US STATE DEPARTMENT DECLINED TO COMMENT ON WITHDRAWAL OF ITS AMBASSADOR FROM ARMENIA

Regnum Russia
March 16 2006

Washigton, 16 March 2006 (Regnum – website) – US State Department has
declined to comment on the report on withdrawal of the US Ambassador
John Evans for his statement on the Armenian Genocide. Executive
Director of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Aram
Hamparian has expressed his regret over the State Department refusal
to comment on the situation.

Meanwhile, a letter sent by the ANCA chairman to the US state
secretary says that the USA should explain its policy to the Armenian
people, particularly, implementation of “punitive measures” towards
John Evans. Earlier, Co-Chairman of the US Congressional Caucus on
Armenian Issues Frank Pallone wrote a letter to Condoleezza Rice,
stating his disappointment by the report on withdrawal of the US
ambassador in Armenia.

GENOCIDE DEBATE

Kathimerini, Greece
March 16 2006

Some 70 Turkish and foreign academics gathered in Istanbul yesterday
for a three-day conference to discuss whether the massacres of
Armenians during World War I amounted to genocide or not. In a rare
move, the gathering, organized by the Istanbul state university,
offered the floor to academics of all convictions even though it was
largely dominated by historians and officials who defend Turkey’s
official position on the 1915-17 killings. Yair Auron, an Israeli
researcher of Jewish archives from Ottoman times, openly used the term
“genocide” and appealed to Turks to question their past.

BAKU, TOKYO SIGN CO-OP DEALS DURING ALIYEV’S VISIT

AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006

Azerbaijan and Japan signed three agreements in conclusion of President
Ilham Aliyev’s official visit to this country on Friday.

The documents concluded at Aliyev’s meeting with the Japanese Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi included a joint declaration on future
development of friendship and cooperation, as well as an agreement
on technical interaction and a program on collaboration between the
two countries’ foreign ministries.

Koizumi told a joint news conference following the signing ceremony
that Azerbaijan and Japan adhere to common positions on all issues.

Official Baku supports Japan on the issue of permanent membership
at the United Nations, while Tokyo supports the inviolability of
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity with regard to the Upper (Nagorno)
Garabagh conflict it faces with Armenia, Koizumi said. The prime
minister emphasized that Azeri economic growth has reached 26%,
which is at least ten times over the figure observed in his country.

President Aliyev said his discussions with the Japanese official
focused on issues of regional security, stability and the Garabagh
conflict. He said Azerbaijan has extensive plans to further move
forward its economic development and intends to closely cooperate with
the Oriental nation in this area. Addressing Japan’s Institute of
International Affairs, Aliyev said any attempts to impose democracy
could have serious consequences. “Exporting democracy does not
work. This must be an evolutionary and transitional process.

Democratic development should be based on the realities of society,
while attempts to export democracy only lead to social and political
problems, and the disruption of stability.” The Azeri leader met on
Friday with the heads of Japan’s Itochu and Inpex oil companies and
the president of the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation. The
foreign investors indicated that Azerbaijan is a very attractive
country and pledged to further deepen their ties with it. Aliyev also
held talks with Emperor Akihito. This was the first visit by an Azeri
leader to Japan since 1998 when former president Heydar Aliyev visited
this country.

Non-oil co-op prospects Regional development is a priority direction
for Azerbaijan and the country is aspiring to Japanese companies’
involvement in the process, President Aliyev said. Addressing a
Japanese-Azeri business forum in Tokyo, Aliyev emphasized that
Japanese companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars
in the country’s energy sector, but there are good opportunities
for cooperation in other fields as well. “There is a need to
apply new technologies to develop various spheres of the non-oil
sector. We would very much like for Japanese companies to be
involved in introducing them,” the president said. Touching upon the
implementation of large-scale investment programs in agriculture,
education and healthcare in 2006, Aliyev called on Japan’s companies
to participate in these activities as well. He also underscored the
need for a more active realization of technical assistance and other
programs in Azerbaijan by the Japanese government. Representatives
of some 30 Azeri and 100 Japanese companies attended the forum. The
two countries’ entrepreneurs signed two agreements on cooperation in
conclusion of the event. One of them, reached by Azerbaijan’s Karvan-L
company engaged in producing paints and roofing slate, envisions the
export of paints worth $1 million to Japan. New technologies will
be brought from Japan under another document signed by Azerbaijan’s
Khazar joint-stock company.

An exhibition of local products was also organized during the forum,
attended by local companies operating in information technologies,
the banking sector, business consulting, agriculture and other fields.

HUNDREDS TO JOIN WORLD AZERIS CONGRESS

AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006

Over a thousand representatives from different countries will gather
in the Azeri capital Baku to attend the second congress of World
Azerbaijanis on Thursday.

The event is to draw 1,300 visitors, including more than 600 from
49 countries, the chairman of the State Committee on Work with
Azerbaijanis Living Abroad, Nazim Ibrahimov, said. Most of the
attendees, 170, will arrive from neighboring Russia, while 60 from the
former Soviet republic of Ukraine, 40 Georgia, 39 Turkey, 33 Germany,
25 Kazakhstan. Visitors from France, Sweden, Netherlands, Hungary,
Czech Republic, Poland and Bulgaria are expected as well.

Azeri representatives from Egypt, Iceland, Japan, Thailand, Australia
and New Zealand will be in attendance for the first time. About 300
political figures, MPs from dozens of countries, officials, renowned
scientists and intellectuals, who have contributed to the development
of Azerbaijani communities abroad, will be among the attendees,
along with representatives of the Jewish and Turkic communities,
Ibrahimov said. Speaking at the event will be Turkish state minister
on Turkic states Mehmet Aydin, ex-state secretary of the former
German Federal Republic Otto Hauser, state secretary of Kyrgyzstan
Dastan Sarigulov, former French ambassador to Azerbaijan Jean Perren,
Michael Nobel, the grandson of Alfred Nobel, and others. “The congress
will discuss a number of issues pertaining to the current standing of
the Azerbaijani Diaspora and ways of informing the world community
about Azerbaijan’s realities, acts of terror and genocide committed
against Azeris and strengthening relations with other communities,”
Ibrahimov said. The participants are expected to adopt appeals to world
Azeris and the international community concerning the Upper (Nagorno)
Garabagh conflict, as well as Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan
and the destruction of historical and cultural sites in the occupied
territories. Ibrahimov noted that intense discussions are currently
under way on establishing a special fund for the Azeri Diaspora.

“Some believe that the entity should be an independent public
organization, while others say it should be a government agency.”

There are currently about 50 million Azerbaijanis throughout the
world, including 30m in neighboring Iran, two million in the country’s
northern neighbor Russia, 1.5 million in the United States, 500,000
in Ukraine, and 350,000 in France, according to the State Committee.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ETHNIC OVERTONES IN SAMTSKHE-JAVAKHETI CLASH

The Messenger, Georgia
March 16 2006

The aftershocks of an apparent restaurant fight that left one man
dead in the multi-ethnic Tsalka district illustrate how sensitive
local nerves are to speculations of ethnic-based violence and how
sensitive Georgian politics is to reports of tension.

On March 9 in Tsakla an argument took place in a restaurant between
ethnic Armenians and ethnic Svanetians, Georgians who had been moved
to the region in the early 1990s. It was widely reported in Georgian
press that a fight fueled by alcohol broke out between the two groups
after a disagreement on music playing in the venue.

During the conflict a 23-year-old ethnic Armenian, Gevork Gevorkian,
was killed. Police arrested 5 suspects shortly afterwards and a
representative of the Public Defender’s representative went to Tsalka
at once. As the newspaper 24 Saati quotes Public Defender Sozar Subari
as saying, “We concluded that this was not an ethnic confrontation –
it was just an ordinary struggle.”

But the aftermath of the fight and death is far from ordinary. A group
of Armenian residents, who comprise 57 percent of the population in
Tsalka, called for a lynching of the suspects and raided the local
administrative building. It has been reported that police at the time
stood down in order not to incite a larger conflict.

The Tsalka aftershocks spread to Akhalkalaki, the central city in the
region, where on March 12 an Armenian NGO held a protest action about
the incident. According to 24-Saati, the action grew to anti-Georgian
statements. Eventually the crowd stormed in the local branch of the
Tbilisi State University and the local court building. Finally the
angry mob targeted the bishop’s office of the region after hearing
Georgians were keeping weapons there. The newspaper Akhali Taoba
reports law enforcers and the bishop’s administration agreed to allow
some of the protesters inside; once they confirmed no weapons were
there, the crowd dispersed.

What transpired over these four days is prone to exaggeration and
sensationalism. But the organizer of the initial protest has already
disavowed the mob’s behavior. “There were agents in the action that
called on the population to destroy the university. We did not plan
this,” a member of the Samtskhe-Javakheti Public Organization Council
Khachatur Stepanian told the newspaper 24-Saati. Still the council
plans to hold new, peaceful protests in the near future. “First of all
we demand that government affairs be conducted in Armenian language
and that Armenians stay safe as well,” the newspaper Khvalindeli Dghe
quotes council members as saying.

At the same time, the events in Akhalkalaki have irritated Georgian
society. “Samtskhe-Javakheti separatists want war with Georgians”
on Georgian newspaper, Akhali Taoba, wrote. Many representatives of
the Armenian Diaspora in Tbilisi have countered that the behavior of
the rioters must not me connected with the entire Armenian population
in Javakheti. “There doesn’t exist in Javakheti any anti-Georgian
position. It is impossible for Armenians to have an anti-Georgian
position,” says MP Van Baiburt in Akhali Taoba.

Georgian authorities have attributed the Akhalkalaki incident
to outside forces. The presidential representative in the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region Goga Khachidze says the conflict is
likely tied to Russian special services and resent opposition
demonstrations. He also calls on Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze
to pay more attention to the situation.

Burjanadze on her part also blames ‘outside forces.’ As quoted in the
newspaper Akhali Taoba she said, “The criminals must be punished. It
is obvious that certain forces are apt to create a confrontation
between Georgians and non-Georgians. I am certain that Georgians
and non-Georgians will maximally try not to pay attention to these
provocations.”

Critics accuse the government however of being lackadaisical to the
ethnic dynamics in motion in the Javakheti region. “The president will
have to explain why he does not pay attention to the region, why he
did not work out a Samtskhe-javakheti development plan, why he did
not suggest for Armenians working in Russian markets any alternative
[work] besides potato selling,” wrote the newspaper Akhali Taoba.

It is tragic that the death of Gevork Gevorkian happened in the first
place and it should be also disconcerting for the Georgian government
that local residents have such little faith in the government’s due
process. An effective interactive dialogue with national minorities
in the region still needs development in the region; at the same time,
economic development of the region is also urgently needed.

NATO PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY SPRING SESSION TO DEBATE GARABAGH ISSUE

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006

Azerbaijani delegation led by first deputy speaker of parliament
Ziyafet Asgharov will attend the NATO Parliamentary Assembly spring
session in Paris in May this year, Mr.Asgharov told APA.

The parliamentarian said that NATO-Azerbaijan relations are developing
and added the Nagorno Garabagh issue will be discussed in the NATO
PA spring session.

“We have always raised the Nagorno Garabagh issue at the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly. Now we are trying to achieve in session
adopting a document on this issue” Asgharov said.

CONFERENCE SPOTLIGHTS DEVELOPING APPROACH TO ARMENIAN CLAIMS

New Anatolian, Turkey
March 16 2006

Istanbul University began yesterday hosting a three-day international
conference that aims to bring a new approach to discussions of the
so-called Armenian genocide and its affects on Turkish-Armenian
relations.

In his opening speech, Istanbul University Rector Mesut Parlak urged
all concerned sides to analyze the problem, which centers on disputed
events of 1915, without concentrating on only a single event.

“Besides the political aspects of the events of 1915, historical,
legal, social, psychological and philosophical elements should be
determined. The importance of this conference is that the participants
will analyze the different aspects of the Armenian ‘genocide’,”
he said.

Parlak described genocide as a crime against humanity and said,
“Such a serious accusation must have a legal basis. The international
law defining genocide was adopted in 1948, and does not cover past
incidents. Therefore, it is impossible and illegal to characterize
the 1915 incidents as genocide.”

In a message sent to the conference, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
stressed that Turkey is at peace with its past, saying, “We have no
page in our history to be ashamed of.”

Noting that many conferences and symposiums have been held in
Turkey recently on the Armenian allegations, Gul said, “There has
been an increase in the amount of scientific research, articles and
books published about the last period of the Ottoman Empire and the
Armenian genocide claims. Thanks to studies into the question, we
have the opportunity to see the facts and to have the voice of the
truth heard against biased publications by the Armenian diaspora.”

“Furthermore, we bequeath detailed data to following generations about
a period of Turkish history. I would like to emphasize that the number
of impartial publications in the U.S. and Europe on this issue is
increasing. Serious steps are being taken to make public the facts,”
Gul said in the message.

Gul reiterated that archives from the Ottoman and Republican period
were open to all researchers for investigation and urged the Armenians
to open their archives to shed light on the period of history in
question. “Last year we proposed the Armenian government form a joint
commission composed of historians to examine controversial episodes
in Turkish-Armenian relations. However, we haven’t yet received a
positive response from the Armenians,” he added.

EURIMAGES’ ARMENIAN FILM PROJECT ANGERS ANKARA

New Anatolian, Turkey
March 16 2006

The Council of Europe body Eurimages, to which Turkey contributes 1
million euros annually, has decided to give financial assistance to
a film supporting Armenian genocide claims, sparking anger in Ankara.

The decision to fund the Italian movie “The Farm of the Skylarks,”
which portrays Armenian claims of genocide, was taken during a
Eurimages general council meeting with the participation of 32 culture
ministers, although Turkey voted against and Macedonia abstained.

The decision to give 600,000 euros in assistance to the movie angered
Turkey due to the thought of Turkey supporting Armenian claims with
its own money. Italian broadcaster RAI’s becoming sponsor for the
movie also created a diplomatic row between Ankara and Rome.

The movie that will be directed by two Italian brothers Paolo and
Vittoria Taviani is to be based on a book written by Armenian-Italian
author Antonia Aslan.

Speaking to reporters about the film, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
stated that Turkey has taken necessary diplomatic steps and is waiting
for an answer.

Meanwhile, it was learned that Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi
intervened with a letter sent a letter to the Taviani brothers,
in which he urged them to tone the film down.

GERMANY LIFTS BAN ON TALAT PASHA DEMONSTRATION

New Anatolian, Turkey
March 16 2006

The German Administrative Court late Tuesday lifted a ban on the Talat
Pasha demonstration, saying that the march will not harm Armenians.

The march set for Saturday in Berlin aims to have recognition of
the Armenian genocide claims by European countries rescinded. The
court’s decision follows a ban imposed on the march by Berlin’s police
department on Monday.

The court also underlined in its decision that the march isn’t an
insult to the souls of dead Armenians.

The march, which has the slogan “Take your flag and come to Berlin,”
has caused tension between Turkey and Germany. Flyers announcing
the movement read, “If Western capitals don’t want to be burned like
Paris, unjust treatment towards Turkey must end.” Workers’ Party (IP)
leader Dogu Perincek and former Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
(TRNC) President Rauf Denktas will lead the planned demonstration
with the participation of many representatives from Turkish political
parties and European non-governmental organizations (NGOs) within the
framework of the Talat Pasha Movement. The main aim of the group is to
put pressure on the German Parliament to remove official recognition
of the Armenian genocide claims. The movement also aims to attract
some 5 million supporters, including some 1,000 from Turkey.

Denktas is expected to lay flowers at the place in Berlin where
Talat Pasha was assassinated on March 15, 1921 by an Armenian, and
an assembly will gather in a memorial for Talat Pasha on Sunday.

In an effort to hamper these efforts, the German Embassy in Ankara
turned down yesterday visa applications for some who might be intending
to participate in the demonstration.

INT’L CONFERENCE ON TURKISH-ARMENIAN RELATIONS COMMENCES IN ISTANBUL

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006

A 3-day international conference on topic “New Approaches In
the Turkish-Armenian Relations” commenced in Istanbul, March 15,
correspondent of AzerTAc reported.

24 historians from numerous world countries attend the conference
held by the organizational support of Istanbul University. Despite
of invitation of 4 Armenian scientists as well, they refused to take
part at the conference.

The Conference will hold discussions around the so-called “Armenian
genocide”. One of the lectures presented to the conferees is “The
Armenian Problem and Safety on the South Caucasus”.

Scholars will focus the historical roots of the Armenia-Azerbaijan,
Nagorno Karabakh conflict, as well as the question of invasion of
the Azerbaijani lands.