Author: Kanayan Tamar

IMPLEMENTATION OF MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES CORPORATION’S PROGRAM IN ARMENIA TO CONTRIBUTE TO REGIONS’ DEVELOPMENT

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
April 13 2006

Yerevan, April 13. /ARKA/. The implementation of the Millennium
Challenges Corporation’s program in Armenia will essentially
contribute to the development of the country’s regions and rural
poverty reduction, Speaker of the RA Parliament Artur Baghdasaryan
stated at his meeting with a US delegation, which includes Chairman
of the Foreign Allocations Subcommittee, Chamber of Representatives,
US Congress, Jim Colby and Head of the “Millennium Challenges”
corporation John Danilovich.

During the meeting, Speaker Baghdasaryan pointed out the importance
of the program in the following directions: regional development and
bridging the development gap between the capital and the regions,
democratic development and introduction of public control mechanisms.

Speaker Baghdasaryan expressed gratitude to the US Government for its
consistent assistance in the country’s democratization. “Armenia’s
economic and democratic development must be simultaneous,” Baghdasaryan
said.

The sides pointed out the importance of the program for Armenia’s
democratic development on the threshold of the 2007-2008 elections.

In their turn, Danilovich and Colby addressed democratic reforms
and economic development of Armenia. They pointed out the existence
of political will for the development of the reforms, ensuring of
political freedoms, rule of law and transparency in the implementation
of the program. They also pointed out the necessity of holding
elections in conformity with the international standards.

Danilovich re-affirmed the determination of the US Government and of
the Millennium Challenges Corporation to be guided by the fundamental
principles of Armenia’s involvement in the program.

The agreement on the allocation of $235.5mln to Armenia under the
Millennium Challenges Corporation program was signed in Washington,
USA, on March 27, 2006. The document was signed by RA Minister of
Finance and Economy Vardan Khachatryan and Head of the Millennium
Challenges Corporation John Danilovich.

TIMES CHANGE BUT NOT PEOPLE

Panorama.am
14:59 12/04/06

Today the annual general meeting was held in the NAS.

As the above mentioned meeting had been labeled as “meeting of account”
the main event was the annual summary report of academician-secretary
Edward Ghazaryan which certainly met with the unanimous approval of
the academicians.

Later the academicians touched upon the problems that brought the
Armenian science to this bad state. Most of the announcements of
the academicians were mostly of the same character: “academicians’
salary is low”, “how is an aspirant to live on 5000 drams allowance”,
“why does a doctor of science receive lower salary than that of a
teacher” etc.

Yet in the meantime academician Nazareth Hovsepyan mentioned that
the psychology needs to be changed. “If the country’s President and
Prime Minister give the whole state budget to the Academy only, they
will be glorified for two months and then say there is no money,”
the academician said and warned that if one continues this logic
“science will live even worse days than today.”

After witnessing the works of the general meeting the conclusion is
one: first of all the atmosphere in the Academy has to be changed.

We find it necessary to state that nevertheless the academicians go
on working according to Soviet standards. The NAs General Meeting
was more like a collective meeting, whereas during the meeting the
Minister of Education and Science Sergo Yeritsyan emphasized that the
Government is not going to interfere, and the Academy has to solve
the issues itself.

TURKISH COURT DROPS CHARGES AGAINST 4 JOURNALISTS; PROCEEDS WITH TRIAL OF FIFTH

AP Worldstream
Apr 11, 2006

A court on Tuesday dropped charges against four Turkish journalists
accused of insulting the country’s courts, but decided to press ahead
with the trial of a fifth journalist, a report said.

All five journalists were standing trial for criticizing in print a
court’s decision last year to shut down a conference in Istanbul about
the mass killings of Armenians by Turks during the Ottoman Empire.

Prosecutors said their writings were illegal attempts to influence
the outcome of a trial and insulted the court system.

On Tuesday, the court dropped charges against journalists Hasan
Cemal, Ismet Berkan, Haluk Sahin and Erol Katircioglu, on grounds that
prosecutors had not filed charges within the required two-month period
following the publication of the articles, the state-run Anatolia
news agency reported.

The court, however, decided to proceeded with the trial of Murat Belge,
a columnist for the liberal Radikal newspaper, the agency said.

The trial is seen as a test of Turkey’s readiness for membership in the
European Union. Turkey, which embarked on membership talks in October,
is under heavy pressure from the EU and human rights organizations
to address its infringements on freedom of expression.

The five had faced between six months to 10 years in prison. Charges
on the grounds of insulting the republic, state institutions or
“Turkishness” are frequently leveled against journalists, scholars
and dissidents.

The discussion of what happened to Armenians in Turkey between around
1915 and 1923 is extremely sensitive in Turkey, which vehemently
denies that mass killings and deportations of the then-sizeable
Armenian minority constituted an organized genocide.

The conference in September went on despite the court order to close
it down after organizers changed the venue at the last minute. It
was the first time the issue was publicly discussed in Turkey.

A case against Orhan Pamuk, the country’s best-known novelist, for
“insulting Turkishness,” was dropped earlier this year after Turkey
came under harsh criticism from the EU.

ELINA DANIELIAN AND ASHOT ANASTASIAN LAG BEHING LEADERS WITH SEVERAL POINTS

Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2006

KUSADASI, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. The games of the 7th tour are over
in the men’s and women’s chess Europe championships being held in the
Turkish city of Kusadasi. The Armenian women chess-players performed
especially successfully: Lilit Mkrtchian and Nelli Aghinian won their
games, Elina Danielian drew the game and only Siranush Andreasian was
defeated. After 7 tours Elina Danielian has gained 5 points and with
a group of woman chess-players having the same result lags behind
the leading three chess-players with several points.

Another woman chess-players representing Armenia are in the middle of
the tournament table. In the men’s championship, Ashot Anastasian has
the best results among 5 representatives of Armenia. He has gained 5
out of 7 possible points and shares 4-9th palces. Artashes Minasian
and Tigran Kotanjian take the next places. They defeated their rivals
in this tour and have 4.5 points each.

Tigran L.Petrosian and Arman Pashikian have gained 3.5 points each. 4
tours have remained until the end of the Europe championships.

U.S. STILL CAN’T SAY THE WORD

Infoshop News
April 11 2006

Monday, April 10 2006 @ 02:13 PM PDT
Contributed by: Oread Daily

In 1915, the Ottoman Empire embarked on a campaign to exterminate
the Armenian population through slaughter and mass deportation. It
succeded in killing about 1.2 million people. More than 90 years later
the US State Department still can’t say the word “genocide” in regards
to what happened then. The State Department officially refers to the
“massacre” of Armenians under the Ottoman Turkish Empire but has never
described the conflict as a deliberate attempt to eliminate an entire
race of people. It doesn’t want to upset a strategic ally – Turkey.

US STILL CAN’T SAY THE WORD

In 1915, the Ottoman Empire embarked on a campaign to exterminate
the Armenian population through slaughter and mass deportation. It
succeded in killing about 1.2 million people. More than 90 years later
the US State Department still can’t say the word “genocide” in regards
to what happened then. The State Department officially refers to the
“massacre” of Armenians under the Ottoman Turkish Empire but has never
described the conflict as a deliberate attempt to eliminate an entire
race of people. It doesn’t want to upset a strategic ally – Turkey.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans publicly
referred to the 1915 slaughter as `genocide.”

A firestorm arose. Turkey, in particular, was outraged.

Unhappy lawmakers and activists contend Evans is being forced from
his post because of those comments.

Sounding as if he were reciting carefully prepared talking points,
Evans himself spoke delicately about his current status.

“I am still the ambassador,” Evans said in a brief interview recently
during a Washington visit. “I have not submitted my retirement papers.”

At the same time, Evans underscored the temporary nature of any
diplomatic posting.

In any event, the following is from Asbarez Armenian Daily.

—————————————— ———-

Rock Band Launches Washington, DC Campaign for Armenian Genocide
Recognition

LOS ANGELES — Serj Tankian and John Dolmayan of the Grammy
Award-winning band System Of A Down will travel to Washington, DC on
April 24 for a three-day campaign to urge Speaker of the House Dennis
Hastert and other Congressional leaders to end their complicity in
Turkey’s ongoing denial of the Armenian genocide.

On the evening of Monday, April 24, starting at 5:00 PM, band
members will join with the Armenian National Committee of America
and Armenian Youth Federation in leading a grassroots demonstration
outside the gates of the Turkish Embassy at 2525 Massachusetts Ave., in
Northwest Washington, DC. The Turkish government, through its Embassy
in Washington, spends millions of dollars each year to bully, threaten,
and blackmail the US government not to recognize the Armenian genocide.

The band members will devote Tuesday, April 25 to providing interviews
to the political media in Washington, and, in the evening, hosting a
Congressional screening of “Screamers,” a new documentary by filmmaker
Carla Garapedian about the band’s worldwide campaign for Armenian
genocide recognition.

On Wednesday April 26, System will meet with key Members of Congress
to urge them to allow a vote on legislation recognizing the Armenian
genocide, and at 5:30 PM will participate in the annual Capitol Hill
commemoration of the Armenian genocide. This event, now in its 11th
year, is regularly attended by over 30 Members of Congress, diplomats,
ethnic community leaders, human rights activists, genocide prevention
advocates, and Armenian Americans from across the country.

Beginning on April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Turkish government began a
centrally planned and systematically executed campaign to annihilate
the Armenian people from their ancient homeland. By 1923 over 1.5
million Armenians were killed and hundreds of thousands deported,
in what constituted the first genocide of the 20th century.

Congressional legislation recognizing this crime (HR 316 / HCR195
/ SR320) has broad bipartisan support, but has been blocked from
coming to a vote by Congressional leaders, despite the fact that,
five years ago, US House Speaker Dennis Hastert promised to allow
Members to vote on this human rights measure.

In September of last year, Serj Tankian and John Dolmayan from the
band traveled to the Speaker’s hometown of Batavia, Illinois to
lead a rally urging him to allow a vote on the Armenian genocide
legislation. During the rally, Tankian delivered a personal and
powerfully worded message calling on the Speaker to do the right
thing, and stressing that “historical truths should never be denied
in a democracy–especially one with such a proud heritage of freedom.”

Speaker Hastert has it in his power to accomplish one of System’s
goals–official US recognition of Turkey’s destruction of 1.5 million
Armenians between 1915 and 1923. By allowing Congress to vote on this
legislation, Speaker Hastert can end US denial of this crime and open
the doors to justice–to the restoration, reparation, and restitution
owed to the victims of genocide. By continuing to block a vote on
this legislation, Hastert effectively joins in the denial of this
crime against humanity, and the denial of justice to an entire nation.

The members of System Of A Down, Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian,
John Dolmayan, and Shavo Odadjian all personally lost family members
and family history to the Armenian genocide. “Because so much of my
family history was lost in the Armenian genocide,” said Malakian,
“my grandfather, who was very young at the time, doesn’t know his
true age. How many people can say they don’t know how old they are?”

Tankian, Dolmayan, and Odadjian all identify their grandparents’
memories as the only links they have to their respective family
histories, as most of their families were obliterated during the
Armenian genocide.

“It’s important for people to be aware of the Armenian genocide,”
explained Tankian, “and that those actions continue to be covered up by
the Turkish government, the US State Department, Turkey’s allies in the
defense and oil industries, and by our present US Administration. Had
the Armenian genocide been acknowledged as a crime against humanity
as it was, Hitler might not have thought he could get away with the
Jewish Holocaust. History does and will repeat itself, unless we stop
that cycle.”

?story=20060410141352806

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 8 2006

US suggests new proposals to continue the Prague process of the
Karabakh conflict regulation

Source: Trend
Author: S. Agayeva

08.04.2006

The United States have suggested new proposals to continue the Prague
process of the Karabakh conflict regulation, the Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister, Elmar Mammedyarov told in his interview to Azertaj.

The proposals are interesting, the minister said. Official Baku will
analyze them and tell its opinion at the coming visit to the region
of the OSCE Minsk group co-chairman, Steven Mann.

A decision has been made during the talks in Washington to promote
US-Azerbaijani relations at the highest level, he said. This decision
is in accordance with the Azerbaijani national interests. America
regards Azerbaijan as a leader in the region, Mammedyarov concluded.

Armenian premier, EU envoy discuss ties, Karabakh

Arminfo
6 Apr 06

Yerevan, 6 April: Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan and EU
envoy for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby discussed the issues of
Armenia-EU cooperation in Yerevan today.

Markaryan expressed his hope that Semneby would continue the
productive activity of his predecessor Heikki Talvitie in the South
Caucasus, the governmental press service told Arminfo. He stressed
that Armenia is interested in opening of the European Commission
office in Yerevan, taking into consideration the implementation of the
action plan within the European Neighbourhood Policy.

He also expressed hope that the approval of Armenia’s action plan
would not be dragged out in case of the successful Armenia-EU talks in
May 2006. Markaryan welcomed the extension of the EU special
representative’s mandate for the settlement of frozen conflicts,
stressing that all efforts of international structures are aimed at
achieving speedy and peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict. The
prime minister also expressed concern about Azerbaijan’s bellicose
statements and frequent violations of the cease-fire regime.

For his part, Peter Semneby said that he intended to visit the region
more frequently because relations between the EU and the South
Caucasus have reached a new quality. He stressed that the EU is
interested in speedy resolution of regional conflicts. Peter Semneby
said that he would arrive in Armenia again together with the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairmen.

He said that in his activity he would focus on the Karabakh
settlement, the establishment of supremacy of law in Armenia and
reforms in juridical system.

The sides also stressed the importance of conducting elections in
Armenia in full compliance with international standards. They also
discussed Armenian-Russian cooperation and Armenia’s energy policy.

ARMROSGASPROM TO INCREASE CUSTOMER BASE

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
April 5 2006

Yerevan, April 5. /ARKA/. In 2006, the “Armrosgasprom” CJSC intends
to increase the number of users of natural gas by 80-100ths, Director
General Karen Karapetyan stated at a meeting with RA President Robert
Kocharyan.

Karapetyan pointed out that ArmRosgasprom currently has 360,600
customers, which is accounted for by large-scale installation of
gas-supply throughout Armenia. Karapetyan added that the gas-supply
installation is expected to be completed in Armenia in 2007.

Karapetyan also presented a report on investments in 2005, which
were mainly directed to the enlargement of the gas-supply network and
attraction of new customers, re-equipment of the gas-transportation
system, safe operation and enhancement of reliability of the gas-supply
network.

“Simultaneously with the increase in gas supply installation and
consumption, actually losses in gas can be observed. Serious work
is also being done to resolve the technical maintenance and safety
[problems inside residential buildings,” Karapetyan said.

He also stressed the importance of construction of the Iran-Armenia
gas main. One of the dmain directions of the company’s investment
policy is, according to him, the maintenance and enlargement of the
Abovyan underground gas storage.

The Armenian-Russian “ArmRosgasprom” CJSC JV holds a monopoly of supply
and distribution of Russian gas in Armenia. The RA Government and the
“Gasprom” OJSC each hold 45% of the company’s shares, the rest 10%
being held by the “Itera” oil and gas company.

IT IS ENVISAGED TO OPEN BRANCH OF WRITERS’ UNION OF ARMENIA IN GAVAR

Noyan Tapan
Apr 03 2006

GAVAR, APRIL 3, NOYAN TAPAN. It is already 5 years that RA government
in association with the Writers’ Union of Armenia is holding a
week of children’s book. This year the week started on March 27, at
Yerevan Khnko Aper Library and the closure took place in Gavar. In
this connection a number of members of the Writers’ Union of Armenia
headed by Union Chairman Levon Ananian were in Gavar. They donated
100 books to the regional library. According to the Chairman of the
Writers’ Union of Armenia, the cultural activity of Yerevan should
be moved to the regions. He promised to found a literary branch of
the Union in Gavar.

TURKISH PRIME MINISTER DOES NOT THINK THE ATMOSPHERE AT THE US CONGRESS
UNFAVORABLE FOR TURKEY

YEREVAN, MARCH 30, ARMINFO. Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, who is currently on a visit to the USA, stated at the
Assembly of Turkish Associations of America on Wednesday that he
did not think the atmosphere at the US Congress negative for Turkey,
Turkish press reports.

Premier Erdogan informed that Turkish-American relations, the
increase in the turnover of Iraq and Afghanistan were discussed in
Washington. Besides, the world-wide campaign for recognition of the
Armenian Genocide was also in the focus of attention. Despite the date
April 24 marked by Armenians as commemoration of the genocide victims,
the US Congress still supports Turkey, the premier said.