MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR WWI DEATHS AT ISTANBUL U. CONFERENCE

Hurriyet, Turkey
March 16 2006

The “New Approaches in Turkish-Armenian Relations” conference which
opened yesterday at Istanbul University began with a moment of silence
for all the lives lost during World War I. Following on the this,
the Turkish national anthem was read by Ferikoy Armenian primary
school student Katya Hallacoglu, who came in third place in a citywide
competition for the memorization and reading of the anthem.

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Istanbul University Rector
Mesut Parlak said “Let us use this conference to examine the events
of 1915 without falling into political fanaticism.”

OFFICIAL OPPOSES EXULTING ILL-FAMED AZERI OFFICER

AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006

The actions of the Azerbaijani officer charged with killing an Armenian
colleague at a NATO course in Budapest in 2004 cannot be considered
as heroism, chairman of the State Committee on Work with Azerbaijanis
Living Abroad, Nazim Ibrahimov, has said.

“Nevertheless, Ramil Safarov needs defense as he is a citizen of
Azerbaijan,” he told a news conference on Thursday. Ibrahimov said
Armenians present Azerbaijanis to the world community as “thugs”
when Safarov’s actions are deemed heroic in his country.

Some forces are trying to take advantage of the Azerbaijani officer’s
actions for a political gain, the committee chairman warned.

US URGES BAKU TO REFRAIN FROM WAR

AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006

The United States has said the parties to Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh
conflict should stick to a negotiated settlement, despite the
fruitless outcome of talks between the Azeri and Armenian leaders,
which was followed by Azerbaijan’s threats to launch war to solve
the long-standing dispute.

The resumption of military action will not solve the problem even
in 20 years, said the US co-chair of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group,
Steven Mann, who visited Baku, along with the US Department of State
Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried,
to discuss the Garabagh problem with the top Azerbaijani leadership.

Addressing a news conference upon the results of the visit, Mann
said that although the presidential talks in Rambouillet, France
in February yielded no results, the peace process continues and the
sides are seeking to continue the talks.

“There are issues of concern for both parties that are reflected in
their positions. But the resumption of hostilities would be a tragedy
for both countries. No war will lead to a solution either now or in
20 years.”

The mediator also said that for the conflict to be solved, each side
should be ready to “answer important questions”. “At the same time, in
considering the military option, Azerbaijan should take into account
other factors, such as the importance of energy projects that will
bring profits to the country,” Mann said. The co-chair continued
that both the US government and the international community supports
a settlement strictly through peace talks. “America is cooperating
with Azerbaijan and Armenia and deems both as friendly nations.”

Asked why the U.S. has not duly assessed Armenia as aggressor,
Mann said such terse questions are frequently asked by Azerbaijanis
as well as representatives of the Armenian Diaspora in the United
States. “But we do not intend to take any sides on these issues and
urge the parties to give preference to peace talks,” Mann said.

Touching on Armenian president Robert Kocharian’s recent statement
that his country may recognize independence of the self-proclaimed
Upper Garabagh republic, the mediator said he is not in favor of
such speculations at the current stage in the negotiations, as such
statements “do nothing to facilitate solving the problem”. Assistant
Secretary Daniel Fried said that during the Baku meetings, Azerbaijan
decisively defended its national interests with regard to the conflict
resolution. “However, our discussions proceeded in a serious and
constructive manner,” he said. Fried has met with President Ilham
Aliyev, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov as well as opposition
representatives. “The conclusion we came to is that Azerbaijani
representatives have put forth a strong and resolute stance on the
issue,” the Assistant Secretary said. He reiterated that both parties
to the conflict are interested in solving the protracted dispute. “We
have concluded that Azerbaijanis want to return to their homeland. We
therefore believe that this must happen soon, as a war would prove
disastrous for everyone,” Fried said. The American official, who is
expected to visit Armenia next, said he would hold intense talks on
the Garabagh conflict with its officials as well. He declined to cite
any details, but said he would lay out certain initiatives. The news
conference was also attended by the US ambassador in Baku Reno Harnish.

REVEALED: THE KENYAN LINK IN PUZZLE OF ARMENIANS

Standard, Kenya
March 16 2006

The Armenians at the centre of the mercenaries claim could be co-owning
a company with the daughter of Narc activist Mary Wambui, documents
in our possession indicate.

Ms Winfred Wangui Mwai is one of five shareholders of Kensington
Holding Limited, alongside Armenians Artur Margaryan and Artur
Sargysyan. The other two are Mr Alois Otieno Omita, believed to be
Wambui’s personal assistant and a Mr Julius Maina Mwangi, according to
the company’s memorandum and articles of association. The document also
indicates that the company was incorporated on January 8, 2005, which
would mean the Armenians have been in Kenya longer than acknowledged
by the Government. The company – CNo 1218071 -was incorporated by
A. M. Macharia Advocate of Post Office Box 32304, Nairobi – one of the
lawyers who was at the airport on Monday morning when the Armenians
addressed a Press conference. He also visited their house in Runda
Estate, Nairobi, on Tuesday.

A GK car in the Armenians’ compound.

It has also emerged that another company that the Government has
confirmed the Armenian brothers trade under in Kenya – Brother Link
International limited – was incorporated in December 2005.

According to certificate number C 120905, the company was incorporated
on December 1, 2005. The collector of stamp duty certified on November
25, 2005 that stamp duty had been paid.

Fresh twist to unfolding saga

Its shareholders are given as Artur Margaryan, Artur Sargysyan and
a Mr Mohammed Zakir Oomer. The company was incorporated by lawyer
Charles Kiplangat of Maobe and Kiplangat Advocates.

The address of the three shareholders is given as Post office Box 8066,
Nairobi. The latest revelations add a fresh twist to the unfolding
saga of the two Armenians, which has puzzled the country for more
than two weeks.

It began with a claim by Langata MP Raila Odinga that the foreigners
who led the commando-like raid on the Standard Group premises were
mercenaries.

Raila was challenged by police to provide more information on the
claim, and later recorded a statement re-affirming his claim. He
gave police a map to a house in Runda and later provided copies of
the Armenians’ passports, which were published in the Press on Sunday.

The next morning, the two Armenians addressed a Press conference at
the Government VIP Lounge at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport,
claiming that Raila had borrowed Sh108 million from them. They
also said Raila and Mwingi North MP Kalonzo Musyoka had asked them
to finance a no-confidence-vote in the Government, to the tune of
Sh3 billion.

Both Raila and Kalonzo have denied the claims and asked the Armenians
to provide evidence. Kalonzo, however, confirmed meeting the Armenians
at the Grand Regency Hotel.

Seeking investment opportunities

On Tuesday, it emerged that the Monday Press conference

had been arranged by airport officials, and that the arrival of one
of the Armenians, purportedly from Dubai, was stage-managed.

The Armenians denied the mercenaries tag and said they were
businessmen, seeking investment opportunities in Kenya. They gave
their company’s name as Brother Links, but declined to say what they
dealt in. Officials at the Registrar of Companies denied journalists
access to the firm’s file.

“This file is not available at the moment, you can use this number
(C120905) and come and check at a later date,” an officer told the
journalists on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, we confirmed from documents obtained from our sources
at the Registrar that the Brother Links file is indeed Number C120905.

According to the documents, the capital of Kensington is Sh100,000
divided into 1,000 shares, each valued at Sh100. According to the
Articles of Association, the members shall have the preferential
right to subscribe for and take up all further shares authorised to
be issued.

We were unable to establish the share distribution of the company
and who its managing director and secretary are.

It is also not clear from the Memorandum of Association the physical
location of the offices of the company, suffice to say its “registered
office will be situated in the Republic of Kenya”.

Articles of association

The company was incorporated to conduct 36 different types
of businesses, ranging from wholesale and retail of foodstuffs,
dealing in all kinds of drugs, manufacture of chalk and candles,
installation of prefabricated houses, fruit canners, builders and
contractors, tours and safari operators, computer service consultants
to investment experts.

The certificate of incorporation is given as C1215071 and the collector
of stamp duty certified on January 13, 2006 that stamp duty had
been paid.

Lawyer Macharia on Wednesday confirmed he knew the company, but said
he was bound by the Advocate-client confidentiality not to divulge
any details of any dealings between them, without express permission
of the client.

A closer scrutiny of the incorporation documents shows that the postal
address of the shareholders is similar to that of the law firm that
incorporated the company.

According to the articles of association, no invitation shall be
issued to the public to subscribe for any shares or debentures of the
company. The membership of the company shall be limited to fifty and
the right of transfer of the shares of the company shall be restricted.

Investment holding company

The share capital of the company is also 100,000 divided into one 1,000
ordinary shares of sh100 each. The company is to conduct a myriad of
business activities, including advancing money to any person or persons
or corporation at interest or without upon the security of freehold
or leasehold property by way of mortgage or upon marketable security.

The Brother Link International Limited was to act as an investment
holding company and to co-ordinate the business of any companies in
which the company is for the time being interested.

The objectives included, to carry on business of manufacturing soaps,
detergents and collect flowers and perfume producing vegetation.

The new revelations of the Armenians business deals comes a day after
the Immigration Minister Gideon Konchella confirmed the duo was in the
country legally from January when they were issued with work permits
to stay in Kenya. He said they were Armenian consultants in marketing,
business development and finance.

AUTHOR TO GIVE READING

Lincoln Journal, MA
March 16 2006

Local author Ken Janjigian will give a reading and sign copies of
his new novel “Trapped Doors” Wednesday, April 5, at 7 p.m. at the
Lincoln Public Library.

Daphne Abeel of the Armenian Mirror Spectator said of “Trapped Doors,”
“Janjigian demonstrates a knack for the comic and an ear for dialogue
in these stories…His descriptions of the varied cast of barflies are
painfully hilarious. Janjigian captures their dilemma in as pitiless a
light as the American dramatist, Eugene O’Neill, and with considerably
more humor.”

“Trapped Doors” is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, independent
bookstores, and directly from the publisher through

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ON BOOKS, CENSORSHIP AND POLITICAL PRESSURE
Haroon Siddiqui

Toronto Star, Canada
March 16 2006

Just as the din of the Danish cartoon controversy – with its arguments
over freedom of speech, censorship and political or consumer pressures
– was dying down, several others with similar echoes have hit the
headlines.

The Toronto school board has joined those in York, Essex and Ottawa
in restricting access to a book about the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The Ontario Library Association had included Deborah Ellis’s Three
Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak in its list of 20
Canadian books for a province-wide program that encourages reading.

Students in Grades 4 to 6 will vote their choice in May for the Silver
Birch Award (others being the Blue Spruce, Red Maple and White Pine
awards for other age groups).

But the Canadian Jewish Congress argued that the book is not suitable
for young children, and called for its removal from the popular
program.

The librarians stood by their choice, backed by the Association of
Canadian Publishers, the Writers’ Union, the Playwrights Guild, PEN
Canada and the Freedom to Read Committee of the Book and Periodical
Council.

PEN director Alan Cumyn asked the Toronto board if it would “restrict
access to, for example, The Diary of Anne Frank or the more recent
Hannah’s Suitcase, which also deal with very dark subject matter,”
i.e. the Holocaust. Both books “have helped inspire and educate
countless children about the nature of our often difficult world.”

The age-appropriate argument, said Sheila Kauffman, owner of Another
Story, a Toronto children’s bookstore, is often a way of suppressing
certain viewpoints.

A similar conclusion was reached by Bernard Katz, a retired University
of Guelph librarian, who had been asked by the library association to
respond to the Jewish congress’s analysis of the Ellis book. He wrote
that the congress was reacting to “what they perceive as criticism
of Israel’s behaviour toward Palestinian civilians.”

Criticism of Israel is what prompted the New York Theatre Workshop
to cancel My Name is Rachel Corrie. That’s a British play about the
young American student activist who in 2003 went to the Gaza Strip
where she stood in front of an Israeli bulldozer to prevent the
destruction of a Palestinian home and was crushed to death.

James Nicola, the theatre’s artistic director, said that in “talking
around and listening in our communities in New York, what we heard
was that (with) Ariel Sharon’s illness and the election of Hamas …
we had a very edgy situation.”

Katharine Viner, co-creator of the play, accused the theatre of
censorship and criticized its management for having “caved in to
political pressure.”

The Los Angeles affiliate of PBS has cancelled a documentary on the
Armenian genocide, and also a follow-up panel discussion, scheduled
for airing on the network April 17.

Two of the four panelists argue that while World War I-era massacre
did take place, it was not a planned genocide by Turkey.

The Armenian National Committee of America objected. The PBS affiliate
in Los Angeles (home to more than 400,000 Armenian Americans) pulled
the plug. An affiliate in Plattsburg (which beams into Montreal)
said it would show the documentary but not the panel discussion.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has been suspended from his elected office
for four weeks for comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration
camp guard. He has appealed the ruling by the Adjudication Panel,
which deals with disciplinary cases at the municipal level. It had
acted on a complaint by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which
offered this sensible summation on the verdict:

“Had the mayor simply recognized the upset his comments had caused,
this sorry episode could have been avoided.”

The House of Commons in Britain has passed a law banning groups that
“glorify terrorism.” Yet it rejected a bill prohibiting anything
“abusive and insulting” to a religious group.

The latter, characterized as a sop to British Muslims, was opposed
by writers and artists concerned about their creative freedoms being
curbed. The former, aimed at another group of Muslims, sailed right
through, even though it, perhaps, threatens freedom of speech even
more, given the vagueness of the language of the act.

These examples have elicited vastly different official and public
responses to a familiar challenge.

Exposing this inconsistency may turn out to have been the more lasting
legacy of the Danish cartoon caper.

IRANIANS TO RECORD ANOTHER SYMPHONY IN ARMENIA

IranMania News, Iran
March 16 2006

LONDON, March 16 (IranMania) – Once again, Iranian musicians Shahin
Farhat and Loris Tjeknavorian will travel to Yerevan in May to record
a new symphony with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, MNA reported.

The symphony, which was composed by Farhat, is entitled ?Martyrs?.

Farhat?s ?Iranian Lady Symphony?, ?Damavand Symphony?, and ?Persian
Gulf Symphony? were also recorded in Armenia.

?Martyrs? has been composed in four movements. The first movement has
an epic theme, and the second movement is dominated by calm melodies
borrowed from the folk music of central and southern Iran.

The third movement shifts to the stirring rhythm of war, and the
fourth inspires one with the joy of triumph.

Iran?s Sorush Institute is to release the Persian Gulf Symphony during
the Noruz (Iranian New Year) holidays, which begin on March 21. Last
month, Farhat said that if Sorush continued delaying the release of the
symphony, he would release it without lyrics through another company.

A strong sense of patriotism permeates all of Farhat’s works.

U.S. URGES RETURN OF DISPLACED AZERIS

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
March 16 2006

The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Asia, Daniel
Fried, today called for the return of all internally-displaced
Azerbaijanis to lands that have been occupied by ethnic-Armenian
forces since 1994, RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service reported.

Addressing reporters in Baku, Fried also cautioned against resumption
of hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The process of Azerbaijanis returning to Azerbaijani lands should
begin as soon as possible and the war would be a catastrophe for
everyone.”

An estimated 600,000 Azeris and Kurds from areas surrounding Karabakh
were driven from their homes when Armenian forces moved into Azerbaijan
in the early 1990s.

The United States co-chairs the Minsk Group of nations that have been
charged by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) to help Armenia and Azerbaijan settle their 18-year-old
dispute. France and Russia are the other co-chairs.

Steven Mann, the U.S. envoy to the Minsk Group, today said in Baku
that both Armenia and Azerbaijan have an opportunity to achieve some
of their demands this year.

Mann and Fried are expected to travel to Armenia later this week
before attending a Minsk Group meeting in Istanbul.

(with additional material from Turan, Day.Az, APA) Radio Free Europe /
Radio Liberty © 2006 RFE/RL, 14 March 2006

–Boundary_(ID_0gmQOBRbZ9OIGZNelzZ4LA)–

ARMENIAN INSPECTORS: TURKISH GOODS IN ARMENIA ARE SAFE

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
March 16 2006

An Armenian State Quality Inspection official published the findings of
studies of 46 names of Turkish products imported and sold in Armenia,
assuring the media that they are all safe for use, Anna Saghabalian
from Armenia Liberty reported.

Thus, the Inspection responded to a series of recent
“we-don’t-need-Turkish-junk” publications in the Armenian press
alleging that products imported to Armenia from neighboring Turkey,
in particular chocolate, put human lives at risk.

Though the territorial borders between Turkey and Armenia are closed
Armenia import Turkish goods from Georgian and Iranian borders. It is
estimated that Turkish-Armenian trade has reached 300 million dollars.

Kemal Durucan from ISRO said that there is a strong anti-Turkih
lobbying in Armenia supported by the diaspora institutions. “Turkey
is the biggest market in the region and not only Armenia but almost
all the regional countries need Turkish goods. Because Turkish goods
are chip and qualty goods. The Armenian nationalist do not want to see
anyting Turkish in Armenia. However they cannot prevent the increase
in trade, becuase no country but Turkey provides what Armenians want
to get” Durucan added.

ARMENIAN MINISTER BURNS THE BRIDGES

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006

Baku, March 15, AssA-Irada
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian has made an outrageous
statement, alleging that Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh has never been part
of Azerbaijan, which could jeopardize the ongoing talks to settle
over a decade-long dispute.

“Garabagh is Armenian land. Armenians have lived here for thousands
of years and defended their sovereignty,” he maintained.

The minister stated that his country had allegedly never put forth any
territorial claims in the official meetings and that “it is impossible”
for Garabagh to be under Azerbaijan’s control.

“Azerbaijan has no moral right to claim Upper Garabagh, as it tried
to take over these territories through military interference several
times in 1990s. If Armenians had not taken the needed steps, there
would not be a single Armenian left there by now,” Oskanian alleged.

Azeri officials have repeatedly stated that the country’s territorial
integrity could not be bargained upon and that any solution to the
dispute must envision liberation of Azeri land from under Armenian
occupation and the return of refugees home.