CBC Manitoba, Canada
April 22 2004
Turkey condemns Canada’s Armenian genocide vote
OTTAWA – Turkey condemned as “narrow-minded” the decision by Canada’s
House of Commons to recognize as genocide the mass killing of
Armenians during the First World War.
“Some narrow-minded Canadian politicians were not able to understand
that such decisions based on … prejudiced information, will awaken
feelings of hatred among people of different [ethnic] roots and
disturb social harmony,” a statement from Turkey’s foreign ministry
said.
Canada became one of only a few nations to recognize the deaths of
1.5 million Armenians in 1915 as genocide when the House of Commons
late on Wednesday reversed Ottawa’s stated policy on the issue by
passing a private member’s bill.
Canada’s official position to date has been that the deaths
constituted a “tragedy” rather than the purposeful extermination of
minority Armenians by the then Ottoman Empire during the First World
War.
But in a free vote, Parliament voted 153 to 68 to adopt the Bloc
Québécois motion which stated: “[T]his House acknowledges the
Armenian genocide of 1915 and condemns this act as a crime against
humanity.”
Bill Graham
Foreign Minister Bill Graham defended the government’s position
saying: “What we seek to do in our foreign policy is to encourage the
forward dimension,” said Graham. “We’d like our Armenian friends and
our Turkish friends to work together to put these issues in the
past.”
In 1915, during the First World War, Turkish troops put down an
Armenian uprising. Armenians say about 1.5 million people were killed
by the Ottoman Turks during an eight-year campaign.
Turkey has always fought attempts by Armenians and international
human rights organizations to have the events declared a genocide.
Previously, Ankara has warned countries contemplating similar action
that there would be negative consequences. In some cases business
contracts have been held up or denied.
In 2001 France backed the Armenian case. Ankara responded by freezing
official visits to France and temporarily blocking French companies
from competing for defence contracts.
The U.S. dropped a similar resolution a year earlier after the White
House warned it could hurt U.S. security interests.
The United Nations recognizes the events as genocide.
Liberal backbenchers, including former Chrétien cabinet member Herb
Dhaliwal supported the motion, while Cabinet members, including Prime
Minister Paul Martin, were largely absent from the charged debate.
The opposition, including Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, largely
voted in favour and accused Martin of hypocrisy for promoting free
votes but not showing up for one himself.
Armenian-Canadians greeted the vote with elation, but
Turkish-Canadian observers reacted angrily.
Armenian-Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan, whose film Ararat was about
the subject, said: “What is amazing is that it’s law, and it’s
something that we can tell for generations to come.”
But Kevsai Taymaz of the Federation of Turkish-Canadian Associations
insisted: “It was a terrible time and both sides lost lives, it
wasn’t a genocide.”
Liberal MP Hedy Fry, who supported the motion, said it was important
to note the atrocities took place under the Ottoman empire, long ago
replaced by a modern Turkish state.
“I think it doesn’t mean we’ve broken ties with the current regime in
Turkey. They are our colleagues, they are our NATO allies. They are a
moderate, Muslim government and I think we need to work with them,”
Fry told The Canadian Press.

Baku Today
April 22 2004
Mann is in Azerbaijan
Baku Today 22/04/2004 16:07
OSCE Minsk group’s US chairman Steven Mann has arrived in Baku today.
Mann is having talks with Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar
Mammadyarov at the moment.
Later today he will meet with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev.
Mann started his fist tour of the South Caucasus as the OSCE Minsk
group’s US chairman on April 19, 2004.
He has visited Armenia and Georgia earlier.
The United States authorized Mann for the Minsk group on April 17.
US’s third spokesman at the group Rudolf Perina handed over his power
to Mann during the Minsk group’s peace mediating meeting in Prague
between Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers over Karabakh
conflict.

Deutsche Welle, Germany
April 22 2004
German Foreign Minister Pushes for Reform in Armenia, Georgia

Armenian President Robert Kocharian is under pressure to resign.

Joschka Fischer will wrap up his trip to the Caucasus region on
Thursday with stops in Armenia and Georgia. His visit in Armenia
comes during considerable political instability in the country.
Following visits to Afghanistan and Azerbaijan, Germany’s Fischer
continued his week-long trip abroad by arriving in the Armenian
capital Yerevan on Thursday morning. As he did in Azerbaijan, he is
expected to encourage both southern Caucasus nations to continue to
improve their democratic and human rights credentials by holding out
the prospect of closer ties to the European Union.
Fischer will need plenty of diplomatic tact in Yerevan, since
Armenian President Robert Kocharian is under increasing pressure to
step down. On Wednesday, opposition groups held a protest rally that
attracted an estimated 10,000 people, according to the Associated
Press. Opposition groups allege Kocharian won reelection last year
only through widespread election fraud, a charge which the president
denies.
Tensions in the country rose on April 13, when police used force to
break up a protest rally. Around 100 people were reportedly detained
and several protestors were injured. “Any administration relying on
violence is doomed. Kocharian must go,” said Stepan Demirchyan,
leader of the opposition Justice Party and runner-up in last year’s
presidential election, according to the Reuters news agency.
Kocharian’s opponents hope to oust him though continued popular
unrest, similar to how neighboring Georgia toppled the government of
former President Eduard Shevardnadze late last year. But some experts
are skeptical Kocharian will be removed from power.
“The Armenian authorities are better consolidated and will defend
their position more strongly. Moreover, there’s no clear leader of
the opposition like there was in Georgia,” Andranik Migranyan told
DW-Radio.
Conflict with Azerbaijan
While in Yerevan, Fischer will also address the dispute over the
Nagorno-Karabakh region, which though part of Azerbaijan has been
separated from the country since the mid-1990s after a war with
ethnic Armenians. A cease-fire in the conflict was signed in 1994,
but the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh has not been resolved. In
the Azerbaijani capital Baku on Wednesday, Fischer already said
Germany and the EU were prepared to help find a solution to the
conflict.
Fischer’s visit to Armenia will also include a memorial for Armenians
killed by Turks in 1915. The Armenians claim Ottoman Turkish forces
committed genocide at the time, slaughtering some 1.5 million people
between 1915 and 1923. Turkey rejects the charges, saying the
Armenians were killed in a partisan war as the Ottoman Empire
collapsed.
Heading to Tbilisi later in the day, Fischer will meet with Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili to show support for his western
oriented reform course. Saakashvili came to power in a bloodless coup
that ousted Shevardnadze in November, but he has run into trouble
recently, as military commanders in the rebellious Black Sea province
of Adzhara refuse to follow the orders of the central government.

Akron Beacon Journal , OH
April 22 2004
Yo-Yo Ma travels The Silk Road
Yo-Yo Ma now trades safety for unusual exotic sounds of Silk Road
By Elaine Guregian
Beacon Journal music writer
As one of classical music’s biggest names, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma could
easily have spent his career playing only the most mainstream of
classical pieces. Audiences would have been happy. But curiosity got
the best of this inquisitive player, who next month will receive the
Harvard Arts Medal from Harvard University, where he graduated in
1976.
Ma branched out. He played bluegrass with Mark O’Connor and Edgar
Meyer on Appalachia Waltz and Appalachian Journey. He stepped up to
tango music in Piazzolla: Soul of the Tango.
And in 1998, he began his most ambitious, wide-ranging project so
far: The Silk Road Project, a combination of performances,
commissions of new music and education, all with a global reach. The
concept for the project comes from the idea of looking at the ancient
Silk Road trading route used from the first millennium B.C. to the
middle of the second millennium A.D. The Silk Road stretched from
China and Japan across Central Asia to reach Persia (now Iran),
Turkey, Greece and Italy.
In these a vast number of cultures thrived, with their music
cross-pollinated by the travelers on the trade route. (For a map of
the route and other information on the Silk Road project, go to
)
Tonight, Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble are coming to E.J. Thomas Hall
under the auspices of Tuesday Musical to perform a program that
includes music from Turkey, China and Armenia. Some of the music is
traditional folk songs or instrumental pieces. Other are newer works,
like Kayhan Kalhor’s Gallop of a Thousand Horses, that build on the
past. In this piece, the Iranian composer took folk songs of his
country as the basis of a new string quartet.
Akron is part of a seven-city U.S. tour by the ensemble, a fluid
group that changes according to the repertoire scheduled for
different concerts. Before the tour began, Yo-Yo Ma spoke by phone
from Cambridge, Mass.
One thing he’s trying to do with this project, he said, is to show
different ways music gets passed on. “Your mother may have sung it
to you (or) you heard pieces and transferred (them). Some people
write them down. Some people collect things and then re-invigorate
(the music) in other ways,” Ma said.
One such historian was Vartabed Komitas (1869-1935), an Armenian
singer who collected more than 1,000 Armenian folk songs. The
Armenian people’s numbers were decimated by massacres in the late
19th and early 20th centuries, so it’s especially significant that
Komitas preserved an aspect of this small country’s cultural history.
Besides doing concerts like the one at E.J. Thomas nationally and
internationally, the Silk Road Ensemble has been involved in projects
like a two-week residency last January at the Peabody Essex Museum in
Massachusetts. Here the musicians had a chance to study the
collection with the curators and improvise in the galleries.
Storytellers and craftspeople were present, too, rounding out the
offerings.
“It was, I would say, one of the highlights of my entire life, being
able to interact with an audience in a very relaxed way, to work with
schoolchildren, at-risk kids, drum circles. It’s sort of like what
Bali is like, in that theater and art and entertainment are all mixed
and everybody participates,” Ma said.
The Essex is a large museum of Asian art and culture. What would Ma
think of doing a project at the Cleveland Museum of Art, whose
collection of Asian art is world-renowned?
The question was hardly out of a reporter’s mouth before Ma responded
appreciatively. “I know the Cleveland Museum, I love that museum. If
the opportunity ever came up, we would love to do that.”
Making plans seems to be as much fun for Ma as carrying them out.
He’s involved in plans with NHK, the Tokyo broadcast giant, which is
doing a documentary on the Silk Road Project. And he’s working hard
to generate excitement for another round of Silk Road commissions as
well as another recording. Commissioning new pieces that extend
centuries-old traditions is part of renewal, Ma said.
“And it’s fun to present it in a setting where it’s not like, this
is a new music concert. It all works together.”
Doing more commissioning and recording another Silk Road CD would
call for major financial backing, but it’s not out of the realm of
possibility for an organization that boasts as its supporters Ford
Motor Co., Siemens and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. “We’re
pushing for it!” Ma said enthusiastically. And as the saying goes,
when he speaks, people listen.
Elaine Guregian is the Beacon Journal’s classical music critic. She
can be reached by phone at 330-996-3574 or e-mail at
[email protected]

CTV News, Canada
April 22 2004
Turkey condemns Canada’s genocide vote
CTV.ca News Staff
Turkey is condemning a decision by the House of Commons to approve a
motion calling the Armenian genocide a “crime against humanity.”
Parliament voted Wednesday 153-86 in favour of a private member’s
bill formally recognizing the genocide of Armenian Turks during the
First World War.
Turkey had warned that Canada would face economic consequences if it
recognized the killings as genocide, and in a statement issued
Thursday accused Canadian legislators of being “narrow-minded.”
“Some narrow minded Canadian politicians were not able to understand
that such decisions based on … prejudiced information, will awaken
feelings of hatred among people of different (ethnic) roots and
disturb social harmony,” the statement said.
Prime Minister Paul Martin was absent for the vote on the motion,
which read: “… this House acknowledges the Armenian genocide of
1915 and condemns this act as a crime against humanity.”
Armenia says 1.5 million people were killed between 1915-1923, during
a campaign to force them out of eastern Turkey.
Turkey’s government rejects the label of genocide, saying 2.5 million
Muslims were also killed during this period of civil unrest. It
estimates 600,000 Armenians were killed.
Canada is among a handful of countries to formally label the killings
as genocide. They include Switzerland, France, Argentina, Russia, as
well as U.S. state governments. The United Nations have also
recognized the genocide.
When French legislators recognized the genocide in 2001, Turkey
cancelled millions of dollars worth of defence contracts.
The Canadian Embassy in Turkey issued a statement today distancing
itself from the vote.
“Debates and votes on private member’s business in the House of
Commons are an integral part of the Canadian democratic process but
private members’ motions are not binding on the Government of
Canada,” it said.
It also reiterated Canada’s position on the killings from a June
10,1999, vote in the House of Commons as “tragic.”
Most Liberal backbenchers voted for the motion Wednesday, while many
cabinet ministers were not present.
Martin was accused by the opposition of hypocrisy for promising more
free votes but not showing up for this one.
Liberal MP Hedy Fry, who voted for the motion, said it’s important to
remember the atrocities were carried out by the Ottoman empire, which
has since been replaced by the current Turkish state.
“I think we need to recognize the past,” she said.
“I think it doesn’t mean we’ve broken ties with the current regime in
Turkey. They are our colleagues, they are our NATO allies. They are a
moderate, Muslim government and I think we need to work with them.”

Pravda, Russia
April 22 2004
Chinese Foreign Minister in Moscow, Russian Defense Minister in
Beijing
17:07 2004-04-22
Igor Ivanov, the secretary of Russia’s security council, and Li
Zhaoxing, China’s foreign minister discussed practical steps towards
strengthening Russian-Chinese strategic partnership and expanding
bilateral interaction in the international arena in the Kremlin. They
discussed different aspects of international relations, said the
security council’s press service.
The sides noted that Russia and China are interested in the
maintenance of stability on the Eurasian space, including Central
Asian.
In the opinion of Mr. Ivanov, positive trends could be promoted by
more specific cooperation between countries of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization (Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) and China in the struggle against
international terrorism and drug trafficking, as well as in frontier,
visa and immigration policy.
At the meeting, Russia stressed that long-term strategic partnership
and interaction with China are among its main foreign policy
priorities.
Meanwhile, Sergei Ivanov, Russia’s defense minister who is now on a
visit to China, met with Wen Jiabao, the prime minister of China, and
gave him an invitation from Mikhail Fradkov, Russia’s prime minister,
to visit Russia.
“Mikhail Fradkov gives his kind regards to you and awaits your visit
in September,” Mr. Ivanov said.
“This year our contacts and working meetings calendar is very
packed,” the Russian defense minister said. He added that the Chinese
foreign minister is now on a visit to Russia and that he is in China.
In turn, Mr. Wen said that Mr. Ivanov’s visit was “at a very
important moment.” The Chinese prime minister stressed that the
Russian defense minister has had very productive talks with Jiang
Zemin, the chairman of the Central Military Commission.
“Your visit will not only promote the development of relations
between our armed forces but also between our countries,” Mr. Wen
said.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
April 22 2004
ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN, NAGORNY KARABAKH CONFLICT SHOULD BE SETTLED ON
THE BASE OF THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL NORMS
PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN ILHAM ALIYEV RECEIVES THE US CO-CHAIR OF THE
OSCE MINSK GROUP
[April 22, 2004, 18:04:27]
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received U.S.
co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Mr. Steven Mann at the Presidential
Palace, April 22.
President Ilham Aliyev congratulated the diplomat on the new
appointment and wished him every success in this office. He noted as
well that Mr. Mann is well known in Azerbaijan as a direct
participator in the large-scale projects implemented in the country.
Your related activities were very positive and successful. I am well
aware of this personally as we were working together. The regionally
important Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project is being successfully realized,
and I hope your activity in this new office will also be a success,
said the Head of State.
President Ilham Aliyev further stressed the large threat the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorny Karabakh poses to the
regional stability, and noted that Azerbaijan wants the problem to be
settled in the framework of the international legal norms as soon as
possible. `Nagorny Karabakh and 7 other regions of Azerbaijan has
been under occupation for many years; our fair demand is to put an
end to the occupation and restore our territorial integrity. I hope
the Minsk group will continue its activities as a result of which the
problem will be finally solved,’ Mr. Ilham Aliyev said.
Having expressed his satisfaction with this visit to Baku and the
opportunity to meet President Ilham Aliyev, Mr. Steven Mann reminded
on his participation in the ceremony of laying foundation of the
East-West energy corridor held in the Azerbaijan capital, and
emphasized that it is exactly the place, where all the rest of energy
projects start.
Touching upon the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mr.
Steven Mann announced the new tasks set to him by the U.S. Government
that he was going to fulfill: to work with the conflicting parties
and achieve fair resolution of the problem.
In conclusion, Mr. Steven Mann thanked President of Azerbaijan Ilham
Aliyev for the warm meeting.
The meeting was attended by Chief of the Presidential
Administration’s Foreign Relations Department Mr. Novruz Mammadov and
U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mr. Reno Harnish.

The Globe and Mail, Canada
April 22 2004
Commons condemns Armenian genocide

Liberal MPs were free to support motion, although Ottawa fears
fallout from Turkey
By JEFF SALLOT AND CAMPBELL CLARK

OTTAWA — The Commons last night condemned the Ottoman Empire’s
brutal treatment of Armenians nine decades ago as an act of genocide,
a moral judgment that government officials fear will provoke painful
economic retaliation by modern-day Turkey.
Despite government warnings that more than $1-billion in potential
contracts for Canadian companies is at stake, 78 backbench Liberal
MPs broke ranks with the cabinet to approve a motion that says the
House “acknowledges the Armenian genocide of 1915 and condemns this
act as a crime against humanity.”
The non-binding motion, approved on a free vote 153-68, was a setback
for Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham and a high-powered business
lobby. Conservative ranks were also split on the issue, but the Bloc
Québécois and the New Democrats voted for the motion.
The Turkish government strongly objects to any suggestion that its
imperial ancestors committed genocide during the First World War.
Turkey cancelled multimillion-dollar defence contracts with France
when the National Assembly adopted a similar Armenian genocide
resolution in 2001.
In the hours before last night’s vote, the Canadian Chamber of
Commerce vigorously lobbied MPs to consider the possibility that
Bombardier Aerospace and SNC Lavalin could lose out to European
competitors for megaprojects such as the extension of the Ankara
subway system.
Mr. Graham made the same point during a charged Liberal caucus
meeting yesterday morning. Trade officials estimate the subway
contract alone could be worth about $1-billion.
“It’s huge,” said Bob Keyes, the Chamber’s vice-president for
international affairs.
Lavalin is in the running to become the prime contractor on the
subway extension. Bombardier, which produced the rail cars for the
original subway, is believed to have the advantage in the bidding for
the contracts for new subway rolling stock.
Several Canadian mining companies are eyeing projects in Turkey.
“These sorts of contracts do not come along every day,” Mr. Keyes
said.
Timing is crucial, he said, noting that Turkish authorities are
expected to decide who gets the subway work within the next 12
months.
In a letter to the MPs of all parties, the Chamber said that if the
House adopted the motion, “there will be an immediate negative
economic impact on Canadian firms and their ability to do business in
Turkey.”
Despite the dire warning of the business lobby, Prime Minister Paul
Martin allowed a free vote on the motion in line with a promise to
the Liberal caucus to allow greater autonomy for backbenchers on
issues that are not questions of confidence in the government.
Filmmaker Atom Egoyan, one of Canada’s best-known Armenians, made the
film Ararat about the genocide. Yesterday he expressed his pleasure
with the House decision.
“What is amazing today is that it’s law and it’s something we can
tell to the generations that are to come,” he told the CBC.
Bloc MP Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral introduced the motion. Ontario
Liberal MP Sarkis Assadourian, who is of Armenian heritage, seconded
it.
“Armenians have been waiting for this justice to take place for 89
years,” Mr. Assadourian said. “If you don’t address the issues of the
past, then you’re condemned to repeat them. If the Armenian genocide
was condemned in 1915, I’m confident the Holocaust would not have
taken place.”
Armenian groups around the world have been pushing for recognition of
the 1915 events as an act of genocide.The Liberals have tried to
finesse the issue on other occasions when it has been brought before
Parliament.
In 1999, the Chrétien Liberal government said it viewed the 1915
events as a “calamity” that afflicted the Armenians, and “this
tragedy was committed with the intent to destroy a national group in
which hundreds of thousands of Armenians were subjected to atrocities
which included massive deportations and massacres.”
But then prime minister Jean Chrétien and his ministers did not use
the word genocide, the one word that most upsets the Turkish
government.
Mr. Graham urged caucus members yesterday to avoid inflaming Turkish
passions, but he seemed prepared for the passage of the motion.
Several hours before the vote, the Foreign Minister told reporters
that he hoped the Turkish government would view the motion as an
expression of the free will of individual members and not an official
condemnation by the Canadian government. “Individual Parliamentarians
are free to express their will.”
When asked directly whether the Armenians were the victims of
genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, Mr. Graham said, “it is
best to allow historians to deal with these issues.”
Mr. Graham suggested the motion could create tension within the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization at a time when Canada is trying to work
with Turkey and other allies to provide security in war-ravaged
Afghanistan.
“We want our Turkish friends and our Armenian friends to put these
issues in the past,” Mr. Graham added.

RIA Novosti, Russia
April 22 2004
GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT YEREVAN AND TBILISI
YEREVAN/TBILISI, April 22 (RIA Novosti) – Joschka Fischer, Foreign
Minister of Germany, will make an official visit to Armenia and
Georgia.
According to the department of information and the press of the
Armenian Foreign Ministry, Mr Fischer will meet with President Robert
Kocharyan and other political leaders of Armenia on Thursday. “They
will discuss bilateral relations and regional processes.”
The Georgian Foreign Ministry says the agenda of the two-day visit
includes meetings with President Mikhail Saakashvili, Prime Minister
Zurab Zhvania and Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili.
On Friday April 23 Mr Fischer will attend the international
conference South Caucasus – Central Asia, to which the ambassadors of
Germany to South Caucasus and Central Asian states have been invited.
According to the German Embassy in Tbilisi, one of the key issues at
the conference will be promotion of bilateral economic co-operation.
The share of German investments in the overall volume of foreign
money in Georgia is only $30 mln. The Embassy explained this by the
fact that “the unfavourable investment climate, corruption and red
tape did not create an attractive environment for German
investments.”

YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
APRIL 16-22, 2004
HIGHLIGHTS:
YPC GENERAL MEETING
INTERETHNIC TANGLE IN THE MEDIA MIRROR
JOURNALISTS INJURED ADDRESSED THE GENERAL PROSECUTOR
WAN AND WEF PRESIDENTS REMIND ABOUT THE DUTY OF THE STATE
ASSOCIATION OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST AGAINST THE MUNICIPALITY OF YEREVAN
“KENTRON” TV COMPANY TO CHANGE OWNER?
FRIENDSHIP ORDER TO TRANSLATOR AND PUBLICIST
“AYB-FEH” IS SEVEN YEARS OLD
“DEMO” AND “ASPAREZ” ON THE WEB
YPC GENERAL MEETING
On April 21 a regular General Meeting of Yerevan Press Club was held. At the
meeting the reports of the YPC Board (presented by YPC President Boris
Navasardian) and Auditing Commission (presented by the Commission Chairman
Mher Davoyan) were heard, and the YPC President, Vice President, members of
Board, Council and the Auditing Commission were elected. At the session the
Executive Director and the composition of YPC Commission on Professional
Ethics were approved. The renewed composition of these bodies is presented
at the YPC web site in “Structure” section.
The General Meeting also resolved to amend the YPC Statutes, as well as
discussed a number of other issues.
INTERETHNIC TANGLE IN THE MEDIA MIRROR
On April 16-18 in Tsaghkadzor a seminar “Ethics of the Interethnic Coverage”
was held. The event was organized by Yerevan Press Club and Friedrich Ebert
Foundation and brought together representatives of media, non-governmental
(including journalistic) organizations, state structures of Armenia.
The urgent issues in the very complicated relations within the region were
viewed primarily in the context of their media coverage. The newest history
of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, plentiful in interethnic
conflicts and tense inner political situations, makes the protection of the
journalists, working in the “hot spots”, even more important. It is the
discussion of what are the legal guarantees of this protection in the
documents of the Council of Europe, where the states of the South Caucasus
are members, that the seminar opened with. The tasks of the press at this
stage of the regional and international relations, the need to preserve the
“make no harm” principle when covering the interethnic issues, how Armenian,
Georgian and Azerbaijani media follow the norms of professional ethics and
what stereotypes they use when speaking about interethnic problems – all
these subjects caused the heated debate among the meeting participants. At
the seminar the results of the media monitoring studies on the coverage of
the Karabagh problem and interrelations Armenia-Azerbaijan-Turkey,
administered by Yerevan Press Club jointly with the partners from other
countries of the region since 2001, were presented. The different attitudes
expressed at the event and the vivid emotional background came to reconfirm
how complicated the interethnic South Caucasus tangle is and the significant
responsibility to be shouldered by the “fourth estate” in untying it.
JOURNALISTS INJURED ADDRESSED THE GENERAL PROSECUTOR
On April 16 “Haikakan Zhamanak” daily published “The Notification on the
Crime Committed”, sent on the previous day, April 15, by the Chief Editor of
the publication Nikol Pashinian to the RA General Prosecutor Aghvan
Hovsepian. The letter tells about the beating of “Haikakan Zhamanak”
correspondent Haik Gevorgian during the opposition rally in the early
morning of April 13 (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, April 9-15,
2004). In the opinion of the newspaper, the Deputy Head of RA Police
Hovhannes Varian is guilty of committing the crime.
Proceeding from the narration of the events of the night by Haik Gevorgian
and basing on the fact of physical and moral damage incurred by the
journalist, the daily solicits to institute criminal proceedings against
Hovhannes Varian by Articles 164 (“Impeding the legitimate professional
activity of journalist”) and 309 (“Exceeding the official authority”) of the
RA Criminal Code and bringing him to account.
On April 16 a similar address but referring to the Head of the Police of
Center Community of Yerevan Hovhannes Tamamian was filed with the General
Prosecutor by the correspondent of “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” newspaper Mher
Galechian, beaten and arrested in the early morning of April 13. In the
piece “How It Happened”, published on April 15 in “Haikakan Zhamanak”, the
journalist gave a detailed description of the act of violence and his
illegal detainment. In the letter to the General Prosecutor Mher Galechian
mentioned that the people who attacked him took his bag containing a
recorder, photo camera, owned by “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” Editor, 300
thousand drams, the round seal of “Ogostos” press dissemination agency and
documentations of the public organization “Shamiram”. According to the
journalist, when he was released from the cell of preliminary detainment
where he had spent 16 hours, the bag was not returned to him. Galechian
demanded to hold Hovhannes Tamamian accountable for impeding with the
exercise of a professional activity by the journalist, for illegal
detainment and for appropriation of his property.
It should be noted that the RA Criminal Procedure Code has a clause
according to which the media reports about crimes committed are a ground to
institute criminal proceedings (Article 176, Cl. 2). At the same time Clause
1 of Article 180 stipulates that the crime reports must be considered and
resolved without delay, and should it be deemed necessary, the legitimacy
and sufficiency of grounds should be verified – within 10 days since the
receipt of the report.
Meanwhile, on April 20 in a number of Armenian media the statements of
Hovhannes Varian and Hovhannes Tamamian were published, in which they deny
being involved in illegal actions against journalists.
As a response to the statement of Hovhannes Varian, “Haikakan Zhamanak” in
the issue of April 21 places the half- and full-faced photos of the Deputy
Head of Police. The editorial comment mentions that these are the photos of
“a dangerous criminal”, who, as it appears, “has endowed himself with the
authority of the Deputy Head of the RA Police and likes to introduce himself
as Hovhannes Varian”. This man, as the newspaper writes, took the editorial
camera of Haik Gevorgian and ordered “the criminals with batons that
accompanied him” to beat the journalist. The edition addresses the law
enforcement bodies to identify the person in the photos who “introduces
himself as the Deputy Head of the RA Police Hovhannes Varian”.
WAN AND WEF PRESIDENTS REMIND ABOUT THE DUTY OF THE STATE
On April 19 the Presidents of the World Association of Newspapers Seok Hyun
Hong and the World Editors Forum Gloria Brown Anderson addressed a statement
to the RA President Robert Kocharian. The letter voiced concern over the
events of April 5 and in the early morning of April 13 that resulted in
violence towards the journalists who were covering the situation (see
details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, April 2-8, 2004 and April 9-15, 2004).
The heads of the organizations uniting 18,000 publications of 100 countries
ask the Armenian President to ensure that a thorough investigation into the
incidents is conducted and to do everything possible for the journalists to
exercise their professional activities unimpeded.
“We respectfully remind you that it is the duty of the state to provide an
environment in which journalists are able to carry out their professional
duties without fear of intimidation. Such incidents foster a climate of fear
that inhibits journalistic investigation and can promote self-censorship”,
the letter by the heads of WAN and WEF stresses and a hope for the quickest
possible response of the Armenian President is expressed.
On April 16 the statement of Armenian Assembly of America was released,
where the need of a dialogue between the authorities and the opposition of
Armenia is emphasized. AAA also urges the Armenian authorizes to “take
resolute steps to protect journalists from interference and violence as they
perform their professional duties”.
ASSOCIATION OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST AGAINST THE MUNICIPALITY OF YEREVAN
On April 14 the Association of Investigative Journalists and its Chairman
Edik Baghdasarian filed a suit with the court of primary jurisdiction of
Center and Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan against the Yerevan
municipality.
According to Edik Baghdasarian, he is demanding that the city administration
ensures his right to information, necessary to finish the journalistic
investigation on the illegal building up of the public green zone around the
National Opera and Ballet Theater. During the past years 12 cafes and
restaurants were built on those grounds. The destruction of the green
“spots” that Yerevan is not very abundant in has always caused numerous
public protests, neglected by the city authorities. An opinion is voiced
that there is not a single incidental person among the owners of the cafes
and restaurants around the Opera Theater, they all belong to people,
well-known in the country.
Edik Baghdasarian addressed the present Mayor of Yerevan Yervand Zakharian
with request to access the resolutions of the city administration on using
this public territory for construction, adopted in 1997-2003, but was
repeatedly refused with varying pretexts. After this the journalist
addressed a letter to the Control Chamber of the RA President, from where it
was redirected back to the municipality, where the journalist is still being
refused information. Thus, according to Mr. Baghdasarian, he only has to
hope for a court decision to get access to documents, basing on which the
construction in one of the most beautiful places of the Armenian capital was
made.
“KENTRON” TV COMPANY TO CHANGE OWNER?
By unofficial information, confirmed by a number of sources, the Deputy of
the RA National Assembly, Chairman of the United Labor Party of Armenia
Gurgen Arsenian arrived at an agreement with the RA NA Deputy, President of
“Multi Group” Company, businessman Gagik Tsarukian on selling him “Kentron”
TV company. There is also a supposition that the management of the TV
company will be headed by Chief Editor of “Aravot” daily Aram Abrahamian.
FRIENDSHIP ORDER TO TRANSLATOR AND PUBLICIST
On April 21 a well-known Armenian translator and publicist Armen
Hovhannisian was awarded a Friendship Order at the Embassy of Russian
Federation in the Republic of Armenia. This award was conferred on Armen
Hovhannisian by a decree of the Russian President for the valuable
contribution in the development of the cultural cooperation between the two
counties. The literary “archive” of Armen Hovhannisian contains translations
of works by Dostoevsky, Bulgakov, Shukshin, Solzhenitsyn and other classics
of Russian literature into Armenian.
Yerevan Press Club sincerely congratulates Armen Hovhannisian on the award,
hopes that his gifts to the Armenian reader will continue and adds a tiny
bit of pride – the wonderful translator and talented publicist is a member
of our organization.
“AYB-FEH” IS SEVEN YEARS OLD
April 21 marked the seventh anniversary since “Ayb-Feh” news agency of “A1+”
TV company went on air. The popular “Ayb-Feh” newscast has been out of air
since April 2, 2002, when “A1+” TV company was refused a broadcast license.
Having been deprived of air, “Ayb-Feh” continues to give up-to-date
information to the public on what is happening, working online on “A1+” web
site.
Yerevan Press Club congratulates the staff of “Ayb-Feh” and again wishes to
get back on air soon!
“DEMO” AND “ASPAREZ” ON THE WEB
Now the first public newspaper of Karabagh “Demo” (see YPC Weekly
Newsletter, March 26 – April 1, 2004) can be viewed online at:
. More detailed information on the publication can be
received via e-mail: [email protected]
Since April 21 the world wide web has another Armenian site – that of
“Asparez” Journalists Club of Gyumri (). Its Russian
and English versions are expected to be launched soon.
When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.
You are welcome to send any comment and feedback about the Newsletter to:
[email protected]
Subscription for the Newsletter is free. To subscribe or unsubscribe from
this mailing list, please send a message to: [email protected]
Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
____________________________________________
Yerevan Press Club
9B, Ghazar Parpetsi str.
375007, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 1) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 1) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: