Author: Vardapetian Ophelia

CONGRESSMAN CROWLEY URGED STATE DEPARTMENT TO CLARIFY MISREPRESENTATION OF NAGORNO KARABAKH

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.05.2007 15:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank
Pallone and Joe Knollenberg were joined by House Foreign Affairs
Committee Member Joe Crowley in urging the State Department to clarify
inaccurate language in its 2006 human rights report that dramatically
mischaracterizes the fundamental realities of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

"Armenian Americans appreciate the leadership of Armenian Caucus
Co-Chairmen Joe Knollenberg and Frank Pallone and Congressman Joe
Crowley in seeking clarification from the Department of State
concerning its patently inaccurate and entirely unprecedented
misrepresentation of Armenia as an "occupier" of Nagorno Karabakh and
Azeri territory. We look forward to the State Department’s timely
response to their questions and to learning of the steps that the
Secretary intends to take to rectify the damage that this ill-advised
and destructive misrepresentation has already caused to the peace
process," ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian said.

The Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Pallone and Knollenberg specifically
called on Secretary Rice to publicly clarify that:

1) The report’s language describing Armenia as an occupier of
Azerbaijani territory and Nagorno Karabakh is inaccurate and does
not reflect US foreign policy;

2) The United States views the Nagorno Karabakh conflict as
fundamentally about the self-determination of the people of Nagorno
Karabakh; and

3) This misrepresentation would not appear in future reports or other
official documents.

ARMENIAN DELEGATION TO PARTAKE IN A KEY CONFERENCE ON IRAQ

ArmRadio.am
03.05.2007 11:29

On May 3 in the Sharm-el-Sheikh city of Egypt the delegation headed by
RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian will participate in the conference
dedicated to the official launch of the International Compact with
Iraq sponsored by the UN and the Government of Iraq.

The event on the level of Foreign Ministers will reconfirm the
willingness of the international community to promote the establishment
of peace in Iraq, reconstruction of the country and rise of the living
standards of the population.

Heads of more than 50 delegations will make speeches. A resolution
is expected to be adopted as a result of the meeting.

TARC FINISHED WHAT WAS SET OUT TO DO

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.05.2007 18:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "We finished what was set out to do, and that is the
only reason. We initially expected our agreed work to take one year,
it stretched to almost three years before we could conclude the joint
recommendations to the governments," Van Krikorian, Co-chair of the
Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission (TARC) said in an interview
with PanARMENIAN.Net.

"That process also saw the joint issuance of the legal opinion on
the applicability of the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention
by the International Center for Transitional Justice finding
the legal definition of genocide applied, and several other joint
accomplishments. Of course, we recognize how many mischaracterizations
of the process and the products took place, but the participants knew
what was really taking place and were able to conclude the work,"
he said.

The TARC functioned from June 2001 to April 2004.

ARAX DROPS A BOMB
by Kevin Roderick

LA Observed, CA
April 30 2007

Times staff writer Mark Arax just escalated – in a big way – his
dispute with the paper’s managing editor over a recent story about
the Armenian genocide. He emailed an open letter to everyone on
the news editing system laying out his side and demanding a public
apology from Managing Editor Doug Frantz. Here’s the whole thing;
links to the background are at the end:

From: Arax, Mark
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 10:48 AM
Subject: from Mark Arax

April 30, 2007

Dear Colleagues,

I am not sure about the timing of writing you. In no way do I want
my personal issue to add to the turmoil inside the Times. But as I’ve
watched our newspaper respond to my issue over the past several days,
I’ve come to conclude that it raises troubling questions that go right
to the heart of what we do and how we do it. I know of no other way
to explain the matter to you than to proceed straight with logic.

I have been accused by Doug Frantz of having an opinion on the Armenian
genocide. "Are you now or have you ever been a believer in the Armenian
Genocide?" Of the numerous accusations that Frantz has thrown my way
over the past month, this one I am happy to plead guilty to. Yes,
I have a stance on the Armenian genocide. I believe it happened. And
I am gratified to know that my newspaper believes it happened, as
well. So here is the dilemma at hand: What is our obligation when
this same newspaper, in stories from Istanbul in 2004 and 2005,
begins to contradict its policy on the genocide? What is a reporter
to do when members of the Armenian community-judges, politicians,
civic leaders–start calling and demanding to know why the newspaper
is suddenly throwing qualifiers in front of the word "genocide?"

This was the question confronting me and Greg Krikorian and Ralph
Vartabedian and Robin Abcarian in the fall of 2005. So we did what
our Jewish and African American and Latino and Asian colleagues have
done countless times when faced with an ethnic community angry over
our coverage. We went to our editors. We reminded them in a letter
that the newspaper had an official policy on the genocide-that it
happened, that there was no need to equivocate or treat it like a "he
said-she said" dodge. We pointed out chapter and verse in the Times
style book. "The Armenian genocide is a historical fact and we should
use the word ‘genocide’ without qualification in referring to it." To
act as our newspaper’s eyes and ears and help correct the error was
our duty. To stay silent would have been a dereliction of that duty
and only served to damage our newspaper’s public standing even more.

Thus, the proper question confronting Doug Frantz as he read my story
three weeks ago on the Armenian Genocide resolution in Congress
is not whether I believed in the Armenian genocide or signed that
letter in September 2005. The proper question-the only question
that mattered–was whether I had allowed my beliefs to bleed into my
story in a way that made it tendentious. This is the same question
that every editor must ask of every story because all reporters,
all human beings, have opinions. And yet it does not matter, really,
what Henry Weinstein believes in his gut about capital punishment. It
does not matter what Megan Stack utters over dinner about the war in
Iraq. It does not matter what Robert Lopez writes in a memo to his
editor about our coverage of border issues. The only question that
needs to be answered is if their biases are on display in a story. This
is what we have spent years training as journalists to put aside-our
own quarrels, our own narratives, our own wounds. This is how I, the
son of a murder victim who had spent more than half his life searching
for the killers, was able to go inside the California prison system
and uncover official abuses against murderers and rapists.

Let me now briefly explain what happened to my genocide resolution
story as it made its way through the editing process in early April.

Bob Ourlian had first crack at it. He removed a few paragraphs here
and there for space. He removed a handful of words that he considered
imprecise or too loaded. Then he put the story on the budget-"it’s
a great read"-and began to sell it for Page 1. As the story moved
up the chain of command, no editor called Ourlian or me to alert us
to any bias or need for more reporting. Not Joan Springhetti or Tom
Furlong or Scott Kraft or Craig Turner. And here is the crux of the
matter. Not even Doug Frantz, in his e-mail to me explaining why
he was putting the story on hold, said one word about bias or any
problems with the story itself. No holes, no contextual problems.

Instead, Frantz told me he was holding the story-a hold that later
became a kill-because of two other issues: One, because of the 2005
letter to our editors (Frantz called it a "petition") I had taken a
public stance on the issue and had a "conflict of interest." Two, Bob
Ourlian and I, as a pair of Armenians, had gone around the established
system to plant a story about the Armenian genocide resolution. So
rather than judge my story on its merits, Frantz suddenly chose to
take a gratuitous leap and look into my heart as a writer and the
ethnic heritage I was born with. This is dangerous stuff. For one,
it raises questions that are impossible to answer.

And it has grave implications for all of us, for every journalist in
every newsroom. In other words, it is not good enough for the story
itself to be fair, objective, well reported and well written. Even
when a story passes all those tests, it could still be censored by
some tortured inference that the reporter holds an opinion, even
though that opinion never shows up in the story.

So my story never ran. A completely different story by Rich Simon
replaced it. To justify this, the top editors have now manufactured
all sorts of after-the-fact reasons in explaining why my story needed a
"new angle." And what became of Frantz’s two stated reasons for killing
my piece? Jim O’Shea told me the HR investigation has concluded that
Bob Ourlian and I had followed the proper procedure in compiling and
editing the story. And the letter the six of us signed in 2005 did
not address a genocide resolution in Congress but rather the fact of
the genocide itself. Thus, it was not a form of advocacy, he said. In
other words, Frantz’s two reasons for killing the story have no merit.

I hope you don’t think it selfish of me, but I believe I deserve a
public apology from Frantz. And I believe that the five colleagues who
signed the letter with me-Krikorian, Vartabedian, Abcarian, Weinstein
and Chuck Philips–deserve to hear from our editors that our letter
was the right thing to do. Are we to stop our conversation inside
the paper about issues of fairness and accuracy in fear that raising
those issues might someday disqualify us from ever writing about a
subject again? If we can no longer trust that we will be judged on
the merits of our work-the words carried on the page–then the very
foundation of our vocation is destroyed.

What the six of us did wasn’t a public display. We didn’t grab a
bullhorn in one hand and a petition in the other and take to the
corner of First and Spring. What we did we did inside the paper as
loyal employees who care deeply about the Times. In no way should the
carrying out of this duty preclude us from writing about the Armenian
genocide now or in the future.

Thank you for your ear.

Respectfully,

Mark Arax

Ourlian is an editor in the Washington bureau. Word going around
Times staffers at this weekend’s Festival of Books was that editor
Jim O’Shea ordered Frantz to make a public apology and that it wasn’t
going down too well with Frantz No confirmation on that from O’Shea
(who I had two pleasant conversations with this weekend) or Frantz.

/arax_drops_a_bomb.php

ARMENIA TREE PROJECT
65 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472 USA
Tel: (617) 926-TREE
Email: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE
May 1, 2007

ATP Initiates Celebration of Earth Day and Arbor Day in Armenia

KARIN, Armenia–On April 25, Armenia Tree Project (ATP) jointly with the US
Embassy initiated a ceremonial event to mark Earth Day and Arbor Day.

US Embassy Public Affairs Head Thomas Mittnacht and a large number of guests
joined in this celebration with ATP. Among the attendees were the head of
the Hayantar department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Martun Matevosyan,
UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Alexander Avanesov, Center for
Agricultural and Rural Development Country Director Gagik Sardaryan, as well
as representatives from a number of other international and local
organizations.

This is the sixth year that ATP has celebrated Earth Day and Arbor Day with
the US Embassy and its partners at one of the rural refugee villages where
ATP has been developing programs. The celebration at ATP’s nursery in the
village of Karin unites Armenian officials, ambassadors, and NGO
representatives for a tree-planting ceremony to raise awareness of
ecological issues and emphasize the need to solve them together. This year
because of extremely unpleasant weather conditions–snowfall on April 24 was
a surprise to everyone–only one tree symbolizing Earth Day was planted by
ATP Executive Director Jeff Masarjian.

In his opening speech, Mr. Masarjian referred to the 37th anniversary of
Earth Day and stated that in the US, environmental awareness was raised
through public education. The environmental movement became a global
phenomenon by the early 1990s, he stated, when 200 million people around the
world started celebrating Earth Day.

`Armenia is truly a treasure, which our ancestors sustained for thousands of
years. Today this great treasure is at a greater risk of being lost forever
than at any other time in history. Over the past few years people in Armenia
have become increasingly concerned about hotter and drier summers, longer
and colder winters, choking air pollution, and storms which bring flooding,
erosion, and landslides,’ stated Mr. Masarjian. `Our ancestors survived
enormous challenges so that we could be here in Armenia today, and we have a
responsibility to the generations that will follow to be good stewards of
the environment.’

After welcoming the guests, Masarjian passed the floor to US Embassy Public
Affairs Head Thomas Mittnacht, who emphasized the importance of
environmental protection. `President Bush in his Earth Day message said that
it is our responsibility to be stewards of the land. We need to protect our
environment, and as you all know, trees are a very important part of it. In
fact, in the United States we have not only Earth Day now, but also Arbor
Day. It is widely celebrated and on this day we honor trees and we plant
seedlings all across the country. These two celebrations go together very
well, because trees play such an important part for the environment by
bringing a range of benefits to it and to people.’

`Armenia, like many other places in the world, has suffered from
deforestation,’ continued Mr. Mittnacht. `But fortunately you have the
Armenia Tree Project, which is doing something about that. I would hope that
everywhere in the world we could say that our generation will leave a better
environment for future generations. I am not sure whether it is true
everywhere, but I hope that it is going to be here in Armenia.’

Martun Matevosyan, the head of the Hayantar department of the Ministry of
Agriculture, mentioned the important role of Armenia’s non-governmental
organizations, and particularly ATP, in reforesting Armenia. Mr. Matevosyan
stressed the seriousness of the situation of the forests of Armenia, and he
thanked the NGOs for helping to overcome the problem. Mr. Matevosyan
expressed his deep gratitude to the supporters from the Diaspora and greeted
all participants of the event on behalf of Minister of Agriculture David
Lokyan.

Sabina Safaryan, a biology teacher from School No. 43, and her seventh grade
student Knarik Sargsyan presented speeches dedicated to nature protection
and environmental education. Both cited the need to raise public awareness
and stressed the role of ATP in expanding knowledge among students all over
Armenia through its environmental education program.

`Only due to our collaborative efforts, enthusiasm, and love toward nature
can we reap positive results,’ said Ms. Safaryan. `Human beings are
dependent on nature, but at the same time nature is very fragile and can be
easily infringed if mistreated.’

Little Knarik stated, `If people call the planet home, then how dare they
pollute it. Because the environment is a house we all live in, it should
stay clean and healthy, as we do not have anywhere else to move to. Our duty
is to protect and take care of our home.’

ATP has built a partnership with the Sun Child Regional Environmental
Festival. A member of the Sun Child team, Mariam Manukyan from the Manana
Youth Cultural Center was one of the most active participants in the
environmental trainings organized by Sun Child this spring.

Mariam arrived to participate in the Earth Day celebrations together with
other Sun Child representatives. `Young people gain a lot by getting
involved in ecological trainings. We start paying more attention to the
surrounding environment and our contribution becomes more visible and
effective,’ stated Mariam. `I was very excited to be a part of the
environmental education process. Certainly, I could not protect nature on my
own–I need help. We all know that one of Armenia’s most important and
immediate problems is the loss of green spaces. Trees are essential to all
of us and we cannot live without trees.’

PHOTO CAPTIONS:

(Earth Day students.jpg) Biology teacher Sabina Safaryan (center) with
seventh grade student Knarik Sargsyan (left) and Mariam Manukyan (right)
from the Manana Youth Cultural Center with ATP staff at the Earth Day event
at Karin Nursery

(Earth Day Jeff Masarjian.jpg) ATP Executive Director Jeff Masarjian planted
a tree to celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day, during an April 25 program
organized jointly by Armenia Tree Project and the US Embassy in Armenia

Armenian wines compete with Georgian, Italian and French ones at the local market

Arminfo Agency
2007-04-28 17:43:00

About 20% of wine sold in Armenia are imported, chairman of Union of
Armenian Wine-makers, Avag Arutyunyan said at the press-conference
today.

He also added that import threatens those local wine-makers which
produce wine in a segment 5-10 dollars for a bottle. Georgian,
Italian and French wines are dangerous for the Armenian wine. But wine
importing forces Armenian producers revise investment and technological
policy and raise quality of the Armenian wine, Arutyunyan assured.

Turkish Daily News, Turkey
April 28 2007

A collection of Armenian stamps in the Ottoman Empire
Saturday, April 28, 2007

Elif Ozmenek
NEW YORK – Turkish Daily News

If there is anyone who thinks that Turkish-Armenian reconciliation
is impossible they should get to see Mihran Adman’s stamp collection.

Adman, an Armenian who was born and raised in Istanbul, now resides in
New York and brings two communities together every time he exhibits his
amazing collection of Armenian postal history in the Ottoman Empire.

Quite different from the history books when one looks at this
incredible collection one realizes that the past of the two communities
is inseparable and closely knitted. The stamps in his collection are
not only an important part of Armenian history but also Ottoman/Turkish
history. "A lot of nations’ postal history starts with the Ottoman
Empire," Adman says in explaining the intricate connection.

His collection goes back to 1840, the first year official seals were
used as a part of the Ottoman postal service. However Adman also owns
every single stamp that was printed in the republic’s history.

With his remarkable collection one almost travels in time.

Adman started collecting stamps when he was 15. "I bought my first
collection of stamps for $1,000. That was an incredibly high amount in
1960. This almost led to a family tragedy," Adman smiles. As a fifteen
year old visiting his aunt in Paris he realized a book of Anatolian
stamps and asked his aunt to help him out to buy the collection but
of course she said no. Then Adman managed to entice his grandmother
as the only grandchild in the family. His father went ballistic when
he heard that Mihran paid that much for this one collection. That
was the starting point of his life long journey.

I would have never thought a stamp collection could tell so many
different stories. "If you do not know history well you won’t be
able to collect stamps, or let’s say you won’t be able to form a
collection," Adman says. "For example stamps have deckle edges. In
my collection two of the same stamps have different edges. One has
twelve punched deckle edges the other one has five. The reason for
that was during the war the hole-puncher broke and they used sewing
machines instead to punch holes for the stamps in Istanbul."

The first stamp was published in Istanbul in 1860. "Greece for example
published its first stamp in France because they did not have the
technical capacity. The Ottoman Empire published its first stamp in
Istanbul," said Adman.

Armenians played a crucial role in establishing such a strong postal
service in the empire. Krikor Agaton, the director of general of the
Ottoman postal administration in the 1850s, convinced the Europeans
to use the Ottoman postal service instead of their own.

This way the empire could both control what was being sent and
collect postal taxes. However, after Agaton’s sudden death the
Europeans withdrew from the agreement and never gave up their postal
services until the foundation of the republic. Adman says he feels
upset that today Armenians’ role in such a strong postal service
are not remembered at all. "On some of the envelops I collected over
the years from the Ottoman years the addresses were only written in
Armenian and they reached their destinations just fine because most
of the postal service workers knew Armenian." However, Adman does not
want his stamp collection to be a part of a long lasting political
debate. The Armenian diaspora asked Adman to give his stamps to be
exhibited in the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. He, without
hesitating, refused. In May Adman will be exhibiting his collection
in the Turkish Cultural Center in New York. He also says one day he
wishes to exhibit it in native Istanbul as well.

Adman, who loves Istanbul very much, had to leave his hometown in
1980 because of the increasing attacks on minorities. However, he
never lost touch. Adman is very well known and respected among the
Turkish community in Long Island as well.

"On this boat ticket," he says, showing one interesting piece from
his collection, "There are four languages, Ottoman, Greek, Armenian
and French on four different corners. That is how multicultural the
empire was," Adman says with a hope that one day Turkey can embrace
its multicultural past full heartedly.

On April 24 of this year, like the last 92 years, many think that
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation is impossible: To those who think
this way I recommend that they find Adman and look at his amazing
stamp collection.

Congressional Record: April 23, 2007 (Extensions)
>From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

COMMEMORATING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

HON. MICHAEL E. CAPUANO

of massachusetts

in the house of representatives

Monday, April 23, 2007

Mr. CAPUANO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate a people who
despite murder, hardship, and betrayal have persevered. April 24, 2007,
marks the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
Throughout three decades in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
millions of Armenians were systematically uprooted from their homeland
of 3,000 years and deported or massacred. From 1894 through 1896, three
hundred thousand Armenians were ruthlessly murdered. Again in 1909,
thirty thousand Armenians were massacred in Cilicia, and their villages
were destroyed.
On April 24, 1915, two hundred Armenian religious, political, and
intellectual leaders were arbitrarily arrested, taken to Turkey and
murdered. This incident marks a dark and solemn period in the history
of the Armenian people. From 1915 to 1923, the Ottoman Empire launched
a systematic campaign to exterminate Armenians. In 8 short years, more
than 1.5 million Armenians suffered through atrocities such as
deportation, forced slavery and torture. Most were ultimately murdered.
Many of our companions in the international community have already
taken this final step.The European Parliament and the United Nations have
recognized and
reaffirmed the Armenian Genocide as historical fact, as have the
Russian and Greek parliaments, the Canadian House of Commons, the
Lebanese Chamber of Deputies and the French National Assembly. It is
time for America to join the chorus and acknowledge the Armenians who
suffered at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. And let me stress that I
am not speaking of the government of modern day Turkey, but rather its
predecessor, which many of Turkey’s present day leaders helped to
remove from power.
As I have in the past, as a member of the Congressional Armenian
Caucus, I will continue to work with my colleagues and with the
Armenian-Americans in my district to promote investment and prosperity
in Armenia. And, I sincerely hope that this year, the U.S. will have
the opportunity and courage to speak in support of the millions of
Armenians who suffered because of their heritage.

"DAYS OF ARMENIAN CINEMATOGRAPHY" FESTIVAL STARTS

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 23 2007

KIEV, APRIL 23, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The "Days of Armenian
Cinematography in Ukraine" festival started in Kiev on April 19. Films
of Armenian film directors both from Armenia and ones representing
other countries will be shown during hte festival organized by the
Gabri producer’s center, under the patronage of the RA Embassy.

RA Ambassador to Ukraine Armen Khachatrian made the greeting speech
at the solemn opening ceremony of the festival held on April 19 at
the Kiev Filmpanorama cinema. Anatoly Alexanian, a jazz musician
famous in Ukarine and the "Hayrenik" (Fatherland) dancing ensemble
of the Union of Armenians in Ukraine also greeted those present with
their performances.

Sergey Parajanov’s "Colour of Pomegranate" film was shown after the
solemn opening ceremony.

During the program organized by the Radio Era radio station of
Ukraine on April 18, on the occasion of opening of the festival,
Armen Khachatrian, particularly, mentioned that the festival will add
a new page to the centuries-old cultural ties of the two peoples. The
RA Ambassador also answered during a live broadcast radio listeners’
numerous issues dedicated to Armenia, Armenian-Ukrainian relations,
etc.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and
Information Department, the festival will last in Kiev till April 24,
after what it will be held in the cities of Kharkov, Odessa, Lviv,
Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk and Simferopol, Ukraine.

FRANCE PRESERVES ITS POSITION
By H. Tsulikian

AZG Armenian Daily
24/04/2007

France, which has adopted a law on the Armenian Genocide, is steadily
preserving its position on the issue of the Armenian Genocide, but
also attempts to make the Armenian question sound louder.

>>From a personal letter from France we came to know that two post
stamps were published there – one dedicated to the Armenian Genocide
and the other – to the memory of Hrant Dink.