Author: Zaminian Bedik

TURKISH MAN ARRESTED AFTER GROUP DISRUPTS BOOK READING

New York Times, NY
May 2 2007

A Turkish native was arrested after he and others disrupted a book
reading about the Armenian genocide at a Barnes & Noble store on the
Upper East Side last night, the police said.

Among those attending the reading by Margaret Ajemian Ahnert,
whose Armenian parents immigrated to the United States, were Robert
M. Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney, and Hugh L. Carey,
a former governor of New York. Ms. Ahnert had begun reading from her
book, "The Knock at the Door," when a group of four or five men in
the audience stood and started passing out literature denying that
Turks committed the mass destruction of Armenians in and around 1915,
according to Ms. Ahnert and her publisher, David Nelson. The men were
asked to sit, but refused, Mr. Nelson said.

The police said that they received a call around 7:30 p.m. and that
officers attempted to escort the men out of the bookstore, on East
86th Street.

One man, Erdem Sahin, 41, refused to leave and was arrested, the police
said. Mr. Sahin, who was born in Turkey, was charged with resisting
arrest, inciting a riot, unlawful assembly, and disorderly conduct
for disturbing a lawful assembly, according to the police.

The reading was suspended for about 20 minutes while the disturbance
was sorted out.

"It was the first time I had that ugliness," Ms. Ahnert said. "It’s
not pleasant, but this is America. Everyone has free speech."

IN MANUK GASPARIAN’S WORDS, THERE IS NO NEED TO CALL FOREIGNERS TO FIGHT AGAINST OWN COUNTRY

Noyan Tapan
May 02 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. "If we are able to solve our problems
inside of our country, why we must call foreigners to fight against
own country."

Manuk Gasparian, the leader of the Zhorghovrdavarakan Ughi
(Democratic Path) party made such a statement at the April 30
press conference, commenting upon the publication of the overheard
conversation between Chairman of the Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law)
party Artur Baghdasarian and the Deputy Ambassador of Great Britain
to Armenia. In his words, the main goal of that publication is to
make A. Baghdasarian not put forward his candidature at the 2008
president’s elections. The overheard conversation, in M. Gasparian’s
words, does not involve a criminal element: the problem is just moral
here, and RA President Robert Kocharian’s qualification as a betrayal
is also a moral estimation of the happened.

Aghasi Arshakian who is involved in the third horizontal of the
proportional list of the Zhoghovrdavarakan Ughi party expressed
an opinion that the mentioned qualification of R. Kocharian "is
simply not proper for the party president." "The President, being
the guarantee of the country security, is obliged to bring an action
against the country betrayers and imprison them. If he does not do
it, it is obvious that there is a tendency to discredit that person
(Artur Baghdasarian) as we are not supporters of solving the inner
problems of our country with help of uncle Semmer," A. Arshakian said.

FITCH RATINGS REVISES ARMENIA’S OUTLOOK TO POSITIVE

Arka News Agency, Armenia
May 2 2007

YEREVAN, May 2. /ARKA/. Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook
on Armenia’s Foreign and Local Currency Issuer Default Ratings to
Positive from Stable.

On its official web-site, Fitch Ratings affirmed the ratings at ‘BB-‘
(BB minus) as well as the Country Ceiling at ‘BB’ and the Short-term
Foreign Currency rating at ‘B’.

The Positive Outlook reflects expectations that disciplined
macroeconomic policies and structural reforms will continue,
underpinning sustainable economic growth and a declining public and
external debt burden.

Armenia faces parliamentary elections in 2007 and a race for the
presidency in 2008.Fitch does not expect material changes in the
country’s broad economic and foreign policies to arise. However,
Director in Fitch’s Sovereigns Group Andrew Colquhoun pointed out
that "The risk of economic volatility or of a political shock over
the next twelve to eighteen months cannot be wholly discounted.

"But if policy discipline and political stability are maintained,
the secular improvement in creditworthiness will likely continue and
exert upward pressure on the ratings," he said.

Sustaining rapid economic growth necessary to raise incomes and reduce
extreme poverty without imperilling macroeconomic stability is key
to improvements in Armenia’s sovereign creditworthiness and ratings.

In 2006, Armenia received a sovereign rating. On June 5, 2006,
the int5ernational agency Fitch Ratings assigned the Foreign and
Local Currency Issuer Default Ratings at "BB-" (BB minus) Stable to
Armenia. The agency also assigned the short-term raring at "B" and the
"country ceiling" rating at "BB-" (BB minus) to the country. On August
17, 2006, Fitch Ratings raised Armenia’s sovereign rating from "BB-"
(BB minus) to "BB".

Besides, on July 24, 2006, the international rating agency Moody’s
Investors Service assigned to the Armenian Government sovereign
foreign and local currency ratings at Ba2.

RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR RECEIVES SECOND NOTE OF PROTEST IN AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN OFFICE

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
May 1 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku/ Trend , corr. P/ Amirdjanov/ Vasiliy Istratov,
Russia’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan has been called to come to the
Azerbaijan Foreign Office due to the fact of distortion of the
Azerbaijani history in the known Russian Encyclopedia. Particularly,
Nagorno-Karabakh was indicated in this publication as "independent
Armenian state"., Trend reports referring to the National AzTV Channel.

There was a half-an-hour talk with Mr. Istratov in the Foreign Ofice
of the State, where a note of protest were presented to the Russian
diplomat.

Mr. Istratov said that he had been wel-informed about the matter by
adding that he would verify this piece of information.

Araz Azimov, the Deputy Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister, confirmed the
information about the publication, after which a note of protest
were presented to the Russian Ambassador. "The repetition of such
facts is very unpleasant to us, therefore we would like to express
our discontent to the Russian party due to the mentioned fact,"
added Mr. Azimov.

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Mission to UN
119 E 36 Street, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Lilit Toutkhalian
Tel: (212) 686 9079
e-mail:[email protected]

The postponed exhibition dedicated to the 13th anniversary of the
Genocide in Rwanda and entitled `Lessons from Rwanda’ finally took
place on Monday, April 30 at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon delivered the
opening remarks.

The exhibition is a production of the Aegis Trust, a British
organization for genocide prevention, in partnership with the UN
Department of Public Information (UNDPI).

The exhibition was suspended as a result of the involvement of the
Turkish Mission, which stridently opposed the inclusion in the text of
the exhibit of the sentence on the massacres of one million Armenians
in Turkey. This attempt to exert censorship at the United Nations met
a strong reaction from the Armenian Mission. The international mass
media also voiced its concern regarding the Turkish pressure on the
international body, and expressed its support to the Armenian cause
through the articles in such prominent newspapers as `The New York
Times’, `The International Herald Tribune’ and others, condemning the
Turkish policy of denial and attempts to revise the history.

As a result of two-week long discussions the integrity of the
exhibition was restored and the sentence about the mass killings of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, which later were qualified as
`Genocide’, a term coined by the eminent scholar Prof. Raphael Lemkin,
was reinstated where it belonged.

This traveling exhibit, which will first be shown at the UN
Headquarters in NY over a period of three weeks, highlights the role
of states in preventing genocides, educates viewers on the warning
signs of genocide, examines the genocide in Rwanda, and emphasizes the
plight of victims.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 28 2007

The Department of State reaffirms Nagorno Karabakh as inalienable
part of Azerbaijan, says Azeri ambassador to the US

[ 28 Apr 2007 13:23 ]

"The U.S. Department of State’s having restored the original version
of country report on human rights practices [in Armenia] comes as
return of status-quo," Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the United States,
Yashar Aliyev, told APA Bureau.

He hailed the new decision as reflection of reality. "The Department
of State reaffirmed that Nagorno Karabakh is an inalienable part
of Azerbaijan. We had watched the process since the first day and
made necessary efforts. Our position is that Nagorno Karabakh is an
integral and ancient territory of Azerbaijan and this issue can not
be tabled as a topic for discussion," he added. He also said he is
far from presenting the recent changes to the report as victory. /APA/

CONSTRUCTION OF NEW TELEPHONE NETWORK STARTS IN GYUMRI

Noyan Tapan
Apr 27 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 27, NOYAN TAPAN. Construction of a new fixed-line phone
network for 20 thousand subscribers has started in Gyumri. According
to ArmenTel, all residents and organizations of the city will have
the opportunity to make use of modern services of the new phone
network. The subscriber phone network of Gyumri was badly damaged
by the 1988 earthquake and is now in unsatisfactory state. The
constrcution of Gyumri city phone network has been included in
ArmenTel’s development programs several times but later delayed for
various reasons.

It is envisaged to complete the first stage of the construction in late
2007, while the second stage – at the end of the third quarter of 2008.

Reconnection of subscriber phone lines will also be done in two
stages. The Alcatel station, which was put into operation in Gyumri
about a year ago, meets international standards and has a capacity
of 32,000 phone numbers.

MIKHAYIL HAROUTIUNIAN APPOINTED RA DEFENCE MINISTER

Noyan Tapan
Apr 25 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 25, NOYAN TAPAN. By the April 23 decree of RA President
Robert Kocharian, Colonel General Mikhayil Haroutiunian was discharged
from the post of the RA Armed Forces Headquarters General Chief –
First Deputy Minister of Defence and got free of the military service,
according to his report.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA President’s Press Office,
according to the decree signed by Robert Kocharian on April 24,
Mikhayil Haroutiunian was appointed the RA Defence Minister.

L.A. MAYOR SAYS TO ‘NEVER FORGET’ ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

San Diego Union Tribune, CA
April 26 2007

LOS ANGELES – Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called Tuesday for Americans
to "never forget" the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians at the
end of the Ottoman empire, an event widely considered by scholars to
be the first genocide of the 20th Century.

"As mayor of America’s pre-eminent Armenian community, I urge all
Angelenos to reflect not only on the vast scale and ruthlessness of
the genocide, but on the horror of the global silence under which it
took place," Villaraigosa said in a statement.

"Today, I urge Angelenos to simply never forget," he said.

Armenians were killed between 1915 and 1919 in what is now eastern
Turkey. Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying that
the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of
civil war and unrest.

Demonstrators marking the anniversary of the killings marched through
Hollywood and a rally was held later at the Turkish Consulate on
Wilshire Boulevard.

Both protests were peaceful, police said.

ARMENIAN DIASPORA ASSEMBLY TO BE HELD ON MAY 31 IN ABKHAZIA

Daily Georgian Times, Georgia
April 26 2007

The Armenian Diaspora of Abkhazia is getting ready to hold its
assembly. According to the information disseminated by the Armenian
Diaspora, the Assembly will be held on May 31. They also informed
that Head of the Armenian Diaspora in Abkhazia would be elected at
the Assembly.

Marietta Topchiani, Co-Chairperson of the Armenian Diaspora in
Abkhazia informs that 155 delegates will take part in the Armenian
Diaspora Assembly.

As to the election of the Head of the Armenian Diaspora in Abkhazia,
Topchiani declared: "The Assembly will elect for the first time
a head of the Armenian Diaspora. On April 15 three years since the
foundation of the first organization for protecting the rights of the
Armenian Diaspora in Abkhazia was marked. In 2004 three Abkhazia-based
organizations Krunk, Mashtots and the Armenian Culture Center jointly
founded the mentioned organization".

The source also reports that the creation of the joint structures is
aimed at consolidating the Armenian Diaspora in Abkhazia.

Prior to holding the Assembly, regional-importance conferences will be
organized all over Abkhazia, basically on the territories predominantly
populated by Armenian nationals to elect the Assembly delegates.

The only candidacy for the Chairmanship of the Armenian Diaspora in
Abkhazia is named at this stage. This is Galust Trapizonian, who was
members of the De-facto Abkhaz Parliament earlier.

The source reports that the Assembly will discuss other significant
issues too. "The Assembly participants will elaborate a joint approach
towards Georgia that is trying to make split between the Abkhaz and
Armenian communities and accusing the Armenian residing in Abkhazia
of the felony against humanity", the Source informs.