A1 Plus | 17:24:59 | 22-06-2004 | Social |
CHILDREN FALLEN INTO NEGLECT IN ARMENIA
On Tuesday, Christian Ferrin, the head of Armenian mission of Doctors
without Borders organization, speaking at a news conference in Yerevan,
voiced dissatisfaction at cooperation with Armenian authorities for
last seven year.
Ferrin said a program launched to improve child treatment in
special schools was already completed but no changes had been made
in Nubarashen and Vardashen special schools so far. Children are
being mistreated and undergone violence as before, he said. The
organization and Armenian Education Ministry was in charge of the
project implementation.
In his words, Armenian authorities said these schools were intended
for military training. It means children under age of12 years pass
military training in a clear breach of International Convention on
the Rights of the Child.
Key aim of the organization is children protection. The organization
focuses its attention also on rendering help to those families in
extreme need to prevent them from collapsing.
“Many abandoned children in orphanages have parents who are unable to
take care of them. Time has come the authorities to take responsibility
for every child not only to help them”, Ferrin said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Baku Today
June 22 2004
Police Disperses KLO’s anti-Armenian Rally in Baku, Arresting Akif Naghi
Baku Today 22/06/2004 17:23
Several members from the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO),
including its chairman Akif Naghi, were arrested on Tuesday after
they clashed with police near Baku’s Europe Hotel, where a planning
conference for NATO’s “Cooperative Best Effort-2004” military
training opened the same day.
About 100 KLO activists attempted to rally in front of the hotel in
protest of two Armenian participants of the conference, Firudin
Mammadov, a deputy KLO chairman, told the Baku Today. No immediate
comments were available from the police.
Mammadov said when the police prevented the protestors from
assembling in front of the hotel, a group of 15-20 young KLO
activists managed to broke into the hotel via a rear door, after
which the work of the conference was stopped for about ten minutes.
KLO had warned the Armenian officers, Colonel Murad Isakhanyan and
Senior Lieutenant Aram Hovhanesian from coming to Baku, with a KLO
activist threatening them with death.
KLO also blamed Azerbaijani authorities for letting the Armenian
officers – who have been involved in the occupation of Azerbaijan’s
territories – into the country.
Armenian officers had failed to show up in the first Baku-hosted
planning conference for the “Cooperative Best Effort-2004” exercises
in January. Armenian foreign ministry then put the blame on the
Azerbaijani government for not providing the Armenians with entry
visas. But the latter accused the Armenian side in response, saying
that Yerevan had already besmirched relations with Baku by occupying
one-fifth of Azerbaijan’ territories.

PRESS RELEASE
Department of Armenian Studies, Haigazian University
Beirut, Lebanon
Contact: Ara Sanjian
Tel: 961-1-353011
Email: [email protected]
Web:
HENRY THERIAULT LECTURES AT HAIGAZIAN UNIVERSITY ON THE COMPARATIVE
DIMENSION OF GENOCIDE DENIAL
BEIRUT, Tuesday, 22 June, 2004 (Haigazian University Department of
Armenian Studies Press Release) – Prof. Henry C. Theriault lectured at
Haigazian University on “The Armenian Genocide and the Comparative
Dimension of Denial” on Friday, 30 April, 2004.
Theriault has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of
Massachusetts. He serves as Assistant Professor of philosophy and
coordinates the Center for the Study of Human Rights at Worcester State
College (Massachusetts, USA). His research focuses on genocide,
nationalism, and the philosophy of history, with particular emphasis on
issues of genocide denial.
Theriault first described the active, state-sponsored denial of the
Armenian Genocide. In the United States alone, the Turkish government
pours millions of dollars into its negationist campaign, hiring
lobbyists (like Bob Livingston and Steven Solarz) to defeat
congressional recognition legislation, as well as public relations firms
to put its version of the events in question out. Ankara also uses its
own diplomatic personnel, funds different initiatives, prints denialist
books and then sends these out free to school districts and newspapers.
When the French Parliament was voting to recognize the Armenian
Genocide, the Turkish government threatened to shut French companies out
of billions of dollars of contracts. “The explicitness, the extent and
the state sponsorship of denial of the Armenian Genocide make it perhaps
the great example of denial,” concluded Theriault. He pointed out that
the Turkish campaign is happening on almost every level and it appears
to encompass every feature of similar denialist attempts, including
state sponsorship and the targeting of the media, educational
institutions and the political realm. Theriault said that the
appointment of Heath Lowry, an American denier of the Armenian Genocide,
as tenured professor at Princeton shows that joining the denialist
bandwagon often has its rewards. The struggle against denial, therefore,
has to be constant, for positive signs in this regard are often
counterbalanced by negative developments.
After asserting that the Turkish campaign is not the only case of
denial, Theriault dealt at some length with two other similar examples.
The first was the attempt by some Japanese circles to deny the
atrocities committed by the Japanese military in Asia between 1931 and
1945, including the Nanking massacre of 1938, when between 100 and 260
thousand of the total 600 thousand inhabitants of the then capital of
Nationalist China were killed in extremely brutal ways. Although the
Japanese government burned in 1945 a tremendous amount of evidence
related to its military activities, a great deal of indirect evidence is
still available on the Nanking massacre. The latter has been brought
together and used by a number of Japanese scholars. There are also many
eyewitness accounts by Westerners, some of whom tried to set up safe
zones for refugees fleeing the Japanese. Nevertheless, attempts to deny
this particular massacre and Japanese wartime atrocities in general have
heated up significantly since the end of the Cold War. While this denial
is not state sponsored per se, many important Japanese government
officials, including the current mayor of Tokyo and functionaries in the
Ministry of Education, are either outright deniers or very sympathetic
to denial efforts. There are also deniers in well placed university
positions, including the prestigious Tokyo University. The deniers are
also usually advocates of the remilitarization of Japan. They see the
Japanese defeat in World War II and also the claim that Japan committed
atrocities as the major hindrance for the re-assertion of Japanese power
in Asia. It is evident, said Theriault, that their sophisticated
campaign has considerable effect on young people. In 2001 deniers
attempted to enforce the use in Japanese schools of a new textbook
reflecting their views. Theriault added that this effort was opposed by
local grass-roots movements of average citizens, an important sign of
the strength among the Japanese population of the kind of full
recognition movement absent in Turkey.
Within the Japanese context, Theriault also referred to the denial of
the ordeal of about 200 thousand Asian (and some Dutch) women and girls,
the so called ‘comfort women,’ who were used as sexual slaves by the
Japanese military. Some of these women were raped 30 times a day, six
days a week. Many of them lasted for only a few months, while others
were massacred at the end of the war because the Japanese government
feared that their plight might lead to yet another war crimes trial.
Among other arguments, denialist historians in Japan have resorted to
relativism to undermine the credibility of the stories of these women.
Theriault’s second example was related to denialist attempts in the
United States. After referring briefly to Holocaust denial attempts by
neo-Nazi groups, he stated that “the real strong denials, beyond the
Armenian Genocide, happen with what the United States has done in its
own past and present.” He argued that “the United States was founded by
genocide, through slavery.” Theriault’s focus was on the genocide of
native Americans. He said that something like nine million natives lived
on the territory of the United States before the European influx. By
1890, however, the United States government recognized that only
approximately 200 thousand natives remained. Theriault said that
exterminatory deportation, like that of the Cherokee and the Navajo, was
a common tool used to get rid of the natives. Even in their designated
points of arrival and resettlement, conditions of starvation were often
imposed. Many continued to die of disease, because they were extremely
weak and starving. Nevertheless, denial of the genocide of native
Americans is still very strong. It works primarily
through omission; people just refuse to talk about the issue. There was
a strong backlash to newspaper editorials urging free discussion of this
topic, which were published in 1992, the fifth centenary of the European
discovery of the Americas. That pitch of denial has continued in the
past decade, and deniers try to explain the extermination of the natives
as just an unfortunate thing. Even when native Americans sue the
government to reclaim their lands on violated treaty grounds, the courts
usually throw these cases out. Moreover, when uranium was discovered in
the twentieth century in native American reservations, the United States
claimed the uranium in the name of national security, without proper
compensation.
Theriault then briefly pointed out a few other instances of genocide
denial. For example, the German genocide of the Herero in South West
Africa in the first decade of the 20th century is still more or less
omitted from German and world history. The Herero refused to leave their
land and resisted German colonial expansion. They were defeated,
however, and massacred; out of 80 thousand Herero only an estimated
10-15 thousand escaped. Recent calls by their survivors for some kind or
recognition and reparation have been ignored. In the modern era, the
Indonesian, Australian, British, American and other governments denied
the atrocities committed during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in
1975 because of oil interests in the region and Indonesia’s value as a
Cold War ally. The United States was the main arms supplier to Indonesia
and aborted all attempts to have the East Timor issue discussed at the
United Nations. Finally, the United Nations, the United States, France,
Belgium and others covered up the Rwandan Genocide as it was happening
in 1994. The United Nations headquarters ignored requests from its
personnel on the ground to increase the number of its troops keeping the
peace in Rwanda and actually cut them down. Even after the genocide
began, the American media presented the violence as an ongoing ethnic
conflict, rather than a case of orchestrated genocide by a perpetrator
group against a victim group. Over 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda
in just 100 days.
Theriault closed the first section of his talk by arguing that denial of
past and ongoing genocides allows other perpetrators to come along; “the
strength of denial and the willingness maybe to give in to denial
ourselves allows us to think that it’s not happening again and we don’t
have any responsibility.”
Although each genocide had its particular characteristics, Theriault
stated that denials of various genocides sound exactly alike; deniers of
different genocides usually use the same types of arguments again and
again. In the second and concluding part of his lecture, he mentioned
some of these arguments:
(a) The ‘civil war’ thesis: the violence was not committed by a
perpetrator group against a victim group; instead, the two groups were
both combatants.
(b) Blaming the victims, by arguing that through their behavior and
actions they provided the initial cause of violence.
(c) The absence of any central plan or intent on the side of the
perpetrator; the acts of violence were spontaneous.
(d) The ‘wartime propaganda’ arguments; the enemies of the perpetrator
group exaggerated and even fabricated the evidence in order to mobilize
public opinion for their war effort.
(e) The ‘numbers game’; the manipulation of pre-genocide population
figures, the number of casualties, and the causes of death to make it
appear that the mass violence did not amount to genocide. This argument
usually does not work alone, said Theriault, but can be very effective
if used together with other arguments.
(f) The argument of ‘insufficient evidence’. However, this line of
reasoning is becoming increasingly untenable in light of new historical
research.
(g) ‘Definitionalism’ or the claim that a particular instance of mass
violence does not fit the United Nations 1948 definition of genocide.
Sometime the definition itself is manipulated and misrepresented to
attain the desired goal of denial. Theriault argued, however, that “if a
lot of people are killed unjustly by a government, the labeling is not
as important.” Deniers who resort to definitionalism often mislead
people into thinking that these are ‘either/or’ cases and that we should
not care if a particular case of group violence is not a genocide.
In the lively question-and-answer session that followed, Theriault
expressed anxiety that “the rhetoric of human rights is now very clearly
being used by the United States and by others as a tool for violating
human rights.” He said that people in the United States and elsewhere
have an arrogance about their susceptibility to propaganda; they think
that they are not susceptible to propaganda and do not realize that
their minds are being manipulated in certain ways. Hence, they are not
critical towards what they are being told. Theriault also said that he
was working on a book on the subject of his lecture.
Theriault’s talk at Haigazian University was part of his first-ever
lecture tour in Lebanon, initiated by the Lebanese-Armenian Heritage
Club of the American University of Beirut. He also gave public lectures
on genocide-related themes at the American University of Beirut, the
Hagop Der Melkonian theatre hall and at the Armenian Catholicosate of
Cilicia, based in Antelias, north of Beirut.
Haigazian University is a liberal arts institution of higher learning,
established in Beirut in 1955. For more information about its activities
you are welcome to visit its web-site at <;. For additional information on the activities of its Department of Armenian Studies, contact Ara Sanjian at .

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
06/22/2004
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WEBSITE AT HTTP://
1. Karabagh Liberation Organization Disrupts Baku NATO Conference
2. Austrian President Questions EU’s Readiness for Turkey
3. Kerry Honors 86th Anniversary of the Founding of the First Armenian Republic
4. Gorky Family Speaks out on Burying Artist in Armenia
1. Karabagh Liberation Organization Disrupts Baku NATO Conference
BAKU (Australian/Baku Today/RFE/RL)–A NATO conference in the former
Soviet republic of Azerbaijan was disrupted on Tuesday when hardline
nationalists tried to storm the hotel where the meeting was taking
place.
Police arrested several members from the Karabagh Liberation
Organization (KLO), including chairman Akif Naghi, who were protesting
the presence of two Armenian servicemen at the conference.
The KLO warned last week it would take radical action to stop the entry
[into Baku] of Armenian officers.
The conference is being held to prepare officers for a training
exercise of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, called “Cooperative
Best Effort,” which is due to take place in Azerbaijan later this year.
When police prevented the approximately 100 KLO protesters from
assembling outside the venue of the meeting, a hotel in the Azeri
capital, Baku, about 30 demonstrators broke through a police cordon
and smashed the glass door of the conference hall, witnesses at the
scene told AFP.
Hotel security guards prevented them from getting into the conference
hall; they were later detained by police. The meeting was suspended
for five minutes as a result of the disturbance.
The protesters had earlier marched through Baku carrying placards
with the slogans: “Armenians Out!” and “The Armenian criminals have
the blood of our people on their hands.”
“We will continue this protest action all day,” said Akif Nagi, who
led the demonstration. “Our aim is to force the Armenians to leave
the conference.”
Delegates from 24 NATO member states and partner countries, including
the two Armenian officers are attending the conference.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry warned it may recall its representatives
before the end of the conference. Spokesman Colonel Seyran
Shahsuvarian, said in a statement that Azeri security agencies and
the US embassy in Baku are taking “additional security measures.”
“Consultations are currently going on between Armenian representatives,
exercise organizers and Azerbaijani defense ministry officials
regarding the further work of the planning conference,” Shahsuvarian
said. “The Armenian side will continue its participation in the
conference if the Azerbaijani authorities assume full responsibility
for ensuring the security of the Armenian officers.”
Nagi has said that military and other government officials from Armenia
must not be allowed to set foot on Azerbaijani soil because “they
represent an occupying country that has infringed on Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity.” But in a statement to the local media on
Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov argued that under the PfP
rules the Azerbaijani government could not block their participation
in the conference. “Azerbaijan’s relations with NATO must not be
hostage to our problems with Armenia,” Azimov said.
2. Austrian President Questions EU’s Readiness for Turkey
ANKARA (Reuters) The European Union is not ready to accept Turkey
as a member and needs more time to assimilate into the countries of
central and eastern Europe, a Turkish newspaper today quoted Austria’s
new president as saying on Tuesday.
Turkey has won praise from Brussels for a flurry of liberal political
and legal reforms that have boosted its hopes of winning a date at a
December EU summit to start entry talks. But any one of the 25 member
states could veto the opening of talks.
Heinz Fischer, who takes office on July 8, told Turkey’s Aksam daily
he personally favors Turkey’s eventual membership into EU, but said
this was not the right time to begin negotiations.
“We are talking about a large country of 70 million people.
Turkey can change the balances within the EU. It can turn everything
upside down,” Aksam quoted Fischer as saying.
”The question which must be asked is not only whether Turkey is
ready for the EU but whether the EU is ready for Turkey.
”I say clearly, we cannot yet bear [the strain] of Turkey joining,”
said Fischer, a Social Democrat.
The EU admitted 10 new members including Poland, Hungary, the Czech
Republic and the divided island of Cyprus on May 1. It aims to take
in Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, and Croatia is also about to begin
accession talks.
”It is difficult to say whether Turkey will be given a date ]in
December],” Fischer said.
Financial markets are watching closely Ankara’s preparations for
December, believing failure to open negotiations could undermine the
center-right government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and derail
Turkey’s strong economic recovery.
At a summit in Brussels last week, EU leaders repeated their praise
for Turkey’s reforms and urged Erdogan to keep up his reformist
momentum. If launched, the entry talks are expected to last many years.
Turkey, a secular but overwhelmingly Muslim country, has been knocking
on the EU’s door since 1963. It became an official candidate in
1999 but has yet to open entry talks due to concerns over its human
rights record.
3. Kerry Honors 86th Anniversary of the Founding of the First Armenian
Republic
WASHINGTON, DC (ANCA)–In a statement released to the Armenian American
community, presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry
marked the May 28, 1918 founding of the first Armenian Republic.
In his statement, Kerry noted that, “the first Republic of Armenia
rose 86 years ago from the ashes of the Armenian genocide, but was
partitioned soon afterwards. Yet, Armenians yearned for independence,
and seven decades later realized their dream of self-determination.”
“Armenian Americans welcome John Kerry’s celebration of the 86th
anniversary of the first Republic of Armenia,” said Aram Hamparian,
Executive Director of the ANCA. “As a Senator with a twenty-year track
record of advocating for issues of importance to Armenian Americans,
John Kerry understands the tremendous challenges–first among them
the horrific toll of the Armenian Genocide–that the Armenian people
overcame in 1918 on the road to the establishment of the Armenian
Republic.”
In April of this year, Kerry joined the Armenian American community
in marking the 89th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. In a
statement issued on April 22, Kerry called “on governments and people
everywhere to formally recognize this tragedy. Only by learning from
this dark period of history and working to prevent future genocides
can we truly honor the memories of those Armenians who suffered
so unjustly.” In the days prior to his statement, Kerry joined 22
of his Senate colleagues in calling on President Bush to “refer to
the mass slaughter of Armenians as genocide in your commemorative
statement.” He was amongst the earliest cosponsors of the Genocide
resolution (S.Res.164), which marks the 15th anniversary of the US
implementation of the Genocide Convention.
Kerry’s complete record on Armenian American concerns is posted on the
“Armenians for Kerry” website The website
includes previous statements by the Senator and provides ways for
Armenian American supporters to become active in the Kerry campaign
through donations or other volunteer efforts.
Kerry’s congratulatory letter regarding the First Armenian Republic
was read at a Greater Washington, DC area celebration last Saturday
night, hosted by the ARF. The complete text of the statement follows.
Letter from John Kerry Honoring Armenia’s First Independence
Tonight I join Armenian-Americans in proudly celebrating the Republic
of Armenia’s day of independence. The first Republic of Armenia
rose 86 years ago from the ashes of the Armenian genocide, but was
partitioned soon afterwards. Yet, Armenians yearned for independence,
and seven decades later realized their dream of self- determination.
I am proud of my work with the Armenian-American community including
my support for ending Azerbaijan’s blockades of Armenia and Nagorno
Karabagh, for the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act in 1996 and for
extending “permanent normal trade relations” (PNTR) to Armenia.
This evening I would also like to pay tribute to the Armenian-Americans
who have contributed so much to our great country. Your hard work
and strong values make our country a better place for all Americans.
I hope you have a wonderful celebration and, of course, a very happy
birthday.
4. Gorky Family Speaks out on Burying Artist in Armenia
Arshile Gorky’s descendants recently responded to reports that the
Yerevan-based Arshile Gorky Foundation has undertaken fundraising
efforts to transport and bury the remains of the Armenian-American
abstract expressionist painter in Armenia.
Foundation chairman Badal Badalian announced on May 19 that his
organization had undertaken fundraising efforts and “is requesting
permission” to carry out on of Gorky’s greatest dreams to “to return
home and to be one with the soil of Armenia.” Gorky’s son-in-law
Matthew Spender, announced that the move to transfer Gorky’s remains to
Armenia “eventuality requires the permission of Gorky’s descendants,”
including Gorky’s daughter, Spender’s wife Maro.
“I’d like to place on record the fact that neither she nor her mother,
nor sister have been informed of the plan, and that they are against
the idea. Gorky’s resting place in Connecticut is final,” emphasizes
Spender who wrote the 1999 biography of Gorky, From a High Place:
A Life of Arshile Gorky
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PRESS RELEASE
German-Armenian Society (DAG)
Web:
Contact: Ilyas Kevork Uyar
Mühlenstraße 6
54296 Trier
e-mail: [email protected]
Berlin series of lectures
German-Armenian Society
We are inviting you on
Monday, 28th of June 2003
19:30
in the Hessian permanent representation
located in the Ministergärten 5, 10117 Berlin
to a lecture of
Annette Schaefgen
Centre of Research on Anti-Semitism, Berlin
about
^ÓThe Armenian Genocide
as a Topic in German Politics After 1949 .^Ô
About the subject: In the first two decades after the founding of the
Federal Republic of Germany the armenian genocide was no topic in the
political discourse in germany. Only after the growing self-organisation
and political self-regognition of the armenian community in the 70s, does
the regocnition of the genocide became a demand with which german
politicians were faced, first primarily regionally, then however late in
the year 2000 on the federal level through a petition to the German
Bundestag to recognize the genocide.
However, until now for the german side the subject is of only little
relevance. The factors detemining this posiition will be described and
analyzed through documents of the Foreign Office, press articles and
interviews with various members of previous and actual german governments
and other politicians.
Organized by the German-Armenian Society.
Online Contact: Ilyas Kevork Uyar, [email protected]
+++
Wir laden Sie ein
am Montag, 28. Juni 2004, 19.30 Uhr,
in die Hessische Landesvertretung,
In den Ministergärten 5, 10117 Berlin,
zum Vortrag von
Annette Schaefgen
Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung
über das Thema
Der Völkermord an den Armeniern als Thema in der deutschen Politik nach
1949
Zum Thema: In den ersten beiden Jahrzehnten nach der Gründung der
Bundesrepublik war der Völkermord an den Armeniern aus dem politischen
Diskurs in Deutschland fast vollständig ausgeblendet. Erst durch die
zunehmende Organisation der Armenier in den 70er Jahren, die auch ein
Erwachen des politischen Bewusstseins der Diaspora-Gemeinde und deren
Forderung nach einer offiziellen Anerkennung des Völkermordes mit sich
brachte, wurden deutsche Politiker zunehmend mit dem Thema konfrontiert,
zunächst nur regional und erst im Jahr 2000 mit dem Petitionsantrag zur
Anerkennung des Völkermordes schließlich auch auf Bundesebene.
Die Relevanz, die dem Thema von deutscher Seite beigemessen wird, ist bis
heute kontinuierlich gering. Anhand der Akten des Auswärtigen Amtes,
Presseartikeln, Interviews von Vertretern der jeweiligen
Bundesregierungen und anderen Politikern werden Fallbeispiele vorgestellt
und analysiert, durch welche Faktoren das Verhalten der deutschen
Politiker in dieser Frage bestimmt wurden und werden.
Annette Schaefgen hat Geschichte und Latein an der TU Berlin studiert. Am
dort ansässigen Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung schreibt sie zur Zeit
ihre Dissertation zum Thema “Die Rezeption des Völkermordes an den
Armeniern in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland”. Sie hat verschiedene
Aufsätze zu den Armeniern in Deutschland und zur Rezeption des
Völkermordes in der Bundesrepublik, den USA und Israel verfasst. Daneben
arbeitet sie freiberuflich als Bildredakteurin.

AZERI POLICE ARREST 12 FOR STORMING NATO CONFERENCE IN BAKU
Turan news agency, Baku
22 Jun 04
22 June: According to the latest data available to the Karabakh
Liberation Organization (KLO), police have detained 12 people who
took part in the protest outside Hotel Europe today. The detainees
were taken to various police departments of Baku.
The protest started in the morning and continued for quite a while
intermittently. It was accompanied with sporadic clashes with police. A
group of protesters burst into the hotels’ ground floor and tried to
disrupt a NATO conference in which two Armenian officers were taking
part. Police and hotel security officers took them out. As a result,
the hotel’s windows were smashed.
The protesters left the hotel at 1330 (0830 gmt), but the building
is still cordoned off by police.
Preliminary reports say that none of the participants in the NATO
conference, including Armenians, suffered in the incident.

IRAN FOREIGN MINISTER DISCUSSES EXPANSION OF TIES WITH ARMENIAN OFFICIAL
IRNA news agency
22 Jun 04
Tehran, 22 June: Head of Armenian presidential office (apparatus)
Artash (Artashes) Tumanyan and his entourage conferred here Tuesday
(22 June) with Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi on issues of mutual
interest.
According to the Information and Press Bureau of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Armenian minister of energy along with the country’s
deputy minister of transportation and telecommunication were also
present in the meeting.
At the meeting, the two sides reviewed expansion of economic and
commercial cooperation. Describing the current level of political
relations as satisfactory, Kharrazi voiced satisfaction over the
outcome of Iran-Armenia Economic Commission meeting and hoped to
witness further expansion of economic and commercial cooperation to
a desirable level.
Calling the two sides relations as very significant, he expressed the
hope that both sides would take more firm steps to broaden economic
cooperation. He said the two sides economic cooperation would help
restore regional security.
The Armenian envoy, for his part, described bilateral economic
activities as “fruitful” and said the already reached agreements
between the sides would have positive impacts on mutual
relations. Implementing macro-economic plans will have positive
results on ties between the two countries as well as those in the
region through the restoration of security and stability in the
region, he said adding that the countries in the region through a
sincere cooperation can prevent the interference of foreigners and
their influence on regional developments. The Islamic Republic of
Iran is a stabilizing force in the region, he noted. North-Corridor
is a strategic project in which Iran’s plays a very significant role,
he concluded.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION TO CHANGE STRATEGY SOON, PREMIER SAYS
Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
19 Jun 04
An interview with Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan. He comments on
the opposition struggle.
(Aykakan Zhamanak correspondent) Mr Prime Minister, the opposition
thinks that the first stage of the struggle against the authorities
to come to power has finished. How do you assess the first round of
the opposition-authorities fight?
(Andranik Markaryan) I do not think there was a fight between the
authorities and the opposition. Simply the opposition put forward
some problems and during that period the authorities continued their
routine activity ensuring the settlement of internal and external
problems, naturally, paying attention to the problems put forward
by the opposition. I do not want to say that the opposition and the
authorities in our country were fighting each other, as a result of
which one of them won. Simply political processes took place, during
which one of the parties felt that the problems raised by them were
not politically realistic.
For this reason I think that by the end of the year the opposition will
try to change its strategy in order to be able to present its political
demands in a more favourable way. Naturally, the authorities should
also try to settle existing problems by implementing certain work
together with the opposition as well and ease possible tension. So,
here I do not want to see a winner and a loser. We should assess
what took place from the point of view of our country’s rating: has
the rating of our country surged or dropped in the course of these
processes? I think it has dropped a little.
(Correspondent) But the opposition does not think that its political
demands are not realistic. According to opposition leaders, they
failed to fulfil their programmes at this stage because the opposition
continued to fight using constitutional methods against the authorities
which were acting in an unconstitutional way.
(Markaryan) I cannot agree with this. Simply the authorities
were trying to bring the opposition’s actions into line with the
law. As for the opposition’s failure, I think they were acting
incorrectly from the very beginning. Because though there is objective
displeasure in the country, this displeasure should not be expressed
at extraordinary elections, especially in an illegal form such as a
vote of confidence. This is one of the opposition’s mistakes.
Another mistake of the opposition was that they were trying to liken
the situation in Armenia to the situation in Georgia and to come to
power in this way. Whereas it is clear that after any elections,
part of society is always displeased with the results. Simply
that displeasure should be expressed at the next elections and the
opposition should work in this direction. Otherwise we will be holding
extraordinary elections permanently.
(Correspondent) But if the opposition was unable to settle its problems
during this stage, the reason is not that all the existing problems
of the country have been settled and the demands of the opposition
are not realistic.
(Markaryan) But who says that all the existing problems of the country
have been settled? I can say with responsibility that nobody speaks
about our problems more than the government itself. You may open the
strategic programme for poverty reduction or the anti-corruption
programme, and I can assure you that in these two programmes the
situation in our country is presented more harshly than the opposition
was telling about it in the newspapers or in the streets. We do not
make a secret of it. At the same time, we say that we are trying to
settle these problems. The opposition says that our way is wrong, and
if we leave they will settle all the problems. If they can settle them,
let them se ttle the problems now, or tell us how to settle them. But
their proposal is: leave and we shall come and settle the problems.
(Passage omitted: minor details)

PRESS OFFICE
ARMENIAN CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA WESTERN DIOCESE
3325 North Glenoaks Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91504
Tel: (818) 558-7474
Fax: (818) 558-6333
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
COMMUNIQUÉ
PRIMATE MEETS WITH DIOCESAN CLERGY COUNCIL
On June 15, 2004 His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate of
the Armenian Church of North America, Western Diocese, presided over the
monthly meeting of the Clergy Executive Council, the officially elected
body of clergy who implement the missions and projects adopted by the
Clergy Conference at , which is convened four times during the year..
NEW STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE
A new Stewardship Committee has been established within the Western
Diocese, headed by Dr. Vahram Biricik. The new committee has chosen to
take a different approach, by allocating proceeds of their work
primarily towards the Clergy Education Fund. On June 15, 2004 His
Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian presided over the inaugural meeting
of the committee.
APN HOSTS ITS FIRST EVENT
On Wednesday, June 16, 2004 APN, the Armenian Professionals
Network, which was established recently under the auspices the Western
Diocese and is headed by Mr. Vahe Ashjian, held its first event at the
Diocesan Headquarters in Burbank, presided by His Eminence Archbishop
Hovnan Derderian. Present were also Former Mayor of Glendale Mr. Frank
Quintero, and Mr. Greg Martayan, who us running for LA City Council. A
short program outlining the purpose and mission of APN was followed by
an intimate reception.
PRIMATE MEETS WITH ACYO YOUTH
On June 18, 2004 His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian held a
meeting with the Senior ACYO Chapter of St. Peter Armenian Apostolic
Church in Van Nuys. The intimate meeting was mutulally beneficial for
both the Primate and the young adults of St. Peters who were in
attendance.
HIS EMINENCE VISITS NAREK CULTURAL ASSOCIATION
On June 19, 2004 His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian paid his first
official visit to the Nareg Cultural Association, accompanied by Very
reverend Fr. Dajad Yardemian. The Primate met with the students of the
school, and gave them each crosses. An intimate encounter took place
between His Eminence and the students, after which the Principal and the
Board invited the Primate to preside the official opening of the School,
to take place on September 19, 2004.
PRIMATE ATTENDS THE COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES
OF AGBU MANOOGIAN-DEMIRDJIAN SCHOOL
On the evening of June 19, 2004 His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan
Derderian attended the commencement exercises of the AGBU
Manoogian-Demirdjian School. The Primate took the podium and addressed
the students, saying that what made his presence at the ceremonies that
evening more meaningful was the fact that he had had the opportunity to
personally meet and get acquainted with the students, when they visited
the Diocese in December. His Eminence then congratulated the graduates
and wished them well in their futures. The evening closed with the
Primate’s prayer.
PRIMATE CELEBRATES DIVINE LITURGY
AT ST. GREGORY, PASADENA
On Sunday, June 20, 2004 His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan
Derderian celebrated Divine Liturgy and delivered the Sermon at St.
Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church, in Pasadena. He also honored the
members of the choir and the deacons, and presented gifts to each of
them.
During Divine Liturgy the Primate also acknowledged the presence
of well known Armenian Poet, Mr. Jacques Hagopian. A reception followed
in the church hall.
PRIMATE MEETS WITH NAIRA MELKOUMIAN
On Monday, June 21, 2004 His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan
Derderian held an official meeting with the Executive Director of
Armenia Fund Mrs. Naira Melkoumian and the Chairlady of Los Angeles All
Armenia Fund Mrs. Maria Mehranian.
UPCOMING EVENTS
We would like to bring to your attention the upcoming activities of His
Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the Armenian Church of
North America Western Diocese, for the week of June 22-28, 2004. We will
inform you of the details and any changes with future communiqués.
Tuesday, June 22 Pastoral visit to San Diego
Thursday, June 24 – Graduation ceremony of the Hovsepian School
Friday, June 25 Official visit to the Diocese by Assemblyman
Dario Fromer
Saturday, June 26 Training of the Diocesan Summer Camp
Counselors
Sunday, June 27 St. James Armenian Church – Divine Liturgy, reception in
honor of Archpriest Fr. Arshag Khatchadourian, and bestowing the
Encyclical of His Holiness upon Mrs. Mary Najarian
– Evening – Graduation ceremony at TCA Arshag Dickranian School
Monday, June 28 Meeting of the Deacons’ Executive Council at the
Diocesan Headquarters
DIVAN OF THE DIOCESE
June 21, 2004
Burbank, CA

SNSC In Favor Of Boosting Relations With Armenia: Rowhani
Tehran Times, Iran
June 23 2004
TEHRAN (IRNA) — Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council
(SNSC) Hasan Rowhani said on Tuesday that the SNSC is in favor of
boosting of Iran’s relations with Armenia.
In a meeting with chief of Armenian presidential office Artash
Tumanyan, Rowhani said that Iran regards development of relations
with Armenia as being in line with helping regional cooperation to
restore peace and security to the entire region.
“Yerevan has special status in Iranian history and Iran is willing
to boost the historical relations between the two countries,”
Rowhani said.
He said that signing an accord on setting up of a gas pipeline between
the two countries is a fundamental step forward towards deepening
cooperation in the energy sector.
He said that establishment of Gajeran Tunnel will link Armenia to
the North-South Corridor and Iran to the Black Sea as well.
On the economic development in the Caucasus, Rowhani said that
economic development will be impossible without peace and security
and collective cooperation of the regional states at the highest
possible level should focus on regional stability..
Tumanyan said that Iran and Armenia have developed excellent relations
since the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1990 and the upcoming
visit of President Mohammad Khatami to Armenia in September would be
a turning point in bilateral relations.
He underlined the importance of north-south corridor and called for
Iranian support for Armenia joining the corridor.
Tumanyan said that signing the accord on laying a gas pipeline between
the two countries is a victory and hoped that the pipeline would be
operational within the next two years.
“Technical and feasibility studies on Gajeran Tunnel have been
completed and the project is ready for signature,” Tumanyan said.
He said that Tehran-Yerevan relations are essential for regional
security and that Iran has special status in the foreign policy
of Armenia.
Tumanyan also conferred on Tuesday with Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi
on issues of mutual interest.
Describing the current level of political relations as satisfactory,
Kharrazi voiced satisfaction over the outcome of Iran-Armenia Economic
Commission meeting and hoped to witness further expansion of economic
and commercial cooperation to a desirable level.
The Armenian envoy, for his part, described bilateral economic
activities as ‘fruitful’ and said the already reached agreements
between the sides would have positive impacts on mutual relations.