ANKARA: Only Historians Have The Right To Make Decisions About

Irtemcelik: Only Historians Have The Right To Make Decisions About
Historical Events
Published: 2/27/2005
Turkish Press

BERLIN – Turkish Ambassador to Germany Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik said on
Saturday, ”only historians have the right to make decisions about
historical events.”
Irtemcelik released a statement about a draft resolution, which will be
submitted to the German federal parliament in April by CDU/CSU group under
the title of ”commemoration of Armenians on the 90th anniversary of their
relocation and massacre on April 24th, 1915 – Germany should contribute to
provide peace between Turks and Armenians”.
In his statement, Irtemcelik said, ”only historians have the right to make
decisions about historical events. The draft includes many prejudices,
mistakes and unilateral expectations about Turkey-Armenia relations.”
”Armenians resorted to organized terrorism not only in Eastern Anatolia
during the World War I, but also in many places in the world from Los
Angeles to Vienna, from Beirut to Paris in the near future to reach their
political targets. Armenia did not recognize Turkey’s territorial integrity
and the existing borders with Turkey. Also, despite all warnings of the
international community, Armenia has still been occupying territories of
Azerbaijan. Under the light of all these, we find it strange that German
political parties have undertaken spokesmanship of fanatic Armenian
nationalism. We think that CDU/CSU did not understand the importance and
sensitivity of the issue,” he said.
”No one can reach anywhere by defaming Turkish people and their history. No
one has the right to hamper our integration process, and our historic and
friendly relations with Germany. Before putting forward such baseless
allegations, everyone should study the history carefully. Besides many
Armenians, countless innocent Muslim people died in those years. If they aim
to assist Turkey and Armenia to improve their relations, they should realize
that such issues are extremely serious and cannot be used as a tool for
domestic policies of the third countries. Instead of preparing such drafts,
I invite them to persuade Armenian President Robert Kocharian and the
Armenian government to give up their policy preventing formation of a
peaceful atmosphere in Southern Caucasus,” he added.

Indian Govt promises to back ‘good’ films

The Times of India

Govt promises to back ‘good’ films

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2005 02:09:28 AM ]

BANGALORE: Amid squeaky seats, not-so-good lighting and poor screen
quality, an international children’s film festival started on
Friday. While the fare of films being presented is of international
standard, the festival per se, with no government support, smacks of
apathy.

However, chief minister Dharam Singh, who inaugurated the three-day
festival at Bal Bhavan, said the government was ready to give all its
support to producers and directors of good films.

When the organisers, Children’s India, pressed for funds, deputy chief
minister Siddaramaiah assured that if quality films were produced, the
government would announce Rs 25 lakh for children’s cinema.

Some 35 films from across the world – Finland, Korea, China, Iran,
Armenia – and films from Indian languages will be screened during the
course of the festival.

Says the president of Children’s India, N.R. Nanjunde Gowda, `The
purpose is to expose children to films from other countries. They
should see other cultures instead of seeing only Tamil, Kannada,
Telugu movies.”

Actor Vishnuvardhan, who greeted the idea of films from across
boundaries and cultures, said films should be education-oriented and
children shouldn’t forget their identity. Organisers said seating is
on first-come-first serve basis. Call 51324898, 51224477.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Grigoryan wins $1,000 scholarship

WatertownTAB
Friday, February 25, 2005

Grigoryan wins $1,000 scholarship

Ilona Grigoryan of Watertown is one of four area high school students
to be awarded a $1,000 scholarship from the Armenian Women’s Educational
Club.

In order to receive an award, students must be a U.S. citizen or have a
Resident Alien Card; must be of Armenian heritage; must be a senior
graduating from a greater Boston high school; and must be accepted to a
four-year college or university. The selection is made by the committee
based on academic achievement and economic status.

Applications are available from the high school guidance counselors, or
from Chairwoman Rachel Dohanian, 36 Elizabeth Road, Belmont, MA 02478.
Applications must be in the hands of the chairwoman by Saturday, April 30,
to be considered.

NKR MFA: Clumsy Azerbaijan Attempts to Equate Khojalu & The Genocide

NKR MFA: CLUMSY ATTEMPTS IS SEEN IN ACTIONS OF BAKU AND ANKARA TO PUT
SIGN OF EQUALITY BETWEEN EVENTS IN KHOJALU AND GENOCIDE OF ARMENIANS
IN TURKEY

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 26. ARMINFO. Every year on the eve of the anniversary
of Armenian massacres in Sumgait, taken place on Feb 26-28, 1988, at all
levels Baku activates anti-Armenian propaganda. Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic commentS on the anniversary of “Hocali
(Khojalu) events” marked in Azerbaijan.

“For this purpose Azerbaijan periodically exaggerates the events of February
of 1992, connected with suppression of weapon emplacements in the village of
Khojalu of Askeran district of NKR, falsifying the real picture. According
to the version of official Baku, from 600 to several thousands of peaceful
citizens died and were missing when seizure of Khojalu by Karabakh forces.
By the way, this figure grows year by year. At the same time the facts
testifies about other thing. Beginning from 1988, when Armenian population
of Nagorny Karabakh declared about its decision to join Armenia, the village
of Khojalu became a place of permanent attacks on the Armenian
motor-transport passing through its territory, capture of hostages and
murders of Armenians. The military bases of the National front of Azerbaijan
were stationed here. From Nov, 1990 the emergency platoon of Azerbaijani SSR
seized the Stepanakert airport, blockading the only transport communication
of Nagorny Karabakh with the external world.”

With the beginning in 1991 of the open military operations the village of
Khojalu became a large weapon emplacement, from where mass firing of
neighbor Armenian villages, and later the capital of NKR Stepanakert began.

And now Azerbaijan makes attempts to misinform the world community, In this
issue official Baku cooperates with Turkey, whose parliament this year
discussed the events in Khojalu condemning the Armenian side. Anti-Armenian
statements were recently made in the U.S. Congress by the representatives of
the pro-Turkish lobby. Clumsy attempt is seen in the actions of Baku and
Ankara to consign to oblivion the facts of destructions extirpation and
proscription of Armenians of Azerbaijan and put a sign of equality between
the events in Khojalu and the Genocide of Armenians in Turkey, said in the
comment of the NKR Foreign Ministry.

Republic Party Will Cooperate with any Force Working for Reform

REPUBLIC PARTY INTENDS TO COOPERATE WITH ANY POLITICAL FORCE IN
ARMENIA AWARE OF THE NECESSITY OF SERIOUS REFORMS IN THE COUNTRY

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26. ARMINFO. The Republic party intends to cooperate
with any political force in Armenia aware of the necessity of serious
reforms in the country. Armenian MP representing the opposition bloc
Justice, Head of the Political Council of the Republic party Albert
Bazeyan says at the Discussion Club Azdak, today.

He says that the party is glad for the leader of New Times party Aram
Karapetyan who has understood the necessity of reforms and change of
power, first of all, as yet a year ago he was speaking quite of the
opposite. As regards Leader of the National Unity party Artashes
Geghamyan, who has recently expressed intention to start revolution,
Bazeyan says that Geghamyan is an experienced politician having a
considerable electorate and has a right to act as he think
necessary. He adds that revolutions are not declared they are made in
practice.- M-

BAKU: US disappointed by words of its own Ambassador to Armenia

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Feb 27 2005

US STATE DEPARTMENT DISAPPOINTED BY THE WORDS OF ITS OWN AMBASSADOR
TO ARMENIA
[February 27, 2005, 22:55:04]

As AzerTAj’s Washington correspondent reports, some news agencies
based on armenian sources quoted US Ambassador to Amernia as saying
`Karabakh can not be given to Azerbaijan’. He said this while
speaking in Berkley University, CA to the members of Armenian
Diaspora. It is strange to hear these words from the representative
of US Administartion, that has always made clear its support to
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and never recognized
Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state.

The words of Ambassador John Evans should be considered as a `private
comment at a private party’ said State Department official Steve
Pike, commenting on the odd statement of its Ambassador to Armenia.
`They do not reflect US official position on this issue. US policy on
Nagorno-Karabakh remains unchanged’, he added.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to US Hafiz Pashayev discussed this incident
with US officials, as well as with Laura Kenndey, Deputy Assistant
Secretary on Caucasus, Central Asia and Southeast Europe. According
to Hafiz Pashayev, from his conversations with US officials he
concluded that American side was disappointed with John Evans’s
statement. US officials once again reassured Azerbaijani Ambassador
that the United States supports the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan and doesn’t recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent
state, nor it recognizes its authorities.

`This is an irresponsible statement to make on the eve of the next
meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia. John
Evans should give an explanation to his statement’, Azerbaijani
Ambassador added. `Every Ambassador tries to be particularly careful
in the statements and not use a word that might undermine an official
stance of his country in a certain issue. It seems, that an
atmosphere of two week long meetings in different states with
Armenian Diaspora influenced Ambassador Evans in such an extent, that
he didn’t adhere to this basic principle of diplomacy. ‘

Yerevan Is Our Native Town

`YEREVAN IS OUR NATIVE TOWN’

By Melania Badalian
AZG Armenian Daily #035
26/02/2005

On February 24, the building in Abovian Street was being
reconstructed. The building is an example of neo-classicism of the
early XX century. It is of great architectural and historical
value. The building formerly belonged to Gabriel Gabrielian one of the
wealthy people of the old Yerevan.

Abovian Street (formerly, Astafian) is one of the most famous streets
of Yerevan with its unique atmosphere. Each resident of Yerevan has a
cherished memory connected with this street. These afterglows of the
city’s dwellers are the integral part of the streets’ architectural
atmosphere, that form the documental and aesthetic value of our
capital.

A number of NGOs, Civic Initiative of Kond’s Preservation and the
citizens of Yerevan organized a protest action directed against the
authorities’ decision to reconstruct the building. “As a result of
economic development large scale urban construction processes are
taking place in the capital and the new plan of the city is being
elaborated. The city administration alienates the buildings that have
preserved architectural and historical value of the city’s center for
many years. While the new plan should first of all preserve the
history of the capital and transfer it to the future
generations. Neither the Yerevan city mayor, nor the chief architect
and the authors of the plan have rights to decide the fate of
Yerevan’s history. We all are the owners of the city and its fate and
history, we have inherited them and we are responsible for,” Sarhat
Petrossian, one of the action’s organizers said.

The abovementioned valuable building was excluded from the list of the
historical buildings of the city that was approved by the
government. But Yerevan doesn’t belong to the authorities and the
organizers of the action applied to RA prime minister. The latter gave
his consent to include the building in the list of the historical
monuments of the city and submitted the relevant document to the
Municipality. But just yesterday the edifice was being
reconstructed. This part of the city’s history is lost for us.

The edifice was excluded from the list of historical monuments when
the former architect was in power. The building wasn’t included in the
new list either and was sold to a Berberian. Devil-may-care behavior
of the building’s owner isn’t excluded. The initiators of the action
of protest try to draw the attention of the Yerevan City
Administration, the government, the Committee for the Monument’s
Preservation on their demand to include the edifice in the list of the
historical monuments, as in this case, it will necessary and
obligatory to preserve the front of the building, at least.

Architect, Mr. Gasparian, expressed bewilderment about the fact that
Yerevan’s historical plan is preserved by the government’s decree but,
at the same time, the same decree approved the list of the edifices
situated in such parts of the city for moving to another place. There
are 18 buildings in that list.

The initiators of the action applied to RA government with their
demands directed against Yerevan city administration. “We are against
the policy that the Yerevan city administration conducts. They deny
the historical past of our city. We demand that the issue of
historical monuments should be of special and primary importance in
the plan of the Yerevan city,” said the initiators of the action of
protest.

Sirekan Ohanian, head of the Department of Urban Construction and
Natural Resources at RA Government, received two of the action’s
initiators and informed them that 20 days ago the government received
a suggestion and in the course of February 24 sitting of government a
decision was made to include the edifice in the list of Yerevan’s
historical monuments.

Notwithstanding this decision, we were informed that the building is
being reconstructed still and that is why the action of protest will
continue in front of Yerevan Mayor’s Office.

P.S. The owner of the building called daily Azg yesterday night and
promised not to bring down the front of the building which is going to
turn into hotel.

Azerbaijani Says He Will Promote Peace in Caucasus

Zenit News Agency, Italy
Feb 27 2005

Azerbaijani Says He Will Promote Peace in Caucasus

Received in Audience by Cardinal Sodano

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- President Ulham Aliev of
Azerbaijan committed himself to promote peace and religious freedom
in the Caucasus, when he visited the Holy See over the weekend.

Aliev, who was received Saturday by Vatican Secretary of State
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, began the meeting by asking the prelate to
transmit to the hospitalized John Paul II “his homage and that of the
Azerbaijani people.” He also said he remembered well the Holy
Father’s visit to Baku on May 22-23, 2002.

A statement issued by Vatican spokesman Joaquín Navarro Valls
reported that “in the course of the talks, relations between the Holy
See and Azerbaijan were reviewed, as well as the existing problems in
the Caucasus, with the common commitment to favor the material and
spiritual progress of that region, and, in particular, the necessary
religious freedom and dialogue between the different components of
society.”

Also present at the meeting were Elmar Mammadyarov, Azerbaijan’s
foreign minister, and Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, Vatican secretary
for relations with states.

The Republic of Azerbaijan became independent in 1991, after the fall
of the Soviet Union. It has 7.8 million inhabitants, most of whom are
Muslims, although there are important minorities of Russian and
Armenian Orthodox.

Despite the 1994 cease-fire, Azerbaijan has yet to resolve its
conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, a largely Armenian
enclave. Azerbaijan has lost 16% of its territory and, as a result of
the conflict, must support 800,000 refugees and internally displaced
people.

The Catholic community in Azerbaijan virtually disappeared during
Stalin’s persecutions. There are fewer than 1,000 Catholics in the
country.

Last Nov. 18, John Paul II received a delegation of Muslim, Orthodox
and Jewish representatives of Azerbaijan, who went to Rome to thank
him for his 2002 visit.

During the meeting, the Pope and all the representatives agreed that
no one has the right to use religion as an instrument of intolerance
or violence.

Dubai: Armenia at Gulfood 2005

Azad-Hye, Dubai
Feb 26 2005

Armenia at Gulfood 2005

AZAD-HYE (26 February 2005):For the first time Armenia participated
this year with a national stand at the 10th Gulf Food, Hotel &
Equipment Exhibition, Dubai International Exhibition Centre, 20-23
February 2005.

The Armenian stand, which occupied more than 100 square meters, was
represented by 10 companies (see list), covering various food
producing domains (dairy products, meat, fish, dried foods, dietary
products, juices, conserves, canned foods, etc). The stand was
coordinated by a semi-governmental body called DAI-ASME (Armenia
Small and Medium Enterprise Market Development Project).

Armen Matosyan, Senior Marketing Advisor at DAI-ASME said that “it is
very significant that Armenia is occupying a separate stand in this
international exhibition. Our Agency has encouraged Armenian
companies to take part in this exhibition. We have sent informative
bulletin long before the due date. We have also created incentives
for participation, by covering 50% of the expenses of the Armenian
stand. Thus the average cost for exhibition space for each company
has been about 2000 dollars instead of 4000 dollars”.

Talking about future participation he said that his Agency might not
be sponsoring next Gulfood exhibition (due to take place from 19-22
February 2006). “We are effectively asking Armenian companies to get
used to the idea of bearing the cost of the marketing of their own
products, especially that now they have already achieved a degree of
penetration into the market”.

Lyudmila Hovahnnisyan of “Vordi Armen LLC” expressed initial
satisfaction about the UAE market. “We have received many inquiries.
I am collecting business cards in a separate folder and will answer
to all requests once I am back in Armenia. We produce many types of
cheeses. Our packaging system has been developed now and it is up to
the international standards”, she insists.

>From what we noticed the packaging of Armenian products have really
improved. Eight out of the ten exhibiting companies had attractive
labels. Only two (Tamar Tatik and Gamma) need to revise their
packaging and labeling methods.

Arkadi Gevorkyan, General Director of “Arkadzuk JSC” said that he
already received serious queries from hotel, supermarket chains,
airline catering companies, asking for trout and sturgeon fish
products. The company operates ten branches in Gumri, Masis and
Etchmiadzin.

Armen Hakobyan of “SIS Natural Cannery Ltd” said that his company
intends to participate next year even if it has to pay all the
participating expenses. “It is extremely important to meet our
clients in Dubai and discuss ways of improving our exporting
capabilities”. He had hired this year an Armenian translator and
coordinator from Dubai, to assist him in dealing with the flow of
customers.

Edward Dilanyan, President of “Vitamax-E LLC” said that his dietary
product Narine is truly unique and is the result of laboratory work
in Armenia. Referring to the Exhibition he said “Dubai is a place
where you can meet clients from many countries. This is why we
concentrate on this Exhibition”.

The DAI-ASME stand was hosting tourist material provided by the
Armenian Tourism Development Agency. People were so much interested
to know this new destination that the printed material on Armenia
expired on the very first day of the exhibition. Newcomers were still
asking for material and were even satisfied with the remaining
Italian and German language brochures.

“Very few Armenians from the UAE made the effort to come and see our
products” concluded Armen Matosyan his interview with Azad-Hye.com.
“We are sad that Armenians did not have the curiosity to see our
stand and to encourage our producers”.

Philip Smith, Senior Area Manager of the influential “Khaleej Times”
English language daily of Dubai visited the Armenian stand and
received the attention of the organizers. They invited him to visit
Armenia to see the beauty of the country and to confirm the purity of
the Armenian products. From his side he expressed belief that Armenia
will benefit from its proximity to the UAE market and will improve
its exporting record.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

170th Anniversary of the Armenian Church in Singapore

Azad-Hye, Dubai
Feb 25 2005

170th Anniversary of the Armenian Church in Singapore

AZAD-HYE (25 February 2005): The Trustees of the Singapore Armenian
Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator and the Armenian residents of
Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong, have decided to honour the 170th
anniversary of the construction of the Church with a series of
Armenian cultural, social and religious events, as mentioned in a
newsletter we recently received.

The planned dates for the celebrations are 10-13 November 2005, with
the attendance of All Armenians Catholicos Karekin II and Archbishop
Aghan Baliozian Primate of Australia, New Zealand and South East
Asia.

The newsletter says that this early announcement will give everyone
sufficient time to do travel arrangements to Singapore to help
Armenians of South East Asia celebrate and commemorate this historic
occasion.

It is estimated that some 100 persons may attend the event, mostly
Armenians from Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Guang Zhou and
Malaysia. Armenians from other countries are encouraged to combine
their business or tourism trips to South East Asia with a stopover in
Singapore during the said period.

About the administrative steps taken so for, the newsletter (which
was issued on 14th February 2005) reports: “We have in the normal
Armenian tradition formed an Event Committee, which have just been
appointed and will, in the course of the next three months, summarize
an event program. The names and designation of the Committee will be
issued with Newsletter No. 2”.

The current newsletter is signed by Norayr D. (Bob) Kevorkian,
President of the Custodian Trustee, Armenian Church of St. Gregory
the Illuminator, Singapore.