ARGENTINA’S SENATE ENDORSES BILL ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Armenpress
Dec 14 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS: The Senate of Argentina has endorsed
a bill passed earlier by its parliament designating April 24 as
the Day of Tolerance and Respect Among Nations. The date- April 24-
was chosen in memory of the Armenian Genocide.

The bill had been approved by the lower house by a vote of 175 to 2
on November 29. The Armenian National Committee of South America said
the bill will be sent to the approval of the president of the country.

Turkish foreign ministry condemned the approval of this resolution,
saying in a statement that ‘Argentina’s move did not comply with
historical facts and spirit of bilateral relations between Turkey
and Argentina."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CENTENARY AGBU PARTICIPATES IN ARMENIA’S RECONSTRUCTION
By Nana Petrosian

AZG Armenian Daily
15/12/2006

These days the Armenian General Benevolent Union has celebrated the
100th anniversary of its activity in France. In this connection leaders
and representatives of AGBU’s central department and other regional
offshoots arrived in Paris from the USA and other countries. The
ceremony was opened by Armenian Patriarch’s blessing and was honored
by RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian. At the celebration which took
place in the castle of Versailles the minister stated: "The Diaspora
is the means to enlarge our national life’s boundaries, to multiply
our cultural richness and to hand down each other their knowledge.

It is a steady support for economic and national investments by which
it can participate in awakening of our country and nation. After the
proclamation of Armenian Independence, the AGBU became one of the
institutions, which assessed the situation and actively was included
in Armenian reconstruction.

Foreign Ministry reported that Vartan Oskanian emphasized in his speech
that to preserve the Armenian core of Diaspora’s new generation, we
have no choice but to offer them a democratic and prosperous Armenia.

ONLY ONE ADULT SKINHEAD OF 40 SENTENCED TO 3,5 YEARS OF IMPRISONMENT
Aghavni Haroutiunian

AZG Armenian Daily
15/12/2006

The Court of Nijhni Novgorod, Russia, condemned 20 year-old
Sergey Ikonnikov, member of a skinhead group, to 3,5 years of
imprisonment. According to the meaterials of the case, Ikonnikov,
together with a group of 40 teenage skinheads, on May 17 attacked a
group of Armenians. Russian media informs that Ikonnikov was found
guilty for extremist actions, racism and robbery.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: FACTS OF TURKISH ARCHIVES’
By Anahit Hovsepian in Germany

AZG Armenian Daily
15/12/2006

Taner Akcam, professor of Minnesota University, will deliver a lecture
in English titled "Armenian Genocide: Facts of Turkish Archives"
at the university of Amsterdam at 8 pm on December 18.

Prior to the lecture, the 57-minute documentary "The Wall of Silence:
Taboo About the Armenians’ Fate" produced by the Humanist Broadcasting
in 1997 and featuring Akcam will be shown.

Akcam’s last book "A Shameful Act: Armenian Genocide and the Issue
of Turkish Responsibility" will be published in Dutch at the Nieuw
Amsterdam publishing house in 2007.

The event is organized by CREA-Studim Generale in cooperation with
Humanist Broadcast and the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Study.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NKR CONSTITUTION CORRESPONDS TO INTERESTS OF ARTSAKHI PEOPLE AND REFUGEES
By Gohar Gevorgian

AZG Armenian Daily
15/12/2006

"The adoption of NKR’s constitution corresponds to vital interests
of Artsakhi people and refugees and it will serve as a ponderable
spur for putting the negotiation process on rational rails. The
next step of NKR people and authorities must be not more important
for the country than the adoption of the law on citizenship, which
will give an opportunity to refugees to reacquire their citizenship
in NKR", Refugees and International Law, a civil society network,
stated yesterday on behalf of Azerbaijani SSR and hundred thousands
of refugees from Nakhijevan.

By accusing the co-chairs of ignoring the issue of half a million
refugees of Azerbaijani SSR and Nakhijevan, the civil society network
reconfirms its determination to reach the legal transfer of former
Aghdam, Fizuli, Jebrail and other lands of former Azerbaijani SSR to
Azeri refugees as reparation.
From: Baghdasarian

LAST ECHELON WITH RUSSIAN ARMAMENT LEFT TBILISI

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.12.2006 12:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The withdrawal of Tbilisi Russian garrison is already
completed. Today in the morning from Vaziani (a suburb in Tbilisi)
the 2nd and last echelon with the property and equipment of Tbilisi
garrison of Russian armed forces made for Armenia, to the Russian
military base in Gyumri. The first such echelon headed for Armenia
on November 16, 2006. On November 23 and December 1 two echelons
withdrew the part of Tbilisi garrison property and equipment through
Azerbaijan to Russia. The personnel will be remove on trucks next week,
reports ITAR-TASS.

It is worth mentioning that on Russian Defense Ministry decision the
Tbilisi garrison is being removed ahead of schedule because of rapid
worsening of Russian-Georgian relations. Only a small executive group
will remain in Georgia from Group of Russian Forces in Caucasus. It
will be placed in one of Russian bases in Akhalkalaki or Batumi. These
two bases according to the Georgian-Russian agreement on May 30,
2005 will be withdrawn till the end of 2008.

ARGENTINEAN SENATE UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED A LAW ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.12.2006 13:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Argentinean Senate unanimously adopted a law,
according to which April 24 will be marked as 24 "Day of action for
the tolerance and the respect between the people" in Argentine. "By
this unanimous vote, Argentina recognizes officially the reality of
the Armenian Genocide committed by Ottoman Empire in 1915-1923, Jean
Eckian, an independent French journalist told to the PanARMENIAN.Net
correspondent. Present in the enclosure of the Senate during the
vote, Armenian ambassador, S.E. Vladimir Karmirshalyan declared:
" I share the joy and the pride with present people, all Community
and all Armenia. Argentina showed, once again, its devotion – has
the Cause of the human rights and its serious comprehension of the
aspirations of the Armenian people ". The law should be promulgated
soon by the Argentinean president.

ON DECEMBER 18 A LECTURE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WILL BE ORGANIZED IN AMSTERDAM

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.12.2006 13:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On December 18 a lecture on "The Armenian Genocide:
the facts in the Turkish archives" will take place, organized by
CREA-Studium Generale in cooperation with Humanist Broadcasting and
Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Taner Akcam, a visiting
Professor on History from University of Minnesota, will have a speech
during the lecture. He is convinced that Turkey must straighten
out with her black past and recognize the Armenian Genocide of 1915
committed by the Turkish government. Co-referent Erik-Jan Zurcher,
a professor of Turkish languages and cultures >>From University of
Leiden also will have a report on the subject. Prior to the lecture
the documentary "A wall of silence, a taboo about the destiny of
the Armenians" (Humanist Broadcasting, 1997, 54 minutes) will be
shown. Taner Akcam is one of the main persons of this documentary.

It is worth mentioning that Taner Akcam is the author of sensational
book "A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish
Responsibility", which has been translated into many languages and
will published in May 2007 by publishing house Nieuw Amsterdam

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANDRZEJ KASPRZYK PREPARES ANNUAL REPORT ON NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.12.2006 13:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The special representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office
Andrzej Kasprzyk will have a visit to the South Caucasus
region. Currently Kasprzyk prepares an annual report on his work
aimed at the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, reports APA.

DON’T BYPASS ARMENIA

A1+
[02:26 pm] 13 December, 2006

Legislation containing a provision enforcing a long-sought ban on
U.S. financing of a proposed railroad that would bypass Armenia,
having been approved in its final form by both the House and Senate,
was sent to the President yesterday for his signature into law,
reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

"Armenian Americans look forward to the President’s signing into
law the principled stand of the United States against Turkey and
Azerbaijan’s efforts to institutionalize their illegal blockades
of Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh," said ANCA Executive Director Aram
Hamparian.

The Senate voted by unanimous consent on December 6th in favor of
a reconciled version of the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Bill
(S.3938). The House had approved this version on December 1st. Both
the House and Senate measures were based on the South Caucasus
Integration and Open Railroads Act of 2006 (S. 2461 / H.R. 3361),
introduced in the Senate by Rick Santorum (R-PA) and in the House by
Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), the Co-Chairman of the Armenian Caucus.

The proposed new Caucasus rail line – at the urging of Turkey and
Azerbaijan – would circumvent Armenia.

Promoters of the project have sought, even at the planning stages, to
secure U.S. financing for this undertaking, prompting Congressional
friends of Armenia to preemptively block such attempts. In October
of 2005, the European Commission voiced official opposition to the
proposed Caucasus railroad bypass of Armenia. A formal statement by
the Commission’s Directorate General for Transport and Energy noted
that its construction was both unnecessary and inefficient in light
of the existing railroad connecting Kars, Gyumri, and Tbilisi.

On March 8th of this year, responding to a question on the railroad
bypass from Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA) during a hearing of the
International Relations Committee, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel
Fried asserted that, "The proposed railway would bypass Armenia and
thus not be beneficial to regional integration. We have no plans
to support such a railway financially. The Administration has not
allocated or expended any federal agency funds or otherwise provided
financial support for the intended project."