US Dept of State
13 March 2006
State Department Briefing, March 13
QUESTION: Is the Ambassador of Armenia being — having his career
shortened because he spoke out against genocide in Armenia?
MR. CASEY: Barry, I know we promised you an answer on that one
on Friday. Still don’t have it and I’ll get something for
you this afternoon.
QUESTION: You mean his future hasn’t been decided yet?
MR. CASEY: Not that I’m aware of.
QUESTION: I think it has.
MR. CASEY: I believe you think it does.
QUESTION: No, I do believe it does and so do — and I have reason to
believe it does and I know there are at least two members
of Congress who believe it does. No, I just think the State
Department is having difficulty finding words to announce
his premature retirement.
MR. CASEY: No. We owe you an answer on that.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. CASEY: I’ll get it for you.

EUROVISION 2006 TO AMEND REPORT ON ARMENIAN SINGER FOLLOWING AZERI PROTEST
ANS TV, Baku
13 Mar 06
[Presenter over video of the official website of Eurovision 2006]
The information posted on the official website of the Eurovision
Song Contest about singer Andre will be changed, one of the official
organizers of the event, Svante Stockselius, has told ANS. Andre will
represent Armenia during the 18-20 May Eurovision 2006 Song Contest
in Greece.
A decision has been taken to change the incorrect and politically
motivated text on the website about the Armenian singer, Stockselius
said.
The report about Andre posted on the official website of Eurovision was
a pure propaganda. It named as his birthplace the Nagornyy Karabakh
Republic, without mentioning that it is a self-declared entity, and
former Stepanakert, that is Xankandi, the town which the separatists
proclaimed their capital.
[MPA news agency reported at 0822 on 13 March that the Azerbaijani
Ministry of Culture and Tourism had protested at the text on the
website]

LEADERS URGED TO MEET LOCAL MP OVER UNREST IN GEORGIA’S ETHNIC ARMENIAN REGION
Imedi TV, Tbilisi
13 Mar 06
[Presenter] Certain forces wish to destabilize the situation in the
country by stirring up disorder in Akhalkalaki, Chair of Parliament
Nino Burjanadze told a meeting of the bureau today.
Majority member Beso Jugheli asked the speaker whether she had met
Hamlet Movsesyan, the MP for Akhalkalaki, who Jugheli said, wants to
brief the president on the events in Akhalkalaki.
[Burjanadze] A very unpleasant incident has taken place in Akhalkalaki
[protest by local Armenians on 11 March which ended in the ransacking
of a local university and court].
I should stress however that the serious incident that preceded the
attempts to create disorder [a clash between ethnic Armenians and
Georgians in Tsalka District in which an Armenian was killed and
several others wounded] is a very sensitive subject indeed. All the
questions must be answered and the guilty punished.
It is obvious that there are serious forces trying to destabilize
this region and the country. There are serious forces trying to set
Georgians and non-Georgians against each other.
[Jugheli, to Burjanadze] Have you spoken to Hamlet Movsesyan, the MP
for Akhalkalaki?
[Burjanadze] No, I have not spoken to him yet but I certainly will.
[Jugheli] Kalbatono Nino, I want to state, very gently, that no-one
pays any attention to what local constituency MPs say. Hamlet Movsesyan
is a clear example of this. Khatuna, hold on a second please. I do
not know whether he had a fever or something else but I know that
Hamlet Movsesyan has requested a meeting with the president.

ALLEGED MERCENARY DENIES CLAIMS BY KENYAN LEGISLATOR
NTV, Nairobi
13 Mar 06
[Presenter] One of the alleged Armenian soldiers for hire made a
scathing attack on Langata MP Raila Odinga this morning during a
press conference he held at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Ata Rusaksian [phonetic] who flew into the country from Dubai termed
the mercenaries allegations by Raila as false and demanded repayment
of an alleged debt amounting to 1.5m US dollars which he claims he
advanced to the Langata legislator.
[Reporter] Ata Sagaian [phonetic] says he is a businessman and has
never been soldier for hire as alleged by Langata MP Raila Odinga.
Ata who claimed to have vast business ventures in Dubai says he
arrived in the country this morning to counter Raila’s allegations.
But he also has allegations to level against the Langata legislator.
[Ata] Today what happening with me he [is] trying to close [the]
door to Kenya for me [so that] I don’t come [and] I don’t ask [for]
my own money. He try to make us state enemy, he [is] try[ing] to make
us enemy of Kenya.
[Reporter] He says his brother Ata Magaian [phonetic] also alleged
to be a mercenary is a businessman in Dubai and that they have never
been or engaged themselves in mercenary activities.
In a signed statement faxed to newsrooms Ata says the only other time
he and his brother have been in Kenya was last year when they came
to seek business investments in the hotel industry. It was then that
Ata claims they came face to face with Langata MP. [Passage omitted:
Ata speaking; words unclear]
[Reporter] Ata claims Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka approached them
to finance the ODM referendum campaigns at a sum of 3bn shillings. The
businessman also claims that Raila owes him 1.5m US dollars he advanced
to him as a loan and he has never paid it back.
The mercenaries theory emerged two days after a raid at the Standard
Group offices where Raila claims that in the midst of the hooded
police officers were foreign mercenaries.

AZERI PRESIDENT, US MEDIATOR DISCUSS KARABAKH CONFLICT
Azartac news agency, Baku
13 Mar 06
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received the US co-chair of the
OSCE Minsk Group, Steven Mann, at the Presidential Palace on 13 March.
At the meeting they exchanged views on the current situation in the
negotiations to resolve the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict between Armenia
and Azerbaijan.

ISTANBUL UNIVERSITY TO HOLD SYMPOSIUM ON TURKISH-ARMENIAN TIES
Anatolia news agency, Ankara
13 Mar 06
Istanbul, 13 March: Istanbul University Rector Prof Mesut Parlak
held an informative meeting about the symposium on “New Approaches
to Turkish-Armenian Relations” which will be held at the university
on 15-17 March.
Stating that this symposium would be the most comprehensive one with
70 participants from Turkey and some other countries, Parlak underlined
that it would reveal the truths regarding Turkish-Armenian relations.
Parlak said that 1915 incidents [during which the Ottomans allegedly
engaged in genocide against Armenians] had several dimensions –
military, social and psychological – stating that the matter would
be discussed from a scientific point of view.
“I believe that the symposium will help a new period be started in
Turkish-Armenian relations,” he underlined.
Parlak noted that the university invited Armenian historians to the
symposium, but they said that they would not attend.

USA GIVES ARMENIAN BIRD FLU EXPERTS PROTECTIVE CLOTHING
Mediamax news agency
13 Mar 06
Yerevan, 13 March: US ambassador to Armenia John Evans handed 1,500
sets of special protective clothing over to the Armenian authorities
in Yerevan today.
The protective clothing is for specialists who can take part in
monitoring, preventing or studying cases of bird flu.
A total of 1,125 sets of special protective clothing were given to
the Agriculture Ministry, and the other 375 to the Health Ministry
of Armenia, Mediamax learnt from the press service of the US embassy
in Yerevan.

ARMENIAN ARYAN ORDER CALLS ON ALL NATIONAL-PATRIOTIC FORCES TO BE VIGILANT AND UNITED
Noyan Tapan
Mar 13 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The Supreme Council of the Armenian
Aryan Order (AAO) made a “War-call in the name of Armenians and
Armenia” in which it calls on all national-patriotic forces of
all the Armenians to be vigilant and proposes to unite round the
idea of self-protection. It’s said in the document that during the
recent times, statements provoking the war and the attempts “of our
deadly enemies, Turk-Azeris (and their masters) became terrible, the
Turks again started to touch upon the ideas of Panturanism, Azeris
undertake steps of re-conquering Armenian historic Artsakh and other
liberated territories. Parallel to this, according to the AAO, the
“brothers” Georgians continue their state anti-Armenian policy the
final goal of which is to set free of Armenians our historic Javakhk
(Akhltskha-Akhalkalak-Bogdanoveka and the neighboring territories). The
organization finds that tendencies of strengthening Iran and some
Arabic countries in the region, aimed actions addressed to recognition
of the Armenian cause and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide
“infuriated the secret governors of dark forces of the world, and
the Zionist-masonic scum again uses its old methods, the Panturanism
poison given rise by it, the blunt instrument injecting it and
spreading ravage in the Armenian highlands, Caucasus and Near East.”

ARMENIA TO HAVE MILITARY OMBUDSMAN
Regnum, Moscow
13 Mar 06
13 March: The institution of military ombudsman will be set up in
Armenia, Deputy Defence Minister Lt-Gen Artur Agabekyan has said.
Agabekyan said that this step is envisaged within the framework of
reforming military legislation.
He added that the military ombudsman will deal with problems
experienced by the Armenian military personnel.

PARTICIPANTS OF RALLY OF MANY THOUSANDS TAKEN PLACE IN AKHALKALAK CONDEMN WHAT HAPPENED IN TSALKA
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 13 2006
AKHALKALAK, MARCH 13, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On the initiative
of the Samtskhe-Javakhk Armenian public organizations council a rally
of many thousands took place on March 11 on the Mesrop Mashtots square
of Akhalkalak as a complaint against the events taken place in Tsalka
two days ago. The rally participants condemned what happened in Tsalka
on March 9, emphasizing that the murder of Gevorg Gevorgian, a 23 years
old inhabitant of the Armenian village of Ghushchi and the two young
men of the same age being injured are a direct consequence of the not
ethnic policy led by the authorities. They speak at the rally about
the dangerous and threating with an explosion situation of Georgian
authorities’ leading the policy of changing the ethnic picture of
the region to the detriment of Armenians. The issue of giving the
Armenian language a state status was touched upon again. Condemning
what happened in Tsalka, at the same time the rally organizers called
on not to subject to provocations. The issue of giving real security
guarantees to the Armenian inhabitation was especially seriously
arosen in the case of condemning the authorities of Georgia. A claim
addressed to the authorities of Georgia, the Georgian Armenians and
the international community was adopted by the participants during
the rally. According to the “A-Info” agency, it’s particularly said
in the document: “Examining the instigating actions in general in the
regions of Georgia populated with Armenians during the recent months
and particularly on March 9 in Tsalka as well as expressing our anxiety
on the occasion of the Armenian population’s security and keeping the
stability in the country, we call on the authorities of Georgia: – to
stop the policy of putting pressure by interracial tension; – to stop
re-population of foreigners in the regions populated with Armenians
what is a reason for interracial tension; – to remain faithful to
their innitial programs of establishing democracy in the country
and solving the problems existing in Javakhk in a democratic way; –
to guarantee real security for Armenians; – to review the law on the
state language of Georgia before the coming elections of the local
self-government bodies, for the reason, that Armenia will be adopted
in Samtskhe-Javakhk as the state language joint with the Georgian
language. At the same time, we call on the nations of Georgia to
understand that the interracial tension can be of benefit for nobody:
everybody will lose in the case of interracial conflicts. We call on
Europe and the international community not to allow for democracy
and the human and civil rights are violated in Georgia. We call on
the Armenians of Georgia to be carefull and united, not to subject to
instigations, not to leave the right way of getting rights.” After the
rally some young people moved to the regional court of Akhalkalak and
the Akhalkalak branch of the Tbilisi State University. The participants
connected the main reason of the procession with discharging the
judge of the Armenian origin as well as with the fact of not accepting
Armenian young people in the univerisity branch. The ingidnated young
people broke the windows of the university building. Some of the young
people gathered at the new Georgian chapel, the chapel servicewomen
let them enter, and they made sure that there is no armament in the
buildings around, they went away. Khachatur Stepanian, a representative
of the Samtskhe-Javakhk Armenian Public Organizations Council mentioned
on the occasion of what happened that no prosession towards the
court and the university wasn’t planned by the rally organizers,
consequencely, what happened in the university and the court has
nothing with the council and rally organizers. Commenting upon the
happened, he expressed an opinion that a group of citizens unpleased
with the authorities of Georgia was subjected to certain provocations.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress