CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: THE EU’S ROLE
International Crisis Group
March 21 2006
International Crisis Group new report
Tbilisi/Brussels, 21 March 2006 (International Crisis Group Press
Release – website) – To guarantee its own security, the EU must become
more engaged in resolving the conflicts in the South Caucasus lest
they ignite into full-fledged wars in Europe’s neighbourhood.
“Conflict Resolution in the South Caucasus: The EU’s Role”, the latest
report from the International Crisis Group, examines the EU’s efforts
to address tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia,
and points out how the EU can do more.
“Greater engagement is a challenge Brussels has only just begun
to address”, says Sabine Freizer, Crisis Group’s Caucasus Project
Director. “There have been a few promising steps, but there is a long
way to go”.
Thus far, others have taken the lead in promoting conflict settlement
in the region, but over a decade of negotiations led by the UN in
Abkhazia, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) in Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia, have not produced
comprehensive peace agreements. With its reputation as an “honest
broker”, access to a range of soft and hard power tools, and the lure
of greater integration into Europe, the EU has a greater role to play,
and offers added value to compliment the UN and the OSCE.
To avoid instability on its borders, the EU seeks a ring of
well-governed countries around it. It is further interested in the
South Caucasus to ensure access to Caspian oil and gas, develop
transport and communication corridors between Europe and Asia, and
contain such threats as smuggling, trafficking and environmental
degradation.
As the EU is unlikely to offer membership to Georgia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan any time soon, it must identify innovative means to
impose conditionality on its aid and exercise influence. European
Neighbourhood Policy Action Plans are being finalised. These offer
a chance for the EU to enhance its role especially if the peaceful
resolution of the conflicts are defined as commitments.
The new EU Special Representative should observe ongoing negotiations
for the Abkhazian, South Ossetian and Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts. The
Commission has allocated significant funding to rehabilitation in
South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It should assess how it can start doing
more in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.
“The EU is trying to define its role in a new neighbourhood which is
neither at war nor at peace”, says Nicholas Whyte, Director of Crisis
Group’s Europe Program. “If the EU fails to implement its strategic
vision for a secure neighbourhood, its credibility in the region, and
generally vis-a-vis Russia and the U.S., will suffer. More troublingly,
if the South Caucasus conflicts continue to deteriorate, the EU may
find itself unprepared for responding to wars among its neighbours”.

ELECTRIC VIOLINIST
By Bradley Bambarger
Star-Ledger Staff
Newark Star Ledger, New Jersey
March 21 2006
Jarvi and London Philharmonic bring rising star to Newark concert
The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s latest tour of the U.S. has had
its share of challenges. The group’s principal conductor, Kurt Masur,
was to lead the tour, but had to pull out due to a viral infec tion.
Neeme Jarvi, music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orches tra,
was one of several conductors enlisted to cover the tour. But,
hav ing fallen ill, too, Jarvi pulled out of the March 12 date in
San Francisco, which Roberto Minczuk covered (as he did yesterday’s
Lincoln Center concert).
But Jarvi was in Newark with the London Philharmonic at the New
Jersey Performing Arts Center on Sunday afternoon, having also led
the orchestra in Greenvale, Calif., the day before. Fit as a fiddle,
he seemed to relish conducting such a sleekly powerful ensemble in
one of his “home” halls. Although the players looked a bit glum,
Jarvi managed to elicit some smiles with his enthusiastic gestures
and occasional hoochie-coochie swaying.
Veterans in the LPO are familiar with Jarvi from’90s’ recording
ses sions of Medtner, Bruckner and Reger. The repertoire wasn’t so
imposing at Prudential Hall, starting with Britten’s Simple Symphony,
the composer’s buoyant recasting of sketches from his youth. This
neo-Baroque suite for strings isn’t all light as air, though. In the
Sara bande section, the London violins had not only surface sheen,
but a crying depth of feeling. The Sara bande’s ideally soft ending
belied what little experience Jarvi and the orchestra had together
in the score.
For all the charms of the Brit ten, the day belonged to Aram
Khachaturian’s 1940 Violin Concerto — and the soloist for the piece,
a 21-year-old fellow Armenian and near-namesake, Sergey Khachatryan.
That this is a sorely undervalued score might be apparent to those
who have heard the pioneering recordings by David Ois trakh and Leonid
Kogan. But Kha chatryan’s electric performance made a case for a work
that would be hard for any music lover to deny.
Frequenters of NJPAC have had the chance to hear exceptional young
violinists in recent seasons, including the Georgian Elisabeth
Batiashvili (in Sibelius) and the Dutch Janine Jansen (Britten).
Khachatryan was their equal — and he needed to be, as Khachatu rian’s
concerto demands that the soloist spin out one long-breathed melody
after another. The violin ist’s face was as expressionless and dark
as his playing was expressive and colorful; his visage only softened
as he communed with the more reflective tunes, many derived from
Armenian folk tradition.
Khachatryan, who made a fine recording of this concerto in 2003,
pushed the first movement at a boldly exciting pace (as did Ois
trakh). But he was lyrically rumina tive in the solo cadenza — that
is, until its finish, where his double- stopping vibrated white-hot.
After the violinist caressed the slow movement like a cradle song and
surged through the rondo finale, the full house’s ovation wrested a
shy smile from him that grew as Jarvi led the applause for a fourth
curtain call.
Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, which Jarvi recently recorded with
Sweden’s Gothenburg Symphony, was the afternoon’s closer. Doleful and
balletic by turns, this music can be performed more viscerally, but
it would be rare to hear it played more romantically. In the autumnal
slow movement, the cellos sang out with proto-Hollywood sweep, and
the orchestra’s brass had their beautifully tuned say in the finale.
Surprisingly, given Jarvi’s pen chant and the convention for touring
ensembles, there was no en core. But he was obviously pleased, making
a show of eliciting applause for every section of the orchestra,
even wading back to shake hands with the double-bassists.
ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/11429223091 1630.xml&coll=1
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN KEEPS A LOW PROFILE
Standard, Kenya
March 21 2006
The man at the centre of the mercenary saga, Artur Margaryan, kept
a low profile on Monday.
He was not available at his Runda Estate for an interview and
neighbours said he had left early in the morning. He was spotted along
Mombasa Road in the company of businessman Raju Sanghani handling
electronic equipment.
Witnesses told The Standard that the two were offloading the equipment
at a warehouse with their employees.
“The work was done very fast and the loaders were paid promptly.
There were television sets and radios,” said a witness who said he
had been seeing the two at the premises since January.
The Armenian has claimed that he is a dealer in electronic equipment,
manufacturing and real estate.
Murage denies link to Armenian brothers
Standard Reporter
President Kibaki’s special advisor, Mr Stanley Murage, has denied
meeting the two Armenian brothers at the centre of the mercenary saga.
Murage on Monday said Press reports that he had met Mr Artur Sargasyan
and Artur Margaryan were untrue, and that he had not facilitated any
meeting at State House as reported.
It was on Monday reported that Murage was in trouble after First Lady
Lucy Kibaki believed that he had met the two last month.
“Indeed, State House did officially confirm last week that no such
meeting took place and termed the utterances as propaganda by sections
of politicians,” Murage said in a statement last evening.

ARMENIANS TELL OF SH300M PLAN
Story By Mugumo Munene
Daily Nation, Kenya
March 21 2006
The Armenian brothers at the centre of mercenary allegations now
claim that they had initially invested Sh300 million in their plan
to establish a huge business portfolio in Kenya.
In a Press statement issued to media houses yesterday, Mr Artur
Margaryan says that he and his brother Artur Sargsyan decided to invest
in the country after a feasibility study conducted by an investment
consultant, whom he did not name.
“Myself and my brother are Armenian nationals with vast business
interest outside our country. We came to Kenya sometime last year
with an intention of investing in this country.
“After a feasibility study by a hired consultant in investment we
settled for manufacturing, real estate and with time, transport
business. We have so far invested over Sh300 million in this country
and we expect to continue investing as business opportunities crop up,”
read the statement. Mr Margaryan did not say where the investments are,
nor did he disclose the name of his business.
But he complained about politicians whom, he said, had accused him
and his brother of criminal activity.
Once again, Mr Margaryan denied ever meeting President Kibaki or
visiting State House.
“We have been dubbed mercenaries and killers by ungrateful politicians
whom we have assisted at one time or another. Please note we are
Christians and have never acted or contemplated being mercenaries. We
have never dealt with drugs in our life and in fact we have been
assisting charitable organisations that fight poverty and drugs in
other countries,” said the statement.
Sent at 11.28am yesterday, the e-mail dispatch titled: The truth
about ourselves and our mission in Kenya, appealed to journalists to
be fair in their coverage of the saga around them.
Mr Margaryan said he decided to “write this mail to leading media
houses in Kenya with a view to clarify and demystify our true identity
and mission.”
The Armenian denied having any connections or business relation
with Narc activist Mary Wambui or her daughter Winnie Wangui,
the two prominent Kenyans said to have deals with them and added:
“We do not even know them.”
Mr Margaryan went on: “For the last three weeks a lot has been
said and written about myself and my brother. The bulk of what has
been said is purely speculative and based on hearsay and hatred. I
appreciate the role of the media as an integral part of any form of
societal development.
“The media for sure has undisputed and unrivalled influence in shaping
the thinking of the citizenry. It is for this reason that the job
of disseminating information to the public should be handled with
maximum objectivity and professionalism to avoid blowing issues out of
proportion. We are, however, very dismayed at the negative publicity
against our persons and integrity as investors in this country.”
The saga began with claims by Lang’ata MP Raila Odinga that there
were Russian mercenaries out to assassinate some politicians.
The MP provided details of the house where the men he alleged were
mercenaries were living in the city’s posh Runda neighbourhood.
Slightly more than a week ago, our sister publication, the Sunday
Nation, published copies of the passports of the two men provided by
Mr Odinga, with their identities concealed.
The following Monday, the two brothers called a news conference at
the airport to say that they were legitimate businessmen.
What are these fellows doing here?
Story by MACHARIA GAITHO Publication Date: 3/21/2006
I got pretty harsh flak from members of the Raila Odinga fan club last
week. I had suggested in this column that the mercenary tales may not
necessary be true; maybe they were even products of a very fertile
imagination. The important thing was that a political propaganda
war was being fought, and a hapless and dysfunctional Government was
being dealt a series of deadly body blows.
So what has happened in the past week? The Kibaki Government is
still reeling under the revelations coming out on possible State
House links with alleged mercenaries.
Throw suspect drug-dealers into the mix and the inescapable conclusion
will be that we are not just being ruled by snakes, but by criminal
cartels who have no qualms about getting cosy with the scum of the
earth as long as they acquire power and wealth.
With every new claim, every new revelation, every new accusation,
the Kibaki Government sinks deeper into the muck.
Then you have one Artur Margaryan strutting all over the place. Every
time he opens his mouth, the Government might as well surrender and
confess that all the accusations being bandied around are true.
The man and his brother, Sargsyan, who is supposedly back in Dubai,
simply do not look and sound like the honest investors they claim
to be.
They actually make Mr Odinga’s claims sound credible, while and the
Government comes out looking like it has a lot of dirty things it
is desperate to conceal, even if that means using private armies and
Gestapo tactics to intimidate the media and anybody else who questions
the suspicious goings-on.
The interesting thing is that the Government is, for the most part,
digging itself into an increasingly deeper hole.
Our politicians love football analogy. Take this as a grudge match
between Raila Rovers and Kibaki Wanderers. The score stands at 10-Nil
in favour of Rovers. But it is not that team Raila has such a hot
strike force; it is that Wanderers are particularly inept – nine of
what they have conceded are own-goals!
Bribing the referee will not help at this stage. But maybe some hothead
might decide that bringing in some gunmen to disrupt the game might
be preferable to the humiliation of losing.
We are heading towards the 2007 elections and it is really confounding
that this Government is doing everything possible to ensure it stands
no chance of winning.
There seems to be this naive assumption that just cobbling together
the right regional and ethnic alliances will secure President Kibaki
a second term. That comes, also, with the prayer that ODM will never
be able to present a single opposition presidential candidate.
If President Kibaki has, indeed, been consulting former President Moi,
he will learn that hope, prayer, money and control of State machinery
does not guarantee electoral victory. The most important factor is
what the voters think.
Anglo Leasing, the raid on the Standard Group and now this ridiculous
issue involving some dubious Armenians have lost this Government the
little shred of credibility it was holding on to.
If the public reaction when one of those characters wandered into
town the other day is anything to go by, it is taken as plain truth
whatever accusations have been levelled about the Artur brothers.
Today, if Mr Odinga came out and said that the characters were actually
aliens from Mars and were conspiring with State House operatives to
colonise planet Earth, he would probably be believed.
And any protestations from State House, Security minister John Michuki
or Government spokesman Alfred Mutua would be dismissed out of hand.
There were many who were really sceptical when Mr Odinga started his
round of accusations. The man does have a penchant for making all
manner of allegations against his foes. The quintessential politician
in him, also, is not one to let an opportunity for damaging propaganda
pass. Truth matters little in propaganda wars.
But with the incremental evidence which is surfacing, Mr Odinga is,
indeed, coming out as the man bravely exposing what could be a great
threat to national security. Or an insidious official plot to subvert
democracy and the rule of law, and turn the country over to a private
militia.
The more the Government tries to defend itself on the mercenary
allegations, the more it is getting caught out in lies.
It is an almost incontestable fact now that the Artur brothers have
links to people close to State House. It is also a plain fact that
they have been enjoying some sort of official protection. And no
can dispute that they do not come across as the innocent investors
and charity workers they claim to be. Which normal businessmen will
outdo our own CMB Prezzo in the bling department?
Such accoutrements, we thought, were for entertainers or people
involved in some rather shady occupations. Since the two fellows do
not come across as rap artistes, one can only wonder.
Then the sheer arrogance they display, which has many Kenyans wondering
whether they have it from very high up that they are untouchable.
Are they untouchable? Or, perhaps, they are confident that they
themselves have something on those in the corridors of power they
have interacted with?
Logic dictates that when association with such characters becomes
embarrassing, they should be disowned forthwith.
If loyalists like Kiraitu Murungi, Chris Murungaru, David Mwiraria
and Alfred Getonga could be dropped, it surely should not be difficult
for the Government to send the fellows on the first flight to Dubai,
Armenia or wherever they belong. Or do they have something that would
embarrass their patrons?
Perhaps there is a lot more to see on the unfolding saga. There are,
for instance, indications that much of the damaging information
is coming from fellows very much in the know, chaps who have been
expelled from the State House banquet and have vowed revenge.
And it seems that part of the strategy includes going straight for
the jugular by exposing matters that link the President, directly or
indirectly, to rather unsavoury happenings. They also expect a bonus
if the exposures provoke domestic strife.
In the process, maybe we have all become pawns in what is just a turf
war. But that raises serious questions if the entire country can be
captivated and the Government paralysed merely by territorial battles
at State House.
Mr Gaitho is the managing editor, Sunday Nation

AZERI SPIES ‘PLANNED ENERGY TERROR ATTACK’
United Press International
March 20 2006
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 20 (UPI) — New details are emerging about
three Azeri soldiers who defected to Armenia last year and were later
convicted of spying against their homeland.
Azerbaijan’s National Security Ministry counter-intelligence service
says that 21-year-old Ruslan Khagani Bakirov and two colleagues, who
were held by Armenian authorities from Feb. 15 until May 7, 2005,
reached a secret agreement to cooperate with Armenian intelligence
services after they were freed.
Security officials believe that Bakirov, along with Khayal Idris
Abdullayev and Hikmat Adem Taghiyev, defected while they were on
guard duty.
New details are now being reported about the activities of the three
men, convicted of treason and espionage last October by an Azeri
military court, and now said to have been plotting terrorist attacks
against energy installations.
Bakirov’s release from Armenian custody was secured through the
mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross. During
initial debriefing, Bakirov acknowledged that he cooperated with the
Armenians but his interrogators then determined that this initial
testimony was actually part of a preplanned disinformation campaign
prepared for Bakirov by Armenian intelligence service officers.
Under further questioning Bakirov said that Armenian intelligence
officers offered him, Abdullayev and Taghiyev bribes to collaborate.
Bakirov said that Armenian intelligence officials met with him seven
times during his time in Armenia, and that he was nicknamed “Ramin” and
promised $3,000-4,000 for each errand he carried out for the Armenians.
BakuToday reported on March 18 that Bakirov said that an Armenian
intelligence officer, “Rudik,” instructed Bakirov to bomb Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev’s convoy, the Western-financed $3.6 billion
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil export pipeline, natural gas pipelines,
the Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku and to take photos
of military-strategic establishments of interest to Armenia.
Azerbaijan’s Court Martial on Grave Crimes sentenced Bakirov and
Abdullayev to 12 years in jail and Taghiyev to 11 years in jail last
October after their conviction on a number of charges, including high
treason, espionage, abandoning their post and desertion in the face
of the enemy.

‘ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’ DEMO TAKES PLACE IN BERLIN
Expatica, Netherlands
March 20 2006
BERLIN – More than 2,000 Turkish nationalists demonstrated in Berlin
on Saturday in support of denials that a genocide of Armenians took
place under the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
The protestors demanded among other things the repeal of a resolution
passed by a unanimous vote in the German parliament last year that
called on Turkey to hold an open dialogue on the Armenian massacre.
The resolution has contributed to a rift between Germany and Turkey.
According to independent estimates, more than a million Armenians
were killed in the massacre.
A Berlin court on Friday allowed the demonstration to take place
under strict conditions, included not characterizing the
Armenian massacre as a lie in either speech or on placards.
The march had originally been banned by the police.

A MANIA FOR ARMENIA
Janet Forman
April 2006 issue
Budget Travel Online, NY
March 20 2006
Rug designer James Tufenkian wants everyone else to love his native
land as much as he does.
Growing up in L.A. in the 1950s, the strongest connection rug designer
James Tufenkian had to Armenia was in the kitchen. He’d smell the
cardamom, cloves, and cumin in his mother’s traditional dishes,
and listen to stories of his grandparents’ flight from Armenia in
the 1890s after a series of massacres.
In 1981, Tufenkian took his first trip to Armenia, and everything
changed. “I could no longer enjoy my comfortable life while Armenians
were starving, freezing, and at war,” he says. “I could do something
to help, and I had no excuse not to.”
He got involved by doing what he does best. Tufenkian is founder
and CEO of Tufenkian Carpets, and in 1993, he opened a factory in
Armenia. (Until then, all of the handwoven rugs were made in Nepal.)
“We retaught weavers everything their grandparents used to know about
carpet-making, but forgot during Soviet times,” he says. By 1999, the
Armenian arm of Tufenkian Carpets was doing so well that Tufenkian
used profits to start a foundation that now supports more than 50
projects, such as recording sacred Armenian music and teaching kids
computer skills.
Among the foundation’s successes was the Knitting Ladies, a group of
200 women who make comforters and pillow shams. Their handiwork shows
up in the latest Tufenkian endeavor: new boutique hotels. “Everyone
knew Armenia needed a tourist infrastructure,” he recalls. “Someone in
the aid community proposed moving mobile homes to the great tourist
sites of the country. It was as if he saw Armenia as a crummy little
country that should be content to survive in a crummy little fashion.”
Tufenkian hired Irish designer Clodagh to help do the interiors
of the 14-room Avan Villa in 2001 (from $102). Constructed out of
pink tufa stone and overlooking the capital, Yerevan, the hotel is
decorated with handwoven 19th-century rugs called kilims and thick
Tufenkian carpets. Each morning, Armenian coffee and walnuts are
served on a hillside terrace. A year later, he introduced the Avan
Marak Tsapatagh on Lake Sevan, two hours northeast of Yerevan. The
hotel uses materials that look like they came right from the earth:
cave-like flagstone showers, rock tabletops, sinewy wrought-iron posts
(from $74). The third hotel, Avan Dzoraget, is in a new building
that resembles a castle; it’s on the Debed River, near the ancient
monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin (from $73). The modern world feels
centuries away. Shepherds drive their flocks down the main street
and draw water from a well in the hotel driveway.
Tufenkian currently has plans to open four more boutique hotels,
including the Avan Areni, in Armenia’s wine country, in the south.
Tufenkian also launched a tour program. On the 12-day Armenia Reborn
tour, visitors plant trees, watch children’s art classes, meet the
Knitting Ladies, and sample Armenia’s renowned Ararat brandy ($1,440
per person, not including airfare). Custom single- and multiday trips
are also available. “We’re exposing travelers to projects and people
involved in building a nation out of rubble,” says Tufenkian. “We
hope that everyone will be uplifted in the process.” All hotels and
tours are booked through tufenkian.am, 011-374/10-547-888. .com/bt-dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/AR200603100 1272.html

POPE PRAYS FOR REUNIFICATION OF ARMENIAN CHRISTIANS
Catholic World News
March 20 2006
Vatican, Mar. 20 (CWNews.com) – Pope Benedict XVI (bio – news) voiced
his prayer for the reunification of Armenian Christians, as he met
on March 20 with the Armenian Catholic Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX
Tarmouni and an accompanying group of pilgrims from Lebanon.
Looking back across the history of Christianity in Armenia, the Pope
noted the divisions among the different churches “that recognize St.
Gregory the Illuminator as their common founding father.” (St.
Gregory established Christianity in Armenian in 301.) He acknowledged
with satisfaction that the different Armenian churches “have resumed
a cordial and fruitful dialogue,” and looked forward to the time when
they might regain “fraternal harmony internally, in full communion
with the Bishop of Rome.”
A tragic history has contributed to the divisions among Armenian
Christians, the Pope observed. He mentioned the Metz Yeghern, or “great
evil,” that saw hundreds of thousands of Armenians slaughtered by
Turkish persecutors during the forced migration from the Mediterranean
to the land now known as Armenia. While the Armenian Apostolic Church
is now established both in that country and in Lebanon, the diaspora
caused the Armenian Catholic community to find a new base in Lebanon.
Today the Armenian Apostolic Church claims about 7 million faithful,
including 2 million in Armenia, another 2.4 million in nearby Russian
and Georgia, and about 500,000 in the Middle East, with the remained
spread across Europe and the Americas. The Armenian Catholic Church
has about 345,000 members, primarily in the Middle East but also
spread worldwide.
During the past 50 years the Armenian Apostolic Church has drawn
closer to the Vatican in ecumenical talks; Pope John Paul II (bio –
news) and the late Catholicos Karekin II, the head of the Armenian
Church, signed a joint statement essentially ending the doctrinal
disputes that caused a split after the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
Pope Benedict observed that it was a “comforting sign of the unity
we hope for” when Pope John Paul joined in celebrating the 1700th
anniversary of the founding of Christianity in Armenia.

KENYA: LDP CALLS FOR ARREST OF ‘ARMENIAN’ BROTHERS
The Standard, Kenya
March 20 2006
The Liberal Democratic Party yesterday demanded that the Government
arrests two alleged Armenians whom it described as a security threat.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s regional offices in
Kisumu, Muhoroni MP Prof Ayiecho Olweny said deporting Artur Margaryan
was not the best course of action.
“People are usually arrested pending investigations. What makes these
men whose citizenry remains a mystery to be above the law?” Prof
Olweny said.
The MP, who read a party statement, vowed to lead a demonstration at
the lakeside town if the Government failed to arrest the two.
Olweny spoke barely 24 hours after police in Kisumu denied LDP
supporters permission to demonstrate in Kisumu on the matter.
The MP said the alleged mercenaries had committed a crime by forging
passports, which made their stay illegal, and by driving cars with
covered number plates.
“This is a matter of national security and we challenge the Government
to crack the whip before we take to the streets,” Olweny said.
Nyanza Professional Caucus chairman John Olago-Aluoch and LDP officials
from the region, Dave Okwatch, Isaiah Onyango, Joshua Nyamori and
Odunga Mamba also attended the Press conference.
Olago-Aluoch said the foreigners should be prosecuted for impersonation
and claiming to be related to the Armenian President.
“Artur has gone to the extent of claiming President Kibaki is aware
of their presence and businesses in Kenya, a claim State House has
denied,” Olago-Aluoch said.
The leaders took issue with the law enforcers for blocking their
attempt to hold a protest against the foreigners’ presence in the
country.
“The Public Order Act requires us to notify the police 24 hours before
holding a demo, which we did yesterday in vain,” Prof Olweny said.
The legislator demanded that Ms Winfred Wangui, who is alleged to
be a business partner of the two, be required explain the activities
they are engaged in.

CONFERENCE TITLED “ARMENIA AND ARMENIANS IN THE CONTEXT OF WORLD CULTURE” TO BE HELD IN KRASNODAR
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
March 20 2006
A scientific conference titled “Armenia and Armenians in the context
of the world culture” will be held at the Krasnodar State Historical
& Archeological Museum-Preserve after Felitsyn April 25. According
to the information De Facto got at the newspaper of Armenians of
Russia Yerkramas, exhibition of household articles is to be held
in the course of the conference. The measure will end in a concert
performed by musicians on the Armenian folk instrument “kemancha”.
The conference has been initiated by the Eparchy of the South of
Russia of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Kuban State University,
Center of Pont-Caucasian Researches, North Caucasian Institute for
Scientific Research in History and Socio-Cultural Researches and
Armenian community of the village of Pashkovsky of Krasnodar.
The conference has been arranged for a recurrent anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide in Turkey, 1915-23, when about two million Armenians
were murdered on the territory of the Western Armenia.
It should be noted that a scientific conference arranged for
the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey was held in
Krasnodar in 2005 as well. Then Consul-General of Turkey in the city
of Novorossiysk Ahmed Ryza Demirer was against the conference and
sent an official letter to the Rector of the Kuban State University,
where the conference was being held. However, the scientific measure
was conducted. Participants of the conference adopted a Statement
calling upon the Turkish leadership to recognize the Armenian Genocide.