Author: Tumanian Talar

YOUR CHURCH. YOUR FUTURE. ENGAGE: A GATHERING WITH ARAM VEHAPAR

ArmRadio.am
26.10.2006 11:14

His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia will be
in the United States in early December. He will deliver the keynote
address at a conference at the University of Notre Dame. On this
occasion, His Holiness requested a gathering of young Armenians from
across the United States and Canada to gather in Michigan and engage
in a dialogue with Him, and have the opportunity to learn more about
the Armenian Church.

The weekend gathering is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday December 1,
2 and 3.

The Midwest was selected as the site of the event because of its
central location accessible to both the East and West coasts of the
United States and Canada.

The theme of the event is "Your Church. Your
Future. Engage." Organizers of the event, which is being sponsored by
the three Prelacies of North America, are forming a roster of events
that will be challenging and engrossing.

AMBASSADOR OF JAPAN HANDED HIS CREDENTIALS TO RA PRESIDENT

ArmRadio.am
26.10.2006 17:45

The newly appointed of Japan to the Republic of Armenia Yasuo Saito
(seat in Moscow) handed his credentials to RA President Robert
Kocharyan.

Congratulating the Ambassador on appointment, the President said
Armenia is interested in the enlargement of cooperation with Japan.

Robert Kocharyan highly assessed the contribution of the Japanese
Government to the development of economy of our country. He attached
special importance to the programs in the sphere of energy.

As similarity between the two countries the parties mentioned the
scarce natural recourses and the great mental potential.

According to Robert Kocharyan, Japan is a good example of how success
can be achieved trough effective governance and diligence. He said also
that the experience of Japan in modernizing the country, maintaining
the national peculiarities can also be a good example for Armenia.

During the meeting reference was made to the international situation
in the context of nuclear weapons testing in the North Korea.

DUTCH GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES 0.5 MLN EUR FOR OPENING PROGRAMMER RETRAINING SCHOOL IN ARMENIA

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Oct 25 2006

The Dutch Government has provided Metris company from the Netherlands
with 0.5 mln EUR for opening a programmer retraining school in Armenia,
says the company’s representative in Armenia Levon Bagdasaryan.

For 10 years already Metris has been producing high-precision medical
equipment for leading hospitals in Europe and the US.

Bagdasaryan says that retrainees will be employed with Metris and will
get start-up salary of $500. Today Metris has 4 programmers in Armenia.

The company has its representations in Russia, Japan and Hong Kong
and almost 50 employees. Metris is going to enlarge its activities
in Armenia however it cannot find qualified personnel while Armenian
students do not hurry to undergo the retraining.

US Urges France to Promote Discussion
By Selcuk Gultasli, Brussels
Saturday, October 21, 2006
zaman.com

Zaman, Turkey
Oct 21 2006

The United States has expressed it views on the Armenian genocide
legislation criminalizing the denial of the issue, noting that it
did not make sense.

Washington, which has taken a firm stance against the regulation,
called on Paris "not to take sides but to promote the debate in Turkey
and the dialogue between Turkey and Armenia."

Fried Meets Reporters

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Daniel Fried
spoke on Friday in Brussels to a small group of reporters, including
some from Zaman.

Asked by a Zaman reporter to assess the bill, he said "this is a very
intricate matter, and it deserves a comprehensive answer."

Noting that French President Jacques Chirac had sounded his concerns
about the bill, Fried said, "We believe those concerns to be right
ones," and he emphasized that the U.S. governments never described
the events of 1915 as "genocide."

"This doesn’t mean that we belittle or deny the mass killings that
took place in 1915. President Bush has always accentuated his grief
caused by the events" said Fried.

Fried emphasized that forbidding any discussion about the issue made
no sense and said "Every country has parts in its history that it
is not proud of. For instance, slavery, the maltreatment of American
Indians, and the gathering of Japanese-origin American citizens into
camps during World War II are such examples from my country."

Fried also said that his country discusses all such subjects
transparently just the way it has to be in modern societies and Turkey
should be encouraged to do so as well.

Warning that "the French bill is not going to promote discussion,"
Fried uttered that the responsibility of other countries involved
were to foster the air of discussion in Turkey and the efforts for
dialogue between Turkey and Armenia.

Also calling on France "to promote dialogue instead of taking sides,"
he pointed out that the subject in Turkey was already being discussed
and Turkish intellectuals had started adopting different angles to
evaluate the events of 1915.

It was very unusual of Fried to call on both the Turkish and Armenian
side to look at the 1915 events "with pain but honestly."

Also touching on the Cyprus matter, Fried said they hoped that a
train wreck would not occur between Turkey and the European Union
and considered it a positive development that none of the parties
had rejected the Finnish plan yet.

Praising the president of Turkish Cyprus Mehmet Ali Talat’s efforts
toward a solution, Fried never mentioned Tassos Papadopoulos, the
president of Greek Cyprus.

OSCE OFFICE ORGANIZES WORKSHOP ON COMBATING TRAFFICKING IN ARMENIA

Panorama.am
17:41 20/10/06

Developing and implementing a national strategy and action plan to
combat trafficking in human beings and best practices in the field
were discussed at a workshop that ended in Yerevan today.

The two-day event, organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan, brought
together Government officials and representatives of international
and non-governmental organizations.

The event followed a trafficking responses assessment initiated by
the OSCE Office between 9 and 20 October.

Experts Hana Snajdrova from the Czech Interior Ministry and Barbara
Sidoti, formerly with the International Centre for Migration Policy
Development – were invited to assess the Armenian trafficking responses
and conduct the workshop.

"A national strategy is an important tool which can help strengthen
the capacity of the State and society to combat human trafficking,"
said Barbara Sidoti. "In order to be effective, the strategy has to
involve both State institutions and civil society. Serious efforts are
required from the side of the Government to co-ordinate the process
and support it by allocating the necessary resources." Participants
discussed how a national strategy can lead to an effective plan of
action and highlighted the importance of progress indicators and
monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for periodical revisions of the
strategy and the action plan. The Armenian national strategy to combat
trafficking in human beings expires in December, and the authorities
are working on the next plan for 2007-2009.

Finnish Foreign Minister Calls Armenia Bill ‘Foolish’
By Foreign News Desk

Zaman, Turkey
Oct 19 2006

Thursday, October 19, 2006
zaman.com

Finland’s foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja criticized France harshly
for their bill criminalizing the denial of an Armenian genocide and
said that the French parliament "has made a bad mistake."

Finland currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

His comments were published on a foreign ministry website.

"Parliaments shouldn’t make laws regarding historical facts," he said.

"Lawmakers should never intervene in such self-evident and
self-questioning political arguments and the atmosphere of debate
that emerges in the aftermath through legislating them. However,
France unfortunately did not behave according to this principle with
the Armenian genocide bill that passed the lower house. I think France
has made a big mistake and it should quit this mistake immediately."

He also remarked, "I personally think that ‘genocide’ is the right
term to describe what was experienced at that time and I hope Turkey
will become ready to accept this reality."

Bill Likely to Weaken EU’s Power

Finland’s foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja opined that it would not
be politically astute for parliaments and governments to legislate
historical facts.

"The EU has repeatedly demanded that Turkey abolish the notorious
Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Many Turks, including the Nobel
Prize winning writer Orhan Pamuk have been sued so far, using this law
that considers that the thoughts they expressed were offensive to the
Turkish state. Now conservative people in Turkey might not pay heed
to the EU’s calls and may question whether the EU has such a right."

In the meantime, two prominent French historians, Pierre Nora and
Francoise Chandernagor, repeated their criticism of the bill in
question.

Speaking on French television on France-3 in an open debate, Nora
stated "Those under the influence of Armenian voters, also the
deputies against Turkey’s EU membership process, are taking advantage
of this bill."

Chandernagor, who said that the bill had opened a Pandora ‘s Box,
stated, "There is no end to this; there are approximately 15 bills
waiting to be discussed about historical events; even about the
Crusades. Where will this lead us?"

The Association of Freedom for History, founded by Nora and
Chandernagor with a group of French academics, has harshly opposed
the bill.

Tan: French govt opposition to Armenian bill ‘a relief,’ but not enough

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Oct 20 2006

The Turkish Foreign Ministry stated yesterday that although the
French government’s opposition to their Parliament’s passage of the
Armenian "genocide" bill is a relief to some extent, it doesn’t solve
the problem.

Speaking during a weekly press conference, Foreign Ministry
spokesperson Namik Tan said, "France has lost its privileged position
in the eyes of Turkey. Reparation for this damage is impossible
through an administrative decision or a law."

Stressing that France should have taken constructive steps before the
passage of the bill by Parliament, Tan said, "We expected France to
act in accordance with the acquis and to act with common sense. But
we experienced great disappointment over the issue. From now on,
France will live with this embarrassment."

Tan rules out recall of Turkish ambassador

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson also ruled out the recalling of the
Turkish ambassador from Paris, saying that Ankara’s representative
should be present in France to effectively convey its views.

"The decision not to withdraw the ambassador shouldn’t be seen as
a weakness," said Tan, pointing out the different ways for Turkish
people to show their reaction against the French Parliament’s move.

"Some of these steps have already been taken,and some are planned to
be taken in the future," Tan added.

"We are in favor of acting in a cool-headed and logical way. We’re
trying to base our strategy and take steps in line with those two
principles," Tan added.

TURKISH PARLIAMENT ISSUES DECLARATION CONDEMNING FRENCH DECISION

Anatolia news agency, Ankara
16 Oct 2006

Ankara, 17 October: Turkish parliament condemned the decision of the
French parliament which adopted a resolution criminalizing denial of
so-called Armenian genocide allegations.

A declaration, prepared by the deputy group chairmen of ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP), main opposition Republican People’s Party
(CHP), Motherland Party, was also signed by True Path Party (DYP)
leader Mehmet Agar and Young Party MP Emin Sirin. It was adopted in
the session.

Recalling that the resolution was adopted with votes of only one-fifth
of the French MPs and many MPs abstained, the resolution said that
all these show that the MPs were affected by the internal policy
discussions and the Armenian minority.

The resolution pointed out that France caused killing of more than
one million innocent people in Algeria, Indochina, Madagascar and some
other African countries, noting that everybody should talk carefully
about historical incidents that occurred in other countries.

"There is nothing in Turkey’s history which makes Turkish nation
ashamed," the declaration emphasized.

According to the declaration, many historians, including French
historians, have proved that the incidents that occurred during
the World War I cannot be defined as "genocide" under international
conventions. It said that there are many documents in Turkish archives
regarding this matter, and they are open to all researchers.

It will cost too much

The declaration recalled that the Turkish parliament suggested Armenia
to set up a joint commission of historians who would investigate the
historical incidents, and regretted that the Armenian government did
not respond in affirmative.

"With this resolution, the French parliament not only harms our
relations (Turkish-French relations) but also hampers efforts to
normalize our relations with Armenia. It is obvious that adoption
of this resolution will cause irreparable wounds in our political,
economic and military relations. These hostile policies carried out
by Armenia against Turkish nation, by lobbying in France and other
countries, will cost too much for them. Our parliament wants to believe
that the French parliament will act in common sense from now on. The
measures Turkish government will take during this process will show
how France’s interests can be harmed if the resolution is legalized,"
it added.

ET SI CHRISTOPH BLOCHER AVAIT RAISON?

Le Temps, Suisse
18 octobre 2006

La polemique declenchee par la gauche et une partie des medias
suite aux propos de M. Blocher en Turquie concernant le genocide des
Armeniens s’est averee inutile et deplacee. […]

La recente proposition francaise de sanctionner toute negation du
genocide des Armeniens a provoque une grave crise avec la Turquie
avec pour resultat le boycott des produits francais. La Suisse n’a
aucune raison de suivre une telle voie, surtout au moment où l’Union
europeenne et meme M. Chirac viennent de declarer qu’il s’agissait
d’un camouflet inutile a l’egard de la Turquie. C’etait exactement
la position pragmatique prise par notre conseiller federal Christoph
Blocher qui jugeait, comme une majorite de Suisses, que nous n’avions
pas a condamner la Turquie. Laissons plutôt les historiens et les
politiciens en mal de publicite et d’electeurs s’entre-dechirer sur
des evenements datant de plus d’un siècle. Ne facilitons surtout pas la
tâche des vrais racistes qui cherchent a empecher la Turquie, l’un des
rares pays musulmans democratiques, a se joindre a l’Union europeenne.

Par contre, le silence de beaucoup de medias et de politiciens sur
les massacres recents des populations du Darfour et du Rwanda ainsi
que sur la famine en Coree du Nord due a son gouvernement stalinien
est intolerable. Aucun reproche ni sanctions non plus sur les propos
negationnistes et les caricatures antisemites du president iranien
relatifs a l’extermination des juifs par les nazis.

M. Blocher a simplement le courage d’exprimer des opinions partagees
par une majorite silencieuse de citoyens qui ne sont ni racistes ni
negationnistes. […]

–Boundary_(ID_jFdl2CMExdPpeGiD/wm+cg)–

ON OCTOBER 18, ART-LOVERS TO BID LAST FAREWELL TO SINGER VARDUHI VARDANIAN

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 16 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 16, NOYAN TAPAN. 30-year-old well-known singer,
laureate of a number of international competitions, Varduhi Vardanian
died on October 15, in a car accident on the Sevan-Martuni-Getap road.

In 1993 the singer finished the music school of Armenian Chorus
Company, in 1994 Yerevan State Institute of Foreign Languages after
V.Brusov and in 2003 Yerevan State Conservatory after Komitas. In 1994
V.Vardanian took part in the international competition in Sverdlovsk
with the Jazz Pop ensemble and received Grand Prix. Since 1995 she
had been working at the Armenian State Theater of Song. In 1996 the
singer participated in the Yalta-Moscow-Transit international contest
of young singers where she received a special prize for the best
performance. In 1999 V.Vardanian was recognized the best singer of the
year. In the same year she participated in the Zolotoy Shlyager contest
in Belarus and gained the second prize. In 2000 she received Grand
Prix and Spectator’s Sympathy special prize at the Discovery Bulgarian
contest. V.Vardanian also received Grand Prix at the competition held
in Macedonia in the same year. In 2002 she took part in the Slavyanski
Bazar international competition and received the second prize.

The art-lovers will bid their last farewell to the singer on October
18, at the Aram Khachatrian concert hall.