TWO ARMENIAN BROTHERS IN CENTER OF POLITICAL SCANDAL IN KENYA
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 15 2006
NAIROBI, MARCH 15, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Artur Sargsian
and Artur Margarian, whom the international media and the Kenyan
press present as brothers, found themselves in the center of a
political scandal that broke in Kenya this week. According to Radio
Liberty, Reyla Odinga – one of the leaders of the Kenyan opposition –
accused the Armenian brothers of acting as hirelings of the Kenyan
authorities for attacking the media. Both Sargsian and Margarian
denied the accusations.
They convened a press conference early this week at the airport of the
Kenyan capital of Nairobi and stated: “We are not hirelings, but even
if we were, your government would not have enough money to hire us.”
The brothers also claimed that they are relatives of the Armenian
President Robert Kocharian.
Artur Sargsian said that he is a candidate for the post of the RA
president, and that he runs a gold and precios stone business in Asia
and Africa.
According to the German DPA agency, Artur Sargsian also claimed
that the opposition leader Odinga has borrowed one and a half
million dollars from him, so that the opposition can pass a vote of
nonconfidence to the government of the Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki
in the parliament.
The mysterious story of the two Armenian brothers received extensive
coverage in the Kenyan press.

MORE THAN 90 DIASPORAN WRITERS INTEND TO PARTICIPATE IN THIRD ALL-ARMENIAN CONFERENCE OF WRITERS
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 15 2006
ANTILIAS, MARCH 15, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Preparatory
work for the third All-Armenian Conference of Writers to be held at
the Mayravank Complex of Antilias on April 6-9 is currently being
carried out in accordance with the schedule. More than 90 writers of
Armenian descend from Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Cyprus,
France, Germany, Greece, Switzerland, the UK, Australia, Georgia,
the US and Canada have expressed their intention to participate
in the event. The Unions of Writers of Armenia and Artsakh will be
represented by 50 writers.
According to the press release of the commission on conference
preparation, which was provided to NT by the press service of the
Catholicosate of the Great Cilician House, the Armenian and Diasporan
Armenian writers – participants of the conference will arrive in
Lebanon on April 5. The official opening ceremony will take place on
April 6, while the closing ceremony – late April 10.
Catholicos of the Great Cilician House Aram I will attend the opening
and closing sittings of the event.
The Armenian and Diasporan writers and literary critics will make
reports on 6 themes during the conference entitled “The Armenian
Literature in the Face of Global Challenges”. The reports will be
followed by opinion exchanges and discussions.
The first two All-Armenian conferences of writers were held in 2002
and 2004 in Yerevan on the initiative of the Union of Writers of
Armenia. In response to the invitation-proposal of Catholicos of
the Great Cilician House Aram I to convene the third All-Armenian
Conference of Writers at the Mayravank Complex of Antilias (Lebanon),
the Board of the Union of Writers of Armenia made a decision to hold
the conference in the spring of 2006 at the Mayravank of Antilias
under the high patronage of Catholicos Aram I and with the necessary
financial and material resources. A steering committee was set up. It
is composed of Bishop Narek Alemezian, Pepo Simonian, Zhirayr Danelian,
Sargis Kirakosian and Aram Sepetjian.

KILLING A GENOCIDE PERPETRATOR IS NEVER A CRIME – RUSTAMIAN
Yerkir
15.03.2006 17:40
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – “Eighty-five years ago, the Armenian people
witnessed one of the brightest pages of their history,” ARF Supreme
Body of Armenia representative Armen Rustamian said during the
unveiling of a monument of Soghomon Tehlerian in Yerevan on Wednesday.
On March 15, 1921, one of the organizers of the Armenian Genocide,
Taleat, was gunned down in Berlin by Tehlerian.
“This event that happened 85 years ago had a great impact on the
fate of the Armenian nation,” Rustamian said. “Tehlerian’s example
has been serving to educating of our present and future generations.”
He also reminded that a Berlin court acquitted Tehlerian and later
posthumously convicted Taleat.
Along with Taleat, other organizers of the Genocide – Enver and
Jemal – were also assassinated by the hands of Armenians following
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s decision that resulted in
the Nemesis operation, Rustamian went on saying.
“Punishing a genocide perpetrator is never a crime,” Rustamian said,
adding that first of all it is Turkey that should realize this.

NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE PRESIDENT UNVEILS NEW SCHEME TO REWARD BEST ATHLETES
Armenpress
Mar 15 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS: The president of the Armenian National
Olympic Committee Gagik Tsarukian, who is one of the wealthiest
Armenian businessmen and a parliament member, announced on March 14
a new scheme to reward the best Armenian athletes in an effort to
stimulate their desire to win Olympic medals in China in 2008.
Under the scheme the best 12 athletes will be receiving a $1,000 bonus
every month, their coaches will be receiving $500. Another group of
athletes will be receiving $500 monthly and athletes in the third
group $100 every month. The scheme is becoming effective from April
1 and will cover around 100 athletes and their coaches.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IRANIAN EXPERTS CONDUCT EXTRA FARSI LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE CLASSES FOR ARMENIAN STUDENTS
Armenpress
Mar 15 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS: Reza Atoufi, an aide to Iranian
ambassador in Armenia on cultural issues, told today in Yerevan that
educational and scientific contacts between Armenians and Iranians
were a strong impetus for further consolidation of friendship between
the two neighbor nations.
He was speaking at a special ceremony that was organized to mark
the end of a two-week long additional Farsi language and Iranian
literature course for students of Yerevan state university majoring in
Eastern Studies. The course was conducted by two professors invited
from Iran-Zamila Azamia, an expert in literature and linguist Zohre
Zarshenas.
Garnik Asatrian, dean of Iranian Studies department, said contacts
between Armenians students and Iranian specialists were very important
in terms of obtaining knowledge from native speakers and experts. The
ceremony ended with Iranian poetry recital.

US EXPERTS LAUNCH BIRD FLU DETECTING AND PREVENTING TRAINING COURSE FOR ARMENIAN COUNTERPARTS
Armenpress
Mar 15 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS: Experts from the USA have launched today
an extensive training course for Armenian counterparts to teach them
how to detect bird flu cases and how to treat human beings diagnosed
with the deadly virus.
The first group of Armenian specialists are from the veterinary
inspection of the agricultural ministry. The US experts are headed
by Doctor Elizabeth Krushinsky, who traveled across Armenia before
starting the training course with agricultural officials, examined
the situation on the ground.
Deputy agriculture minister Levon Rukhkian said US experts did not
see any indication of a bird flu in Armenia.
Earlier this week the government of USA donated 1,500 set of personal
protective equipment to Armenia.
The equipment, which includes coveralls, latex gloves, protective
boots, goggles and masks, is designed to be used by individuals
involved in avian influenza surveillance and response efforts. In a
related development World Bank resident representative has confirmed
that the Bank will provide Armenia with a $6 million assistance to
help it combat the avian influenza.

GEORGIAN STATE DOESN’T ENSURE ARMENIAN CITIZENS’ SECURITY ANY LONGER, ARMENIAN COOPERATION CENTRE OF GEORGIA EMPHASIZES
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 15 2006
TBILISI, MARCH 15, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “Sorrowfully, the
safety of the Armenian citizens of Georgia is no longer a guarantee
of the Georgian state, to which a testimony is a high rise of crime
directed against Armenians of Georgia,” the official statement of the
Armenian Cooperation Centre of Georgia in connection with the Tsalka
incident read.
On the 9th of March, as a result of an armed attack in Tsalka Gevorg
Gevorkyan was killed, as well as other Georgian citizens of Armenian
ethnicity were wounded to different degrees. This caused mass protests
in the Armenian-populated region of Samtskhe-Javakheti (Javakhk).
The ACCG is convinced in the necessity of the prompt investigation
and solution of the criminal case opened by the county’s Ministry of
Internal Affairs law enforcement bodies according to the clause 109
of the Penal Code of Georgia, and the pronouncement of just sentence
to the group of criminals. The organization will supervise the course
of investigation within the framework of its competences.
According to the official position of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
of Georgia, the murder in Tsalka has been committed on common grounds
and does not have ethnic pretext. According to the preliminary data of
the investigation, it was a usual quarrel, which began at a restaurant
between drunk people and developed into a fight and knifing during
which one of its participants was stabbed to death and others were
wounded. Ministry of Internal Affairs, however, remains silent about
the fact that the attacked Armenians were also beaten-up by the
employees of that same Ministry.
In the opinion of the ACCG any premature definition of corpus
delicti on the government level is inappropriate and can damage
the objective investigation of the case. It is also wrong to make
premature conclusions regarding the motivations of the crime before
the detention of all suspects.
The Armenian Cooperation Centre of Georgia is convinced that such
crimes against citizens of Armenian origin are encouraged by the
established and growing anti-Armenian atmosphere in the Georgian
society. The Georgian mass media plays an active role in this, by
promoting negative stereotypes of Armenians in the society and ethnic
dissociation in the country. Certain anti-Armenian articles and news
releases demonstrate not only chauvinistic sentiments, but also the
elementary unprofessional approach of many representatives of the
country’s mass media. It is significant that besides of citizens of
Armenian origin, the subject of such an aggression becomes also the
holy of holies of the Armenian people, Armenian Apostolic Holy Church.
Concerning the activities undertaken in Akhalkalaki, the ACCG
fully supports the legitimate demands of our fellow citizens and is
ready to promote their realization. At the same time, the Armenian
Cooperation Centre of Georgia calls on the supreme bodies of the
country’s government to pay more attention to interethnic relations
and the rights of ethnic minorities, as well as to the promotion of
principles of tolerance and equality in our country.

WORLD BANK SAYS GAS PRICE HIKE NOT TO AFFECT STRONGLY ARMENIAN ECONOMY
Armenpress
Mar 15 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS; A World Bank representative said today
in Yerevan the Bank will unveil its study on possible repercussions
of Russia’s decision to double the price of natural gas it sells to
Armenia in a week.
Rodger Robinson, World Bank resident representative, told a news
conference that according to preliminary estimations, the gas price
hike will affect Armenia’s economy, but the scale of that negative
impact will not be “too big”. Robinson said the higher price of gas
will affect current electricity tariffs, but declined to elaborate
saying it would be more appropriate to speak about hike’s aftereffects
only after completing the Bank’s study.
But he said the Central Bank of Armenia’s goal to ensure a three
percent inflation was realistic.
Robinson said his forecast was based on the fact that despite ongoing
rise of fuel price at world markets it has had no negative impact on
Armenian economy which has been reporting a two-digit economic growth
for several consecutive years.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS APPLY TO GEORGIAN AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA
By Aghavni Harutyunian
AZG Armenian Daily
16/03/2006
Javakhk: Cause for Concern
Following the murder of 23-year-old Gevorg Gevorgian on March 9 in
Tsalka, Georgia, the youth organizations of Armenia sent a letter to
Revaz Gachicheladze, Georgian ambassador to Yerevan. According to
official statement of Georgia, law-enforcing bodies of the country
see domestic reasons beyond the murder though eyewitnesses claim the
Armenian was murdered as a result of fight that few young Georgian
provoked.
“Taking into consideration the nature of the crime and its social
danger and the recent policies toward Armenians of Javakhk, we demand
impartial investigation into this case,” the statement reads.
The letter to the Georgian ambassador states that the murder of the
Armenian young man falls on the days of destruction and appropriation
of Armenian cultural monuments in Georgia. Such policy of Georgia goes
against its obligations before the Council of Europe and elementary
tolerance.
The Youth wing of Armenian Aryan Union also issued a statement
demanding to stop “Georgianization” of Armenian monuments in Georgia
and on territories of historic Armenia, to punish those guilty in
murder of the Armenian and to stop the policy of de-Armeniazation
and assimilation in the country.

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS, BOLOGNA PRINCIPLES AND OUR EDUCATIONAL REFORMS
By Susana Margarian
AZG Armenian Daily
16/03/2006
The first sitting of the republican committee for Implementation
of Bologna principles was held yesterday. The representatives of a
number of state, international and public organizations, as well as
experts from the educational and banking management spheres, students,
participated in the sitting. Sergo Yeritsian, RA education minister,
chairman of the committee, emphasized the importance of Armenia’s
participation in the Bologna process. He represented the international
experience and stated that educational reforms carried out in Armenia
are aimed to secure professional education that keeps in line with
the international criteria.
The participants of the sitting discussed the draft “On Applying
Bologna Principles in Armenia” during the sitting.