Libraries call for attention

Yerkir/arm
8 April 05

In an article in Yerkir’s previous issue we presented findings of the
scientific-practical conference on public libraries of Armenia in the
yearsafter independence that was held at the National Library.

According to this information, during the 14 years after independence
the number of public libraries in Armenia has decreased to 1082 from
the previous number of 1318.

The number of available books has decreased to 12,587,814 from the
previous number of 15,019,014. The number of library users has
decreased to 622,817 from the previous number of 1,080,687. Director
of the National Library Davit Sargsian believes these numbers are a
result of neglect and arbitrary attitude towards the libraries and
cultural institutions on the part of the local self government bodies.

`Some officials often ask us whether we need libraries at all. Every
literate person has to understand that libraries are absolutely
necessary for us since many bookstores were closed and the books are
now sold in the underground passageways.

I do not object to reasonable optimization through closing some of the
libraries. It is better to have 700 libraries out of the existing 1082
but to have them in a good condition in accordance with modern
requirements,’ Sargsian pointed out adding that the library
administrations have to reorganize their activities to achieve better
management and marketing in order not to be left aside from
international developments in library standards.

Deputy Director of the National Library Rafik Ghazarian believes that
some of the local self-government bodies tend to forget that the
library books are not their own property but have been given to them
for temporary use only.

`Books as cultural values of state importance have to be in the center
of the attention of corresponding agencies. Villages should have
libraries. Different communities might find different solutions to
this problem. Village libraries can be joined with school
libraries. In any case, the readers cannot be deprived of their right
to access books,’ Ghazarian says.

Chief librarian of the National Library Lena Danielian added that the
situation in the public libraries will improve if centralized catalog
systems are introduced to the libraries. Many community libraries do
not receive newspapers and journals.

Some of the libraries on the regional level are unaware of the
activities of the village libraries. `The regional libraries have to
become centers for organizing the activities of all the libraries in
the given region’, Danielian concluded.

By Armine Ghazarian

Glendale elections come to climactic end

Yerkir/arm
8 April 05

Of the nineteen candidates vying for open seats on the Glendale City
Council, only four went home victorious as the final numbers were
released six hours after the polls closed.

As reported by Asbarez daily, with 8,362 votes (10.4%), Attorney Ara
Najarian will join incumbent council members Bob Yousefian (7230
votes–9%), Frank Quintero (7119 votes–8.8%), and Dave Weaver
(6574–8.2%) on the city’s new council as it convenes later on this
month.

Voters demonstrated their confidence in current Glendale School Board
President Greg Krikorian by reelecting him by a sizable margin with
11649 votes.

In the treasurer’s race, incumbent Ronald T. Borucki defeated his only
opponent, former Glendale Community College Board of Trustees Phillip
Kazanjian, with 64% of the vote. A banker of 34 years, Borucki had
received the support of numerous community groups including the
Glendale Chapter of the Armenian National Committee.

All three of the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees
incumbents–Armine G. Hacopian, Victor King, and Anita Quinonez
Gabrielian–were reelected by comfortable margins, with King leading
the pack with 14,070 votes (30.2%). Hacopian came in second with
13,203 votes (28.3%).

Not one to accept a political hand-me-down position, Ardashes “Ardy”
Kassakhian became the first clerk since 1929, to reach the office by
election, on Tuesday, not appointment.

Kassakhian received 27.3% of the vote, beating out Paulette Mardikian,
who had 13.7% of the votes, and George McCullough, who received 16.6%.

Campaigning for emptiness

Yerkir/arm
8 April 05

Judging from their actions, the Armenian followers of David Philips,
the godfather of the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission
(TARC), have decided to use the occasion of the Armenian Genocide’s
90th anniversary to promote their idol’s ideas.

This time, however, the main theme was not the glorification of the
notorious TARC, but the “presentation” of the American opportunist’s
book released recently. The book, in turn, is more an excuse for the
failed project rather than a description of the “mediators'”
activities.

Philips, who by the way, had promised some officials of the US State
Department that he would succeed in “reconciliation,” today is seeking
who to blame in Armenia in the person of the Armenian leadership and
especially in the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF).

The author — as well as his promoters from the certain Armenian
circles — cannot/do not want to realize that such reconciliation
commissions will fail no matter what even without any “outside”
interference or “obstacles,” simply because the Turkish side will not
accept any form of the Armenian Genocide recognition, without which it
makes no sense to speak of reconciliation.

And this is true not only in case of this commission but also in cases
of all other groups to be formed under instructions and with a goal to
carry out instructions. It would be great if everybody could
comprehend this, including those who genuinely support the idea of
establishing normal relations, and the Turks.

And if some of us do not realize this, and are looking for an occasion
to voice their political principles, then they have a problem with
their brains, souls and hearts being empty.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian leader rules out revolution in his country

Mediamax news agency
11 Apr 05

YEREVAN

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan urged the opposition not to be
“preoccupied” with their failure to stage a revolution like in
Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan in reply to questions of the students
of Yerevan State University’s Economic Department today.

“They have failed to do so not because they did not do enough for
this, but because our country is better and the authorities are
working more effectively,” Kocharyan said. He added that “one should
seriously analyse the events in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan since,
despite obvious similarities, they were different in terms of their
nature and also the cultural environments where they happened”.

“All these revolutions took place when these countries had elections
and the weakness of the authorities was obvious,” the Armenian
president said. “For instance, in Georgia, people could not get their
pensions for years. They received electricity only three hours a
day. Kyrgyzstan was in the same economic situation. The state budget
of this country in 2004 was smaller than in 2003. Generations changed
in all three countries – younger and more dynamic leaders replaced old
Soviet leaders. The same kind of change of generations happened twice
in Armenia, in 1991 and 1998.”

Kocharyan also said that those who came to power in Georgia, Ukraine
and Kyrgyzstan had occupied senior government positions several years
before. He said the reason the people who are currently in top
positions in Tbilisi, Kiev and Bishkek had resigned and opposed their
governments was that they aspired to more intensive reforms, which led
to conflicts within the governments.

The Armenian president said an analysis of the aforementioned factors
clearly shows that the situation that led to revolutions in Georgia,
Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan “has nothing in common with what we have in
Armenia today”.

Turkey’s archives open to check Armenian genocide claims – premier

NTV television, Istanbul
11 Apr 05

[Studio announcer] Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that
the concept of Kurds must not be confused with the PKK [Kurdistan
Workers’ Party]. Speaking in Norway, Erdogan also touched on the
Armenian genocide claims. NTV reporter Nermin Yurteri will inform us
now on the details:

[Yurteri] [Passage omitted] Prime Minister Erdogan conveyed important
messages in connection with the Armenian genocide claims. He said: The
government and the opposition challenged the claims. We are opening
all the state archives. Everyone should come and study the
documents. If an act of genocide was committed in the past, then we
will be prepared to account for it . However, the Armenians must be
prepared to account for their history if an act of genocide was not
committed.

Prime Minister Erdogan underlined another important point. He said
that a letter has been drawn up in connection with the Blue Book on
the Armenian allegations and noted that it will be signed by 550
MPs. Erdogan said that the letter will be conveyed to the two houses
of the British parliament. In a sense, it will call for an apology to
Turkey. The copies of the same letter will be conveyed to the 11
countries that have taken the book as a reference. [Passage omitted]

Premier says not all Kurds in Turkey terrorists

NTV television, Istanbul
11 Apr 05

[Studio announcer] Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that
the concept of Kurds must not be confused with the PKK [Kurdistan
Workers’ Party]. Speaking in Norway, Erdogan also touched on the
Armenian genocide claims. NTV reporter Nermin Yurteri will inform us
now on the details:

[On-screen reporter Yurteri] Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan conveyed
important messages to Turkish citizens who live in Norway. He said
that we must not confuse the concept of Kurds with the concept of the
PKK and noted that seeing all Turkey’s Kurdish citizens as terrorists
would be wrong. He asserted: Let us not be tricked. The Western
countries are exploiting that. Stressing that citizenship of the
republic is the supra-identity in Turkey, he noted: We will not adopt
a nationalist approach based on regional racism and religion.

Erdogan drew attention to the country’s indivisible integrity, saying:
However, there are elements which make an effort to divide our
country. Various elements in the West are trying to achieve that. If a
desire exists to sacrifice the EU for that purpose, then I am sorry to
say that we do not have such a problem. [Passage omitted]

Erdogan focused on the claims related to human rights violations. He
hinted that Turkey was confronted with a double-standard policy on the
matter. He noted: “We have organized courses in Kurdish and launched
broadcasts in Kurdish. However, no one must expect us to allow the
terrorist organization’s [PKK] banners to be carried in the
country. [Passage omitted]

French senator says Caucasus of “geostrategic” importance – Azeri agency

Trend news agency
11 Apr 05

BAKU

Trend correspondent S. Agayeva: France is interested in a peaceful
resolution to the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, Ambroise DuPont, head of
the French Senate’s friendship group France-Azerbaijan, told
journalists in Baku on 11 April.

In his view, peace is a guarantee of the future of the region and the
French and Senate leaderships are using all means to assist the
resolution of the conflict. In this context he recalled the efforts of
Christian Poncelet, president of the French Senate, to organize
regular meetings of the parliament speakers of the South Caucasus
countries. The French Senate attaches great significance to relations
with the Caucasus and describes this region as geostrategic, the
senator said.

“France is being reproached for a pro-Armenian stance, which is
somewhat true and somewhat false. We simply know more about the
Armenians than about the Azerbaijanis,” DuPont said. All his efforts
are currently directed at representing Azerbaijan in France, he said.

Armenian official notes positive immigration trend

Iravunk, Yerevan
8 Apr 05

Excerpt from a Syuzi Melkonyan report by Armenian newspaper Iravunk on
8 April headlined “There is no immigration”

An interview with chief of the Migration and Refugees Department Gagik
Yeganyan.

[Correspondent] Have you got any information about those who left and
arrived in Armenia in 2004?

[Gagik Yeganyan] Since 1992, there have been three stages of the
outflow of Armenian residents. The first stage was in 1992-95 when a
large number of residents left the country. About 800,000 left Armenia
in the three years. Of them, 400,000 came back and 400,000 remained
abroad.

The second stage started in 1995 and lasted till 2001. The peculiarity
of this stage was that the negative migration indicator fell and stood
at 80,000.

In the third stage that began in 2002 and has been continuing up to
day, the negative migration indicator has been continuing to fall. In
2002, 3,000 left the country, 10,000 migrated in 2003, and for the
first time, we had positive figures in 2004. The number of those
arriving in the country exceeded the number of those who left by
2,060.

Thus, passenger traffic continued rising. In comparison with 2000, it
rose by 70 per cent in 2004.

[Correspondent] How realistic are these figures?

[Yeganyan] We have a simple calculation. All the seven border crossing
points give us information about the number of those who cross the
border.

[Correspondent] What countries do the Armenians mainly go to?

[Yeganyan] The overwhelming majority, about 65-70 per cent, have gone
to Russia, others to other CIS countries: Ukraine and Belarus; about
7-10 per cent are leaving for the USA, Europe and other countries.

[Passage omitted: Yeganyan says an agreement has been signed with
Qatar allowing Armenian nurses to work in that country]

Ethnic communities vie for land in Crimea

NTV Mir, Moscow
10 Apr 05

[Presenter] There has been an incident of land-grabbing in the
Crimea. Before the beginning of the tourist season, the ethnic
communities of the peninsula reminded everybody about their demands in
a way that makes the authorities fear that they might lose control
over the situation. Here is a report by Anna Konyukova.

[Correspondent] A group of Crimean Tatars has seized the children’s
diving centre Shelf near Sudak [Crimean southern coastal resort]. The
intruders demand that the land should be handed over to the Crimean
Tatars.

[Angry protester] I am going to beg nobody. This is our land and I
have a right to this land.

[Correspondent] Several employees of the centre were beaten up by the
intruders. The diving centre’s director is one of the victims.

[Igor Opsha, director of the children’s diving centre Shelf] I had a
conversation with them, if you can call it a conversation. These
people have come here on orders to grab land.

[Correspondent] Seafront plots of land are seized in Sudak every year.
However, this time news about the invasion of the children’s centre
has provoked a wave of indignation among the residents of Sudak and
neighbouring villages. In a few hours, several thousand people
gathered on so-called alternative fields of protests. After
spontaneous rallies, the protesters passed a resolution to draw up a
list of all residents of Sudak region who need land and demand that
the republic’s authorities distribute land in turn, regardless of
nationality.

[Alternative protester] Here there are Germans, Greeks too, those who
were also deported. They are not trying to jump the queue, they want
to get land by law but cannot do so because of land grabbers.

[Correspondent] The organizers believe that a separate protest camp of
German, Greek, Armenian and Bulgarian communities must remind the
Crimean authorities that these peoples, just like the Crimean Tatars,
have the status of deported people. The protesters are saying they
will continue until the authorities ban land grabbing.

The population of the tent camps and protest fields is increasing
every hour. People are coming by car, bus and even on foot. The local
authorities are saying they are unlikely to keep the situation under
control for long.

Armenia has no territorial claims on Turkey –
president

Interfax News Agency
April 11, 2005

YEREVAN. April 11 (Interfax) – Armenia has no territorial claims on
Turkey, its President Robert Kocharian told students and faculty of
Yerevan State University on Monday.

“No Armenian state structures have made any territorial claims against
Turkey,” he said.

“A campaign for international recognition of the genocide against
Armenians is one of the tasks on our foreign policy agenda,” Kocharian
said.

At the same time, he noted that Armenia’s expectations about
international recognition of the genocide should not be “too far from
reality,” or people may be disappointed.