Author: Chmshkian Vicken

SERGEY MIRONOV: MINSK GROUP EFFORTS IN VAIN

Pan Armenian News
22.04.2005 03:23

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia is interested in peace and stability in the
Caucasus, Chairman of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly
of the RFSergey Mironov stated during a briefing in Baku. In his words,
Russia’s position on the issue is fundamental. “We consider that the
decision to be taken should satisfy both parties. Russia is ready to
become a guarantor. However, life has shown that the efforts of the
Minsk Group were not efficient. It is likely that the conflicting
parties only can achieve desirable results via direct negotiations”,
Sergey Mironov said. He said he is not aware of the alleged conveyance
of Russian armament to Armenia and refrained from commenting on
the issue. When touching upon the activities of the Caucasian Four,
Mironov noted, “There have been already 5 meetings held, however they
are closed and cannot be commented on” and added that he attaches
great importance to these activities. He also expressed hope that
an agreement on the recurrent meeting of the Four will be achieved
during Azeri Parliament Speaker Murtuz Aleskerov’s visit to Moscow.

Ex-aid says Europe uses Armenian “genocide” to bar Turkey from EU

Mediamax news agency
21 Apr 05

Yerevan, 21 April: The former adviser to the Armenian ex-President
Levon Ter- Petrosyan, Zhirayr Liparidyan, is concerned that “the issue
of the Armenian genocide has been turned into a political toy in the
hands of the world powers”.

“Leading world powers have been using this issue as a leverage
in their relations with Armenia and Turkey” for the past decade,
Zhirayr Liparidyan said today. In Liparidyan’s opinion, “the issue of
recognition of the Armenian genocide is being used to prevent Turkey
from entering the EU, but it will sink into oblivion tomorrow”.

“The Armenian genocide was the result of the European imperialism
policy,” Liparidyan said. “Responsibility for the Armenian genocide
also lies with the European countries and they have to admit this,”
he said.

Turkey condemns Polish parliament decision to recognize Armenian “genocide”

Anatolia news agency
20 Apr 05

Ankara, 20 April: Turkey condemned a decision of the Polish parliament
describing events in 1915 as genocide.

Releasing a statement on Wednesday [20 April], the Turkish Ministry
of Foreign Affairs (MFA) recalled that the Polish parliament approved
a decision recognizing the events on 19 April 1915 as genocide.

MFA condemned the decision of the Polish parliament, and rejected it.
“Distortion of the events during the World War I which caused
both Turkish and Armenian peoples to endure grave sufferings,
and unilateral definement of them as genocide are nothing, but
irresponsibility. Turkey has been advocating that national parliaments
could not rule about the controversial periods of the history, and
that parliaments should avoid initiatives that could provoke vengeance
and hatred between people,” it said.

The MFA noted: “Only historians can made the healthiest decisions
about historical events. Therefore, Turkey proposed Armenia to set
up group of Turkish and Armenian historians to examine the events in
1915 by utilizing archives of all relevant countries.”

“We profoundly regretted that the Polish parliament made such a
decision based on distorted information, instead of recommending
the Armenian government to accept our proposal. This attitude of
the Polish parliament contradicts with the friendly relations of 8
centuries between Turkish and Polish nations,” the MFA added.

Armenian suspect in weapons smuggling case extradited to USA

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
18 Apr 05

Defendant Armen Barsegyan has been taken to Washington from Armenia
to face charges of involvement in a plot to smuggle arms into the USA.

Barsegyan, along with other 20 defendants who have been indicted
in connection with this case, will appear in court this week. The
suspects were apprehended before any weapons were taken out of Armenia.

The US embassy has expressed special thanks to Yerevan and noted that
Armenia is a reliable partner in the struggle against terrorism.

THE COUNTRY CANNOT DEVELOP BY PRIVATE TRANSFERS

A1plus
| 16:57:33 | 18-04-2005 | Social |

Today, at the Marriott-Armenia Hotel in Yerevan the Millennium
Project’s “Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve
the Millennium Development Goals” report was launched. UN Resident
Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Ms. Lise Grande,
presented the report to representatives of the Government, diplomatic
corps, civil society and the mass media.

The UN Millennium Project is an independent advisory body commissioned
by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to develop a global plan for
achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The
Project is directed by Prof. Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University.

In September 2005, a high-level summit of the UN General Assembly
will discuss the findings and recommendations of this report. The
world will face a historic chance at this meeting for making the
necessary global policy breakthrough, which is needed to help the
poorest countries achieve the Goals. The Millennium Project’s report
provides a detailed blueprint for making this happen.

One of the key findings of the report is that MDGs are achievable by
2015, even for the poorest countries of the world. But the report
confirms that we are on a threshold where we no longer can afford
any further delays in introducing swift policy actions for achieving
the Goals.

Ms. Grande noted in her speech: “As an outcome of today’s presentation,
it is important that the work already being done in Armenia to reach
the MDGs is accelerated. By more directly aligning the country’s
Poverty Reduction Strategy with the MDGs and localising targets for
each of the eight MDG goals, we can together make sure that no one
in Armenia is left behind.”

At the event, a presentation by Mr. Tigran Khachatryan, Deputy Minister
of Finance of Armenia on the status of PRSP monitoring also took place.

Zaman, Turkey
April 17 2005

Armenian Guerillas Killed 523,000 Turks between 1910 and 1922

Published: Sunday 17, 2005
zaman.com

While for years the Armenians have been trying to direct the world’s
opinion to favor their side with regard to the so-called genocide
allegations, official documents prove that Armenian guerillas killed
over 500,000 Turks in Anatolia between 1910 and 1922.

The Turkish Prime Ministry State Archives Director General Professor
Yusuf Sarinay noted that Turkey has been facing impositions stating
“face up to your past” for a long time and said: “When we face up to
our history, what we encounter is our own pains and losses.”

Professor Sarinay expressed that history is locked at a point
regarding the so-called Armenian genocide allegations and opinions
are deadlocked on the year 1915 and added: “The problems do not start
from this date. 1915 is a result.”

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
April 15, 2005 Friday 3:11 PM Eastern Time

EU to help Georgia control northern borders

By Alexander Mineyev

LUXEMBOURG

The European Union will help Georgia to control the northern borders
with due consideration of the Russian position and in cooperation
with Moscow, the EU foreign ministers said in Luxembourg on Friday.

The South Caucasian situation was on the agenda of their informal
meeting.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister and EU Council President Jean Asselborn
told a press conference that Georgia had asked for larger
international monitoring of its northern border and demilitarization
in South Ossetia. He said Georgia wanted to fill the gap with the end
of the OSCE observation mission mandate.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer lauded the OSCE observation
mission and said that the EU could not exchange the mission mandate
without consensus in that organization and they would be considering
another solution. Fischer said they had an open dialog with Russia on
the subject.

European Commissioner for External Relations and Neighborhood Policy
Benita Ferrero-Waldner told Itar-Tass that cooperation with Russia
was important. On one hand, Georgia wants an international mission on
the border, but, on the other hand, one must see the priorities, she
said.

Ferrero-Waldner thinks that good relations between Russia and Georgia
are a priority of the EU.

The European Union will also use the neighborhood policy for the
settlement of mothballed conflicts in the South Caucasus.

The action plans to be signed with Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan
will include human rights and settlement of conflicts,
Ferrero-Waldner said.

Economic aid is the key method the European Union will be using, she
said. A delegation of the European Union and a EU special
representative will be stationed in each of these countries and work
on the solution of these problems, she said.

The role of Russia is very important in this respect, Ferrero-Waldner
said. The settlement of conflicts on the post-Soviet territory is
part of the EU-Russia external security roadmap, which may be adopted
at the EU-Russia summit in Moscow on May 10, she said.

RIA Novosti, Russia
April 15 2005

THE CIS AND BALTIC PRESS ON RUSSIA

[parts omitted]

ARMENIA

Armenian media are convinced that the republic will become the next
post-Soviet country to have a “color” revolution, but blame the
deterioration of its situation on the geopolitical scene not on the
republican authorities but on Russia.

They sharply criticize Russia’s actions within the Enterprises for
Debts program. “The Russian government has decided to write off a
part of Ethiopian debts, with the remaining $160 million of the total
of $1.26 billion to be repaid within 30 years. But it has taken over
five major enterprises for Armenia’s $100-million debt, probably
because the Ethiopian authorities, unlike the Armenian ones, do not
need the Kremlin assistance to remain in power.” (Aikakan Zhamanak
04.06.)

Zaman, Turkey
April 15 2005

Important Messages from Erdogan
By Zaman
Published: Friday 15, 2005
zaman.com

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Zaman’s editors
yesterday April 14 with some of his cabinet members and his advisers.
Erdogan conveyed important messages about the issues on the agenda.

About terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan, Erdogan said, “Everyone wants
to have their say,” and explained the government’s approach: “The
validity of verdicts by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is
determined in our Constitution. Nothing is official yet and I have
made no announcements. It is up to the judiciary what should be done
after the ECHR verdict. If we trust in the Turkish judicial system,
why should we create tension in the country?”

Describing incidents of flag burning in Mersin and its reflections in
Trabzon as “provocative events”, the Prime Minister disclosed that
they know the names behind the provocations, but will not declare
them as it might cause difficulties over measures to be taken against
them.

When asked about problems of religious high schools and the headscarf
ban, Erdogan replied: “We don’t speak about the headscarf problem, we
live it.” Expressing that the problem could be solved by social
consensus, Erdogan clarified: “I don’t mean a consensus at the
people’s level. There is already such a consensus. What we need is a
consensus in parliament. Mr. Deniz Baykal should accept that
parliament does not reflect the will of the people.” The Prime
Minister expressed that if the government and the opposition worked
together on this issue as they are on the Armenian issue, they could
find a solution.

Speaking of economic successes, Erdogan emphasized that they can not
expect much for the sale of the media holdings of the Turkish Savings
and Insurance Deposits Fund (TMSF). Erdogan told Zaman: “If the
article that envisions sales to foreigners had not been rejected by
Cankaya, the sale would have been realized imemdiately. If we attempt
to evaluate this within our own internal market, it is impossible to
reach the expected amount. Despite objections, our national interests
require them to be opened to the rest of the world.” Saying that they
will implement a limit on sales of media to foreigners, Erdogan said
that sales to foreign media groups would be limited to 25 percent of
the Turkish market, though they would be able to buy an entire
channel within this limit.

Erdogan also addressed criticisms in the media: “We would benefit if
criticisms are conducted in a polite manner because the press and the
media live in the middle of daily events. Turkish people cannot
tolerate impolite and unethical criticisms.”

Watertown TAB & Press, MA
April 15 2005

Plant a tree, grow hope

The Armenia Tree Project is looking for people to adopt one of 90,000
they hope to plant in Armenia this spring – 1,000 trees for each year
that has passed since the Armenian Genocide – as part of its “Trees
of Hope” campaign.

“ATP is inviting Armenians all over the world to join us as we
remember the past and embrace the future by planting Trees of Hope
all across the Armenian homeland,” said Jeff Masarjian, executive
director of ATP, which is based in Watertown. “These memorial trees
are not only an inspiring way to honor our lost ancestors, but also a
very practical way to preserve the precious Armenian homeland,
restoring its environmental integrity and scenic beauty.”

The project’s goal is to grow thousands of trees to maturity by
the Genocide’s 100th anniversary commemoration, Masarjian said.

Those who adopt Trees of Hope may participate with gifts
starting at $15, which covers the propagating, planting and
care-taking of one tree. In addition to a single commemorative tree,
they can adopt a four-tree cluster, an eight-tree grove, a 35-tree
arbor, a 100-tree woodland or a 335-tree forest. Participants can opt
to receive a personalized Trees of Hope certificate as a keepsake.

Donations may be made by mail, phone or online. For more
information, call 617-926-8733 or log on to