Author: Kafian Jirair

Associated Press Worldstream
April 24, 2004 Saturday 10:06 AM Eastern Time

Armenians mark anniversary of mass killings in Ottoman Empire

YEREVAN, Armenia

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians, many of them emigrants returning
from abroad, converged Saturday on a hilltop memorial in the
country’s capital to commemorate the 89th anniversary of mass
killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

The annual gathering at the vast Genocide Victims Memorial
overlooking Yerevan is a significant day in the country’s emotional
life, drawing huge crowds to lay flowers.

Armenia accuses Turkey of the genocide of up to 1.5 million Armenians
between 1915 and 1919, when Armenia was under the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey rejects the claim and says Armenians were killed in civil
unrest during the collapse of the empire.

Although the deaths began before April 24, memorial services or held
on this date because it is the anniversary of the day in 1915 when
Turkish authorities executed a large group of Armenian intellectuals
and political leaders, accusing them of helping the invading Russian
army during World War I.

Armenia has pushed for the United States and other nations to declare
the killings a genocide. Many countries, including Russia and France,
have officially recognized the event as genocide, along with some
U.S. states.

Canada’s parliament this week backed a resolution recognizing the
deaths to be genocide, a move that was praised Saturday by Armenian
parliament speaker Artur Bagdasarian. “Only through the condemnation
of this kind of crime can its occurrence be avoided,” he said in a
statement.

UCLA: Student lobbyer takes on Congress

By Nancy Su
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]

UCLA student Marina Nazarbekian met with U.S. congressmen earlier
this week to lobby for U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide and
for favorable U.S. policies toward Armenia.

The exile and executions of Armenians by the Turkish government in
1915 is commemorated nationally on April 24, but the U.S. government
does not officially recognize the events as a genocide.

Many other countries have begun to recognize the event as a
genocide. On Wednesday, Canada’s House of Commons voted to adopt a
motion recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Nazarbekian, a second-year political science and international
developmental studies student attended a two-day Washington,
D.C. conference in hopes of raising support in Congress for
U.S. recognition of the genocide.

“It is a moral issue to recognize the genocide. As the most powerful
nation, you would think the United States would not be afraid of a
country like Turkey,” Nazarbekian said.

Nazarbekian helped circulate a letter to be signed by congressmen
asking President Bush to recognize the tragedy.

In a White House statement in 2001, Bush referred to the forced
deportations and executions of Armenians as one of the “great
tragedies of history,” but followed the example of many past modern
presidents – Ronald Reagan being an exception – by not referring
to a genocide.

Nazarbekian said it is important to recognize and commemorate the
event as a genocide so similar tragedies do not arise.

“It is not just an Armenian issue. It is a humanitarian issue,”
Nazarbekian said. “We’ve been through it so we know what it’s like and
we don’t want others to go through it. People realize the world does
care if you recognize these crimes so perhaps it will not happen
again.”

During the genocide in 1915, the U.S. government not only recognized
it as a genocide, it also condemned and documented the crime, said
Richard Hovannisian, a UCLA professor of modern Armenian history.

Hovannisian cited fears of offending the Turkish government, which has
repeatedly denied the term “genocide” as the reason modern
U.S. governments have not given recognition to the tragedy as a
genocide.

Though Turkey recently canceled million-dollar contracts with France
after it officially recognized the genocide as a crime against
humanity, Hovannisian said the United States “should not be overly
concerned about international blackmail.”

In France, business with Turkey was “back to normal” within a few
months and the Turkish ambassador returned to France around the same
time, Hovannisian added.

“With so much Turkish dependence on American aid and support, the
scenario would be little different,” Hovannisian said.

Besides working to gain the recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
Nazarbekian used her time in Washington to lobby for U.S. aid to
Armenia and to make permanent the status of trade relations with the
country. She also lobbied for the removal of blockades set by
neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan that inflated Armenia’s
transportation costs and affected its economy.

Nazarbekian also campaigned for an increase in U.S. military
assistance to Armenia to match that given to Azerbaijan.

Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense because of
the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region. Many Armenians fear that
granting Azerbaijan $6 million more in U.S. military assistance would
undermine negotiation efforts and promote instability in the region.

Armenian leader, new Estonian envoy discuss ties

Arminfo,
20 Apr 04

YEREVAN

The newly-appointed Estonian ambassador to Armenia, Andres Unga
(residence in Athens), presented his credentials to Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan today.

The Armenian presidential press service has told Arminfo that at the
meeting, Kocharyan said that Armenia attached special importance to
European orientation and the development of bilateral and multilateral
ties with Estonia in this context. The Armenian president warmly
recalled his official visit to Estonia in 2002. Kocharyan described
Estonia’s experience as instructive for Armenia to overcome
difficulties and integrate into Europe.

The interlocutors talked about the prospects for the development of
bilateral economic cooperation and stressed the importance of close
ties between the two countries’ business circles and of the exchange
of information.

Armenia ups cut diamond output 7%

15.04.2004 12:08:00 GMT

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenia raised cut diamond output 7%
year-on-year to 31.26 billion dram in the first quarter of 2004.

Cut diamond sales were unchanged at 29.218 billion dram and exports
inched up 0.2% to 28.941 billion dram, said Ashot Shakhnazarian, a
first deputy trade and economic development minister.

Supplies of Russian uncut diamonds came to a halt when mining company
Alrosa relaxed its prices, Shakhnazarian said. Armenia is now hoping a
government-to-government trade agreement that governs the supplies can
be amended to incorporate certain concessions, he said.

Armenia to sell copper mine by end 2004

15.04.2004 12:09:00 GMT

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenia plans to sell the zangezur Copper-Molybdenum
Combine by the end of this year, Ashot Shakhnazarian, a first deputy
trade and economic development minister, told Interfax.

A tender called in March has drawn interest from leading international
companies such as Rio Tinto, BHP and Glencore Interm, and Russia’s
RusAl and Norilsk Nickel.

Shakhnazarian said the deadline for submitting bids would be in
September. Although Armenia is offering up to 75% of the Zangezur
plant’s shares at the tender, the government will agree to sell all of
the stock to an investor that makes the right offer, he said.

The Zangezur combine is profitable, Shakhnazarian said. Last year, its
net profits topped $7 million.

The government expects to raise at least $130 million from the sale of
the shares and licenses to the Kadjaran field, which contains the
FSUTs biggest molybdenum reserves. Shakhnazarian said he did not
consider the price to betoo high in view of current metal prices.

The government will require the Zangezur plantTs new owner to triple
or even quintuple output to 30 million-40 million tonnes of ore per
year and to implement new, more environmentally-friendly mining
technology.

Zangezur obtained 6,300 tonnes of molybdenum concentrate and 11,000
tonnes of copper in copper concentrate from 8.1 million tonnes of ore
in 2003.

13 April 2004

U.S. Concerned About Political Tensions in Armenia
Boucher cites escalation in government-opposition confrontations

The United States is concerned about current political tensions in Armenia
and has called on the government and the opposition to avoid violence, to
respect the role of peaceful assembly, and to “enter into a dialogue that
will lessen tension and focus the political process on the challenges of
continued political and economic reform.”

Following is a statement by State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher:

(begin text)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
April 13, 2004

Statement by Richard Boucher, Spokesman

POLITICAL UNREST IN ARMENIA

The United States is concerned about the current political situation in
Armenia, particularly the sharp escalation in confrontation between the
government and the opposition. We call on both sides to enter into a
dialogue that will lessen tension and focus the political process on the
challenges of continued political and economic reform. Physical assaults,
raids on political party offices and widespread arrests and detentions of
opposition activists by the police do not contribute to creating an
atmosphere conducive to political dialogue. We call on all sides to respect
the role of peaceful assembly and to take all steps to prevent violence.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: )

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HALF OF APPLICANTS DENIED USA VISA IN MARCH

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS: Almost half of Armenian citizens who
sought permission to visit the USA in March were refused visas. Lily
Cozier, US Consul General in Armenia, said out of 774 Armenians who
applied for visas in March 363 were denied permission to travel to her
country. Last year 11,873 Armenians applied for visas and only 5,029
were given permissions.

Cozier also said that Armenia was included in the list of countries
from March 31 whose citizens are be required to be fingerprinted and
photographed when applying for visas. She said the program is designed
to fight terrorism. The US-Visit (US Visitor and Immigrant Status
Indicator Technology) security system is meant to identify travelers
who have violated immigration controls, have criminal records or
belong to groups listed as terrorist organizationsby the US.

She said the new procedure does not cover children under 14 and
persons above 79, persons holding diplomatic passports and the staff
of international organizations, as well as people going to USA for
medical treatment.

AZERBAIJAN’S FIRST LADY’S INFLUENCE ON THE RISE

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS: Armenian foreign affairs minister
Vartan Oskanian is set to have his first meeting with his newly
appointed Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mamedyarov, next Friday in
Prague at a meeting of the OSCE Minsk group, but it is still not clear
if Steven Mann, Washington’s special representative to the Caspian Sea
region, who was picked last week to replace the current co-chairman
Rudolph Perina will represent the US, as State Department has not yet
officially announced Mann’s appointment.

The news about replacing Perina was revealed last Wednesday by
theU.S. ambassador in Baku Reno Harnish, who was quoted by Azeri mass
media as saying that he hopes that the appointment will give a new
impetus to the stalled Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks.

Elmar Mamedyarov, a former ambassador to Italy, was appointed to
replace Azerbaijan’s Vilayat Guliev. A career diplomat, Mamedyarov, a
native of Azerbaijan’s autonomous region of Nakhichevn, the
birth-place of president Ilham Aliyev, has been serving at the foreign
ministry for 11 years and is said to have been promoted to his current
post by Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the USA, Pashayev, a relative of
Ilham Aliyev’s wife, a fact that allowed the London-based Institute of
War and Peace to conclude that the influence of Azerbaijan’s first
lady is on the rise.

In a Friday interview with the Russian Itar-Tass Mamedyarov
reiterated his government’s official position that it will never agree
to Karabagh’s independence or its joining Armenia. In a reference to
his upcoming meeting with Oskanian, he said it will be an occasion to
become acquainted with his Armenian counterpart and a forum for free
discussions.

PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research
395 Concord Ave.
Belmont, MA 02478
Phone: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
Contact: Marc A. Mamigonian

LECTURE ON KARABAGH MOVEMENT,
GENOCIDE, AND ARMENIAN IDENTITY AT NAASR

Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, there were several national mass
social and political movements in various parts of the country. For
Armenians, the Karabagh Movement of 1988-1990 is particularly significant.
Important aspects of contemporary Armenian society developed during the
two-and-a-half years that the Karabagh Movement lasted. Eventually the
Movement led to revolu-tionary changes in the lives of the people of Soviet
Armenia and challenged views, perspectives, and images that had developed
after the Armenian Genocide and during the decades of Soviet rule. These
changes have had far-reaching effects on Armenian national identity as a
whole.

Dr. Harutyun Marutyan will describe the crucial and positive role of
historical memory in the Karabagh Movement in a lecture at the Center of the
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), 395 Concord
Ave., Belmont, Mass., on Wednesday, April 21, at 8 p.m. He will
particularly review the liberation of Armenia from the Soviet regime and the
building of an independ-ent state aspiring to democratic values and the
creation of a civil society. The lecture is co-sponsored by NAASR and the
Zoryan Institute for Contemporary Armenian Research and Documentation.

Questions to be Addressed

Through the examination of the visual imagery of the Karabagh Movement – its
posters and banners – Dr. Marutyan will explain how the mechanism of
historical memory, especially the Armenian people’s memory of the Genocide,
functioned in the Movement. These posters represented images of identity
and serve as an index of the collective understanding of the Movement by its
participants. Changes in these images directly echoed changes in the
political situation and contrib-uted to changes in how the Armenian people
understand their past, present, and future.

Visiting Scholar at MIT

Dr. Harutyun Marutyan is a Social/Cultural Anthropologist, Senior Researcher
at the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography in the National Academy of
Sciences of Armenia, and is also Visiting Professor of Anthropology at
Yerevan State University. Currently, Dr. Marutyan is a Fulbright Visiting
Scholar at the Anthropology Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Admission to the lecture is free (donations are appreciated). A
question-and-answer period and reception will follow the lecture. The NAASR
Bookstore will open at 7:30 p.m.

The NAASR Center and Headquarters is located at 395 Concord Avenue near
Belmont Center and is directly opposite the First Armenian Church and next
to the U.S. Post Office. Ample parking is available around the building and
in adjacent areas.

More information on Dr. Marutyan’s lecture or about NAASR and its programs
for the furtherance of Armenian studies, research, and publication may be
had by calling 617-489-1610, by fax at 617-484-1759, by e-mail at
[email protected], or by writing to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.

PRESS RELEASE
Hamazkayin London, GB
20 Cawdor Crescent
London W7 2DD
Tel: 020 8840 6896
Fax: 020 8840 5196
E-Mail: [email protected]

Peter Balakian in London

”The Burning Tigris” is launched in UK after its major success in
USA

At the invitation of William Heinemann, a leading Publishing House in
UK, Peter Balakian, The Armenian American author, visited London,
accompanied by his wife, for the launch of his latest book ”The
Burning Tigris” on 31st March. The book launch took place at Random
House in the presence of both Armenian and non-armenian audience.
”We have not seen such an impressive audience for a book launch at
this House for a long time said the Marketing Director of Heinemann at
his opening speech. The book launch was a joint effort of both the
Publishers and C.R.A.G. – Campaign for the Recognition of the Armenian
Genocide.

To take advantage of Mr Balakian’s visit, the London Branch of
HAMAZKAYIN Cultural Society organised a cocktail reception at the
Armenian House in honour of the author to which representatives of the
London Armenian organisations were invited and present. Present also
at the reception were the Primateof the Armenian Church of G.B. His
Grace Bishop Nathan Hovhannisian, Armenia’s Ambassador in UK Dr. Vahe
Gabrielian and Hamazkayin Central Committee Board member Mrs Sella
Tenjoukian.

Mr Haig Vartanian, on behalf of Hamazkayin, welcomed the author and
the guests and urged the attendees and their organisations to
encourage the sale of the book in UK emphasising that ”books of this
nature and caliber are weapons with which we can fight the deniers of
the Armenian Genocide.”

Mr Balakian thanked Hamazkayin for its initiative and expressed his
delight for meeting representatives of various London Armenian
organisations under one roof. During a session of questions and
answers, the author stressed that the Armenian Genocide is essentially
a human rights issue and as such it shouldfind its rightful place in
school textbooks everywhere. He added that in parallel with our
efforts for recognition at governmental levels, we should also
concentrate in educating the people at grassroot level and gradually
move upwards.

Mr Balakian was enthusiastically received at both the receptions and
attendees placed their order for his latest book in substantial
numbers.We are optimistic that ”The Burning Tigris” will enjoy the
same success in the UK as it did in USA.

We wish the young author continued success.
Secretary Hamazkayin – London