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06/14/2006
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1) UNESCO Requests Removal of Documents from Ottoman Exhibit
2) Oskanian and Sarkisian Participate in North Atlantic Council And Armenia
Meeting
3) Toronto Banquet Raises $300,000 for Armenia Fund
4) ARF Has New Parliament Member
5) Turkish Press Says Turkey is Cyprus~R ~QToy~R in EU Talks
6) New Minister Alarmed by Declining Education Standards

1) UNESCO Requests Removal of Documents from Ottoman Exhibit

ISTANBUL (Combined Sources)Turkey pulled out of a Paris exhibit of Ottoman
archives last week, when organizers requested the removal of five questionable
submissions made by the Turkish Government.
Before the exhibit, United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), which organized the exhibit, requested that five items
be removed and two subject to changes.
Turkey initially agreed to the request, but later decided to not partake in
the exhibit.
One of the documents in question is a letter said to be written by the heads
of Armenian organizations praising the Ottoman Government, and especially the
Sultan, for its treatment of the Armenian people.
The letter, which is dated 1898, also says that its writers pledge their
loyalty to the Ottoman Empire, despite the actions of [khankarich]s,
because of
the great pride they have in being Ottoman citizens.
UNESCO~Rs request that this and other similar documents be removed from the
archival exhibit prompted harsh reaction from nationalist circles in Turkey.
Calling the events "a shame," Turkish Institute of History (TTK) President
Professor Yusuf Halacoglu said, "Turkey acted in good faith to solve the
Armenian genocide. The cases never refer to science or honesty anymore. There
are some letters, which Armenians forwarded to the Ottoman Empire from America
and Canada, to ask for help. We are face to face with such a big shame."

2) Oskanian and Sarkisian Participate in North Atlantic Council And Armenia
Meeting

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sarkisian and Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian participated Wednesday in the North Atlantic Council
and Armenia meeting, during which they discussed Armenia~Rs Individual
Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) program with NATO based on the introductory
evaluation of NATO delegation.
Oskanian and Sarkisian presented reports at the meeting in which they
referred
to the issues on boosting Armenia-NATO cooperation and implementation of the
IPAP.
The reports of the ministers were followed by the speeches of ambassadors of
North-Atlantic Council~Rs member countries in which they assessed the Armenia~Rs
progress in the implementation of the program.
Special Representative of NATO~Rs Secretary General to the South Caucasus
Robert Simmons said in an interview after the meeting that the introductory
report on Armenia~Rs IPAP with NATO is positive.
According to him, the complete assessment of Armenia~Rs IPAP with NATO will be
given next spring.
Sarkisian said he was pleased with the positive results of the report, which
detailed the pace of Armenia~Rs Individual Partnership Action Plan
implementation.
Oskanian described the meeting as useful.

3) Toronto Banquet Raises $300,000 for Armenia Fund

Around 500 community members, members of the clergy, local and Canadian
officials came together Sunday for a banquet at the AGBU Alec Manougian Center
in Toronto, Canada, to raise $300,000 for the Armenia Fund.
During Sunday~Rs banquet, Treasurer of the Armenia Fund, Ara Boyadian,
presented a report to those present about Armenia Fund~Rs projects in
Karabagh~Rs
village of Madaghis, which the donated money will help to support.
The school in Madaghis, a three story building with eleven classrooms, a
computer room, library, and auditorium, will be completed in time for the
upcoming school year in September.
Boyajian also noted that the Toronto Armenian community has raised 2 million
dollars for the Armenia Fund.
Representing Prime Minster Stephen Harper, Jason Kenny took the podium to
speak about the recognition of the Armenian genocide by the Canadian
Government
and read a special message from Harper to the Armenia Fund.
The keynote speaker of the evening, Baroness Caroline Cox, spoke about the
freedom loving spirit of Karabagh~Rs people and its right to self
determination.
She said that the people of Karabagh have the right to live freely and
independently in their homeland. Baroness Cox also brought up the state of
Karabagh~Rs dire need of monetary and moral support.
In light of her support of Karabagh and its people, the Armenia Fund
committee
of Toronto decided to name the new school after Baroness Cox, said the Master
of Ceremonies Vahan Kololian.

4) ARF Has New Parliament Member

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Armenia~Rs central election commission registered
Wednesday Spartak Seyranian as a new Member of Parliament.
Spartak Seyranian, Editor-in-Chief of Yerkir Weekly and member of the
Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (ARF), replaced Levon Mkrtchian who was appointed
education and science minister.

5) Turkish Press Says Turkey is Cyprus~R ~QToy~R in EU Talks

ANKARA (AFP)–Turkey has turned into a ~Stoy~T for Cyprus as it strives for
European Union membership, the Turkish press has said one day after the stormy
start of Ankara’s detailed entry talks with the EU.
"A rough start," wrote the left-leaning Cumhuriyet, referring to the talks,
whose beginning was delayed by objections from the internationally recognized
Greek Cypriot Government.
Cyprus wanted Turkey to recognize it as a state and open its ports to Cypriot
ships and planes–EU demands Ankara has yet to meet–before the talks begin.
The EU’s Austrian Presidency clinched a last-minute deal at a Foreign
Ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg, narrowly avoiding a new crisis for the bloc.
Several commentators harshly criticized both Cyprus for its stance and Turkey
for putting up with it.
"Turkey has turned into a toy for a country of a few hundred thousand
people,"
said a commentator Tuesday in the mass-circulation Hurriyet, calling on Ankara
to end the "mascarade."
Many newspapers stressed that Turkey would continue to face veto threats from
the Cypriot Government as the EU votes on the opening and closing of each of
the 35 detailed policy chapters to be negotiated, plus a final vote when all
the chapters are completed.
"At least 69 more crises to go with Europe," headlined the liberal Radikal.
"Cyprus will continue to be capricious on the political front until the last
minute… [inflicting] Chinese torture" on Ankara, a commentator in Milliyet,
another liberal daily, wrote, calling for action from Brussels.
"The EU should either stop the Cypriot administration from acting
capriciously
whenever and wherever it wants, or should change its rule for a unanimous vote
in order to get work done," he said.

6) New Minister Alarmed by Declining Education Standards

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–The newly appointed Education Minister Levon Mkrtchian
pledged on Tuesday to embark on a sweeping reform of Armenia~Rs education
sector
to reverse what he described as an alarming post-Soviet decline in education
standards.
~SThere is a clear decline in our education sector,~T admitted Mkrtchian.
~SArmenia is gradually losing its high level of education. We used to compare
ourselves with European countries but are now being compared to Central
Asia.~T
~SIf we continue to move down this path, I am sure that we will lose the
remaining quality of our education system,~T he said.
Mkrtchian, who had already served as education minister in 1998-1999 and
2001-2003, acknowledged that he has also been responsible for the ongoing
erosion of that quality. It is widely attributed to a lack of government funds
channeled into education as well as the resulting lack of motivation among
schoolteachers and university professors. Bribery and nepotism is also seen as
a serious problem facing the sector.
Government officials have said that Armenia~Rs ongoing transition to 12-year
primary and secondary schooling, supported by Western donors, will help to
reverse this trend. But according to Mkrtchian, that reform alone will not
improve the situation unless it is accompanied by a ~Sradical revision~T of
school curricula.
The minister, who is a leading member of the governing Armenian Revolutionary
Federation, also pledged to crack down on dozens of private universities where
education standards leave much to be desired.

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