Author: Chakrian Hovsep

"BOTH "ZHARANGUTIUN" PROGRAM AND WAY OF ACTIONS OF THAT PARTY ARE TOO
CORDIAL FOR ME," LARISA ALAVERDIAN SAYS

YEREVAN, APRIL 16, NOYAN TAPAN. "Being non-partisan, I support the
political line and ideas fostered by the "Zharangutiun" (Heritage)
party. First RA Ombudsperson Larisa Alaverdian made such a statement
in the interview to Noyan Tapan. In her opinion, today the labour and
property rights of a person are widely violated in the country, and
for their protection it is not enough to struggle within the framework
of only public organizations, particularly, within the framework of
the "Against Legal Wilfulnesses" NGO headed by her.

Consequently, as L. Alaverdian mentioned, understanding the necessity
of the political struggle as well, she, not hesitating, received
"Zharangutiun" party leader Raffi Hovannisian’s proposal for being
involved in the proportional list of that party. "Both that party
program and, all the more, the way of its action are too cordial for
me," L. Alaverdian summed up.

CONSULTATIONS WITH PARTICIPATION OF INTERESTED DEPARTMENTS AND LOCAL
SELF-GOVERNMENT BODIES REPRESENTATIVES TO FROM NOW ON FOLLOW VISITS
PAID BY RA PRIME MINISTER TO MARZES

YEREVAN, APRIL 16, NOYAN TAPAN. With results of the visit paid to the
RA marz of Tavush RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsian hold a consultation
on April 16, with participation of representatives of interested
ministries, departments, territorial government and local
self-government bodies. The Prime Minister presented the consultation
participants his approaches and impressions concerning the issues
raised during the meetings with the marz population, listened to the
responses on that occasion. He instructed to study the raised issues
in details and propose effective ways of solution in as a short period
of time as it is possible.

According to the information submitted to Noyan Tapan by the RA
Government’s Information and Public Relations Department, S. Sargsian
informed the consultation participants that after his working visits
this approach will always be used. He emphasized that those
responsible must be ready to quickly respond and give realistic
solutions to the vital problems the population is interested in.

Dramization process in Armenia to continue in 2007

Arminfo
2007-04-14 16:48:00

During 3 quarters of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008 Armenia will
still undergo the process of dramization, the high rates of which have
been observed since the second half of 2006. the growth rates of the
AMD aggregates will slow down since the second half of 2007, the press
service of the Central Bank of Armenia told ArmInfo.

According to the CBA’s forecast, the monetary indices will mainly
remain within the limits of the forecast framework. The high rates of
economy crediting will also remain in 2007, this being conditioned by
the considerable profit of the commercial banks in 2006 and the
implementation of large programs on account of the funds of the filled
up authorized capital, the source says. Particularly, the matter
concerns the increase of mortgage credit lending. In some spheres of
economy inflation is forecast for a period of 12 months. However, as
per the CBA data, the inflationary inflation will be much milder. If
earlier the annual inflation level was forecast at 4.1%, in December
2007 the annual inflation is expected to total 3.5, and in the first
quarter of 2008 – up to 3.3. According to the CBA, in March 2007 the
annual inflation rate totalled 4.4%, which is by 0.7% lower than the
December 2006 forecast of the CBA. Besides, the CBA Council considers
that there are possible risks of both a rise and a fall of the factual
inflation index, however, their total balance points out a decrease of
inflation. Particularly, the risk of the rise of the factual
inflation index is connected with a possible rise in international oil
prices which is conditioned by the development of the political
situation which can create an inflationary pressure. As for the risks
of the fall of the factual inflation index, they may be connected with
an increase of outflow of currency in case of a rise in prices for
base metals, but the AMD consolidation may result in a drop of prices
for imported goods and a restrained impact on inflation. Besides, the
main risks of the real sector are connected with the state of the
agriculture and may be conditioned by a high yield level in case of
favorable climatic conditions, and this may result in a formation of
deflationary pressure. The CBA Council has taken a decision to reduce
the rate of refinancing by 0.25% to 4.5%. The rates of interest on
lombard credits and deposits are fixed at 7,5% and 1,5 respectively.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 14 2006

Betul Aslan: Reports of Armenian massacres in Erzurum are kept in
archives

[ 14 Apr 2007 14:28 ]

`Archeologists carry out archeological excavations in order to find
mass burial site. But to find the places of the graves it is
important to use archive materials and reports. The evidence
testimony of 12 year-old Ali Gurjan played great role in finding
place of burial site occurred as the result of Armenian massacres in
Erzurum,’ author of book `Armenian events in Erzurum -1918-1920
(memories-documents-excavations)’ Betul Aslan told APA’s Turkey
bureau.

Noting that this excavation was carried out in Timar village of
Erzurum oblast on July 7, 1993, the author said the previous
excavation was carried out on October 7, 1988.
`Found shawls, hairs, sheets of Koran and buttons again prove that
the buried in this site are Muslims, Turks. The anthropological
analyses also proved it. Some foreign journalists took part in
excavations. After Armenians committed massacre and left the region
Turkish army came to the site and made the reports of the events. I
have included the reports in my book,’ Betul Aslan said. /APA/

A SENTIMENTAL TRAVELOGUE – JOURNEY TO ARMENIA
Rick Groen

Globe and Mail, Canada
April 13 2007

**½

Directed by Robert Guediguian

Written by Robert Guediguian, Ariane Ascaride and Marie Desplechin
Starring Ariane Ascaride and Gerard Meylan

Classification: NA

The first cliche appears early: Anna is a cardiologist who knows
everything about the heart’s mechanics and nothing of its poetry. A
cold fish, spawned in the port of Marseilles and French to the bone,
she has a tense relationship with her Armenian-born father and no
relationship at all with her ethnic heritage. So when dad, ailing and
in his 11th hour, secretly flies back to his homeland, cliche No. 2
isn’t long in following: Getting on a plane to track him down, Anna
"returns" to a country she has never seen, to a culture she doesn’t
know, to a language she doesn’t speak; and there, seeking her father,
she finds, yes, her own true self.

But if this roots saga is trite at the centre, Journey to Armenia
does manage to find considerable interest at the edges of the frame.

Shooting on location in Yerevan and its vicinity, with the snow-capped
peak of Mount Ararat shimmering elusively in the misted background,
director Robert Guediguian lets his camera rove over the sights
while the script delves into the sociology. Consequently, what the
film lacks in credible drama it makes up as a crisp travelogue —
pack it with your Frommer’s and you’ll be good to go.

Indeed, when Anna (Ariane Ascaride) disembarks, she’s immediately
surrounded by a host of guides, all of them eager to show off the
different hues of a poor but proud country. And a country, like so
many these days, in a state of confused flux, having traded in the
closed fist of communism for the callous hand of business run riot.

"It’s all business," says one shady entrepreneur, explaining a market
as black as the profiteers who run it, a place where everything from
warplanes to prescription medicine has a price — and those who can’t
pay must do without.

So much for Armenia’s perils, but what of its pride? Well, a
white-haired chauffeur drives Anna to the food stalls for a taste
of the cuisine, on to a hair salon for a spot of female bonding,
and finally to a medieval church for a peek into the past. Then a
handsome war hero (Gerard Meylan) commandeers a helicopter for an
aerial trek over "the land of stones," alighting long enough to tour
an even older temple to early Christianity. "Don’t you feel just a
bit Armenian here?" he asks. In response, Anna’s hard heart reveals
a few vulnerable cracks, and darned if some long-lost feelings don’t
begin to settle in.

So does the contrived plot, unfortunately. At this point, it introduces
a bit of hokum involving a pretty young stripper and an especially
deadly capitalist, leading to gunplay in the streets and the unlikely
revelation that Doctor Anna is as adept with a pistol as she is with
a scalpel.

Happily, the contrivance over, we’re soon back on the sentimental
journey, off to a remote village for the climactic father/daughter
reunion. Anti-climactic, actually. The meeting scene feels rushed,
inadvertently understated, and the story’s long wick burns down onto
wet powder — Anna has her revelation, but it’s an epiphany without
a pop.

Yet isn’t that always the way with trips. You arrive with time as
your friend, meandering here, tarrying there, and then the clock
turns brutal and the ending gets rushed. Journey to Armenia is a
travelogue that even mimics a traveller’s bad habits. Still, with
stuff to learn and sights to see, there’s no disputing the value of
the experience, which brings us to the final cliche: Travel is an
education in itself. Hop aboard, mes amis.

y/LAC.20070413.ARMEN13/TPStory/TPEntertainment/Mov ies/

–Boundary_(ID_xtBr37mg6FBrj9U0pOcQAg)–

PPA TO RESTORE PEOPLE’S FAITH TOWARDS ELECTORAL PROCESS, STEPAN DEMIRCHIAN ASSURES
Author: Editor: Eghian Robert

Noyan Tapan
Apr 13 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The People’s Party of Armenia (PPA)
will call on the people during the propaganda campaign to certainly
have active participation in the parliamentary elections. PPA
Chairman Stepan Demirchian stated about it at the April 13 press
conference. Otherwise, in his opinion, favourable conditions will
be created for electoral falsifications. The PPA, as S. Demirchian
assured, will do its best to restore the people’s faith towards the
electoral process.

He mentioned that the PPA has never been engaged and is not engaged
now, either, in using black propaganda technologies against other
political forces.

Whereas, in S. Demirchian’s words, similar technologies have always
been used towards the PPA. But irrespective of everything, in his
words, the "Ardaroutiun" (Justice) faction was able to keep its
existence "from elections to elections, and, unlike the ruling
coaltion, did not fall."

Touching upon activity of mass media, S. Demirchian mentioned that
during the pre-electoral period the latters are striking with balanced
covering of political events, what, in the PPA leader’s words, was
at all absent till the pre-electoral period.

RUSSIAN FIRST PRIME MINISTER SAYS ARMENIA AND RUSSIA HAVE IDENTICAL DISPOSITIONS TO WAR IN IRAN

Panorama.am
20:16 11/04/2007

"War with Iran will cause a big crisis," Sergey Ivanov, first deputy
prime minister of Russian Federation, said today in Armenia. In
his words, "Armenia and Russia have identical dispositions to the
issue." He said the possession of a nuclear bomb by Iran must be solved
diplomatically. "On the other hand, technologies develop throughout the
world and Iran has the right to have nuclear energy. Speaking about
enriching it is another issue," he said. "MAGATE must make clear
studies to specify the quality and volumes of enriching uranium,"
Ivanov said according to RBC.ru reports.

The first prime minister of Russia reminded that Russia has suggested
Iran to supply already "enriched" uranium. Ivanov said the step is
"prudent."

ROBERT KOCHARIAN AND SERGEY IVANOV DISCUSSED ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN COOPERATION

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 11 2007

Today RA President received a Russian delegation headed by RF vice
premier Sergey Ivanov.

According to the information DE FACTO received at the RA President’s
Press Office, in the course of the meeting the parties discussed the
issues referring to bilateral Armenian-Russian cooperation, in part,
in the sphere of economy.

The interlocutors noted the expansion of trade turnover between RA and
RF was a result of Armenian-Russian partnership’s dynamic development.

In the course of the meeting the parties also considered the issues
referring to the exploitation of five Armenian enterprises given
to the Russian party, the problems of transport communication and
regional cooperation.

TURKEY CONCERNED OVER THE GERMAN INITIATIVE TO COMBAT RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA

ArmRadio.am
11.04.2007 18:02

Turkey has expressed concerns over a new German initiative to combat
racism and xenophobia with a template European law that could spread
moves in France and elsewhere to criminalize any denial of the alleged
genocide of Armenians.

The draft framework, essentially a recommended legal blueprint for
European Union governments to follow, is very likely to serve as
a recipe for other countries to follow the example of a French vote
last October when a bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide
was endorsed, the Turkish Daily News reports.

"This is a very wrong draft, which excludes a UN convention and brushes
aside freedom of expression and academic studies," government spokesman
Cemil Cicek told reporters after a Cabinet meeting late on Monday.

The draft negotiating framework penalizing the denial of the alleged
genocide and sentencing deniers up to three year in prison will appear
on the agenda between April 18 and 19 under the German presidency
of the European Union, Cicek said, complaining that the draft was
restricting free speech and hindering academic studies on genocide
allegations.

He said Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul had conveyed Turkish concerns
over the draft to Germany during a visit last week, adding that Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would bring the issue onto the agenda
when he had talks with German officials during a planned visit to
Germany over the weekend.

AKCAM: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WAS CULMINATION OF ETHNIC CLEANSING PERPETRATED BY TURKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.04.2007 12:42 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On March 29, over 300 students, faculty, and
community members gathered at Ramapo College to hear Taner Akcam speak
out on the first genocide of the twentieth century. For over an hour,
Akcam linked the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1917 to Ottoman Turkey’s
population policy implemented on the eve of World War I to maintain
Turkish hegemony over a diminished and endangered empire. The event was
sponsored by Ramapo College’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
and the Armenian National Committee of New Jersey, the ANCA reports.

One of the first Turkish academics to acknowledge and discuss openly
the Armenian Genocide, Akcam based his talk was on his book A Shameful
Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility.

Acclaimed by Nobel Laureate in Literature Orhan Pamuk as "…the
definitive account of the organized destruction of the Ottoman
Armenians written by a brave Turkish scholar who has devoted his life
to chronicling the events," it was published by Metropolitan Books last
November. Making extensive use of Ottoman and other sources previously
unused by historians of any nationality, Akcam placed the genocide
within the context of Turkish nationalism. He showed an empire in a
state of collapse that is plagued by dissension and contradiction. In
its dying breath, as Akcam’s research bears out, it lashed out against
and attempted to constrain its ethnic and religious minorities.

The Turkish government adopted a policy of "ethnic cleansing" Greeks
and Albanians were deported from southwestern Turkey, while Moslem
Kurds, Central Asians and Arabs were moved from their domiciles in
the eastern Turkey and subject to Turkification. The culmination of
this process was the first of the 20th Century’s genocides in which
over a million Armenian men, women and children lost their lives and
livelihoods through organized killing, rape, and deportation.

Taner Akcam was born in the province of Ardahan, Turkey, in 1953. He
became interested in Turkish politics at an early age. As the editor
in chief of a student political journal, he was arrested in 1976 and
sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Amnesty International adopted
him as one of their first prisoners of conscience, and a year
later he escaped by digging a tunnel with a stove leg and fled to
Germany, where he received political asylum. In 1988, Akcam began
work as a research scientist at the Hamburg Institute for Social
Research. While researching the late Ottoman Empire and early Republic,
especially the history of political violence and torture in Turkey,
he became interested in the Armenian genocide. In 1996 he received
his doctorate from the University of Hanover with a dissertation
entitled "The Turkish National Movement and the Armenian Genocide
Against the Background of the Military Tribunals in Istanbul Between
1919 and 1922."

Since 2002 he has been a visiting associate professor of history at
the University of Minnesota.