Author: Tvankchian Parkev

GUL TO TRAVEL TO FRANCE

Turkish Press
Sept 11 2006

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is due tomorrow to travel to France for
an official visit. During his stay in the country, Gul is expected
to meet with French officials and talk to them about the so-called
Armenian genocide and the activities of Armenians in the country this
year, which has been proclaimed the "Year of Armenia" in France. Gul
will meet with his French counterpart Philippe Douste-Blazy and Europe
Minister Catherine Colonna to discuss a number of issues, including
bilateral relations. Gul will also meet with representatives of
Turkish associations in France and tell them to stay calm during the
"Year of Armenia."

LEBANON’S ARMENIANS PROTEST AGAINST TURKISH FORCES

Yerkir
11.09.2006 12:10

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Hundreds of Lebanese Armenians gathered at the
main square in Bourdj Hammoud Friday to take part in a demonstration
organized by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Central Committee
of Lebanon as a protest to the deployment of Turkish troops to southern
Lebanon as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission.

Speaking on behalf of the ARF, Hratch Varjabedian said that the
Armenian community of Lebanon – and all Armenians – will assert
its protest because Turkey is the number one enemy of the Armenian
people, adding that the Lebanese government’s ignoring of the Armenian
community’s will was deemed unacceptable, referring to a decision
Monday by the Lebanese cabinet to allow Turkish forces in Lebanon.

"Turkey, which carried out horrible crimes against humanity, cannot
take part in any peace process until it recognizes the Genocide of
the Armenian people," Jacques Choukhadarian, a former Parliament
member and minister, told Friday’s gathering.

Representatives of the community have sent letters to UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan and to Western embassies in Beirut urging them
to reject Turkish participation in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon
(UNIFIL) set to number 15,000 troops from various countries. Religious
leaders has also issued a statement calling the Turkish participation
in UNIFIL "morally unacceptable," reported the Asbarez.

TURKEY TO ACKNOWLEDGE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IF HISTORIANS TAKE CORRESPONDING DECISION

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.09.2006 14:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Minister of Economy, Turkey’s Special
Representative at the talks with the EU Ali Babacan said that
Ankara will acknowledge the Armenian Genocide only in case the joint
Armenian-Turkish commission of historians confirms the fact. Babacan
said it in an interview published by Handelsblad Dutch newspaper and
titled "Genocide Recognition by Turkey Not Ruled Out". When asked,
whether the Turkish government can admit a decision that will
characterize the events taken place at the beginning of the 20th
century as Genocide, the Turkish Minister said, "Yes, we will agree
with any decision."

At the same time Babacan censured the resolution on the Armenian
Genocide adopted by the European Parliament and said that
"parliamentarians are not historians and the European Parliament is
not the institution to announce what really happened."

According to him, "all the Turkish archives are open for scientists
and Turkey’s proposal on formation of a joint commission of historians
is still valid," reported Mediamax.

NKR SPEAKER MET WITH DELEGATIONS OF SOUTH OSETIA AND TRANSDNYESTR

Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
09 Sept 2006

On September 4 NKR Speaker Ashot Ghulian met with the delegation of
the Republic of South Osetia, Deputy Foreign Minister Alan Pliyev
and Deputy Minister of Defense and Emergencies Ibrahim Gassiyev. The
delegation visiting NKR on the 15th anniversary of NKR thanked
for hospitality and emphasized that relations between the two
republics are becoming more frequent, which enables development of
cooperation. The speaker of the NKR National Assembly Ashot Ghulian
expressed willingness to extend cooperation between Stepanakert and
Tskhinvali, namely on the level of parliaments. Besides, the future
visits were outlined. Vahram Atanessian, chair of the Committee of
Foreign Relations and Arpat Avanessian, chair of the Social Committee
were present. On September 5 Ashot Ghulian met with the delegation
of the Moldavian Republic of Transdnyestr, Ljubomir Ribyak, chair
of the Committee of External Relations and Sergey Simonenko, deputy
head of the Department of External Relations of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. The speaker of the National Assembly thanked the
guests for arriving from Tiraspol to take part in the celebration,
and emphasized that such visits greatly foster relations between
the two countries. During the talk relations between the two states,
namely parliamentary ties were discussed.

Yuri Hairapetyan, chair of the State and Legal Committee and Semion
Afiyan, senior official of the NKR foreign ministry were present at
the meeting.

Press Secretary Of The NKR Speaker

SOLOISTS OF DEKHTSANIK TRIO TO CONTINUE THEIR CAREER IN MOSCOW

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Sept 08 2006

SOCHI, SEPTEMBER 8, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. 6th Moscow
International Youth Competition-Festival "The Sun is Shining to
Eeverybody" is being held in Sochi. The festival participants
compete for the title of the best ones in choreography, singing,
instrumental performance and in the genre of circus art. Young actors
and dancers from 67 cities of Russia have come to take part in the
festival. According to the Yerkramas (Krai) newspaper of Armenians
of Russia, evident pretender to victory is the Dekhtsanik (Canary)
vocal trio from Adler performing songs in Armenian. If even the young
soloists of the ensemble do not receive Grand Prix at the festival,
it is already known that they will continue their career in Moscow,
from where they have already received the respective invitation.

NKR PARLIAMENT SPEAKER RECEIVES DELEGATION FROM DNIESTER MOLDAVIAN REPUBLIC

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Sept 6 2006

STEPANAKERT, September 6. /ARKA/. Nagorno-Karabakh Parliament
Speaker Ashot Gulyan hosted a delegation from Dniester Moldavian
Republic on Wednesday. Lyubomir Ribyakin, the republic’s parliamentary
sub-committee head, and Sergey Simonenko, foreign ministerial official
in charge of foreign relations, were included in the delegation.

The delegates came to Karabakh to attend the celebration of the 15th
anniversary of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic independence. The guests
thanked Karabakh authorities and people for cordial reception.

Gulyan, in his turn, express gratitude to the delegates for their
participation in the festivities.

AZERI MEDIA DISTORTED ISRAELI MP WORDS ON KARABAKH

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.09.2006 12:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Words I said over the Nagorno Karabakh issue
during my visit to Baku in May were distorted," Knesset MP Yosef
Shagal said. In his words, he never stated the position of his country
over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. "Israel will express its attitude
to the NK conflict after Azerbaijan announces its position over the
Israeli-Palestinian confrontation," Shagal said, reports APA.

EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO NKR INDEPENDENCE 15th ANNIVERSARY OPENS AT RA NATIONAL LIBRARY

Noyan Tapan
Sept 04 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The exhibition that opened on
September 4 at RA National Library is dedicated to the 15th anniversary
of NKR independence. Literature, magazines, publications dedicated to
Artsakh history are presented at the exhibition. Separate departments
are dedicated to struggle for Artsakh liberation, in particular, to
its heroes, to Shoushi liberation. As Levon Shirinian, candidate of
philosophical sciences, said, no issue has been and will be solved
in Armenian-Turkish relations without using force. In his words,
Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s becoming democratic countries is an illusion.

In L.Shirinian’s opinion, one of solutions to the Nagorno Karabakh
problem is Armenian side’s continuing military, economic pressures
and forcing Azerbaijan to sign a reconciliation agreement. "The other
variant is status quo. We should preserve the current frozen state,
status quo and this idea will become fixed in the consciousness of
the world community and Azerbaijani people," L.Shirinian said.

ARMENIA HAS NO CONTACTS WITH TURKEY: MINISTER OSKANYAN

Panorama.am
17:11 04/09/06

Vartan Oskanyan, minister of foreign affairs of Armenia, told reporters
today Armenia has no official contacts with Turkey as of today. The
minister did not deny that from time to time the two countries have
had some contacts. "If there is not result, we see no point in talking
about them," the minister pointed out.

Speaking about the reports in the Turkish mass media, saying that
Armenian and Turkish historians cooperate to study 1915 Genocide
of Armenians, minister Oskanyan said, "Armenian President Robert
Kocharyan has clearly uttered our disposition to Prime Minister of
Turkey Erdogan. After that, nothing has been changed."

From: [email protected]
Subject: FM Vardan Oskanian Belgian Senator Francois Roelants duVivier

Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian Belgian Senator François Roelants du
Vivier

ArmRadio.am
02.09.2006 15:24

September 2 RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian received the Head of
the Foreign Relations and Defense Committee of the Belgian Senate
François Roelants du Vivier.

Greting the guests, Minister Oskanian highly appreciated the Senator’s
contribution to raising the Armenian issues in Belgium and development
of Armenian-Belgian relations.

In his turn, MR. Du Vivier appreciated the Armenian-Belgian
cooperation, noting that it has been developing in a number of
directions.

The Belgian Senator shared his impressions from the visit to Nagorno
Karabakh and expressed his views on the settlement of the conflict. At
the guest’s request, Minister Oskanyan presented the current state of
the negotiations.

The interlocutors discussed issues related to Armenia-EU Actions Plan
in the framework of the EU new Neighborhood Policy. Reference was made
to regional developments and Armenian-Turkish relations.