DELEGATION OF EU-ARMENIA PARLIAMENTARY COOPERATION COMMISSION AT RA PRESIDENT’S OFFICE
ArmRadio.am
19.04.2006 18:00
Today President Robert Kocharyan received the participants of the
8th sitting of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Commission.
Stressing the importance of rapid ratification of the Individual
Partnership Plan with Armenia in the framework of the European New
Neighbors Policy, Robert Kocharyan said that it will provide the
opportunity to have more coordinated relations with the European
Union and to move forward.
At the request of the members of the EU delegation, the President
presented the latest developments in the negotiations on peaceful
settlement of the Karabakh conflict and Armenia’s approaches.
The parties turned to the events around Iran and to issues of
Armenian-Turkish relations. The President noted that Armenia’s position
is distinct: our country is ready to establish relations with Turkey
without any preconditions.
The interlocutors stressed the importance of deepening the
democratization process in Armenia, and conduct of elections
corresponding to European standards.

“BAKU-SHUSHI” HIGHWAY – PRIMARY DIRECTIONS OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN AZERBAIJAN?
ArmRadio.am
19.04.2006 17:46
Representatve of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan Faik
Gurbanov declared today that “Baku-Shushi” highway is considered one
of the primary directions of tourism development in Azerbaijan.” He
declared this today at the opening of the “Tourism and Voyage”
exhibition.
“After freeing from Armenian occupation this direction will certainly
become primary,” Gurbanov said, noting that “the list of historic
and cultural monuments on the occupied territory of Azerbaijan has
been created.”

NEW BOOKS WILL HELP TO UNDERSTAND ARF BETTER
Yerkir
19.04.2006 17:14
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – “I think these books will help those who want
to understand the Dashnaktsutiun better,” Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (ARF-Dashnaktsutiun) Bureau representative Hrant Margarian
said at the presentation of new books about the ARF held on Wednesday
at the Bureau headquarters.
The books presented were: “Bibliography of the Armenian Revolutionay
Federation,” in 4 volumes, Ararat Hakobian’s “The Parliament of Armenia
and Political Parties in 1918-1920,” “ARF Figures Answer People’s
Questions,” Nikol Aghbalian’s “Thoughts on ARF,” Gevorg Khudinian’s
and Ararat Hakobian’s “The Latest Efforts to Distort the ARF History.”
Margarian said these books are mostly aimed at the youth. “But
the issues raised in the books are aimed at all the sectors of the
society,” Margarian added. “The books contain assessments of various
periods of the ARF activities, including the present times.”
National Assembly’s ARF faction leader Levon Mkrtchian noted that the
goal to publish these books was to familiarize our people with the
ARF. “Each of the 115 years of the ARF history is described in press,
book series, and today, we are continuing this tradition,” Mkrtchian
said. “Every generation passes on the ARF values to the next; we will
pass them on to the next generation.”
Artashes Shahbazian of the ARF Armenia Supreme Body’s Promotion Group
mentioned the books will be given as gifts to the participants of the
presentation, and later be donated to Armenian libraries. The books
will also be available at bookstores.

DESECRATED ARMENIAN MEMORIAL: “UNACCEPTABLE”
NOUVELOBS.COM
19.04.06 ¦ 14:08
The League of the rights of the Man as well as Nicolas Sarkozy
get indignant forbidden registrations found on the memorial of the
Armenian genocide.
On March 18th, French-Turkish associations against the memorial of
the Armenian genocide scrolled(marched past) in Lyon ( AP)
L e memorial of the Armenian genocide of Lyon was desecrated on Monday,
bring back(report) two Armenian organizations in different communiques.
” There was no genocide “, cries out a registration quoted at the same
moment by the Committee of defence of the Armenian cause ( CDCA) and
the council of coordination of the Armenian organizations of France
( CCAF). The association for the Memorial of Lyons of the Armenian
genocide ( MLGA) raised a complaint on Tuesday against X to know the
authors of the desecration undergone by the monument in some days
of the inauguration fixed on April 24th, according to the president
of MLGA.
Remembrances
Expressing their “indignation”, both organizations wish that the
authors of this desecration are found and judged.
The CDCA asks besides that ” everything is implemented(operated)
to assure(insure) the safety(security) of the remembrances of next
April 24th on the whole French territory “.
The memorial of Lyon must be inaugurated on April 24th of this year,
date in which is commemorated, every year, the Armenian genocide
committed in Turkey in 1915.
Indignant reactions
The League of human rights ( LDH) expressed on Wednesday, April 19th
” its indignation “.
In a communique, the LDH calls back(reminds) ” his(her,its) approval
of the law of January 29th, 2001 by which France recognized publicly
the Armenian genocide of 1915 and opposes to any attempt aiming at
denying the horror of this crime against humanity “.
Home secretary Nicolas Sarkozy judged for his part, on Wednesday,
April 19th, “unacceptable” the registrations concerned the memorial.
In a message sent on Wednesday to Jules Mardirossian, president of the
Association for the memorial of Lyons, home secretary considers that
” this crime of violence, expressing the negationism and the hatred,
is unacceptable “.
” His(her) author, or his authors, must be austerely punished by the
justice of our country “, adds Nicolas Sarkozy, who assures(insures)
the Armenian community of its ” whole solidarity “. He reminds that ”
the Republic expressed herself with force, by the law of January 29th,
2001 according to which: ‘ France recognizes publicly the Armenian
genocide of 1915 ‘ “.
So, asserts home secretary, ” the authorities of the Republic will
not accept that the law is scoffed “.
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ARMENIAN FM OSKANYAN ACCUSES TURKEY FOR THE BILATERAL PROBLEMS
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
April 19 2006
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan argued that Turkey should
take appropriate move to normalize relations with Armenia. According to
the Armenian Minister the only responsible in the relations is Turkey.
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said “Armenia sets no
preconditions for establishment of normal relations with Turkey”.
“Armenia was ready yesterday, is ready today and will be ready tomorrow
to establish neighbor relations with Turkey without preconditions
and have open borders with it,” the Armenian FM stated.
However Turkish expert Yesim Sahiner finds Oskanyan’s words ‘funny
word games”. “Armenia has no right to set no preconditions. It is
the Armenian side who occupied 20 percent of a neighbouring country”
she said.
According to Yesim Sahiner Armenia does not recognise Turkey’s
national borders:
“Armenian FM is playing. He is pretenting. He tries to show Armenia a
peacefull country and Turkey as an aggressive country. However Turkey
did not occupy anywehere. 20 percent of Azerbaijan is still under
the Armenian occupation. And Armenia did anything possible not to
speak with the Turks. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan invited
them to Turkey and offer to establish a permenant dialogue. Armenian
side just rejected the kind invitations. Turkey does not need the
Armenian border for its economy. The side in need is Armenia and of
course they cannot set any precondition for dialogue.”
“We admit that problems exist but show me two states, especially
in Europe, experiencing no historical problems. However no state
practises the “instrument of closed borders” to force another state
to renounce its history,” the Armenian Minister said.
The Armenian Tashnak group on the other hand opposes opening of the
borders with Turkey. The Armenian diaspora in particular argue that
no relations should be established with the Turks.
Vartan Oskanian considers that Turkey doesn’t wish to develop bilateral
political relations and this excludes any progress.

BAGDASARYAN: HOPES FOR FUTURE MORE IMPORTANT THAN SORROWFUL MEMORIES
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
April 19 2006
Armenia And Turkey Should Negotiate Openly And Freely
BERLIN – “Turkey and Armenia should talk to each other ‘openly and
freely’,” Armenian Parliament Speaker Arthur Bagdasaryan said on
Wednesday Anatolian Times reported.
In an exclusive interview with German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
newspaper, Bagdasaryan reiterated allegations regarding the “so-called”
genocide, however indicated that, “nonetheless we should not waste our
future because of the past. Hopes for the future are more important
than the sorrowful memories of the past. Turkey also needs this
dialogue.”
Underscoring that he personally favored a dialogue with Turkey,
Bagdasaryan said, “we should sit around a table and resolve our
problems. Of course not all the Armenians share this view.” Turkish
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had also invited the Armenian President
Kocharian to Turkey to discuss the matters between Turkey and
Armenia. Mr. Erdogan also called the Armenian side to establish a
commission to discuss the historical disputes.
The German newspaper said Bagdasaryan is one of the best placed
nominees that may succeed Armenian President Robert Kocharian whose
term in office will expire in 2008.
Similarly Assoc. Prf. Dr. Sedat Laciner, head of Ankara-based
Internationational Strategic Research Organization (USAK), argued
that Turkey and Armenia need each other and they should not waste
the future for the past:
“I do not mean that the past was not important. The past is important,
but today and tomorrow are more important. We have wasted a lot of
time and Armenians should realise that they have gained nothing. They
relied on French, British and Russians, and they lost their peace and
country. They lost their independence, and now they have another state,
Republic of Armenia. Independent Armenia is an opportunity for both
Turks and Armenians. We have reasonable partners now. The states are
not like the radical groups like the Tashnaks.
Turkey and the Armenian diaspora should protect the young Armenian
state. However the radical Armenians in the diaspora undermine
the Armenian state. As a matter of fact that there is a Genocide
Industry. Many Armenians in the diaspora abuses the problems between
Turks and Armenians. They see the problems as source of influence,
money etc. They know that if the Turks and Armenians solve their
problems no one would need them”.

CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES TO HOST FIFTH ANNUAL HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL
by Angie Best, student newswriter
Baylor University, TX
April 19 2006
The Baylor University Center for Jewish Studies will host the fifth
annual Holocaust Memorial Tuesday, April 25, at various locations on
the Baylor campus.
The day’s events will start at 9:30 a.m. with a panel discussion
in Room 133 of the Marrs McLean Science Building. The discussion –
Religion and Genocide: Never Again? – will feature speakers Amie
Coomer, Dr. Chris Van Gorder and Dr. George W. Gawrych.
At 5 p.m. a music recital will be held in the Great Hall of Truett
Theological Seminary. The title of the concert is “Music for the
End of Time” and will feature “music from the death camps.” The
program will include songs such as “Quartet for the End of Time –
The Abyss of the Birds” by Olivier Messiaen and selections from “I
Never Saw Another Butterfly” with music by Lori Laitman and text by
“Children of the Holocaust.”
The memorial will conclude at 8 p.m. in Room 133 of the Marrs-McLean
Science Building with the showing of a film titled “The Armenian
Genocide.”
“The purpose of holding the event is to remember the Holocaust and
to remember the beauty of the lives of those who were affected –
not just the tragedy,” said Dr. Marc Ellis, director of the Center
for Jewish Studies. “People should come to inform themselves, to
remember and to confront our own sensibilities in the world today.”
All events are free and open to the public.

OSCE VOICES SUPPORT FOR ELECTORAL REFORM IN ARMENIA
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
April 19 2006
YEREVAN, 19 April 2006 – The Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan,
Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, members of the diplomatic corps and
representatives of the Council of Europe and the United Nations Offices
in Armenia were today briefed on the on-going electoral reform in
Armenia by the Chairman of the National Assembly, Arthur Baghdasaryan.
Ambassador Pryakhin welcomed the assurances by the Speaker of the
country’s determination to reform the electoral process, saying:
“While recognising the need for improvements in legislation and
administrative procedures, we stress that political will remains a
core prerequisite for ensuring democratic conduct of elections. We
hope the shortcomings of the past will not be repeated.”
He also underlined the readiness of the international community
to provide assistance as indicated in the 9 March statement by
Ambassadors of the OSCE participating States and the heads of
intergovernmental organizations in Yerevan. “While the international
community is willing to help, only the Armenian authorities can assure
a successful outcome.”
In particular, the international community representatives stated
that they would be ready to contribute to the electoral reform
process by assisting with the training of election commission members,
expertise on amendments to the electoral code, improving voter lists,
and promoting public awareness of the procedures for a free and
fair election.
“I hope the Armenian authorities will engage civil society and
the media in ensuring that the forthcoming elections constitute
a unifying process between the people and those who govern them,”
added Ambassador Pryakhin.

DEVAL PATRICK LINKED TO GROUP DENYING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Hub Politics, MA
April 19 2006
To rationalize his decision to attack Poland, Hitler rhetorically
asked, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the
Armenians?”
Sadly, not many, but there are some groups out there that in the
same way deny the Nazi Holocaust, deny the occurance of the Armenian
Genocide. Most prominent of these groups is the Turkish Government,
who hired the Washington lobbyist group, the Livingston Group, to
push that contention. A member of this lobbyist group happened to
co-host Deval Patrick’s big fundraiser in Washington last night.
While the explanation from the Patrick campaign seems plausible, and
the Livingston Group has a laundry list of clients likely representing
a large variety of viewpoints, the Armenian community may be hard
pressed to look past this.
—————–
A Washington lobbyist who works with a firm that is pushing the Turkish
government’s contention that the Armenian genocide never occurred
co-hosted a fund-raiser for gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick
last night, angering members of the Massachusetts Armenian-American
community.
The Democratic gubernatorial candidate’s link to the Livingston Group
raised red flags with Armenians, who despise the Turkish effort to
erase the heartbreaking chapter in their history. Experts estimate
1.5 million Armenians were killed between 1915 and the 1923.
“It upsets us,” said Stephen Dulgarian of Chelmsford, whose mother
survived the genocide but lost two children; one to a Turkish bayonet
and one to starvation. “He probably doesn’t know anything about the
Armenian genocide.”
Massachusetts has a large Armenian community, centered largely in
suburbs west of Boston.
Lobbyist Bernie Robinson, one of 39 Beltway bigs who hosted last
night’s fund-raiser, is a consultant to the Livingston Group, according
to the company Web site. He is a former chief of staff for Patrick
supporter U.S. Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) and a former Phillip
Morris executive.
Patrick spokeswoman Libby DeVecchi said Patrick was “comfortable”
with Robinson’s role, saying he was only an independent contractor
working “under the umbrella” of the Livingston Group. “He does not,
nor has he ever, worked with the government of Turkey,” she said.
“Deval does acknowledge the Armenian genocide and he’s saddened by
the event.”
Robinson, who donated $1,000 to Patrick over the past two years,
did not return a phone call.
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MARK THOMAS REFUSES TO IGNORE THE PROBLEM OF TURKEY
Columnists
Mark Thomas
Monday 24th April 2006
New Statesman, UK
April 19 2006
There is one EU problem that is resolutely not going away and will
only get worse: that is, Turkey’s membership, writes Mark Thomas
For some in Britain, slagging off the European Union (something I am
about to do for the next 900 words) is an instinctive act of patriotic
faith, akin to not knowing the second verse of the National Anthem. For
many of us, the EU remains a quasi-democratic institution in search of
an electorate. Quite tellingly, we tend to see the EU not so much as a
vehicle for change as a means of registering a protest vote. Remember
Robert Kilroy-Silk? Who can forget a tan like that? Britons loved him
so much that we voted for him to leave the country five days a week,
to spend that time in a place he says he despises.
The EU has become adept at dealing with its many problems and crises.
By which I mean it ignores them and hopes they will go away. The EU
constitution is a case in point. However, there is one problem that
is resolutely not going away and is going to get worse: that is,
Turkey’s membership. The patrician consensus is that Turkey joining
would be a jolly good thing as having a Muslim state in the EU would
bring all sorts of benefits. However, Turkey’s membership is dependent
on the country introducing significant reforms – including many in
the area of minorities’ rights, eradicating the role of the military
in the running of the state and bringing democratic procedures into
the institutions of the country.
So far, Turkey has failed to come up to scratch, but more importantly
the EU has allowed this situation to continue. The deal was this:
Turkey is allowed into the EU but the EU gets to monitor and
investigate human-rights abuses and pressurise Turkey to reform.
Neither side has kept to the deal.
The Kurdish region of Turkey has suffered a steep rise in violence
over the past weeks, with a huge deployment of troops against the
civilian population. The Turkish police and military have attacked
demonstrators using tear gas, batons, tanks and other lethal weapons.
The Kurdish cities have seen a de facto return to state-of-emergency
rule. Significant numbers of Kurdish trade unionists, human-rights
defenders and political activists have been imprisoned, many of them
shot and wounded by troops. Across the Kurdish region, at least 15
people have died, including three children, aged three, six and nine.
Reports from human-rights defenders state that some of those killed
were shot in the head at close range, suggesting execution.
The mayor of Diyarbakir, who tried to mediate between the authorities
and protesters, has been physically attacked by the military, which
has called for his suspension. And democratic Kurdish parties are
being raided and their members imprisoned. How did it return to this
so quickly?
The events that led to this escalation started with the funeral,
on 28 March, of four PKK guerrillas, attended by a crowd of between
20,000 and 30,000 Kurds. After provocation from the local police,
mourners clashed with the authorities and troops were called in.
However, the real motor at work has been the failure of the Turkish
state to work with the Kurds to take advantage of the PKK ceasefire.
Ankara has refused to negotiate. “We will not talk to terrorists,”
the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, declares. And he has done
so with the backing of the EU. Instead of urging dialogue, the EU has
followed the UK and the United States in proscribing the PKK, even
though it announced a ceasefire and formally renounced violence. Just
about every attempt by grass-roots Kurdish groups to form inclusive
democratic movements has been regarded by the EU and the UK as merely
another group to add to the list of terrorist organisations. At the
same time, unemployment, poverty and political stagnation have fuelled
the clashes between Kurds and the Turkish state.
With the region threatening to return to the bad old days of the
mid-1990s, when 3,500 Kurdish villages were destroyed, 30,000 people
killed and over a million Kurds internally displaced, the EU simply has
to intervene. If the deal is that Turkey gets to join if it respects
minority rights and introduces democracy to the institutions of the
state, what happens if it breaks the deal? At the moment, the penalty
is . . . nothing.
The British media tend to regard Turkey through the lens of bird flu
and the occasional bomb, though in tabloid terms Turkey is strictly
sick chickens. Occasionally, the broadsheets will rally round a cause
celèbres, such as the case of the internationally renowned writer
Orhan Pamuk. When he was threatened with prison for mentioning the
Armenian genocide, the literary world rushed to his defence. But
the trouble with causes celèbres is that once the celeb has gone,
little attention remains on the cause.
It is doubtful that Eren Keskin will get the same press attention.
Keskin was the founder of the Legal Aid Office for the Victims of
Sexual Harassment and Rape in Custody. When I met her in 2001, her
Istanbul office was cramped and insalubrious. She talked about how
Kurdish women had to endure sexual harassment and rape at the hands
of the Turkish authorities. In 2002, she gave a lecture in Germany
describing her work and the horrific scale of rape in custody in
Turkey. For daring to speak about this, she was put on trial back
home. This year, she was sentenced to ten months for the crime of
“insulting the moral character of the military”.
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–Boundary_(ID_1JLMWI+pwbUls6tuUwGW nw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress