EVENTS TO MARK THE 91ST ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE STARTED IN FRANCE LASE EVENING
ArmRadio.am
24.04.2006 15:00
Events to mark the 91st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide started in
France lase evening. Head of the European Armenian Federation Hilfda
Tchoboyan told “Radiolur” that the official ceremony of opening the
memorial to the victims of the Genocide will be held in a few hours,
which a few days was profaned by Turks. Currently the official ceremony
of opening another memorial dedicated to the Armenian Genocide is
being held in Marseilles.

APRIL 23-29 PROCLAIMED A WEEK OF COMMEMORATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN CALIFORNIA
ArmRadio.am
24.04.2006 15:30
The Governor of California Arnold Shwarzenegger has proclaimed April
23-29 a week of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide victims.
The decree signed by the Governor says in particular that April 24,
1915 marks the start start of the Armenian Genocide – the crime
against humanity in the result of which 1.5 million Armenians were
massacred till 1923. The document notes also that the “500 thousand
Armenians that escaped the annihilation policy were displaced from
their homeland and settled in other countries.
“These people found shelter in a new homeland, including in California,
which is the State which now has the largest Armenian community in
the US. Today, when we mark the 91st anniversary of the Genocide, we
should understand the lessons of the history to fight all expressions
of hatred. I join the Armenian community calling for recognition
of the Armenian Genocide and thus call on the Americans and other
peoples of the world to do the same,” Shwarzenegger’ s decree says.

EU REP SAYS AZERBAIJAN HAS “SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE” FOR EUROPEAN ENERGY POLICY
MPA news agency
24 Apr 06
Baku, 24 April: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has
received a delegation of the EU troika led by Austrian Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs Hans Winkler, MPA has learnt from the press
centre of the Foreign Ministry.
The EU attaches special importance to developing ties with the South
Caucasus countries and it is interested in further development of
relations with Azerbaijan in energy and other spheres, Winkler said.
Mammadyarov said that EU assistance to the resolution of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh on the basis of
the principles of international law is important and that the conflict
has a negative influence on the development of the region.
He said that the documents adopted by the international community on
the conflict must reflect the real situation. Emphasizing that it is
crucial to comply with norms of international law, sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, Mammadyarov said that otherwise
the negotiations will face difficulties.
At a briefing on the results of the meeting with the Azerbaijani
leadership, Winkler said that the EU views Azerbaijan as a potential
partner in supplying energy resources to Europe. The EU would like
to conduct an energy policy of its own and as it searches for ways to
diversify the sources and routes of the supplies of energy resources,
Azerbaijan assumes special significance.
The EU representative said that the recent controversy between Russia
and Ukraine over gas “was an alarm call for Europe” which is interested
in stable supplies of energy resources. “In this connection, it is
obvious that oil-producing and transit countries, like Azerbaijan,
start playing a special role for Europe,” he said.
The individual action plan of partnership between Azerbaijan and the
EU within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy is about
to be completed and its implementation will start soon. As part of
this cooperation, Azerbaijan will receive 20m euros annually from
the EU to support political, economic and social reforms, he said.

AZERI PUNDIT URGES BAKU TO BE CAUTIOUS ON KARABAKH, IRAN ISSUES
Yeni Musavat, Baku
23 Apr 06
A prominent Azerbaijani political analyst has called on Baku to be
careful on the Nagornyy Karabakh issue and the escalating crisis
around Iran’s nuclear ambitions. In an interview with opposition
daily Yeni Musavat, former presidential advisor on foreign policy
issues Vafa Quluzada warned that Azerbaijan cannot start war with
Armenia now and must be in the anti-Iran coalition if war against
Iran starts. “Azerbaijan must protect itself and be very careful. It
is doomed to joining the anti-Iran coalition if war starts,” he was
quoted in the newspaper as saying. The following is an excerpt from
Zahid Safaroglu’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni Musavat on
23 April headlined “Azerbaijan may be provoked” and headlined “Vafa
Quluzada: There is no way left to resolve the Iranian issue in a
peaceable manner”; subheadings have been inserted editorially:
The South Caucasus smells of gunpowder again. But the main peculiarity
of the current situation is that the conflicting interests of the
global powers can be better seen in the region. This moment in the
geopolitical vector of the region is unlikely to pass without pain
because the historical moment of confrontation between the West, which
is growing stronger in the region, and Russia, which is getting weak
on the contrary, is inevitable. However, it does not seem logical
that Moscow will easily give up its ambitions and voluntarily yield
the Caucasus to the West. In any case, the experience of the near
past shows that the Kremlin has retreated from those regions where
it has vital interests by fighting and shedding blood.
[Passage omitted: Russia using local conflicts against newly
independent republics]
Victory unfeasible
We talked to the former state advisor [to Azerbaijani president on
foreign policy], political analyst Vafa Quluzada about the feelings
of war in the region. He first commented on the possible resumption
of hostilities in the Karabakh front. He said that Russia has a finger
in the war psycho more than the conflicting sides themselves.
The former advisor noted that the views saying that Azerbaijan will
resume war are not serious.
“This is actually a provocation because war would play into the hands
of Moscow. The matter is that all the steps of the occupying country
[Armenia] are controlled by Russia. Armenia cannot attack us because
it is already an aggressor and may face additional penalties. The
international community may also apply penalties against Russia.”
Since the hostilities deal a serious blow to the West’s interests in
the region and the Kremlin is interested in it, Russia will be the
object of criticism, Quluzada said.
“Russia knows about it. Therefore, it wishes not to be accused. It
wants to create the opinion that the sides themselves fight each
other. But it is impossible for Russia to stay aside because Yerevan
and Moscow have a military deal.”
Quluzada believes that Azerbaijan should be extremely careful under
these circumstances. “Russia may commit provocation against us. For
example, Moscow may pretend to be neutral. Even it may turn a blind
eye to Azerbaijan’s military successes in the first days of war. But
it will be bad for us later. The Kremlin may hit us with the hand of
the neighbouring country.”
The former state advisor recalled that it is impossible to rely on
Russia and Azerbaijan’s victory under the circumstances is unfeasible.
“That is why, we must be interested in preserving the cease-fire for
the time being. Azerbaijan’s time is approaching since Russia will
collapse in 10 years.”
Anti-Iran coalition: to join or not to join
As for the Iranian issue, which is directly related to the geopolitical
fate of the region, the expert believes that there is no way of
resolving the problem in a diplomatic manner.
“Tehran is a step away from acquiring nuclear weapons. Now experts
say that it may take several more years. But I say that it is possible
in a couple of months. That is why Iran will be hit now.
Moreover, the Tehran regime continues to threaten America and thus
expedites the developments.”
Vafa bay [form of address] did not conceal his confidence that the
USA aims to attack Iran and said that the White House also tries to
make use of the factors inside Iran.
“It is not ruled out that they will use our countrymen [ethnic
Azerbaijanis] in Iran, but military factors matter more to Washington
than the factors inside Iran.”
So, what position must Azerbaijan take in order to secure its own
interests?
Quluzada said: “Azerbaijan must protect itself and be very careful.
It is doomed to joining the anti-Iran coalition if war starts. We
are a small country and on the other hand it does not mean much
to Tehran if Azerbaijan is in the coalition.” Here, the talk is of
course about the possibility that our southern neighbour may target
US installations in Azerbaijan as a last resort.
Thus, it emerges that Azerbaijan’s place in our region, which resembles
a barrel of gunpowder, is very inconsistent and dangerous.
The situation of our country under cross influence (pressures) can
be complicated more because of the erroneous foreign policy of the
Aliyev administration, including wrong steps on the Karabakh issue.
This is as dangerous as the threat of the ruling dynastic regime to
our national interests.

TEENAGER DETAINED IN FATAL STABBING OF ARMENIAN STUDENT IN MOSCOW SUBWAY
Mike Eckel
AP Worldstream
Apr 24, 2006
Police detained a teenager in connection with the fatal stabbing of
an Armenian student on a Moscow subway platform over the weekend,
a city prosecutor’s official said Monday.
The killing was the latest in a wave of attacks in Russia against
dark-skinned immigrants from the southern Caucasus regions and former
Soviet Central Asia.
Sergei Marchenko, a spokesman for the Moscow prosecutor’s office,
said in televised comments that a 17-year-old boy was detained Monday
and had confessed to the Saturday evening killing.
Russian news agencies said investigators had classified the attack
as murder, but were considering it as a possible hate crime.
The ITAR-Tass news agency said the victim _ a 17-year-old Armenian
native and Moscow university student _ was standing with a group of
acquaintances when seven people got off a train and attacked them,
stabbing him once in the chest. The victim died on the spot.
The incident prompted sharp criticism from the Union of Russian
Armenians, a civic organization in Moscow.
“It’s not important what nationality the killed person is. This
concerns everyone. This is a problem for all of Russia,” union chief
Ara Abramian said on Ekho Moskvy radio. “If we have extremism and
nationalism, we should call these things exactly what they are and
then maybe these incidents won’t be repeated.”
Law enforcement authorities often classify attacks on minorities as
simple “hooliganism” with no racial motivation, fueling the anger of
Kremlin critics who say the government does little to stem hate crimes.
Several attacks on foreigners and ethnic minorities have occurred in
Russia in the past few weeks, and the country has seen a marked rise
in xenophobia and racism in recent years, with rights groups accusing
the government of inaction.
Assailants, often young skinheads or other nationalists, have committed
hundreds of attacks on foreigners from Africa, Asia and Latin America,
dark-skinned immigrants from former Soviet Central Asia and the
Caucasus Mountains region, and Jews. Dozens have died.
Rights activists say hate groups are emboldened by what they believe
is the authorities’ mild approach to prosecuting hate crimes, and
complain that neo-Nazi and other extremist literature and propaganda
is widely available on the streets and on the Internet.
Also Monday, Russian news agencies reported that a 25-year-old Tajik
man was killed and another was wounded after being attacked in Moscow
on Sunday. Prosecutors were investigating the crime as a possible
racial attack, RIA-Novosti reported.
Russian news agencies also reported that police detained three men
Monday in connection with the beating of a Turkish man in a St.
Petersburg subway station over the weekend. RIA-Novosti said the
36-year-old man received head injuries in the Saturday attack.
St. Petersburg has seen an exceptional number of racial attacks in
recent months.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANALYSTS SAY IRAN WILL TOP AGENDA FOR AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT’S U.S. TRIP
Aida Sultanova
AP Worldstream
Apr 24, 2006
As the starting point for a pipeline that will pump 1 million barrels
of oil a day to Western markets, the former Soviet republic Azerbaijan
has long ranked as a strategic foothold for the United States in the
Caspian Sea region.
But it’s the shared border with Iran, where up to 30 million ethnic
Azeris live, that has earned Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev an
invitation to the White House this week, analysts say. Aliev leaves
Tuesday for a three-day visit on the invitation of President George
W. Bush.
“The Iranian problem will doubtless form the background to this
visit,” said Ilqar Mammadov, an independent analyst. “The United
States probably wants to get some clear position from Azerbaijan on
this question, so that bearing this position in mind it can build
its further strategic plans.”
Azerbaijan has sought to balance its aspirations for closer cooperation
with the United States with its former imperial master Russia and
its volatile neighbor Iran. Now the nation of 7.9 million faces the
question of whether it should attempt a role as mediator _ and what it
could respond to any request by Bush to join a coalition to pressure
Tehran to abandon its alleged nuclear arms program.
On a visit to the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, last week, Iranian
Defense Minister Mustafa Mohammad Najjar suggested Aliev could use his
Washington visit to “explain to the Americans, so that they correctly
understand a series of questions” concerning Iran. And Washington,
which cut virtually all relations with Iran 27 years ago, could send
a message to the Iranians through Aliev, should he choose to deliver
it next week when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to
visit Baku for a regional economic conference.
But the more likely scenario is for U.S. officials to ask for support
from Azerbaijan.
“For America, it is important to announce that a Muslim country
is also taking part in the anti-Iranian coalition,” said analyst
Zardushta Alizade. “This is the role being prepared for …
Azerbaijan, although it doesn’t answer the interests of the Azerbaijani
people since the proximity with Iran makes any willingness to cooperate
with the United States on this question very dangerous.”
For Aliev, the top item on his Washington agenda will be the
grinding, 18-year-old conflict with Armenia over the enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh. At least 30,000 people were killed and 1 million made
refugees during six years of war that ended with a shaky cease-fire
in 1994. Ethnic Armenian forces occupy the enclave inside Azerbaijan.
The United States, together with Russia and the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, is trying to mediate a resolution.
“We not only expect but demand that the United States … exert
pressure on Armenia,” said Ali Hasanov, a senior aide to Aliev.
Opposition leaders said they considered it unrealistic for Aliev to
expect any progress on Nagorno-Karabakh from his Washington visit.
And they complained that by hosting Aliev, the White House was turning
a blind eye to his government’s democratic shortcomings, including last
fall’s parliamentary elections that foreign observers said did not meet
international standards. The country’s weak opposition was shrunk by
arrests and many campaign rallies were broken up with police beatings.
There has been “no development in the area of democratization” since
those elections, much less the allegedly fraudulent 2003 election that
cemented Aliev’s hold on power following the death of his strong man
father, Geidar Aliev, said Ali Kerimli, the leader of the opposition
Popular Front of Azerbaijan. “So for us, this visit is as unexpected
as it is strange.”
Even before the Iranian crisis heated up, U.S. criticism of Aliev’s
domestic policies was muted, due in large part to Baku’s role in
supplying the West with Caspian Sea oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
pipeline. The first shipments are due this June, and in the fall the
new Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline will provide a new source of
energy for the Turkish market.
In addition to Bush, Aliev is scheduled to meet with Vice President
Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Energy Secretary
Samuel Bodman and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

TURKS IN EUROPE CONDEMN THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Lragir.am
24 April 06
On April 24 a man was distributing fliers on the hill where the
memorial to the victims of the genocide. He was obviously avoiding
contact with people. The flier was published by the Confederation of
Workers from Turkey in Europe.
“We condemn the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and share the sufferings
of the Armenian people,” runs the title of the flier.
“This genocide exterminated not only people, but also their
civilizations, history and the treasures of a rich culture, the
imperialist rulers and the Nazi Turkish republic that serves them
will approach this issue from the perspective of their economic,
social and historical interests. The rulers of Turkey are displaying
the same approach to the problem of Kurds and the Armenian genocide.
In other words, they deny” and finally “the Turkish Republic should
recognize the Armenian genocide and apologize to the Armenians,
spread all over the world,” runs the flier.

RA PRIME MINISTER ISSUES AN ADDRESS ON THE OCCASSION OF THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
ArmRadio.am
24.04.2006 14:50
On the occasion of the day of commemoration of Genocide victims an
address was issued also by RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan. The
address says in particular, “Every year on April 24 all Armenians in
motherland and the Diaspora bow before the memory of the numerous
Genocide victims. In 1915 this crime against the civilized world
was not prevented; moreover, it was not recognized and condemned,
thus serving as a basis for reoccurrence of new genocides. Today,
in the third millennium, Armenia considers the demonstration of
international political will directed at prevention of genocides a
primary issue and welcomes the aspiration of a number of countries
to jointly resist similar challenges to mankind. We welcome the fact
that annually the geography of countries recognizing and condemning
the Armenian Genocide expands, since the civil world realizes that it
is only through condemnation of this crime and realistic assessment
of historic facts that reoccurrence of similar crimes in future can
be prevented. Today the Genocide denial, distortion of facts does
not promote the stability and establishment of friendly relations in
the region.
Moreover, the atmosphere of non-punishment makes the execution of
similar crimes in the future possible.
Last years Armenians of the world marked the 90th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide, stressing once again that they are united
in their will to condemn the greatest tragedy of our history and to
join the efforts of the progressive mankind to promote the dialogue of
civilizations and to reinforce the international security system. This
year, when we are celebrating 15 years of our independence, it is more
than obvious that the efforts of the international community are not
enough to prevent the crime against a whole nation; it is necessary
also to unite the whole potential of the nation to strengthen
the Armenian state and to create a society loyal to democratic
values. During the past 15 years our efforts were directed at this
aim, and year by year the achievements in this direction become more
considerable.”

POWERFUL ARMY GUARANTEES SECURITY
Lragir.am
24 April 06
On April 24 the government officials of NKR visited the memorial of
Stepanakert. NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan stated that evil must
be punished not to reoccur. Speaker Ashot Ghulyan stated that not
only the government of Armenia but also the leadership of Karabakh
is entitled to pursue the international recognition of the genocide.
“We have expectations too, and I think the connections of the
parliament, the parliamentary relations must be used for the
international recognition of the genocide. The wall of silence has been
demolished, and I think in the upcoming years it will become deeper
and finally there will be a general recognition of the genocide,”
said the speaker of the National Assembly of NKR.
Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan says this day must be an axis of
solidarity and responsibility. “Turkey must realize that after
recognizing the genocide it can establish friendly relations with
neighbors and be internationally accepted as a democratic state,”
stated the minister. He also emphasized that if we had a strong army
in the early 20th century, we could have prevented the crime.
“With respect to this the army is the main guarantee of security of
Armenia,” said the minister.

DENIAL OF A GENOCIDE IS TEMPORARY
Lragir.am
24 April 06
Turkey’s denial of the genocide is temporary, said Arthur Aghabekyan,
Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia, April 24, informed the news
agency ARKA. He announced that the genocide must be recognized
eventually. Arthur Aghabekyan said Armenia is conducting a correct
policy on the international recognition of the genocide.
“Our policy is correct from the perspective of educating generations,
and conveying to the international community that Armenia is going
to be consistent in pursuing condemnation of the crime of the 20th
century,” said Arthur Aghabekyan.