White House: New US Ambassador to Armenia

Whitehouse.gov (press release), DC
May 23 2006
Personnel Announcement
President George W. Bush today announced his intention to nominate
two individuals to serve in his Administration:
The President intends to nominate Richard E. Hoagland, of the
District of Columbia, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of
Armenia. Ambassador Hoagland, a career member of the Senior Foreign
Service, currently serves as United States Ambassador to the Republic
of Tajikistan. Prior to this, he served as Director of the Office of
Caucasus and Central Asian Affairs at the Department of State.
Earlier in his career, he served as Director of the Office of Public
Diplomacy in the Bureau of South Asian Affairs. Ambassador Hoagland
received his bachelor’s degree from Taylor University and two
master’s degrees from the University of Virginia.

Heritage Fights For Civil Rights

PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
7 Vazgen Sargsian Street
Yerevan 0010, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 58.08.77, 52.22.38
Fax: (+374 – 10) 54.38.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:
May 24, 2006
FEAR IN ARMAVIR: HERITAGE FIGHTS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
Yerevan–On May 20, Heritage Party Chairman Raffi K. Hovannisian and a
delegation of high-ranking members paid a visit to the Armavir region to
hold consultations with members of the party’s local divisions. At their
first stop, in the village of Miasnikian, it became apparent that the visit
was being closely monitored by the local police department and other
security services. Before the meeting, the law enforcement bodies had
questioned Heritage’s local representative about the objective and timing of
the visit and the composition of the delegation, and had insisted that they
be informed as soon as Hovannisian arrived.
The meeting at Miasnikian was still in progress when word came from the town
of Armavir that the party’s local office manager Levon Margarian had been
taken into custody. Before being released he was told that the region’s law
enforcement agency knew about the forthcoming visit of Raffi Hovannisian and
the other senior party members. The police demanded that Margarian make
sure that the meeting did not take place; otherwise they would use force to
disrupt it.
Upon arrival at Armavir, the Heritage Party leadership witnessed local
police units standing on the sidewalk across from the party’s regional
headquarters. It was apparent that they had been called in to intimidate
their fellow citizens and to ensure the prevention of the meeting. This
outrage notwithstanding, an open discussion between the party officials and
local residents took place as scheduled. Afterwards, Raffi Hovannisian
walked to the local police precinct and asked to meet with the district
chief, Colonel Gevorgian. Initially, he was told that this would be arranged
in 15 minutes, but later he was informed that Gevorgian had convened an
urgent consultation and could not receive him. Talks with the deputy police
chief or any other person in command were also ruled out under the same
pretext. Subsequently, the request for a formal explanation was submitted to
the officer on duty, Lieutenant Melkonian.
On May 22, the executive board of the Heritage Party sent a letter to
Armenia’s Police Chief Haik Harutiunian demanding a full explanation and
assessment of these unlawful and unconstitutional acts.
Throughout his regional visits Raffi Hovannisian was accompanied by chairman
Hovsep Khurshudian of the Heritage Party’s Oversight Commission, board
member Gevorg Kalenchian, and political secretary Vardan Khachatrian. In
Khachatrian’s words, the party expects that “the police will uncover the
architects of this illegal operation and give a legal evaluation of what
took place.”
That these initiatives of fear and intimidation are centrally orchestrated
is corroborated by the recent unlawful closure of Heritage’s main
headquarters in Yerevan; the surveillance and harassment of party members
throughout the republic and threatening them with imprisonment or loss of
employment; the late-night removal of the Heritage logo from its regional
offices in Aparan, Yeghvard, Sisian, Yegheknadzor, and Kapan; the refusal of
Yegheknadzor mayor Sirak Babayan to sanction a public meeting on May 6; the
refusal of the Armenian government, to provide a standard hall for Heritage’
s upcoming convention; and the informational blockade of Heritage and
Hovannisian presidentially imposed on virtually all electronic media in the
country.
Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land. Its
central headquarters are located at 7 Vazgen Sargsian Street, Yerevan 0010,
Armenia, with telephone contact at (374-10) 580.877, fax at (374-10)
543.897, and email at [email protected]

www.heritage.am

F18News: Turkmenistan – “What will registration give us?”

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief
========================================== ======
Wednesday 24 May 2006
TURKMENISTAN: “WHAT WILL REGISTRATION GIVE US?”
Despite making several registration applications, the Armenian Apostolic
Church community in Turkmenistan’s capital Ashgabad has still not been
given state registration, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Some religious
communities have considered registration – including Protestants, Catholics
and the Jehovah’s Witnesses – but have not yet applied. Protestant
congregations are sceptical about their chances of gaining registration.
Forum 18 has been told that during interrogations of ethnic Turkmen
Protestants, they are told to report everything that happens in their
churches to the authorities. “You have to do this if you’re registered,”
they are told. A Catholic parish has not applied for registration, as they
are not allowed to have a foreign priest leading the parish. Jehovah’s
Witnesses told Forum 18 that “there’s still the very important question:
what will registration give us? Others have got registration and it hasn’t
helped them.”
TURKMENISTAN: “WHAT WILL REGISTRATION GIVE US?”
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <; Back in February, the Armenian Apostolic Church community in Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabad [Ashgabat] lodged an application for state registration. "Although three months have gone by the Justice Ministry has made no response," an Armenian who preferred not to be identified told Forum 18 News Service from Ashgabad on 22 May. "This is the third or fourth application the community has lodged." No-one at the Registration Department of the Adalat (Fairness or Justice) Ministry was available to explain to Forum 18 why the application by Ashgabad's Armenian community has not been processed. Reached on 22 May, Maysa Sariyeva, who is head of the International Legal Affairs and Registration of Public and Religious Organisations Department, put the phone down as soon as Forum 18 explained who was calling. Subsequent calls went unanswered. Also not answering his telephone on 22 and 23 May was Serdar Valiev, who reports to Sariyeva and has responsibility for registering religious communities. The Armenian ambassador, Aram Grigoryan, was out of the country on 22 May and no-one at the Embassy was able to comment on the stalled registration application from the Ashgabad Armenian community. Nor was anyone available for comment at the Armenian Foreign Ministry in Yerevan on 22 May, or at the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Echmiadzin near the Armenian capital. The registration application was lodged exactly one year after the authorities destroyed the last surviving pre-revolutionary Armenian Apostolic church in the country, in the Caspian port town of Turkmenbashi [Türkmenbashy, formerly Krasnovodsk], on the orders of President Saparmurat Niyazov. The authorities had previously refused to hand it back to the local Armenian community for worship (see F18News 23 May 2006 < e_id=786>).
In the absence of any Armenian Apostolic church in Turkmenistan, Armenian
Christians who wished to worship have had to attend Russian Orthodox
churches (although the Armenian Church is of the Oriental, not the
Orthodox family of Churches). An estimated one sixth of parishioners at
Turkmenistan’s Russian Orthodox churches are ethnic Armenians.
Meanwhile, other religious communities which have been considering lodging
registration applications – including Protestant Christians, the Catholic
parish in Ashgabad and the Jehovah’s Witnesses – have not yet done so.
Forum 18 has learnt that several Protestant congregations are preparing
registration applications, but many are sceptical that the Adalat Ministry
will grant it. “All the churches wanting to get registration are made up of
ethnic Turkmens and it is not so easy,” one Protestant told Forum 18 on 22
May. “The authorities don’t like this.” The Protestant said that the
Protestant congregations the Adalat Ministry was forced to register under
international pressure from 2004 – including the Adventists, Baptists,
Pentecostals, Greater Grace, Light of the East and the Church of Christ –
were all made up of ethnic Russians. “When the persecution was at its
worst five or six years ago, ethnic Russian churches suffered, but Turkmen
believers suffered the worst.”
Even today, the Protestant added, every time officials interrogate any
ethnic Turkmen Protestants they tell them they should report everything
that happens in their churches to the authorities. “You have to do this if
you’re registered.”
The Jehovah’s Witnesses remain cautious. “Nothing has moved on the
registration issue,” one Jehovah’s Witness told Forum 18 on 22 May. “The
authorities show no real desire to register us. There’s still the very
important question: what will registration give us? Others have got
registration and it hasn’t helped them.” Contacts in 2005 with the Adalat
Ministry were “not very encouraging”, the source added. However, the
Jehovah’s Witnesses have not ruled out trying to get registration and are
still working on preparing the necessary documentation.
Ashgabad’s Catholic parish has not yet applied for registration, as it
remains unhappy with the terms of the Religion Law and has not been able
to meet Adalat Ministry officials to discuss the wording of the statute.
“We want to explain to the Ministry the absolute impossibility for the
parish to be led by a local citizen,” one Catholic familiar with the
process told Forum 18 on 23 May. “The authorities have to allow us to
build up a community and only with time will there perhaps be a local
priest who could lead the community. We want to discuss this point with
the Ministry and we hope they’ll understand it.”
The Catholic said the community is grateful that the Turkmen authorities
have allowed two Polish priests to serve the community. Mass is currently
held on Vatican diplomatic territory in the Nunciature in Ashgabad.
Eventually the Catholics would like to build a church to replace the one
destroyed by an earthquake in Soviet times. “But the church is the
community, not the building,” the Catholic stressed to Forum 18.
Other religious communities registered since May 2004 are the Baha’is, the
Hare Krishna community and the New Apostolic Church. Already registered
were about a hundred Sunni Muslim mosques. Shia Muslim mosques are
unofficially barred from registering. Most of the country’s 12 Russian
Orthodox churches were finally re-registered in November 2005, though the
Dashoguz [Dashhowuz] parish was stripped of registration in 2003 and has
been unable to regain it. The parish has also been prevented from
completing building work on its church (see F18News 3 April 2006
< e_id=754>).
Conditions that have been imposed on registered communities are highly
restrictive, including bans on meeting for worship, including in private
homes, and on printing and importing religious literature (see F18News 28
February 2005 < 521>), tight
financial restrictions and a ban on foreign citizens leading religious
communities (see F18News 13 May 2004
< e_id=320>). Many religious
believers in Turkmenistan strongly object to these conditions, describing
religious freedom in the country as “fictitious” (see F18News 16 February
2006 < 728>).
Among the problems communities have experienced since registering are that
nationally registered communities have had their regional communities’
registration denied by officials in police raids (see F18News 19 December
2005 < 707>); and unwritten
extra-legal obstacles have been placed in the way of unregistered
communities registering, or registered communities meeting (see F18 News 9
December 2005 < 702>).
Registered congregations are also pressured to subscribe to the cult of
personality around President Niyazov, and the Ruhnama, his alleged
“spiritual writings” (see F18News 1 March 2005
< e_id=522>).
Unregistered religious activity remains illegal (see F18Nerws 24 May 2004
< e_id=326>).
Although extreme harassment of religious communities has eased off
recently, incidents are still occurring (see eg. F18News 19 January 2006
< e_id=717>). Among recent
incidents, two teachers of the Koran in the village of Kongur near the
south-eastern town of Mary were summoned by the Ministry of State Security
(MSS) secret police early in the year and banned from teaching the Koran,
Jumadurdy Ovezov, a correspondent for Radio Free Europe’s Turkmen Service
told Forum 18 from Mary on 15 May.
Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18 that in March, one of their members was
detained in Ashgabad while he was on his way to visit a fellow-believer. A
police officer hit him on the head several times, forced him to get into a
car and took him to the police station. There he was interrogated and had
his Bible and other religious books confiscated, but was released later
that day. In April, two female Jehovah’s Witnesses were coming out of a
block of flats in Turkmenbashi when they were detained by police. They
were taken by car to the local police station where they were searched and
interrogated. “Officers used the usual crude words during the
interrogation,” one Jehovah’s Witness told Forum 18. The two were forced
to write statements before being freed.
Protestants have complained that some are still being prevented from
travelling abroad for religious purposes, including a group who had visas
but were not handed their pre-paid tickets ahead of their planned
departure from Ashgabad airport in April. “We don’t know why this
happened,” one Protestant told Forum 18. “The travel company and all the
other people at the airport kept putting the blame on each other.”
Hare Krishna devotee Cheper Annaniyazova is still in jail, on a seven year
jail term believed within Turkmenistan to have been inspired by the MSS
secret police to intimidate the Hare Krishna community (see F18News 3
April 2006 < 754>). (END)
For a personal commentary by a Protestant within Turkmenistan, on the
fiction – despite government claims – of religious freedom in the country,
and how religious communities and the international community should
respond to this, see < 728>
For more background, see Forum 18’s Turkmenistan religious freedom survey
at < 672>
A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at
< s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=turkme& gt; (END) © Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855 You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to F18News Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at

Oskanian Promotes Armenia Fund’s New Project in Los Angeles

Armenia Fund, Inc.
111 North Jackson St. Ste. 205
Glendale, CA 91206
Tel: 818-243-6222
Fax: 818-243-7222
Web:
Contact: Sarkis Kotanjian
[email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
May 23, 2006
Oskanian Promotes Armenia Fund’s New Project in Los Angeles
Armenia Fund Embarks on Rural Poverty Eradication in 150 Armenian villages
Los Angeles, CA – Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia, H.E.
Vartan Oskanian, and Ambassador of Armenia to the United States, H.E.
Tatoul Markarian were in Los Angeles on May 19-20 to promote Armenia
Fund’s new beneficiary project – Rural Poverty Eradication in Armenia.
The Minister and Ambassador held meetings with Armenia Fund’s leadership
over the weekend, discussing plans for the socio-economic recovery
program and its eventual implementation. The discussions were focused on
prioritizing implementation strategies and the steps to carry out the
program in the Diaspora and defining the organizational mechanisms
through which Armenia Fund will implement public outreach, fundraising,
communications and coordination of the Rural Poverty Eradication
Program.
Armenia Fund’s International Board of Trustees, which includes prominent
Diaspora Armenians – Charles Aznavour, Mark Geragos and Vartan
Gregorian, among others, approved the large-scale reconstruction project
aimed at eliminating rural poverty in Armenia and Karabakh. The program
will parallel the works of the $235 million Millennium Challenge
Corporation (MCC) project that is financed by the United States
Government. The MCC will rebuild rural roads and install a modern
irrigation network throughout the republic over the course of five years.

`We envision that the Armenia Fund is best situated to take over as the
umbrella which will appoint a governance board, a fiscal agent, as well
as the management team. This ambitious program is a natural expansion of
the Armenia Fund’s mission – to facilitate infrastructure and
development programs that are beyond the government’s capacity,’ said
Oskanian.
The economic blockades imposed by neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan have
crippled the fledgling republic’s economy, leaving it without a safe and
secure transit means of goods and services. Furthermore, with the
collapse of the Soviet Union, the centralized Moscow-based economy
shattered and sent negative ripple effects throughout Armenia. Roads,
communication lines, irrigation and drinking water systems, as well as
energy supplies were all hampered and damaged due to neglect.
Building on the international momentum of increased aid to the economic
recovery of the country, Armenia Fund will begin this unprecedented
large-scale infrastructure development program. Armenia, at the
assessment of international experts, has the potential to become the
breadbasket of the region, despite being a landlocked mountainous country.
“The decision to have the Armenia Fund as the organization to carry out
the Rural Poverty Eradication Program speaks to the quality and track
record of Armenia Fund. We are all proud to be a part of this new
initiative,” said Maria Mehranian, Chairperson of Armenia Fund, Inc.
Through this project Armenia Fund will implement a comprehensive
development plan in the rural regions of Armenia. The project will
include development of waterways, irrigation systems, roads, educational
facilities, hospitals as well as agricultural development assistance
programs. Similar to the Martakert Regional Development Program,
currently underway in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Rural Poverty Eradication
Program will be developed by experts from Armenia, France, and the
United States who are currently working with Armenia Fund.

Armenia Fund, Inc., is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation
established in 1994 to facilitate large-scale humanitarian and
infrastructure development assistance to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
Armenia Fund, Inc. is the U.S. Western Region affiliate of `Hayastan’
All-Armenian Fund. Tax ID# 95-4485698

www.armeniafund.org

AGBU Leadership Meets with Vartan Osganian

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian General Benevolent Union Inc.
Viken L. Attarian
Chairman
805, Manoogian street
Ville St-Laurent, QC H4N 1Z5
Tel: 514-748-2428
Fax: 514-748-6307
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Montreal, May 24, 2006 – His Excellency, Mr. Vartan Osganian, Minister of
Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, paid a short visit to Canada and
met with representatives of the Armenian community in the Embassy of Armenia
in Ottawa.
During the event, he introduced the new Deputy Chief of Mission to Canada,
Mr. Arman Hagopian, and then went on to describe the challenges facing the
Republic of Armenia on the eve of the 15th anniversary of its existence.
Mr. Osganian spoke at length about the upcoming 3rd Armenia/Diaspora
Conference which is to take place in September, 2006. He focused
specifically on a new initiative by the Government of Armenia to repopulate
and modernize the infrastructure of border villages to stop the migration of
youth from rural areas into Yerevan. The Minister is on a special worldwide
tour to engage Armenian communities to support this project.
At the end of the event, Minister Osganian kindly answered several questions
from the audience. AGBU Montreal was represented at this meeting by
chairman Viken L. Attarian, vice-chairman Raffi Chitilian, vice-chairman
Levon Afeyan and his wife Annette, board member Avedis Atamian and his wife
Suzanne, the director of the Armenian Studies program Manuel Kuesseyan and
the young intern at the Armenian Foreign Affairs Ministry, Mr. Vrouyr
Moughalian.
For further information, please contact the AGBU at 514-748-2428 or at
[email protected]

www.agbumontreal.org

May 31 session on genocide at York University

Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences
Congress 2006
York University, Toronto (Ontario) Canada
The Congress encourages community participation.
Session Sponsored by the Society for Socialist Studies & co-listed by the
Canadian Women’s Studies
Title: New (Gendered) Perspectives on Genocide
When: May 31, 2006 1 PM; Where: AWC
Session co-organizers: Karin Doerr & Sima Aprahamian
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Full Institutional Affiliation (if applicable): Karin Doerr, Simone de
Beauvoir Institute & Modern Languages H-663
Sima Aprahamian, Simone de Beauvoir Institute & Sociology-Anthropology
H1125-58 Mailing Address: Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West
Montreal, QCH3G 1M8, Canada
1. Isabel Kaprielian (California State University at Fresno,
Department of History)
“Girls at Risk: the Survival of Armenian girls during the Genocide”
In research and writing relating to the Armenian Genocide, great emphasis
has been placed on the political, economic, and religious factors leading
to the tragedy and on the terrible events that destroyed 1 1/2 million
Armenians. Less emphasis has been placed on the expereinces of survivors.
This paper will focus on the survival experiences of Armenian girls –
those abducted, those raped, those exploited, those who survived with
family members, and those fortunate enough to be placed in the many
orphanages set up to save them. I will be using oral sources, published
memoirs, and official reports by missionaries, Near East Relief personnel, and
League of Nations agencies.
2.Karin Doerr (Simone de Beauvoir Institute & Modern Languages H-663, Concordia
University) “A Critical Approach to Women and the Holocaust”
This paper addresses possible reasons for mainstream Holocaust Study’s
continued neglect of women’s issues and work in the field and articulates
possible solutions. It concurs with the existing critical re-examination
of work on women in the Holocaust and suggests avoiding romanticization of
the female victim or the heroine as well as an exclusionary, care-oriented
focus (Bernard, 1995; Ringelheim, 1985, 1999). It builds on the call to
explore the ethical dimension of women’s behaviour in the politically
resistive area of the “Gray Zone” (Primo Levi, 1986; Nowack, 1999; Claudia
Card. 2002) and warrants taking a closer look at the circumstances that
created the abject conditions, the fear, terror, and murder that the women
experienced and to which they responded. Moreover, since a feminist lens
allows for a multi-focal approach, we need to consider survival chances
based on nationality, class, and political or religious affiliation in
addition to gender. Finally, it argues against a continued separation of
research with Women and the Holocaust as a category of its own.
3.Victoria Rowe (Faculty of Policy Studies,Chuo University, Japan)
“Public Witnessing at the League of Nations: The Women’s Movement
and the Armenian Genocide”
This paper explores the writer Inga Nalbandian’s public witnessing of the
Armenian Genocide in her 1917 book, Den Store Jammer [The Great Misery].
Nalbandian’s status as a Danish-born woman living in Constantinople, her
marriage to an Armenian and her mothering of Armenian children, and later
her ability to be a public witness and to cooperate with European
feminists such as Henni Forchhammer, the Danish Delegate to the League of
Nations, in promoting assistance to the refugees of the Armenian Genocide
raises numerous questions which will be addressed in this paper about the
nature of identity and witnessing, as well as the intersection of
ethnicity, citizenship and gender
and the relations between European feminists and Armenian refugees.
Victoria Rowe is the author of A History of Armenian Women’s Writing:
1880-1922.
4.George Mouradian (Independent Scholar/ Retired Engineer & American Univ. of
Armenia)
“What Are the Perpetrators Afraid of?”
“What Are the Perpetrators Afraid Of?” is a paper that revisits past
holocausts and genocides and elaborates on the outcomes of these tragic
events. The paper searches into the methods used, the results, and the
after effects of the horrors. What happened to the perpetrators, what are
the ancestors of the perpetrators responsible for, and what are they
afraid of is covered in detail. Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide
has to be a festering wound that can only cure itself by the nation’s
acknowledgement of its wrongdoing. What is Turkey afraid of? Its desire to
join the European Union and the pressures on it from civilized countries
are forcing Turkey to face up to the truth. How will the past and present
scenarios affect Turkey and other nations on what happens in the near
future?
5.Anna Elisabeth Rosmus (Independent scholar)
“Family Matters: Rape and Incest in the SA and SS”
Sodomizing a child, raping a handicapped woman, and drinking beyond
capacity: Behavior unworthy of any “Aryan”, expecially an SA or SS man? It
all happened in Lower Bavaria. The men were machos, their pants quickly
unzipped, their IQs low and their past included criminal deliquencies.
Their careers were not going anywhere. Wearing a uniform gave them status,
and power. They all trusted their secrets would
remain safe. After all, the victims were family! Who would believe them?
Personal files reveal the once unthinkable: the scum inside Hitler’s
“elite”!
6. Lisa Price (Independent Researcher)”Rape as Genocide: Findings From Rwanda”
In 1998 the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicted Jean-Paul
Akayesu of complicity in genocide, based in part on testimonies that he
encouraged and condoned the rape of Tutsi women by Hutu police officers
and militiamen. This precedent-setting characterization of rape as a
constituent act of genocide recognized both the intersect “ional harms
done to women in the context of ethnic conflict and the harm done to
communities through the medium of anti-woman violence. This paper will
trace the conceptual steps by which this understanding was arrived at;
will analyze debates within the feminist community around the value or
danger of differentiating genocidal rape from other forms of sexual
violence in armed conflict; and will offer some suggestions as to why
genocidal rape has not been included in the statute of the newly-created
permanent International Criminal Court.
7.Sima Aprahamian (Simone de Beauvoir Institute & Sociology-Anthropology,
Concordia University)
“The Genocide in Me” – Bearing Witness to Disappearing Traces
Dorota Glowacka notes in her study of Ida Fink’s literary testimony and
Holocaust art, “The witniss is burdened with an impossible task of
searching for disappearing traces” (2002: 106). Over ninety years have
passed since the 1915 genocide of the Armenian
people yet in spite the documentation, there continues an active denial on
the part of the perpetrators and their new allies. Araz Artinian in her
recent documentary “The Genocide in Me” attempts to seek the disappearing
traces in the perpetrators’ silences and the remains that attempt to bear
witness in a touristic tour that she takes in Eastern Turkey – historic
Armenia. This paper aims to examine through a feminist perspective of
self-reflexivity the meaning of “bearing witness” in the midst of the
perpetrators’ denials and an examination of Araz Artinian’s film.
8.Aditya Dewan (Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia
University)
“Cultural Genocide” and the Indigenous Peoples of Highland
Bangladesh – new critical perspectives on post-war and reconciliation
phase
This paper argues that Bangladesh commits cultural genocide directly or
indirectly by suppressing the indigenous peoples’ culture in the
Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. First, it describes the key
components of traditional cultures such as language and education,
religion, dress patterns, customs and rituals, habits, morals, traditional
medicine, and so on. Secondly, the paper examines how these aspects of
cultures have been affected by the deliberate policies followed by
successive governments of Bangladesh. Finally, the paper concludes that
the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord signed in December 1997 has also
accelerated the process of disintegration of traditional cultures of the
CHT people.
9.Susanne Luhmann (Women’s Studies, Thorneloe College at Laurentian University)
“Ethical Trauma? On the Ethical Implications of Using Trauma Theory
and Holocaust-Study Frameworks to Study Legacies of Perpetration”
Can trauma be ethical? What are the ethical limits of studying
perpetration itself through the conceptual lens of trauma? My paper
considers some of the ethical dilemmas and implications that arise from
using Holocaust and trauma studies to study the after-effects of national
trauma not upon the victims and their descendents but upon those who trace
their heritage to the perpetrators, collaborators, and bystanders of these
national crimes.
Central to both trauma studies and Holocaust studies have been key
concepts like transgenerational haunting (Abraham and Torok 1994), memory
effects (Apel 2002), secondary witnessing (Apel 2002). Trauma and
Holocaust studies have developed a sophisticated analysis of the
pervasiveness of the psychic structure of trauma and its contiguous
affects such as guilt, denial, shame etc. The psychic structure of
national trauma, differently from the legal and political questions, is
not limited to the victims. However, using these concepts also poses
ethical risks and dilemmas that need to be addressed when expanding the
insights of Holocaust and trauma studies to the aggressors and their
descendents.
10.-Amira Bojadzija (York)”Sense Memory in Charlotte Delbo’s Auschwitz and
After”
Body as the primary site of suffering occupies an important place in Charlotte
Delbo’s Auschwitz et Après (1961), in which physical pain, thirst, hunger and
experience of cold are rendered in a particularly vivid manner as sense memory.
Sensible is the arch-phenomenon upon which subjectivity is built. Merleau-Ponty
writes that a being capable of sense-experience could have no other mode of
knowing. I argue that Delbo’s text exposes the incompatibility of the
rationalist discourse of dignity and justice with the image of a naked, filthy
subject, embodying pain. I suggest a new reading of Auschwitz and After as a
text that questions the hierarchy of the ordering of human experience, and the
philosophical and cultural consequences that derive from it.

Antelias: Central Assembly of Social Democratic Henchagian Party

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
HIS HOLINESS ARAM I RECEIVES THE CENTRAL ASSEMBLY
OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC HENCHAGIAN PARTY
His Holiness received a delegation from the central assembly of the Social
Democratic Henchakian Party in his office in Antelias on May 23. The
delegation was headed by the chairman of the assembly, Setrag Adjemian.
The delegation briefed His Holiness on the party’s approach towards issues
related to Armenia, Armenia-Diaspora relations and the Armenian Cause,
particularly in light of the party’s recently convened general assembly.
The Pontiff praised the efforts of the party to strengthen Armenia, pursue
the Armenian Cause and stimulate the Diaspora communities.
“The three Armenian parties in the Diaspora played a crucial role after the
Genocide in forming the Diaspora, preserving the Armenian identity and
pursuing the rights of the Armenian nation. The strengthening of Armenia has
now become an addition to these works. It is essential that the parties
cooperate to the maximum in the Diaspora as it is vital for the
Armenia-Diaspora cooperation to be further consolidated,” said the
Catholicos.
##
View photo here: tm#3
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of the
Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

ANCA: Rep. Markey Leads House Opposition to Amb. Evans Recall

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet:
PRESS RELEASE
May 24, 2006
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
REP. MARKEY LEADS CONGRESSIONAL OPPOSITION TO
WHITE HOUSE RECALL OF U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA
— Letter Signed by 60 U.S. Representatives
Sent on Eve of White House Announcement
of Ambassador’s Replacement
— ANCA Calls for Senate Foreign Relations
Committee to Hold Hearing on Firing
WASHINGTON, DC — Over 60 Members of Congress, led by Rep. Ed Markey
(D-MA), sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking
for clarification on reports of U.S. Ambassador to Armenian John
Evans’ recall over his forthright remarks about the Armenian
Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA).
The letter was sent on the eve of a May 23rd White House
announcement nominating Richard Hoagland to serve as the new
Ambassador to Armenia. Amb. Evans will be relieved of his duties
as soon as Hoagland’s Senate confirmation process is completed.
The Administration has recalled Amb. Evans over his February 2005
statements at Armenian American community functions, during which
he properly characterized the Armenian Genocide as ‘genocide.’
Following his statements, Amb. Evans was apparently forced to issue
a statement clarifying that his references to the Armenian Genocide
were his personal views and did not represent a change in US
policy. He subsequently issued a correction to this statement,
replacing a reference to the genocide with the word “tragedy.” The
American Foreign Service Association, which had planned to honor
Amb. Evans with the “Christian A. Herter Award,” recognizing
creative thinking and intellectual courage within the Foreign
Service, reportedly rescinded the award following pressure from the
State Department a few days before Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Washington, DC to meet with President
Bush.
“Ambassador Evans has been recalled for doing nothing more than
honoring the forsaken pledge of his president,” said ANCA Executive
Director Aram Hamparian. “We want to thank Congressman Markey and
his 59 colleagues for calling for a clarification and rejecting the
Armenian Genocide ‘gag-rule’ imposed by the Turkish government and,
sadly, enforced by our own State Department.”
“Armenian Americans truly regret that the Administration lacks the
courage to speak honestly about its reasons for firing Ambassador
Evans,” added Hamparian. “We call upon the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee – the Congressional panel constitutionally
charged with oversight of diplomatic appointments – to hold a
hearing thoroughly examining the reasons behind this firing, the
role of the Turkish government, and the broader implications for
the future of the Foreign Service that a senior American diplomat’s
career has been ended simply for speaking the truth.”
The 60 Members of Congress expressed special concern about the
destructive precedent of recalling a U.S. diplomat for speaking
truthfully on matters of historical record. They wrote that, “we
must not allow the perception to linger that he [Amb. Evans] is
being required to vacate his position early for accurately labeling
the cataclysmic events of 1915 as genocide.” The Representatives,
noting President Ronald Reagan’s references to the Armenian
Genocide, reminded Secretary Rice that Amb. Evans “did nothing more
than succinctly repeat the conclusions enunciated by those before
him.”
The Congressional signatories also expressed concern about the role
of the Government of Turkey in the impending removal of Amb. Evans
from his posting. “Were the United States to allow the views or
beliefs of a third country to interfere with our diplomatic
postings to the Republic of Armenia,” wrote the House members, “it
would establish a dangerous precedent and be injurious to the long-
standing relationship built on trust and friendship between the two
countries.”
“I am seriously concerned at the early departure of Ambassador
Evans,” stated Rep. Markey. “I hope that this sudden action by the
State Department is not related to comments made by Ambassador
Evans about the Armenian genocide. 60 members of Congress have
signed on to a letter to Secretary Rice asking questions about
whether or not Ambassador Evans was forced out of his post. I look
forward to a response from the State Department.”
On March 8th, ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian expressed grave
disappointment at reports that Amb. Evans would be penalized for
speaking the truth about the Armenian Genocide. In a letter to
Secretary Rice, Hachikian wrote that, “the prospect that a U.S.
envoy’s posting – and possibly his career – has been cut short due
to his honest and accurate description of a genocide is profoundly
offensive to American values and U.S. standing abroad –
particularly in light of President Bush’s call for moral clarity in
the conduct of our international affairs.”
Subsequently, several Members of Congress, including Congressional
Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-
CA) and Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA) have each called on Secretary
Rice for a clarification of the State Department’s position on this
issue. The Los Angeles Times, in a strongly worded March 22nd
editorial, made direct reference to Amb. Evans’ impending
dismissal, calling on the Turkish Government and U.S. State
Department to end their policies of genocide denial.
Members of Congress joining Rep. Markey in cosigning the letter to
Secretary Rice were: Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI),
Charles Bass (R-NH), Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Shelley Berkley (D-NV),
Howard Berman (D-CA), Jeb Bradley (R-NH), Sherrod Brown (D-OH),
Lois Capps (D-CA), Michael Capuano (D-MA), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO),
John Conyers (D-MI), Jim Costa (D-CA), Barney Frank (D-MA), Scott
Garrett (R-NJ), Jim Gerlach (R-PA), Charlie Gonzalez (D-TX), Raul
Grijalva (D-AZ), Stephanie Herseth (D-SD), Rush Holt (D-NJ),
Michael Honda (D-CA), Nancy Johnson (R-CT), Sue Kelly (R-NY), Joe
Knollenberg (R-MI), James Langevin (D-RI), Sander Levin (D-MI), Zoe
Lofgren (D-CA), Nita Lowey (D-NY), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Carolyn
Maloney (D-NY), Betty McCollum (D-MN), James McGovern (D-MA),
Michael McNulty (D-NY), Martin Meehan (D-MA), Candice Miller (R-
MI), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Richard Neal (D-MA), Devin Nunes (R-
CA), John Olver (D-MA), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Donald Payne (D-NJ),
Collin Peterson (D-MN), George Radanovich (R-CA), Mike Rogers (R-
MI), Steven Rothman (D-NJ), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Linda Sanchez (D-
CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), Joe Schwarz (R-
MI), Mark Souder (R-IN), Ted Strickland (D-OH), John Tierney (D-
MA), Mark Udall (D-CO), Christopher Van Hollen (D-MD), Peter
Visclosky (D-IN), Diane Watson (D-CA), Henry Waxman (D-CA), and
Anthony Weiner (D-NY).
The full text of the Congressional letter follows.
#####
Congress of the United States
Washington, DC 20515
May 22, 2006
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary
United States Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Rice:
We are writing to express our concerns regarding recent information
indicating that U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans would be
departing early this summer from his assignment as a result of
declaring in February 2005 that “the Armenian Genocide was the
first genocide of the twentieth century,” during public exchanges
with Armenian-American communities. It is our hope that these
announcements are inaccurate given Evans’ service to his country –
in the Foreign Service and as a well-respected ambassador – in a
region of strategic importance to the United States.
Ambassador Evans issued a “clarification” and then a “correction”
of his remarks. Last June, the American Foreign Service
Association originally intended to honor the Ambassador for his
“constructive dissent” and intellectual courage and initiative with
the Christian A. Herter Award as a result of his recognition of the
Armenian Genocide, but later withdrew the distinction.
It now appears that Evans is being forced out of his post. We must
not allow the perception to linger that he is being required to
vacate his position early for accurately labeling the cataclysmic
events of 1915 as genocide.
By employing the proper term last year, the Ambassador was only
building on previous statements by our leaders in government, as
well as the repeated declarations of numerous world-renowned
scholars. In 1981, President Reagan issued a presidential
proclamation that said in part: “like the genocide of the Armenians
before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it —
and like too many other persecutions of too many other people —
the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten . . .” In
effect, Ambassador Evans did nothing more than succinctly repeat
the conclusions enunciated by those before him.
We have also heard that concerns raised by the Government of Turkey
regarding Ambassador Evans’ remarks may have played a role in this
affair. We certainly hope that this was not the case. Were the
United States to allow the views or beliefs of a third country to
interfere with our diplomatic postings to the Republic of Armenia,
it would establish a dangerous precedent and be injurious to the
long-standing relationship built on trust and friendship between
the two countries. In addition, Assistant Secretary of State
Daniel Fried recently stated his friendship and support for Evans.
At this critical time in U.S. history and the South Caucasus
region, we respectfully request your clarification regarding the
current status of Ambassador John Evans. It is our hope that that
he will not be forced to prematurely end his exemplary service to
the United States and the Republic of Armenia because of his
reaffirmation of the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide.
Sincerely,
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

www.anca.org

AAA: President Bush Nominates Richard Hoagland Ambassador to Armenia

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:
PRESS RELEASE
May 24, 2006
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
E-mail: [email protected]
PRESIDENT BUSH NOMINATES RICHARD HOAGLAND AS U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA
Washington, DC – President George W. Bush has nominated Richard
E. Hoagland to be the next U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia.
If confirmed, Hoagland would replace Ambassador John Evans who was
rebuked by State Department officials last year after publicly
affirming the Armenian Genocide during his meetings with major
Armenian-American communities.
In those exchanges, Ambassador Evans declared that “the Armenian
Genocide was the first genocide of the twentieth century.” Following
his statements, Ambassador Evans issued a clarification of his
remarks.
Members of the House and Senate, as well as the Assembly, publicly
supported Evans’ declarations and called on President Bush to also
properly characterize the events as genocide. More recently, nearly
60 lawmakers supported a letter from Armenian Caucus Member
Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
expressing concern over reports that Evans is being forced out of his
post.
The congressional letter stated in part: “It is our hope that these
announcements are inaccurate given Evans’ service to his country…we
must not allow the perception to linger that he is being required to
vacate his position early for accurately labeling the cataclysmic
events of 1915 as genocide.”
Assembly Board of Trustees Chairman Hirair Hovnanian said that “If in
fact Ambassador Evans is being required to vacate his position for
employing the proper term for the Armenian Genocide, then he is being
unjustly penalized for speaking the truth. Ambassador Evans is a
well-respected career foreign service officer who has done much to
strengthen U.S.-Armenia bilateral relations.”

Hovnanian added that there is sufficient context and validation for
Evans’ use of the term, which are in keeping with contemporaneous
declarations of Presidents Ronald Reagan in 1981 and that of President
George Bush, who has employed the textbook definition of genocide in
his annual April 24 statements.
Evans’ characterization conforms to the publicly stated conclusions of
over 120 renowned Holocaust and Genocide scholars on the
“incontestable fact of the Armenian Genocide,” and that of the
International Center for Transitional Justice on the use of the term
Armenian Genocide, which stated that: “The Events, viewed
collectively, can thus be said to include all of the elements of the
crime of genocide as defined in the Convention, and legal scholars as
well as historians, politicians, journalists and other people would be
justified in continuing to so describe them.” Evans pointed to the
ICTJ findings when he made his public statements about the Armenian
Genocide.
Furthermore, the U.S. played a leading role in attempting to prevent
the genocide and helping those that survived. U.S. Ambassador to the
Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau helped to alert the world to these
atrocities and the U.S. national archives contain thousands of pages
documenting the killings of the Armenian people. Evans’ use of the
term is thus a continuation of this historical fact.
Last June, in an unprecedented move, the American Foreign Service
Association (AFSA) rescinded its award to Ambassador Evans for
properly characterizing the Armenian Genocide. The prestigious
Christian A. Herter Award was withdrawn just days before Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayipp Erdogan arrived in Washington for a meeting with
President Bush.
“America should not cultivate relations with Turkey by refraining from
telling the truth about this crime against humanity,” Hovnanian
continued. “Rather, the U.S. should reaffirm what we all know to be
fact and firmly and irrevocably reaffirm the Armenian Genocide.”
Ambassador Hoagland, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service,
currently serves as United States Ambassador to the Republic of
Tajikistan. Prior to this, he served as Director of the Office of
Caucasus and Central Asian Affairs at the Department of State.
Earlier in his career, he served as Director of the Office of Public
Diplomacy in the Bureau of South Asian Affairs.
Ambassador Hoagland received his bachelor’s degree from Taylor
University and two master’s degrees from the University of Virginia.
The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness
of Armenian issues. It is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt membership
organization.
###
NR#2006-053

www.armenianassembly.org

ASBAREZ Online [05-24-2006]

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
05/24/2006
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://WWW.ASBAREZ. COM 1) Bush Nominates New Ambassador to Armenia 2) Azeri Statement Does Not Correspond to Ongoing Negotiations 3) OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen to Arrive in Armenia May 25 4) Greece Condemns Turkey over Fighter Jet Crash 5) Western Prelacy Elects New Council Members And Delegates 6) Second Black Box from Crashed Armenian Airbus Recovered 1) Bush Nominates New Ambassador to Armenia (Combined Sources)--The White House announced on Tuesday that President George W. Bush will ask the US Senate to endorse his nomination of Richard E. Hoagland as the new US Ambassador to Armenia to replace outgoing Ambassador John Evans. Hoagland is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor. Currently, he is serving as the US ambassador to Tajikistan. 2) Azeri Statement Does Not Correspond to Ongoing Negotiations YEREVAN (Armenpress)--The Armenian Foreign Ministry responded Wednesday to a statement made by Azeri Foreign Affairs Minister Elmar Mamedyarov, in which he advocated a step-by-step solution to the Karabagh conflict. "We are once again surprised that the Azerbaijani side tries to present such an approach to the public, which does not correspond to the content of the negotiations over the Karabagh conflict regulation," said spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Affairs Ministry Vladimir Karapetian. Azeri media outlets reported Tuesday that Mamedyarov stated that the optimal regulation of the Karabagh conflict would be a "stage-by-stage" solution and that only after the return of the refugees it will be possible to discuss status of Karabagh. "We have stated many times that to reach a mutually acceptable agreement, Azerbaijan should first recognize the right to self-determination of Nagorno Karabagh's people," said Karapetian, adding that only then will it be possible to discuss eliminating "consequences of the war." 3) OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen to Arrive in Armenia May 25 YEREVAN (Armenpress/Yerkir)The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group co-chairmen Yuri Merzlyakov, Steven Mann, and Bernard Fassier will visit Armenia on May 25. The delegation will also include Russian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Grigori Karasin, Director of the political affairs department at the French Foreign Affairs Ministry Stanislaus De Labouillet, and US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, reported the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The delegation will meet with Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Foreign Affairs Minister Vartan Oskanian to discuss the current round of the Karabagh conflict regulation process and the possibility of another meeting between the Armenian and Azeri presidents. The Russian, French, and American co-chairs also visited Baku and Karabagh prior to their visit to Yerevan. 4) Greece Condemns Turkey over Fighter Jet Crash PARIS (Reuters)The Prime Minister of Greece Costas Karamanlis condemned Turkey on Wednesday for its part in a crash involving Turkish and Greek fighter jets over the Aegean and said such incidents did not tally with Ankara's ambition to join the European Union. NATO members Greece and Turkey have blamed each other for the crash in disputed air space on Tuesday. "Yesterday's incident should be a signal... to persuade Turkey to abandon such tactics which do not tally with its European perspectives," Karamanlis told a news conference in Paris. A warming in relations between the two long-time foes has been vital to Turkey's drive to join the European Union. Athens' backing of Ankara's candidature in 1999 opened the door to negotiations now taking place with Brussels. Asked whether the incident would prompt changes in Greece's strategy regarding Turkey's EU path, Karamanlis said: "All this is taken into consideration vis-a-vis the European perspectives of Turkey. All behaviors are taken into consideration." The two countries, who came close to war as recently as 1996, have improved ties but have yet to resolve territorial disputes in the Aegean Sea and over the divided island of Cyprus. 5) Western Prelacy Elects New Council Members And Delegates The Western Prelacy held its 34th National Representative Assembly on Friday and Saturday, during which new Religious Council members and Delegates for the Catholicosate's General Assembly were elected. The Assembly, conducted under the auspices of Prelate, Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, also discussed the activities of the Religious and Executive Councils of the previous year and various other issues. The Assembly then proceeded to conduct elections. The following is the list of the newly elected members: Religious Council Members: Very Rev. Fr. Muron Aznikian, Very Rev. Fr. Barthev Gulumian, Rev. Fr. Vahan Gosdanian, Rev. Fr. Vazken Atmajian, Rev. Fr. Ardak Demirjian, Rev. Fr. Razmig Khatchadourian, and Rev. Fr. Gomidas Torossian. Executive Council Members: Dr. Garo Agopian, Dr. Hagop Der Megerdichian, Mr. Vahan Bezdikian, Mr. Boghos Sassounian, Mr. Garbis Bezdjian, Mr. Garo Avakian, Mr. Mher Der Ohanessian, Dr. Navasart Kazazian, Mr. Nerses Melkonian, Mr. Vahe Havaguimian, and Mr. Varoujan Der Simonian. General Assembly Delegates: Mr. Khajag Dikijian, Mr. Hrair Balian, Mr. Armand Keosian, Esq., Mr. Peklar Pilavjian, Dr. Hagop Der Megerdichian, Mr. Vahan Bezdikian, Mr. Garbis Bezdjian, Mr. Boghos Sassounian, Mr. Hagop Yedalian, Mr. Garo Avakian, Mr. Noubar Demirjian, Dr. Hagop Dickranian, Dr. Garo Agopian, Mr. Khatchig Yeretzian, and Deacon Mark Shirin. Substitute Delegates: Mr. Krikor Sulahian, Mr. Sarkis Kitsinian, and Mr.Vartan Minassian. 6) Second Black Box from Crashed Armenian Airbus Recovered (AP)--Russian search teams recovered Wednesday the second flight recorder from an Armenian airliner that crashed into the Black Sea three weeks ago, killing all 113 people aboard, local media reported. The flight data recorder was lifted by a diving apparatus from a depth of about 1,640 feet (500 meters) after it was separated from a thick layer of silt, said Transport Ministry spokeswoman Svetlana Kryshtanovskaya, according to the RIA-Novosti news agency. The black box was discovered within 16 meters (50 feet) from the spot where workers on Monday found the plane's cockpit voice recorder. Russian television channels showed footage of a yellow, remote-controlled apparatus lifting the red recorder from the sea surface. Investigators hope the two recorders will help determine why the Armavia Airbus A-320 plane plunged into the sea on May 3 amid heavy rain and poor visibility. The flight was en route from Yerevan to the southern Russian sea resort Sochi. All passengers and crew members on board were killed. Prosecutors almost immediately dismissed the possibility that terrorists had brought the plane down, and officials point to rough weather or pilot error as the likely cause. Armavia officials have suggested, however, that air traffic controllers were at least partly to blame. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2006 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.