Author: Chaltikian Arsine

OBAMA BACKS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ALLEGATIONS

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
April 18 2007

US Senator Barack Obama, a presidential candidate for the 2008
elections, revealed he supported Armenian allegations of genocide at
the hands of the Ottoman Empire, Armenian reports said.

The Democratic senator, speaking at a breakfast briefing in Washington,
D.C., with participants from Illinois, said: "For those who aren’t
aware, there was a genocide that did take place against the Armenian
people. It is one of these situations where we have seen a constant
denial on the part of the Turkish government and others that this
occurred. It has become a sore spot diplomatically."

He was responding to a question from an official from Armenian National
Committee of America (ANCA), an influential Armenian lobbying group
in the US, on whether he would support a resolution urging the US
administration to recognize the alleged genocide.

ANCA Eastern Region Executive Director Karine Birazian commended
Obama for his stance. "Armenian Americans in Illinois and across the
nation look forward to Senator Obama becoming a co-sponsor of the
resolution," she said, according to PanArmenian.net. Two separate
resolutions have been presented to the US Senate and the House of
Representatives urging the administration to designate the events
as genocide. Ankara has warned that passage of the resolutions would
damage ties with US considerably.

GERMAN, TWO OTHERS KILLED AT CHRISTIAN PUBLISHER’S IN TURKEY

Agence France Presse — English
April 18, 2007 Wednesday 6:47 PM GMT

Assailants slit the throats of three people, one of them a German,
at a publishing house in eastern Turkey that had been threatened for
distributing Bibles and printing books on Christianity, officials
said Wednesday.

The gruesome murders in Malatya, 650 kilometres (400 miles) east
of Ankara, appeared to be the latest attack on minorities in Turkey
following the killings of a Roman Catholic priest last year and an
ethnic Armenian journalist in January.

Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said five suspects, including a
man who jumped out of a window to escape capture, were taken into
custody over the killings.

"Four suspects were detained by police at the crime scene with the
murder weapons. The fifth suspect has been hospitalized," he told
reporters here, refusing to give further details citing the ongoing
investigation.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to shed light on the
killings which he condemned as "brutality".

"There are suspects in custody, but the prosecutor’s office is
investigating the incident to reveal at once the real perpetrators,"
he said here.

The Anatolia news agency said the suspects were young men aged 19
and 20 years of age who were all found to be carrying a letter that
read: "We all five are brothers, we are going to our deaths and may
not return."

Malatya governor Halil Ibrahim Dasoz told the NTV news channel that
the victims were found with their hands and feets tied to chairs and
their throats slit.

The German embassy in Ankara confirmed that one of the dead was a
German citizen, without releasing any other details.

The Anatolia news agency identified the victims as 46-year-old Tilman
Ekkehart Geske and Turkish citizens Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel.

Dasoz said two of the victims were found dead in the third-storey
office of the Zirve (Summit) publishing house and the third died
in hospital.

Two of the dead were reportedly employees of the publishing house.

The Anatolia news agency identified the victims as 46-year-old Tilman
Ekkehart Geske and Turkish citizens Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel.

Zirve general manager Hamza Ozant told CNN Turk television that
the publishing house had received "certain threats," without giving
details.

An aide to the Malatya governor told AFP that Zirve "was engaged in
missionary activities."

The publishing house had been the target of protests by nationalists
accusing it of proselytizing, media reports said.

Proselytizing is generally viewed with suspicion in Turkey, whose
population is 99 percent Muslim. Small Greek Othodox, Catholic,
Armenian and Jewish communities are concentrated mainly in Istanbul.

Dasoz said the company had not sought any special police protection.

Turkey, which is seeking to join the European Union, always prides
itself on religious tolerance, but a string of recent attacks has
raised concerns that nationalism and anti-Christian hostility is on
the rise.

In February 2006, an Italian Catholic priest was shot dead as he
prayed in his church in the northern city of Trabzon. A teenager was
convicted of the murder and jailed for nearly 19 years.

Five days after the murder, a Roman Catholic priest in Izmir, western
Turkey, said he was harassed by a group of young men and, in July,
another Catholic priest was stabbed and wounded by a man officials
described as "mentally disturbed" in the Black Sea port of Samsun.

In January, journalist Hrant Dink, a prominent member of Turkey’s
Armenian community, was gunned down in the street in Istanbul. A
17-year-old, detained along with 11 other suspected ultra-nationalists,
confessed to the killing.

YEREVAN AMERICAN CORNER, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH US EMBASSY, LAUNCHES WEBSITE

ArmRadio.am
19.04.2007 13:13

On April 19, the Yerevan American Corner, in partnership
with the US Embassy in Armenia, launched its website:
yerevan.americancorners.am. The bilingual English-Armenian webpage
provides information about the American Corner’s mission, services,
and upcoming events. It also includes an electronic database of the
resources available at the American Corners in Armenia, allowing
patrons to search for materials on the web.

American Corners are small American-style libraries located throughout
the world that help increase mutual understanding between the
United States and the host country. A network of about 400 American
Corners is operating globally through partnerships between the US
Department of State and local host organizations. American Corners
provide information about America in a variety of formats, including
reference books, works of fiction, journals, and videos.

These resources focus on such topics as studying in the United States,
American society, US history, conducting business in the United States,
and English as a Second Language. The Corners also provide computers
with Internet access, and offer a variety of public programs including
speakers and workshops.

The American Corners are open to the general public and access is
free of charge.

There are currently two American Corners in Armenia-one in the Yerevan
City Central Library and the other in the Gyumri Branch of the Armenian
Center for Scientific and Technological Information. The US Embassy
hopes to open additional Corners in Armenia in the future. American
Corner Yerevan officially opened on April 20, 2005. This Corner
currently houses four computers with Internet access and over 800
books. Over 20,000 patrons visited the American Corner in Yerevan
within the last two years. The Corner also holds a variety of public
events, including movie showings, presentations by Armenians who
have lived or studied in the United States as part of the "Armenian
at the American Corner" series, and lectures by an American every
third Saturday of the month as part of the "American at the American
Corner" series.

CALL TO THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

ArmRadio.am
19.04.2007 16:06

The European Armenian Federation urges the Ministers of Justice of the
EU member-States not to surrender to the pressure exerted by Turkey in
order to exclude the negation of the Armenian genocide from the scope
of the Framework decision aiming at penalizing denial. In this regard,
the Federation sent a mail to the EU German presidency denouncing the
"immoral and inappropriate interference" of Turkey. It also calls
upon the European policy-makers not to " let a hateful and genocidal
ideology from abroad destroy all that we have built."

According to the media, Ankara exerted heavy pressures on various
member-States, especially on the German presidency, to avoid the
Framework decision " against racism and xenophobia" hindering its
denial propaganda in Europe.

Various diplomats from the Council would have asserted that the text
actually exclude this denial, to comply with the Turkish will. However,
the draft law doesn ‘t contain as such this provision.

"Actually, this opinion is clearly led by a very biased political
interpretation of a juridical text which basically aims to protect
all the European citizens. However, it would be morally abject that
the EU gives such a support to Ankara’s policy aiming at downgrading
Europeans with Armenian descent into second-class citizens, the only
ones to be out of this legal protection," stated Laurent Leylekian,
the executive director of the European Armenian Federation.

The Federation recalls that Turkey organized several demonstrations
in Europe to incite hatred against Armenians through the genocide
denial. Thanks to the massive police presence, these demonstrations
did not degenerate into actual anti-Armenian violence.

"The ultimate goal of Ankara is that – in Europe as in Turkey –
all Human beings are born equal in dignity and rights but the
Armenians. Facing to this infamy, Europe must remain inflexible and
must secure our penal legislation against the denial-based hatred,"
concluded Leylekian.

MARKING MURDER: EVENTS COMMEMORATE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Carl Kozlowski

Pasadena Weekly, CA
April 19 2007

The 1915 genocide in which more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed
by the Turkish Ottoman Empire stands as one of the darkest episodes
in human history. And thanks to the efforts of the tens of thousands
of Armenian emigrants who have settled in Glendale, Pasadena and
throughout the Los Angeles area, that senseless slaughter will never
be forgotten.

But in their efforts to spur an official recognition of the genocide
and an official condemnation of the Turkish government by Congress,
the local community has faced a couple of major roadblocks.

First, Congress has continually rebuffed the efforts of Pasadena
Democratic US Rep. Adam Schiff to formally recognize the genocide.

And Glendale city government leaders have continued to back off from
the bold stand it took in 2000, when it flew the US flag at half-mast
to mark the occasion.

"I wasn’t involved in the council’s decisions yet in 2000, but
the controversy over whether flying half-mast violated the US Flag
Code caused an argument that distracted from the main purpose of
our efforts," recalled Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian, who at the time
was a community activist who had yet to be elected. "Now we offer a
number of programs to commemorate the genocide in two different ways,
focusing on the Armenian genocide itself while also marking other
genocides that have continued to occur, such as in Darfur."

In an exclusive statement to the Weekly, Schiff pressed again for
his case that the Turkish atrocities must be recognized as genocide
in order to help avoiding their repetition by other governments in
the future.

"I have introduced a resolution in the House that would recognize the
Armenian Genocide, and the United States has a compelling historical
and moral reason to pass the resolution," wrote Schiff. "But we also
have a powerful contemporary reason as well – how can we take effective
action against the genocide in Darfur if we lack the will to condemn
genocide whenever and wherever it occurs? With the new leadership in
Congress, I am hopeful we can finally get this resolution passed."

Glendale Councilman Bob Yousefian noted that the city’s week of planned
events includes not only discussion groups, but also a blood drive
on April 22, as well as an elaborate memorial at the Alex Theatre.

"The first portion is dedicated to all the genocides of the 20th
century, and the latter portion is entertainment and deals with the
Armenian genocide," said Yousefian. "We also received a proclamation
from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and will be shown at that time and
there will be another proclamation from the mayor on that day also."

For those interested in taking part in other activities throughout
the week, here are a few prime events:

Youth Rally for Recognition at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Pasadena
Armenian Center, 740 E. Washington Blvd., Pasadena.

Blood Drive at 11 a.m. Sunday at St. Mary’s Church, 500 S. Central
Ave., Glendale.

Seventh annual Genocide Commemoration of Over Nine Decades of Denial
at 7 p.m. Monday at Glendale High School, 1440 E. Broadway, Glendale.

March in Little Armenia at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the corner of Hollywood
Blvd. and N. Hoba Blvd. in Hollywood.

Armenian Genocide Remembrance: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Alex Theatre,
216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Free.

Protest demanding recognition of the Armenian Genocide at 4 p.m.

Tuesday at the Turkish Consulate, 6300 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

ANKARA INTENDS TO CONTINUE ACTIVE PROGRESS ON WAY TO EU INTEGRATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.04.2007 14:25 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey will actively continue the EU integration
process, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul stated. He said,
Ankara will keep on active and decisive progress on the way of
country’s integration to the European Union. "Nobody must doubt in
it. The document that we’ve prepared includes practical spheres of
our everyday activities. Its goal is to bring our standard to the
European level," the Turkish FM underlined.

He also noted the document, which is otherwise called "road map for
country’s integration to the EU, includes 33 directions of negotiation
process. In his part Minister of State and Chief Negotiator of Turkey
for the European Union Affairs Ali Babacan said, the documents includes
reforms on 8 technical subjects, because of which talks with Ankara
were partially frizzed, RIA "Novosti" reports.

Last year at the EU summit that was held December 14-15, a decision was
made to partially frizz talks with Ankara over Turkey’s membership to
the European Union. Negotiations with Ankara that are being carried
out since October 2005, were stooped on 8 of 35 technical subjects,
which concern Turkey’s commitments on Cyprus in the framework of the
additional protocol on customs union. The agreement supposes that
Turkey must open its ports and airports for the Republic of Cyprus,
which is an EU member-state since 2004.

Earlier official Ankara declared he would do that only after
international recognition of the North Cyprus.

PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
31 Moscovian Street
Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 53.69.13
Fax: (+374 – 10) 53.26.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:

April 17, 2007

Heritage Campaign Holds First Press Briefing, Receives Election Monitors

On Tuesday, April 17, television, radio, and print journalists gathered at
Heritage Party Headquarters, where spokesman Hovsep Khurshudian and media
relations director Lilit Sarukhanian conducted the party’s first bi-weekly
press briefing. Khurshudian discussed slanted media coverage, affirmed
Heritage’s commitment to a clean campaign, and reasserted the party’s three
prerequisites for just elections: 1) equal access to public facilities; 2)
equal access to media; and 3) a true respect for financial spending limits
by all parties involved.

Later in the day, Raffi K. Hovannisian received officials of the OSCE/ODIHR
Election Observation Mission led by Ambassador Boris Frlec. Campaign manager
Vardan Khachatrian and spokesman Hovsep Khurshudian also received a
delegation of the CIS Election Monitoring Organization. To both groups,
Heritage’s representatives upheld the imperative of free and fair elections,
saying that process and outcome are interrelated and equally important.
Without transparent elections that give voice to the national will,
Hovannisian asserted, the state can be neither just nor strong.

Heritage’s volunteer corps took the same message to the streets today,
covering parts of Yerevan’s Central district, Norki Masiv, and Arabkir.

Tomorrow, Heritage candidates and party faithful will join the volunteers,
as the campaign bus "Toward Victory" embarks on a two-day journey to the
Siunik marz and surrounding cities and villages.

Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land. Its
central office is located at 31 Moscovian Street, Yerevan 0002, Armenia,
with telephone contact at (374-10) 536.913, fax at (374-10) 532.697, email
at [email protected] or [email protected], and website at

"FORGOTTEN MEMORIES" CONFERENCES TO START WITH ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.04.2007 17:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A series of conferences named "Forgotten Memories –
project of a Righteous People Garden in Torino" will enable a period of
reflection for Torino citizens preceding the building of the Garden,
in an area named "Pian del Lot". Such a garden will be made of 36
parts in reference to the biblical story of the 36 Righteous People,
Mr Pasquale Totaro, the project initiator told PanARMENIAN.Net.

This project was signed by many associations, committees, foundations,
universities and researchers will be illustrated through a series
of conferences, each of them about one among 36 genocides or crimes
against the Humanity, occurred from the beginning of the 20th Century,
with special references to "The Righteous People". The meetings will
be realized with the financial contribution of VSSP and of Regione
Piemonte.

The first conference will be dedicated to the Armenian Genocide and
will be the first path of the Garden.

This will take place next 4 May 2007 at 20.45 in the "Salone Conferenze
del VSSP" in Via Toselli n°1, Torino.

Speakers: Dr Pietro Kuciukian (Unione Armeni d’Italia), Professor
Annamaria Samuelli (Comitato Foresta dei Giusti), Dr Roberto Tricarico
(Deputy Mayor in charge with Garden of Torino Community), Dr Giampiero
Leo (ex deputy mayor in charge of culture for Regione Piemonte)
and Pasquale Totaro, conceiving the project.

–Boundary_(ID_LAng+vrFfMSNgjnrpCaR3A)–

STRUGGLE TO HEAT UP

A1+
[06:13 pm] 16 April, 2007

more images On April 16 the Friday Club hosted Khosrov Harutyunyan,
Khachatur Sukiasyan and Tadevos Hovanisyan running for parliament
from electoral district 10.

The debate was between Khosrov Harutyunyan and Khachatur
Sukiasyan. Tadevos Hovanisyan was passive and silent. He says he is
an economist and does not deal with political issues. "Politics is
the business of the government," he said.

When the reporters told him that the National Assembly is the
legislative branch of the government and a political body, he said
he will have his stance on serious political matters but in any case
"I try to stay away from politics".

Khosrov Harutyunyan and Khachatur Sukiasyan first presented their
election programs. Khosrov Harutyunyan commits to working towards
building "a country with sustainable security, dynamic development,
competitive democracy in 15 years time, which will be involved in
the European economic, political and security systems."

In his opinion, the period of transition has ended, and it is necessary
to launch the second stage of economic and political reforms, battle
corruption and black economy, ensure fair and effective distribution
of income.

Khachatur Sukiasyan does not think the transition period is
over. According to him, as long as our quality of life is not upgraded
to the European quality of life, we live in a period of transition.

Khosrov Harutyunyan disagreed and stated that the period of
transition is over because independence, freedoms and free economy
are irreversible.

Further on, Khachatur Sukiasyan and Khosrov Harutyunyan tried
to define the borderline between businessman-politician or
politician-businessman. In Khachatur Sukiasyan’s words, there are
officials who are not running businesses but after leaving office
they have different businesses.

Khosrov Harutyunyan maintains that people believe that a businessman
runs for the National Assembly to get more possibilities and promote
their interests.

According to Khosrov Harutiunyan, the laws adopted by the parliament
between 1999 and 2006 with considerable representation of businessmen
in the parliament provided more favorable conditions for businesses.

As for Tadevos Hovanisyan’s candidature, Mr. Harutyunyan claims
that the struggle will heat up in the electoral district as Tadevos
Hovanisyan formerly worked for Khachatur Sukiasyan.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT TO GO ON TWO-DAY OFFICIAL VISIT TO EGYPT ON APRIL 14

Noyan Tapan
Apr 13 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian president Robert Kocharian
will go on a two-day official visit to Egypt on April 14.

The delegation headed by the president is composed of the foreign
minister Vartan Oskanian, the minister of trade and economic devlopment
Karen Chshmaritian, the minister of culture and youth affairs Hasmik
Poghosian, other high-ranking officials, representtaives of culture
and economy.

On the first day of the visit, a tete-a-tete talk of the Armenian
president Robert Kocharian and the Egyptian president Hosni
Mubarak will take place, after which R. Kocharian will meet with
Secretary-General of the League of the Arab States Dr. Amre Moussa,
then – with ambassadors of the League member states.

The Armenian president will also have meetings with the Egyptian prime
minister Dr. Ahmad Nazif and the speaker of the country’s parliament
Dr. Fathi Sorour.

R. Kocharian will visit the Armenian embassy in Egypt, lay a wreath
at Monument to Unknown Soldier and on the grave of former Egyptian
president Anwar Sadat.

The Armenian delegation will go from Cairo to Luksor where R. Kocharian
will meet with the governor of Luksor Samir Farag.

The Armenian president will also pay visits to some cultural and
historic places of Egypt.

According to the RA President’s press service, during the visit of R.
Kocharian to Egypt, about ten agreements on bilateral cooperation
will be signed.

On April 16 the delegation headed by the Armenian president will
return to Yerevan.