DATE OF PACE RAPPORTEUR’S VISIT TO REGION DEFINED
Author: A.Mammadov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Sept 8 2006
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) rapporteur
on the Missing in Southern Caucasus, Leo Platvoet, told Trend he
is visiting Armenian on 17 September 2006 to meet with the Armenian
community, Platvoed told Trend.
On 18 September he will visit Nagorno-Karabakh to meet with the
Armenian community of the region. During the visit Platvoed also plans
to meet with the representatives of the International Committee of
the Red Cross.
Earlier Platvoed told Trend that his visit program includes of tour
of Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

LEBANON’S ARMENIANS DENOUNCE TURKISH UN FORCE
By Jocelyne Zablit
Burj Hammud, Lebanon
Agence France Presse — English
September 8, 2006 Friday 12:33 PM GMT
Lebanon’s Armenians, who have not forgotten the massacres their
people suffered under Ottoman rule, demonstrated Friday against
Turkish troops set to take part in a UN peacekeeping mission.
Waving Lebanese flags and banners denouncing Turkey as a murderous
state, several hundred gathered in the Beirut suburb of Burj Hammud,
heavily populated by Armenians, and appealed to the United Nations to
reconsider Turkey’s participation in an expanded UN force in Lebanon.
“Genocide, massacre, deportation: Turkey’s definition of peace,”
read one banner.
“No to the participation of Turkish forces among UN troops coming to
Lebanon,” read another.
“We had 1.5 million of our people slaughtered under the Turks and
you expect us to welcome them?” asked Arous Ghougassian, the owner
of a home furnishing business.
“I can assure you that I won’t sell them anything if they come into
my shop,” she said.
Hagop, an employee at the Basterma Mano food store, raised his fists
in anger when asked about the Turkish UN force.
“Look at my arms, I get goose bumps when you refer to them,” he said.
“If they dare come into our neighborhoods we’ll deal with them.”
Garo Hovsipian, a shopkeeper, said he could not put to rest the
massacre of his uncle and grandparents by the Turks in 1915.
“I somehow become a fanatic when I hear the word Turkey,” he said,
drawing on a cigar. “It brings back memories of my ancestors, our
history, the massacres.
“Still if I encounter any soldiers I will treat them as guests because
we are more civilized than them.”
Lebanon’s minority Armenian community, which numbers about 140,000
people, has objected to Turkey taking part in the UN force because
of mass killings of Armenians by Turks in 1915.
“Turkey, which carried out horrible crimes against humanity, cannot
take part in any peace process until it recognizes the massacre of
the Armenian people,” Jacques Choukhadarian, a former MP and minister,
told Friday’s gathering.
Representatives of the community have sent letters to UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan and to Western embassies in Beirut urging them
to reject Turkish participation in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon
(UNIFIL) set to number 15,000 troops from various countries.
Religious leaders has also issued a statement calling the Turkish
participation in UNIFIL “morally unacceptable”.
The Turkish parliament voted after fierce debate at an extraordinary
session Tuesday to authorize the government to send troops to take part
in the UN force to monitor the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said the number of soldiers
is not likely to exceed 1,000.
Under the old Ottoman empire, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians are
said to have been killed or died after being forcibly driven from
their homes in Turkey between 1915 and 1917.
Ankara rejects all accusations of genocide, estimating the number of
Armenian deaths at 300,000 and arguing they were not a consequence
of deliberate extermination but a combination of war, disease, famine
and ethnic conflict.

LEBANON’S ARMENIANS PROTEST OVER TURKISH PEACEKEEPERS
Burj Hammud, Lebanon
Agence France Presse — English
September 8, 2006 Friday 11:58 AM GMT
Lebanon’s Armenians, who have not forgotten the massacres their
people suffered under Ottoman rule, demonstrated Friday against
Turkish troops set to take part in a UN peacekeeping mission.
Waving Lebanese flags and banners denouncing Turkey as a murderous
state, several hundred gathered in this Beirut suburb heavily populated
by Armenians and appealed to the United Nations to reconsider Turkey’s
participation in an expanded UN force in Lebanon.
“Genocide, massacre, deportation: Turkey’s definition of peace,”
read one banner. Another said: “No to the participation of Turkish
forces among UN troops coming to Lebanon”.
“We had 1.5 million of our people slaughtered under the Turks and
you expect us to welcome them?” angrily declared Arous Ghougassian,
the owner of a home furnishing business.
“I can assure you that I won’t sell them anything if they come into
my shop,” she added.
Hagop, an employee at the Basterma Mano food store, raised his fists
in anger when asked about the Turkish UN force.
“Look at my arms, I get goose bumps when you refer to them,” he said.
“If they dare come into our neighborhoods we’ll deal with them.”
Lebanon’s minority Armenian community, which numbers about 140,000
people, has objected to Turkey taking part in the UN force because
of massacres of Armenians by Turks in 1915.
Representatives have sent letters to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
and to Western embassies in Beirut urging them to reject Turkish
participation in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) set to
number 15,000 troops from various countries.
The Turkish parliament voted after fierce debate at an extraordinary
session Tuesday to authorize the government to send troops to take part
in the UN force to monitor the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said the number of soldiers
is not likely to exceed 1,000.
Under the old Ottoman empire, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians are
said to have been killed or died after being forcibly driven from
their homes in Turkey between 1915 and 1917.

AZERI, ARMENIAN MINISTERS TO MEET WITH MEDIATORS SEPARATELY
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS General Newswire
September 8, 2006 Friday 5:43 PM MSK
Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian will discuss the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
problem with the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group on different
dates and in different European capitals, Mammadyarov said.
“Oskanian will meet with the co-chairmen in Paris on September 12, and
my meeting with the mediators will take place in London on September
31,” the Azeri foreign minister told journalists.
He said he did not see the point in meeting with his Armenian
counterpart at present.
“We need to clarify our positions with the co-chairmen and analyze
some ideas,” Mammadyarov said.
At the upcoming negotiations, the parties will continue “working in
the same direction in which we have worked before,” he said.
“We will try to work on the fundamental principles of a settlement.
I would be interested to know the opinion of the co-chairmen themselves
and to hear their proposals, and we will discuss how to find a
way to advance the settlement of the conflict through compromise,”
Mammadyarov said.

OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL’S MEETING TO DISCUSS ARMENIAN ARSONS IN OCCUPIED AZERBAIJANI LANDS
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Sept 8 2006
The issues on arsons committed by Armenians in the occupied Azerbaijani
lands will be discussed at the meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council’s
meeting scheduled for September 14.
OSCE headquarters press secretary Martin Nesirski told the APA
ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk will also attend the discussion in Vienna.
The arson issue was to be discussed at the Permanent Council’s meeting
on 6 September. But, it was postponed due to some reasons.
OSCE Permanent Council meets in the Austrian capital, Vienna, every
week.

TEXT OF DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UN
Federal News Service
September 7, 2006 Thursday
United Nations, New York City, New York, September 06, 2006
STEPHANE DUJARRIC: Good afternoon.
Ibrahim Gambari, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs,
as well as David Hamburg, the Chair of the Advisory Group on
Genocide Prevention, will be joining us today to brief on the
Secretary-General’s report on conflict prevention.
[parts omitted]
Q: There’s been an item that the General Assembly was supposed to
vote on yesterday, and today, and now it’s going to be tomorrow,
about Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan and Armenia. So, part of the
dispute is this request that the Secretary-General do a report on
the area. Is the Secretariat involved in these discussions at all?
MR. DUJARRIC: It’s before the General Assembly. Once they vote and
instruct the Secretary-General, then we’ll follow that resolution.
But we’re not involved in those discussions.
Q: Is it possible to describe the United Nations activities in
Nagorno-Karabakh? Which agencies are providing services?
MR. DUJARRIC: We can look on the humanitarian side.
(The Spokesman later added that the Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) did not have a presence in Nagorno-
Karabakh. Nevertheless, it had recently worked with the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) to support efforts by the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to control the forest
fire situation there.)

LES ARMENIENS DU LIBAN MANIFESTENT CONTRE LA PARTICIPATION TURQUE A LA FINUL
Agence France Presse
8 septembre 2006 vendredi 12:02 PM GMT
Les Armeniens du Liban, qui n’ont pas oublie les massacres en 1915
sous l’empire ottoman, ont manifeste vendredi a Beyrouth contre une
participation de la Turquie a la Force interimaire des Nations unies
au Liban (Finul).
Brandissant des drapeaux libanais et des banderoles denoncant la
Turquie comme un “Etat assassin”, plusieurs centaines d’Armeniens
ont manifeste a Bourj Hammoud, une banlieue de Beyrouth où ils sont
majoritaires et appele l’Onu a revoir la participation de la Turquie
a la Finul.
“Genocide, massacre, deportation: la definition turque de la paix”,
“Non a la participation turque aux troupes de l’Onu”, proclamaient
les banderoles.
“Un million et demi de notre peuple a ete massacre par les Turcs et
vous vous attendez a ce qu’on les recoive a bras ouverts?” demande
Arous Ghougassian, proprietaire d’une galerie d’ameublement.
“Je peux vous assurer que je ne leur vendrai rien s’ils viennent dans
ma galerie”, dit-elle.
“Regardez mes mains, j’ai la chair de poule lorsque vous me parlez
d’eux”, s’insurge Hagop, employe d’un restaurant en levant son poing
en signe de defi. “S’ils osent venir dans ce quartier nous prendrons
soin d’eux”, dit-il.
Les Armeniens qui ont trouve refuge au Liban il y a 90 ans sont bien
integres dans le pays et leur communaute, qui a droit a six sièges
au Parlement (sur 128 membres), ne compte plus que quelque 140.000
personnes, selon ses responsables politiques et religieux.
Plusieurs centaines d’Armeniens avaient deja manifeste fin août devant
l’immeuble des Nations unies a Beyrouth pour protester contre une
participation de la Turquie a la Finul.
Ankara entend deployer jusqu’a un millier de soldats pour renforcer la
FINUL chargee de consolider la treve a la frontière israelo-libanaise.
–Boundary_(ID_Irkxkow6JJ4uGg7 Bkuffvw)–

ROUNDTABLE ON “ARMENIAN PEACEKEEPERS IN LEBANON: PROS AND CONS” HELD IN YEREVAN
ArmRadio.am
09.09.2006 11:49
The Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS)
convened a foreign policy roundtable entitled “Armenian Peacekeepers
in Lebanon: Pros and Cons” to discuss the viability, against the
backdrop of new geopolitical realities, of deploying an Armenian
peacekeeping contingent in Lebanon.
ACNIS director of research Stiopa Safarian greeted the audience
with opening remarks and deliberated on Armenia’s potential role in
the shaping of the Greater Middle East. “What occurs in the Middle
East today has certainly passed well beyond the perimeters of the
Arab-Israeli conflict, and involves new realities that are forming
in the region. The foreign policy of Armenia cannot treat the current
happenings with indifference. In the interests of European civilization
and security, in the spirit of peace, and as a sign of traditional
warm relations with the Arab world, this policy should play a unique
role in the strengthening of regional peace. Hence, a peacekeeping
mission to southern Lebanon, where thousands of Armenians live,
provides one such opportunity, ” Safarian mentioned.
In his address, Armenia’s former Minister of Defense Lieutenant General
Vagharshak Harutiunian reflected on the military aspect in the possible
dispatch of Armenian peacekeepers to Lebanon. The general likewise is
confident that ” Armenia must absolutely partake in the peace force,
but it has to determine the correct means of participation. This is
our duty since we have historically-profound and strong relations
with, and a huge Armenian community in, Lebanon.” Harutiunian also
noted that the presence of Armenian peacekeepers in that country is
in Israel’s interests as well because this would prevent the Israeli
towns from becoming targets of missile attacks from that area. In
General Harutiunian’s view, this mission is beneficial for the two
countries, for Hezbollah, and for the Armenian community of Lebanon.

TITLES AND MEDALS AWARDED ON THE OCCASSION OF THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDEPENDENCE
ArmRadio.am
09.09.2006 13:24
On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of RA independence, Presidnet
Robert Kocharyan signed a decree on awarding Mkhitar Heratsi medal
to Director General of “Nairi” medical center Harytyan Kushkyan for
the achievements in the healthcare sphere.
According to another decree of the President, Artashes Aznauryan and
Hayrapet Galstyan were awarded the Honoured Worker of Science title.
Honored Doctor’s titles were awarded to Sergey Abgaryan, Karlen
Yesayan, Susanna Hakobjanyan and Sargis Sazhumyan.
According to President Kocharyan’s decree Anania Shirakatsi medals
were awarded to Arshavir Bznuni, Gagik Galstyan, Ashot Tamrazyan,
Karen Karapetyan, Arsen Ghazaryan, Hovik Musaelyan, Karen Safaryan
and Sos Simonyan.

CORDOBA STATE OF ARGENTINA RECOGNIZED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
PanARMENIAN.Net
08.09.2006 18:25 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ September 6 the Parliament of the Argentinean State
of Cordoba passed a bill, according to which April 24 will be marked as
the Day of Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide Victims, reported the
RA MFA press office. The author of the document, MP Alexandro Vigo,
says that the “atrocities committed against the Armenian people by
the Ottoman Empire Government during the World War I and after it
are nothing else but a Genocide.” A corresponding law will come into
effect upon approval by the Governor of the state within ten days. The
bill also provides for introduction of the Armenian Genocide course
in the school curriculum.