ArmenPress
May 7 2004
KOCHARIAN TRAVELS TO LEBANON ON MAY 10
YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS; Armenian president Robert Kocharian
will pay a working visit to Lebanon on May 10 at the invitation of
Lebanese president Emile Lahoud. Kocharian’s press office said
Armenian president will be received by Lahoud, prime minister Rafiq
Hariri, parliament chairman Nabi Berri and deputy prime minister
Issam Fares.
Kocharian will also meet with Catholicos Aram I, the head of the
Great See of Cilicia, Catholicos-Patriarch Nerses Tarmuni, the head
of Armenian Catholic Church, Mkrtich Karagyozian, the head of
Armenian Evangelical Church in the Middle East and with
representatives of the local Armenian community. Kocharian will also
visit local historical sights and monuments.

U.S. Newswire Press Releases / Yahoo News
May 7 2004
U.S. Church Leaders Press President Bush on Problems Facing Holy Land
Christians
To: National Desk and Religion Reporter
Contact: Jim Wetekam of the Churches for Middle East Peace,
202-543-4150 or [email protected]
WASHINGTON, May 7 /U.S. Newswire/ — Fifty leaders of evangelical and
mainline Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox churches and
church-related organizations in the U.S. today delivered a letter to
President Bush (news – web sites) asking for a full understanding of
“the crisis in the Holy Land confronting Christian Palestinians,
Christian institutions, and those who wish to visit the birthplace of
Christianity.”
Stating that the “churches have directed their concerns to the
Israeli government but to little avail,” the church leaders appealed
for the President’s intervention to help restore the normal
functioning of Christian institutions in Israel and the Occupied
Territories and claimed that “it is generally acknowledged that
relations of the churches and these institutions with the Israeli
government may be the worst they have ever been.”
The letter addressed the church leaders’ concerns specifically
regarding the effects of the separation barrier being constructed by
Israel, taxation issues that may force some church institutions to
close due to the removal of their longstanding tax-exempt status, and
“the denial and delay of visas, by Israel, for clergy and church
personnel result(ing) in understaffed seminaries, churches,
hospitals, education and other institutions.”
Speaking as one of the diverse group of signers, the Most Rev. Frank
T. Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, USA, said,
“Our churches, hospitals, schools, and other institutions are
important visible expressions of our faith’s concern for humanity.
While they serve Christians and non-Christians alike, they are also
expressions of our Christian heritage and its many contributions to
the region.”
Another signer, Brother Robert Schieler, Provincial for the De La
Salle Christian Brothers who administer Bethlehem University,
emphasized the destructive effects of the separation barrier on
Christian and Palestinian populations: “Even if the barrier is
intended for security, it has had the very real effects of separating
students and faculty from their classrooms, families from one
another, farmers from their fields, and Christian worshippers from
their churches.”
In the letter to President Bush, the church leaders observe, “We find
it difficult to be assured by your description on April 14 of the
barrier as ‘temporary’ in light of Israel’s plans to extend the
barrier far beyond the 1967 Green Line, encompassing on the Israeli
side those large West Bank settlements that you implied would remain
part of Israel.”
Speaking of Bethlehem particularly, Bro. Schieler noted, “The barrier
and checkpoints are now cutting off Christians in Bethlehem from
Jerusalem just a few miles away. I wonder if U.S. Christians who
visit Bethlehem as tourists know that many of their Christian
brothers and sisters who live and work and worship where Jesus was
born are not able to travel just a few miles to Jerusalem to where
Jesus died and was risen. Unfortunately, most American Christians
remain woefully uninformed about what is happening in the very land
where Jesus walked.”
Letter signers included the heads of many Catholic orders and
organizations in the United States; the General Secretary of the
National Council of Churches; the Presiding Bishops and leaders of
many denominations, such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America, Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed Church in America; and
Armenian Church of America; evangelical leaders including Leighton
Ford, Robert Seiple, and Ron Sider; the heads of relief and
development agencies such as World Vision, Catholic Relief Services,
Church World Service, and the Mennonite Central Committee; and many
others. The complete text of the letter and list of signers is
available at
The signers, while specifically raising the concerns of church
institutions and Palestinian Christians, stated clearly that they “do
not mean to minimize the suffering of Muslims and Jews.” The letter
ended by imploring the President to assist all Muslims, Jews, and
Christians in the Holy Land, stating, “your help is needed as a force
for peacemaking that builds bridges to a new and hopeful future.”
Bishop Griswold summarized, “We believe that our institutions provide
services that are essential to bringing hope to people in need and
thus to our shared goal of two states, with secure borders, and able
to live in peace, one with the other.”

ArmenPress
May 7 2004
PRIME MINISTER ANDRANIK MARGARIAN’S ADDRESS ON THE OCCASION OF MAY 9
VICTORY AND PEACE DAY
YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS: Dear compatriots,
I congratulate you all cordially on the occasion of Victory and
Peace Day. As part of today’s reflections, each year on this
wonderful and festive day we get once again united by the feelings of
solidarity, national spirit and sacred dignity, thanks to which we
have gained all our historical achievements and victories.
Today when we continue building our independent state that has
entered into the second decade of existence, we cannot fail to
realize that one of the major conditions to withstand many ordeals
that are still on our way is to recollect the heroic pages of our
past. In order to build a peaceful and safe future we have to first
of all assess our historical achievements, to pay tribute and bow
down to the memory of hundreds of thousands of those heroes, who
sacrificed their lives for our homeland’s independence, its
continuance and peace.
Our heroic people have crowned their name with fame also in World
War II. Armenians contributed heavily to the victory over fascism
both in the ranks of the Soviet Army, partisan warfare, while
Diaspora Armenians did their share in the ranks of the allied armies
and Resistance Movement.
That was the victory that gave a new start to peaceful and
creative work of the civilized world and our people.
The glorious pages of our new history were created in the trenches
of Karabagh war with the craving for freedom and the belief in future
peace, and the heroic liberation of Shushi on May 9, 1992 was the
evidence of the present day triumph of Armenia’s arms.
Sending my warmest congratulations to our compatriots in Armenia,
Diaspora and Karabagh, our war veterans on the occasion of Victory
and Peace Day, I wish you all good health, peace and creative work
for the welfare and strengthening of our independent state, for the
prosperity and development of our country and our people.

ArmenPress
May 7 2004
BUSH NAMES JOHN MARSHAL EVANS NEW AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA
WASHINGTON, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS: President George W. Bush announced
Thursday his intention to nominate John Marshall Evans, of Virginia,
to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United
States of America to the Republic of Armenia.
A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Mr. Evans currently
serves as Director of the State Department’s Office of Russian
Affairs. He previously served as Director of the Office of Analysis
for Russia and Eurasia in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
Mr. Evans earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale University.

Armenian opposition bloc suggests discussing ways out of crisis
Noyan Tapan news agency
7 May 04
YEREVAN
The Justice bloc has offered the ruling coalition to hold a political
dialogue on “Ways out of the crisis that has taken shape in the
country since the 2003 presidential elections”. The secretary of the
Justice faction, Viktor Dallakyan, told Noyan Tapan today that this
decision was made at a meeting of the bloc.
According to Dallakyan, the chairman of the National Unity Party,
Artashes Gegamyan, will also express his attitude towards the subject
of the political dialogue. Representatives of the bloc will meet him
in one or two days. Only after that will the final opinion of the
opposition be submitted to the chairman of the National Assembly,
Artur Bagdasaryan.
Dallakyan added that if the coalition also outlines issues of interest
to it, they could all be included in the agenda of the political
consultations.
The MP also said that the Justice bloc has no problem with the format
of the dialogue.
To recap, at the end of yesterday’s meeting between the coalition and
the opposition, the sides issued a joint statement expressing their
readiness to continue the dialogue by forming the agenda of issues to
be discussed jointly.

Azeri authorities do not sanction pressure group’s march to Karabakh
Trend news agency
7 May 04

BAKU
Trend correspondent S. Agayeva: The authorities have not given
official permission for a peace march to Karabakh by members of the
Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) scheduled for 8 May, the
chairman of the organization, Akif Nagi, told a news conference on 7
May. He said that the organization had received a letter from the Baku
Mayor’s Office saying that “although the mayor’s office approves the
move itself, it does not think it expedient to hold it as the
authorities themselves are dealing with a solution to the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict”.
Despite this, the organization is set to hold the march which will
start from a visit to the Martyr’s Avenue and then a delegation of 150
people will go to Karabakh. Nagi did not disclose the route of the
march as he had not agreed it with the authorities.
All political parties, except for the [ruling] New Azerbaijan Party,
gave their support for the action. Representatives of embassies and
international organizations intend to closely follow the march. The
aim of the action is to let the international community know that the
Azerbaijani people will not allow any compromise to be made on
Nagornyy Karabakh, Nagi said, denying Armenian media reports that the
march had been organized by the Azerbaijani authorities “as a show
that they want to perform for the international community and
international organizations”.

No agreement on liberating occupied districts reached yet – Azeri leader
ANS TV, Baku
7 May 04

[Presenter] All the occupied territories of Azerbaijan will be
returned and all refugees will return home, Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev said, while commenting on the 12th anniversary of Susa’s
occupation [in Karabakh].
[Ilham Aliyev] This is our big tragedy and grief. The occupation of
Nagornyy Karabakh and the districts around it is the biggest problem
of Azerbaijan and the region. This is a danger. We are making efforts
to resolve this problem peacefully. We are faithful to the peace
talks. I have already said that if we had not believed in the results
of the talks, we would not have held these talks. We believe that the
negotiations will yield results and the problem will be resolved. We
will do our best to make sure that Azerbaijan’s right position is
highlighted in the talks.
[Journalist] Mr President, is it the [OSCE Minsk Group] co-chairmen
who have put forward the idea of releasing the seven districts [around
Karabakh] or is it the two presidents who have reached an agreement on
this?
[Aliyev] The cochairmen have no proposals at all. The two presidents
have not reached any agreement either. If we had reached an agreement,
we would have disclosed it. This is Azerbaijan’s position.
[Another journalist] Mr President, have you discussed this issue with
[Armenian President Robert] Kocharyan? What was Kocharyan’s position?
[Aliyev] We have discussed this issue with Kocharyan, but I do not
want to say anything about this because it is up to him to disclose
his stance. Our position is no secret to anybody. We discussed this
issue at our meeting.

Armenian congress meets to discuss mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire
AP Online
May 06, 2004

The Worldwide Armenian Congress began meeting here on Thursday to
discuss its efforts to receive international recognition of the mass
killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
Ara Abramian, head of the Worldwide Armenian Congress, said their goal
would be a full and final acknowledgment from the international
community.
“This envisions also an acknowledgment of genocide from Turkey and the
resolution of all related issues based on international law,” he said.
Armenia accuses Turkey of the genocide of up to 1.5 million Armenians
between 1915 and 1919, when Armenia was under the Ottoman
Empire. Turkey rejects the claim and says Armenians were killed in
civil unrest during the collapse of the empire.
Armenia has pushed for the United States and other nations to declare
the killings a genocide based on well-documented historical
evidence. Many countries, including Russia and France, have officially
recognized the event as genocide, along with some U.S. states.
The conference organizers, which also include the Armenian Institute
of International Law and Politics in Moscow, also planned to discuss
ways to unify the Armenian position on the issue, particularly in
regard to questions of territorial or material compensation.
A unified position “is very important for Turkey and for our
supporters and opponents so that everyone can understand what would be
the consequences and the limits of Armenian demands,” said Andranik
Migranian, a well-known political expert, who acknowledged divergent
views among political parties in Armenia, the Armenian government and
the large Armenian Diaspora.
The meeting, behind held in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, also
planned to discuss issues related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and
Turkey’s support of Azerbaijan, as well as prospects for improving
Turkey-Armenian relations.

Armenian foreign policy intentions unclear – paper
Aravot, Yerevan
6 May 04
Text of Tigran Avetisyan report by Armenian newspaper Aravot on 6 May
headlined “An unclear priority”
The foreign policy priorities of Armenia, which according to Armenian
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan have been clarified and gained
general shape during the Yerevan consultations of the representatives
of the Armenian Diaspora organizations and Armenian ambassadors, make
us thoughtful. These priorities are euphonious and are not a subject
of argument in the sense of their content. But it is unclear, what
they were taking into account when mentioning the priority directions
of the foreign policy, when contradictory processes are developing in
the country guided by the authorities.
So, let us name the priorities: security, development, integration to
Europe and the Karabakh issue. Sometimes even the state top officials
do not make a secret of the fact that the army is not top of our
security guarantees, and in f act has only a task to hold Azerbaijan
in check. But it changes nothing either they make a secret or not, as
it is obvious truth. It is also obvious that Armenia’s security may be
guaranteed only if it is a fully-fledged member of any international
security system.
There is no need to present in detail the prospects of Armenia’s
“preferences”. Simply the security, mentioned by Oskanyan in this
context, needs no additional explanation. It is not also clear what
they mean by saying development. If they mean economic development,
in that case they probably suggest to our diplomats and influential
Diaspora Armenians to promote foreign capital import and
investments. This is a kind wish. But we cannot but notice that
creation of an attractive investment atmosphere is not a problem of
diplomats at all. And to persuade rich men to spend money in a
country, the economy of which is literally lost in corruption, means
to put our ambassadors in an awkward situation. Here is a situation
which even the recent setting-up of a department in the Armenian
prosecutor’s office to fight corruption, cannot save.
The most mysterious of all the Oskanyan’s priorities is integration
into Europe especially against the background of the recent events. We
cannot understand how our state functionaries imagine Euro-integration
, when in case of its weakest manifestation, the power propaganda
machine immediately calls them national betrayal, and direct orders of
the Council of Europe are ignored by state functionaries. In this case
the Armenian diplomatic corps seems to have a task to disseminate
disinformation about Armenia being a democratic country. And finally
the Karabakh issue. Let only say that it is directly conditioned by
the above mentioned three priorities.

Armenian opposition continues talks with authorities
Mediamax news agency
7 May 04

YEREVAN
The Armenian ruling coalition and the opposition have announced their
readiness to continue their consultations on the previously-agreed
agenda.
This was said in a joint statement issued by representatives of [the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation] Dashnaktsutyun, the Republican
Party of Armenia and Orinats Yerkir [Law-Governed Country Party] and
the Justice bloc and the National Unity Party after the five-hour-long
consultations which ended in Yerevan on 6 May.
The statement said that “the participants in the consultations
stressed the importance of creating a new political situation in the
country on the basis of a statement issued by the coalition parties
and the joint statement issued by the Justice bloc and the National
Unity Party on 4 May”.
According to preliminary information, they are expected to discuss
more than 30 issues at the talks today.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress