Author: Badalian Vardan

CTS’ 2005 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OPENED IN YEREVAN

YEREVAN, April 28. /ARKA/. The 5th international tourism exhibition
CTS’ 2005 has been opened in Yerevan. RA Deputy Minister of Trade
and Economic Development Ara Petrosyan pointed out that this
exhibition is traditional in the tourist sphere and is aimed to
present elite travel agencies to the public. Thirty-three companies
from Armenia, Belarus, Iran and Turkey, including two air carriers,
seven hotel complexes, one transport agency, 13 travel agents, one
insurance company, five NGOs, three publishing houses and one news
agency are to take part in the exhibition. Special halls deal with the
Shirak and Vaiots Dzor regions of Armenia. A number of seminars will
be held to discuss the role of regional and international cooperation.
The exhibition was organized by the ASTA office with the assistance of
the RA Ministry of Trade and Economic Development. The exhibition is
sponsored by the Yerevan Brandy Company, `Golden Tulip Yerevan’ hotel,
Chech Airlines, `Visa Concord’ company and `Congress’
hotel. P.T. –0–

PROVISIONS OF AGREEMENT ON JOINT USE OF MILITARY OBJECTIVES WITHIN CST
FRAMEWORK CORRESPONDS TO ARMENIAN CONSTITUTION

YEREVAN, APRIL 27. ARMINFO. Provisions of an Agreement on joint use of
both military objectives and strategical equipment of territories
within the framework of Collective Security Treaty (CST) correspond to
Armenian Constitution, Armenian Constitutional Court made this
decision after a short closed meeting.

Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sargsyan, represented the interests of
President Robert Kocharyan, informed that the Treaty was signed on
June 18, 2004 in Astana. The document aims to settle relations arisen
during the joint exploitation of military objectives by CST
member-states – Byelorussia, Armenia, Tajikistan, Kirghizia,
Kazakhstan and Russia. -r-

Israel Hasbara Committee , NY
April 26 2005

24 April Marks Armenian Genocide
Hebrew University to Commemorate Event on 2 May

By Mayaan Jaffe

Sunday 24 April marked the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the
massacre of about 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks. The
Armenian government held an international conference in the capital
of Yerevan dedicated to the day.

Although the Armenians suffered the first genocide of the twentieth
century and although their situation is closely connected to that of
the Jews, who were systematically tortured and killed during the Nazi
Holocaust, the State of Israel has yet to recognize the Armenian
massacre. According to Professor Israel Charney, Executive Director
of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, this is
solely due to political considerations. However, he says, Jews
denying the Armenian Genocide is the same as Christians (or anyone
else) denying the Jewish Holocaust.

`Jews run around legitimately angry about denials of the Holocaust,’
he says. `We therefore have an absolute moral responsibility to
recognize the Armenian Genocide.’

Charney, a certified psychiatrist originally from the U.S., has
dedicated his life in Israel to studying the how and why of genocide,
sparked by confusion about the cause of the Holocaust and the ability
of human beings to carry out such atrocities.

At the university level, there are plenty of academics who would
place their vote with Charney’s; those professors are led by
Professor Michael E. Stone, director of the Hebrew University
Armenian Studies Program. His department will host a memorial event
on 2 May at Beit Belgia on the Givat Ram University Campus. Though
the event will center on memorializing the massacre, it will also be
about building bridges between Israelis and Armenians, many living in
Jerusalem. Prominent leaders from both parties will attend, including
His Beatitude Patriarch Torkom Manoogian and His Excellency Mr.
Tsolag Momjian, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia.

The event will feature an insightful lecture by Charney, as well as a
celebration of Armenian culture, highlighted by the tunes of Armenian
music.

With only around 100,000 survivors of the Armenian Genocide alive
today, Mr. Momjian expressed hopes that such an evening would `open
the minds of young people’ to the concept of the Armenian Genocide.

This is not the first year Stone has planned such an event. In past
years he has brought such intellectuals as Senior Lecturer at the
Open University of Israel and the Kibbutzim College of Education,
Professor Yair Auron. Like Charney, Auron has dedicated himself to
bringing to light the connection between Armenians and Jews, their
trials and tribulations. His book, The Banality of Indifference:
Zionism and the Armenian Genocide (Transaction Books, 2000), will be
published in Hebrew this month. It is an eye-opening book, whose
English edition has already been highly praised.

Former Minster of Education Yossi Sarid has been one of few
government officials to encourage the State to recognize the Armenian
Genocide. In a speech marking the 85th anniversary of the genocide at
the Armenian Church in the Old City of Jerusalem, Sarid said, `We
Jews, the main victims of murderous hatred, must be doubly sensitive
and identify with other victims. Those who stand aside, turn away,
cast a blind eye, make their calculations of gains and losses and are
silent always help the murderers and never those who are being
murdered…’

Sarid encourages teaching Israeli students about the atrocity as part
of the general history curriculum, if not for the educational value,
then for the humanistic one.

As Mr. Momjian put it, `For 90 years the Armenians have been living
with the tragic memory of the family they lost. To deny the genocide
is to deny a very important part of Armenian culture, history and
life.’

Charney and Momjian made their comments in exclusive interviews with
the Israel Hasbara Committee.

Pan Armenian News

PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS REQUESTED RUSSIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL TO FORM BRIGADE TO
INVESTIGATE ARMENIANS POGROMS IN NOVOROSSIYSK

25.04.2005 05:34

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Representatives of a number of public organizations
requested the Russian Prosecutor General to form an independent brigade to
investigate the Armenian pogroms in the Russian town of Novorossiysk,
Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia reported. They asked
Vladimir Ustinov to pay attention to the critical situation with the
discrimination of the ethnic minorities and the systematic violations of
human rights in the Krasnodar region. The appeal says in part, `On March 21,
2005 a group of drunk Cossacks headed by ataman V. Petrusha assaulted young
people of Armenian and Greek origin, who were celebrating a birthday in a
café. On March 22, 2005 about 200 Cossacks arrived in Novorossiyk to commit
pogroms and spread leaflets with the demand to stop the `Armenian-Caucasian
outrage’. Another series of leaflets calumniated deputy of the town dumal,
chairman of Luys, the Armenian cultural association V. Mkhitarian. `On the
basis of the above mentioned we request You to form an independent group to
investigate the incidents taken place and identify persons guilty for the
instigation of national hostility’, the appeal says.

Press & Sun-Bulletin, NY
April 24 2005

Armenians mark genocide
Binghamton contingent unveils monument honoring victims
BY SCOTT ROCKEFELLER

On Saturday, Vahe Garabedian recalled a bittersweet story. Many years
ago, his Armenian grandfather was working, stringing power lines,
when Turkish soldiers were prepared to take him into custody.

Photo: Standing behind the Armenian flag, Dr. Garabed Fattal of
Binghamton reads a list of countries that have officially recognized
the Armenian genocide.

SCOTT ROCKEFELLER/Press & Sun-Bulletin

Luckily, his grandfather’s boss was Turkish and convinced the
soldiers to keep moving. Had he not, Garabedian might have never been
born.

“This is a commemoration of a people who were nearly wiped out,” he
said Saturday while standing at the south entrance of the Washington
Street Bridge.

Garabedian, of Binghamton, was one of about 30 members of the local
Armenian community who gathered near the bridge to acknowledge
Armenian Memorial Day, which is today. Attendees remembered the 1.5
million Armenian Christians who were killed because of their faith
and nationality between 1915 and 1923, under Ottoman Empire rule.
Many Armenian families arrived in the Tier after escaping the
genocide.

During the remembrance, a monument near the bridge entrance was
unveiled. The black marble monument joined several trees that have
been planted out of respect to the Armenians who were killed.

Ghazaros Kerjilian of Vestal said the aim of remembrances throughout
the country and the world is to put pressure on the Turkish
government to accept responsibility for the slaughter, and for the
American government to officially recognize it as genocide.

“The important thing to remember is man’s inhumanity to man has no
bounds,” he said. “If we don’t do something about it, it will happen
again.”

Binghamton Mayor Richard A. Bucci and city councilmen Chris Papastrat
and Stephen P. Jensen attended Saturday’s event. Letters of support
from several state politicians were read during the ceremony.

Kerjilian said Saturday’s ceremony was not only an opportunity to
speak out against the genocide, but also to thank the City of
Binghamton.

“We came here, we settled,” he said. “And we’ve prospered.”

Armenian group calls on EU to pressure Turkey into recognizing genocide

Agence France Presse — English
April 21, 2005 Thursday

BRUSSELS April 21 — The European Armenian Foundation called Thursday
on EU institutions to put pressure on Ankara to admit that it committed
genocide against Armenians.

The European Commission and the European Council governments “cannot
ignore anymore the continued calls of national parliaments and the
European Parliament … to demand that Turkey recognize the genocide,”
said Hilda Tchoboian, head of the European Armenian Federation.

Armenia marks on Sunday the 90th anniversary of mass killings in the
Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey, which Armenia and
many other countries consider to have been genocide but which Turkey
denies ever took place.

“The European Armenian Federation considers that this anniversary,
falling on the actual year set for the opening of negotiations with
Turkey, must mark a turning point in the priority given to the genocide
issue by the European executive in its relations with Turkey,” the
group said in a statement.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen perished in
orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire,
was falling apart.

Ankara counters that 300,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were
killed in “civil strife” during World War I when the Armenians rose
against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

The EU is to open accession negotiations with Turkey on October 3.

Turkey attitude to Armenian Genocide – Basic test of Turkish democracy

Pan Armenian News
21.04.2005 04:03

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “The Turkish state repudiating the crime it has
committed has to learn a lesson of what it has perpetrated. It is
first of all necessary for Turkey and its people,” Nagorno Karabakh
Republic President Arkady Ghukasian stated when addressing Ultimate
Crime, Ultimate Challenge: Human Rights and Genocide international
conference. His statement reads: “Turkey working for accession to
the EU today is on the verge of a pivotal choice of the further way
of development of the state and the society. In this respect Turkey’s
attitude towards the fact of the Armenian Genocide is a basic test of
the Turkish democracy, as well as a litmus paper, which determines the
country’s readiness to take a worthy place in the commonwealth of the
European states. Surely, it is not an easy choice. However, it is
inevitable. And it will determine not only Turkey’s image tomorrow,
but also its further role in forming the geopolitical and geoeconomic
architecture of the region, including in the South Caucasus. One
thing is clear: Turkey fulfilling an exclusive geopolitical function
in the South Caucasian region, including that in conflict settlement
and specifically in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, require a high
level of political ripeness and capacity to conceptual review of
its attitude towards the region, as well as factors determining the
attitude of the peoples of the region to the Turkish state. Today
the international community, first of all Turkey, should answer the
following question: which is more rightful and acceptable from the
point of view of civilization, international law, international
stability and security – the policy of denial of the Armenian
Genocide, which admits the continuation of the international crime,
or search for ways of penitence and facilitation of the Genocide
consequences, which embodies historical and political courage? No
Turkish government, replacing its predecessor, can avoid the burden
of growing responsibility. In two days the Armenians of the world,
all progressive humanity will pay tribute to victims of the Genocide
of our people in Ottoman Turkey. Irrespective of how many years pass,
we will always feel our pain and it will follow the Armenian people
throughout its future history. Much time will pass until our pain
will become the pain of the entire humanity. And that time will come
sooner or later. Our duty – the duty of the whole of the progressive
humanity is to speed up the coming of that time. April 24 will serve
an eternal reminder to future generations that crimes against humanity
cannot have a statute of limitations.”

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
April 20, 2005, Wednesday

THE CHIEF OF THE BORDER GUARD SERVICEMEN OF THE RUSSIAN FSB HAS
ARRIVED IN YEREVAN

Colonel-General Vladimir Pronichev, chief of the border guard service
of the Russian FSB, arrived in Yerevan on Monday. The Armenian
border guard service states that the main objective of the visit
is to inspect Russian border guard units stationed in the republic.
Pronichev will also discuss the prospects of cooperation between the
Russian and Armenian border guard services. He also plans to sign
a range of documents, including on the financing of Russian border
guard units stationed in Armenia.

Russian and Armenian border guards defend Armenia’s border with Turkey
and Iran.

Times Square Rally to Mark 90th Anniversary of Armenian Genocide

PR Newswire (press release)
April 21 2005

NEW YORK, April 21 /PRNewswire/ — On Sunday, April 24, 2005,
thousands of Armenian Americans from throughout the nation will
converge on New York City to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the
1915 Armenian Genocide — in which 1.5 million Armenians perished
at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish empire. Historians consider
the attempt to exterminate the Armenians as the first instance
of genocide in the 20th century: a precursor to mass killings
throughout the century, and an explicit model for Hitler’s own
“final solution.” Still, 90 years after the catastrophe that scattered
surviving Armenians across the globe, the Republic of Turkey continues
to deny the facts of the Genocide.

The day will start with church services at 9:00 a.m., in
Manhattan’s two Armenian cathedrals: St. Vartan Cathedral (Second
Ave. at 34th St.) and St. Illuminator’s Cathedral (27th St. between
Second and Third Avenues).

At 12:00 noon, a large memorial gathering at Times Square
(Broadway at 43rd St.) will bring together several thousand Armenian
Americans throughout North America. Finally, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.,
a solemn ecumenical requiem service will be held at St. Patrick’s Roman
Catholic Cathedral (Fifth Ave. at 50th St.), where dignitaries from
the religious, political, diplomatic, and media arenas will be present.

WHAT: Rally at Times Square to commemorate the 90th
Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

WHO: Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY)
Governor George Pataki (R-NY) (Invited)
Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ)
Michael Osanian – Senior Editor, Forbes Magazine

WHEN: April 24, 2005
12 Noon – 2:00pm

WHERE: Times Square
Broadway and 43rd Street
New York, NY

VISUALS: 3,000 – 5,000 from the Armenian Diaspora in Times Square
honoring the victims and survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide
and calling for the United States, Turkey, and the United
Nations to officially recognize the Genocide and end future
genocides

The Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee is coordinating events
on April 24th, 2005 to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide. The committee is comprised of the Diocese of the Armenian
Church of America, the Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of
America, the Armenian National Committee of America, The Armenian
Catholic Church of the United States and Canada, Armenian General
Benevolent Union, the Armenian Relief Society of Eastern United
States, the Armenian Assembly, Armenian Democratic Liberal Party,
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the Armenian Missionary
Association of America, the Social Democratic Hunchakian Party,
and the Knights of Vartan.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
April 21, 2005, Thursday
13:59:42 Central European Time

Berlin to tell Turkey “take responsibility” for Armenian massacres

Berlin

All parties in the German parliament have agreed key points of a
resolution which will tell Turkey to “take historic responsibility”
for the 1915 Armenian genocide, a senior member of Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder’s Social Democrats said Thursday.

Gernot Erler, the Social Democratic (SPD) deputy foreign affairs
spokesman in the Bundestag, said the resolution due to win final
approval in the coming months would have three “goals.”

First, Germany’s parliament will recognise a limited German role in
massacre of 1.2 million to 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks
during the First World War, said Erler in a statement.

Germany was Ottoman Turkey’s main ally in the War and “partly through
approval and through failure to take effective preventive measures
there was a German co-responsibility for this genocide.”

“The (Bundestag) asks the Armenian people for their forgiveness,”
said Erler’s statement.

Second, the Berlin parliament will call on Turkey “to halt its up
until now overwhelming suppression, to take historic responsibility
for the massacre of the Armenians by the Young Turk regime and to ask
for forgiveness from the descendants of the victims.”

Turkey’s government has always insisted that there was no Armenian
genocide and says a far smaller number of Armenians died during
Ottoman deportations which it argues took place under war conditions
and were due to an Armenian rebellion.

Turkey’s ambassador to Germany, Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik, has denounced
the planned Bundestag resolution as containing “countless factual
errors” and being written “in agreement with propaganda efforts of
fanatic Armenians….”

“Its goal is to defame Turkish history… and poison ties between
Turkey and the European Union,” said the ambassador.

Finally, the German parliament’s resolution will underline Berlin’s
efforts to help normalise relations between Turkey and Armenia.

Germany, which has about 2.5 million resident Turks, has up until now
been wary about addressing the Armenian genocide.

A member of the opposition Christian Democratic alliance (CDU/CSU),
Erwin Marschewski, said in a statement that the value system of the
European Union (E.U.) insisted that countries “shine a spotlight on
the dark pages of their history.”

“Recognition by Turkey to the Armenian genocide of 1915 and 1916 is
important,” said Marschewski.

Turkey is due to start membership negotiations with the E.U. in
October but E.U. leaders say accession talks – if successful – will
take up to 15 years.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is a staunch backer of Turkish E.U.
membership and will visit Ankara and Istanbul for talks with Turkish
political and business leaders on May 3 and 4.

The draft resolution being debated in Germany’s parliament does not
use the word “genocide” but rather refers to the “expulsion and
massacres” of Armenians under the Ottoman Turks in 1915 as part of
ceremonies marking the 90th anniversary of the killings.

“We purposely left out the … term genocide,” said Christoph
Bergner, an opposition Christian Democrat, in a speech to parliament.

The declaration says between 1.2 and 1.5 million Christian Armenians
died or were killed by the Moslem Turks during “planned” deportations
during the First World War.

Armenians all over the world will on April 24 mark the 90th
anniversary of the start of what most international historians
describe as a genocide lasting from 1915 to 1923 which left up to 1.5
million people dead. dpa lm sc