Author: Antonian Lara

TURKISH, ARMENIAN LEADERS HOLD ‘USEFUL’ TALKS

PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung)
Jan 30 2009

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) – Armenia’s president said he had a "positive
signal" Thursday from Turkey’s prime minister during rare talks
between the two rival neighbors.

Serge Sarkisian said the talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan were "very useful.

"I’ve seen a willingness of the prime minister to solve our issues. I
think this is a positive signal," he told reporters after the two
met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Sarkisian would not give details about the talks which took place
before Erdogan stalked off the stage after reproaching Israeli
President Shimon Peres over the Gaza offensive.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations, and have faced off
over Armenian demands that early 20th century deaths of 1.5 million
ethnic Armenians should be recognized as genocide. Turkey says the
death toll is inflated and that the deaths resulted from unrest during
the Ottoman Empire’s collapse.

In recent months, Turkey and Armenia have taken steps to repair their
relationship but high-level meetings remain unusual.

Before their one-on-one talks Thursday, Sarkisian and Erdogan also
shared the stage in panel on the Caucasus and Central Asian regions.

The countries’ shared border has been closed since 1993, when
Turkey protested Armenia’s occupation of the disputed region of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey backs Azerbaijan’s claims to the enclave,
which has a high number of ethnic Armenian residents but is located
within Azerbaijan’s borders.

Sarkisian held talks with Azerbaijan’s president on Wednesday in
Switzerland that fizzled with no breakthroughs over the 20-year-old
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.

TURKISH DELEGATION LEFT FOR THE USA TO PREVENT ADOPTION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

AZG Armenian Daily
29/01/2009

Armenian Genocide

Turkish delegation left for the United States to prevent adoption of
the Armenian Genocide resolution of the Congress.

Suat Qeneqloghlu, the deputy chairman of the leading political party
"Justice and Development", leads the delegation.

The members of the delegation will meet with the US new government
members, Congressmen and representatives of the Jewish organizations,
"Noyan-Tapan" reported.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version: nian.htm

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I HEADS TO THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

His Holiness Aram I headed to Dubai, the Unites Arab Emirates on January 29.
During his visit to the country and the community, His Holiness will deliver
his pontifical address at the Saint Gregory the Illuminator Church in
Sharja.

He will then preside over the fund-raising event planned to gather donations
for funding activities related to the Armenian Cause. The Pontiff will also
deliver a lecture at the American University of Sharja and hold a number of
important meetings.

His Holiness will return to Antelias on February 3.

##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

TURKISH ACTOR CONFESSES KILLING 10 CYPRIOT POWS

PanARMENIAN.Net
28.01.2009 21:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In a shocking revelation on Turkish Star TV, Turkish
actor Attila Olgac confessed last week that he killed Greek Cypriot
prisoners of war in cold blood during the invasion of the Turkish
army in 1974, Gibrahayer.com reports.

"I killed ten people," he said and explained that the first one he
shot on the head was a 19-year old Greek Cypriot national guardsman
who was tied with hands behind his back.

"As I went to him he spat on my face and I shot him in the head"
he said.

Olgac, who stars in a popular TV series "The valley of the wolves,"
said that after he killed the Greek Cypriot soldier he killed
"nine more."

Regarded as a serious breach of Article 13 of the Geneva Convention,
the next day of the confession found the leadership of the Cyprus
government, legal experts and The Committee of the Missing Persons,
planning the next move.

The mass cold blooded killing of the Turkish actor stole the Turkish
media headlines and is widely being debated, as the actor – soon after
coming forward with the confession – took back his statement saying "it
was part of a scenario of a movie he was writing". The Turkish media
accused Olgac for looking and sounding ridiculous and for "exposing
and weakening Turkey by giving an image that Turks are barbarians."

Popular Turkish journalist Mehmet Ali Birand urged the country’s
Justice to step in, arguing that actor Attila Olgac should stand
trial whether he lied or not.

More than 1,600 of Greek Cypriots have been missing since 1974 and
although 400 identifications by DNA have revealed the identity of
the deceased, accounts by people like Attila Olgac should provide
info on the identity, location and circumstances under which these
particular deaths and "disappearances" occurred.

GLENDALE FIGHTERS READY TO MIX IT UP
By Grant Gordon

Glendale News Press
09/01/28/sports/gnp-spfighters28.txt
Jan 28 2009
CA

A quartet of Jewel City-trained MMA fighters will fight Thursday on
same card.

GLENDALE — To say Thursday evening’s California Xtreme Fighting
event will have a local feel could be an understatement.

Glendale will be well-represented in the ring and in the stands when
the CXF emanates from the El Monte Expo Center.

Headlining the 10-fight event will be Glendale’s own Roman "The
Emperor" Mitichyan, who is one of four Glendale-trained fighters that
will compete in the event.

"It’s gonna be a really good event," said George Bastrmajyan, who
manages the four Glendale-trained fighters on the card and will also
likely corner them. "We’re gonna have a great, great card."

And a healthy Armenian faithful is predicted to turn out and support
its fighting brethren.

"Not only Glendale, it’s gonna be a big Armenian community going
[from everywhere], Van Nuys, Burbank, Hollywood and Glendale," said
Ando Dermenjyan, who will make his pro debut at the card.

Dermenjyan, Mitichyan, Sako Chivitchyan and Sevak Magakian are all
set to fight in three-round contests throughout the night

"We are proud to showcase a card full of some of the highly talented
Armenian fighters in Southern California," said Craig Zimmerman,
the co-owner and promoter of CXF. The event will kick off a huge
three-day span for a group of Armenian mixed martial artists whose
training is centered around Glendale’s Main Event Gym and Glendale
Fighting Club, as well as Hayastan Grappling in North Hollywood and
Golden Boys Wrestling Club in Van Nuys.

On Saturday, as part of the blockbuster UFC 94: St. Pierre vs. Penn
2 card, both Karo Parisyan and Manny Gamburyan will fight.

And, of course, on Thursday, the aformentioned foursome will take to
the ring.

"We have all seven guys working together, it’s helping everyone,"
said Bastrmajyan, including Georgi Karakhanyan, who was slated to
fight on the CXF card, but was sidelined due to an injury.

A former "The Ultimate Fighter" cast member, the 30-year-old Mitichyan
(9-2) is a two-time Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran. He will
make his MMA return after nearly 10 months since his last fight.

He’ll do so in a 160-pound bout against Jason Meaders (4-7), after
previously fighting at the 170-pound welterweight mark.

"If it goes to the ground, I’ll submit him, if it stays up top, I’m
gonna try and knock him out," Mitichyan said. "I don’t think he’s as
skilled as I am."

Mitichyan hopes to begin a string of victories on Thursday that will
eventually culminate with him returning to the UFC in the 155-pound
lightweight class.

As for competing in the main event in front of a throng of supporters,
he doesn’t feel any added pressure.

"Extra pressure? No," Mitichyan said. "[I fought in the] UFC, it
can’t get bigger than that. No pressure."

Mitichyan added that the hardest part about being the main event is
the waiting.

For the fighters he’s trained with, it won’t be nearly as long.

Chivitchyan (1-0) is slated to fight second on the card, as he faces
off with Noe Rodriguez in a welterweight bout.

"I’ve been out of the fighting game for a while, but I’m really
excited," Chivichyan, 24, said. "I’m just anxious to get out there
in front of my people and to do good."

Chivichyan, like most of the fighters he trains with, comes from a
grappling background.

As for Rodriguez, Chivichyan doesn’t know a whole lot about him,
but that hardly changes the Glendale resident’s outlook or approach.

"I don’t underestimate any opponents, I’m ready for any situation,"
Chivichyan said. "My main goal is to get him on the ground, do a
little ground and pound, and once I see an opening, go for the finish."

Dermenjyan is scheduled to be in the fifth bout of the evening,
making his debut against Miles Howard (0-1).

Despite this being his first pro fight, the 24-year-old who trains
primarily out of Main Event Gym, said he’s far from nervous, but,
in contrast, can’t wait for Thursday to come.

"I’ve been training so hard," he said. "I’ve been looking forward to
it, I’m so excited."

"Most likely, I’m going to submit him."

In another 160-pound bout, Magakian (4-2) will take on Darryl Moore
(2-3).

Magakian, who last fought in October of 2008 and won via first-round
submission, said, with a smile, that his gameplan is a secret.

With all four of his wins coming by way of tapout, though, it could
be a safe bet that he’s looking for the submission.

Nevertheless, for Magakian, 23, the most important aspect for him is
that, along with his fellow countrymen, his hand is raised in victory.

"There’s going to be a lot of Armenians there," he said. "We have to
all win these fights."

ACCORDING TO EDWARD SHARMAZANOV, PACE’S DECISION CONDITIONED BY RECENT REFORMS OF ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES

Noyan Tapan

Jan 28, 2009

YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, NOYAN TAPAN. One of the most important provisions
of Resolution 1643 passed by the PACE on January 27 refers to not
depriving Armenia of its voting right, spokesman for the Republican
Party of Armenia (RPA) Edward Sharmazanov said on January 28. According
to him, another important peculiarity of this resolution is that the
term "political prisoner" is absent in its text, and this circumstance
is conditioned by the recent reforms made by Armenian authorities,
in particular, president Serzh Sargsyan. However, in the words of
E. Sharmazanov, the absence of political prisoners does not mean
that there are no problems in the country. "Some problems do exist,
we have some work to do not only by April – the end of the period
established by PACE, but also within 4 years," (NT: until the end of
the president’s term of office) – RPA’s representative noted.

As regards some oppositionists’ claims that Armenian authorities either
have made a deal with European structures in return for Armenia’s
not being deprived of voting rights or have managed to deceive them
in some way or another, E. Sharmazanov said that these claims do not
correspond to the reality. "It is incomprehensible to me that various
opposition figures had different approaches to the use of sanctions
against Armenia," he said.

However, in his words, even by sending special envoys to the Council
of Europe, the opposition has failed to achieve success: the Armenian
delegation has not been deprived of voting rights.

Speaking about the trial on "the case of the seven", E. Sharmazanov
said that the trial has not finished yet so he cannot make any
judgement.

According to him, only after the trial it will become clear whether
the accused persons are political prisoners or not.

THE MANY FACES OF THE HOLOCAUST
Alexandre Antonov, RT

Russia Today
76
Jan 27 2009
Russia

The mass extermination of Jews by Nazi Germany is one of the
cornerstones of the current world order. This ugly page of history
is read with grief, penance and speculation.

Jews were not the first people in history who faced persecution
and death solely for their ethnicity. There was the genocide of
Armenians by the Ottoman Empire. The ill fate of the indigenous
peoples of the Americas, Australia or Africa, who were decimated by
European colonists, was no less grave in terms of loss of life and
suffering either.

Neither were Jews the only group whom Nazi deemed unworthy to
live. Roma people, Slavs, and even fellow Germans who were unlucky to
have mental illness or be homosexual suffered from the regime obsessed
with racial purity. And while Nazi war crimes were grave and many,
the attention paid to them largely surpasses that to the atrocities
of, say, Japan in the Asian countries that they conquered during
World War II.

Still many scholars consider the Holocaust as a unique tragedy of
the Jewish people, the Disaster.

It’s true that Nazi leadership treated Jews with special hatred and
wanted them wiped out from the world. And they did much to reach their
evil goal, slaughtering Jews in pogroms, summary executions and death
marches, starving them and in ghettos, creating a whole industry that
existed only to kill people. An estimated six million Jews fell victim
to the Holocaust, with up to 90% of the population wiped out in some
countries like Germany itself, Poland or the Baltic states.

What makes the persecution special is the involvement of the
winners in the war in these atrocities. In many countries occupied
by Germany there was widespread anti-Semitism and too many people
became willing accomplices to the Nazi. For instance the Auschwitz
death camp was run by German officers, but many of the guards were
Ukrainians. Collaborators assisted in hunting down Jews in occupied
territories. While many of those involved in the crimes were prosecuted
after the war, the scale of involvement was too large to simply
dismiss it.

Many more people didn’t take active part in the Holocaust, but had good
reasons to feel guilty for taking conformist stance and turning a blind
eye on the crimes. When the true scale of the tragedy meticulously
documented by Germans was revealed, it couldn’t help but leave a mental
scar on millions of Europeans who lived under Nazi rule. Moreover,
unlike the East, Western Europe didn’t witness many of the horrors
of the war and was not prepared for this injection of the ugly reality.

The sense of guilt was one of the reasons why for so many nations the
Holocaust became not just a war crime, but the war crime: the ultimate
evil that history has ever borne witness to. The support that the idea
of a Jewish state in Palestine had from Europe, despite the resistance
from the Arab world, can be seen as an act of penance. Denying the
Holocaust is a crime in Israel and in 12 European countries, including
Germany, Austria, Romania and Poland – countries that were among the
perpetrators. It’s no wonder that some people see it all as a Zionist
conspiracy and claim the Holocaust is a hoax.

Perhaps in several generations the acute memory of the Holocaust
will weather. Even now some politicians challenge Jews’ monopoly for
the term while pursuing their agendas, like Hamas political leader
in Damascus Khaled Mashal, who labelled Israel’s resent offensive
in Gaza Strip a holocaust of Palestinians, or President Yushchenko
who referred to the Holodomor – the mass famine in the 1930s that he
claims was orchestrated by Stalin – as Ukraine’s Holocaust.

On January 27 the world remembers the victims of the Holocaust. On this
day in 1945, Soviet troops liberated the remaining 7,500 prisoners
of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. The retreating SS troops were
ordered to execute the prisoners, but it was never carried out.

PACE MAKES DECISION NOT TO DEPRIVE ARMENIAN DELEGATION OF VOTE

ArmInfo
2009-01-27 15:28:00

ArmInfo. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
has made a decision not to deprive the Armenian delegation of vote.

PACE voted for adoption of a new resolution on Armenia by 141 votes
‘for’, 5 ‘abstentions’ and just three votes ‘against’.

A member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, parliamentarian from
Prosperous Armenia Party faction Naira Zohrabyan told ArmInfo all the
delegations except the Azerbaijani one displayed the balanced approach
and highlighted progress achieved by the Armenian authorities. She
said the co-rapporteurs John Prescott and George Colombier were in
Armenia on January 14-15 and highlighted the progress in fulfilling
the resolutions, in particular, setting up a working group to
draft a bill on amendments to the Articles 225 and 300 of the
Armenian Criminal Code, and granting pardon to defendants. ‘The
monitoring over fulfillment of Armenia’s commitments to PACE will
be continued. However, the issue of suspending the mandate of the
Armenian delegation was put off the agenda’, N. Zohrabyan said.

OFFICER OF "NUBARASHEN" PENITENTIARY SEVERELY REPRIMANDED

Noyan Tapan

Jan 26, 2009

YEREVAN, JANUARY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. As a result of the internal
investigation into the incident that happened to prisoner Grigor
Voskerchian in "Nubarashen" prison on December 23, 2008, Captain
Arthur Yeghiazarian was severely reprimanded by the January 9 decree
of the RA minister of justice.

The website reported that the Social Monitoring Group has
received an official letter about it from the RA Ministry of Justice.

To recap, according to the Armenian National Congress, the prisoners
Grigor Voskerchian, Gevorg Manukian, Armen Khurshudian and Vardges
Gaspari were subjected to beating in their cells on December 23, 2008
– the day when a regular court sitting on "the case of the seven"
was held.

ISTANBUL CONFERENCE: AZERIS FRUSTRATED ANY DISCUSSION OF RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.01.2009 19:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On January 17 and 18, Istanbul hosted ‘The Future
of South Caucasus and its Neighbors’ international conference which
brought together experts from Armenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Russia,
Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

The event was initiated by the British Council and John Smith
Memorial Trust.

"Participants of the event focused on inter-ethnic disputes, including
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and Russian-Georgian relations in
the context of European security, the Russian-Ukrainian relations,
Turkey’s Caucasus platform and other regional issues," Tevan Poghosyan,
executive director of the International Center for Human Development,
told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

"Unfortunately, the Azeri delegation converted the discussion titled
‘The Armenian-Azeri relations behind the Nagorno Karabakh conflict’
into an argument, accusing Armenia of occupation of Azeri lands," he
said, adding that the main message of the conference is encouragement
of civil societies for establishment of dialogue and peaceful
resolution of conflicts.

The Armenian-Turkish relations were also discussed. "Turkish experts
emphasized that the two countries are close to establishment of
normal relations but they seemed to be fettered by the presence of
Azerbaijan’s representatives," Mr. Poghosyan said.