Author: Dabaghian Diana

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES ANNUAL REPORT ON 2005 STATE BUDGET EXECUTION

Noyan Tapan
Apr 27 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 27, NOYAN TAPAN. At the April 27 sitting, the Armenian
government approved the draft law on approval of the annual report
of the 2005 RA state budget execution, which will be submitted to the
National Assembly in prescribed order. RA Deputy Minister of Finance
and Economy, Chief Treasurer Atom Janjughazian told reporters following
the sitting that under the RA legislation, each year the government
shall submit the annual report on execution of the previous year’s
state budget to the National Assembly until May 1. According to
the 2005 report, GDP made 2 trillion 143.9 billion drams. The real
economic growth made 14% in 2005 on 2004. A 0.2% fall in prices was
registered in late 2005, while the average inflation made 0.6%. In
the year under review, the Armenian dram appreciated by 7.3% compared
with 2004. GDP per capita made 697,421 drams (about 1,550 USD),
which exceeds the previous year’s index by 17.6%. Unemployment made
8.1% or 98 thousand people, which is by 1.5 percentage points lower
than in 2004. According to A. Janjughazian, the state budget revenue
collection index made 99.9%. Revenues accounted for 16.7% of GDP,
which is by 0.9 percentage points higher than in 2004. The budget
revenues grew by 24%, while own revenues – by 25.8%. The expenditure
index was fulfilled by 97.1%, which constitutes a 25% increase on the
previous year. An especially low index was registered with respect
to target programs implemented with financial resources from foreign
sources. Last year, Armenia’s state foreign debt made 1 bln 99.2
mln USD, declining by 7.1% compared with 2004, which, according to
A. Janjughazian, was conditioned by a change in the exchange rates
of the main currencies, which make up the state foreign debt basket,
against the US dollar. The ratio of the state foreign debt to GDP made
22.4%. In 2005, Armenia’s domestic debt amounted to 51.3 bln drams
against 46.4 bln drams in 2004. Short-term state bonds account for
13% of this debt, while medium-term and long-term bonds – for the
remaining part.

ANDREW BOSTOM LECTURE APPEARANCE

The American Thinker, AZ
April 27 2006

Tomorrow night, Friday, our contributor Andrew G. Bostom, author of
the Legacy of Jihad, will be delievering a public lecture at Harvard.

Readers are invited to attend.

Andy will be speaking in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide,
with a speech entitled “Jihad in Europe: Past as Prologue?” It will
take place between 5 and 6 PM at the Harvard Semitic Museum, Room
201. The Museum is located at 6 Divinity Avenue.

ARMENIANS OF GEORGIA CALL ON TO RECOGNIZE GENOCIDE CONDUCTED AGAINST ARMENIANS

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 26 2006

TBILISI, APRIL 26, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Events dedicated to
the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims continued in Georgia on
April 24. About 150 representatives of Armenian public organizations
of Georgia organized a peaceful mass meeting and lighting of candles
in front of the Embassy of Turkey to Georgia. The demontsrators read
a letter addressed to the Government of Turkey by which they called
the latter to recognize the crime committed againt Armenians. As Noyan
Tapan was informed by the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information
Department, the liturgy and divine service were celebrated at the
Surb Gevorg Armenian church of Tbilisi. Then a mourning event took
place at the State Armenian Dramatic Theater of Tbilisi where RA
Ambassador to Georgia Hrach Silvanian made the opening speech for
the participants. An ecumenic evening of spiritual songs took place
at the Surb Gevorg Church in the evening, with the participation
of the Georgian Christian sister churches choirs The events in
Tbilisi finished with lighting candles round the Surb Etchmiadzin
church. Events dedicated to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims
took place in other regions of Georgia as well. Liturgies and divine
services were celebrated at the Armenian churches of Akhaltskha,
Akhalkalak, Ninotsminda amd Batumi, mourning mass meetings took
place. The mass meeting in Akhalkalak finished by laying a wreath
at the khachkar (cross stone) to the memory of the Genocide victims
placed on one of the hills near the city two years ago. Atom Egoyan’s
“Ararat” film was shown by the Republican TV of Ajaria.

PRESS RELEASE
APRIL 25, 2006
Western Diocese of
the Armenian Church of North America
3325 N. Glenoaks Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91504
(818) 558-7474

FUNDRAISER FOR MOTHER CATHEDRAL TO BE HELD MAY 20TH

Los Angeles, CA — Excitement reigns high as the Mother Cathedral
Fundraising and Celebration Gala of May 20th nears. This significant
event is an opportunity for all the Armenian faithful to participate
in this historic occasion. Under the Chairmanship of Antranik
Zorayan, the members of the committee comprised of distinguished
faithful members of the Armenian community, have been working for
approximately two years to meet the formidable challenge of raising
funds for the Mother Cathedral.

The primary objective of the May 20th fundraiser is bring the amount
collected thus far to a level that will enable the Diocese to launch
the construction of the Mother Cathedral.

The committee is proud to announce that Hovig Krikorian’s wonderful
voice and songs will ensure the night to be an evening of
celebration. Dr. Varoujan Altebarmakian, Chair of the Diocesan
Council, will serve as Master of Ceremonies for the gala.

The construction of the first and only Mother Cathedral of the
Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America will soon
become a reality since its inception 107 years ago. The Mother
Cathedral will further strengthen the bridge between the Diaspora and
our Motherland Armenia and Etchmiadzin.

As `Together We Build’ the foundation of our community and instill
wisdom and pride within our youth, we also continue the work of the
late Catholicos Khrimian Hayrig which began in 1898. At that time
with his Encyclical he called upon a handful of immigrants to
organize this Diocese.

The construction of the Mother Cathedral will be a new momentum in
the history of the Western Diocese. This can only be achieved with
the active participation of the Armenian faithful as `Together We
Build’ this sacred mission and project of Armenian life. The success
of this mission will give the new generation a vivid reflection of
our Christian faith and national pride, encouraging them to live a
meaningful life and to cherish the legacy of the faith of our
forefathers.

On Saturday, May 20, 2006 the Western Diocese, under the auspices of
His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate, will host an
evening of celebration that will strengthen our faith, enrich our
hearts with joy, and fill us with pride for the long and rich history
of the Armenian Church. `Together We Build’ and together we shall
celebrate.

The evening’s festivities will be held at the Arshag and Eleanor
Dickranian Complex of the Western Diocese in Burbank, beginning with
a reception at 7:00 p.m. in the Galleria, followed by dinner in the
Nazareth and Sima Kalaydjian Banquet Hall.

Attendance to the banquet is by invitation only. For your
invitation, please contact your local church or the Diocesan Office
at 818-558-7474.

For more information regarding the construction project, please
visit the Diocesan website at

MEDIA BARRED FROM COVERING THE RETURN OF SOLDIERS REMAINS
Lloyd Robertson

CTV Television, Inc., Canada
SHOW: CTV NEWS 23:00:00 ET
April 24, 2006 Monday

LLOYD ROBERTSON: Good evening. Governments here and elsewhere are
always concerned about negative impressions and seldom more so than
when it comes to casualties in military conflict. That’s probably why
the Harper government decided on a new policy today. For the first
time, the media will be barred tomorrow from seeing the flag-draped
coffins of Canadian soldiers being brought back from Afghanistan.

This comes amid growing debate over Ottawa’s insistence that no flags
on federal buildings will be lowered to mark loss of life, except
on Remembrance Day. It’s a plan many in the military agree with,
but as CTV’s chief political correspondent Craig Oliver reports from
Parliament Hill, it stirred argument on this first day back after
a break.

CRAIG OLIVER (Reporter): Lloyd, there was a moment of silent tribute
in the commons today, but it was for the Armenian genocide, not as
in past, for fallen Canadian soldiers. Hardly a word about them. And
on the Peace Tower, the nation’s flag was flying at full mast on
the order of the Conservative government. But that’s not good enough
for the father of Corporal Matthew Dinning, one of the four soldiers
killed on the weekend.

LINCOLN DINNING (Slain Soldier’s Father): Please support your troops.

Those of who you have Canadian flags, lower them, please, as a sign
of respect to the soldiers that were killed.

OLIVER: Throughout the years of the Martin government, the flags were
flown at half-mast whenever soldiers were killed in the line of duty.

Dinning has written his member of parliament requesting that this
practice be restored.

PAUL STECKLE (Liberal-Ontario): They made it very clear what they
felt Mr. Harper should do.

OLIVER: The Defence Minister sought to justify his decision.

GORDON O’CONNOR (Minister of Defence): It has been the tradition
for 80 years to treat every casualty of war or operations, no matter
when it happened or where it happened, equally, and we will do that
by lowering the flags on November the 11th, Remembrance Day.

OLIVER: What tradition? In October 2004, a naval officer was killed
in the crisis aboard the HMCS Chicoutimi. In that case, all MPS,
presumably including O’Connor, unanimously supported a motion from
this Conservative MP.

JAMES MOORE (Conservative): That this house demand the Prime Minister
instruct all federal government buildings to immediately lower all
Canadian flags to half-mast.

OLIVER: Moreover, Canadians will no longer be permitted to see scenes
like this. The Prime Minister’s office is barring coverage of the
ceremonies when Canadians killed in action are brought home for the
last time. This is standard practice in the US.

JACK LAYTON (NDP Leader): They’re modelling their approach a little
bit on the way that George Bush and the American administration has
approached it. I don’t think that’s the right way to go.

OLIVER: The countries in the conflicts in which Canada and American
armies are engaged are in no way similar. Canada’s is not an army of
occupation, and Canada has invaded no one. Still, the Prime Minister’s
office obviously fears that as casualties mount, Canadians will begin
to see Afghanistan as Stephen Harper’s Iraq. Lloyd.

ROBERTSON: Craig, is that an overreaction, as you see it? Is that
fear justified?

OLIVER: It’s an old syndrome. If support drops, blame the media,
but Lloyd, I think that even people who support this mainly, in many
ways, a humanitarian mission are going to now debate whether this
is the way to do it. Perhaps it’s better to say here are the dead,
and these people cannot be seen to have died in vain, which they
would have done, if Canadians leave the field.

ROBERTSON: Does any of what happened today have to do with the families
themselves asking for privacy?

OLIVER: I don’t think so. I think this is the Prime Minister’s office,
the Defence Department, to some extent, concerned that the reality
of this, the grim reality of war, may turn Canadians off on the
mission. In fact, we’ve never heard any members of the public who
are related to any of these people complain to us. On the contrary,
this network and others have been told a number of times that they
appreciate the sensitivity in which we’ve handled these cases. And
in any case, Lloyd, we will be covering the funerals of these dead
Canadians.

ROBERTSON: The family funerals, right. Thanks very much, Craig.

OLIVER: Goodnight, Lloyd.

PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARIAN’S MESSAGE ON THE GENOCIDE VICTIMS REMEMBRANCE DAY

Armenpress
Apr 24 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 24, ARMENPRESS: On the occasion of the 91-st
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide President of Armenia Robert
Kocharian addressed a message today to his country fellows, which
reads as follows.

“Dear country fellows, today we are honoring the memory of the victims
of the Armenian Genocide. The government of the Ottoman Turkey and its
successor bear the entire responsibility for this crime. The Armenian
nation has been suffering the heavy consequences of it throughout
their post-Genocide history.

Our pain is stronger because we have to fight for international
acknowledgment and condemnation of this black chapter of the
history. As the mouthpiece of all Armenians of Armenia and Diaspora
the Republic of Armenia will continue this struggle. We are grateful
to those nations, organizations and individuals who support us in
it. The understanding that the recognition and condemnation of the
Armenian Genocide is the problem of all nations of the globe and the
most effective way to prevent its repetition in future is becoming
deeper and stronger with every year.

The struggle of Armenians for the recognition of the Genocide is
not driven by their desire to take revenge. We look forward because
a strong, prosperous and advancing Republic of Armenia is the best
response to the policy of denialism.

MARCH WITH LANTERNS DEDICATED TO THE 91ST ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

ArmRadio.am
24.04.2006 16:35

On the occasion of the 91st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,
a march with lanterns was organized on April 23 at the initiative of
the Youth Wing of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and “nikol
Aghbalyan” Students Union.

2500 – 3000 young people, including 300 – 400 Diaspora Armenians
participated in the march that started 8 a.m. yesterday.

The flags of the countries that recognized the Armenian Genocide
were raised in the Square. The participants burnt the red flag of
the Turkish Republic.

Representative of the Armenian Supreme Body of the ARF, Head of the
Standing Committee on External Relations Armen Rustamyan noted in
his speech that the Amenian Genocide is not only an Armenian issue,
it has acquired a universal nature.

“Everyone realizes that if the world does not condemn the genocide,
it cannot be fair,” he noted.

The participants of the rally marched from The “Liberty” Square to
Tsitsernakaberd.

From: [email protected]
Subject: Indicator Of A Missing Society

INDICATOR OF A MISSING SOCIETY

Lragir.am
22 April 06

The Indian and Arab students protesting in Yerevan for the death of
their friends were a topic for the people of Yerevan, as well as most
of my colleagues who had arrived there for news coverage, to joke that
if something is ever done in Armenia, the Indian and Arab students
will do. However, the protest of the Indian students would hardly give
rise to jokes. The protest even caused controversial feelings. They
had lost their 22-year-old friend, and the tears were hold back by
their fury against the leadership of the Medical University, the
Police, and the emergency. The students believe that their friend
would not die if the ambulance arrived on time. If the abovementioned
institutions worked properly, as they are supposed to. The Medical
University should have cared about their student, listened to the
protest of their students instead of forcing them to go out to the
streets, where the protest could undergo any provocation. The police
should have been careful towards a dying, as well as a dead citizen,
independent of his or her ethnic identity and nationality. After all,
congratulating the holidays of his subjects several days ago, the
first policeman of the Republic Haik Harutiunyan was advising them to
be guided by this principle. Let alone the emergency doctors. Not only
should they hurry not to let a person die, but they should also hurry
to save a dying person. After all they take an oath.

Everything is logical, however; if law is a trivial thing, what does
an oath mean at all? The doctors who `hurried’ to save a dying person,
are the alumni of a university which is part of the educational system
where a rector is elected on the preferences of the ruling elite,
where rectors are elected, who despite their sex can `fuck off’
students who ask them for help. As soon as one imagines this circle,
it is not a surprise that the student lay helpless under the window
for an hour. The opposite is surprising that he lay helpless for an
hour only. The context of the protest of the foreign students is that
their friend was left without aid because he was a foreigner.

I am not sure, however. The same might happen to an Armenian student
as well. In Armenia ethnic identity no longer determines attitude.
Presently, only the social status of a person dictates the manner and
degree of the society’s attitude towards a person. In those countries
where people”s actions are not guided by the rights and are
not dictated by the duties that are set down in the law, students
living in dormitories are left lying under the window.

The investigation will reveal how the accident of the Indian student
happened, if he fell or was thrown through the window, or if it was a
suicide. It has nothing to do with the subsequent developments that
became known thanks to the protesting foreign students. If it has
nothing to do, it cannot be an excuse or explanation for indifferent
deans, rectors, policemen and doctors. Whereas they have to give an
explanation why they failed to fulfill their duties. A policemen’s
duty is not just enclosing several dozens of protesting young people
in a circle of berets. And if the first policemen of Yerevan had
visited the place of accident, he might not have had to be in
Baghramyan Street.

No matter how discouraging this street is for policemen.

And for street passers-by the protest of the foreign students was
simply a topic for jokes, an exotic happening, the mini model of a
revolution that did not take place. In fact, an indicator of a missing
society. It would be logical if the passers-by, learning about the
protest, instead of leaving the place happy with their jokes, joined
the Indian and Arab young people. It would be real heroism if the
various youth wings of Armenian political parties, student councils
and organizations joined the foreign students. After all, the problem
is important for everyone. An Indian student said if his friend was
left lying helpless in the street, the same may happen to himself.
Therefore, all the Indian and Arab students stood up for their
rights. There was nothing heroic, nothing of a superman. What happened
was humane, for the sake of human dignity. What are our citizens are
thinking about? Or maybe all our society can do is to gather in one
place to get the autograph of Charles Aznavour or to go to the
memorial to the victims of the genocide only.

HAKOB BADALYAN

KARABAKH ARMY HOLDS WAR GAMES
By Karine Kalantarian in Stepanakert and Aza Babayan in Moscow

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
April 19 2006

The ethnic Armenian armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh ended on Wednesday
week-long large-scale exercises which the disputed region’s leadership
said highlighted their ability to fend off possible military action
by Azerbaijan.

Hundreds of troops, backed up by tanks, heavy artillery and helicopter
gunships firing live rounds, practiced defensive and offensive
operations at a training ground not far from the Armenian-Azerbaijani
line of contact east of Karabakh.

The war games, which will be evaluated by top military officials
on Thursday, followed a familiar scenario, with the Karabakh army
fighting back an enemy assault and then going on counteroffensive.

They also involved a rare call-up of local army reservists who also
took in the simulated fighting.

Armenia’s Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian and the chief of army staff,
Colonel-Lieutenant Mikael Harutiunian, monitored the proceedings
along with the leadership of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic (NKR). “At first glance, everything is alright,” Sarkisian
told reporters.

Armenian and Karabakh officials insisted that the exercises are not
connected with Azerbaijan’s renewed threats to win back Karabakh
by force or aimed at affecting the ongoing peace talks mediated by
the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe. Sarkisian claimed that President Ilham Aliev and other
Azerbaijani leaders make such threats for “propaganda purposes.”

Sarkisian also said he looks forward to Aliev’s meeting with President
George W. Bush at the White House which is scheduled for April 28. “I
am confident that the president of the United States will urge Aliev
to resolve the conflict by peaceful means,” he said.

NKR President Arkady Ghukasian, for his part, remained skeptical
about chances of a breakthrough in the peace process. “In my opinion,
Azerbaijan is dragging out the negotiations,” he said. “Azerbaijan
is not prepared for a settlement. But this is a case where I want to
be mistaken.”

Ghukasian denied the existence of any major differences between
Karabakh and Armenia on how to resolve the conflict, saying that
the Karabakh Armenians “have no reason to mistrust” Yerevan. Still,
he renewed calls for the NKR’s direct involvement in the peace process.

Meanwhile, Russia’s chief Karabakh negotiator, Yuri Merzlyakov,
confirmed on Wednesday that he and the French and U.S. co-chairs of
the Minsk Group will likely visit the conflict zone early next month
in a bid to arrange another meeting between Aliev and his Armenian
counterpart Robert Kocharian. Speaking to RFE/RL in Moscow, Merzlyakov
said the two leaders have already been presented with the mediators’
revised peace proposals and are currently studying them.

He refused to disclose those proposals.

The Minsk Group’s U.S. co-chair, Steven Mann, is due to pay a separate
visit to Baku and Yerevan later this week.

Is this Diyarbakir?
By MEHMET KAMIS

04.17.2006 Monday – ISTANBUL 17:04

Bedri Mermutlu has made interesting findings about cities in the
preface to the book titled, “Seyahatnamelerde Diyarbekir”
(Diyarbakir in Travel Books). These findings are about Diyarbakir in
particular. Contemporary Diyarbakir is a lost city as if it has been
shaken and destroyed by the trauma of modernity. It is impossible to
understand this city just by looking at it from its present state. He
drew a perfect picture of Diyarbakir in the past describing the
vineyards that, 40 years ago, used to exist around the city. The
people who lived in that period could never have imagined the
vandalism that has turned these wonderful vineyards into a modern
ugly Baglar district of the city. The modern people living in Baglar
district today can never imagine that there were wonderful vineyards
in Baglar district 40 years ago, if someone does not tell them about
that. Diyarbakir is a unique city which existed in its own authentic
world, but unfortunately, its silhouette becomes indistinct day by
day. There was a neatly dressed, conversational Diyarbakir gentleman,
whose attitude we used to watch in admiration and his dignity in
trying to know what time it was by looking at the chain watch he
carried in the pocket of his waistcoat. If the things we are saying
about Diyarbakir today are not about its culture, accumulation or the
things it wants to tell modernity, then what are they about? Burned
tires, stone throwing children, red-yellow-green flags and highly
politicized people… A cosmopolitan city of civilization, where
Turks, Armenians, Kurds, Syrians, Keldanis, Jews and even Greeks
could live altogether in the beginning of the 20th century,
Diyarbakir has now turned into a weird city which cannot tolerate the
existence of anything different from itself. Southeastern Anatolia is
between the paws of terrorism and conflict again. Ethnic terror in
the region, which was almost ceased after [terrorist leader] Abdullah
Ocalan was captured in 1999, has been on the rise since 2004. It
seems reforms implemented in the European Union (EU) process and
politicians taking initiatives for the betterment of the region did
not please the PKK. The recent positive developments in the region
falsify the views of the PKK that the people there are poor and are
cruelly treated. This situation, of course, undermines the views of
the PKK. In order for the PKK to maintain its power, the conditions
that keep it alive should remain in the region. For this reason, the
rights of the people in the region must be taken away from them. The
PKK wants the villages to be evacuated, people’s native languages
to be banned, the state of emergency to continue and all the people
in the region to be treated as “terrorists.” Kurdish
intellectual Umit Firat said in his remarks published in Radikal
daily: “The PKK cannot exist in an EU member country. Trying to
solve the Kurdish problem like the problems solved in the EU is
something that the “hawks” on both sides do not want.”
The old Diyarbakir ought to rid itself of politicization in a bid to
help the old orient emerge. That profound mysticism can only surface
in this way. Thousands of years of accumulation of knowledge can
direct the modern world in many directions. What great stories are
there about Ahlat, Ercis, Mardin, Hasankeyf, Mem u Zin and
Ishakpasha. The re-emergence of those stories necessitates an end to
over-politicization and chauvinistic nationalism. This end must come
regardless of the warlords. Then it will be understood that we have
many things to offer to the whole world. These wise lands will have a
better chance to express the accumulation of experience over the
human spirit and the lifelong spiritual journey. The excellent and
awe-inspiring sunrise over the Suphan Mountain and centuries of
friendship in Adilcevaz will all be open to observation. The whole
region is covered in the dust of the ashes left over from the fire
caused by terrorism here. Once cleared, we will, perhaps, discover
that Diyarbakir gentleman, who is serious, conversational and wearing
a chain watch… April 15, 2006