CE to Provide 600 Thousand Euros to Shoot Film on Armenian Genocide
PanARMENIAN.Net
18.03.2006 21:17 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ March 9 a decision was made at a meeting of Council
of Europe Eurimages Fund to provide 600 thousand euros to famous
Italian film directors, brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani for their
Lark Farm film on the Armenian Genocide. All jury members, except
Turkey, supported the decision. The Fund, which promotes European
cinema production, includes 32 states. In his speech Fund President
Jacques Toubon (France) resolutely defended the decision passed
and accused Turkey in committing a Genocide, calling it historical
reality. In spite of the denialist stance of the Turkish representative
and official Ankara’s efforts, the jury did not change their mind,
reports the Press Service of the Armenian MFA.

NEW OMBUDSMAN REPEATS THE PREVIOUS ONE?
Panorama.am
16:02 18/03/06
Armen Haroutyunyan states the importance of the role of the regional
representations for the institute of Human Rights’ Defender. He
assures they are simply necessities.
During the discussion of State Budget of 2006 former Human Rights’
Defender Larissa Alaverdyan also raised the question of founding
offices in 3 regions of the republic and asked for 11 million drams
from the state budget to realize the idea. Yet the money was not
given. And now the new Defender seems to have the same wish.
But however alike the wished of Larissa Alaverdyan and Armen
Haroutyunyan are their positions concerning the Defender’s annual
report completely differ. As A. Haroutyunyan says the former Defender
wrote her report not before January 5 but after that when she was
no longer Defender. That is why A. Haroutyunyan has prepared his own
report on the basis of the information in the staff as since January
5 Larissa Alaverdyan has merely been a citizen and not Human Rights
Defender.
By the way A. Haroutyunyan is ready to cooperate even with ombudsmen
from our neighbors Georgia and Azerbaijan in the field of Human Rights’
Defence because as he assures “human rights are over state.” On the
other hand, the edges of cooperation with previous Human Rights’
Defender Larissa Alaverdyan are not seen yet. /Panorama.am/

“DIGNITY AND FREEDOM MOST IMPORTANT FOR A PERSON”
Panorama.am
15:15 18/03/06
“Jurisprudence is higher mathematics about freedoms for me,” announced
Human Rights Defender Armen HAroutyunyan at the meeting with the
students of AUA department of law.
As he said the times have changed and when he was choosing the legal
profession the field of private right was not paid much attention
to. For that very reason he has chosen the constitutional right
specialization. “Dignity and freedom are the most important things
for a person,” said A. Haroutyunyan and noticed that there must
always be professional lawyer next to the Defender. The Ombudsman
is sure that Human Rights are first of all defended by people
themselves. /Panorama.am/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

“RULE OF LAW COUNTRY” NOT ATTACKED YET
Panorama.am
15:12 18/03/06
Today at the conference NA Deputy, “Orinats Yerkir” (Rule of
Law Country) party vice president Mher Shahgeldyan rejected the
information saying after their party member Gagik Avetyan raids are
being prepared on the other RLC deputies. “I have no such information
and there is nothing of the kind,” he said answering the questions
of correspondents.
What refers to the news that RLC can possibly become an oppositional
party M. Shahgeldyan mentioned: “Time will show what is going to be in
the future.” Yet the “future” he mentioned is before the beginning of
official election campaign. “The “Rule of Law Country” decides on its
own in what field and how to continue acting,” he added. /Panorama.am/

“ARMENIA” TV COMPANY IMPLEMENTS DENATIONALIZED PROPAGANDA, YOUNG
POLITICIANS’ CLUB MEMBERS STATE
YEREVAN, MARCH 17, NOYAN TAPAN. “Armenia” TV company programs
starting from their names up to their contents have denatiolized
orientation. Marine Hovian, the Deputy Chief of the RA State Language
Department made such a statement at the March 16 discussion titled
“Youth Against Denationalized Propaganda.”
According to her, a committee should be created only after conclusion
of which some programs may be broadcast. In the opinion of members of
the Young Policians’ Club initiated the discussion as well, “Armenia”
TV company implements today denationalized propaganda during its
broadcast.” According to Arman Vardanian, the Chairman of the club,
they were made indignant by the video material recently showed during
the “Exclusive” TV program where “a homosexual played his buffoons
and make every effort to look like foreign singer Shakira” and then
spoke of national ideas. According to A.Vardanian, after that the club
held an action-awarding and few TV companies, including “Armenia”
were awarded “Golden Dustbins” for broadcasting such programs. But,
“Armenia” broadcast that video material twice more. “We call on all
the TV-radio companies to be more attentive and impartial as well as
to review their broadcast policy,” A.Vardanian mentioned.

The liberated territories are the major guarantee of peace (analysis)
By Armen Manvelyan
17.03.2006 13:05
“Radiolur”
Turning to the issue of liberated territories we should mention that
the time has come to understand that the question of territories cannot
be a matter of direct policy of concessions, since the past years have
proved that Azerbaijan carries out a policy, which can be characterized
in the following way – either everything or nothing. That is to say
that confident of its economic power Azerbaijan tries to turn it into
military one to resolve the conflict through military means. Under
these circumstances a different approach toward the liberated
territories solely prepares ground and encourages the opposing party,
which is confident that it can return these territories earlier
or later. Thus, turning to the Karabakh issue and particularly the
liberated territories, we should note that these have been liberated
at the price of Armenian blood and cannot become a matter of trade,
especially when we realize that the return of territories will not
bring peace. On the contrary, it will cause a new war in the region
by breaking the political balance. In this regard it needs to be
mentioned that the political map of Europe and the borders between
countries have been drawn not in the result of great love for each
other but as a consequence of two bloody World Wars. It is clear that
all European countries, or at least most of these are dissatisfied
with these borders.
Later, however, a decision was taken to recognize each other’s
territorial integrity and try to cooperate according to this principle
in order to stop the confrontations between the parties. According to
the same logics, our society should accept and recognize Armenia within
the borders, which are currently controlled by Armenian soldiers. The
liberated territories should not become a matter of trade. These
should be actively settled by Armenians forcefully displaced from
Azerbaijan. Thus, we can say that Armenia should be recognized within
the borders liberated by Armenian soldiers, and not the ones drawn
by Stalin.

Daily Nation , Kenya
March 17 2006
Mercenary claim is a wild-goose chase
Story by PETER MWAURA /FAIR PLAY
Publication Date: 03/18/2006
Being a mercenary is not a crime disclosed in any domestic Kenyan
law. Therefore, it is not clear how the police can legally investigate,
leave alone arrest, a person simply because he has been called a
“mercenary”.
But I suppose the police can always find something in the Penal Code
to nail a potential mercenary, such as section 44, which prohibits
any warlike undertaking.
Kenya has also signed or ratified two of the three international
legal instruments that define who a mercenary is. However, none of
these instruments would come in handy for the police in the current
controversy over the two Armenians whom former Cabinet minister Raila
Odinga has claimed are mercenaries.
Essentially, the police have been set up to investigate what does no
exist in our law and is very difficult to prove in international law.
“Look me in the face,” one of the Armenian brothers is reported to
have told a press conference on Monday this wee. “Do I look like a
mercenary?” A rhetorical question, perhaps, but one that underlines
that the police are on a possible wild-goose chase.
Foreign soldiers of fortune
In fact, the claim about two weeks ago that there were Russian or
Armenian mercenaries in the country was as diversionary as it was
spooky.
Historically, mercenaries have been foreign soldiers of fortune,
and they continue to exist only in war situations.
If any foreigner was involved in the police raid on Standard and
KTN offices, they could not possibly be described as “mercenaries”
unless one was using the term as a figure of speech. By their very
definition, mercenaries operate only in war situations.
If, as he has claimed, the foreigners’ second assignment was to
eliminate Mr Odinga and his opposition colleagues, the Russians or
Armenians would still not legally qualify as mercenaries. One would,
perhaps, call them criminals or hit men, but no more.
The Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions, relating to the
Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, defines a
mercenary as any person who “is specially recruited locally or abroad
… to fight in an armed conflict.” A mercenary “does, in fact,
take a direct part in the hostilities.”
Kenya ratified this convention on 23 February 1999. The Convention for
the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa, adopted by the Organisation
of African Unity (now African Union), defines a mercenary as a person
who engages in acts aimed at “opposing by armed violence a process
of self-determination or the territorial integrity of another State.”
It is a crime “against peace and security in Africa and shall be
punished as such.” Kenya signed this convention on 17 December 2003
but forgot to ratify it.
The UN International Convention against the Recruitment, Use,
Financing and Training of Mercenaries defines a mercenary as any person
who is “specially recruited locally or abroad to fight in an armed
conflict”, or to participate in “a concerted act of violence” aimed at
“overthrowing a Government or otherwise undermining the constitutional
order of a State”, or “undermining the territorial integrity of a
State”. Kenya has not signed or ratified this convention.
The three instruments constitute the international law on who is
a mercenary. All the three make it clear that a person can only be
accused of being a mercenary if he participates in an armed conflict.
Mercenaries do not exist in any other context. And, I suggest, if you
really want to see a mercenary do not visit the house on Glory Road
in up market Runda, Nairobi. Go and see the movie “Dogs of War”, or
“The Wild Geese”. Or read the book with the same title by Frederick
Forsyth, or by Daniel Carney.
Alternatively, follow the adventures of the likes of Mike Hoare who
was hired by the Belgians during the Congo crisis in the 1960s; or
Bob Denard, the French man who participated in numerous conflicts in
Africa including four coups in the Comoros and the 1978 failed coup
in the Seychelles.
Overthrow the government
Or Simon Mann, the co-founder of Executive Outcomes, the mercenary
outfit involved in conflicts in Angola and Sierra Leone and in the
2004 attempt to overthrow the government of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea,
and is serving a seven-year term at Chikurubi maximum security prison
in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Mercenaries are fighters, not newspaper burners; they are hardened
soldiers and are usually very well trained, with superior skills.
They sell their services to the highest bidder and have no time for
trading political accusations. They take no prisoners.

ARMENIAN YOUTH OF MOSCOW MEETS WITH RA NA VICE-SPEAKER
MOSCOW, MARCH 17, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A meeting of
representatives of Armenian youth organizations of Moscow with Vahan
Hovhannisian, RA National Assembly Vice-Speaker, a member of ARF
Dashnaktsutiun Bureau, was held on March 15 at the conference hall of
Russian Public-Political Center on the initiative of the “Mitk” Union
of Armenian Youth. According to the “Yerkramas” (Territory) newspaper
of Armenians of Russia, issues regarding the development of Armenia,
Russian-Armenian cooperation, geopolitical situation in the region,
process of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, relations between
Armenia and the Diaspora were discussed at the meeting.
The “Mitk” Union of Armenian Youth is a youth project of the
“Russian-Armenian Commonwealth” NGO. Within the framework of the
sittings of the Friends Club of “Mitk”, meetings with Russian and
Armenian political and public figures are held.

FIFTY HOUSE MEMBERS CALL ON FOREIGN AID APPROPRIATORS TO MAINTAIN
MILITARY AID PARITY TO ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN
WASHINGTON, MARCH 17, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Congressmen
Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and George Radanovich (R-CA) were joined by
forty-eight of their House colleagues in urging the leadership of
the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee to support pro-Armenian
provisions in the fiscal year 2007 foreign aid bill, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
Members of Congress cosigned on March 16 a letter, addressed to the
panel’s Chairman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and Ranking Member Nita Lowey
(D-NY), which would strengthen the hand of pro-Armenian members
of the Subcommittee, most notably Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Joe
Knollenberg, Steve Rothman (D-NJ), Mark Kirk (R-IL), and John Sweeney
(R-NY). Rep. Sweeney, who joined the panel last year, is one of only
two Members of Congress of Armenian heritage.
The letter notes that members of Congress are “deeply troubled”
that the Administration’s request for military aid for Azerbaijan
is considerably higher then the request for Armenia. By signing the
letter, legislators will add their voice to the effort to ensure that
the agreement struck in 2001 between the White House and Congress to
keep aid levels to these two countries equal is fully respected. In
addition, the letter calls for a hard earmark of at least million
for Armenia, a one-year million allocation for Nagorno Karabagh,
and the preservation of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act.
Members of Congress joining Representatives Pallone and Radanovich
in cosigning the letter included: Reps. Tom Allen (D-ME), Robert
Andrews (D-NJ), Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Howard Berman (D-CA), Michael
Bilirakis (R-FL), Eric Cantor (R-VA), Lois Capps (D-CA), Dennis Cardoza
(D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI), Jim Costa (D-CA), Joseph Crowley (D-NY),
William Delahunt (D-MA), David Dreier (R- CA), Chaka Fattah (D-PA),
Mike Ferguson (R-NJ), Barney Frank (D- MA), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Rush
Holt (D-NJ), Michael Honda (D-CA), Dale Kildee (D-MI), James Langevin
(D-RI), Sander Levin (D-MI), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Stephen Lynch
(D-MA), Carolyn Maloney (D- NY), Edward Markey (D-MA), Doris Matsui
(D-CA), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), James McGovern (D-MA), John McHugh
(R-NY), Michael McNulty (D-NY), Martin Meehan (D-MA), Grace Napolitano
(D-CA), Donald Payne (D-NJ), Collin Peterson (D-MN), Bobby Rush (D-IL),
H. James Saxton (R-NJ), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Joe Schwarz (R-MI),
Christopher Shays (R-CT), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Rob Simmons (R-CT),
Mark Souder (R- IN), Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Diane Watson (D-CA),
Henry Waxman (D- CA), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).
Representatives Knollenberg, Pallone, and Rothman also submitted
individual letters citing their foreign aid priorities for Armenia
and Nagorno Karabagh, among other countries.
The House Foreign Operations panel is set to review the FY2007 foreign
aid bill, which will then be considered by the full Appropriations
Committee and then the full U.S. House of Representatives. The Senate
will finalize its own version, which will be reconciled with the
House bill by a conference committee.

TURKEY HAS LESS THAN TWO YEARS LEFT TO MEET EU’s POLITICAL ACCESSION
CRITERIA
BRUSSELS, MARCH 17, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Noting the slowing
pace of reform in Turkey, the European Parliament has called upon the
Turkish government to take immediate steps to ends its discriminatory
and repressive policies, the European Armenian Federation for Justice
and Democracy reported.
In its recently adopted resolution on the “Commission’s 2005
Enlargement Strategy Report,” the Parliament also called on the
European Commission to define the geographical boundaries of the
European Union.
In the section of the report dedicated to Turkey, the European
Parliament states that the priorities outlined in the Accession
Partnership […] have to be accomplished in the first phase of the
negotiations” and “notes with satisfaction that the Commission now
supports this view as well by stating that those criteria have to
be fulfilled within one or two years.”
Based on these considerations, the Parliament therefore called upon
Turkey “to present as soon as possible a plan, including a timetable
and specific measures, to meet these deadlines,” and urged the
Commission and the Council “to make the progress of the negotiations
conditional on the timely accomplishment of those priorities.”
This demand comes in reaction to the slowing down of Turkey’s reforms,
which were noted in the resolution. The Parliament also formally
asked Turkey “to remove all existing legislative and practical
obstacles to full enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedoms by all
Turkish citizens, notably freedom of expression, religious freedom,
cultural rights, rights of minorities.” The Resolution also urged
the Commission “to conduct a rigorous and thorough scrutiny of
developments on the ground.”
The adopted text – for the first time in European Union history – also
recalled that “the capacity for absorption of the Union […] remains
one of the conditions for the accession of new countries” and
stressed that “defining the nature of the European Union, including
its geographical borders, is fundamental to understanding the concept
of absorption capacity.”
Thus, the Parliament requested that that Commission ” submit a report
by 31st December 2006 setting out the principles which underpin this
concept” and invites it “to factor this element into the overall
negotiation timetable.”
“We welcome the adoption of this resolution as a true expression
of the growing will of the European Parliament to be involved in
the Union’s decision-making processes. This measure – like the many
previously adopted resolutions on this matter – urges the European
Commission and Council to not be satisfied with pledges and prolonged
delays, but rather to demand genuine reforms in Turkey,” said Hilda
Tchoboian, Chairperson of the European Armenian Federation.
“We are working with European democratic movements in order to
require that Turkey meet its criteria within the next two years –
including its full recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the
abandonment of its aggressive policies toward Armenia.”