His Holiness Aram I Appeal for Immediate Ceasefire
ArmRadio.am
03.08.2006 13:25
Speaking to the press after the meeting of the spiritual Heads of
the Christian and Muslim communities in Lebanon, His Holiness Aram I,
the head of the Armenian Orthodox Community said: “This is the true
Lebanon; this togetherness of Muslim and Christian Spiritual leaders
concretely manifest the real image of Lebanon. This very meeting by
itself is a living message. It is a message of the crucial importance
of coexistence; it is a message of peace with justice; it is a message
of compassion tolerance and mutual respect. In fact, violence is
not the way to solve problems. Dialogue, mutual understanding and
compromise based on justice and peace for all, is the most efficient
way of dealing with complex issues and situations”.
Referring to the meeting of religious Heads, His Holiness Aram I said:
“Together with one voice in our joint declaration we appealed for
immediate ceasefire and cessation of all hostilities. We expressed our
full support to all actions and initiatives taken by the government
of Lebanon. We emphasized the importance of the expansion of the
state’s authority over all the territories of Lebanon. It is our
firm expectation that international community and particularly the
United Nations will act decisively to stop violence and help Lebanon
to recover itself”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian Community In Rostov Condemns Church Desecration
ArmRadio.am
03.08.2006 13:31
Armenian intellectuals and community leaders condemned the desecration
of Holy Cross Armenian Church in Rostov, Russia, and an attempt to
burn down the Russian-Armenian friendship situated inside the church.
Unknown assailants Monday reportedly desecrated the temple and tried to
burn it. Failing to enter the church they broke and burnt the windows
and sprayed the slogans “white justice has come” and “Russia is for
Russians” on the church walls.
A meeting was held Tuesday at the Armenian Consulate General in
the Southern Russian, during which Consul General Ararat Gomtsian
condemned the act of vandalism and read a message directed to the town
and provincial authorities, as well as to law-enforcement bodies. The
message demands that the persons responsible for this be found and
punished.
The Russian-Armenian Yerkramas newspaper reported that the director of
the Rostov regional monuments protection agency Alexander Kozhin said
“the desecration of historic monuments is terrible.” He added that
the Holy Cross Church was the only architectural monument in Rostov
that date back to the 18th century, Armenpress reported.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Prime Minister Margarian meet Platini
ArmRadio.am
03.08.2006 14:03
Legendary football player Michel Platini, Vice-President of the French
Football Federation, member of the FIFA and UEFA Executive Committees,
is in Yerevan on an official visits. Today Armenian Prime Minister
Andranik Margarian received the guest.
The visit is takeing place by the invitation of Ruben Hayrapetian,
President of the Football Federation of Armenia. In the frameworks
of the visit Platitni yesterday took part in a number of festive
opening ceremonies of two football fields in Avan and Kanaker-Zeytun
communities of Yerevan. To be reminded Armenia is taking part
in a UEFA development program and is to receive 1 million Swiss
franks. A condition for receiving the grant is opening as minimum
40 minor football fields with artificial grass. Michel Platini is
also supposed to meet with representatives of state institutions and
social organizations of Armenia, Arminfo reported.

Turk-Israeli Friendship Group on verge of dissolution
ArmRadio.am
03.08.2006 14:43
The Turkish-Israeli Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group has come to
the brink of dissolution, with members resigning one by one in protest
of Israel’s military assaults in Palestinian territories and Lebanon,
Turkish Daily News reported.
Opposition Motherland Party (ANAVATAN) Hatay deputy Zuheyir Amber
resigned from the 263-member parliamentary group yesterday, bringing
the number of deputies who have stepped down from the group to
25. Amber, who is also deputy leader of ANAVATAN, applied to the
Parliamentary Speaker’s Office yesterday to submit his resignation.
“It is not possible to accept what Israel has done. … I condemn
Israel and resign from the friendship group,” Amber said in
his resignation. Amber also said he believed that international
friendship groups played effective roles in contributing to peace,
human rights and respect
“I had earlier said I would not resign from the Turkish-Israeli
Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group as I thought it would be healthier
to prevent what was being done by remaining within the group,” he said.
Amber said Israel’s non-stop attacks targeting unprotected civilians
and children without recognizing the law and without any respect for
human rights caused him to change his mind.
“The merciless killing of almost 60 innocent civilians and children
in the [southern Lebanese] town of Qana was the last straw,” he said,
noting that the bombing of Lebanon’s fuel stores and petrol stations
by Israel had caused an environmental disaster that could spread to the
Mediterranean.”Those facts caused me to resign from the Turkish-Israeli
Friendship Group,” he said.

Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity key for Karabakh issue – community leader
ANS TV, Baku
3 Aug 06
If Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity is ensured, then the country
will be satisfied with any other conditions, Nizami Bahmanov, head
of the Azerbaijani community of Nagornyy Karabakh, has said in his
comments on the latest proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.
He said that previously there were discussions around the [Lacin]
corridor, but now the issue of corridor cannot be a topic of
discussions. The talk is about the functional [as heard] road of
Agdam-Xankandi-Susa-Lacin-Gorus. This is the road which will be used
by both Armenians and Azerbaijanis there.
As for the option of a stage-by-stage solution, the latest stage
can concern granting a status. Commenting on the liberation of the
occupied districts, he said that the liberation of Lacin and Kalbacar
districts at the latest stage is a possibility. Asked to what extent
it is correct to station peace-keepers before determining Nagornyy
Karabakh’s status, Bahmanov said that peacekeepers could be deployed
only after the occupation of the territories is over.
The community leader believes that the key problem for resolution of
the Nagornyy Karabakh issue is that the mediators themselves cannot
come to an agreement. In his view, the co-chairs often come up with
new ideas.

SENATOR TO VOTE AGAINST BUSH’S AMBASSADOR NOMINEE FOR ARMENIA BECAUSE OF GENOCIDE POSITION
AP Worldstream; Aug 02, 2006
FREDERIC J. FROMMER
Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman said Wednesday he will vote against
President George W. Bush’s selection to become the next ambassador
to Armenia because the nominee refuses to describe the deaths of 1.5
million Armenians as genocide.
According to the Armenian National Committee of America, Coleman
is the first senator to say publicly that he will vote against the
nomination of Ambassador-designate Richard E. Hoagland. Several other
senators have expressed misgivings.
“My problem isn’t with Hoagland,” Coleman, a member of Bush’s
Republican Party, said in a telephone interview. “I continue to be
troubled by our policy that refuses to recognize what was a historical
reality.”
The Bush administration does not question that Turkish troops killed
or drove from their homes 1.5 million Armenians starting in 1915 but
has omitted the word genocide to describe it.
Turkey strongly objects to the use of the word genocide, and U.S.
policy-makers are wary of antagonizing an important strategic NATO
ally.
On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Coleman
serves, postponed a vote on Hoagland’s nomination until next month. The
committee has 10 Republican members and eight Democrats.
Elizabeth Chouldjian, a spokeswoman for the Armenian committee,
said nine of the 18 have misgivings over the Hoagland nomination.
“We welcome Mr. Coleman’s action, because quite frankly, it’s a
question of effectiveness for a U.S. ambassador,” she said. “Is
it effective for an ambassador to Armenia to deny the Armenian
genocide? It is effective for him to be taken seriously as a diplomat
in Armenia? The answer is no.”
“As someone of the Jewish faith, I bring a heightened sensitivity
to the reality of genocide and mass murder and the importance of
recognizing it for what it is,” Coleman said.
“I was brought up believing you never forget the Holocaust, never
forget what happened. And I could not imagine how our ambassador
to Israel could have any effectiveness if he couldn’t recognize
the Holocaust.”
In May, the White House announced the recall of the current ambassador
to Armenia, John Evans, two years into the normal three-year diplomatic
term. Last year, Evans told Armenian-Americans, “The Armenian genocide
was the first genocide of the 20th century.”
Sixty members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice protesting that Evans was being
punished for his reference to “genocide.” In a separate letter,
Democratic Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts
demanded an explanation from Rice for Evans’ recall.
“It absolutely was cut short because of that,” Coleman said,
referring to Evans’ use of the word genocide. “That I also found to
be troubling. Evans was a
good ambassador.
“To me, it’s almost bizarre diplospeak that you have barred our
ambassadors from using a single word; that in effect you had the
removal of an ambassador who used that single word, genocide, even
though it’s true.”
Asked whether Evans was recalled for using the word genocide, State
Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez would only say, “U.S. ambassadors
serve at the pleasure of the president.”
At a Foreign Relations Committee hearing in June, senators failed to
get Hoagland to use the word genocide.
“I have not received any kind of written instruction about this,”
Hoagland said at that hearing. “I simply have studied the president’s
policy. I’ve studied the background papers on the policy. And my
responsibility is to support the president.”

AZERI GENERAL CONSUL CONCERNED ABOUT STATEMENT OF HEAD OF KARS
ADMINISTRATION ABOUTING UNBLOCKING BORDERS WITH ARMENIA
Yerevan, August 2. ArmInfo. The Turkish-Armenian borders may be
unblocked under three conditions only. APA informed that Hasan
Zeinalov, General consul of Azerbaijan to Kars, stated about this.
“The borders may be unblocked only, Armenia should renounce the issue
of the Armenian Genocide, give up territorial claims from Turkey and
leave the occupied territories of Azerbaijan,” Zeinalov said. He added
that there are forces in Turkey that are interested in unblocking the
border with Armenia. “I state once again that the issue of unblocking
the borders is neither in the plenipotentiaries of the head of regional
administration, nor in the rights of the interested forces,” he said.
It’s worth mentioning that Alibekoghlu, head of Kars administration,
emphasized the importance of opening borders with Armenia in the
interview to “Turkish Daily News” newspaper. He said this will help
export the Turkish goods to the Middle East and Far East by a cheap
and reliable path.

“CILICIA” ARMENIAN VESSEL SHIP CONTINUES ITS NAVIGATION DOWN RIVERS OF RUSSIA
Yerevan, August 2. ArmInfo. “Cilicia” Armenian vessel ship continues
its navigation down the rivers of Russia.
Armen Nazarian, participant of the voyage, informed ArmInfo that that
the vessel-ship sails down the numerous sluices of the Volga-Baltic
channel and will head for the Upper Sheksana river thought the
Black Sea.

CILICIA VESSEL ARRIVING IN NIZHNY NOVGOROD
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.08.2006 13:50 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Cilicia vessel, made in Armenia according to XIII
century drafts, is arriving in Nizhny Novgorod today. The ship is an
exact copy of the vessel, on which Cilician seafarers navigated in
XI-XIII centuries. Extraordinary Envoy and Plenipotentiary Minister
of the Armenian Embassy in Russia Ashot Manukyan is arriving to meet
the crew.
The vessel has followed the route Venice-Amsterdam, having doubled
Spain and France, visited Saint Petersburg. The voyage in Russia is
the final stage of the way, devoted to the official declaration of
the Year of Armenia in Russia.

SENATOR COLEMAN WORRIED ABOUT US POLICY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.08.2006 14:06 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Daily Comment US newspaper and a number of
others have made public the pledge of member of the Foreign Relations
Committee of the US Senate Norm Coleman that he will vote against
the candidacy of Richard Hoagland, nominated by President Bush as
the Ambassador to Armenia. “I am concerned over our policy over
denial of historical realities. The Bush Administration recognizes
that since 1915 Turkish troops killed and expelled 1.5 million
Armenians, however, avoids word “genocide”, when speaking about it,
Norm Coleman said. The editions also remind that Senator Barbara
Boxer, who represents California, agreed to the hearings on Hoagland’s
appointment be delayed, however she did not report whom she would vote
for. “The Administration has to change its policy towards Armenia,”
the Senator noted, reports RFE/RL.