TIGRAN PETROSIAN’S BUST UNVEILED IN YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 8, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A bronze bust of
talented Armenian chess-player, world chess champion Tigran Petrosian
was unveiled on June 7 in Tigran Petrosian street at Davitashen
community of Yerevan. The bust’s author is sculptor Norayr
Karganian. The sculpture was made with the sponsorship of RA Defence
Ministry and Yerevan Mayor’s Office.

As the sculptor mentioned, the monument is still incomplete. By the
Defence Minister’s consent, figures of “thinking youths” will be added
at the bottom of the monument, who will be “watched” by the “chess
king” from above. The sculptor also emphasized that “an outstanding
person should get experience in the course of time and should not have
any blemish in his biography. Tigran Petrosian was just like this and
one needed courage for making a monument to him.”

RA Defence Minister, Chairman of the Armenian Chess Federation Serge
Sargsian, Yerevan Mayor Yervand Zakharian, Head of the community of
Davitashen Surik Ghukasian, the members of the Armenian chess national
team who have become winners and others took part in the unveiling
ceremony.

As Yerevan Mayor mentioned, the success Armenia has had in the recent
decade in the sphere of chess is connected with the work done by
Tigran Petrosian. According to him, today’s Turin success is also the
continuation of Tigran Petrosian’s success.

As Serge Sargsian characterized, Levon Aronian also has all
possibilities for becoming the world chess champion in the near
future.

To recap, Norayr Karganian is also the author of the monument to
Marshal Baghramian erected in Yerevan.

GOVERNMENT GIVES 7.5 MLN DRAMS TO EACH OF CHESS-PLAYERS THAT WON AT OLYMPIAD

YEREVAN, JUNE 8, NOYAN TAPAN. On June 8, RA government made a
decision, in accordance with the order set in 2001, to give monetary
prizes to the members of the Armenian national team and trainers who
took part in the 37th World Chess Olympiad, in the amount of 2.5 mln
drams (5950 thousand USD) to each of them. Besides, the government
added 5 mln drams to each of them from its reserve fund.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ISSUES OF DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL COMMUNITIES TO BE AMONG CENTRAL ONES AT
THIRD ALL ARMENIAN FORUM

YEREVAN, JUNE 8, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. One of the central
issue to be discussed at the Armenia-Diaspora third All Armenian Forum
will be the issue of development of Armenian agricultural regions, in
this respect a special attention is given to the development of 150
border villages. RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian informed about
it at the June 8 press conference.

He reminded that the forum will be held on September 18-20 in
Yerevan. As he estimated, much has been done for development of
relations between Armenia and the Diaspora over the past 15 years. At
the same time, new methods are necessary, as new problems have
emerged, the potential of Armenia itself has increased.

The Minister mentioned that the third forum will differ from the first
two forums as great attention will be paid to issues of economy and,
in particular, to complex development of rural communities.
Proceeding from this, the Armenian government, the entrepreneurial
circles and the Armenian Diaspora are faced with issues of development
and restoration of the infrastructure of rural communities, creation
of all necessary conditions for vital activity.

Vartan Oskanian declared that for implementation of this program
Armenia pins great hopes on the sponsors from the Diaspora.

RA GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES 117 U.S. DRAMS FOR HOLDING “ONE NATION, ONE
CULTURE” SECOND ALL ARMENIAN CULTURAL FESTIVAL

YEREVAN, JUNE 8, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The “One Nation, One
Culture” (“Mek Azg, Mek Mshakuyt”) second all-Armenian cultural
festival will be held in Armenia on June 23-30 for strengthening and
deepening the Armenia-Diaspora cultural ties as well as for presenting
the Armenia culture jointly. More than 2000 artists from Armenia,
Artsakh, France, Austria, Great Britain, Switzerland, U.S., Syria,
Lebanon, Iran, Russia, Georgia and Kazakhstan will participate in the
festival.

As Vigen Sargsian, the RA President’s Assistant informed at the June 7
press-conference, the festival held in 2004 for the first time became
a national celebration and strengthened “consciousness and sense of
being one nation.” According to V.Sargsian, if mainly amateurish
collectives were presented at the previous festival from Diaspora,
professionals are involved in the festival this year.

Tamar Poghosian, the Executive Director of the “One Nation, One
Culture” fund informed that the RA Government allocated 117 mln drams
(about 275 thousand U.S. dollars) for holding the
festival. T.Poghosian mentioned that the Government also undertook the
issue of providing conditions for Javakhk and Artsakh representatives.

The solemn opening ceremony of the festival will take place on June 23
at the Karen Demirchian Sports and Concert Complex. On the next day,
June 24, participants of the festival will visit Tsitsernakabert, then
will meet with Armenian cinematographers, and in the eventing, at
19:30, they will participate in the theatrical event to take place at
the Gabriel Sundukian National Academic Theater. June 25 will be
dedicated to literature: the participants will visit the Mother See of
Holy Etchmiadzin, then an exhibition-fair of book will open on the
Charles Aznavour square. Events dedicated to fine arts will be
organized on the same day. Concerts dedicated to people’s, classic and
estrada music as well as a dancing march festival will be held in
concert halls of Yerevan on June 27-28.

Concerts will be organized within the framework of the festival not
only in Yerevan, but in different marzes of Armenia and in Nagorno
Karabakh as well.

The solemn opening ceremony of the festival will take place on June
30.

To recap, “Nare and Narek”, the symbol of the “One Nation, One
Culture” festival has been kept.

ARMENIA PASSES AZERBAIJAN HAMMER – SYMBOL OF CHAIRMANSHIP IN BSEC PA

YEREVAN, JUNE 8, NOYAN TAPAN. The 27th session of the Parliamentary
Assembly (PA) of Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) ended on June 8
in Yerevan.

Armenia that had been presiding at PA BSEC over the past 6 months,
passed chairmanship to Azerbaijan. RA NA Speaker Tigran Torosian gave
the hammer – symbol of chairmanship in the organization, to head of
Azerbaijani delegation Asaf Hajiev for the latter to pass it to
Chairman of Milli Majlis Oktay Asadov. “I am sure that our
organization headed by the new Chairman, Mr Oktay Asadov, will
continue to follow its good traditions and will achieve greater
success in its activity,” Torosian mentioned.

Hajiev read the greeting of the new BSEC PA Chairman, which, in
particular, mentioned that all participants of the Yerevan forum are
invited to the Assembly’s next sitting to be held on November 22-23 in
the city of Baku.

In his speech Tigran Torosian mentioned the active participation of
all Assembly members in the session. “Unfortunately, there are
conflicts in the region that can be solved only thanks to a joint
purposeful work in the future. I want to express confidence that BSEC
PA’s activity will continue to be aimed at not only establishment of
firm economic, but also friendly contacts among our peoples,” the
Armenian Parliament Speaker emphasized.

VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN: CHAUVINISTIC MOVEMENT RAGING IN RUSSIA IS RESULT
OF RUSSIAN SOCIETY’S BEING ILL

YEREVAN, JUNE 8, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “The Russian society
is ill, has inferiority complex because of suffered defeats, and
similar movements, of course, develop quickly in such societies,” RA
NA Deputy Speaker, ARF Bureau member, candidate of history sciences
Vahan Hovhannisian expressed such an opinion on June 7, responding
journalists’ question concerning chauvinism being raged in
Russia. According to his interpretation, Russia had a serious loss in
the “cold war” in the ideological sense as it was proved that
communism is bankrupt, in the political sense as the USSR failed and
huge territories separated and a part of separated units aslo became
hostilely intended towards Russia, Russia lost in the economic sense
as the whole USSR economy failed, and “Russia’s standing on feet today
is provided by huge natural resources but not by development of
producing component of economy.”

The NA Deputy Speaker is more than sure that the basis of chauvinism
in Russia is not a bit ideological, and it’s unequivocal that the
Russian state’s struggle against chauvinism is not enough.

V.Hovhannisian also mentioned that Fascism also appeared and developed
in the 20th century in Germany as a consequence of a serious loss in
the world war. “But Russia’s peculiarity is that Russian Fascists,
skinheads, who speak about cleanness of blood, has no serious idea
about the Fascism, as if, for example, founders and main ideologists
of Fascism Benito Mussolini or Franco of Spain or Salazar of Portugal
appeared in Russian underground or any electric train, skinheads may
hit them as they do not differ from Armenians by ethnic and racial
peculiarities, and Benito Mussolini was much blacker than any Armenian
is,” the NA Deputy Speaker mentioned.

VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN: AZERBAIJAN WANTS TO RECOGNIZE RESULTS NEITHER OF
ALREADY HELD REFERENDUM NOR OF ONE TO BE HELD IN FUTURE

YEREVAN, JUNE8, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Nagorno Karabakh
was the first in the post-Soviet territory that used the right of
one-side self-determination by a held referendum, thus, within the
international norms. But then the public opinion of the world was yet
not ready to accept such a mechanism completely. Vahan Hovhannisian,
the RA NA Deputy Speaker, ARF Bureau member stated about it,
responding journalists’ questions on June 7. According to him, the
time showed that that mechanism functions, becomes usable and enters
international political practice. He mentioned as examples factual
independence of Eastern Timor, Eritrea, already of Chernogoria at
present, maybe the possible one of Kosovo in future. According to
V.Hovhannisian it is incomprehensible why that mechanism must not
function in Nagorno Karabakh. The NA Deputy Speaker noticed that if in
the case of self-determination of Chernogoria, Serbia, however,
recognized results of the referendum of separating from it, Azerbaijan
fostered a coarse position and does not want to recognize results of
not only already held referendum but also of one to be held in future.

AZERI DEPUTY DOES NOT CONSIDER POSSIBLE ECONOMIC COOPERATION OF
ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN TILL SOLUTION OF KARABAKH PROBLEM

YEREVAN, JUNE 8, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia and Azerbaijan are in war state
that’s why one may not speak about economic cooperation. Asaf Hajiyev,
the head of the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation participating in
the BSEC PA plenary session, an independent deputy stated about it in
the interview to Armenian journalists in Yerevan.

According to him, Armenia remains out of the drafts relating to fuels
which are implemented in the region, and they must seriously think in
Yerevan about stopping the war and starting cooperation with
Azerbaijan. “We are neighbors and one can not choose neighbors,” the
Azeri politician stated.

According to Hajiyev, the Armenian people did not create the Karabakh
conflict but the Armenian politicians did. According to him, the main
is the principle of territorial integrity of a state, when the
Armenian side continuously speaks about the principle of
self-determination. According to him, 300 thousand Armenians live in
Los Angeles: “What will happen if they want to constitute themseilves
as well?”

In response to a question about Azerbaijani’s attitude towards
Chernogoria’s separation from Serbia, Hajiyev noticed that if
Chernogoria and Serbia thought that they need separation, his country
respects that decision: “But if Armenia considers that Nagorno
Karabakh is territory of Armenia, it does not mean that it is in that
way.”

According to the deputy, 30 thousand Armenians live in Azerbaijan
today, when there is no Azeri in Armenia. In response to the question
about source of this information Hajiyev answered that it is an
official datum, “and if Armenians even live with not their names, we
know that they are.”

Hajiyev considered it a false information that Ramil Safarov who had
killed the Armenian officer was announced national hero in
Azerbaijan. “I myself do not protect that murder,” he stated. The
Azeri politician called on “not to take separate facts and make them
basis” but to concentrate on global processes.

“I would fix my attention to the negotiations that the Presidents
lead,” Hajiyev mentioned. At the same time, he stated that he had no
information about the negotiations taken place in Romania. The
politician supposed that during the long-lasting private conversation
the Presidents had discussed a number of questions which are important
both for Azerbaijan and for Armenia. He was not able to answer the
question for what compormises Azerbaijan is ready in the Karabakh
issue, stating that it is exclusive right of his country’s President.

According to Hajiyev, it’s necessary to make all efforts for the
Karabakh issue finds its solution in any way. He expressed a
confidence that the solution will be phasal as the problem is so
serious that it is impossible to solve it in a day. “There was a very
good proposal by the EU when they proposed that Armenian military
units leave six regions along the border and all the communications
are raised the blockade. Your country first accepted that proposal,
and then refused,” Hajiyev stated. As for security guarantees of the
Armenian inhabitation, then, according to the Azeri deputy, “if the
issue is solved within those circles that Azerbaijan guarantees
security of the Karabakh inhabitation, of course, the Azerbaijani side
will keep its promise.”

ACCORDING TO CHAIRWOMAN OF UNION OF ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN FRIENDSHIP,
GEVORG GEVORGIAN’S MURDER IN TSALKA WAS ORGANIZED

AKHALKALAK, JUNE 8, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. According to Aida
Khoderian, Chairwoman of the Union of Armenian-Georgian Friendship
functioning in Tsalka, the murder of Armenian youth Gevorg Gevorgian
three months ago in Tsalka was committed on the national ground. This
was informed by the A-Info agency.

“Gevorg Gevorgian was very much anxious about the state policy on
changing the demographical picture in the region of Tsalka to the
detriment of Armenians. Some days before the incident he had declared
this and even had proposed that Armenians be resettled in the vacant
houses of Greeks in the region,” A.Khoderian said. According to her,
after it Gevorg Gevorgian began to be persecuted and his murder was
organized in several days.

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
June 9 2006

The Meaning of the Mount Agri (Ararat) in the Armenian Issue Print

By Dr. Sedat Laciner

Friday , 09 June 2006

Mount Aðri (Ararat) is like ‘the Ergenekon’, or ‘the Gokturk
Scriptures of the Armenians’. The Armenians believe that they are the
descendants of the Noah’s children. According to an ancient Armenian
belief, the Deluge was not only a tragic catastrophe for the
Armenians, but also a great punishment and a test which came from the
God. There are similar approaches in other Christian sects as well.
But there are only a few who identify themselves with the Mount Aðri,
or Ararat as they call it, as much as the Armenians do. First of all,
the geographical proximity led to emotional proximity. This devotion
may be, regardless of religion, due to the genetic transmission of
the tradition of worshipping to the mountain.

This adoration can be observed in the Ottoman period or even before.
The Mount Aðri, arising with its splendor, was perceived by the
Armenians as a place to gather on its ‘skirts’. But none of the
moments in history has this adoration to the Mount Aðri been as
`exalted’ as today. The contemporary Armenians, so to say, deify the
Mount Aðri. They only remember Armenianness and revenge fever when
they see the Mount Aðri.

The current situation is not a good one and it is also not the result
of a natural process. The secessionist Armenian movement that started
before 1915 has sought help from many instruments such as terrorism,
assassinations, military coup, riot and collaboration with the
occupiers. The movement has never admitted defeat and the more it was
defeated, the more aggressor it became. It wanted to stand up as it
fell down and some time later, it turned out to get delight from
pain. The Armenians were first exiled to the Middle East, then to
Cyprus, to Europe and to other small regions. The feeling that the
journey was not complete did not perish as the Armenians arrived at
the final destinations like the U.S. and France. Perhaps, there has
left no place to arrive at geographically, but the journey in the
minds has severely continued. Some of them migrated first to the
Caucasus and then to Russia. Moreover, their exodus still continues.
The number of Russian Armenians who emigrated to the Western Europe
and the Northern America after the end of the Cold War increases day
by day.

Where is the motherland, where is the foreign land?

These two became fully mixed. An Armenia which doesn’t include the
Mount Aðri is not perceived as a motherland.

It is hard for the Armenians to say `motherland’ to an Armenia which
excluded Van adn Agri.

Well then, will these wounds heal if Turks give Van and Ararat (the
Mount Aðri)?

Is the issue that simple to say `what would you lose if you give us
Aðri?’ as the Armenian-origin French singer Charles Aznavour asked.

In Turkish daily newspaper Milliyet (May 14, 2006), the answer of
Levon Ananyan, the chairman of the Armenian Writers Union, to Ece
Temelkuran’s question reflects the same points:

`If you knew the meaning of Ararat (the Mount Aðri) to us, you would
carry it here by lorries! It is a mountain for you, but it is our
roots. We are an emotional community. You fear that we will demand
Ararat, but it is a hearty issue for us.’

In short, we also see in Ananyan’s speech that Armenia is not viewed
as the real motherland. He sees the issue as `the motherland is where
Ararat is’. And what he doesn’t see is the fact that the Mount Aðri
is very important to the Turks as well; that it is a hearty issue for
the Turks too. This is because the Mount Aðri is also a homeland for
the Turks. Just like Istanbul, Van or Izmir…

Frankly speaking, I find the Turkish approach much more sounder. The
Turks know that they came from the Altay Mountains and the Central
Asia. But they don’t need a mountain or a scripture to make somewhere
homeland. They embrace and pay respect to the place they live in as
homeland. Even if you carry lorries of soil from the Central Asia, it
will not compare to Izmir for Turks. Same logic is also true in
religious aspect. The Turks will not differentiate between Gallipoli
and Mecca. Afyon is sacred, so is Ordu.

Another dimension of Armenian `disorder’ is the Ararat compassion of
Armenians in the Diaspora. The Ararat, which is seen from Armenia,
can not be seen from California or Marseille (Diaspora). An
overwhelming majority of Armenians in the U.S. or France have never
seen Ararat and sat by the Van Lake. Most of them believe that they
will be slaughtered if they come to Turkey. They dream of Van and
Agri in such an `ignorance’. They name their shops with Anatolian
cities. They set up football teams and name it Malatyaspor. I don’t
know what the name of this disorder in psychology is. I call it
`disorder’, because the words `homesickness’ or `nostalgia’ are weak
for this situation.

***

The Armenia’s situation is lamentable today. Unemployment is over
30%. The population is still decreasing. The unemployed youngsters
still emigrate. The Armenians, who have migrated at least 3-4 times
since 1915, keep on moving. They not only seek job or food but also
homeland. However, the homeland is the abandoned Armenia. They don’t
even care about it. If millions of Armenians around the world had
invested some billions of dollars each year, Armenia would have
revitalized. Not only the emigration would have stopped but it would
also have attracted migrations from Turkey.

As long as the Armenians look at the Turkish territories from Armenia
and sigh, they will never have a homeland because the true homeland
is where you live. It is where you show your sympathy for homeland.
It is where you earn a living and live peacefully. The Armenians
perhaps will gather, if not today, on the skirts of the Mount Aðrý in
the future. But it will be never possible with this mentality. Let’s
assume that they were able to obtain some land from Turkey through
violence and fraud. They will not have a homeland even in this case
because the Armenians don’t know what homeland means. If Turkey had
given Ararat to Armenians, the Armenians would have only had a
mountain, but they would have lost Ararat. If they had been given
Van, they wouldn’t have settled there. They would have only had a
lake but they would have lost `Vaspurakan’, because they don’t know
the value of Van. Can those who don’t grasp the value of Armenia
grasp the value of new lands? They live in a world of dreams. The
yesterday’s pains are more appealing than today’s peace for them.