Indian Students Seek Justice in Vain
Hetq Online
[April 21, 2006]
I happened upon a huge crowd of Indian students walking up the
Baghramyan Street. I thought it was one of their national holidays; they
are always accompanied by processions and music. Well, I thought, the
procession would be a great part of a new project, Indians in Armenia,
that Hetq photographer Onnik Krikorian and I have launched recently.
But as soon as I approached, it became clear that the crowd gathering at
the National Assembly building was not celebrating a festival at all; it
looked more like a demonstration.
`What’s the gathering about?’ I asked one of the students, expecting to
hear some common Armenian university problem.
His answer was beyond all my expectations. It was something horrible.
Later in the several hours that I spent with them at the National
Assembly others added their stories to his tale, and gradually the whole
picture emerged.
Today (April 20, 2006) at around 13:00 pm, a third year student at the
Medical University, 21- year-old Prashant Anchalia fell out of a sixth
floor window in Building #7 of the Zeytun Student Dormitory. How and why
he fell are not yet clear. The students who rushed to him found him
lying on the ground covered with blood, screaming in pain. They called
an ambulance and their dean’s office.
Dean Anna Sarkisyan arrived fifteen minutes later. Although she is a
doctor, she made no attempt to provide emergency aid to the student, and
even forbade the other students to touch him or take him to hospital in
a taxi, rather than wait for the ambulance, which was slow to arrive.
Instead, she ordered them to wait for the police to get there.
The Police arrived and took some witnesses to the Kanaker Police Station
for questioning.
The ambulance arrived some 45-50 minutes after the call. According to
the students, it was in very poor condition and had no medical
equipment, not even an oxygen mask.
On the way to the hospital, Prashant Anchalia died.
The students went to the Medical University and asked to meet with the
rector, seeking an explanation for why their friend had been treated so
negligently. The response of the newly- appointed rector, Gohar Kialyan,
came as a shock. Out of the blue, she referred to Indian girls as
prostitutes, and showed the students the middle fingers of both her
hands, a gesture whose meaning is well known to even five-year old
kids.
Astonished by her behavior, the students decided to seek help in higher
places.
Several hundred students marched to the National Assembly, shouting,
`Help, President!’ and `We Want Justice!’ They were immediately
surrounded by the police, who forbade the students to move to the
Presidential Palace, faces frozen in dumb indifference.
`Man, I was supposed to go get my tooth fixed today,’ one of them
yawned, as he glanced significantly at the pavement. All the police
cared about was not letting the people cross the line between the
pavement and the street. I tried to find compassion in anybody’s eyes,
but in vain.
`What you want exactly? Tell me,’ said a policeman, apparently of some
high rank, not even bothering to wipe the ironical expression off his
face.
`We demand that the rector resign.’
`Justice.’
`Let them act like human beings, not like nationalists.’
`If it had been an Armenian lying there, would he have been treated the
same way?’
I heard it from all sides. They would ask and answer this question a
hundred times within several hours, to the politicians who appeared from
time to time, to the journalists, among whom there was no one from the
National TV.
`We will stay here until we get the rector’s resignation. We will
boycott our classes; we will go back to our country. Let her at least be
worried about losing the money she makes from 800 Indian students,’ the
Indian students said.
An elderly passer-by read their posters, which said in Armenian, `We do
not need her apology, we need justice!’ `Shame on the rector!’ `The
rector must resign!’ Learning the story behind them, she said, `My
dears, what you are doing makes no sense. She won’t go’don’t you know
who her husband is?’
A young man shrugged his shoulders and said, `Guys, this kind of thing
happens all the time. You’re not going to accomplish anything.’
The students formed a group of four representatives and sent them to the
National Assembly to meet with the vice-speaker, Tigran Torosyan.
Some time later, the vice-rector of the Medical University, Victor
Sahakyan, and the second secretary of the Indian Embassy arrived.
`Let them come to the University and speak there. We don’t solve our
problems on the street,’ he said.
Told that they had already been to the university, where they had been
insulted by the rector, Sahakyan explained, `They aren’t representing it
to you correctly. They did not interpret it the right way.’ He was
immediately interrupted by the Indians, who wanted to know how else the
gesture could be interpreted.
Earlier a policeman had told the students, `Guys, don’t worry about it.
She’s a woman. Maybe she didn’t know the meaning of the gesture.’
The Embassy representative, Mr. Bali, advised the students to disperse
and let them settle the matter the diplomatic way.
The Embassy told the parents of the dead boy that he had committed
suicide, without even waiting for the investigation to be concluded.
The students do not believe it was suicide.
`He was a balanced person. He had many plans for the future. He could
not have killed himself,’ they said.
The four-person delegation came back from the meeting with Tigran
Torosyan and said that Torosyan had asked them for two days to get
acquainted with the matter and decide what to do.
After that, Torosyan met with the Indian ambassador, Rina Pandei.
Ara Avetisyan, the deputy minister of Science and Education came to meet
the Indian students. In his view, the National Assembly was not the
right place for a protest, and oral demands were not the best method. He
advised the students to produce their demands in written form. The most
ridiculous thing was that no one could tell them who to write to.
And everybody kept saying that the students had to go back to the
university to speak to the rector and get her apology if she had done
something wrong. Completely ignoring the fact that that was not what the
students were after.
Red berets appeared at the building of the Parliament, surrounding the
crowd that was already surrounded by the police. As if the Indian
students there were dangerous criminals.
A man in civilian clothes standing with the police looked at the crowd
with frank surprise and asked, `There are more than a billion of them
now, right? What they are fighting for, one more, one less?’
The one cause for optimism in the whole situation was that there were
also few compassionate Armenians there ` two young girls, two students
from YSU who were with the Indians all that time and an old woman who,
when she heard story, knelt down to the Indian girls, hugged them, and
began to cry.
Some students brought lighted candles with them. During these hours I
managed to talk to most of them. The students would come up to me and
ask if I was tired, if I needed anything to eat.
`Look at this girl standing with the Chechen separatist,’ muttered a
young Policeman. The man I was talking to, the `Chechen separatist’, was
a Sikh who while living here had to remove his turban and cut his beard
(Sikhism does not allow to cut hair and shave off their beard), because
the core of Armenian society, the ` rabiz mass’ or `real Armenian guys’
as they prefer to be called, do not tolerate any other haircut but their
own crop, no style of dress but their black trousers and shirts. The
Indian students have problems with these Armenian guys all the time.
At around 10 o’clock in the evening the Ambassador, accompanied by
Tigran Torosyan, came out of the parliament building and took the
students to the Medical University. There, they had a private meeting
with Rector Gohar Kialyan. Off course the meeting yielded no results.
`She said she was sorry,’ one of the students said. `She said it without
any expression, any feeling. Then she suggested we arrange a delegation
to meet our dean and talk¦’
Friday morning the Indian students went to the First Hospital to pay
their respects to their friend. Iranian, Syrian and other foreign
students joined them. No Armenians were there.
Hasmik Hovhannisian
Photos by Onnik Krikorian

SOLEMN EVENT DEDICATED TO 40th ANNIVERSARY OF UNITED NATIONAL PARTY TO
BE ORGANIZED ON APRIL 24
YEREVAN, APRIL 21, NOYAN TAPAN. The 40th anniversary of foundation of
the United National Party will be marked on April 24 this year. In
this connection a solemn event will be organized at the Arno
Babajanian concert hall. Paruyr Hayrikian, Chairman of the National
Self-Determination Union, informed about it at April 21 press
conference. According to him, it is supposed that after getting
acquainted with some episodes of the history of the United National
Party founded in 1966 the participants of the event will adopt a
message in which they will call for posthumously giving the title of
the National Hero to UNP founder Haykaz Khachatrian and burying him in
the Pantheon after Komitas. Hayrikian said that starting 1965, April
24 has become a day of national awakening. According to the United
National Party’s program-regulations adopted in 1974, on April 24 the
UNP members kept the fast from morning to evening. And after the
sunset they marked the birth of the United National Party.
This year the UNP will start the series of events dedicated to April
24 from the Surb Sargis church, then the party members will visit the
Memorial to the Armenian Genocide victims, then will leave for
Echmiadzin for a liturgy, after which will visit the graves of Komitas
and Haykaz Khachatrian and will be present at the evening liturgy in
the Surb Grigor Lusavorich church.

VERZHINE SVAZLIAN AND EDGAR HILSENRATH RECEIVE RA PRESIDENT’S PRIZE
FOR CONSIDERABLE CONTRIBUTION TO RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
YEREVAN, APRIL 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On April 15, RA
President Robert Kocharian signed a decree on giving prizes to persons
who have made a considerable contribution to the issue of recognition
of the Armenian Genocide in 2005. As Noyan Tapan was informed from RA
President’s Press Service, Verzhine Svazlian was given President’s
prize for her monograph “The Armenian Genocide and the Historical
Memory of the People” and Edgar Hilsenrath (Germany) for his novel
“The Tale of the Last Thought.”

UNKNOWN PERSONS IN MASKS ATTACK MEMBERS OF GUARD OF NOR ZHAMANAKNER
PARTY’S CHAIRMAN AND KIDNAP THEM
YEREVAN, APRIL 21, NOYAN TAPAN. At about 12:55 of April 21, near the
Erebuni region’s police station, 12 unknown persons in masks attacked
two official cars of Nor Zhamanakner (New Times) party chairman. Those
attacking were armed with pistols and sub-machine-guns. As Noyan Tapan
correspondent was informed from the party’s Press Service, they
rudely, with shouts and threats laid down the members of the party
chairman’s guard and inflicted a corporal injury to the driver. Then,
leaving Aram Karapetian in the street, the armed persons took away the
members of the guard and the drivers by the official cars of the party
in an unknown direction. The unknown persons in masks took the attack
by several cameras. According to preliminary data revealed by the Nor
Zhamanakner party’s Press Service, the armed persons were from the
subdivisions of RA National Security Service. The party qualified the
incident as “purely an Armenian manifestation of the political
brigandage”.

From: [email protected]
Subject: Lithuania President Heads 2-day Delegation to Armenia April 25
DELEGATION HEADED BY PRESIDENT OF LITHUANIA TO PAY TWO-DAYS OFFICIAL
VISIT TO ARMENIA ON APRIL 25
YEREVAN, APRIL 21, NOYAN TAPAN. At RA President Robert Kocharian’s
invitation, the delegation headed Valdas Adamkus, the President of the
Republic of Lithuania will pay a two-days official visit to Armenia on
April 25-26. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA President’s Press
Office, the main goal of the visit is to stregthen interstate ties, to
point out the primary tasks and directions of the economic cooperation
between the two countries as well as to stimulate scientific-educational
and cultural ties giving a new quality and contents to the Armenian
and Lithuanian peoples’ traditional friendship. The solemn ceremony of
meeting the President of Lithuania will take place at the RA
President’s residence on April 25. Presidents Robert Kocharian’s and
Valdas Adamkus’ private conversation will follow the ceremony. Then a
meeting with the enlarged staff of the official delegations will take
place, then an agreement on encouraging investments and mutual
protection will be signed between the Governments of the two
countries. The two countries’ Presidents will hold a joint
press-conference. During the visit to Armenia, the President of
Lithuania will have meetings with Prime Minister Andranik Margarian,
Deputy Speaker of National Assembly Tigran Torosian. Karekin II
Catholicos of All Armenians will also receive Valdas Adamkus. The
President of Lithuania will have a meeting with the professors’ and
lecturers’ staff and students at the Yerevan State University. Valdas
Adamkus will also visit the Armenian Genocide memorial complex, the
Armenian Genocide Institute-Museum. The delegation headed by the
President of Lithuania will visit the Matenadaran (Armenian repository
of ancient manuscripts) and the Sergey Parajanov Museum.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS TO BE HELD IN 4 REGIONS IN MAY
YEREVAN, APRIL 21, NOYAN TAPAN. Local self-government elections are
envisaged in 4 Armenian regions – in Shirak, Syunik, Vayots Dzor and
Tavush, in May. As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed by Tsovinar
Khachatrian, Spokeswoman of RA Central Electoral Commission, on May 7,
special elections of councillors are envisaged in the village
communities of Vardakar and Gusanagyugh, Shirak region. On May 21,
regular elections of councillors and community head will be held in
the village communities of Torunik, Vardanidzor, Lehvaz, Nyuvadi,
Yegheg of Syunik region, in village communities of Yeghegis, Zedea,
Hermon of Vayots Dzor, elections of councillors in the village
community of Goghtanik of Vayots Dzor, elections of community head in
the town community of Goris and village communities of Aldara, Soflu
of Syunik region. On May 28, elections of village head and councillors
will be held in the village communities of Aghavnavank, Khachardzan,
Hovk, Debedavan, Zorakan of Tavush region, village head elections in
the village community of Karaberd and councillors elections in the
village community of Bagravan and Musayelian, Shirak region. And the
coming local self-government elections will be held on April 23 in the
village community of Hatsavan, Kotayk region, and Pokrashen, Shirak
region. The residents of the latters will elect the head of their
community.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN: BEST APPRECIATION OF MEMORY OF TATUL KRPEYAN AND
HIS COMPANIONS-IN-ARMS WILL BE LIBERATED GETASHEN
YEREVAN, APRIL 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A memorial event
dedicated to the 41th birthday of Tatul Krpeyan, National Hero of
Armenia, student of the history department of Yerevan State University
(YSU), was organized by the ARF student union “Nikol Aghbalian”. “Look
at Kars, look at Ani, look at Akhurian’s other side. This is Tutul’s
behest,” lecturer of YSU history department Artavazd Darbinian
said. “It was just impossible to stop him carrying out his decision to
go to Artsakh and teach there together with struggling. He was a
brother, friend and teacher for everybody. He was struggling with a
pen at night, and with a weapon in the daytime. He did not leave
Getashen at the hardest moment and on April 30, 1991, the 26-year-old
ARF member died a death of hero in Getashen,” A. Darbinian stated. In
his speech, political representative of the ARF Bureau, Vice Speaker
of the RA National Assembly Vahan Hovhannisian noted that the idea of
Homeland was deeply rooted in Tatul Krpeyan’s heart. “The key element
of the national ideology is the youth that perceives the idea of
Homeland in a more sensitive way,” he underlined. In his words, Tatul
Krpeyan solved two main problems in the Artsakh freedom war: “When
self-defence began in Artsakh, the problem of accumulating weapons
there was a definite and inevitable one for the ARF. The ARF started
forming self-defence units in Shahumian. We surrendered two Armenian
villages north of Getashen – Azat and Kamo. There was no unity in the
villages, each villager thought in the same way as before the genocide
– to save one’s own life. Tatul created that unity and succeeded in
explaining to the local population that it was necessary for them to
defend themselves. The foundations of the national army were laid by
Tatul and guys like him.” The second problem, according to
V. Hovhannisian, was one of resistance of Getashen and Martunashen
under a 9-month continous blockade. The resistance was organized
thanks to Tatul and other ARF-member freedom fighters. “But for the
insidious Soviet operation “Koltso” (“Circle”), these regions would
have now been part of the NKR,” ARF Bureau member noted. “The best
appreciation of memory of Tatul and his companions-in-arms will be
liberated Getashen,” Vahan Hovhannisian concluded. Tutul’s sister
Ruzan Krpeyan and the dean of YSU history department Hayk Avetisian
also made speeches at the event. Famous singers performed folk songs
during this memorial event.

VARTAN OSKANIAN PARTICIPATES IN CIS STATES GOREIGN MINISTERS COUNCIL
MEETING AND MEETS WITH YURI MERZLYAKOV
MOSCOW, APRIL 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A regular meeting of
the Council of Foreign Ministers of CIS Member States took place in
Moscow on April 21. The RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
participated in the meeting. The CIS foreign ministers discussed a
number of problems related to the development of cooperation among the
CIS member states, particularly the process of implementation of the
decision on improvement and reforms of CIS bodies, which was taken by
the heads of the CIS states on August 26, 2005, and the issue of
setting up a high-level group on issues of increasing the efficiency
of the CIS. The CIS foreign ministers made decisions concerning the
Agreement on Council of Humanitarian Cooperation of CIS Member States
and the Agreement on Creation of a Inter-State Fund of Humanitarian
Cooperation of CIS Member States. The meeting participants approved
the program on main measures of cooperation of the CIS member states
in the sphere of culture until 2010, and the agenda of the meeting of
the government heads of the CIS member states to be held in Dushanbe
on May 25, 2006. According to the RA MFA Press and Information
Department, later on the same day Vartan Oskanian met with the Russian
Co-Chairman of the OCSE Minsk Group Yuri Merzlyakov. Vartan Oskanian
returns to Yerevan late April 22.

OVER 200 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS URGE U.S. PRESIDENT TO PROPERLY
CHARACTERIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
WASHINGTON, APRIL 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Two hundred and
eight U.S. legislators called on President Bush on April 20 to
reaffirm the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). In separate letters,
178 Representatives and 30 Senators specifically asked the President
to properly characterize the atrocities as “genocide,” in his annual
April 24th remarks. In February of 2000, during Michigan’s hotly
contested Republican primary, then Governor Bush promised to properly
recognize the Armenian Genocide if elected president. Since taking
office in 2001, the President has retreated from this pledge, issuing
a succession of April 24th statements that use evasive and euphemistic
terminology to diminish the full historical, moral, and contemporary
legal implications of Ottoman Turkey’s genocide against the Armenian
nation. The House letter, organized by Congressional Armenian Caucus
Co-Chairmen Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), stressed
that, “the United States must never allow crimes against humanity to
pass without remembrance and condemnation. As U.S. efforts to aid
victims of genocide continue, it is imperative that we pay tribute to
the memory of others who have suffered and never forget the past. By
commemorating the Armenian Genocide, we renew our commitment to
prevent future atrocities and therefore negate the dictum that history
is condemned to repeat itself.” The Senate letter, led by Senators
John Ensign (R-NV) and Richard Durbin (D-IL), noted that, “The memory
of the Armenian Genocide underscores our responsibility to speak
forcefully about our respect for fundamental human rights and
opposition to mass slaughters. It is in the best interests of our
nation and the entire global community to remember the past and learn
from these crimes against humanity to ensure that they are never
repeated. We respectfully request that you refer to the mass slaughter
of Armenians as genocide in your commemorative statement.” “The
Armenian Genocide is incontrovertible, of which the U.S. Archives is
replete with thousands of pages documenting this horrific crime,” said
Co-Chairmen Joe Knollenberg and Frank Pallone. “The President has
employed a textbook definition of genocide to describe the events that
occurred from 1915-1923, but a full and irrevocable U.S. affirmation
of the Armenian Genocide is necessary to prevent such crimes from
happening in the future.” “We are very gratified by the strong,
bipartisan message from Congress encouraging the President to properly
recognize the Armenian Genocide in his April 24th remarks,” said Aram
Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “We join with our
Congressional friends – most notably Senators John Ensign and Dick
Durbin and Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone and Joe Knollenberg
– in calling for moral clarity in our nation’s response to genocide.”
Members of Congress joining Reps. Pallone and Knollenberg in co-
signing the letter included: Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Gary Ackerman
(D-NY), Tom Allen (D-ME), Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Joe Baca (D-CA),
Brian Baird (D-WA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Gresham Barrett (R-SC),
Charles Bass (R-NH), Melissa Bean (D-IL), Bob Beauprez (R- CO), Xavier
Becerra (D-CA), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Howard Berman (D-CA), Michael
Bilirakis (R-FL), Tim Bishop (D-NY), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Sherwood
Boehlert (R-NY), Mary Bono (R-CA), Jeb Bradley (R-NH), Sherrod Brown
(D-OH), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Dave Camp (R-MI), Lois Capps (D-CA),
Michael Capuano (D-MA), Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Dennis Cardoza (D-CA),
William Clay (D-MO), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), John Conyers (D-MI), Jim
Costa (D-CA), Jerry Costello (D- IL), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Danny
Davis (D-IL), Susan Davis (D-CA), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Diana DeGette
(D-CO), William Delahunt (D- MA), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Charles Dent
(R-PA), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), John Dingell (D-MI), Lloyd Doggett
(D-TX), John Doolittle (R-CA), Mike Doyle (D-PA), David Dreier (R-CA),
Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Lane
Evans (D-IL), Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Mike Ferguson (R-NJ), Bob Filner
(D-CA), Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Mark Foley (R-FL), Vito Fossella
(R-NY), Barney Frank (D-MA), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Scott
Garrett (R-NJ), Jim Gibbons (R-NV), Charlie Gonzalez (D-TX), Al Green
(D-TX), Gene Green (D-TX), Mark Green (R-WI), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ),
Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Stephanie Herseth (D-SD), Maurice Hinchey
(D-NY), Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Michael Honda (D-CA),
Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Steve Israel (D-NY), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Jesse
Jackson (D-IL), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Nancy Johnson (R-CT), Marcy
Kaptur (D-OH), Sue Kelly (R-NY), Mark Kennedy (R-MN), Patrick Kennedy
(D-RI), Dale Kildee (D-MI), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH),
John R. Randy, Jr. Kuhl (R-NY), James Langevin (D- RI), John Larson
(D-CT), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Sander Levin (D-MI), John Lewis (D-GA),
Daniel Lipinski (D-IL), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA),
Nita Lowey (D-NY), Dan Lungren (R-CA), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Carolyn
Maloney (D-NY), Edward Markey (D-MA), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Carolyn
McCarthy (D-NY), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), Jim
McDermott (D-WA), James McGovern (D- MA), John McHugh (R-NY), Buck
McKeon (R-CA), Cynthia McKinney (D- GA), Cathy McMorris (R-WA),
Michael McNulty (D-NY), Martin Meehan (D-MA), Michael Michaud (D-ME),
Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA), Candice Miller (R-MI), Gwen Moore
(D-WI), James Moran (D-VA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Marilyn Musgrave
(R-CO), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Richard Neal (D-MA), Eleanor Holmes
Norton (D-DC), Devin Nunes (R- CA), John Olver (D-MA), C. L. Butch
Otter (R-ID), William Pascrell (D-NJ), Donald Payne (D-NJ), Nancy
Pelosi (D-CA), Collin Peterson (D-MN), Richard Pombo (R-CA), Jon
Porter (R-NV), George Radanovich (R-CA), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Mike
Rogers (R-MI), Mike Ross (D- AR), Steven Rothman (D-NJ), Lucille
Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Edward Royce (R-CA), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Paul
Ryan (R-WI), John Salazar (D- CO), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Loretta
Sanchez (D-CA), Bernard Sanders I VT), H. James Saxton (R-NJ), Janice
Schakowsky (D-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), Joe
Schwarz (R-MI), David Scott (D-GA), E. Clay Shaw (R-FL), Christopher
Shays (R-CT), Brad Sherman (D-CA), John Shimkus (R-IL), Rob Simmons
(R-CT), Christopher Smith (R-NJ), Hilda Solis (D-CA), Mark Souder
(R-IN), Pete Stark (D-CA), Ted Strickland (D-OH), John Sweeney (R-NY),
Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), Mike Thompson (D-CA), John Tierney (D-MA),
Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Mark Udall (D-CO), Christopher Van Hollen
(D-MD), Peter Visclosky (D-IN), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Diane Watson
(D-CA), Henry Waxman (D-CA), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Curt Weldon (R-
PA), Dave Weldon (R-FL), Gerald Weller (R-IL), Joe Wilson (R-SC),
Frank Wolf (R-VA), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA). Senators cosigning the
letter to President Bush along with Senators Ensign and Durbin were:
Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Wayne Allard (R-CO), George Allen (R-VA), Barbara
Boxer (D-CA) , Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Norm
Coleman (R-MN), Susan Collins (R-ME), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Russ
Feingold (D-WI), Dianne Feinstein (D- CA), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Edward
Kennedy (D-MA), John Kerry (D-MA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Carl Levin
(D-MI), Joseph Lieberman (D- CT), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Barak Obama
(D-IL), Jack Reed (D-RI), Harry Reid (D-NV), Ken Salazar (D-CO), Rick
Santorum (R-PA), Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Olympia
Snowe (R-ME), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and John Sununu (R-NH).

From: [email protected]
Subject: Authorities and Public of Slavyansk-On-Kuban Against Turkey in EU
AUTHORITIES AND PUBLIC OF SLAVYANSK-ON-KUBAN AGAINST TURKEY ENTERING
EUROPEAN UNION
KRASNODAR, APRIL 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The “round table”
of the public-political organization of the city of
Slavyansk-on-Kuban, dedicated to the 91st anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide in the Ottaman Turkey, took place on April 19 in the Slavonic
State Pedagogical Institute. Sergey Shishkaryov, a Deputy of the State
Duma of the Russian Federation (“Yedinaya Rossia” (United Russia)
faction) made the welcome speech to the participants of the “round
table.” According to the “Yerkramas” (country) newspaper of the
Armenians of Russia, during the “round table” in which representatives
of the administration and public-political organizations of
Slavyansk-on-Kuban and the Slavonic region, the following questions
were discussed: the Armenian Genocide as a crime against the humanity
and mankind; international recognition of the fact of the Armenian
Genocide and legal responsibility of Turkey; official recognition of
Turkey itself and its condemnation of that crime; ideology of
Panturkism as a real threat for Europe and the world; ways of just
liquidation of consequences of the Armenian Genocide; solution of the
Hay Dat (Armenian cause) based on the international law. The film “I
Accuse” prepared by the “Yerkir-Media” (Armenia) TV company was shown
to the participants of the event. Tatyana Kovalyova, the deputy head
of Slavyansk-on-Kuban addressed to the participants of the “round
table” on behalf of the city administration. On the initiative of the
city authorities, “Memory Hour” will be held on April 24 in schools of
Slavyansk-on-Kuban. It will be dedicated to the tragic date and the
film “I Accuse” and a reporting about holding the “round table” will
be broadcast by the local television. A resolution was held according
to results of the “round table”, in which it is particularly said:
“Participants of the April 19, 2006, “round table” of the public of
the city of Slavyansk-on-Kuban of the region of Krasnodar, based on
irrefutable historic facts, proving massacres of Armenians in the
territory of Western Armenia in 1915-1922…, mentioning that the
physical annihilation of the Armenian people in its historic
Fatherland was implemented with the goals of fulfilling Panturkist
ideas about creation of the Great Turan in the territory of Middle
Asia to Balkans, involving Povolzhye, Urals, Crimea, Southern and
Northern Caucasus, condemn organizers of annihilations of Armenians in
1915-1922, express their symphathy to the Armenian people and consider
April 24 as the Day of Memory of the Armenian Genocide victims.
Participants of the “round table” of the public of Slavyansk-on-Kuban
of the region of Krasnodar consider impossible Turkey’s entering the
European family of peoples, until the crime conducted by the
authorities of Turkey in 1915 against the native Armenian
inhabitation, will not be recognized and condemned by the heads of
present Turkey, and call on the authorities of the European states to
call on the authorities of Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide.”
Vladimir Goncharov, the administration head of the Slavonic region,
the Secretary of the Political Council of the “Yedinaya Rossia” party
of the Slavonic region, Ataman of Cossacks’ army of the Slavonic
region; Tatyana Kovalyova, the Slavyansk-on-Kuban deputy head of
municipal education; Yuri Bobirenko, the Chairman of the War and Labor
Veterans’ Council of the Slavonic region; Anaida Meltonian, the
Chairwoman of the “Meridian” international friendship club; Tigran
Tavadian, the editor-in-chief of the “Yerkramas” newspaper of
Armenians of Russia; Vyacheslav Nikoev, the Chairman of the Armenian
Culture Association of the Slavonic region; Mikhail Kuzub, the Deputy
Chairman of the Scientific Information-Cultural Center “Hamshen”,
Eduard Pogosov, a Honourary Member of the “Luys” Armenian Culture
Association of the city of Novorosiysk, others signed the resolution.