ARMENIA’S PM DISPLEASED WITH PARLIAMENT’S INTERFERENCE IN GOVERNMENT’S
WORK

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22. ARMINFO. Armenia’s Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan has instructed his subordinate structures not to answer the
requests of the councils set by Parliament Speaker Artur Bagdassaryan
and not to take part in their work.

In an interview to Haykakan Zhamanak Margaryan says that it’s not the
government’s duty to help these councils and that parliament speaker
has no legal right to set up such structures. This is direct
interference in the cabinet’s work. Margaryan notes that he has never
allowed himself to meddle with the parliament’s work. “If there are
any issues of concern for the parliament they can be raised in
parliamentary commissions or at parliamentary hearings,” he says.

ANY COMPROMISES BY ARMENIAN SIDE IN KARABAKH PROBLEM SHOULD CONSIDER
SECURITY OF ARMENIAN AND KARABAKH PEOPLES

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22. ARMINFO. Any compromises by the Armenian side in
the Karabakh peace process should come from the logic of guaranteeing
the security of the Armenian and Karabakh peoples, Armenia’s PM
Andranik Margaryan says in an interview to Haykakan Zhamanak.

These compromises may envisage return of some controlled districts or
certain change of borders but the Armenian and Karabakh people should
first get guarantees of their security, says Margaryan.

REELECTION OF ARMENIAN REP. TO STAFF OF BUREAU OF CE STEERING
COMMITTEE “OPENING TO EUROPE” FOR YOUTH OF NAGORNY KARABAKH

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22. ARMINFO. Deputy Minister for Culture and Youth
Affairs of Armenia Lilit Asatryan is reelected to the staff of the
Bureau of the CE Steering Committee for Youth Affairs.

Speaking at today’s press conference, Lilit Asatryan said that
representatives of Azerbaijan, Ukraine, France, Greece, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Russia had also applied for the post. She said that her
reelection to the staff allowed raising the issue of including the
youth of Nagorny Karabakh to the activity of the CE. Azerbaijani
representatives protested against the issue, however, the Committee
members, representatives of 48 states, made a positive decision. The
Committee made a decision to include the youth of Nagorny Karabakh to
the so-called vulnerable group in conformity with the points of the
International Convention for Culture. The decision will allow the
youth of Karabakh residing in the conflict zone to participate in the
democratization process of the country and to work at youth
organizations of CE member-states.

YEREVAN’S MUNICIPALITY CONCERNED OVER STATE OF ELEVATORS IN THE CAPITAL

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21. ARMINFO. Yerevan’s Municipality is going to
order Moscow elevators for the capital, says vice mayor of Yerevan
Vano Vardanyan.

Vardanyan says that most of Yerevan’s elevators need repairing or
replacement. The volume of the purchase will depend on finanicing –
now the municipality is negotiating for importing spare parts only. Of
4,150 elevators in Yerevan 542 ones are inoperative.

The only elevator plant in Armenia was destroyed by the Spitak
earthquake in 1988. It has been much talked of building a new plant
since then but no money has ever been obtained for the purpose. There
have already been some elevator accidents in Yerevan.

Daily Bruin – View Point
Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Remembering Armenian Genocide admirable, not hateful
Students working to spread awareness provide opportunities for valuable
dialogue

By Paul Von Blum

Like many others in the UCLA community, I was distressed to read Fatma
Asli Velieceoglu’s submission to the Daily Bruin misleadingly titled
“Armenian propaganda against Turkey untrue, divisive” (Feb. 10). Her
allegation that Armenians have engaged in a campaign of hatred against
Turkey utterly contradicts my experience as a teacher at UCLA for the
past 25 years.

During that time, I have had the pleasure of having hundreds of students
of Armenian heritage here. My contact with these intellectually and
morally engaged young men and women has been a highlight of my academic
career.

One major reason is that all of them have been passionately concerned
about Turkey’s shameful denial of the Armenia Genocide almost 90 years
ago. Their focus has properly been on educating their fellow students
about one of the most horrific eras of 20th-century history.

In all of my conversations with Armenian American students and others,
with no exceptions whatever, I have heard no expression of hatred toward
Turks or anyone else. Their sole focus has been on demanding that Turkey
acknowledge its historical accountability for the mass murders of
Armenians.

I join my Armenian brothers and sisters in working against genocide
denial. As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I feel an enduring
solidarity with all people whose lives have been shattered by both
genocide and its progeny, the cynical refusal to acknowledge historical
responsibility.

We live in an era where countless thousands of human beings were
slaughtered in Cambodia and Rwanda and presently in Sudan. Velieceoglu
should take advantage of her educational opportunity at UCLA to learn
about the sorry historical legacy of the 20th and early 21st centuries,
including her own government’s continuing refusal to acknowledge its
past.

Genocide deniers might begin by engaging in thoughtful dialogue with
many of the students Velieceoglu foolishly maligned in her Daily Bruin
submission.

————————————————————————
Von Blum is a professor of African American studies and communication
studies.

21,000 TRANSIT PASSENGERS CARRIED BY ARMAVIA IN 2004

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21. ARMINFO. 21,000 against planned 15,000 passengers were
carried by the Armavia company by its two transit routes
Novosibirsk-Yerevan-Istanbul and Tehran-Yerevan-Moscow, says the company’s
press secretary Garik Siroyan.

This year Armavia plans to carry 30,000 transit passengers and to open new
transit routes Beirut-Yerevan-Paris, Beirut-Yerevan-Kiev,
Aleppo-Yerevan-Moscow, Aleppo-Yerevan-Paris and from Ashgabat via Yerevan to
Moscow, Tehran, Dubai, North Caucasus and Ukraine.

By 2009 – two years after the opening of the new Zvartnots terminal –
Armavia plans to carry 100,000 transit passengers a year.

In 2004 Armavia carried 431,000 passengers – 42% more than in 2003. the
passenger turnover grew by 41% to 764.5 mln p/km, cargo turnover by 33% to 3
mln t/km. 82.6% of passengers were carried to the CIS countries. In 2004
Armavia’s share in the total passenger turnover of Armenia grew by 11% to
41%.

THERE ARE NO SERIOUS TALKS WITHOUT CONCESSIONS: VLADIMIR KAZIMIROV

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21. ARMINFO. Azerbaijan demands that international
attention be paid to the issue of occupied territories rather than the
gist of the Karabakh problem, says Vladimir Kazimirov, former Russian
co-chair, says in his article in Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

Kazimirov says that the Prague Process of the Armenian-Azeri foreign
ministerial talks is a nice label for the impatient. In fact this is
just rare meetings of the two FMs with the presence of the OSCE Minsk
Group who are instructed to facilitate talks between the conflicting
parties. The Minsk Process has brought the parties to nowhere and it
is not clear yet where the Prague Process is leading them to. They may
very well find another capital soon for a next stage in this endless
process.

There are no serious talks without concessions, says Kazimirov noting
that neither Armenian nor Azeri presidents have so far started
preparing their societies for concessions – on the contrary for many
years they have persuaded them that they will get rather than give.
Afraid of sitting down at the negotiating table in the last months
Azerbaijan has chosen the alternative of political propaganda at
international organizations. Hoping for compassion Baku is showing
just the hard consequences of the conflict.

As for PACE it takes the problem superficially – they do not care to
go as deep as to see how it all happened, who sought to solve the
problem by force, why the war was so long. There would be no
occupation if the conflict was solved by political means. Kazimirov
slates the Russian delegates who did not even open their mouths when
PACE ascribed to OSCE what was in reality achieved by Russia – the
1994 cease fire.

Kazimirov notes that if Mar 2 the FMs agree to move on stage by stage
but with package elements the sides will soon face the problem of
guaranteeing exclusively peaceful settlement for the conflict. It was
not by chance that in a recent meeting Pres.Putin told Pres.Aliev that
the Karabakh knot should be entangled by worthy means and that
security should be ensured in the region. The Azeri-proposed phased
scenario cannot be effected without no-war guarantees by the
conflicting parties. Only naivety can urge them to resume war just
because they believe they are at advantage at the moment.

This will require both material guarantees (demilitarization,
withdrawal of troops from occupied districts) and international
involvement. This in its turn will require serious changes in the
words and actions of Azerbaijan who regularly comes out with military
threats and boasts of its growing military expenses but complaining at
the same time of the privations of a million of Azeri refugees. As for
the Armenians they should renounce their “territories for status”
stance. The Karabakh problem should be voted on by the Karabakh people
rather than haggled on by the sides.

There are many examples: voting was Quebec rather than Canada, Eritrea
rather than Ethiopia, Eastern Timor rather than Indonesia.

Kazimirov says that very complicated problems are on the negotiating
table now – they will suffice for many years of intensive work even if
no additional difficulties are found by propaganda machine.

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone 212.319.6383 x.118
Fax 212.319.6507
Email [email protected]
Website

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

AGBU FRANCE DISTRICT 2005 CALENDAR OF EVENTS NOT TO BE MISSED

New York, NY – From January 15th-16th in Valence, France, AGBU
District Committee of France and AGBU representatives from Lyon,
Paris, Marseilles, St. Chamond, Valence, and Vienne gathered to
address and discuss the District’s projects for 2005 as well as its
long-term, strategic role within AGBU Europe. Also present were AGBU
President Berge Setrakian, Central Board member Sam Simonian, and
Director of AGBU European Programs Nicolas Tavitian.

At the invitation of AGBU District Committee of France, a dinner was
held at the restaurant Michel Chabran on Saturday evening attended by
the Mayor of Valence, Léna Balsan, former Mayor and current member of
the French Parliament, Patrick Labaune, as well as various
representatives of local government organizations. On Sunday,
Setrakian along with AGBU District Committee of France and Chapter
representatives toured the premises of AGBU Valence Center and were
invited by the local Committee to a luncheon.

Commensurate with the mission of AGBU, the activities of AGBU France
District concentrate on three main areas: Youth, Culture and
Education, and Armenia. On the youth front, AGBU Paris kicked off 2005
hosting a Young Professionals (YP) conference in Paris on January 17th
with 25 attendees. As a result, an AGBU YP Group has been established
in Paris with Vanessa Ketchedjian as its chairperson. Other 2005 youth
activities include a youth ski trip in February, summer camp sessions
in Ancelle, “AGBU Paris Summer Intern Program,” and the new “AGBU
Young Pioneers Program,” a summer student exchange program to Armenia
and Karabagh.

To support Armenian cultural and educational endeavors, AGBU Paris has
planned a 2005 “Young Talent of Armenia” concert series. The first of
the two scheduled performances took place on February 7th by violinist
Suzi Yeritsian, while the second will showcase violinist Saténik
Khourdoyan and pianist Varduhi Yeritzian on May 13th. A lecture
series, devoted to topics of interest, kicks off in Paris on March 3rd
with renowned scholar and member of the French Academy Jean-Pierre
Mahé.

In commemoration of the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide this
April, AGBU France District will sponsor a conference on April 14th at
the Shoah Memorial as well as a commemorative concert on April 20th
with musician Gérard Gasparian. On June 11th, together with all French
Armenians, AGBU France District will be celebrating the inauguration
of the Armenian Heritage Center of Valence.

On July 2nd, AGBU Marseilles will honor Serge Tchuruk, Chairman and
CEO of multinational corporation Alcatel and one of the world’s most
prominent business leaders of Armenian descent, on the occasion of its
95th anniversary in the presence of notable AGBU dignitaries from AGBU
France District and around the world.

As in years past, AGBU France District’s fundraising support for AGBU
Children’s Centers in Armenia will continue throughout the year.

Additional information about AGBU France District’s fall 2005 plans
will be released as they become available.

AGBU France District is dedicated to preserving and promoting the
Armenian heritage and culture through humanitarian, educational, and
cultural programs in France and Armenia. For more information, please
contact AGBU France District by visiting its newly launched website
, e-mailing [email protected], or calling (33) (1)
45-20-03-18.

For more information on AGBU and its worldwide chapters, please visit
and click on Global AGBU.

EU signs deal with Moldova offering closer political, trade ties

AP Worldstream
Feb 22, 2005

The European Union signed a new action plan with Moldova on Tuesday to
establish closer trade and political ties aiming to stabilize the
former Soviet Republic.

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner urged
Moldova to “demonstrate its commitment to our shared values” of
democracy and human rights.

“It must take up the challenge and set the pace,” Ferrero-Waldner said
in a statement after the EU talks with the European neighbor.

She urged Moldova to ensure that upcoming elections are “free and
fair.” The 25-nation bloc plans to send observers to monitor the March
6 parliamentary vote there.

The EU and the United States have expressed concern about the fairness
of the elections, saying the campaign was being marred by biased media
coverage and police harassment of opposition candidates.

Tuesday’s signing of the so-called action plan is part of the EU’s new
“neighborhood policy,” which aims to boost political and trade ties,
but not offer eventual membership.

Moldova has been locked in a dispute with the eastern region of
Trans-Dniester, which broke away after a 1992 war that left 1,500
people dead. Its separatist government is not recognized
internationally, but receives strong support from Russia.

The EU signed a similar deal with Ukraine on Monday.

EU diplomats hope the policy would help bring peace, stability and
prosperity beyond the EU’s new eastern borders.

Other countries included in the policy include the Caucasus states of
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia; as well as Morocco, Mauritania,
Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Palestinian
Authority and Israel.

Over the next three to five years, these countries will be offered
closer political ties, access to EU research, education and other
programs, better trade terms and transport links and EU help in
fighting organized crime, illegal drugs and immigration.

PROGRESSIVE PARTY OF ARMENIA CALLS ON REVOLUTION BUT NOT ON CHANGE OF
POWER

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21. ARMINFO. Armenia’s Progressive Party calls on
revolution in agriculture, science, education and economy, but not on
the change of power.

As PPA leader Tigran Urikhanyan noted at party’s special convention,
the social and economic situation in country is being worsened from
day to day: lecturers are forced to be engaged in commerce, cost of
living of the most people is lower than the level of consumer’s
basket. Speaking about the opposition Urikhanyan said that they does
not fulfill properly liabilities taken by themselves.

He said that the quick and radical reforms “without shocks”, directed
to both the development of industrial production and the creation of
legal field should be done to way out of this situation.

PPA Special convention ratified a resolution informing about party’s
decision to start without delay mass propagandistic actions in
country’s regions, as well as to organize meetings of volunteers,
activists and citizens ready to guarantee stability and security in
Armenia. The resolution also calls on all political forces, concerned
with country’s fate, to unit with PPA. -r-