KOCHARIAN SEES NO LINKS BETWEEN INTENSIFICATION OF NK RESOLUTION PROCESS WITH SITUATION AROUND IRAN
Author: S.Ibrahimli
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 25 2006
Armenia President Robert Kocharian stated on 25 April that he does
not see any relations between the intensification of the process of
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution and the situation around Iran,
Trend reports citing Mediamax.
The Armenian president said it a joint briefing with the Lithuanian
President Valdas Adamkus, whoc arrived in Yerevan on 25 April.
Kocharian stated that he does not feel any pressure by the United
States in the process of resolution. The Armenian President underlined
that the American, Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group came out of the unified position and coordinate their activities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CIS SPLIT AT MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
By Vladimir Socor
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
April 25 2006
The meeting of ministers of foreign affairs of the Commonwealth of
Independent States member countries, held on April 21 in Moscow,
exposed a profound split in the organization. Ukraine, Moldova,
Georgia, and Azerbaijan formed a common front on issues of shared
concern, opposing Russian policies directed against their interests.
The four countries are members of the GUAM group, though they did
not act in that capacity at the conference.
The Ukrainian delegation, led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Borys
Tarasyuk, led this group of independent-minded countries in the debate
on most economic and political issues of concern to them.
Russia, with the support of loyalist or neutralist countries
whose interests are not involved in those issues, rejected the four
countries’ initiatives with a high-handedness that can only exacerbate
the differences at upcoming high-level CIS meetings.
Georgia and Moldova submitted separately prepared statements about
Russia’s ban on imports of their wines and other agricultural
products on the Russian market. Describing the ban as politically
motivated, abusive, and unwarranted, the statements underscored the
“massive economic damage” inflicted on the two countries. Georgia
and Moldova regard the ban as an “unfriendly action” by the Russian
government, are asking the Russian government for explanations, and
are challenging the Russian agencies involved — mainly the Consumer
Protection Inspectorate — to show cause for this action. The Ukrainian
delegation lodged its own complaint about recent Russian restrictions
on the import of a wide range of Ukrainian agricultural products on
the Russian market.
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov handled those
grievances at the concluding press briefing with a dismissive reference
to “some kind of declarations” made during the conference.
He warned by Georgia and Moldova against “politicizing” the issue,
as this “will not facilitate a solution.” Russia takes the position
that the issue should be discussed at the level of technical agencies.
Thus, Moscow seeks to evade political responsibility for a measure
undoubtedly ordered by high political authorities. Georgia, Moldova,
and Ukraine intend to raise the issue again at the upcoming CIS
meetings of prime ministers (May 25) and of the heads of state
shortly thereafter.
The Russian side also blocked Ukraine’s proposal to discuss the
creation of a CIS Free Trade Zone at the conference. The proposal,
nominally endorsed by Russia as well, is almost a decade old and
no member country seriously expects Russia to actually implement
it. In Ukraine, however, the proposal has become topical again
in connection with the Russia-planned Single Economic Space
(Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan, with Ukraine invited to become a member).
Some groups in Ukraine (not only within the Party of Regions) want the
country to join the Single Economic Space in one form or another — a
move that would compromise Ukraine’s European aspirations. On the other
hand, Ukrainian proponents of integration with the European Union cite
the proposal for a CIS Free Trade Zone as potentially advantageous to
Ukraine as well as compatible with the country’s progress toward the
EU. However, Ukrainian attempts to discuss the free-trade proposal
with Moscow shatter against the resistance of Russian protectionist
interests. Thus, the Moscow conference strengthened the view that the
CIS is, at best, useless to member countries generally and, at worst,
actually detrimental to their interests.
A proposal to discuss the “frozen conflicts” at the conference was
also blocked by the Russian side. Ukraine took the lead in submitting
this proposal with the support of Moldova, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.
The obstruction by Moscow and its allies will strengthen the case for
internationalization of the existing “peacekeeping” and negotiating
frameworks on Transnistria, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia, as well as
underscoring the value of American efforts to settle the Karabakh
conflict.
Ukraine asked the conference to prepare a proposal for the upcoming
CIS summit to express its attitude to the 1930-33 famine and genocide
in Ukraine (the Holodomor). However, the Russian side orchestrated
a procedural move that eliminated the proposal from the agenda.
Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan voted with Russia
against the proposal. Armenia, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan
abstained. Moldova, Georgia, and Azerbaijan voted with Ukraine.
According to Lavrov at the concluding briefing, discussion of the
Holodomor would have “politicized” a historical issue. Lavrov argued
— as Russian Ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin also did in Kyiv — that
Russians and other Soviet citizens suffered equally in Soviet times
and it would therefore be inappropriate to single out any people in
this regard.
This argument is heard regularly from Moscow about the Baltic
states as well: “It was a common pain in the Soviet Union.” Such an
argument constitutes the ultimate expression of a social culture
of collectivism. It also overlooks, first, the fact that Moscow
organized the famine and deportations in Ukraine, the Baltic states and
elsewhere; and, second, that the Kremlin today is actively discouraging
the attempts to come to terms with Soviet Russia’s own totalitarian
recent history. While refusing to assess the actions of the Soviet
regime, Russia at the same time claims prerogatives as the legal
successor of the USSR.
The Moscow conference was to have discussed a CIS Executive Committee
report on implementing decisions on CIS reform, adopted by the
heads of state at the August 2005 summit in Astana. A corresponding
Russian proposal envisaged setting up a high-level group on “measures
to enhance the effectiveness of the CIS.” Neither initiative was
mentioned after the conference. In his conclusions, Tarasyuk was
scathing about the CIS: “not a normal international organization,”
“unresponsive to situations that are most sensitive to member states,”
“useless,” and “has no future.”
(Interfax, Itar-Tass, Moldpres, Imedi TV, April 21, 22)

PROTESTORS DEMAND RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
CBS 2, CA
April 25 2006
(CBS) LOS ANGELES About 1,000 people protested outside the Turkish
Consulate Monday, blasting Turkey and others who deny the Armenian
genocide occurred.
The Armenian Youth Federation organized the protest, one of many
events held Monday to remember the arrests, mass deportations and
executions of Armenians that began on April 24, 1915, with arrest of
200 community leaders.
An estimated 1.5 million Armenians died between 1915 and 1923 in the
waning days of Turkey’s Ottoman Empire.
In West Hollywood, flags were flying at half-staff to honor the
Armenian victims.
The Turkish government says allegations of genocide have never been
proven.Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy, in response to the Public
Broadcasting Service documentary “Armenian Genocide,” said last week
that “Armenian allegations of genocide have never been historically
or legally substantiated.”
The West Hollywood City Council has passed a resolution “condemning
the human rights violations of the Turkish government,” according to
City Councilman Jeffrey Prang’s office. The resolution was introduced
by Prang and Councilwoman Abbe Land.
The LAPD estimated that about 1,000 protesters were taking part in the
consulate protest on Wilshire Boulevard, according to Marjon Mobasser,
a spokeswoman for the department.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS MEMORIAL DAY
UN Observer
April 25 2006
2006-04-24 | Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan’s Message on Genocide
Victims Remembrance Day
Dear Compatriots,
Each year on April 24, Armenians in Homeland and Diaspora bend their
heads before the memory of several thousands of our victims who fell
a prey to Genocide perpetrators. Organized and committed at a State
level by the Ottoman Turkey in 1915, not only did this crime, which
was actually directed against the whole civilized mankind, fail to
be prevented, but it escaped official recognition and condemnation
facilitating in this way the recurrence of new genocides.
n_centre_8/official_news_en.php?&date=11458188 00

BAKU TO REVIEW NEW GARABAGH PROPOSALS
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 25 2006
Baku, April 24, AssA-Irada
The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group brokering settlement to the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict have made new
proposals concerning two issues that were not agreed during the latest
round of talks between the two countries’ presidents in Rambouillet,
France in February, officials said.
The suggestions serve to moving forward the negotiating process,
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said. He said it is too early to
say whether or not Baku will accept the proposals, but termed them as
“interesting”.
“We are evaluating the ideas and will state our own suggestions in
this regard,” the minister told ATV channel.
Mammadyarov stressed that these issues will also be discussed during
President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to the United States, which starts
on Tuesday.
He reminded that the OSCE mediators are due to meet in Moscow on May 2,
followed by their visits to the region.

COURT EXTENDS CUSTODY TERM FOR STUDENT WHO KILLED ARMENIAN MAN
by Alana Kudzoyeva
ITAR-TASS News Agency
April 25, 2006 Tuesday 02:48 PM EST
Moscow City’s Cheryomushki district court has extended for another
three days a custody term for a 16-year-old general school student,
who killed a young ethnic Armenian at a downtown metro station
Saturday night.
The extension of custody term means that the prosecutors have another
three days for formulating official charges against the suspect.
Sources indicate that the prosecutors may simultaneously reformulate
the accusation of murder, which the teenager is suspected of.
His lawyer strongly denied reporters’ requests to comment on the
situation.
The incident occurred at around 17:50 Saturday, when a group of
twelve young people was standing on the platform and awaiting one
more of their friends. At that moment, another group of six or
seven youngsters got out of a train bound for southeast Moscow,
and a scuffle between the two groups broke out.
In the course of fighting, Vagan Abramiants, a 17-year-old student
of the Moscow University of Management, received a stab wound in the
chest and died on the spot.

ARMENIANS REMEMBER GENOCIDE
by Arin Gencer, Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times
April 25, 2006 Tuesday
Home Edition
About 2,500 join in annual protest held outside the Turkish Consulate
in L.A.
Waving Armenia’s flag of red, blue and orange, about 2,500 Armenian
Americans on Monday staged an annual protest of what they say was a
Turk-sanctioned genocide of their ancestors.
The rally, held in front of the Turkish Consulate in the 6300 block
of Wilshire Boulevard, was one of many events worldwide commemorating
April 24, 1915, the day Armenians say the mass deportations, arrests
and executions began.
Of the estimated 2 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire at the
time, Armenian Americans say, more than 1 million died between 1915
and 1923. The empire became the modern republic of Turkey.
In West Hollywood, city flags flew at half-staff. Last week, Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger declared April 23-29 “Days of Remembrance of
the Armenian Genocide.”
“We want all the world to know that this happened,” said Christine
Hovananian, 50, of Glendale.
“Turkey should say that ‘we have done this to Armenian people.’ ”
For her, that means acknowledging the 1915 murders of her aunts,
uncles and grandparents in the village of Van in eastern Turkey.
Hovananian’s father and mother escaped separately to Iraq, where they
eventually met and married.
For the three decades she has lived in Southern California, Hovananian
has protested every year in front of the consulate in her relatives’
memory.
“Their blood is asking us … get that ‘genocide’ name,” Hovananian
said.
The Turkish government does not recognize what occurred as genocide,
attributing the deaths to fighting between Turks and Armenians.
“Armenian allegations of genocide have never been historically or
legally substantiated,” Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy said in a
statement in response to a PBS documentary aired last week. “Unlike
the Holocaust, the numbers, dates, facts and the context associated
with this period are all contested.”
More than 150,000 people of Armenian descent live in Los Angeles
County, according to the 2000 census.
The Armenian National Committee of America says there are as many as
60,000 in Los Angeles alone.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: OUTCRY: Protesters outside the consulate call on
Turkey to acknowledge the deaths of more than a million Armenians
between 1915 and 1923 as genocide. The Turkish government denies the
accusations. PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Osman Los Angeles Times.

FEDS SAY RUSSIAN/ARMENIAN MOB’S FRAUD RING BUSTED
By Jason Kandel, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News
April 25 2006
Five members of a Russian-Armenian organized crime ring have been
indicted in connection with a $20 million Medicare fraud conspiracy
that operated out of clinics and labs in L.A., Glendale, Van Nuys
and Pasadena, authorities said Monday.
They have been charged with conspiracy, health care fraud, Medicare
kickbacks, making false statements to Medicare and money laundering.
“This case shows how criminal organizations seek to adapt over time
to Medicare’s fraud-prevention efforts,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce
Searby said. “Here, the defendants were able to outrun the government
for a while, but they did not count on the perseverance of Medicare
administrators and federal agents whose job it is to protect this
important program.”
The group allegedly was led by Konstantin Grigoryan, 56, of Altadena,
a former colonel in the Soviet army; his wife, Mayya Leonidovna
Grigoryan, 54; the Grigoryans’ son-in-law, Eduard Gershelis, 34, of
Los Angeles; Mayya Grigoryan’s brother-in-law, Aleksandr Treynker,
48, of Canoga Park; and Haroutyun Gulderyan, 36, of Tujunga.
The Grigoryans and Gershelis have been in federal custody since their
March 21 arrests. Gulderyan and Treynker have been released on bond.
The five suspects are scheduled to appear in court June 13. They were
indicted Thursday.
In court documents, Searby wrote that the case is connected to
Russian-Armenian organized crime that gutted Medicare of more than $20
million using a network of clinics, paid kickbacks to marketers for
patient referrals and billed Medicare for tests that were unnecessary
or went undelivered.
Gershelis’ parents were doctors in Ukraine, and he studied to be a
dental technician in Russia, said his attorney, Jerome Mooney.
Gershelis and his wife immigrated to the United States in 1994,
where they became naturalized citizens and had a daughter.
“Mr. Gershelis and his wife are hard-working people who established
their roots in Los Angeles and learned the language,” Mooney said.
“This is a very unfortunate circumstance.”
Attorneys for the other defendants did not return phone calls seeking
comment.
Court records provide the following details about the case:
Between 1997 and 2005, the group hired doctors to work at their
clinics so they could legitimately enroll in the Medicare program.
They then hired recruiters to fan out across the state and pay patients
with Medicare benefits to come to the clinics and submit to unnecessary
medical procedures.
The suspects allegedly concealed the source of their incomes by
funneling the money through a maze of “management” and “consulting”
firms, wiring the money to Armenian and Swiss bank accounts, and
buying residential and commercial real estate.
The case grew out of excerpts from a recording made by a cooperating
witness in an FBI investigation in 2000 and 2001.

MKRTCHYAN HEADS FROM ARMENIA TO AMERICA
By John Boyle
Thomas James Hurst / The Seattle Times
Seattle Times, WA
April 25 2006
Grant Lazarian, a junior at Newport in Bellevue, lost his father as
an infant and hasn’t seen his mother for more than three years.
Grant Lazarian is the first to tell you that his childhood has been
less than ideal.
The father he never knew, the mother he hasn’t seen in more than
three years. It hasn’t been easy.
“I would not like anybody to be in my situation, but you’ve got to
fight through and make the best of it when you are,” said Lazarian,
17.
So why is the Newport junior wearing such a big smile as he runs
around the soccer field at a recent practice?
Because on the soccer field, Lazarian is at home. Because that is
where he is happy.
“Soccer is just something I love a lot,” said Lazarian, his voice
escalating as his eyes widen. “For me it’s like the air I breathe.”
It’s when he talks about more serious matters that his smile fades.
Lazarian (pronounced MERK-a-chan), a native of Armenia, grew up never
knowing his father. Vahan died when Grant was 20 days old in a fight
over disputed lands with Turkey. Grant was raised by his mother,
Lenik, until he was 13, but health problems made it difficult for
her to care for her son.
In August 2002, Grant came to America to live with his aunt, Roza
Gazaryan, and her son, Emil Altunyan. Grant has not been back to
Armenia or seen his mother since, though they speak regularly on
the phone.
Through the good and bad, through adjusting to a new language and
new country, soccer has remained the constant in Lazarian’s life.
His story is a reminder that sports can be more than just games. That
at their very best, they transcend winning and losing and provide
much more than a varsity letter.
When he moved here, soccer provided Lazarian with an arena to make
friends, a second classroom for learning a new language and a sense
of familiarity in a foreign culture.
“Soccer has been very important,” said Lazarian, who played for
Interlake of Bellevue his freshman and sophomore years before
transferring across town to Newport. “The adjustment has been good
and soccer has helped that a lot. Every single person here is a great
person. They all love me, I love them. They all support me.”
Through soccer, Lazarian has become just another high-school kid,
one who makes friends easily and is quick to crack a joke.
“He’s really outgoing,” said senior midfielder Andrew Smith, who has
assisted on four of Lazarian’s team-high nine goals. “Coming to a
new school, he really fit in right away. It seems like he’s always
been with the team.
“He’s probably the funniest guy I know. He has nicknames for everybody,
but they’re not really appropriate for the paper.”
The camaraderie on his soccer team and the support of his aunt and
cousin have helped ease the adjustment to life without his mother.
Roza and Emil are working on bringing her to America.
“I’m waiting for her to come,” said Lazarian. “I miss her. I haven’t
seen her since I moved out here, but I’m fighting through all of
this. I call her, I talk to her. She misses me and I miss her. I
guess it’s not like most other people’s family life.”
As he says this, his voice softens and his gaze drifts to the ground.
He is grateful to his aunt and cousin for taking him in.
“They’re very special to me,” said Grant, who did not speak English
when he came here less than four years ago, but is fluent now.
“They’ve been treating me like their own son. My cousin, he tells me
what’s right and what’s wrong. He’s been like a father to me.”
Lazarian’s soccer skills have helped Newport to an early-season
turnaround. Since starting the season with a 1-3 record, the Knights
have gone 5-2-1 and are in third place in KingCo 3A. All nine of
Lazarian’s goals have come in wins, as have all three of his assists.
“He’s been a welcome addition,” said Newport coach Paul Mendes, who
thinks that Lazarian can play at the Division I level. “He’s filling
in very well. Even though he’s a junior, he’s already one of the key
leaders on the team with his play and also with his enthusiasm. His
tenacity, that’s what really helps this team.”
That tenacity that Mendes loves almost put Lazarian on the sideline
this year. In Newport’s season-opening win over Bothell, Lazarian
fractured a bone in his arm running into a pole while chasing a loose
ball near the sideline. Despite the injury, Lazarian has not missed
a game while wearing a cast.
“For me, it’s soccer all the time, even with a cast,” said Lazarian,
who wants to play professionally someday, but lists medical school
as another goal. “In my country, when I was a kid, I’d watch people
play and I loved it so much. And now it has helped me so much since
I’ve been here. I love soccer, it’s my life.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIANS COMMEMORATE ANNIVERSARY OF TRAGIC EVENTS OF 1915
ABHaber, Belgium
April 25 2006
Demonstrators marched in Yerevan, Armenia on Sunday to commemorate
the Armenians who died ib 1915 due to forced deportation and ethnic
conflict in the Ottoman Empire.
The Armenian diaspora also took to the streets in various cities in
the U.S. and several capitals in Europe over the weekend demanding
recognition for so-called genocide claims, while Turkish and Azeri
diaspora made counter-demonstrations.
Over the weekend New York’s famous Times Square played host to
Turkish counter-demonstrations. Turks living in the US organized a
rally entitled “End to Armenian Lies.”
Many Turks including Turkey’s Consul General to New York Omer Onhon and
Turkish Americans attended the demonstration held by the Federation
of Turkish-American Associations (FTAA) and Association of Young
Turks. “This march is Turkish society’s reaction to the constant
repetition of the Armenians’ baseless allegations,” said Onhon.
In related news, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in a letter
to Armenian diaspora members backed the genocide claims.
“In recent years the Senate of Canada adopted a motion acknowledging
this period as “the first genocide of the twentieth century,” while
the House of Commons adopted a motion that “acknowledges the Armenian
genocide of 1915 and condemns this act as a crime against humanity.”
My party and I supported those resolutions, and continue to recognize
them today,” Harper said.
Ankara and Yerevan are at odds over the Armenian claims of genocide.
To break the deadlock, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last
year suggested the establishment of a committee of Turkish and Armenian
historians to study the claims, in a letter sent to Armenian President
Robert Kocharian. But Kocharian refused Erdogan’s proposal, saying that
the two countries must first establish diplomatic relations and that
committees could be formed only within the process of normalization
of relations.