Author: Vanyan Gary

PACE AD HOC KARABAKH COMMISSION TO MEET IN PARIS SEPTEMBER 12
Armenpress
Sept 7, 2005
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS: Deputy parliament chairman Tigran
Torosian from the ruling Republican Party and Shavarsh Kocharian
from the opposition Ardarutyun (Justice) alliance will fly to Paris
on September 12 to participate in the second meeting of an ad hoc
committee that was set up by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe (PACE) to monitor the process of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict regulation. The first meeting took place on June 23 in
Strasbourg, France.
In Paris the OSCE Minsk group cochairmen from France, USA and Russia
will present a report to Minsk group member countries on what has been
done so far to that end. The ad hoc committee is expected to submit
its first report to PACE when it convenes for its winter session in
2006 January. The report will not, however, propose conflict resolution
options but will sum up information from Minsk group member countries
about what they have done to help end the conflict.
The PACE commission includes representatives from Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Turkey, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Sweden.

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x137
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
AGBU CENTRAL BOARD DONATES $100,000 TO RED CROSS FOR VICTIMS OF
HURRICANE KATRINA
In response to the natural disaster in the Gulf States, the Central
Board of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), through special
relief contributions, will donate $100,000 to the Red Cross in support
of Hurricane Katrina emergency efforts. AGBU has quickly responded over
the years to the plight of those who have survived warfare and natural
disasters all over the world.
The Red Cross has received over $409 million in gifts that will help
victims receive water, shelter, food, counseling and other assistance.
As a non-profit organization reaching out to individuals through
humanitarian programs, AGBU would like to offer its support to the Red
Cross so that it may continue its work in helping the victims of
Hurricane Katrina.
We encourage our worldwide membership to continue donating to charitable
organizations that are providing relief efforts.
Established in 1906, AGBU is the world’s largest non-profit Armenian
organization. Headquartered in New York City with an annual budget of
$26 million, AGBU () preserves and promotes the Armenian
identity and heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian
programs, annually serving some 400,000 Armenians in 35 countries.

AZG Armenian Daily #157, 03/09/2005
Turkey
‘DESERTION OF AZERBAIJAN IS A MORE IMPORTANT ISSUE THAN KARABAKH’
Turkish Paper Writes
On 1 September, Istanbul-based Armenian online
newspaper posted an article titled “Desertion of Azerbaijan is a more
important issue than Karabakh” extracting it from Turkish Star paper
where it was published August 31. Though mentioning the source of
the article, the paper forgot to jot down its author’s name.
Yet, the author displays an unwonted approach to the Nagorno Karabakh
issue that Turkey is not accustomed to. Responding to the same paper’s
cries, he meanwhile replies to those circles of Armenian Diaspora
which, compelled to darken Armenia’s future, exaggerate the number
of Armenians leaving their fatherland. President Robert Kocharian
is portrayed responsible for immigration in order to cast slurs on
Kocharian along with the country he heads.
In case of slander, Kocharian’s administration will become incomparably
vulnerable, losing its power to stand against outer pressure and it
will make compromises to international forces harmful for Armenia
in order to keep the power in its hands. In that way, the aforesaid
circles will justify the hopes of those forces and their services.
All these impart importance to the article in Star paper that we
present without abridgements below:
“Aside from talks about the motherland, I do everything to give
truthful coverage of events in Turkish-speaking states of former
Soviet Union.
“Azerbaijan is the one that interests us from every aspect. Accepting
hard-solving Karabakh issue as a starting point, let us turn to the
ethnographic wrinkle that demands very serious approach.
“On the second day of the CIS summit in Kazan, August 27, Ilham Aliyev
and Robert Kocharian met.
“The two state leaders met last in Warsaw May 16. As always, the
approaching meeting stimulated rumors about the soonest regulation. The
same thing happened before the Kazan meeting. But it was vain, as no
concrete step was taken.
“On April of 1993, the UN Security Council initiated an agreement
of freeing Qelbajar and deadline was set. It was envisaged that
the Armenian forces will leave the region on July 15. But when the
revolt toppled Abulfaz Elchibey, they stayed there. The first thing
the new Azeri government did was calling back the soldiers of the
People’s Front and dismissing them. Heydar Aliyev said on those days:
“Our army does not fight”. From July to October of the same year,
the Armenians occupied 5 more regions – Aghdam, Jebrail, Fizuli,
Zangelan, Kubatlu – to add to Karabakh, Qelbajar and Lachin.
“A truce was signed in Bishkek in 1994, creating thus a situation of
uncertainty. Did Azerbaijan capitulate, lose or win?
“Aliyev senior had 22 face-to-face meetings with Kocharian. They
reached no results. Aliyev’s statement “Armenia occupied Azerbaijan”
at the Lisbon summit of OSCE accounted for the veto of this European
organization’s decision, presenting it as a heroic deed.
“This case was presented in such light that several newborns in Baku
were named Lisbon. Moreover, the head of Gyanja’s administration said
at a meeting, “Our president performed an exploit in summit town of
Lisbon”, thus becoming a cartoon hero.
“In a refugee camp Heydar Aliyev even underscored that Armenians
abroad are very powerful that’s why we cannot fight against them
(2002). Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian embraced the chance
put before Azerbaijan unacceptable conditions and turned Turkey’s
mediation down.
At then two-day session of the Armenian parliament (April 18-19
2005) defense minister Serge Sargsian stated, “We’ll do everything
to strengthen the second Armenian state and will not allow that our
enemy, Turkey, mediate”.
At the Warsaw summit of the Council of Europe on May 15-17,
the two presidents ordered foreign ministers to carry on with the
meetings. Azeri president’s special representative on Karabakh issue,
Araz Azimov, stated, “The agreement can be reached in August”. Before
the Kazan meeting, the two foreign ministers met in Moscow. As always,
they milled the wind.
To put it in nutshell, the regulation process carried on off the
reel. Yet, no result was achieved. Armenia turned to be powerful in
this issue. Russia never ceased backing Armenia. Now let us turn to the
main issue. Media constantly informs that Armenia’s population reduced
to 2 million. Yet, the coin has an opposite side as well. Azerbaijan
is also getting deserted. From 1993 till today, 3 million people
left for Russia. Even in Sweden Azeri refugees outnumber all other
refugees. There are more than 2.000 Azeris in that country. 200.000
Azeris live in Europe as refugees. Another 200.000 live in Turkey,
300.000 in Ukraine and 100.000 in Iran.
That means that Azerbaijan’s 8 million strong population diminished
to its half. Meanwhile elections are at the threshold and we’ll have
our say on that regard”.
By Hakob Chakrian

NORWAY SUPPORTS AZERBAIJAN’S INTEGRATION TO EURO-ATLANTIC STRUCTURES
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Sept 1 2005
The Norwegian State Secretary Kim Traavic now visiting Azerbaijan on
1 September held at the Embassy of Norway in Baku a news conference
on results of his visit.
Stating that the key goal of the visit was to discuss development of
bilateral relations between two countries and regional questions,
the State Secretary informed on his meetings with President Ilham
Aliyev, with the Foreign Minister, with the representatives of UN,
OSCE, the Council of Europe in the capital of Azerbaijan, in which
he discussed regional questions, noting that he had received detailed
information also on the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
and the upcoming parliament elections in November.
Noting that as a member of the North Atlantic Alliance, Norway
supports integration of Azerbaijan to the Euro-Atlantic structures,
the diplomat said he welcomes participation of Azerbaijan in the NATO
PfP program, its participation in the coalition in combat against
global terrorism. Underlining that though Norway is not the EU member,
it supports admission of Azerbaijan to the “New Neighboring Policy”
of the European Union, Mr. Traavic said “we shall continue working
in this direction both with Azerbaijan and EU”.
Then, he answered questions of mass media representatives.

STORIED NAME FACES FEISTY RIVAL IN N.Y.’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY RACE
By E.J. KESSLER
Forward
Sept 1 2005
A surprise endorsement has injected a sudden dose of suspense into
a feisty campaign that could spell the end of one of New York City’s
most storied political careers.
The race pits challenger Leslie Crocker Snyder, 63, a tough-on-crime
former state judge and prosecutor, against incumbent Robert Morgenthau,
86, Manhattan’s longtime district attorney and heir to a Jewish
political dynasty that stretches to the beginning of the 20th century.
Until this week, political insiders were predicting that Morgenthau,
despite his advanced age, would coast to victory against Snyder in
the September 13 Democratic primary. Then, on Tuesday, The New York
Times – which can make or break a candidate in Manhattan – endorsed
Snyder, blowing the race wide open.
“Now, she’s got a real shot,” said New York political consultant
Jerry Skurnik. “I would still bet on him, but now it’s a real race.”
Running for his ninth term, Morgenthau surely qualifies as the
“institution” and “icon” he often is dubbed in the press. The district
attorney, an intimate of President Kennedy, hasn’t faced a challenger
since 1985. He has held his position since 1974 and successfully
prosecuted some of the highest-profile crimes in the nation.
Snyder is a bigfoot in her own right. She was the first woman to
work in the district attorney’s office on murders and sex crimes.
Appointed to the bench by then-Mayor Ed Koch in 1983, she made her
reputation as a tough-as-nails jurist who threw the book at the
mayhem creators of notorious drug gangs such as the Young Talented
Children and the Natural Born Killers. She was so identified with
stiff sentences that one gang named a brand of heroin – “25 to Life”
– after her and adorned its packages with her likeness. (She proudly
appropriated the moniker for the title of her 2002 memoir.) Her
dangerous work took a toll on her family life: For many years, her
children needed police protection.
In Jewish terms, the Morgenthau-Snyder rivalry represents something
of a battle for ethnic succession, even if it is one taking place at
a time when such considerations have lost much of their significance.
A scion of an august German-Jewish New York family, Morgenthau ranks
as American Jewish royalty. His father, Henry Jr., was President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s treasury secretary, the only secretary to
serve through all four of FDR’s terms and only the second Jew ever
to serve in a presidential Cabinet. He was a pivotal figure in the
Holocaust rescue debate, the man who pressured Roosevelt to set up the
War Refugee Board and the Nuremberg Tribunals. He served as national
chairman of the United Jewish Appeal during the critical postwar years,
when concentration camp survivors needed to be cared for and Zionists
in Palestine were fighting to establish a Jewish state.
Morgenthau’s grandfather, Henry Sr., was a founder of the American
Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the American Jewish
Committee. He served as President Woodrow Wilson’s ambassador to
Turkey during World War I, and he played a pivotal role in rescuing
the Zionist settlements from destruction when the Turks decided in
1915 to eliminate their non-Muslim minorities in Armenia and Palestine.
Morgenthau himself has played a role in Jewish philanthropy locally,
spearheading, along with longtime pal and political ally Koch, the
creation of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan’s Battery
Park. The prosecutor can point to long friendships with such Israeli
figures as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the late Peter Malkin,
the Mossad agent who kidnapped Adolph Eichmann. In an interview
last week, prompted by the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, he waxed
on about a trip in the late 1970s to Yamit in the Sinai ?- before it
was returned to Egypt.
Snyder’s family, by contrast, came from Eastern Europe; her father
grew up on Manhattan’s West End Avenue and changed his name from
Krakower, according to New York magazine. He was a professor of French
Enlightenment philosophy and literature, schooling ?is daughter in
European manners and the good life. She freely acknowledges she has
almost no Jewish background or involvement.
A media-savvy talking head who cuts a glamorous figure, Snyder advises
the television show “Law & Order,” and has provided on-air analysis of
the O.J. Simpson and Scott Peterson murder trials, among others. She
appeared for an interview at her lower Manhattan campaign office on
a muggy day last week looking impeccably crisp.
Snyder painted Morgenthau as too old, saying that his office has
grown “stale” and “out of touch” with the latest prosecutorial
methodologies. The eight-term incumbent, she said, “is the opposite
of a reformer.”
Snyder faulted Morgenthau for what she described as a lack of focus
on domestic violence cases, hogging white-collar criminal cases that
could be prosecuted better by federal authorities and a paucity of
minority attorneys in top positions in his office – all criticisms
he parries with an array of arguments and statistics.
In her interview with the Forward, Snyder added a new twist that
seems designed to appeal to Jewish voters – who can constitute up
to a quarter of the Democratic electorate in Manhattan. She said
that Morgenthau “has blown several opportunities to do a lot more
about terrorism.”
For example, she criticized the way Morgenthau’s office handled
the prosecution of El-Sayyid Nosair for allegedly assassinating
former Jewish Defense League leader Rabbi Meir Kahane. Nossair was
acquitted of murder in 1991 but remains in prison on terrorism and
weapons charges.
“Morgenthau decided that he, alone, deserved jurisdiction of the
case, seized the 16 boxes of evidence, never bothered to have them
translated, prosecuted the case as a straight murder instead of a
conspiracy,” Snyder said. “When those boxes were translated… three
years later, they contained all sorts of exhortations to topple tall
buildings, maps of the World Trade Center, how to build bombs.”
ìhile Snyder said that “in retrospect, it’d be too easy to say
that maybe the [first World Trade Center] bombing could have been
prevented,” she blasted Morgenthau for what she said was his lack of
cooperation with federal prosecutors.
She continued, stating that four years after the September 11, 2001,
attacks, “Morgenthau still has not instituted an anti-terrorism
bureau. I would do that immediately.”
Morgenthau vigorously defended his record on terrorism prosecutions,
and his decision to prosecute some cases that might have come under
the jurisdiction of federal authorities.
“The federal government often will not prosecute cases for political
reasons,” he said. “We don’t have that problem.”
He described two cases involving unlicensed money transmitters and
legitimate New York banks that were laundering money for Middle Eastern
terrorists, including some who were operating out of the South American
Tri-Border Area. “Those are things the federal government I don’t think
was aware of and certainly wasn’t going to do anything about,” he said.
“I don’t aspire to prosecute Bin Laden and his top henchmen, but
terrorism requires money,” he said. “What we’re doing is trying to
cut off the money supply…. We’re not taking [these prosecutions]
away from the federal government. We’re doing it because it needs to
be done.”
Morgenthau, who sat for an hour-and-a-half interview last week with
the Forward in his office in the grungy Art Deco pile that is the New
York County Criminal Court, looks his age. He’s hard of hearing, and
his trim physique and birdlike features display the depredations of
gravity. But as most reports – and the Times editorial that boosted
his challenger – have noted, he’s as sharp and energetic as ever,
still able to show off the encyclopedic command of facts and figures
that impressed the presidents and dignitaries whose photos line his
office’s walls.
In the interview with the Forward, he brushed off the age question.
“I’m working as hard now as when I came, and I’m a lot smarter,”
he said.
He took aim at Snyder for her support of the death penalty – a
liability in liberal Manhattan. Morgenthau staunchly opposes capital
punishment as a “feel-good statute” that does nothing to reduce
crime. Noting that in her memoir, Snyder wrote that she personally
wanted to give the lethal injection in one case, he said, “Is that
the kind of D.A. with good judgment?”
Snyder allowed that the remark was “intemperate,” but said she
was merely responding “as a mother, a citizen and a judge” to the
heinousness of the crime in question: a rape and murder.
While backed by some leading lights, such as former United States
Attorney for the Southern District Mary Jo White, Snyder seemingly had
gained little traction. She provoked the ire of at least one newspaper
editorial board recently when it became public that starting in the
1990s, she steered $1.1 million in court fees for outside legal work
to the law firm she subsequently joined, Kasowitz, Benson, Torres &
Friedman. While she claimed that the fees were appropriate, critics
said the awarding of the fees showed favoritism.
On the other side, Morgenthau has been endorsed by a host of officials,
including New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who called him
the gold standard of prosecutors. The 500 attorneys in Morgenthau’s
office constitute a veritable machine, and a good part of the New
York legal establishment either has worked for him or does not want to
cross him. For all these reasons, one defense attorney, who declined
to speak on the record, called Morgenthau “the most powerful man in
New York State.”
Not to mention, crime in Manhattan has dropped precipitously during
his tenure.
Observers said that Morgenthau, who hitherto has avoided debating
Snyder, would likely have to do so and “go negative” against his
opponent, following the decision by the Times to endorse her.
“We believe that there is a limit to how long any manager can stay
at one job and continue to administer with vigor and openness to new
ideas,” the Times declared in its endorsement of Snyder. “Three decades
is more than enough time for any executive to accomplish his or her
mission…. With due respect for the incumbent’s legendary tenure,
it is time for a change.”
The endorsement surprised many political observers following the race.
“Ten years ago, the idea that Robert Morgenthau wouldn’t get The Times
endorsement would be ridiculous,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran
Democratic political consultant. “The outcome [of the election]
will be an indication of the cultural shifts in this city.”
–Boundary_(ID_wyIh8MsH/jhRNqTprm7UpA)–

US DEPARTMENT OF STATE TO HOST ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT CHAIRMAN
Armenpress
August 30, 2005
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS: The US Embassy in Armenia said the
U.S. Department of State, via its International Visitor Program,
will host a series of meetings for National Assembly Chairman Artur
Baghdasaryan during the Washington, D.C. portion of his trip to the
United States from August 31 through September 7. During his visit,
Mr. Baghdasaryan will meet with U.S. government officials, as well
as with non-governmental organizations and media outlets.
The State Department has arranged meetings for Mr. Baghdasaryan
with Speaker of the House of Representatives J. Dennis Hastert
(Republican-Illinois), Democratic National Committee Chairman
Howard Dean, and Congressmen Knollenberg (R-MI) and Pallone (D-NJ)
of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, as well as with
various high-level Department of State, National Security Council,
U.S. Agency for International Development and Millennium Challenge
Corporation officials. The State Department has also arranged for
Mr. Baghdasaryan to give a presentation at the Center for Strategic
and International Studies (CSIS) and to meet with the non-governmental
organization Transparency International.
Launched in 1940, the U.S. Department of State International Visitor
Program seeks to build mutual understanding between the United States
and other nations through carefully designed professional visits to
the U.S. for current and emerging foreign leaders. Through these
encounters, they gain a greater understanding of the cultural and
political society of the United States. Over 180 current and former
heads of government and state and many other distinguished world
leaders in the public and private sectors have participated in the
Department of State’s International Visitor Program. We are proud to
now have Mr. Baghdasaryan among the program’s alumni.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HRAZDAN TPP TRANSFERRED TO RUSSIA AS PART OF ARMENIA’S STATE DEBT REPAYMENT HAS PROSPECTS
ARKA News Agency
Aug 29 2005
YEREVAN, August 29. /ARKA/. The Hrazdan Thermo Power Plant (TPP)
transferred to Russia as part of Armenia’s state debt repayment,
normally operates and has prospects, Director of Department of
International Cooperation of the RF Ministry of Industry and Energy
Dmitri Sukhoparov reported ARKA News Agency. He said that it is not
worth the trouble for this object. “There can be “ups and down of
organization” but the fact is that this object operates”, Sukhoparov
said.
The “Hrazdan Energy Company” (HEC) was founded by the Federal Agency
for State Property Management of Russia on November 10, 2005. HEC
includes the property complex of the Hrazdan Thermo Power Plant
transferred to Russia as part of Armenia’s state debt repayment in
the amount of USD 31mln. A.A. -0-
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Courier Mail (Queensland, Australia)
August 27, 2005 Saturday
So dark, Diamanda
by Patrick Watson
AN INTERVIEW with Diamanda Galas is a bit like meeting Saint Peter.
It could go both ways.
“I’ve had eight or 10 interviews this morning. Some journalists ask
the most stupid f——- questions. I might go hang myself in the
bathroom,” she says.
It’s the kind of threat that, perhaps, holds just a hint of truth.
After all, this is the same woman who wrote The Shit of God, walked
the streets as a prostitute in Oakland, California, and has dedicated
four albums to the AIDS epidemic.
A classically trained pianist with an opera singer’s voice of four
octaves, Diamanda Galas has been performing her frighteningly
haunting ballads since 1978.
On her upcoming tour, Guilty Guilty Guilty, she promises a program of
homicidal love songs, including Johnny Cash’s Long Black Veil, Edith
Piaf’s Heaven Have Mercy and Hank Williams’ I’m So Lonesome I Could
Cry.
They’re not exactly the kind of genres you’d associate with the gaunt
Gala, but at least the subject matter rings true.
“Morbidity and depression aren’t fascinating. It just happens to
exist in everything, like everything else. I’ve my share of the s—
that life is composed of,” she says.
“The stoics said if you expect from life only happiness, you’re a
fool. They had it figured out. I don’t make it up. I’m not fascinated
about going through morbid states, but when I talk about it, I talk
about it in an undiluted way.”
The LA Weekly called her “the original badass musician”.
It seems to make sense, particularly for the blatantly non-conformist
artist who has previously written works such as Plague Mass, Concert
for the Damned, and something called Defixiones, a meditation on the
Armenian genocide and the politically co-operative denial of it.
She is, she confesses, a ratbag of the worst kind and rejects most of
what society has to offer.
“It’s just a different way of doing it. People think that’s so
depressing and so desperate and it’s so this and that. In fact,
there’s no more to it than Greek women who mourn the dead saying
hello to those below,” she explains.
“It’s not scary music. What is scary to me is not to be able to
express myself. Not expressing myself, now that’s really scary.”
Asked what she thinks about being labelled the “princess of
darkness”, and she is outraged.
“I’m not the princess, I’m the queen of darkness. I don’t address
these things at all,” she says.
She also hates the term “Goth”: “In America you’re either black,
white or Hispanic. They look at my white skin and black hair and say
Gothic. They don’t see that I’m Greek.
“Lots of people come up with different opinions. I just do what I
do.”
Which includes, of course, her legendary fascination with AIDS.
“When I become involved with an issue like that it’s not going to
last just two months. It’s a lot of work. It takes years to get to
it. You have to look at opportunistic infections, medicines, suicide.
“Most artists exhaust a subject in five minutes and tomorrow will be
in Hawaii.”
But despite the jutting bones, the black clothes, the skin pallor and
the pagan poetry, Diamanda Gala says she’s just a musician. And, like
many, she feels she’s often misunderstood.
Not that she cares much.
“I think I’m the most lovable individual in the f—— world,” she
says.
“And, in case you’re wondering, I’m not going to go hang myself in
the toilet after this interview.”
Diamanda Galas plays Brisbane October 13, QPAC Concert Hall.
Bookings: 136 246

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian National Committee of South Florida
931 NE 48 Street
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334
Contact: Michael Toumayan
Tel: 561-716-6155
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
ANC FLORIDA EDUCATES THOUSANDS OF FLORIDIANS
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA – Thousands of Floridians, from the serene
Panhandle to sultry Miami, attended the System of a Down concerts in
Pensacola, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale held from August 15-17. While
enjoying the music of one of rock music’s most notable bands, they
were also apprised of the ongoing fight for United States recognition
of the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of
Florida.
Young politically aspired activists from organizations such as the
Armenian National Committee of South Florida, Axis of Justice, Amnesty
International Miami chapter, and Florida Voter Registration, set up
booths at the entrances of the Office Depot Center in Fort Lauderdale
at the request of System of a Down (SOAD) to educate the public about
injustices occurring throughout the world.
Representing the Armenian National Committee of South Florida were
activist Taniel Koushakjian, and ANCA 2004 summer intern Michael
Toumayan. The two Hai Tahd activists provided critical analysis of the
injustice behind many of the Turkish government’s policies, thereby
convincing over 200 people to sign a petition in less than 2 hours in
support of the House Resolution (H.Res.) 316, which would reaffirm the
U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide.
The petition titled `End the Cycle of Genocide’ is a two-part letter
addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Dennis
Hastert, urging him to work for a timely passage of legislation
recognizing the Armenian Genocide, and to work for the passage of the
Darfur Peace and Accountability Act to bring an end to the systematic
massacres and forced starvation in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Toumayan and Koushakjian came across two SOAD fans of Turkish
ancestry. `When Taniel asked them to sign the petition, they looked at
us and pointed to the red Crescent and Star imprinted on their
t-shirts, indicating that they were Turkish and do not support our
cause that contradicts their views,’said Toumayan.
Many fans of Armenian ancestry came running to the ANC booth when they
recognized the tri-colored ANCA logo in the background. For them, a
System of a Down Concert is the ultimate venue for marrying their
concern for the Armenian Cause with their enjoyment of contemporary
music they can relate to. The Armenian flag could be seen fading in
crowd in the monumental arena as thousands jumped up and down and
shook their heads to SOAD’s revolutionary, adrenaline pumping music.

The Daily Star, Lebanon
Aug 25 2005
Conference examining massacre of Armenians to go ahead in Turkey
ISTANBUL: A conference questioning the official line on massacres of
Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, aborted after Turkey’s justice
minister branded it an act of treason, will go ahead in September,
organizers said. The event dubbed “Ottoman Armenians of an Empire in
Decline” has been scheduled for September 23-25 at Istanbul’s
Bogazici university.
Gathering academics and intellectuals who dispute Ankara’s version of
the 1915-17 killings, the conference was postponed in May after
Justice Minister Cemil Cicek condemned it as “treason” and a “stab in
the back of the Turkish nation,” and said the organizers deserved
prosecution.
The outburst raised eyebrows in European diplomatic circles about
Ankara’s commitment to democratic reforms, a requirement for October
3 negotiations over its accession to the EU.
But diplomats said the incident could also prove to be a watershed if
the Turkish government acted to correct Cicek’s remarks.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has now agreed to take part in
the conference’s opening session, the Hurriyet newspaper reported
yesterday.

“There was no reason to adjourn the conference. We can easily discuss
this question,” the newspaper quoted the minister as saying.
Ankara’s quest for EU membership struck another hurdle last month
when it insisted it would not recognize the Greek Cypriot government
of Cyprus.
Several countries have recognized the Armenian massacres as genocide
and Brussels has called on Turkey to confront its past and to allow
greater freedom of speech.
Ankara recognizes that the massacres took place, but strongly rejects
that they amounted to genocide.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their people were slaughtered in
mass killings under the Ottoman Empire, forerunner to the Turkish
republic.
Ankara claims that 300,000 Armenians, who sided with Russian forces
against the Turks, were killed in the uprising and in deportations to
Syria. A similar number of Turks were also killed in the conflict,
according to the official version. AFP