12:21

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Round-table discussions dated to the anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey will be held in the Slavonic
State Pedagogical Institute, reported Yerkramas, the newspaper of
Armenians of Russia.

Representatives of political and public organizations of
Slavyansk-on-Kuban will discuss the following issues: the Armenian
Genocide as a crime against humanity, international recognition
of the Armenian Genocide, official acknowledgment of the crime by
Turkey, the pan-turkism ideology as a challenge to Europe and world,
ways of fair liquidation of consequences of the Armenian Genocide,
Hat Dat decision on the basis of international law.

The event participants will be shown a film titled “I condemn” shot
by Yerkir Media TV Company and dated to the 90th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide. A resolution will be passed upon completion of
the discussions. The discussions were welcomed by a number of Russian
political figures including Russian State Duma member Sergey Shishkarev
(United Russia faction).

ALAVERDI COPPER SMELTI0NG-WORKS’ EMMISSIONS TO DECLINE BY 30% IN A YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Apr 17 2006

ALAVERDI, APRIL 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Measures are underway to reduce
emissions of the Alaverdi copper smelting-works. Nikolai Feofanov,
head of the production department of the copper smelting-works, told
NT correspondent that after the installation of absorbtive equipment,
which will take about a year, emissions will decline by 30%. The works
currently employs 650 people insteas of the previous 850 employees,
200 of whom were transferred to the Drmbon concentration mill (Artsakh)
of the Armenian Copper Company.

SPORTSMEN OF ARMENIA WIN THREE GOLD MEDALS IN KICKBOXING TOURNAMENT IN KIEV

Noyan Tapan
Apr 17 2006

KIEV, APRIL 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Representatives of Armenia participated
successfully in the international tournament of kickboxing held in
the capital of Ukraine, Kiev. Three of them won the first places in
their weight categories, winning all the competitors. Varuzh Manukian
(53 kg weight catergory), Artur Arshakian (64 kg) and Gagik Badalian
(87 kg) became the international tournament winners. Now the sportsmen
of Armenia prepare for the world championship to take place in Greece
in May.

KEITH KEENER’S POSITIVE THOUGHTS

San Francisco Caller
San Francisco, CA, USA
April, 2006

Part 1 and part 2 of Keith Keener’s Positive Thoughts were written
some 3 years ago – they must have struck a cord. I continue to
receive an outpouring of mail, most of it people expressing agreement
with my support of President Bush and the War on Evil. In fact,
the question most people asked me is, “Besides flying the American
flag and participating in hate crimes, how can I show my support for
the President?”

Actually, most of the so-called “hate crimes” you’re talking about
are directed at terrorists, so they’re really motivated by love for
America. It’s time to start calling them “love crimes.” Actually, now
that I think of it, “crimes” doesn’t really best capture this. Maybe
“making love.” Though I think that one’s taken.

Since you’ve asked, though, the best thing you can do is to start
boycotting right now. France refuses to go along with America on our
pre-emptive retaliation at Iraq, so I say, start boycotting French
wine, French cheese, etc. I live in Wisconsin, so I don’t even eat
French cheese (why would I, with good old Wisconsin fried cheese
curds all around?) or drink French wine (again, with Wollersheim
Winery located in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, I don’t need to import).

I can’t stop eating French fries, so like many Americans, I’m calling
them “Freedom fries.” And there’s also “freedom toast.”

We should also be boycotting Turkish stuff, because of the way that
Turkey has treated us. President Bush generously offered Turkey
something like 90 billion dollars in aid, plus U.S. special forces
to use in fighting the Armenian menace. He then pledged to remove,
by executive order, the word “Armenia” from American dictionaries,
which he has already whittled down to just about 600 words in previous
presidential decrees. Come to think of it, he already took “whittle”
out of U.S. dictionaries, so I have to rewrite that sentence or start
using British English, whatever the heck that is. Anyway, I don’t think
I can boycott any Turkish things, so I am trying to think of a good
way to rename “Turkish taffy,” which is that country’s most important
cultural legacy. They’re also really mad about the popularity of My
Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Anyway, the upshot of this is, if you see someone wearing a beret
or a fez, I suggest that you make love. Or commit a love crime,
whichever you think is the better way to say this.

Sorry for the long intro, but it sort of ends Part 1 and 2 of the
Positive Thoughts. Until next time.

PMB 31 322 Cortland Avenue San Francisco, CA 94110.

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
04/17/2006
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://WWW.ASBAREZ. COM

1) Central Genocide Commemoration Event to Be Held in Montebello
2) Karabagh Holds War Games
3) ARF Holds Ceremony in Memory of Shahen Meghrian
4) US Considers Setting up Naval Bases in Turkey
5) Armenian Women Politicians Discuss Lack of Female Representation

1) Central Genocide Commemoration Event to Be Held in Montebello

The commemoration of the 91st anniversary of the Armenian genocide will be
held
Sunday, April 23 at 4:30 PM at the Armenian Genocide Monument in Montebello’s
Bicknell Park, announced California’s Central Commemorative Body.
The program will feature local and state officials, including State Senator
Jackie Speier. The keynote speaker will be Professor Peter Cowe, Narekatsi
Professor of Armenian Studies at UCLA.
After the political portion of the program, there will be a requiem service
for the 1.5 million victims of the Genocide.
Transportation to and from the event will be provided at the following
locations:

GLENDALE, St. Mary’s Apostolic Church
GLENDALE, St. Gregory’s Armenian Catholic Church
PASADENA, St. Gregory the Illuminator Church
PASADENA, St. Sarkis Church
VAN NUYS, St. Bedros Church
HOLLYWOOD, St. Hovhannou Garabed Church
HOLLYWOOD, St. Garabed Church

California’s Central Commemorative Body urges all Armenians to attend
Sunday’s
event and remember the victims of the Armenian genocide.

2) Karabagh Holds War Games

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–The armed forces of Mountainous Karabagh Republic (MKR)
will hold three-day military games starting April 18. The Armenian Ministry of
Defense reported that the defense ministers of Armenia and Karabagh and other
top army officers will watch the drills.
MKR Defense Ministry spokesman Senor Hasratyan told journalists the war games
are going to be held in compliance with the 2006 army training plan.
“The measure aims at improving the combat readiness of Armenian forces of
Nagorno-Karabagh and coordinating their work during defense and counterattack
operations,” he said.

3) ARF Holds Ceremony in Memory of Shahen Meghrian

YEREVAN (Yerkir)–Monday marked the 13th anniversary of the death of Karabagh
war hero Shahen Meghrian and Nigol Aghbalian Student Union member Grigor
Grigorian. Marking the date, eleven new members were inaugurated into the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF).
The ceremony was attended by Meghrian’s relatives, officials, and students
visiting the hero’s grave. Parliament Vice Speaker and ARF Bureau member Vahan
Hovannisian, who was also godfather of the ceremony, said the new members were
taking their oaths at the grave of one of the most beloved heroes of the ARF
who, if alive, could have held a top post at the Defense Ministry. The eleven
students took their inauguration oaths with their hands on the ARF charter,
program, and a weapon.
Hovannisian said, “We swear on the charter since it unites us for our
work, we
swear on the program because it unites us for our ideas, and we swear on the
weapon, which symbolizes not only war, but also struggle, freedom, and the
defense of our country.”

4) US Considers Setting up Naval Bases in Turkey

ANKARA (RIA Novosti)–The United States is considering setting up three naval
bases in Turkey, a Turkish newspaper reported Monday.
Cumhuriyet said the bases would have the same legal status as the
American-Turkish Air Force base at Incirlik, where the presence of Turkish
representatives is mandated and all activities must be coordinated with the
local authorities.
The paper said the port of Iskenderun on the Mediterranean coast and Urla in
the Aegean Sea, as well as Mordogan on the Aegean Sea coast are possible
locations for the bases, which are likely to host large naval ships including
aircraft carriers.
The US has been searching for appropriate locations for the last eight
months,
the paper said, and had been considering the use of current Turkish ports or
establishing new ones.
Initially, Washington wanted one of the three bases to be located on Turkey’s
Black Sea coast. But the request was denied because Turkey is a signatory to
the 1936 Montreux Convention, which regulates navigation in the Black Sea
straits and bans non-littoral states from maintaining a permanent naval
presence in the Black Sea.

5) Armenian Women Politicians Discuss Lack of Female Representation

YEREVAN (RFE/RL/Armenpress)–One of few women members of Armenian Parliament,
Alvart Petrosian from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), said Monday
that Armenia must demand democracy in order to boost the role of women in the
country’s political life.
Armenian women are grossly underrepresented in government. Armenia has no
female government ministers and only six out of 131 members of its parliament
are women.
Armenia has a legal provision stipulating that at least five percent of
candidates from a party or alliance must be women. However, female candidates
have usually been low on the electorate slates of competing political groups,
meaning that they have very low chances of winning parliament seats.
The most common explanation for this phenomenon is that Armenia is still a
conservative male-dominated society where women are largely confined to minor
positions outside their homes.
But according to one of the country’s best-known female politicians, this is
not necessarily the case. Speaking at a roundtable discussion in Yerevan,
Ruzan
Khachatrian, a senior member of the People’s Party of Armenia, said that
Armenian women have primarily themselves to blame for their extremely weak
presence in the executive and legislative branches of government.
“Strangely enough, during elections in Armenia a woman is far more reluctant
to elect another woman than a man is,” said Khachatrian. “Why is this so? I
don’t know.”
Khachatrian was the main opposition candidate in last October’s local
election
in Yerevan’s central administrative district which a businessman won. She
believes that that the vast majority of some 5,000 local residents who voted
for her were men.
Lyudmila Harutunian, a prominent Armenian sociologist who leads a small party
called Arzhanapatvutyun (Dignity), agreed that winning an election or securing
a high-level government post is extremely difficult for local women, but laid
the blame squarely on the men. She said Armenia’s government affairs have long
been monopolized by wealthy businessmen and other powerful men reliant on
brute
force and there is little women can do about that.
Harutunian said women should play a bigger role in moving the country towards
true democracy. She said democracy has no alternative, adding that a
democratic
Armenia would face fewer problems in its efforts to settle the Karabagh
dispute.

All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier
and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and
subscription requests.
(c) 2006 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved.

ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for
academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through
mass media outlets.

KAREN DEMIRCHYAN WOULD BE 74

A1+
[05:31 pm] 17 April, 2006

Today Karen Demirchyan would be 74 years old. This is the seventh
year his relatives and friends have been visiting the Pantheon after
Komitas on his birthday.

Karen Demirchyan’s relatives consider it meaningless to speak about the
October 27 events and their consequences under the present authorities
and prefer to suffer in silence.

“He was a unique person both as a leader, and as a husband, and as a
father. I have never met a better person in my life. That’s why the
loss is too bitter.

My soul can find no consolation. Those who did not know him personally
cannot imagine who he was. Only the appearance is not enough to know
him,” Karen Demirchyan’s widow Rima Demirchyan said.

The relatives of the other victims of the October 27 events visited the
Pantheon too .According to Anahit Bakhshyan, Yuri Bakhshyan’s widow,
today’s reality has gone astray from human values, “Patriotism, loyalty
and even the truth are distorted. Everything is in a topsy-turvy. If
today there are this many people here, it means that only this many
people exist today in the country.”

Regardless of the change of the political situation, Karen Demirchyan
and Fadey Sargsyan were bonded with joint work and friendship of many
years. “I have known him since 1957. He was a very friendly man. When
we played a game, he wanted to let me win intentionally, but he always
won as he was stronger. He was a unique person with his diligence,
fidelity to principles, and shrewd mind. Even in the Soviet Union he
never surrendered to anyone. In any situation he was able to gain a
victory,” Fadey Sargsyan, one of his closest friends said.

REPORT ON PROBLEM OF REFUGEES IN SOUTH CAUCASUS PUBLICIZED IN PACE

STRASBOURG, APRIL 14, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “The negotiations
on the Nagorno Karabakh problem have reached a deadlock, I call on
both sides to activize their efforts in this direction,” Boris
Tsilevich, the author of the report on refugees of Armenia, Georgia
and Azerbaijan, declared late in the April 13 evening in PACE. The
Latvian parliamentarian mentioned that this problem hampers the
development of these three countries and called on the South Caucasian
authorities to strain maximum efforts for improving the life of
hundreds of thousands of people and for returning them to their native
houses.

According to radio “Liberty”, the report also calls on the
country-members of the Council of Europe to provide assistance to
people who have remained without a shelter as a result of
conflicts. “The report is of great importance: it not only offers
exact steps aimed at solving the issue but also presents the objective
situation in the region based on the data of UN,” Tigran Torosian, the
head of the Armenian parliamentary delegation, declared. “The myth
about millions of refugees speculated by Azerbaijan for dozens of
years burst before your eyes. The report mentions that the number of
these people has never exceeded 800 thousand and in late 2004 there
were 8 thousand 606 refugees in Azerbaijan,” the RA National Assembly
Vice-Speaker emphasized. Member of Azerbaijani delegation Gyultekin
Hajiyeva managed to introduce some changes into the document, in
particular, to change the clause, according to which refugees can
return to their houses only after the final settlement of the
conflict. “You know that the occupied territory around Karabakh is
twice larger than Karabakh itself. And I consider that this is a very
important issue in the political aspect,” Hajieyva mentioned. “If we
did not introduce these changes, this would mean that we give up for
lost the stage-by-stage variant of the conflict settlement,” one of
the members of the Azerbaijani delegation explained in his interview
to the Trend agency after the voting.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 14 2006

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry: `We’ll try to commute unfair verdict
on Ramil Safarov’

[ 14 Apr. 2006 13:24 ]

`The Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan does not agree to the unfair
verdict passed on Azerbaijani army officer Rami Safarov for murdering
Armenian army officer Gurgen Markarian in Hungary,’ the spokesman for
the Defense Ministry Ilgar Verdiyev told APA. He said that Safarov’s
lawyer will appeal against the verdict.

`Ramil Safarov is the officer of the Defense Ministry. We’ll take
necessary steps to defend our officer, to commute the unfair verdict
on him,’ Verdiyev said.
Verdiyev also said the Ministry will defray all expenses for legal
defense of Ramil Safarov.
The Budapest court yesterday sentenced the Azerbaijani army officer
Ramil Safarov to life in prison. /APA/