OSKANYAN: AZERBAIJAN LOST EVEN MORAL RIGHT TO PROPOSE PROTECTION TO NKR
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2006
YEREVAN, September 26. /ARKA/. Azerbaijan has lost even a moral
right to propose its protection and guaranteed future to the people
of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), RA Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanyan stated at the 61st General Assembly of the United Nations
(UN) in New York.
He stressed that Azerbaijan treated the NKR population, citizens of
Azerbaijan, in an immoral and irresponsible way.
Far from the NKR, in public places, Azerbaijan allowed Armenian pogroms
to be committed, shelled Armenians and caused over 300,000 of them
to leave their homes, unleashed a war and, after being defeated and
signing a cease-fire agreement, began obliterating all the signs of
Armenians’ presence in Azerbaijan’s territory, Oskanyan said.
And the fact that, a decade after the cease-fire regime was
established, the Azerbaijani side annihilated Armenian cultural and
historical monuments in Nakhichevan, where no Armenian can be found
now, testifies that Azerbaijan has not changed its policy during this
period, Oskanyan said.
He also stated that no one can accuse the Armenian side of being
biased – Azerbaijan is not ready for interested in the negotiations.
Nevertheless, having turned down two previous proposals for a
compromise made over the last right years, Azerbaijan will not assume
the responsibility for rejecting a peace program on the negotiating
table. This is the reason why they are resorting to any means to
force Armenians into turning this program down. However, Armenian
clearly stated its consent to each of the fundamental principles of
the document on the negotiating table.

“MASS MEDIA AND INTERSTATE RELATIONS IN CAUCASUS” CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN ARMENIA ON SEPTEMBER 29
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2006
YEREVAN, September 27. /ARKA/. Organizational committee of the “Mass
Media and Interstate Relations in Caucasus” conference informed
ARAK News Agency that the conference would be held in Armenia on
September 29.
Armenian Ambassador in Russia Nikolay Pavlov, Alexander Babinsky,
deputy chief editor of RIA Novosti, as well as Rector of
Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) university Armen Darbinyan will make a
speech welcoming the participants of the conference.
During the plenary session the following people will make speeches
as well: namely a member of the Scientific Council of the Moscow
Carnegie Center Alexei Malashenko with a report on the theme of “Media
Community: Overcoming Xenophobia”, author and presenter of “Special
File” program on TVC TV-channel Leonid Mlechin – “Russian television:
Formation of National Stereotypes”, Director of Russian and Asian
programs of the U.S. Institute of World Security Nikolay Zlobin –
“Caucasus Theme in the Context of the World Politics and Security”,
head of scientific projects of the Association of Researchers of
Russian Society Gennady Bordyugo and others.
Representatives of the mass media, political scientists and
conflictologists from Russia, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan will
take part in the conference.
The event is organized by RIA Novosti and Russian-Armenian (Slavonic)
university.

NKR PRESIDENT, DIRECTOR OF CIS INSTITUTE DISCUSS NK SETTLEMENT
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2006
YEREVAN, September 26. /ARKA/. President of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic (NKR) Arkady Ghukasyan held a meeting with the Director
of the Institute of the CIS countries, member of the RF State Duma
Konstantin Zatulin.
The NKR presidential press service reports that the sides discussed
the present stage and prospects of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement
under the OSCE Minsk Group’s auspices.
The sides stressed the necessity of a peaceful settlement and
inadmissibility of propaganda of hatred and intolerance.

GOVERNOR SIGNS BILL EXTENDING TIME FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SUITS
By Kenneth Ofgang, Staff Writer
Metropolitan News-Enterprise, CA
Sept 27 2006
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation giving victims
of genocide in Armenia and their heirs and beneficiaries another 10
years to sue for the loss or theft of assets deposited in European
or Asian banks.
SB 1524, which the governor signed on Monday, extends the limitations
period for such claims to Dec. 31, 2016. The bill is similar to prior
legislation allowing additional time for victims to sue for unpaid
insurance proceeds or restitution of misappropriated artworks.
A group of plaintiffs earlier this year sued Germany’s Deutsche Bank
and Dresdner Bank. The putative class action complaint filed in
the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in
Deirmenjian v. Deutsche Bank, A.G., CV 06-00774, alleged the banks
wrongfully held Armenian assets and froze Armenian bank accounts
during the period of the Armenian Genocide.
The plaintiffs are represented by three attorneys of Armenian descent,
Brian Kabateck, partner with Kabateck Brown Kellner; Mark Geragos,
partner with Geragos & Geragos; and Vartkes Yeghiayan of Yeghiayan
and Associates.
“Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank were approached by Turkish leaders to
store Armenian artwork, gold and other valuables that were illegally
seized by the Turks during the Armenian Genocide,” Kabateck explained
in a release. “The assets and the money deposited by Armenians in
these banks mysteriously disappeared and were considered lost for
decades. With most of the rightful owners massacred, these banks
apparently thought they could get away with stealing family assets
from an entire generation of Armenians. A new generation of Armenians
has set out to right this wrong.”
The class action plaintiffs estimate that the banks took more than
$22.5 million in looted assets, based on 1915 dollars.
Schwarzenegger also signed AB 424, permanently designating April 24
as the Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.
He explained in a statement:
“Between 1915 and 1923, a systematic and deliberate campaign of
genocide by the Ottoman Turkish government resulted in the deaths
of over 1.5 million Armenians and the exile of a people from their
historic homeland. During this period, tens of thousands of displaced
Armenians took refuge in the United States, many in California. These
survivors embraced this country and this state. Among them and their
descendents emerged leaders in business, agriculture, sports, academics
and the arts. Today, a few survivors remain as a living testament to
the horror that took place 90 years ago. We must recognize crimes
against humanity if we are to prevent them; silence in the face of
genocide effectively encourages those who would commit such atrocities
in the future.”
The Turkish government has called the 1.5 million figure “grossly
erroneous” and has attributed the deaths of Armenians in that period to
“intercommunal” political, rather than ethnic and religious, conflict.
Schwarzenegger earlier signed a bill directing the state’s public
employee retirement funds to divest from companies that do business
in Sudan, where the government persists in denying reports that
an estimated 200,000 black Africans in the Darfur region have been
killed and many times that number displaced as a result of attacks
by Arab militias.

HUGE PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITY FOR CRITICAL EU TURKEY REPORT
By Lucia Kubosova
EUobserver.com, Belgium
Sept 27 2006
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Parliament has voted strongly
in favour of the critical report on Turkey’s EU accession progress,
in a Strasbourg plenary vote on Wednesday (27 September).
The 732-strong chamber supported the controversial report by the
Dutch centre-right MEP Camiel Eurlings with 429 votes in favour,
71 against and 125 abstentions.
The document criticises the human rights shortcomings of the EU
hopeful but refrains from calling for a historical recognition of
Armenian genocide as a pre-condition for Turkey’s accession.
The controversial idea of the genocide clause was originally introduced
to the draft report in the parliament’s foreign committee earlier
this month by Belgian socialist MEP Veronique de Keyser – but she
herself later signed the amendment scrapping the clause.
On the other hand, a number of centre-right deputies expressed
their disappointment after the genocide clause was dropped, with
German MEP Renate Sommer pointing out that nobody could imagine that
Germany would refer to the Holocaust “in quotation marks” or as the
“so-called Holocaust.”
Critics however argued that while a historical study into the World War
I mass killings of Armenians is needed – as suggested by a preserved
passage in the report – it should not become a new condition for
Turkey to join the EU.
Czech centre-right MEP Jan Zahradil for example pointed out “We can
no longer accept a manipulation with distant historical events and
their use as a political instrument in the current context.”
He added that the Czech Republic has its own negative experience with
the retroactive abuse of its past – referring to the so called Benes
decrees, post-World War II laws which led to the expulsion of Germans
and Hungarians.
MEPs did, however, back another last-minute amendment introduced to
the report only last week, on the forthcoming visit of Pope Benedict
XVI to Turkey.
The Pope clause expresses the hope that the visit will “contribute
to strengthening inter-religious and intercultural dialogue between
the Christian and Muslim world.”
Open-ended talks Speaking in Ankara on the day of the parliament’s
report, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government
is ready to keep up the reform process aimed at joining the EU but
would not agree to any extra conditions by the bloc.
“We’re not seeking anything exclusive from the EU in the process ahead,
in return, we naturally cannot accept bringing in new criteria,”
he told a press conference in Istanbul.
The MEPs’ report stressed that Turkey’s negotiations with the EU are
of an “open-ended” nature and would not “a priori and automatically”
lead to accession.
They pointed out that to achieve the country’s membership, both
Ankara and the EU need to make an effort, while noting that Europe
would consider the issue of its own capacity to “absorb Turkey while
maintaining the momentum of integration.”
The European Commission is expected this autumn to come up with a study
into the ability of the EU to take in new members, with the bloc’s
leaders set to discuss the issue at their December meeting in Brussels.
Turkey is set to be the hot topic of this autumn with Ankara unlikely
to change its view and lifts its embargo on Cypriot ships and aircrafts
by the EU’s end of 2006 deadline.
The parliamentarians pointed out in Wednesday’s report that a lack of
Turkish progress on the Cyprus issue “will have serious implications
for the negotiation process, and could even bring it to a halt.”

EU ASSEMBLY BACKS TURKEY REPORT
EUPolitix.com, Belgium
Sept 27 2006
MEPs have approved a controversial report on Turkey – but dropped calls
for Ankara to formally recognise Armenian genocide as a condition of
EU entry.
In a vote in Strasbourg on Wednesday, the Eurlings report was adopted
by 429 votes in favour and 71 against. There were 125 abstentions.
Crucially, parliament dropped calls for Turkey to recognise Armenian
genocide before it can join the EU.
“The recognition of the Armenian genocide by Turkey is no longer
presented as precondition for EU accession,” Green MEP and chair of
the EP Turkey delegation, Joost Lagendijk explained in a statement.
“This is a crucial point as it would have strengthened the hands of
those in Turkey opposed to reforms.”
Rapporteur Camiel Eurlings expressed his delight that his report had
received the backing of his parliamentary colleagues.
But he said Turkey still needed to come to terms with its past.
“It is indispensable for a country on the road to membership to come
to terms with and recognize its past,” his report reads.
Eurlings insists it was never intention to force Ankara to formally
recognise this chapter in its history.
“This amendment was added when my report was being debated in the
parliament’s foreign affairs committee, and it is an amendment I
regret” the Dutch MEP declared.
“And the amendment was actually proposed by the Socialist MEP Veronique
De Keyser. I think the Socialists need to get together to work out
what their line is on my report.”
The report also stresses the need for progress on freedom of
expression, minority religion rights and also raises the Cyprus issue.
But Liberal MEP Andrew Duff argues that by backing the report, the
parliament has taken two steps forward and one step back.
“It is good news that MEPs have dropped their demand that Turkey
recognises Ottoman ‘genocide’ against the Armenians as a precondition
of accession,” he said.
“It is a pity, however, that we have missed our chance to add value
to the search for a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem.
The EU still needs to fulfil its commitment to ending the isolation
of the Turkish Cypriot community.”
German right winger Elmar Brok warned that Turkish progress has
“ground to a halt” since negotiations with the EU opened last year.
“I am glad EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn now shares the
parliament’s concerns and sees progress in the same critical light,”
he said.
“The political accession criteria have to be accomplished at the
beginning of the negotiations – not at the end,” he added.
On Tuesday Rehn told MEPs he is pressing Ankara for “a more resolute
reform process.”

OSKANIAN ‘REASSURED’ BY KARABAKH MEDIATORS OVER UN ROLE
By Harry Tamrazian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 27 2006
International mediators have all but dispelled Armenian concerns
about the United Nations’s involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace
process sought by Azerbaijan, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said
after meeting them late Tuesday.
Speaking to RFE/RL from New York, he confirmed shunning his Azerbaijani
counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov in retaliation for the Karabakh issue’s
inclusion on the UN General Assembly. The two men were due to meet
in the presence of the French, Russian and U.S. co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group on the sidelines of the assembly’s ongoing session.
“The meeting [with Mammadyarov] was cancelled at our initiative because
we found it necessary to clarify the situation to see what possible
developments might unfold there,” he said. “This is what was done at
my meeting [with the co-chairs].
“In that sense, I am satisfied with explanations given to me. We
now have a better idea of the situation and will make an appropriate
decisions as to what our next steps are.”
Oskanian added that Yerevan still has some unanswered questions
regarding the UN’s role in the peace process and expects the mediators
to address them in the coming weeks. “I can say for sure that there
will be more separate meetings with the co-chairs,” he said. “I don’t
rule out their visit to the region. Also possible — and desirable —
is the resumption of direct negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan
both at the ministerial and presidential levels.”
Presidents Ilham Aliev and Robert Kocharian plan to attend a summit of
the Commonwealth of Independent States which is scheduled to take place
in Belarus next month. Officials in Baku and Yerevan have not ruled
out the possibility of their encounter on the fringes of the summit.
Addressing the General Assembly on Monday, Mammadyarov cited
Oskanian’s refusal to meet him as proof of Armenia’s failure to take a
“constructive approach to solve existing problems.” He charged that the
Armenians are defying international norms by insisting on international
recognition of the Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination.
But according to the Armenian side, that right is at the heart of the
Minsk Group’s existing peace plan which envisages that Karabakh’s
status will determined by the disputed territory’s population in
a referendum. Oskanian again claimed that Azerbaijan “seems to be
constantly trying to renounce” the idea. The only way out of the
deadlock is to “revive the Minsk Group document and force Azerbaijan
not to renege on its pledges,” he said.
“My meeting with the co-chairs was quite productive,” said Oskanian.
“There are some positive movements. We will decide our next steps
upon our return to Yerevan.”

FETE DU CINEMA A ROME: 16 FILMS EN COMPETITION ET BEAUCOUP D’AVANT-PREMIèRES
Agence France Presse
26 septembre 2006 mardi 3:05 PM GMT
Seize films seront en competition du 13 au 21 octobre lors du premier
festival de cinema de Rome où de nombreuses oeuvres seront projetees
en avant-première, a annonce mardi le maire Walter Veltroni, balayant
toute idee de concurrence avec la Mostra de cinema de Venise.
“La Mostra de Venise etait superbe et j’espère a present que nous
aurons une belle fete a Rome”, a souligne le maire de la capitale
italienne lors de la conference de presse de presentation de la Fete
du cinema de Rome, a laquelle il avait convie Davide Croff, president
de la Fondation de la Biennale de Venise.
“Grâce a Venise et Rome, l’Italie parlera pendant deux mois de
cinema. Les deux villes se donnent la main avec respect et amour
reciproques”, a ajoute M. Veltroni, alors que le nouveau festival se
tiendra a peine plus d’un mois après la Mostra de Venise et qu’il
est dote de plus de moyens financiers que la doyenne des festivals
italiens.
Seize longs-metrages seront en competition a Rome pour les prix du
meilleur film (dote de 200.000 euros) et des meilleures interpretations
feminine et masculine, qui seront adjuges par un jury de 50 spectateurs
encadres par le cineaste italien Ettore Scola.
“Le voyage en Armenie” du Francais Robert Guediguian, “La strada di
Levi” de l’Italien Davide Ferrario, “A Casa nostra” de l’Italienne
Francesca Comencini ou encore “Jardins en automne” du cineaste georgien
Otar Iosseliani figurent parmi les films selectionnes.
Neuf films, hors competition, seront projetes en avant-première:
l’actrice australienne Nicole Kidman ouvrira le cycle en presentant
lors de la soiree d’ouverture “Fur”, de l’americain Steven Shainberg,
film où elle interprète la photographe americaine Diane Arbus.
Figurent egalement dans cette categorie “N” (“Napoleon et moi”,
film de l’Italien Paolo Virzi avec le Francais Daniel Auteuil et
l’Italienne Monica Bellucci) ou encore “The Namesake”, film americain
de la realisatrice indienne Mira Nair.
Enfin, une troisième et dernière categorie, “Evenements speciaux”,
donnera notamment lieu a la projection de “The Departed”, thriller
policier du realisateur americain Martin Scorsese avec Leonardo Di
Caprio, Matt Damon et Jack Nicholson.
–Boundary_(ID_7KiOqAD5gcnTYyyppLKbgg) —

AZNAVOUR ET L’ARMENIE, 82 ANS D’HISTOIRE COMMUNE
Agence France Presse
26 septembre 2006 mardi 4:26 PM GMT
Monument de la culture francaise, meme s’il n’aime pas ce
qualificatif, Charles Aznavour est aussi l’une des plus celèbres
vedettes internationales originaires d’Armenie, le pays de ses parents,
avec lequel il a entretenu des liens etroits tout au long de sa vie.
Aznavour, 82 ans, donnera un concert a Erevan, la capitale de
l’Armenie, samedi, sous les yeux de Jacques Chirac, qui s’y rend
en visite de vendredi a dimanche. Il se produira en outre a l’Opera
Garnier a Paris le 17 fevrier prochain, dans le cadre de l’annee de
l’Armenie en France.
La manifestation la plus tangible des liens entre Aznavour et l’Armenie
date de decembre 1988, après le tremblement de terre qui devaste le
nord du pays.
Le chanteur, dont le vrai nom est Aznavourian, fonde alors le comite
“Aznavour pour l’Armenie” pour collecter des fonds. Avant de se
rendre sur place, il ecrit le texte de la chanson humanitaire “Pour
toi Armenie”. Elle est enregistree debut 1989 avec 90 artistes (dont
Gilbert Becaud, Johnny Hallyday ou Renaud) et se vendra a plus d’un
million d’exemplaires.
Après cela, Charles Aznavour sera nomme ambassadeur permanent en
Armenie par l’Unesco.
“Jusqu’ici, je disais toujours: +Je suis francais d’origine
armenienne+. Après le choc, je me suis rendu compte que j’etais
vraiment d’origine armenienne”, avait-il declare a Paris-Match en
decembre 1988.
En avril 1975, il avait cree a la salle Pleyel a Paris la chanson
“Ils sont tombes”, pour le 60e anniversaire du genocide armenien (“La
mort les a frappes sans demander leur âge/Puisqu’ils etaient fautifs
d’etre enfants d’Armenie”, dit le texte). La musique etait signee par
son beau-frère Georges Garvarentz (fils du poète Kevork Garvarentz,
auteur de l’hymne national revolutionnaire armenien).
Pour ses 80 ans, Aznavour a ete nomme en 2004 “heros national” de
l’Armenie par le president Robert Kotcharian. En 2001, une place
d’Erevan a ete baptisee a son nom, avec une statue a son effigie. Et
en 2002, il tenait le rôle d’un cineaste tournant un film sur le
genocide de 1915 dans “Ararat”, film du Canadien Atom Egoyan, lui
aussi d’origine armenienne.
Le chanteur n’est pourtant pas ne en Armenie mais a Paris, le 22 mai
1924, où ses parents s’etaient etablis après avoir quitte leur pays.
“Charles Aznavour ou le destin apprivoise”, biographie de reference
parue en juin, relève qu’Aznavour aurait dû porter le prenom armenien
de Shahnourh, finalement francise en Charles par la sage-femme.
Cet ouvrage, auquel Aznavour a porte son concours pour la première
fois, revèle en outre les liens d’amitie etroits qui existaient
dans les annees 30 entre la famille Aznavourian et un autre Armenien
d’origine, entre depuis dans l’Histoire de France: Missak Manouchian,
chef du groupe FTP (Francs-tireurs partisans) de “L’affiche rouge”,
execute en fevrier 1944 par les nazis avec 22 autres resistants.
Manouchian qui, en 1940, avait ecrit cette phrase premonitoire a la
mère d’Aznavour: “Charles sera l’honneur du peuple armenien, et une
gloire pour la France”.
–Boundary_(ID_Hs/rdCOZlV0LNkgY+yMN pg)–

LE FESTIVAL DES CHANTS SACRES EVOQUE LA MONTAGNE D’ISRAëL A L’ESPAGNE
Agence France Presse
26 septembre 2006 mardi 5:47 AM GMT
Les monts sacres du pourtour mediterraneen, d’Israël a l’Espagne,
seront a l’honneur de la quinzième edition du festival Chants sacres
en Mediterranee qui se deroule du 29 septembre au 22 octobre dans la
region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
“Monts des temples et des sanctuaires, montagnes des refuges, collines
inspirees où sonne la parole divine, hauteurs dediees aux sacrifices,
la Mediterranee et ses îles sont riches de lieux sacres”, souligne
l’association Ecume, a l’origine de ce festival.
La Francaise Francoise Atlan, specialiste des chants judeo-espagnols,
interprètera des chants hebraïques rappelant que Moïse recut les
tables de la loi sur le mont Sinaï, en Egypte.
Des chants spirituels nes entre le Ve et le XIIe siècle dans les
montagnes et les hauts plateaux d’Armenie, appeles “sharagan” soit
“colliers de pierres precieuses”, seront celebres par l’ensemble
armenien Mesrob Mashtots.
La montagne cretoise, avec ses lieux escarpes et ses gorges, sera
evoquee par l’ensemble grec Krites, les monts tunisiens par les chants
soufis de l’ensemble Sakli, tandis que le groupe Camerata Corale La
Grangia fera decouvrir les airs traditionnels du Piemont.
Les concerts auront lieu, entre autres, dans des eglises romanes, des
abbayes et des salles de concert de la region a la Roque d’Antheron
(Vaucluse), Marseille, Mandelieu-La Napoule (Alpes-Maritimes),
Lourmarin (Vaucluse), Digne (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence).
(Chants sacres. Du 29 septembre au 22 octobre. Renseignements et
reservation: ou 04.91.91.41.41)
–Boundary_(ID_zCSep0pnZWYDy8Xboz KLCA)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress