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04/03/2006
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1) Genocide Commemoration Announcement
2) Oskanian Meets with Kofi Annan And UN Leadership
3) Rice and Mamedyarov to Meet in Washington
4) Kurdish Protests Toll Rises to 15
1) Genocide Commemoration Announcement
April 24, Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day, is fast approaching. 91 years
after the Genocide, Armenian people are still deprived of their rights. Turkey
refuses to acknowledge the Genocide, which it thoroughly planned and
perpetrated, and is now launching denialist campaigns throughout the world,
before the international community.
Turkey’s denial is not a new crime. It adds to the still unpunished crime
against humanity.
The Armenian people will pursue their rights until a just solution is
reached.
The demand for these rights has only gotten stronger, as Armenians continue
political activities in Europe, the US, and the Middle East, in order put
press
on Turkey, and to gain genocide recognition and restitution for the Armenian
people.
In order to make our voice heard, the political, cultural, and community
organizations of California Armenians will commemorate those who lost their
lives in the Genocide together. The central commemorative event will be
held at
the Genocide Monument in Montebello on Sunday, April 23 at 4 PM.
We call on all Armenians in California to attend this event so that our voice
will be heard throughout the world.
Further information will be provided by the media.
Respectfully,
Western Diocese of the Armenian Church North America
Western Prelacy of the Armenian of Apostolic Church
California Armenian Catholic Community
Armenian Evangelical Community of California
ARF “Dashnagtsutyun” of Western USA
Armenian Democratic Liberal Party (Ramgavar)
Armenian General Benevolent Union
Armenian Society of Los Angeles
Istanbul Armenian Organization
Armenian Youth Association of California
2) Oskanian Meets with Kofi Annan And UN Leadership
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met last week with Kofi Annan,
Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Jan Eliasson, President of the
General Assembly of the UN, and Kemal Dervis, Administrator of the UN
Development Program.
During his meetings with Secretary General Annan and Eliasson, Oskanian
discussed the Karabagh resolution process as well as recent ceasefire
violations. He expressed Armenia’s serious concern that the military rhetoric
of Azerbaijan’s leaders is leading to increasingly more frequent ceasefire
violations by the Azeri military along the line of contact.
Armenia’s Foreign Minister also discussed UN reforms, and welcomed the
formation of the new Human Rights Council, reiterating Armenia’s desire to
remain engaged in human rights issues.
In these meetings, and during his talks with Dervis, Oskanian also stressed
Armenia’s commitment to rural development. He stressed that the Millennium
Challenge Compact, recently signed with the US government, will create a
necessary momentum to spur development and that the Armenian government is
committed to building on this momentum with its comprehensive plan. He said
the
Armenian government’s plan for rural development is based on a public-private
partnership, which includes Armenia’s diaspora, Armenia’s business community,
the Armenian government, and international organizations.
3) Rice and Mamedyarov to Meet in Washington
YEREVAN (RFE/RL/PanArmenian.Net)–Russia’s chief Karabagh negotiator and Minsk
Group co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov said Monday that the foreign ministers of
Armenia and Azerbaijan will hold further discussions on the Karabagh conflict
this week in Moscow and Washington respectively.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov will meet with US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice in Washington, DC from April 6-7. At the same time,
Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian is scheduled to meet his Russian
counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow. The Karabagh dispute will be high on the
agenda of both talks.
“The Minsk Group is today working in a more bilateral format. Namely, the
co-chairs plus a representative of Armenia or Azerbaijan,” said Merzlyakov.
Merzlyakov said that the peace process is not in deadlock and may still yield
a breakthrough this year. He pointed to a continuing flurry of diplomatic
activity involving top representatives of the conflicting parties as well as
the three nations co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group.
The Russian diplomat added that the Minsk Group’s French co-chair, Bernard
Fassier, will pay a separate visit to Baku and Yerevan later this month. The
group’s third, US co-chair, Steven Mann, toured the conflict zone last
month as
part of a high-level US delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State Dan
Fried.
In a March 27 speech in Washington, Fried said he was “sufficiently
encouraged” by what he was told by Azeri and Armenian leaders. He also said
that the United States will not seek to impose any solutions on the parties.
“We’re not going to force Armenia or Azerbaijan to take anything,” he said.
Merzlyakov also stated that the international mediators do not plan to
arrange
another meeting between Presidents Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliyev in the
coming months. He said the two leaders could only meet on the sidelines of an
international forum.
“The meeting of the Presidents should be properly prepared and this demands
time,” he said.
4) Kurdish Protests Toll Rises to 15
ISTANBUL (Reuters)–Hundreds of Kurds clashed with police in southeast Turkey
on Monday and in Istanbul three people were killed as they fled a bus set
ablaze by protesters, bringing the death toll over the past week to 15.
The latest violence sustained a week of unrest triggered by the funerals
of 14
rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who were killed in
clashes with security forces.
It marked some of Turkey’s worst civil unrest since the PKK took up arms
against the state in 1984 in an insurgency which has killed more than 30,000
people and fueled fears of an escalation of the conflict.
Demonstrators threw petrol bombs at a bus on Sunday evening and Istanbul’s
governor said the three died, apparently crushed by the bus, as they fled.
Anatolian news agency said the three victims were two teenage sisters and a
62-year-old woman.
In Istanbul’s Gazi district, which has a sizeable Kurdish population, police
also fired tear gas to break up a 150-strong group of stone-throwing youths
who
had set up barricades and set fire to rubbish containers, CNN Turk reported.
“Molotovs in their bags, massacre on its way,” Hurriyet newspaper said in a
headline below a photo of masked youths setting petrol bombs alight.
Police fired tear gas and water cannon to break up a crowd of some 500
protesters in Viransehir near the Syrian border, chanting slogans in
support of
jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and waving PKK flags, security officials
said.
Police fired shots into the air and the crowd scattered from the main square,
throwing petrol bombs and stones at the security forces and local buildings,
smashing some windows.
The governor’s office in the mainly Kurdish region’s largest city Diyarbakir
said the toll there had risen to nine after three people died in hospital. Two
people have died in Kiziltepe near the Syrian border and one in the town of
Batman.
“We have launched rapid efforts to heal the wounds… In 10 days 30 of our
citizens have lost their lives,” said Diyarbakir mayor Osman Baydemir.
Baydemir said it was “shameful” that an official investigation had been
launched into comments he had made about the latest violence, including the
deaths of the militants.
The cabinet is expected to discuss the violence at a meeting on Monday and
parliament is scheduled to hold a debate on the issue on Tuesday.
Some 360 people have been injured in the violence, including 199 members of
the security forces. Of 566 people detained by police, 354 have been remanded
in custody awaiting trial.
Political analysts and diplomats say the violence reflects local anger over
high unemployment, poverty and Ankara’s refusal to grant more autonomy to the
mainly Kurdish region.
Ankara, like the European Union and the United States, regards the PKK as a
terrorist organization responsible for the deaths of more than 30,000 people
since it launched its armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in 1984.
But many Kurds sympathize with the PKK.
The country’s main Kurdish political group, the Democratic Society Party
(DTP)
said the government had failed to respond to its calls for talks on the
violence.
“We wanted to talk with (Prime Minister Tayyip) Erdogan, but this was
rejected. There is a lack of dialogue,” DTP deputy chairman Hasip Kaplan said
during a visit to the Diyarbakir mayor.
The local DTP leader in Batman turned himself in to police on Monday a day
after police ordered his arrest for calling on locals to take part in protest
marches.
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
