Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

Armenian leader, political coalition discuss constitutional reforms

A1+ web site
31 May 05

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan held a working meeting with members
of the political coalition council today. The constitutional reforms
was discussed.

To recap, [the Council of Europe’s] Venice Commission has recently
given a negative opinion of the package of constitutional reforms
adopted by the National Assembly in the first reading. The commission
warned that without radical changes, Armenia will lag behind the
European integration process.

ANOTHER 37 SCHOOLS TO HAVE COMPUTER LABS

Armenpress

YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS; Another 37 secondary schools in
Armenia will have computer labs before the start of a new academic
year. Introduction of computer labs is part of a World Bank US$19
million equivalent credit for the Armenia Education Quality and
Relevance Project.

The International Development Association (IDA) Credit was approved
last year to assist the government in its efforts to improve the
quality and relevance of the Armenian school system to meet the
challenges of the knowledge society. This is the first phase of a
three-phase, ten-year commitment by the World Bank to supporting
educational change in Armenia.

So far 130 schools were furnished with computer labs as part of this
project. The Education Quality and Relevance project has four main
components: National Curriculum and Assessment System, Educational
Technologies in Schools, Teacher Professional Development, and System
Management and Efficiency.

IT’S WRONG TO THINK THAT RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CONCERNS ONLY ARMENIANS: CHRISTIAN DER-STEPANIAN

STRASBOURG, MAY 30, NOYAN TAPAN. Ambassador Christian Der-Stepanian,
the resident representative of the Republic of Armenia to the Council
of Europe, made a speech at the May 25 meeting of the Ministers’
delegates of the Council of Europe. The speech was dedicated to the
Armenian-Turkish relations and in some sense, it was a response to
Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan’s speech made on the second day of
the Warsaw summit where the latter accused the parliaments of the
countries having recognized the Genocide of ceding to the pressure
of Armenian lobbying. Below is Christian Der-Stepanian’s speech
(with some reductions), which was submitted to Noyan Tapan from
the Press Service of the State Commission on organization of events
dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide: “Turkey’s
Prime Minister’s words, particularly, refusal of the recognition
of the fact of the Armenian Genocide, show what way Turkey must
still pass to fulfil the mandatory affair of remembering which is
so important for democratic development of any society. Accusing of
Turkish University students, who undertook a conference concerning
the Armenian Genocide, of betrayal by Turkish Justice Minister is
the sad evidence of that. In contrary with Erdogan’s estimation
made in Warsaw, it would be wrong to think that the parliaments of
11 member countries of the Council of Europe having recognized the
Armenian Genocide did it under a pressure. They did it consciously
and dilligently, considering that such a recognition corresponds
to Europe’s idea of human rights, which is based on the respect of
peoples’ memory. And today they must feel themselves more strong in
their conviction, also taking into account the voice inside Turkey,
rising in some political and intellectual circles, which calls their
authorities to do thier duty of remembering. It will be also wrong
to think that the issue of recognition concerns only Armenians of
all over the world while it is a phenomenon of political life of the
interested states and unification of civil society’s actors aimed at
the fact that the recognition should really respond the universal
demand of justice and dignity. Today, prompted from the prospect
of opening negotiations on membership to the European Union, the
Turkey’s Prime Minister calls on to create a commission of historians,
while evidences of those within a hair’s breadth of death and foreign
observers (diplomates, representatives of humanitarian missions),
historians’ works amd comparison of demographic data (more than 2
mln Armenians living in the Ottaman Empire before the World War I,
not hardly 60 thousand in present Turkey) are already enough to
prove the fact and volume of the Genocide. We think from our side
the present and future of relations between Armenia and Turkey are
in the sphere of responsibilities of the two countries’ authorities
and are not a work for historians’ counsul. Today, in reality, it is
important not to limit oneself facing the past but just the opposite,
to discuss issues of the present and turn to future. That’s why
we think that opening of borders without preconditions will be the
first significant step for establishing bilateral relations. It will
be accompanied by establishment of a dialogue within the framework
of an intergovernmental commission to be created on that purpose:
just that commission will discuss and solve all those issues which
are still problematic among our countries.”

RA PRIME MINISTER TO DEPART FOR GEORGIA

Pan Armenian News
30.05.2005 03:41

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian governmental delegation headed by
Prime Minister Andranik Margarian will pay a formal visit to Georgia
June 1-3 to take part in the recurrent sitting of the CIS government
heads. The sitting participants are expected to discuss trade-economic,
financial and humanitarian cooperation. In part, they will focus at
the stepwise liquidation of limitations applied in the trade sphere,
prolongation of terms of the intergovernmental programs, creation of
information and marketing network for spreading goods and services
throughout the markets of the CIS member-states. Over 20 documents
on trade, economy, environment protection, health and defense will
be as well signed. June 2 Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili will
receive the government heads. During the visit the Armenian Premier is
scheduled to meet with Georgian parliament chairman Nino Burjanadze,
Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli. The Armenian delegation members will
hold negotiations with the Georgian government officials.

ROMANIAN JOURANLISTS INCLUDING EDUARD OHANESIAN SET FREE IN IRAQ

BAGDAD, MAY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. On May 22, three Romanian journalists
including Eduard (Ovidio) Ohanesian of the Armenian origin taken
hostage three months ago were set free in Iraq. As Radio Liberty
stated quating information of the “Associated Press” agency, Trayan
Basesku, the President of Romania informed that the journalists were
set free as a result of activities of the special services of
Romania. “No ransom was paid for thier setting free, no negatiations
were held in the direction of Romania’s foreing policy. He added that
the journalists are physically healthy and would return to thier
homeland on May 23.” The Romanian journalists and the translator
accompanying them were taken hostage in Iraq on February 28. Iraq’s
assaults demanded from the authorities of that country to bring out a
Romanian 800 people contingent fixed in Iraq.

World in brief

Sunday May 29, 2005
The Observer

Armenia’s unity dance

Armenians joined hands in a dance of unity encircling the nation’s
highest mountain yesterday. More than 150,000 people, including
President Robert Kocharian, danced for 15 minutes in a 100-mile circle
around Mount Aragats, to celebrate the founding of the first republic
of Armenia in 1918 and remember the 90th anniversary of the Armenian
genocide.

Drowned In Sound, UK
May 28 2005

Mezmerize by System Of A Down on American Recordings

Release date: 16th May 2005 More and more I’m convinced that, rather
than being the crazy moshing half brother of Rage Against The
Machine, System Of A Down are actually not a metal band at all, but
rather the sole heirs of The Dead Kennedys’ estate. On ‘Mezmerize’,
the first part of this years double release (‘Hypnotize’ will be
released in the autumn), there’s that same familiar psychotic energy
and enthusiasm that manages to add a blitz of colour to their records
even when they’re being as dark as hell, black comedy like Slim
Pickens cowboy hick air force captain riding the bomb to oblivion in
‘Dr.Strangelove’. It does not conform.

It’s nice when the album runs from the quiet minor melancholy intro,
‘Soldier Side’, into frenetic supercharged ‘Maiden territory for the
Gulf War tirade ‘B.Y.O.B.’, and also nice when that song empties out
into a hooky chorus that could almost be the Backstreet Boys bent
over a big riff. On ‘Revenga’, Serj Tankian switches between an
almost unintelligibly fast vocal and melancholy armenian folk meets
Fugazi. Loved the epic Devin Townsend-ish middle eight. ‘Cigaro’,
with it’s cock fixation, estranges me a bit. Though the point of the
song appears to be to parody male posturing, it steers a little too
close to that which it mocks.

I don’t know if it’s an attempt to force their songs into being more
‘pop’, but the band have developed a habit of overly repeating a
lyric in the hope that it sticks. In theory that’s fine, but in this
case, some of the phrases they choose to repeat aren’t particularly
memorable and the repetition can be irritating and clumsy (like the
chorus to ‘Radio/Video’)…. Good thing they never stick in one place
long enough to get boring and are still expert at setting verses to
some rhythm you didn’t expect. (That track dives in to a few
different reggae feels and finally settles on something like a
wedding dance!). ‘This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I’m On This Song’
is very much like an modern Dead Kennedys song might sound, fast and
furious, while ‘Violent Pornography’ begins like a bit of a nursery
rhyme. Nice chorus, but I’m not sure if I really get the lyrics. I
really liked the way ‘Question!’ was put together… it’s different,
and difficult to describe. ‘Sad Statue’ and ‘Old School Hollywood’
are both decent enough SOAD fare, but make sure you wait for the last
song!
I think ‘Lost In Hollywood’, a bitter blast at it’s phony
manipulative flipside, is the band’s ‘Under The Bridge’. A great
ballad, a great tune and a great song. Many lighters will sway from
side to side to it, and many fans will sing along, but I wonder if
the caustic words may (sadly) keep it off the daytime playlist.

The minor key melodies and armenian folk side of Daron Malakian’s
writing are much more in evidence on ‘Mezmerize’ than on their
previous albums…imagine Anthrax and the Cardiacs doing a soundtrack
for ‘Fiddler On The Roof’, the eastern folk melodies playing
Dr.Jekyll to the heavy riffing staccato Hyde. Perhaps they’re
settling into their identity…Fast and furious often, melodic often,
powerful often, diverse always. It very occasionally loses me, but on
the whole, the album is perfect for anyone with a low attention span.
If played in isolation, most of the songs would catch the first time
listener because System of A Down still sound very different from
anyone else (remember what it was like hearing ‘Chop Suey!!!’ on
Xfm), but ‘Mezmerize’is primarily an album that I would almost always
play from front to back, since it provides a bit of a journey for the
listener (on the back of a scooter going the wrong way down a one way
street in Naples in rush hour). Worth mentioning the excellent inner
artwork, and specifically the abstract band pictures.

Three years after their brilliant 1998 debut,’System Of A Down’, came
the album that propelled the band into many people’s
consciousness,’Toxicity’, and four years later here we are with
another excellent record, ‘Mezmerize’. It’s nice to see them back,
and I hope the forthcoming ‘Hypnotize’ is as good.

Beirut statistics for candidates, districts in Lebanese parliamentary
elections

Quotes package from BBC Monitoring
27 May 05

The Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) carried the following
statistical report on 27 May highlighting details of the first leg of
the 2005 Lebanese parliamentary elections scheduled to be held on 29
May in Beirut ‘s three electoral districts:

The first phase of Lebanon’s 2005 parliamentary elections will begin
in the governorate of Beirut on Sunday 29 May, with the polling
process scheduled to start at 0700 [0400 gmt] and to end at 1800 [1500
gmt].

Beirut city governorate

· ·Total number of polling stations: 780

· ·Number of voters: 420,630

· Number of parliamentary seats: 19

Number of voters on the basis of sects distributed over three electoral
districts in Beirut

Sunni Muslim: 181,687

Shi’i Muslim: 57,029

Armenian Orthodox: 47,169

Roman Orthodox: 42,287

Maronites: 24,711

Roman Catholic: 18,723

Armenian Catholic: 9,682

Syriac Catholic: 8,232

Latin: 5,822

Israeli: 5,534

Syriac Orthodox: 5,246

Druze: 5,073

Armenian Protestant: 3,720

Protestant: 3,190

Chaldean Catholic: 1,364

Assyrian: 387

Chaldean: 229

Alawite: 215

Sabbath Adventist: 177

Chaldean Orthodox: 111

Baha’i: 33

Evangelical: 8

Miscellaneous: 1

Beirut first electoral district

· ·Number of voters: 135,899

· ·Number of parliamentary seats: 6 (2 Sunni), (1 Maronite), (1 Roman
Catholic), (1 Roman Orthodox), (1 Evangelical)

· ·Number of polling stations: 257

Number of voters distributed per district

Al-Ashrafiyah: 51,933

Al-Mazra’a: 74,340

Al-Sayfi: 9,566

Uncontested winners of parliamentary seats in Beirut ‘s first district

Solanje Louis Tutanji (Maronite seat)

Michel Pierre Far’un (Roman Orthodox seat)

Basim Ramzi al-Shab (Evangelical seat)

Candidates running for parliamentary seats in Beirut ‘s first district

(2 Sunni seats): Sa’d al-Din Rafiq al-Hariri, Ammar Umar al-Huri, Jihad Munir
al-Danna, Ahmad Muhammad Dabbagh.

(1 Roman Orthodox seat): Jacques Jean Elie Tamir Tamir, Jubran Ghassan
Tuwayni, Khalil Emile Birmanah.

Beirut second electoral district

· ·Number of voters: 137,466

· ·Number of parliamentary seats: 6 (2 Sunni), (1 Shi’i), (1 Roman
Orthodox), (1 Minorities), (1 Armenian Orthodox)

· ·Number of polling stations: 250

Number of voters distributed per district

Al-Msaytbih: 63,132

Al-Bashurah: 45,262

Al-Rmayl: 29,072

Uncontested winners of parliamentary seats in Beirut ‘s second district

Yeghia Jerijian (Armenian Orthodox seat)

Candidates running for parliamentary seats in Beirut ‘s second district

(2 Sunni seats): Walid Ahmad Ido, Bahij Bahij Tabbarah, Adnan Ahmad Arqaji,
Ahmad Yusif Yasin, Nabilah Muhammad Sa’b, Ibrahim Muhammad Dallal al-Halabi,
Zuhayr Ibrahim al-Khatib, Badr Rachid al-Hajj Badr al-Tabish.

(1 Shi’i seat): Amin Muhammad Shari, Ibrahim Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din, Ali
Rachid Shahrur, Salah-al-Din Nizam Asayran.

(1 Roman Orthodox seat): Atif Saliba Majdalani, Najah Anis Wakim.

(1 Minorities seat): Nabil Musa De Frayj, Raymond George Asmar.

Beirut third electoral district

· ·Number of voters: 147,265

· ·Number of parliamentary seats: 7 (2 Sunni), (1 Shi’i), (1 Armenian
Catholic), (1 Druze), (2 Armenian Orthodox)

· ·Number of polling stations: 273

Number of voters distributed per district

Dar al-Mraysih: 10,621

Ra’s Beirut: 30,062

Zuqaq al-Blatt: 42,663

Al-Midawar: 41,789

Al-Marfa (Port): 8,664

Mina al-Husun: 13,466

Uncontested winners of parliamentary seats in Beirut ‘s third district

Serge Tursarkisian (Armenian Catholic seat)

Jean Latfik Ogassabian (Armenian Orthodox seat)

Agup Strak Kasarjian (Armenian Orthodox seat)

Ghazi Ali Yusif (Shi’i seat)

Ghazi Hani al-Aridi (Druze seat)

Candidates running for parliamentary seats in Beirut ‘s third district

(2 Sunni seats): Muhammad Jamil Qabbani, Ghinwah Adnan Jallul, Adnan Khadir
Trabulsi, Yihya Khadir Fattah Ahmad.

Pan Armenian News

TURKEY’S DENIAL OF GENOCIDE MOVES IT AWAY FROM DEMOCRACY

27.05.2005 07:09

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President declaring the acknowledgement of the
Armenian Genocide as a crime against humanity fits the spirit of the
European values, Armenian Permanent Representative of the CoE Christian
Ter-Stepanian said when addressing a meeting of the Committee of Ministers
of the Council of Europe. In his words, Turkey denying the Armenian Genocide
shows the length of the road the country has to pass on the way of `memory
of the past’, which is so important for the democratic development of any
society. As noted by Ter-Stepanian, Turkey’s refusal to hold a scientific
conference on Armenian Genocide issues is a sad evidence of that. In
Ter-Stepanian’s words, in spite of a statement by Turkish PM R. Erdogan
during the CoE Warsaw Summit, it is unfair to consider that the 11 countries
that have acknowledged the Genocide did it under pressure. `They made this
move deliberately,’ he stated. Today Erdogan, inspired by coming discussions
over Turkey’s accession to the EU, calls to form a historical commission,
while evidence and works of a number of international scholars and experts
are sufficient for stating the Armenian Genocide is a fact. Armenia
considers that the present and the future of the Armenian-Turkish relations
are in the sphere of responsibility of the authorities of the two countries.
Today it is necessary not to limit oneself to views of the past, but to the
contrary discuss today’s issues and face the future, Armenia’s
representative to the CoE stated.

Turkish Press
May 27 2005

Turkish parliament amends controversial penal code

ANKARA – Turkey’s parliament Friday approved a package of amendments
to a controversial new penal code, put on hold in March amid harsh
criticism that it restricts press freedoms and contains technical
flaws.

The code, which was first adopted in September amid much fanfare and
praise, was a key condition that Ankara fulfilled to win a date for
accession talks with the European Union at a summit in Brussels in
December.

It overhauls Turkey’s 78-year-old penal code borrowed from fascist
Italy and has won praise for introducing a more liberal criminal
justice system, in particular increasing penalties against human
rights abusers and torturers and improving the rights of women and
children.

The package adopted Friday contains improvements to a number of
articles concerning the media, but press groups have denounced the
changes as inadequate on the grounds that journalists may still end
up in prison, even though jail sentences were purged from the press
law in another reform last year.

The amendments notably scrap provisions that envisaged increased
penalties for some offenses if they are committed via the media, such
as slander, insult to the president and incitement to war.

The lawmakers also narrowed the scope of a controversial article
envisaging up to 10 years in jail for those who accept benefits from
foreigners in return for acting against “fundamental national
interests.”

A provision that would have increased the jail term to 15 years if
the offender committed the crime by spreading propaganda via the
media was removed from the code.

The article raised alarm when it emerged that explanatory notes in
the draft bill said it targets those who may, for instance, advocate
the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus and support claims that
the massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire was genocide.

Other articles denounced by the media, however, remained unchanged.

Most of them concern the protection of privacy and the secrecy of
judicial proceedings until suspects are formally charged.

Press groups say the provisions are too restrictive and will deal a
heavy blow to investigative journalism.

Complete with Friday’s amendments, the new penal code is now
scheduled to enter force on June 1, if it is approved by the
president.

A row between the government, which has its roots in a banned
Islamist movement, and the secularist main opposition marred the
debate on the amendments late Thursday when ruling party deputies
proposed a last-minute change.

The amendment, approved later with support from AKP MPs, paves the
way for those who run illegal educational institutions to escape with
a fine rather than a jail term.

Turkey’s secular elite is categorically opposed to easing
restrictions on opening schools on the grounds that such a move will
allow political Islamist movements to set up their own schools and
train Islamist-leaning sympathisers.

The conservative AKP is often accused of having a secret Islamist
agenda, even though it has disavowed its Islamist roots.