Author: Ekmekjian Janet

En utskrift från

Dagens Nyheter—- DN.se.

Publicerad 24 apr 2005 16:04
Armenier mindes folkmordet 1915

Tiotusentals armenier paraderade på söndagen i Jerevan till ett
minnesmonument över folkmordet i Osmanska riket som inleddes för exakt
nittio år sedan.

Processionen upp till den kulle i huvudstaden där monumentet ligger
leddes av president Robert Kotjarian och ägde rum under en tystnad som
endast bröts av gregoriansk körsång när Kotjarian lade ned blommor vid
en evig låga.

Presidenten sade i ett uttalande att ett “brott begicks som saknar
motstycke i den armeniska historien och i mänsklighetens historia” och
han betonade att brotten “inte ens fått ett eget namn”.

“Till åminnelse av dem som dog böjer vi i dag våra huvuden, fyllda av
sorg”, hette det enligt Reuters i hans meddelande.

Med nejlikor, tulpaner och påskliljor i hand köade tusentals armenier,
många tillresta från utlandet, för att visa sin respekt för de döda.

– Under 30 års tid har jag kommit hit till minneshögtiden den här
dagen. Jag lägger sex tulpaner, det antal som dödades i min familj vid
tiden för folkmordet, sade Michitar Maroutounian, 74.

Myndigheterna väntade sig att 1,5 miljoner personer skulle delta i
söndagens minneshögtider. Det motsvarar det antal människor som
armenierna uppskattar dödades under välplanerade och samordnade
massmord mellan 1915 och 1917 under det osmanska imperiets sönderfall
i det som i dag är Turkiet. Femton länder, bland dem Frankrike,
Schweiz och Polen, kallar det för ett folkmord – till Turkiets
förtret.

Presidenten vädjade under minneshögtiden till Turkiet och det
internationella samfundet att fördöma massmorden, och försäkrade att
Armenien är redo för normaliserade relationer med turkarna om Ankara
gör avbön.

– Vi talar inte om kompensation; det här rör sig bara om en moralisk
fråga, sade Kotjarian på rysk tv.

Turkiet hävdar å sin sida att kanske 400.000 armenier och tusentals
turkar dödades i det inbördeskrig som blev följden av ett armeniskt
uppror understött av Ryssland.

Från TT-AFP

Rights activist says over 130 political prisoners in Azerbaijan

Turan news agency
18 Apr 05

Baku, 18 April: The issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan remains
open. Today, they number over 130 people and more than 40 have been
put on the wanted list, Leyla Yunus, director of the Institute for
Peace and Democracy, told a round table today.

Yunus dismissed statements by MP Asim Mollazada and the head of the
public and political department of the Presidential Executive Staff,
Ali Hasanov, that the problem with political prisoners has already
been resolved in Azerbaijan. She said 44 prisoners from the list
of 716 prepared by rights activists are still in jail. The rights
activists have prepared a new list of political prisoners and will
send it to the Council of Europe, she said.

She said the rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe, Malcolm Bruce, would deliver a report on political prisoners
in Azerbaijan on 23 May at the Council of Europe committee on human
rights and legislation.

Yunus also said 75 military officers have been arrested. They are
forced to give testimonies against two generals, she said, but did
not give specific names.

[Passage omitted: minor details]

Rally marks Armenian Genocide’s 90th anniversary

22.04.2005  18:25    

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – A rally, organized by the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (ARF) and dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide, was held on Friday near the Sports and Concerts Complex in
Yerevan. Following the rally, the participants marched to the Memorial
of the Armenian Genocide Victims.

Speaking at the rally, ARF Bureau member and National Assembly
Vice-speaker Vahan Hovhannisian said: “Today, the united will of the
Armenian people is expressed. Armenia is divided into Western and
Eastern for others; for us it is one homeland, and we will take back
the part that is under Turkish occupation.”

Armen Rustamian, ARF Armenia Supreme Body representative, in turn
said it is time for us to explore our history and make the world
recognize it.

Rubina Pirumian of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA),
Vachagan Zakarian, representing Artsakh, Aida Hovhannisian from Iran,
Valery Abanian from Javakhk, Madeleine Dalfond-Guiral, former member
of the Canadian Parliament, and other Diaspora figures also addressed
the participants of the rally.

–Boundary_(ID_2+wYHwEPw65Q3v+pU9Js9w)–

JEWISH COMMUNITY OF UKRAINE CALLED GOVERNMENT TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Pan Armenian News
21.04.2005 11:14

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Jewish community of Ukraine urged the Ukrainian
government to recognize the Armenian Genocide, chairman of the Union
of Jewish Communities stated. In his words, the relations between
Armenians and Jewish are much deeper than just relations between
nations, since both peoples survived genocide. “If the international
community had recognized the Armenian Genocide, there would have been
no Holocaust”, he noted.

LIBRARY OF ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY TO PRESENT PART OF ITS
NEW FUNDS UNDER HEADING “GENOCIDE AND HUMAN RIGHTS” ON APRIL 22

YEREVAN, APRIL 20. ARMINFO. The funds of the Library of the Armenian
Foreign Ministry under heading “Genocide and Human Rights” will be
presented on April 22 within the framework of measures of the National
Library Week and the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

The State Commission for events dedicated to the 90th Anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide informs ARMINFO that the funds of the
ministerial library have been replenished with new books, articles,
tapes and other materials published in Europe, the USA and Armenia.
Foreign diplomats, specialist in political study and scientists will
participate in the ceremonial presentation of the new library funds.
The library was founded in 1999 on the initiative of the Foreign
Ministry and due to the financial assistance of Davtyan Fund. The
latter has two thousands of books in various languages, as well as news
bulletins and 50 names of magazines published in Armenia ands abroad.

TURKS SHOULD ACCEPT HISOTRIC RESPONSIBILITY

A1plus
| 18:18:19 | 21-04-2005 | Politics |

“The Jewish community of Ukraine appealed to President Yushchenko
calling Ukraine to recognize the Armenian Genocide”, representative of
the Jewish community of Ukraine Josef Zisels stated during “Ultimate
Crime, Ultimate Challenge. Human Rights and Genocide” International
Conference.

He is convinced that if the world had paid attention to the tragedy of
Armenians, neither the Ukrainian hunger nor the holocaust would have
taken place. Mr. Zisels attaches great importance to the recognition of
the Genocide by Israel. To note, former Israeli Minister of Education,
Knosset deputy Yossi Sarid noted that not recognizing the Armenian
Genocide Israel does not recognize what happened to Jews during the
Second World War either.

Today Mr. Sarid appealed Turks with the words, “You should bear
the responsibility for the Genocide. This is the truth. You wasn’t
you to perpetrate the Genocide but you should accept the historic
responsibility.”

Parliament to hold hearings on Shusha occupation

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 20 2005

Baku, April 19, AssA-Irada — The Milli Majlis (parliament) will
hold hearings on the occupation of Azerbaijan’s Shusha District by
Armenia on May 6, Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov told a Tuesday meeting of
the parliament.

Alasgarov said the parliament will adopt a resolution after the
hearings. The document, developed by a commission comprising MPs from
ruling and opposition parties, as well as independent deputies will
be forwarded to world countries’ parliaments.*

MUNICIPALITY OF YEREVAN MAINLY “REMITS” ILLEGALLY BUILT GARAGES

YEREVAN, APRIL 18. ARMINFO. 95% of illegal erections “approved” by
the municipality of Yerevan are garages, Grigor Melkumian, general
Advisor of Yerevan’s mayor, informed journalists Monday.

According to him, the municipality does not satisfy mainly the
applications for legalization of large facilities. The municipal
authorities have satisfied 65% out of 38,000 bids with a request
of legalization of illegal buildings. In preliminary estimations
of the municipality, the receipts of the state budget may total 1.2
bln drams from the approval of the legalization of the erections and
lands. The fate of other 68,000 illegal erections, on which citizens
have not made application, will be determined within the next half
of this year. The municipality plans to carry out their inventory
making and submit documents concerning them to tax bodies.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V. Rev. Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

“THE ANTELIAS SEMINARY BECAME MY SECOND BIRTHPLACE”

declares His Holiness Aram I

A special ceremony was held in Athens on April 16 on the occasion
of the 10th anniversary of the enthronement of His Holiness Aram I
and the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Seminary of the
Catholicosate of Cilicia in Antelias.

His Holiness Aram I delivered a special speech on the occasion,
stressing that the Seminary in Antelias had been a second birthplace
for him.

“The Seminary in Antelias became my second birthplace, where I
was reborn and received spiritual and mental formation and where
I undertook the task of serving our church, nation and homeland,”
he said.

His Holiness assured that the Seminary is not a school in the usual
meaning of the word. Rather, it’s an institution that transmits spirit
and faith and forms a truthful Armenian and an honest spiritual man.

“The Seminary will continue its mission with this realization and
mission,” he said.

His Holiness thanked those who had made good wishes on the occasion
of the 10th anniversary of his enthronement, and said: “After the
Seminary, our people became another seminary for me. I learned a lot
from my interactions with our people as a Vartabed, a Bishop and a
Catholicos. There’s a lot learn in a service dedicated to people,
if we’re ready to see the right, to listen and to learn.”

The opening remarks were delivered by Bishop Khoren Doghramdjian,
prelate of the Prelacy of Greece, who spoke about the main achievements
of His Holiness and the mission of the Seminary.

Ara Mangoian of the Prelacy spoke in detail about the Seminary and
focused on the service the Seminary provided to the Armenian Church
and people.

Kevork Kandaharian, a long time professor in the Seminary spoke about a
decade of service by His Holiness Aram I as the Catholicos of Cilicia.
Kandaharian focused on Aram I the intellectual, the spiritual leader,
the ecumenist and the constructor.

His Holiness had arrived in Athens the same day. He was greeted at
the airport by the prelate of the Prelacy of Greece, the clergy
of the Armenian Community of Greece, the Minister of Religious
Affairs of Greece and the Ambassadors of Lebanon and Armenia to the
country. Rev. Bartev Gulumian, Rev. Housig Mardirossian and Mr. Kevork
Kandaharian accompanied His Holiness.

The Catholicos then went to the Saint Garabed Church of Athens,
where a crowd of faithful greeted him. After a short service,
Bishop Doghramdjian welcomed His Holiness, who gave a special sermon,
during which stressed the important role of faith and the church in
the lives of people.

His Holiness also visited the Cemetery of Athens, where he conducted
a requiem service in front of the tomb of the late Archbishop Sahag
Ayvazian, who had been the prelate of the Prelacy of Greece for more
than 40 years.

##

The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates
of the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the
history and the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer
to the web page of the Catholicosate, The
Cilician Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is
located in Antelias, Lebanon.

For trust, dollar still trumps lari
By M. Alkhazashvili

The Messenger, Georgia
April 19 2005

The Georgian financial sector is still highly dollarized. According to
the data of the State Statistic Department, Georgian citizens save 70
percent of their money in dollars, while 76.3 percent of commercial
bank deposits are in dollars, as reported by Bankebi da Pinansebi
(Banks and Finances).

Over the last 18 months, savings have become less dollarized; in
December 2003 86.1 percent of deposits were in dollars according to
the National Bank of Georgia; by February 2005 this figure had fallen
to 76.3.

Nonetheless, valuation of long-term goods in Georgia remains in dollars
and this can be explained by several factors. Firstly, while the dollar
is a universal world currency, the circulation of the lari is limited
even within Georgia. The lari is not in circulation in South Ossetia
or Abkhazia; nor is it dominant in Javakheti, where ethnic Armenians
predominate and the Russian ruble is the most common currency owing
to economic reliance on the Russian base in Akhalkalaki. Even in
Kvemo Kartli the ruble is frequently found together with lari.

A second factor is that many Georgian families rely on money sent to
them from abroad – and this money is mostly sent in dollars.

Thirdly is the fact that, despite its gradual strengthening over the
last fifteen months, the lari still does not command the full trust
of the population. This is largely because of the Coupon fiasco in
the first half of the 1990s, when people’s savings were wiped out by
the rapid devaluation of the coupon. The lari also devaluated as a
result of the 1998 Russian financial crisis. Recently, of course,
it is the dollar that has been devaluating; but this has so far
had little effect on popular support for the dollar within Georgia.
“Georgians still lack the trust in the lari which would help them
to save in their own currency,” says economist Demur Giorkhelidze as
reported by Rezonansi.

That the lari strengthened so quickly is one of the reasons for
continued lack of trust in the Georgian currency, and fear of possible
devaluation in the future. Furthermore, although the rate of the
lari against the dollar is more or less the same as in the middle of
last year, it should be noted that twice in the last twelve months
the lari has suddenly, mysteriously strengthened, only to then fall
back again. Late last year, for example, the dollar fell from 1.85
lari to the dollar to almost 1.60 in just three or four days; only
for it then to return to its former level.

It is unclear why this should happen, although one plausible
explanation put forward by some economists is that the government
has been interfering with the exchange rate. Such economists argue
that the strength of the lari is unsustainable, and that devaluation
is inevitable. They say, for instance, that if the government spends
money gained from privatization quickly this may well lead the lari
to weaken.

For Georgians to begin saving in lari, however, attractive bonds in
lari need to be introduced. So far the few bonds that do exist are
dollar-denominated.