YURI MERZLYAKOV RATED CONSULTATIONS WITH ARMENIAN AND AZERI FMS SUBSTANTIAL
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.04.2006 00:03 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The consultations held with the Armenian and
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers in Moscow were very substantial, OSCE
Minsk Group Russian Co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov stated when commenting on
a meeting held last week between the Foreign Ministers of Armenian and
Azerbaijan, Vartan Oskanian and Elmar Mammadyarov within the framework
of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers. “We mulled the details of
further discussions. So, the next round of talks will start shortly,”
Merzlyakov announced, hinting at the next round of talks at the level
of the Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers.
According to Merzlyakov, the meeting is to be held in May, while the
term and place of talks are still to be defined. Upon the completion of
the meeting of the ministers the diplomats will mull the opportunities
for organization of a dialogue of the Presidents.
Merzlyakov noted that in early May the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs will
set up consultations in Moscow, and after tour the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict region, reported Trend news agency.

FRENCH AMBASSADOR: WORLD SHOULD REMEMBER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.04.2006 00:06 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The world should always remember the Armenian
Genocide. This is not only the history of Armenia but also of Europe,
French Ambassador Henry Cuny stated when in Tsitsernakaberd today
to commemorate the Armenian Genocide victims. “The French Senate has
recognized the Armenian Genocide; the French Penal Code provides for
punishment for its denial,” the Ambassador said.
For his part, French parliamentarian Philippe Pentec emphasized that
“only those who do not experience problems with the past should join
Europe”, reported the Public Television of Armenia.

PROTEST ACTIONS TO BE HELD IN VENEZUELA AND SHANGHAI
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.04.2006 01:28 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Protest actions dedicated to the 91st anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide will be held in Venezuela and China’s
Shanghai, reported Yerkir Media TV. According to the source, a rally
was organized by the Armenian youth organizations of Georgia in front
of the Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi when the action participants handed
a written demand to recognize the Genocide to the Embassy officials.
However, according to some sources, they failed to convey the document,
since the Embassy staff was absent today.

AYAZ MUTALIBOV: U.S. FOLLOWS OWN INTERESTS IN KARABAKH ISSUE
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.04.2006 00:50 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The U.S. follows its own interests in the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict settlement process, Azerbaijani ex-President Ayaz
Mutalibov stated. In his words, proceeding from the tension over Iran
Washington is not interested in instability in the region. “In this
view the efforts of the U.S. administration to localize the conflicts
are quite understandable. On the other hand, if the U.S. stands for
peaceful settlement of the conflicts available in the South Caucasus,
so why doesn’t it abide by the same principle as regards Iran?” he
said, reported Day.az.

MESKHETIAN TURKS ARE RETURNING TO GEORGIA, BUT NOT TO JAVAKHK
PanARMENIAN.Net
21.04.2006 GMT+04:00
Georgian government has initiated the repatriation of people whose
ancestors were deported for supporting Turkish invasion.
The visit of Georgian state minister for conflicts resolution
Georgy Khaindrava to Ankara has drawn to an end. During the visit
Khaindrava discussed the issue of returning Meskhetian Turks who
were once deported from Samtskhe Javekhetia. It is worth reminding
that recently Georgian President Michael Saakashvili gave an order
to start the repatriation process during the coming few weeks.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ There is no doubt that the efforts of official
Tbilisi are for the beginning aimed at showing activity towards
solving the Turks’ repatriation problem. Up to now the issue concerns
the repatriation of only six families. But it is quite possible that
external forces interested in destabilizing situation in the region
might make use of the careless order of the Georgian President.
Currently Azerbaijan and Turkey are creating funds for organizing
mass relocation of Turks to the Armenian-populated regions of Samtskhe
Javakhetia.
Azeri journalists write that the settlement of Turks in Javakhk is
of great importance for Azerbaijan, since it will allow to weaken
the Armenian factor in the strategic region and strengthening Tusk’
and Azeris’ position, it will create a Turkic region, separating
Georgia from Armenia and Iran. Ankara and Baku openly speculate
with the difficulties of official Tbilisi, heavily influenced by the
European Council which yet in 1999 obliged Georgia to repatriate Turks.
However, it is well known that in reality the number of Meskhetian
Turks wishing to move to Georgia voluntarily is not so large. In 1944
around 94000 Turks were deported from Georgia to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan
and Kyrgizia. The majority of deported people were assimilated in Asia
because of religious, language and cultural commonness. Thus, today the
overall number of Meskhetian Turks in the world cannot be more than
60-70 thousands. Meanwhile, Baku and Ankara speak about 600 thousand
Turks wishing to return to Samtskhe Javakhetia. This is an open
provocation also aimed at influencing Georgian political leadership.
Azeris principally call Meskhetian Turks “Akhaltsikhe Turks”, whereas
it is known that before deportation there were not many Turks in
Akhaltsikhe and other Armenian populated regions. Akhaltsikhe Turks
mainly lived in the northern regions of Samtskhe Djavakhetia, which
was not populated by Armenians. For example it is known that there
were only 44 Turkish families in Akhalkalaki region. Thus, it is quite
easy to prove that the before the deportation of Turks, the number of
Armenians in Javakhk was more than it is now. It is easy to understand
Azeri propaganda. They are doing everything possible to underline
that Turks have to return to Armenian populated regions. Georgian
authorities are on one hand interested in dissolving Armenians in
the representatives of other ethnic groups. This can be proved by the
fact that the Armenian populated regions were populated by Svans and
Ajars. But at the same time, Georgian rulers cannot but realize the
explosiveness of the situation in case of the inevitable conflict
between native Armenians and Turks whom they will try to settle
in Javakhk.
This is why Michael Saakashvili and Georgy Khaindrava never
promise that repatriated Turks will be settled exactly in Samtskhe
Javakhetia. Obligations taken by Georgia before the European Council
do not suppose territorial restrictions.
The Soviet government’s decision made in 1944 can easily be
understood. It was made with an aim to improve the security of state
border, since Meskhetian Turks actively cooperated with the agents
of Fascist Germany and prepared grounds for Turkish invasion.
Georgians do not forget that. This is why not all of them welcome
Saakashvili’s decision. The late Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Jvnaia
never concealed that taking the obligation on the repatriation of
Meskhetian Turks was a mistake. He repeatedly announced that his
government did not consider it possible to realize the repatriation
due to a number of reasons connected with the national security
of Georgia. Similar announcements were made also by other members
of Jvania’s team who are still in power. One of them was state
minister Georgy Baramidze who said: “Georgia is not able to fulfill
the obligation to repatriate Meskhetian Turks. Mass repatriation may
bring to the breach of stability in the region and create new grounds
for international tension”.
However, today when Baku and Ankara have found mechanisms of influence,
the top political leadership of Georgia, Baramidze and his associates
keep silence…
“PanARMENIAN.Net” analytical department
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

I’LL VISIT THE TSITSERNAKABERD AS LONG AS I’M ALIVE”
Panorama.am
15:57 24/04/06
“The world must no longer remain silent. Near is the day when
the Genocide will be recognized, our land will be returned and we
shall come back to our fatherland so that our children should grow
Armenians and live as Armenians,” the representative of the Armenian
community in the Ukraine Moushegh Tartikyan says. The latter has come
to Tsitsernakaberd along with 9 representatives of the community
today. They have also brought the Ukrainian flag with them which
aims at showing the many Ukrainians and 100.000s of Armenian living
in the Ukraine recognize the Genocide although the country they live
in hasn’t yet admitted the fact of the criminal action.
Member of Union of Choreography, choreograph Vanoush Khanamiryan
mentions that he has been coming to Tsitsernakaberd from the year
the complex exists and he is going to come as long as he is alive as
it is his debt of honor. “I want to appeal to the world that it’s
high time the world recognized the reality. It’s a shame that many
countries haven’t still recognized the Armenian Genocide, yet I am
thankful to all those countries that have recognized the cruel fact
of the Great Armenian Genocide,” he says.

IRANIAN ARMENIANS COMMEMORATED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.04.2006 01:13 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On April 23 evening a mourning liturgy in
commemoration of the Armenian Genocide victims was chanted by head of
the Iranian Diocese of the AAC Sepukh Sargsian in Surb Sargis Church in
Tehran. Then a rally was held in the yard of the Armenian Church. April
24 an event dedicated to the 91st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
was held in the “Ararat” sports center. The Armenian genocide issue
was also widely covered by Iranian media, reported Alik newspaper.

TURKEY TO RECOGNIZE GENOCIDE IN 9 YEARS
Panorama.am
16:00 24/04/06
The president of pan-Armenian compatriotic union “Yerevan and
Yerevanians” Yeghia Shamshyan is sure that Turkey will have recognized
the criminal action it carried out at the beginning of the century
by the 100th anniversary of the Great Armenian Genocide. “If such
humanistic countries as France, Germany and Russia have recognized
the fact of the genocide, then Turkey will also have to do the same
to remove the blemish from the nation,” Y. Shamshyan says.
The president of “Orran” (Cradle) charity organization Armenuhi
Hovhannisyan also thinks that her contemporaries will face the day when
Turkey will admit the fact of the Genocide. “I have learned about the
great massacre from the stories of my grandmothers and grandfathers
full of tears. And today I come to pay a tribute of respect to the
memory of millions of our compatriots. I come here with a kind of sad
feeling but in the meantime I swear to myself that I must be able to
bring up a generation which will be sure that those dark days of our
nation must never repeat again.”

NOT TO LIMIT THE RESPECT WITHIN THIS ONE DAY
Panorama.am
14:01 24/04/06
Despite the rainy weather the Tsitsernakaberd monumntal complex was
even more crowded this year in comparison with the previous years. From
the early morning people have been paying their tribute of respect to
the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Turkey
from 1915-1923.
At about 11 the Governmental delegation headed by President Robert
Kocharyan as well as the delegation of the religious representatives
headed by Patriarch of All Armenian visited Tsitsernakaberd.
What is the symbol of April 24, what evaluation should be given
to the fact, what should be the attitude of the world towards the
Great Genocide and what does Armenia do for that? These are the
questions that are still on the agenda. “There were countries which
recognized the fact of the criminal action and those where monuments
were erected. The achievements are obvious and year by year more and
more countries realize that this was a criminal action against the
whole humanity,” RA NA vice Speaker Tigran Torosyan says.
The dean of YSU faculty of sociology Lyudmila Haroutyunyan is deeply
sure that justice will triumph and the world will recognize the fact
of the Great Armenian Genocide.
The Ukrainian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Armenia
Alexander Bozhkoy thinks: “Today we have to remember and learn a lesson
from the dark days of the history as after the Armenian Genocide there
came Hitler camps, artificial hunger (“gladomor”) in the Ukraine, and
Stalin massacres in the end. Thus, we must remember about all that.”
Talking about the symbol of April 24 Armenia’s chief Procurator
Aghvan Hovsepyan emphasizes: “Today all of us respect the memory of
the innocent victims of the Great Armenian Genocide and we must do
our best not to limit it within this one day.”

THE WORLD MUST RECOGNIZE
Panorama.am
14:15 24/04/06
“We have to think about our steps and deeds. It’s Turkey’s problem
where it will be at that time,” NA vice Speaker Tigran Torosyan said
today touching upon the statement that Armenia and Turkey have to
become members of the EU at the same time.
What refers to recognition of the fact of Armenian Genocide by Turkey
T. Torosyan said: “It’s not our problem, it’s Turkey to think over
that. It’s a matter of Turkey’s and Turkish people’s dignity. They
may not recognize that fact. Nothing is going to change in the world.
The important thing is that the humanity has to realize that it was
a real criminal action, and the attitude towards that is not only a
respect towards the Armenian people but also respect towards humanity
and universal values.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress