Author: Vardanian Garo

ROBERT KOCHARYAN WISHED SUCCESS TO CREWMEMBERS OF “KILIKIA”

ArmRadio.am
11.05.2006 15:31

President Robert Kocharyan received today members of crew of the
“Kilikia” sailing ship, who are leaving for London on May 14 to prepare
“Kilikia,” resting at the shores of South England, for the last stage
of the navigation.

Robert Kocharyan wished successful journey and homecoming to seafarers,
saying that he anticipates cautiousness and will on the part of them.

The crewmembers assured that the experience achieved during the
previous sailings will suffice for securing successful navigation.

Robert Kocharyan told the “Kilikians” that the negotiations with
foreign specialized companies over construction of a quay in Lake
Sevan are under way.

The crewmembers spoke with the President about the prospects of
development of sailing sports in Armenia and promised to provide
their assistance.

“SRBOTS ZORAVARATS” CHAPEL RE-OPENED IN AKHALTSKHA

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 11 2006

AKHALTSKHA, MAY 11, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On May 9, on the
occasion of the holidays of the victory in the Great Patriotic War and
liberation of Shoushi, the Srbots Zoravarats chapel was blessed and
opened in the district of Marta, the city of Akhaltskha. The sanctuary
was restored and reconstructed on the initiative and with efforts of a
number of Armenian young people of Akhaltskha. Armenians of Samtskhe
built in 1851 in this beautiful place of nature a small place for
prayers and placed the Khachkar (cross stone) monument there. The
sanctuary called by people “chapel of two brothers” became unique for
Armenians of the settlement, flow of belivers has not stopped here even
during the Soviet years. According to evidences of local inhabitation,
the place for prayers, the Khachkar were destroyed by individuals 30
years ago, and other sactified stones were lost. Since those days
7 families destroyed the chapel has met awful tragedies, and they
had to start looking for sanctifies stones and the Khachkar putting
them on the same place. And on May 9, 2006, the order of blessing the
reconstructed chapel was headed by Virahayots Diocese primate Bishop
Vazgen Mirzakhanian, with participation of Samtskhe-Javakhk Monk
Babken Salbiyan, implemented by Akhaltskha spiritual pastor Senior
Priest Shmavon Saghoyan, Tbilisi Surb Gevorg church spiritual pastor
Priest Narek Ghushchian. The chapel was named “Srbots Zoravarats” on
the occasion of the day of victories. At the end of the ceremony, His
Holiness Primate and Monk Babken congratulated the local Armenians on
the occasions of the chapel’s being blessed and the day of victory. He
appreciated Akhaltskha Armenians’ devotion to spiritual-cultural
values and blessed builders undertaken the kind affair. As Noyan
Tapan was informed by the Press Services of the Virahayots Diocese,
the ceremony finished with traditional blessing of sacrifice and fete.

PLAYING FOR HER MOTHER
Alyson Sena , Reporter

Palisadian-Post, CA
May 11 2006

For classical concert pianist Ritta Bardakjian, playing piano is a
gift her parents gave her when she was just a child growing up in
Kuwait in the 1970s. The gift originally came in the form of a piano
that her parents shipped from England, where they traveled frequently
on business.

“I sat at the piano whenever I felt lost, lonely or sad,” says
Bardakjian, a Pacific Palisades resident who earned her Doctor of
Musical Arts degree from USC last May. The rich and soothing power
of music has inspired Bardakjian throughout her life, and became
particularly resonant last July, when her mother passed away.

“I wanted to do something in my mom’s memory,” says Bardakjian,
who organized a concert that will take place on May 20 at 7 p.m. at
Pepperdine University’s Raitt Recital Hall. “I just know she would
want me to continue to practice and perform.”

Bardakjian’s program will include Beethoven’s Opus 13 (Path’tique),
Chopin’s Sonata No. 2 (“Funeral March”) and Schumann’s Symphonic
Etudes because her mother, Jackline, “adored Schumann.”

Bardakjian, who is Armenian, grew up listening to Western as well as
Eastern music. She started playing piano when she was about 5 years
old and studied with a teacher from South America who was “very
focused and intense.” As young Ritta developed her playing skills,
the teacher advised her mother to send her outside Kuwait where she
would have the opportunity to seriously pursue her talent.

So, when Bardakjian was 13, she went off to a boarding school in
Uppingham, outside London. Her choirmaster at the school encouraged
her to audition for a conservatory in London and, two years later,
she was training at the London School of Music, where William Lloyd
Webber (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s father) was director.

Bardakjian received her music degree from the University of British
Columbia in Vancouver and made her Canadian debut in 1981, performing
Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto. In 1983, at age 20, she got the
opportunity to play at Carnegie Hall because the Armenian Ladies’ Guild
was looking for Armenian talent and chose her to perform at an event.

She says she wasn’t nervous because “when you’re young, you’re more
gutsy. Egos don’t play as big a role.” It was a thrilling experience
just knowing she was “touching the keys the greats have touched.”

Bardakjian was accepted to The Julliard School and the Paris
Conservatory on scholarships but declined them both to study with
Hungarian pianist Georgy Sebok at the University of Indiana while
working towards her master’s degree in music.

Sebok “taught me that I had to use the piano as an instrument but
not battle with it,” says Bardakjian, who has also studied with other
renowned artists such as Polish pianist Marek Jablonski and American
pianist Leon Fleischer and Kevin Fitz-Gerald.

Currently, Bardakjian teaches piano to students as young as 5,
though she says that children at that age have to be “exceptional”
in their skills. Bardakjian has a 10-year-old daughter, Angelica,
who studies piano and ballet.

To inquire about lessons with Bardakjian, contact: 573-9622. For
tickets to the Pepperdine concert, contact: 506-4522.

PM’S GENOCIDE COMMENT STIRS UP A STORM
By Brian Adeba

Embassy Magazine, Canada
Canada’s Foreign Policy Newsweekly
May 10th, 2006

Even before Stephen Harper was elected prime minister, members of
the Armenian community met him in Toronto last October to press their
main issues of concern, top among which is the Armenian genocide. A
message posted on the website of the Armenian Prelacy of Canada says
Mr. Harper initiated the meeting.

The discussion didn’t turn heads until April 21, the annivesary of
the death of 1.5 million Armenians. That’s when Mr. Harper’s described
the situation as “genocide” ­ the first for a sitting Canadian prime
minister. The statement has sparked a diplomatic furore with Turkey,
which temporally recalled its ambassador to Canada in protest. Prior
to Mr. Harper’s public endorsement, a dedicated Armenian lobbying
effort, working quietly behind the scenes to get a high-ranking
member of Canada’s government to formally recognize the genocide,
had already been set in motion.

“We discussed the genocide, the importance of bringing the executive
branch to fully recognize the genocide and being consistent with
the legislative branch,” says Aris Babikian, Executive Director of
the Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC), which last month
formally opened an office in Ottawa. The ANCC now has chapters in 10
Canadian cities to serve the estimated 80,000 strong Armenian Diaspora
in Canada.

At the Toronto meeting with Mr. Harper, Mr. Babikian says the future
prime minister promised to “support any statement to recognise the
genocide.”

“He said for him, this is not a political issue, but an issue of
principle,” Mr. Babikian says.

On April 2004, Mr. Harper, then leader of the now defunct Canadian
Alliance party, was among the 153 MPs who voted in favour of a Bloc
Quebecois motion to recognize that Turkey committed genocide against
Armenians in 1915. The motion passed with 153 votes against 68.

Liberal backbenchers broke ranks with Prime Minister Paul Martin to
vote for the motion. Despite the considerable number of Liberal MPs
who supported the motion, Mr. Martin refrained from publicly endorsing
the genocide. In fact, on the day of the vote, Hansard records show
he was absent.

On March 23, 2006, an Armenian delegation including a high-ranking
religious leader from Lebanon met Mr. Harper at his office in Ottawa.

Mr. Babikian says the discussions touched on bilateral issues,
including the possibility of opening a Canadian embassy in Armenia,
and also the genocide.

“Once [Mr. Harper] became prime minister, we asked him to uphold
his position [on the genocide],” says Mr. Babikian. In April at the
opening of the offices of the ANCC, Conservative MP Jason Kenny, who
is Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, attended the event.

“He congratulated the community for finally taking this step [opening
the office],” says Mr. Babikian, who adds that the ANCC has known Mr.

Kenny since 2004, after the MP visited Rome during an occasion when an
Armenian priest killed during the genocide was named a saint by the
Pope. On May 1, during a debate on Darfur in the House of Commons,
Mr. Kenny commended Mr. Harper for having the “courage” to recognize
the “historical reality of the first genocide of the last century,
the Armenian genocide.”

But as the Armenian Diaspora’s lobbying effort seems to be growing
in influence with the new Tory government, the Turkish community in
Canada is up in arms, sounding alarm bells about being sidelined by
the Harper government.

“Our viewpoint is never considered,” says Kevser Taymaz, an executive
of the Federation of Canadian Turkish Associations. After Mr. Harper
met an Armenian delegation in March, Ms. Taymaz says the Turkish
community wrote a letter to the prime minister requesting a similar
meeting, but were referred to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

“I don’t know if [Mr. Harper] will meet us,” she says. “We are being
deliberately sidelined.”

“If [the Harper government is] talking about votes, there are 100,000
Canadians of Turkish origin in Canada,” Ms. Taymaz says. She also
condemns Canadian politicians for “listening to the views of the
Armenian lobby.”

“History cannot be decided upon by political lobbying,” she says.

“Here in Ottawa, we have people who lost their relatives to the
Armenian bandits [in 1915].”

Ms. Taymaz also says people of Turkish origin are not used to the idea
of lobbying governments because “we have come to terms with the past
[regarding the genocide].”

She added that Armenian children in Canada are being raised on a diet
of hatred towards Turks and Turkey, and that this does not bode well
for Canada as a whole.

“Now we know Canadian companies will be left out of bids,” she says of
a story circulating in Turkish media following the recall of Aydemir
Erman, Turkey’s Ambassador to Canada, last week.

Yonet Tezel, Counsellor at the Embassy of Turkey, says Mr. Erman was
called to Turkey for consultations, but could not say when the envoy
will be back in Ottawa.

“We are very concerned and worried that these claims of genocide are
finding reflection at that level in Canada,” says Mr. Tezel.

“It is very serious, it is an attack on us,” he says. Asked what kind
of reciprocal measures Turkey would take, Mr. Tezel says he is not
in position to divulge any information.

Kim Girtel, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Canada, says the
department was notified last Thursday that the Turkish ambassador is
being recalled for “consultations for a short time” in Ankara. “These
consultations are internal to the government of Turkey and we will
not speculate at this time,” she says.

Dmitri Kitsikis, an expert on Turkey and professor of international
relations at the University of Ottawa, says the diplomatic spat is
not likely to last long because it is a symbolic move designed to
appease the Turkish military, the real power brokers in the country.

Mr. Kitsikis says the Turkish military, who are the custodians of
the country’s secular politics has had an uneasy relationship with
the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who heads a
moderate Islamist party.

“The victim is Mr. Erdogan himself, the military could step in and
take power,” says Mr. Kitsikis, who adds that Mr. Harper’s comments
on the Armenian genocide do not help democracy in Turkey.

“Why did he say that except if he wants a coup in Turkey,” Mr. Kitsikis
says.

[email protected]

bassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_ path=/2006/may/10/genocide/

–Boundary_(ID_foVyk8 v8pUoNYI48/X7PXA)–

Globe and Mail, Canada
May 9 2006

Turks recall envoy over Harper’s remark
OLIVER MOORE

With a report from Gloria Galloway

Turkey’s ambassador to Ottawa has been recalled after Prime Minister
Stephen Harper referred to the mass killing of Armenians nearly a
century ago as a genocide.

The Turkish government, which insists that the deaths were the result
of war and civil strife, said yesterday it had summoned Aydemir Erman
to Ankara for discussion on how best to respond to Mr. Harper.

Whether the killings were a genocide is a touchy subject for Turkey,
which has lobbied in countries around the world against such
recognition. Yesterday, official communication from the government in
Ankara characterized the Armenian claims as “direct attacks against
the Turkish nation’s identity and history.”

There are about 70,000 Armenians living in Canada, mostly in Toronto
and Montreal, and many are equally blunt in their view that what
happened to their ancestors was a genocide.

It was in this climate that Mr. Harper declared last month, on behalf
of the government of Canada, that Armenians had suffered a genocide
at the hands of Turkey during and after the First World War. It was a
position the previous Liberal government had refused to support.

Part of the statement read: “In recent years the Senate of Canada
adopted a motion acknowledging this period as ‘the first genocide of
the twentieth century,’ while the House of Commons adopted a motion
that ‘acknowledges the Armenian genocide of 1915 and condemns this
act as a crime against humanity.’ My party and I support those
resolutions and continue to recognize them today.”

The Turks were immediately critical, and their embassy in Ottawa
issued a statement counselling against meddling in a long-ago
historical event. “Turkey rejects and condemns attempts based on long
years of propaganda and political designs to create one-sided
versions of history and to have lies be acknowledged as if they were
facts,” the statement read in part.

“Genocide is the gravest of crimes against humanity. Distorting the
tragic events in history for political gains surely does not serve
the objective of creating a common future for humanity based on peace
and co-operation.”

The embassy threatened that Mr. Harper’s decision would “adversely
affect the relations between Turkey and Canada.” That prediction came
true with the withdrawal of Mr. Erman, announced yesterday.

A Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said the department had been advised
late last week that the Turkish ambassador would be out of the
country for consultations with his government.

At the House of Commons yesterday afternoon, NDP Leader Jack Layton
praised the Harper government’s decision, saying it was something his
party had been advocating for years. “It is never going to be very
easy to move forward on some of these issues,” he said.

“We think Canadians want their government to speak up on these
issues, even if it creates a certain bumpy road in our relations with
other countries . . . who knows, maybe this dialogue process can help
in the reconciliation which really has to happen if this chapter,
this terrible chapter in global history, is ever able to be closed in
any sense.”

French politicians are also facing Turkish opposition as they craft a
bill making it a crime to deny the existence of the Armenian
genocide. The ambassador to Paris has been recalled as well.

YERKRAPAH UNION AGAINST HANDING OVER THE LIBERATED LAND

Panorama.am
16:54 05/05/06

Yerkrapah Union of Nagorno Karabakh war veterans has always kept to
its principals, the union deputy chairmen said today. Its principals
say that no concessions are acceptable on handing over the liberated
land, the conflict should be settled on the basis of Nagorno
Karabakh’s self-determination principal and that Karabakh should
become a bordering part of Armenia, once again Miasnik MALKHASYAN,
the Union deput chairman, reminded today. The union does not have any
other information on conflict regulation other than the media and,
therefore, cannot make any judgements. “We are never safeguarded
against the war and we must always be ready for it,” Ara Ketikyam,
the other deputy chairman of the union said.

SIZES OF DAMAGE OF NATURAL CALAMITY BEING DEFINED IN MARZES

Noyan Tapan
May 04 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 4, NOYAN TAPAN. Snow of 2-10 sm layer fell in the villages
of Taratumb, Artavan, Por, Gomk, Zedea and Khndzorut of the marz of
Vayots Dzor on April 27, and the air temperature decreased up to -2-5
degree. Heaviest snows were observed in the territory of the village of
Sers of the marz where the temperature decreased up to -8. 20 hectares
of grape belonging to the “Karashar” LTD were frozen in the village of
Aghavnadzor and fruit-tree gardens were frozen in Aghnjadzor on April
29. According to the report of the Rescue Service of the RA Ministry
of Territorial Administration, an information was also got that the
hail damaged blossomed trees in the village of Artabuynk of the marz
in the period of time from April 25 to 27. There was heavy hail with
the duration of 10-15 minutes on April 30 as well, in the villages of
Arpi and Malishka. Sizes of damage are being defined. According to
information got from the marz of Lori, heavy snow of 15-20 sm fell
here on April 29, and frost of 8-10 degree was fixed. According to
information of the Agriculture department of the Governor’s Office,
fruit-tree gardens almost on the whole territory of the marz were
frozen. An alarm was got on May 1 that dirty water flowing from
mountains filled on the road leading from the Khndzorut street 6 of
Vandzor up to the Yerevan highway and made it impassable. Rescues of
the marz of Lori went to the place of accident. The road was cleaned by
the special techniques sent by the Vanadzor Mayor’s Office, traffic was
re-established. In the consequence of the snow and strict temperature
fall of May 27-28 in the marz of Gegharkunik, grain sowing areas in
total of about 2.5 thosand hectares of the city of Martuni, villages
of Nerkin Getashen, Yeranos, Vardadzor, Verin Getashen, Lijk, Madina,
Tsakkar and Tazagyugh were frozen. Sizes of the disaster damage are
being defined. About 40 personal plots near the Noramarg village of the
marz of Ararat were covered by water in consequence of overflow of the
Hrazdan river on April 28. The landslide activized from rains on the
69th km of the Ijevan-Hrazdan railway in the part of the village of
Haghartsin, the marz of Tavush, on the same day, closed the river-bed
of Aghstev, in consequence of what ground floors and personal plots
of 23 houses were covered by water. Inhabitants were moved to a safe
territory. Works of opening the river-bed were implemented by joint
forces of rescues of the marz, emplyoees of the “road construction”
and inhabitants of the village. Destroyed reinforced blocks were
replaced, put on egdes of the bank of the Aghstev river: the river
started to flow in former river-bed and the water level decreased
in 1-1.5 meters. In paraller to rains, in consequence of strong
wind in the marz of Aragatsotn, roofs of correspondingly 10, 16 and
6 houses and constructions of the villages of Shenavan, Kuchak and
Vardenut were damaged. And roofs of about 50 houses were damaged in
the villages of Gegharot, Tsilkar and Berkarat of the marz on April 30.

IF FOUND, FLIGHT RECORDERS WILL BE DELIVERED TO RUSSIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.05.2006 20:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to Press Secretary of the General
Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia Gayane Davtyan, in case
airborne recorders of wrecked A-320 liner are found, they will be
delivered to the Russian party. Davtyan said she is sure it is an
evident action, as just the Russian party is investigating the causes
of the crash. Flight recorders of A-320 are not found yet. Russian
specialists search for them, however they consider chances to the
find flight recorders as minimal.

RA NA PLENARY SITTINGS START ON MAY 2

Noyan Tapan
May 02 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. Regular plenary sittings of the RA
National Assembly started on May 2. Unlike the usual sittings, they
will last 3 days as the Monday was a holiday. More than 5 dozens of
issues and 13 international agreements presented for the RA President’s
certification are on the agenda. Before starting discussion of issues
on the agenda, the Parliament adopted 7 drafts discussed during the
previous four-days sittings. They envisage amendments and additions
to the acting laws.

THE POSSIBLE REASONS OF THE AIRPLANE CRASH IN BLACK SEA ARE ANNOUNCED

Panorama.am
14:41 03/05/06

The strong air wave was named as one of the possible reasons of the
A-320 air plane crash in Black sea.

This was reported by the Agency of the National News (ANN). According
to the source, the version of the natural cataclysm stays the most
probable among the others. Experts say “preliminary data show that
A-320 craft was knocked down to the surface and literally fall into
pieces”.

As per PRAIM-TASS agency, one of the reasons of the crash could be
that air craft has fallen into the waterspout. Amongst the other
reasons one mentions the conditions of boarding in Sochi airport,
where take-off and boarding are performed above the sea.

However there is nothing unusual in such scheme of take -off and
boarding, it is being used in other airports worldwide, notes the
Agency.

The power authorities deny the version of terrorist act. ITAR-TASS
quoting the source from State Department of Internal Affairs of
Krasnodar region reports that there are no grounds to speak about
the blast occurring on board. According to ANN, air craft was so worn
out that it could not stand any critics.

In the same time, technical reasons of the catastrophe were dismissed
by the Armavia Company. According to its representative, the air
craft was in ideal technical condition, was allowed to flight, and
led by the experienced crew.