Author: Vardapetian Ophelia

AZERBAIJAN HAS NOT RESPONDED TO THE REQUEST OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SO FAR

ArmRadio.am
19.04.2006 14:30

So far Azerbaijan has not responded to the request of the European
Parliament to allow the fact-finding mission to learn about the fact
of demolition of Armenian khachkars and ancient monuments in place.

To remind, according to April 6 decision of the President of the
European Parliament and Heads of political groups, a fact-finding
mission should be sent to Old Jugha to investigate the destruction of
Armenian cemeteries by Azerbaijanis. The mission is to be carried out
by members of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Commission,
who are currently in Yerevan to participate in the 8th sitting of
the Commission. In case of permission, the will leave Yerevan for
Nakhijevan.

Head of the EU delegation Mary-Anne Isler Beguin told “Armenpress”
that the European Parliament has asked UNESCO to provide data about
the fact of demolition of the Armenian monuments. The organization,
however, possessed no information.

“Currently we are working with Armenia, Azerbaijan and UNESCO to find
out what has happened in reality,” she said.

According to Mary-Anne Isler Beguin, the facts provided by Armenia
evidence about the destruction that occurred still a few years ago.

As early as February 16, in its resolution adopted with the majority
of votes, the European Parliament condemned the Azeri vandalism and
called on Azerbaijan to “allow carrying out missions directed at
investigation and preservation of historic, particularly Armenian
heritage on its territory.”

CYPRUS-ARMENIA CENTRAL BANKS SIGN MOU

Reporter.gr, Greece
April 17 2006

09:57 – 17 April 2006 – The Central Banks of Cyprus and Armenia
signed here Thursday a memorandum of understanding on April 13
during the visit to Cyprus of the governor of the Central Bank of
Armenia, Tigran Sargsyan, reports Financial Mirror. The “Memorandum
of Understanding” will promote exchange of information between the
two supervisory authorities in order to help the supervision of
cross-border establishments and to ensure the sound functioning of
credit institutions in their respective countries.

The Central Bank of Cyprus has already signed “Memoranda of
Understanding” with other Central Banks of countries whose banks
already have or may have, in the immediate future, a physical presence
in Cyprus.

These include the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the Bulgarian
National Bank, the National Bank of Ukraine, the National Bank of the
Republic of Belarus, the National Bank of Yugoslavia, the National Bank
of Romania, the Financial and Capital Market Commission of the Republic
of Latvia, the National Bank of Slovakia, the Bank of Tanzania,
the Central Bank of Jordan, the Bank of Greece and the Banque du Liban.

Negotiations are currently being carried out with another ten overseas
banking supervisory authorities for the signing of similar documents,
the statement added.

AZERI MONUMENTS IN THE WHOLE TERRITORY OF ARMENIA?

A1+
[07:48 pm] 17 April, 2006

For the discussion of the issue of the preservation of the historical
monuments the Azeri side has prepared a document trying to prove that
there used to be Azeri monuments in the whole territory of Armenia
the overwhelming majority of which has been destroyed.

Tigran Torosyan, the head of the RA delegation to PACE and NA Deputy
Speaker informed about it today.

“Naturally, it is one of the usual falsifications, but we must
seriously get ready to answer them”, Mr.

Torosyan said. In May and June a representative of CE will visit the
region, including Armenia, to investigate the issue of the preservation
of the monuments.

By the way, the reporters of the Monitoring group will be in
Armenia on September 25-27 and will get acquainted with the course
of the legislative reforms after the Constitutional reforms. The
draft report will be represented in October in the session of the
Monitoring Committee. The final report will be represented after the
2007 Parliamentary election, at the end of the year. Tigran Sargsyan
mentioned that the only thing we can do today is to hope that the
2007 elections will be held so well that Armenia will overcome the
monitoring phase and enter the post-monitoring one.

During the press conference Tigran Torosyan represented the work of
the PACE April session. This time the opposition and the coalition
acted unanimously: during the discussion about corruption Armen
Roustamyan and Stepan Demirchyan made speech, Tigran Torosyan and
Artashes Geghamyan spoke about the issues of the Middle East, Hermine
Naghdalyan expressed her opinion about issues of the protection of
human rights, and Tigran Torosyan spoke from the Armenian side about
the refugees. During the discussion of this issue Samed Seidov,
the head of the Azeri delegation represented the Azeri point of view.

The head of the Georgian delegation made speech too.

According to Tigran Torosyan, during the discussion of the issue
statistics about the refugees were made public, which did not proceed
from the interests of the Azeris. The numbers mentioned in the document
revealed that the announcements of Azerbaijan about 1 billion refugees
do not correspond to the reality.

Azerbaijan represented 18 offers about the adopted resolution. Five of
them were accepted, and all of them presupposed editorial changes. As
for the calls on the three countries to cooperate about the issue
of the refugees and their voluntary return, they remained in the
resolution, although the Azeri delegation was against them.

It is noteworthy that the Armenian delegates did not miss the chance
and announced that the issue of the refugees rose after the Sumgayit
and Baku massacres and that the majority of the Azeri who left Karabakh
sold their houses before leaving.

WorldNetDaily, OR
April 15 2006

Librarian attacked by profs for promoting ‘Marketing of Evil’
College employee accused of ‘sexual harassment’ for recommending
Kupelian’s best-selling book

Posted: April 15, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

In what is being called an “astonishing” and “shameful” case of
campus persecution, Ohio State University’s head librarian is being
formally accused of “sexual harassment.” His crime? Recommending that
the school’s freshman class be required to read WND Managing Editor
David Kupelian’s controversial best seller, “The Marketing of Evil.”

Scott Savage is head of Reference and Instructional Services at the
Bromfield Library on Ohio State University’s Mansfield campus.

The school’s Office of Human Resources put Savage under
“investigation” after three professors – Hannibal Hamlin, Norman
Jones and J.K. Buckley – filed a complaint of discrimination and
harassment, saying Kupelian’s book made them feel “unsafe.”

In his role as a member of OSU Mansfield’s First Year Reading
Experience Committee, Savage had suggested new students read “The
Marketing of Evil,” as well as three other books – “The Professors”
by David Horowitz, “Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis” by Bat Ye’or, and
“It Takes a Family” by Sen. Rick Santorum. Savage made the
recommendations after other committee members had suggested a series
of books with a left-wing perspective, by authors such as Jimmy
Carter and Maria Shriver.

The attacks on Savage stem directly from faculty members’ reaction to
“The Marketing of Evil,” according to the Arizona-based
public-interest group Alliance Defense Fund, which is defending the
librarian.

“Universities are one of the most hostile places for Christians and
conservatives in America,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David
French, who heads the group’s Center for Academic Freedom. “It’s
shameful that OSU would investigate a Christian librarian for simply
recommending books that are at odds with the prevailing politics of
the university.”

ADF sent a “Cease and Desist” letter to OSU Mansfield officials [pdf
file] March 28 informing them of Savage’s constitutional rights. In
it, the legal group explained the attack on Savage:

After Mr. Savage suggested the four additional books, Professors
Hamlin and Jones took issue with “The Marketing of Evil.” They
e-mailed the Committee and labeled Mr. Savage “anti-gay” and called
his suggestions “homophobic tripe.”
Jones did not stop there; he sent a private email to Mr. Savage’s
supervisor, questioning the integrity of the library staff. He sent
another email to the Committee, arguing with Mr. Savage’s academic
opinions and quoting additional text from Amazon.com’s review of “The
Marketing of Evil.” After this e-mail exchange, a non-committee
faculty member, J.F. Buckley, emailed all faculty and staff at the
Mansfield campus criticizing the book Mr. Savage mentioned,
denigrating Mr. Savage’s professionalism, and claiming that he felt
threatened by Mr. Savage. …

On Monday, March 13, 2006, at the routine faculty meeting, several
faculty members accused Mr. Savage of sexual harassment and made a
motion to file formal charges against him. The faculty unanimously
passed the motion and appointed Professor Gary Kennedy to notify
OSU’s sexual harassment officer. Two days later the faculty met again
and rescinded the motion (due to confusion as to whether the faculty
had the authority to pass the origional motion), but instructed the
complaining professors to notify OSU’s sexual harassment officer
individually. On March 16, 2006, Buckley, Jones and Kennedy filed a
Discrimination & Harassment Complaint with OSU’s Office of Human
Resources.

To date, the university refuses to halt the investigation, saying in
response, it takes “any allegation of sexual harassment seriously.”

French is incredulous that faculty members are attempting to label a
librarian as a “sexual harasser” simply because they disagree with
his book suggestions: “It is astonishing that an entire faculty would
vote to launch a sexual harassment investigation because a librarian
offered book suggestions in a committee whose purpose was to solicit
such suggestions,” he said.

Note: Readers may read all the e-mail exchanges between the
professors attacking Savage and “The Marketing of Evil” here.

Here are a few of the OSU professors’ March 9 intra-faculty e-mail
comments:

Hamlin: “On the matter of homophobia, I think you should be rather
careful, Scott. OSU’s policy on discrimination is not simply a matter
of academic orthodoxy, but a matter of human rights. Re Kupelian’s
book, would you advocate a book that was racist or antisemitic [sic],
or are you arguing that homosexuals are not in the same category and
that homophobia is not therefore a matter of discrimination but of
rational argument? And what are we supposed to make of the fact that
Kupelian’s Armenian family died in the holocaust? Does this mean that
he then has the right to spout bigotry about other minorities with
impunity?

Jones: “The anti-gay book Scott Savage endorses (below) falsely
claims that ‘the widely revered father of the ‘sexual revolution’ has
been irrefutably exposed as a full-fledged sexual psychopath who
encouraged pedophilia.” This is a factually untrue characterization
of Dr. Kinsey and his work on every point. … I am frankly
embarrassed for you, Scott, that you would endorse this kind of
homophobic tripe.

Buckley: “Rather than waste your time with the paucity of
intellectual rigor that Kupelian brings to the table, I encourage you
to visit his website, and see for yourself his unmitigated homophobia
and xenophobia. In short, he is a pontificating, phobic, cultural
atavism bemoaning the loss of an (Anglo) America that only existed on
such shows as “The Lone Ranger.” … As a gay man I have long ago
realized that the world is full of homophobic, hate-mongers who, of
course, say that they are not. So I am not shocked, only deeply
saddened – and THREATENED – that such mindless folks are on this
great campus. I am ending now, with the hope that I have seriously
challenged you Scott, and anyone who “thinks” as you purport to do.
You have made me fearful and uneasy being a gay man on this campus. I
am, in fact, notifying the OSU-M campus, and Ohio State University in
general, that I no longer feel safe doing my job. I am being
harassed.”
Commenting on the controversy surrounding his book, Kupelian said:
“It’s disgraceful that this university’s faculty members would
destroy an innocent man by calling him a ‘sexual harasser,’ just
because he recommended my book. What’s ironic is that my book simply
champions the traditional, Judeo-Christian values almost all
Americans took for granted 60 years ago. But today, many of us, at
least on our nation’s college campuses, are in mortal combat with
those same values.”

“The Marketing of Evil,” released in August, has become one of the
nation’s most talked-about books, widely praised by Dr. Laura, David
Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, D. James Kennedy and many others and
garnering over 100 five-star reader reviews on Amazon.com. Here’s a
sampling:

“Opening this book is like turning on the Sun. … Mr. David Kupelian
has written a remarkable book that reveals how the American public
has been taken down the slippery slope of moral relativism.”

“I finished “The Marketing of Evil” over a month ago. It absolutely
changed my life.”

“Prepare to see your world with new eyes!”

“Read this book and you will start seeing the lies more clearly and
you will then be on the path to truth. It will be very painful for
some to admit the truth. You will have to say to yourself, as I did,
“Oh my God. All those precious years wasted living by these lies.” …
In the long run you will feel a tremendous sense of gratitude for
having read this book.”

“This book has put a powerful voice to many things that truth-loving
people in America have felt in their spirits for a long, long time. …
I like my medicine straight and my truth even straighter, and this
book delivers, with no apologies or flinching. … I for one am forever
changed.”

“This was a great book!! So truthful. Should be required reading.
Shows what is behind much of the assault on traditional values, and
how we have morally slipped so far in America.”

“The way Kupelian writes is phenomenal, his footnotes are extensively
accurate, and his research superb. … Kupelian takes the reader,
sometimes by the hand, and shows them point by point why we need to
remember our heritage as Americans, and see what has happened since
traditional values have been thrown out the window, to further a
free-for-all society that has decayed from the inside out. … Give
this book to everyone you know, you’ll thank me.”

“Kupelian, with a calm, steady and patient hand, exposes the left as
master marketeers selling an agenda of ever-increasing licentiousness
and depravity as a designer substitute for classical American ordered
liberty. … Kupelian pulls back the curtain and exposes the wizards
pulling the levers of fraud and deceit that has masqueraded as news
for the last 40+ years.”

“The Marketing of Evil” irritates only those who hate the light of
day, goodness, family and the Truth. I recommend this book for anyone
who is looking for an explanation of the simple question: ‘How could
we (Western Civilization) have sunk to such depraved depths?'”

“A book whose time has come.”

“The socialists in this country no doubt cannot stand that this book
even exists, however, thinking people will find the book an eye
opener!”

“David Kupelian exposes like nobody before how key statistics related
to crime, divorce and everything negative is related directly to our
propensity to literally buy evil. Evil that was intentionally
marketed to the public! … This book really pulls back the veil on
evil. A must read for anyone that cares about the future of our
nation.”

“I will forever look at the media and liberalism even more cautiously
than I have in the past.”

“David Kupelian has authored a masterpiece that belongs in every home
in America next to the Family Bible.”

“This fast-paced survey book is one of the more eye-opening books you
will read this year. I got this book thinking there wasn’t much I’d
learn, but I was quite mistaken.”

“This book may offend those with a secular, humanistic, left-wing
outlook but I feel that it is required reading for our time. Indeed,
it is one of the best books that I have read for some time.”

E_ID=49761

THE RESIDENTS DIDN’T WANT TO CLEAN THEIR CITY

A1+
[04:15 pm] 13 April, 2006

A mass sanitary purification was held in Sisian. The cleaning was
initiated by the workers of the Municipality, Community organizations
and enterprises.

The pupils also had their active participation in the cleaning
process. “The Sisian sanitary purification” LTD implemented the
cutting of trees and garbage taking from the city streets.

In comparison with the workers of the Municipality, Community
organizations and enterprises the city inhabitants were rather
passive. Soon the city authorities will realize tree – planting.

“Sjuni” TV channel of Sisian

HRANT DINK IS SURE THAT FIVE TURK JOURNALISTS TO BE JUSTIFIED

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 11 2006

ISTANBUL, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The court
procedure towards 5 Turk journalists re-started in Istanbul on
April 5. The journalists are accused of interpretations made in
Istanbul in September, about the conference dedicated to the Armenian
Genocide. “Those five journalists having progressive and democratic
behaviour appeared in front of the court for their publications,”
Hrant Dink, the editor-of-chief of the “Akos” newspaper published in
Istanbul, said to Radio Liberty. But Dink is sure that the journalists
will be justified.

REGULAR ISSUE OF MEDIUM-TERM COUPON BONDS TO TAKE PLACE ON APRIL 18

Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. A regular issue of medium-term coupon
bonds will take place in Armenia on April 18. NT correspondent was
informed at the RA Ministry of Finance and Economy that the bond issue
will amount to 1.5 bln drams (about 3.4 mln USD), with the annual
yield of coupons making 7%. The minimal volume of bond purchase makes
10 thousand drams.

MANN ARRIVING IN SOUTH CAUCASUS APRIL 18

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.04.2006 19:47 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ April 18 American Ambassador of the OSCE Minsk Group
Steven Mann will pay an official visit to the South Caucasus, Azeri FM
Elmar Mammadyarov reported. In his words, during a visit to Washington
he had meetings with Steven Mann, US Assistant Secretary of State for
European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried, as well as Assistant to
the US President For National Security Affairs Stephen Hadley.

The American party made new proposals over continuation of the Prague
process over NK settlement.

“These are interesting proposals. Official Baku will study these
and will express its attitude. Though talks on settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict do not advance, efforts to that end should
be increased,” Mammadyarov remarked, AzerTaj reports.

A1+

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SET TO SEND INVESTIGATION TEAM TO DJULFA

[09:07 pm] 07 April, 2006

STRASBURG (FRANCE) – Speaking at an official conference on Thursday,
April 6th, the President of the European Parliament was joined by the
leaders of its political parties in strongly approving the body’s
decision to send a delegation in Djulfa, in the Nakhichevan region of
Azerbaijan.

The aim of the mission is to investigate the destruction by Azerbaijan
of the Armenian cemetery in Djulfa, a treasure of world architectural
heritage that was effectively destroyed and replaced by an Azerbaijani
military facility.

The EP leaders unanimously decided to entrust this mission to the
Commission on EU-Armenia parliamentary cooperation rather than to an
ad-hoc delegation, as it had initially been planned.

The mission is being sent in accordance with the Parliament’s
resolution “on cultural heritage in Azerbaijan,” which was adopted in
February of 2006 (P6_TA(2006)0069). This measure “demands that
Azerbaijan allow missions, including experts working with ICOMOS, who
are dedicated to surveying and protecting archaeological heritage, in
particular Armenian heritage, onto its territory, and that it also
allow a European Parliament delegation to visit the archaeological
site at Djulfa.”

The delegation will be composed of ten Members of the European
Parliament (MEP) who are members of the Commission of EU-Armenia
parliamentary cooperation group. They are set to travel to Djulfa as
part of their trip to Armenia from April 17th to 21st. Prior to
travelling to Djulfa, they will need to get the necessary
authorisations from the Azerbaijani authorities, the same authorities
responsible for the desecration of the cemetery.

The delegation will include the following MEPs:

Mme Marie-Anne Isler-Béguin, présidente (Verts, France)

M. Arpad Duka-Zolyomi, vice-président (PPE, Slovaquie)

M. Alessandro Battilocchio (NI, Italie)

M. Johannes Blokand (IND/DEM, Pays-Bas)

Mme Frederika Brepoels (PPE, Belgique)

M. Robert Evans (PSE, R.-U.)

Mme Siiri Oviir (ALDE, Estonie)

Mme Gabriele Stauer (PPE, Allemagne)

M. Hannes Swoboda (PSE, Autriche)

M. Tadeusz Zwiefka (PPE, Pologne)

More than 1 million Italians abroad cast ballots in parliamentary election

AP Worldstream; Apr 08, 2006
MARTA FALCONI

More than 1 million Italians living abroad voted in the country’s
parliamentary election, according to a final tally, and their ballots
could be decisive in a close race.

This election marked the first time expatriates were allowed to vote
in a general election without having to travel back to Italy Around
1.1 million Italians abroad, or 42 percent of those eligible, sent in
their ballots by mail in early voting, the Foreign Ministry said.

Official results won’t be released until after the Sunday-Monday
domestic voting to choose between blocs led by Premier Silvio
Berlusconi and his center-left challenger, former European Commission
President Romano Prodi.

About 2.6 million citizens abroad were eligible to vote to elect 18
lawmakers who, for the first time, will be responsible for
representing their interests in the national legislature. Those
lawmakers will fill 12 new seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower
house of parliament, and six in the Senate.

Around 47 million citizens who live in Italy will vote this weekend.

Latin American consulates reported the highest average ballot return
rate, with about 52 percent of Italians voting, the ministry said. The
highest return was in Uruguay, where 63 percent of Italians
voted. Campaigning politicians paid special attention to Latin America
_ Argentina in particular because it is home to hundreds of thousands
of expatriates. Fifty-six percent of Italians living there voted.

Europe had an average return rate of about 38 percent, with Armenia
topping the list with 95 percent, the ministry reported. About 37
percent of Italians living in North America voted, with the highest
returns in Barbados at 81 percent. Africa, Asia and Oceania reported
an average of 44 percent, with 100 percent _ or 32 people _ voting in
Kuwait, the ministry said.

Until now, Italians wishing to vote in their country’s general
elections had to fly back to Italy. A 2001 law, one of the first
pieces of legislation from Berlusconi’s five-year conservative
government, gave citizens who live abroad the right to vote by mail.

The expatriate representatives will have full voting rights in Italy’s
parliament, giving Italians abroad the chance to influence decisions
not just on issues concerning them directly, but also on those
affecting domestic policies in Italy.

In addition to giving overseas voters the right to cast ballots, the
law also created four huge electoral districts to represent Italians
who live overseas in Parliament, which is composed of a 315-seat
Senate and 630-seat Chamber of Deputies.

In recent weeks, politicians of all stripes have been crisscrossing
the globe trying to woo voters.