Author: Tvankchian Parkev

GENOCIDE COURSE IRKS ETHNIC GROUPS
Daniel Dale

Toronto Star
1
June 13 2008
Canada

Toronto District School Board made only minor changes to a new Grade
11 genocide course at a special meeting last night, sending dozens
of protestors home unhappy.

More than 40 Ukrainian-Canadians and 60 Turkish-Canadians picketed
before the meeting, then packed the board’s gallery seats.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress wanted the 1932-1933 forced famine
in Soviet Ukraine used as the course’s fourth case study with the
Nazi Holocaust, 1994 Rwanda genocide and 1915 mass murder of Ottoman
Empire Armenians.

The Federation of Canadian Turkish Associations and Council of
Turkish Canadians sought the removal from the curriculum of the
Ottoman killings, which the government of Turkey contends did not
constitute genocide.

The International Association of Genocide Scholars, like the government
of Canada, does deem them genocide. The Ottoman case was not mentioned
at the meeting, and no trustee proposed adding the Ukrainian famine
as a core case.

The board, however, passed two amendments. The first allows teachers
to spend significant time on genocides other than the three core case
studies as they "see fit." The second notes the curriculum’s exclusion
of specific genocides does not imply the board believes those events
are of "lesser significance."

Trustee Mari Rutka said she planned to propose at a regular board
meeting that material on the Ukrainian famine be added to the curricula
of other courses in 2009-10 and proposed a school system-wide famine
remembrance day.

The Muslim Canadian Congress also expressed disappointment over
the board’s decision to include a "one-sided" view of the Armenian
genocide in the curriculum without including pre-WWI "ethnic cleansing
of Muslims from the Balkans and southern Europe."

PRESS RELEASE
United Nations Development Programme / Armenia
14 Petros Adamyan St., Yerevan 0010
Contact: Mr. Hovhannes Sarajyan, Communications Associate
Tel: +37410 566 073
E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Web site: <;
<;

*UNDP in Armenia Prioritizes Development Projects in Regions*

*United Nations, Yerevan* – On 11 June Ms. Consuelo Vidal, the United
Nations Resident Coordinator / UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia
and Mr. Ralph Yirikian, the General Manager of VivaCell officially
opened the new classes of Arts and Crafts Center for the disabled at
-Pyunik- Gyumri branch. The Arts and Crafts Center is one in a series of
projects developed by the UN-initiated Global Compact that will enable
the disabled children in the northern Shirak region to develop their
skills in traditional crafts as painting, embroidery and wood carving.
-The Arts and Crafts Center is a wonderful example of corporate social
responsibility to other private sector companies in Armenia of what can
be accomplished when they pull together their efforts to support social
investment that benefits vulnerable groups of society,- said Ms.
Consuelo Vidal, head of the United Nations in Armenia. She thanked
VivaCell for their financial support to refurbish the Arts and Crafts
Center and their commitment to continue providing much needed support to
such projects in the future.
-We are extremely proud of our participation in a project that in the
long-term will empower people with special needs to act as active
members of the society,- stated Ralph Yirikian, VivaCell General Manager.

On the same day Ms. Consuelo Vidal, accompanied by the UN team members,
visited the newly renovated Gyumri State Technical and #2 Craftsmanship
Colleges. These two middle-level educational institutions are part of
the UNDP -Modernization of Vocational Education and Training System-
project network. Total amount of capital investments, provided by the
Government of Norway, made more than 260,000 USD. Gyumri State Technical
College is the only one across Armenia that offers vocational
occupations in railway transport and closely cooperates with the
-Armenian Railway-. Both colleges enjoy the support of the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) sharing the same heating system and
being equipped with the necessary educational, IT and laboratory
equipment, which makes possible to double the total number of UNDP
beneficiaries in Shirak region, reaching more than 600 people.

——————-
UNDP is on ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own
solutions to global and national development challenges. UNDP in Armenia
was established in 1993 and supports the Government of Armenia to reach
Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

LEVON ARONIAN – A FUTURE WORLD CHAMPION?

Chessbase News, Germany
June 11 2008

He is not the usual child prodigy. His rise into the upper echelons
of world chess in the last few years has nonetheless been dramatic,
and our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos believes that top
Armenian GM Levon Aronian has as good a shot as anyone to become a
world champion sometime in the near future. Dennis illustrates this
in his Wednesday night show.

Dennis Monokroussos writes:

We continue our series on the up-and-comers of today with a look at a
player who, though still young, isn’t a child prodigy. Nevertheless,
the rise of Levon Aronian to the upper echelons of world chess has
been dramatic the last two-three years, and he probably has as good a
shot as anyone to become a world champion sometime in the near future.

In support of this claim, we’ll look at his win over the current
world champion, Viswanathan Anand, from the 2007 Morelia/Linares
tournament. This game has been ranked highly in various 2007 game of
the year contests, and with very good reason. Aronian developed what
had been thought an innocuous opening approach into a strategically
dangerous idea, outplayed Anand in the early endgame, and then devised
an incredibly deep sacrificial idea where his rook and split passers
were more valuable than Black’s rook and two minor pieces! Start
to finish, it’s a great effort by Aronian, and the theoretical
significance along with the brilliant combination referred to above
make this a game very much worth seeing.

Since watching is free, there’s all the more reason to join me
this Wednesday night (today, for many of you) at 9 p.m. ET on the
playchess.com server. Hope to see you there!

wsid=4692

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email [email protected]
Internet

PRESS RELEASE

June 11, 2008
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

UPCOMING SENATE AND HOUSE HEARINGS TO FOCUS ON ARMENIA AND THE
CAUCASUS REGION

— Assistant Secretary Fried to Testify before House Foreign
Affairs Panel on June 18th;

— Senate Confirmation Hearing for Ambassador Yovanovitch Set for June 19th

WASHINGTON, DC – The focus of two key Congressional committees will
turn to the Caucasus region next week as Senate Foreign Relations
Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee members will, in an
exercise of their oversight responsibilities, have the opportunity
to question State Department officials on U.S. policy regarding
Armenia and the surrounding area, reported the Armenian National
Committee of America (ANCA).

"In the days leading up to these important hearings, I want to
encourage every Armenian American to pick up the phone and to share
their thoughts with their legislators who serve on these two panels
– the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign
Affairs Committee," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
"Simply call the Capitol Switch at (202) 225-3121 and asked to be
connected to your Senator or Representative, leave your message,
and then drop us a note at [email protected] with any feedback that you
think might be helpful."

The ANCA has also provided sample phone scripts and contact
information for Senators and Representatives at

Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Dan Fried will testify
before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday June 18th
at 10:00am EDT regarding U.S. policy toward the Caucasus region.
Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) and his fellow Committee members will
be focusing on a wide range of issues including the ongoing
blockade of Armenia, U.S. policy on the Armenian Genocide, and
foreign aid. Turkish Ambassador to the U.S. Nabi Sensoy recently
denied the existence of a Turkish blockade, arguing that there are
many Armenians who serve as "nannies" to Turkish children. The
World Bank estimates that Turkey and Azerbaijan’s blockades of
Armenia reduce Armenia’s GDP by up to 38% annually.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), along with Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA)
and Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-
NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) recently introduced the "End the
Turkish Blockade of Armenia" Bill (H.R. 6079), which calls upon
Turkey to end its blockade of Armenia and asks the U.S. Department
of State to report on its efforts towards this end.

On Thursday, June 19th, at 2:15pm, the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee is slated to hold a confirmation hearing for U.S.
Ambassador to Armenia nominee Marie Yovanovitch. On March 28, 2008,
Pres. Bush nominated Amb. Marie L. Yovanovitch to serve as
America’s next Ambassador to Armenia. The ANCA has spoken to
Committee members about the value of carefully questioning Amb.
Yovanovitch on the many issues she will face as the U.S. envoy in
Yerevan, among them the recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
Turkey and Azerbaijan’s ongoing blockades of Armenia, and the need
for a balanced U.S. role in helping forge a democratic and peaceful
resolution to the Nagorno Karabagh conflict. These efforts have
been supported by extensive on-line outreach and a national
postcard campaign to key Senate Foreign Relations Committee
members.

President Bush’s previous nominee as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia,
Richard Hoagland, was subject to two legislative holds by Sen. Bob
Menendez (D-NJ) and was ultimately withdrawn by the Administration,
following the nominee’s statements denying the Armenian Genocide.
The last U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, John Marshall Evans, was fired
by President Bush for speaking honestly about the Armenian
Genocide. The ANCA led the Armenian American community campaign
opposing Hoagland’s nomination, stating that a genocide denier
could not serve as a credible and effective U.S. spokesperson in
Armenia.

Individuals will be able to follow both hearings live. Check the
ANCA Website the day of the hearings for the Webcast links.

PACE ASSESSMENT OF FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS TO BE THE FOLLOWING: :
SHAVARSH KOCHARYAN

ArmInfo
2008-06-11 14:52:00

ArmInfo. PACE assessment of fulfillment of the requirements of PACE
Resolution N 1609 "On Functioning of Democratic Institutes" by Armenia
at the summer session and the opinion of the Resolution reporters will
be the following: , leader of the National-Democratic party, member
of the Armenian delegation to PACE from RA Parliament of the past
convocation Shavarsh Kocharyan told ArmInfo. He thinks that upon the
results of debates in PACE, the European parliamentarians will give
a recommendation on continuation of the process of democratization,
however, no vast steps by them should be expected. "The Armenian
delegation to PACE will not be deprived of the authorities and
voting. The country could not change qualitatively over two months, so
it is in its movement on the way to the European integration. In this
regard, one could not expect 100% fulfillment of requirements. However,
some steps have been apparently done", S. Kocharyan emphasized. He
expressed confidence that much could be done over this period, for
example, to start the process of creation of a special commission
much earlier and not now, in order to get certain results. Moreover,
S. Kocharyan thinks that efforts had to be made, as soon as possible,
to separate the criminal part of March 1 events from the politically
motivated part, which envisages persecutions and arrests.

BAKU URGES YEREVAN NOT TO DRAG OUT KARABAKH SETTLEMENT PROCESS

Interfax News Agency
June 9 2008
Russia

Baku has warned Yerevan against dragging out the Karabakh settlement
process."The opposite side should have no illusion that it may preserve
the status quo and thus ensure its political interests by dragging
out the negotiations. That is not so," Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign
Minister Araz Azimov said.

He said Azerbaijan "will not allow them [Armenians] to feel comfortable
under the current circumstances."

"Extensive and objective information about Armenia’s steps as regards
Azerbaijan will be posted at all levels and every format.

Azerbaijan will not cease that activity," he said.

ENLARGEMENT : TURKISH ACCESSION TALKS TO RECEIVE CONDITIONAL GO-AHEAD

European Report
June 10, 2008

France says that it does not want to block Turkey’s accession talks
during its EU Presidency. "Negotiations will go on," French officials
confirm, indicating that two or three chapters could be opened in
the second half of the year. However, they immediately add that only
those negotiating areas which are not "directly related to accession"
will receive a green light under the six-month French Presidency.

If Paris succeeds, five new chapters, covering financial and
institutional matters, could be officially added to the list of areas
which are currently blocked due to Ankara’s failure to fully comply
with certain obligations towards Cyprus. One of these five areas has
already been frozen due to the French veto. Last year, Paris said that
talks on economic and monetary policy should commence only after the
EU defines its future borders.

Ankara strongly protests, underlining more vocally than ever
its significant and still growing "contribution to Europe’s
stability". Speaking recently in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee
in the European Parliament, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ali Babacan
emphasised his country’s strong involvement in the Middle East peace
process (mediatory role in talks between Syria and Israel), in the
dialogue with Iran and Lebanon, as well as its active engagement in
the stabilisation process of Afghanistan and Iraq. He also underlined
Turkey’s strong involvement in the EU ESDP missions and its willingness
to become a member of the European Defence Agency.

Paris, however, seems to remain unconvinced by Ankara’s
arguments. According to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Turkey –
a predominantly Muslim country – is not eligible for full membership
of the EU, as a majority of its territory is located in Asia rather
than in Europe. An enhanced or so called privileged’ partnership is
therefore suggested by the Elysee Palace as the best form of future
relations between Turkey and the EU. Ankara clearly says, however,
that nothing less than full membership is acceptable.

To soften Paris’ stance, Turkey is trying to play the Union for
the Mediterranean card. Without Ankara, which is perceived as a
key element of Sarkozy’s proposal, the initiative is bound to lose
its political weight and structural consistency. Turkey is aware of
this and is trying to use the situation to its own benefit. It has
not yet given Paris a clear answer on whether it would take part at
all in the project, saying it is still "assessing" the contents of
the proposal. Some possible retaliatory economic moves, like keeping
Gaz de France out of the consortium of the Nabucco pipeline project
designed to bring Caspian gas to Europe, have also been taken by Turkey
against France. On top of this, Ankara is creating some difficulties
about the use of Turkish air space for French warplanes on mission in
Afghanistan. In the meantime, deteriorating military relations with
Turkey, a member of NATO, pose a threat to Paris’ plans to reinforce
relations between the alliance and the EU.

To counterbalance France’s opposition and to win over other member
states, Ankara has recently made some positive moves towards Cyprus
and Armenia. It gave the green light for the relaunch of talks between
the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities on reunification and has
said it "is ready for a dialogue with Armenia".

FAST PROGRESS ON CROATIA

Unlike Slovenia, which held the reins of the EU in the first half
of the year, France is not involved in any bilateral disputes with
Croatia. It is expected therefore that accession talks will go
according to plan. "We will try to proceed as fast as possible,"
a French diplomat told Europolitics. "We do not foresee any problems
with regard to Croatia," she added. Both Paris and Zagreb are facing,
however, a challenging task, since by the end of the year Croatia
has to open negotiations on all remaining chapters to be able to join
the EU in the first half of 2011. Otherwise, accession will be delayed.

AZERI DIPLOMAT WARNS ARMENIA AGAINST PROTRACTING PEACE TALKS

ITV
June 9 2008
Azerbaijan

Armenians should not hope that they will be able to gain from
protracting peace talks on Nagornyy Karabakh, a senior Azerbaijani
diplomat has said following a meeting between the two country’s
presidents in St Petersburg.

"We are not going to leave them in peace," Deputy Foreign Minister
Araz Azimov told Azerbaijan’s public television on 9 June.

Azimov said that the meeting between Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and
Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia, held on 6 June, was "important from the
political viewpoint".

The diplomat added that Azerbaijan would do everything to ensure that
Armenia pulls its troops out of Nagornyy Karabakh and the surrounding
seven districts captured during a war in the 1990s.

Preparations for replacements

07-06-2008 16:53:18 – KarabakhOpen

On June 6 President Bako Sahakyan released Leonid Martirosyan from the
duties of assistant to president because he is going to take up another
job. Apparently, `another job’ will be the post of editor of the Azat
Artsakh Official Newspaper.

On June 6 Bako Sahakyan appointed Murad Petrosyan as the NKR President
representative for special assignments. In this connection, Murad
Petrosyan has resigned from the post of editor of the Azat Artsakh.

On June 5 Vardges Bagiryan, member of the Board of the Public
Television and Radio, resigned. Competition was announced for this
vacant position.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 6 2008

Ethnic composition of Turkey’s population made public

[ 06 Jun 2008 15:32 ]

Ankara-APA. In accordance with the instructions of Turkish National
Security Council, a group of scientists prepared a report on ethnic
groups in the country.

APA reports quoting Turkish media that the report prepared by the
teachers of Erciyez, Elazig, Malatya and Firat universities contains
exact information about the ethnic composition of the country
population and their roots.

Turks. According to the document, this group includes Turkmen, Azeri,
Tatar, Terekeme, Karacay, Yoruk, Taxtaci and others and their number
is above 50 million. This figure reached 55 million including the
representatives of other ethnic groups, who are on the stage of
becoming Turks.

Kurds. The second biggest ethnic group in Turkey is Kurds. Their
number is 3 million. Their number reaches 12.6 million if zazas are
included into this group. But about 2.5 million of Kurds are on the
stager of becoming Turks and in some places people do not consider
themselves Kurds.

Cerkez. About 2.5 million Cerkezs live in various places of
Turkey. But 80% of them forgot their language.

Georgians. People of Georgian-origin in Turkey have settled in Ordu,
Artvin, Samsun regions and Marmara. The majority of them do not the
Georgian language. But these people are tending to become Georgians
after Georgia gained its independence.

Bosnians. There are about 2 million Bosnians in Adapazari, Izmir and
Manisa.

Albans. The number of Albans exceeds 1.3 million in Turkey. But half
of them became Turks and forgot their mother tongue.

Arabs. Arabs in Turkey settled in Siirt, Mardin, Shirnak, Diyarbakir,
Shaliurfa, Hatai, Adana and Istanbul. Arabian population size is 870
thousands.

Pomaks. Pomaks – Turk-origin for some sources and Slavic for other
sources – are 600 thousands and became completely Turkic people.

Lazs. Most of population in Black Sea region of Turkey is considered
Lazs incorrectly. Lazs are 80 thousands and live in several villages
of Riza and Artvin.

Other ethnic groups. A number of other ethnic groups in Turkey is more
than one million. The largest one among them is Gypsy, which size is
700 thousands. 60 thousands Armenians, 20 thousands Jews, 15 thousands
Greeks, 13 thousands Hamshins and few Suryanis live in Turkey.

85 per cent of 70 millions Turkish populations are Sunnite
Muslims. There are about 11 millions Alawis (modern stream of Shiite)
mostly South Azerbaijan-origin in the country.