RA OMBUDSMAN AGAINST GOVERNMENT AND PRESIDENT
By Marietta Khachatrian
AZG Armenian Daily
16/03/2006
Armen Harutyunian, RA ombudsman, is getting prepared to the March 21
sitting of RA Constitutional Court where, according to his appeal,
the August 1 2002, government decision #1151-N on alienation of the
lands for the state needs. RA Government and RA President will be
defendants at the court hearing.
“We will operate with laws, the international treaties and article
#31 of RA Constitution and struggle. The acts I pointed out are
anti-constitutional, thus the alienation of the property right in
the Northern Avenue was implemented according to these acts,” Armen
Harutyunian said. He didn’t want to go into details, adding that he
is quite determined to take victory on March 21.
From: Baghdasarian

‘MAGIC FLUTE’ TO BE STAGED IN ARMENIA
By Tamar Minasian
AZG Armenian Daily
16/03/2006
“Magic Flute” opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will be staged in
Armenia for the first time. The initiators of the events said at
yesterday’s press conference that they invited Facundo Agudin,
an Argentinean conductor from Switzerland, who will conduct the
opera. They added that soloists from Europe and Armenia, director
Michael Choler from Germany, costume designer Ana Spinelli from
Switzerland are engaged in the performance.
The organizers said that March 18 concert will be free of charge for
the schoolchildren of Yerevan. The initiative is carried out by the
National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Armenia, the Swiss Orchestre
Symphonique du Jura and Festival Musique des Lumieres, with the
participation of “Cadance” Musical center.
Gegham Grigorian, head of the Yerevan Opera and Ballet Theatre, said
that they are going to stage also “Don Juan” within the framework
of the arrangements dedicated to the 250th anniversary of Mozart. He
added that singers Gevorg Hakobian, Arnold Kocharian, Arsen Soghomonian
and Suren Manukian will participate in the performance.

PHOTOS OF FORMER ARMENIAN CEMETERY IN NAKHICHEVAN PUBLISHED
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2006 01:29 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spread
photos of the former Armenian cemetery in Djulfa, Nakhichevan. The
MFA press release says in part, “By 2005 only 3500 out of 10 000
of Armenian khachkars remained standing in Old Djulfa. These 3500
monuments were demolished by Azeri soldiers.”

JOHN EVANS CONTINUES TO EXERCISE HONOR AND PRIVELEGE OF U.S. AMBASSADOR
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2006 01:01 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ John Evans is our Ambassador and he continues to
exercise that honor and privilege Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman of
the U.S. Department of State said when commenting on the report
of his recall due of his speech on Armenian Genocide. As it was
reported earlier, ANCA’s letter addressed to Secretary Rice earlier
this week said in part, “the prospect that a U.S. envoy’s posting –
and possibly his career – has been cut short due to his honest and
accurate description of a genocide is profoundly offensive to American
values and U.S. standing abroad – particularly in light of President
Bush’s call for moral clarity in the conduct of our international
affairs.” Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Co-Chairman of the Armenian
Issues Caucus, also expressed his extreme disappointment to Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice over reports that the U.S.
Ambassador to Armenia, John Marshall Evans, is being forced from
office based upon truthful and forthright statements last year about
the Armenian Genocide. To remind, speaking last year to an Armenian
American gathering at the University of California at Berkeley,
Amb. Evans said, “I will today call it the Armenian Genocide… I
informed myself in depth about it. I think we, the U.S. government,
owe you, our fellow citizens, a more frank and honest way of discussing
this problem. Today, as someone who has studied it… there’s no doubt
in my mind [as to] what happened . . . I think it is unbecoming of us,
as Americans, to play word games here. I believe in calling things by
their name.” Referring to the Armenian Genocide as “the first genocide
of the 20th century,” he said: “I pledge to you, we are going to do a
better job at addressing this issue.” Amb. Evans also disclosed that
he had consulted with a legal advisor at the State Department who
had confirmed that the events of 1915 were “genocide by definition.”

PACE COMMITTEE ON NAGORNO KARABAKH TO PRESERVE ITS STATUS
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2006 00:42 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ March 15 the PACE Bureau discussed the fate of the
PACE Ad Hoc Committee on Nagorno Karabakh after the report submitted
by Committee chairman Lord Russell-Johnston. According to head of
the Armenian delegation to PACE, RA National Assembly Vice-speaker
Tigran Torosian, the Ad Hoc Committee will continue its activities
under the aegis of the Bureau.
Concluding his speech Lord Russell-Johnston spoke for the preservation
of the status by the Committee. “The Committee head stressed that
its main goal will be the preparation of the two peoples for the
settlement of the conflict. The Committee will do its best to put an
end to calls for hostilities and hatred,” Tigran Torosian said adding
that the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations were unanimous on the
issue, reported RFE/RL.

ARMENIA-COE COOPERATION PLAN FOR 2006-2007 RATIFIED
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2006 00:39 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers ratified
the Armenia-CoE Cooperation Plan for 2006-2007. According to Armenia’s
Permanent Representative in the CoE Christian Ter-Stepanian, the
process of Armenia’s honoring the commitments to the CoE undertaken 5
years ago is taken into consideration. As RA MFA press office reported,
the constitutional reform that opens wide possibilities for the
human right protection, formation of independent juridical system and
consolidation of democratic reforms found its reflection in the plan.
The plan also calls for the development of civic society
by strengthening the local self-government bodies. Christian
Ter-Stepanian emphasized that the implementation of the plan is
conditioned by the fact that the Armenian government proceeding from
the outcomes of the referendum has fixed the terms of changes to be
introduced in to the legislation of the republic. “We understand that
this cooperation will help Armenia to bring the legislation up to
the European standards. This, for its part, will help to carry out
the policy of reforms essential for the integration in the European
community,” the Ambassador said.

RA AMBASSADOR TO GERMANY: AZERBAIJAN LIES
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2006 00:24 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The information discrediting the Armenian officers,
who are taking a course organized by the European Center for Security
Issues in Garmisch-Partenkirchner is false from beginning to end,
Armenian Ambassador to Germany Karine Ghazinian told PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter. In her words, if the facts presented by the Azeri side were
true the course administration would have brought them to the notion of
the Embassy. “No one addressed us either from Garmisch-Partenkirchner
or the Marshall Foundations.
Moreover, the Embassy has already furnished the essential information
to the RA Ministry of Defense and the Department of Home Affairs,”
Ms. Ghazinian said.
To remind, earlier Azeri-press news agency published 2 reports on March
15. The first report said that an Armenian officer taking the course
of the European Center for Security Issues after George Marshall made
an attempt to rape Ukrainian police captain Natalia Kostroma. The
second report said “major Artem Hakobian uttered unquotable words
addressed to Georgia. During a discussion he said that the Samtskhe
Javakheti region of Georgia is historically Armenian territory and
that official Tbilisi is “U.S.’s gendarme” in the region.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

COMPARING TEYLIRYAN WITH SAFAROV DOESN’T BEFIT EVEN AZERI IDEOLOGISTS
PanARMENIAN.Net
15.03.2006 22:09 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The killing of Talaat Pash once again proved that
a nation that wants to live and is ready struggle will always defend
its interests, political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan told
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. It is not accidental that Talaat was
the first young Turks criminal killed. And it is not accidental
he was killed in Berlin. It is impossible to escape from people’s
retribution even in the capital of a power,” he noted. According to
the political scientist, some figures in Azerbaijan draw parallels
between Soghomon Teyliryan and Ramil Safarov. “Drawing parallels
between the participants of Nemesis operation and a criminal like
Safarov does not befit even Azeri ideologists. People’s avenger and
night criminal with an axe are two absolutely different categories
of human ideology. Only mentally ill people do not understand it,
Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan said.
To remind, March 15, 1921 in Berlin Armenian student Soghomon Teyliryan
killed one of the young Turks’ leaders Talaat Pasha, the initiator
of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. The German
Court acquitted Teyliryan.

ARMENIA WAS SACRIFICED IN 1921
PanARMENIAN.Net
15.03.2006 21:59 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Moscow Treaty signed on March 16, 1921 was a
logical continuation of the Brest peaceful agreement, when Bolshevist
Russia wishing to quit World War I was ready for great territorial
concessions, political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan told
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, the study of documents shows
that Germany was indifferent to the fate of eastern Armenia and did
not insist on its conveyance to Turkey. “It was Trotsky’s personal
initiative most likely coordinated with Lenin. The Kars agreement in
October 1921 strengthened the provisions if the Moscow one. As result,
representatives of Turkey and Russia gathered in Moscow and cut off
a considerable part of Armenia’s territory,” he noted.
The expert said the problem was that in March 1921 Armenia was not a
Bolshevik republic. “Bolsheviks wished to make friends with Turkey and
the conveyance of Armenian lands to Turkey proved their “sincerity”.
Moscow knew Armenians won’t resign to the role of a lamb destined to
sacrifice,” Melik-Shahnazaryan said.
In his words, for this purpose almost the whole staff of the Armenian
army was arrested and this caused the rebellion February 18, 1921.
“The February rebellion expelled Bolsheviks from the greater part of
Armenia. Yerevan and all major towns were ruled by the leaders of
the First Republic of Armenia. Blaming Armenians and saying “if it
were not the rebellion there wouldn’t have been the conveyance of
the lands” is incorrect from the historical viewpoint and immoral
from the national viewpoint,” the Armenian expert underscored.

LAND BERLIN COURT PREVENTED POLICE FROM PROHIBITING “TALAAT PASHA ACTION”
PanARMENIAN.Net
15.03.2006 21:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The court of Land Berlin yesterday evening prevented
the police from prohibiting the so-called Talaat Pasha Action scheduled
for March 18-19. However the human rights advocating organizations
and political figures supported the police and censured the court’s
decision, which will be appealed in the supreme legal instances. They
called upon the leadership to bar actions targeted at denial of
genocides and crimes of war, reported Yerkir Media TV Channel.
To remind, the other day the German police barred a series of rallies
the Turkish organizations planned to hold in Berlin in mid March. The
prohibition was based upon Article 189 of the German Criminal Code,
which bars to express “disrespect for the dead”. In its statement
the German authorities used expression “dead in 1915” to avoid term
Armenian Genocide. The rallies are planned to start with an event
titled Talaat Pasha Action within “Big Program – 2006” initiative
advanced by a number of Turkish political figures urging the Bundestag
to withdraw the Resolution on the Armenian Genocide.
It should be also reminded that in 2005 the Bundestag apologized to
the Armenian people and adopted a resolution saying that Germany being
an ally to Turkey during World War I bears responsibility for the
Armenian Genocide. The Resolution also calls upon Ankara to recognize
the Armenian Genocide.