Author: Kharatian Ani

Levon Chakhmakhchyan arrested in Moscow

ArmRadio.am
01.02.2007 13:44

Member of the Council of the Russian Federation, ex-Senator from
Kalmikia Levon Chakhmakhchyan was arrested in Moscow, his attorney
Boris Kuznetsov informed. `My client has now been taken to the
Prosecutor General’s Office, where he will be questioned. Later he
will most probably taken to Basmann Court for getting an arrest order,
but all these actions are illegal,’ said Kuznetsov.

`Chakhmakhchyan has not been deprived of Deputy’s immunity. Besides,
the decision of the Supreme Court that there are criminal elements in
his activity, did not come into force, since we applied to the Court
of Appeal in time, and the hearing in the Supreme Coirt it scheduled
March 6,’ the attorney clarified.

`Possibly, the Prosecutor Hgeneral’s Office is not informed that the
verdict of the Supreme Court has not come into force,’ he said.

A number of arrangements scheduled in the framework of the Year of Armenia
in France

ArmRadio.am
31.01.2007 14:52

More than 50 arrangements will take place in Paris in the framework of
the Year of Armenia in France.

February 18-May 15 the exhibition of the cultural legacy of Armenia
entitled `Armenia Sacra’ will be on display in Louvre Museum. About 30
khachkars from different settlements of Armenia will be taken to
Paris. February 6 to May 28 renowned seascapes painter Hovhannes
Ayvazovski’s works will be exhibited in the Navy Museum of
Paris. Martiros Saryan’s paintings will be displayed February 13 to
March 31. The exhibition of film director Sergey Parajanov’s collages
will open on February 13 in the High School of Arts of Paris. Arts
works of New Jugha will be exhibited in Antony from February 14 to
April 29.

February 5-16 the Symphonic Orchestra of Armenia will give concerts in
five large cities of France. February 17 world-renowned singer Charles
Aznavour’s gala concert will take place in the Garnier Opera.

RA AMBASSADOR TO GREAT BRITAIN VAHE GABRIELIAN AND ANKARA UNIVERSITY
PROFESSOR TURKKAYA ATAOV GIVE JOINT INTERVIEW TO AL JAZEERA TV

YEREVAN, JANUARY 30, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Within the
framework of Hrant Dink’s murder and public discussions on the
Genocide, the English editorial of the Al Jazeera TV company invited
Ambassador of Armenia to Great Britain Vahe Gabrielian to an
interview. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA Foreign Ministry’s
Press and Information Department, Turkish historian, Ankara University
Professor Turkkaya Ataov was also invited. Famous British journalist
David Frost held the interview.

According to the same source, responding Frost’s observation about the
Genocide issue’s again entering the field by Dink’s murder, Ambassador
Gabrielian mentioned that that issue has never been taken out of the
agenda and forgotten. Touching upon the question about the fact of the
genocide, the Ambassador said that he is not going to discuss the
reality of the fact which is not subject to question and is proved by
extensive documentary materials, including by Turk historians’
evidences, and memories about which are bright almost in every
Armenian family both in Armenia and Diaspora, and the issue of its
recognition and improvement of the Armenian-Turkish relations must be
discussed instead of it.

Vahe Gabrielian mentioned that the Ottaman government’s intention to
implement a genocide was proved and he drew one’s attention to the
fact that just the Turkish special courts sentenced in 1919-1920 a
part of the Genocide organizers to death or other punishments, but
this fact is today buried in oblivion.

Touching upon David Frost’s question if the issue of the Genocide
recognition must become a precondition for Turkey’s membership to the
EU, the Ambassador responded that Armenia is not a EU member and may
not officially present preconditions as such one, but the Copenhagen
standards demand from the member countries good-neighbourly relations
with all neighbors, solution of problems existing with them and
improvement of the situation of minorities living in their countries,
and all these supposes the Genocide recognition as welll. A number of
EU member states also make this issue difficult and Armenia expects a
principal position from the EU in this issue.

The Turkish historian only mentioned that he felt sorrow for "his
fellow-writer brother’s" murder though he shared not all viewpoints of
Dink. He refused the fact of the Genocide but presented no reasoning.

The Universe, UK
Jan 30 2007

Historic day for Catholics in Iraq
Posted on January 30, 2007

For the first time in more than five years, the tiny Armenian
Catholic community in Iraq has its own archbishop.
The Vatican announced on January 26 that Pope Benedict XVI had given
his assent to the Armenian Catholic bishops’ election of Father
Emmanuel Dabbaghian, 73, as the Armenian Catholic archbishop of
Baghdad.
The post had been vacant since the October 2001 retirement of
Archbishop Paul Coussa at the age of 84.
The Armenian Catholic Archdiocese of Baghdad covers all of Iraq, and
since 2001 Vatican statistics have given the Armenian Catholic
population of the country as 2,000 faithful.
But Deacon Michel Jeangey, head of the Armenian program at Vatican
Radio, said `probably more than half’ the Armenian Catholics have
moved, at least temporarily, to Armenia or Syria.
`They will return if there is peace,’ he said.
Still, Deacon Jeangey said, one Armenian Catholic priest and a group
of Armenian Catholic nuns continue ministering at the church’s
parishes in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk as well as running a social
center and two schools in Baghdad.
Archbishop-elect Dabbaghian was born Dec. 26, 1933, in Aleppo, Syria.
After studying philosophy and theology at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian
University, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1967.

Yemen Times, Yemen
Jan 29 2007

Millions caught in limbo, with no solutions in sight

Yemen Times Staff
mp;p=lastpage&a=1

Refugees from Mynamar living in Bangladesh on the tidal mudflats of
the Teknaf River which borders the two countries.

`Ten Stories the World Should Hear More About’

In 2004, the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI)
launched an initiative called `Ten Stories the World Should Hear More
About’ to draw attention to important international developments and
issues that fall outside the media spotlight. The list includes
stories on an array of issues and from several geographical regions.
Some of the stories on the list focus on troubling humanitarian
emergencies and conflict situations, but they also highlight such
vital areas as human rights, health and development. Every issue, we
will bring a new story to you, hoping that our little effort to
advocate for human rights all over the world would make a difference,
some how, some way…The editor

While news of major refugee emergencies often dominate headlines, the
plight of millions of people who have languished in exile for years
— and sometimes decades — remains a low-profile high-risk situation
with serious humanitarian and security implications.

The Story

While worldwide refugee numbers have fallen to their lowest level in
25 years, a larger percentage of asylum-seekers are spending a longer
time in exile in an often-overlooked plight of subsistence living in
a virtual state of limbo. "The majority of today’s refugees have
lived in exile for far too long, restricted to camps or eking out a
meagre existence in urban centres throughout the developing world,"
says the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in its 2006 report
on the state of the world’s refugees.

Today, there are at least 33 so-called "protracted refugee
situations" involving groups of 25,000 people or more who have been
in exile for over five years. According to UNHCR data, altogether
they account for 5.7 million of the world’s 9.2 million refugees.
Those figures do not include the world’s oldest and largest
protracted refugee situation, Palestinian refugees, who fall under
the mandate of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
in the Near East (UNRWA).

The vast majority of these exiles are to be found in the world’s
poorest and most unstable regions, often the result of neglect by
regional and international actors amid declining donor support.
Trapped in these forgotten situations, the refugees cannot return
home because of continuing violence or persecution, while facing
significant restrictions on their rights in the places of asylum. At
the same time, UNHCR warns, their presence raises political and
security concerns among host governments and other states in the
region. As such, protracted refugee situations represent a
significant challenge both to human rights and security.

The Context

– Since the early 1990s, the international community has focused
largely on refugee emergencies in high-profile areas such as the
Balkans, the Great Lakes region of Africa and, more recently, Darfur
(Sudan) and Chad . Yet more than 60 per cent of today’s refugees are
trapped in situations far from the international spotlight.

– The root causes of long-standing refugee populations stem from the
very states whose instability engenders chronic regional insecurity.
Most of the refugees in these regions – be they Somalis, Sudanese,
Burundians or Burmese – come from countries where conflict has
persisted for years.

– East and West Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Caucasus,
Central Asia and the Middle East are all plagued by protracted
refugee situations. Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest number, 17,
involving 1.9 million refugees. The countries hosting the biggest
groups are Guinea, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

– In Asia (China, Thailand, India and Nepal) there are five
protracted situations and some 676,000 refugees. Europe has three
major cases involving 510,000 refugees, primarily in the Balkans and
Armenia.

– Although the measure of at least 25,000 refugees in exile for five
years is traditionally used to define such situations, UNHCR argues
that other groups should not be excluded. For example, of the
Rohingya who fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh 12 years ago, 20,000
still remain. Similarly, there are 19,000 Burundians in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, 16,000 Somalis in Ethiopia, 15,000
Ethiopians in Sudan and 19,000 Rwandans in Uganda.

– While today there are fewer refugees in protracted situations, the
number of such situations has greatly increased. According to UNHCR,
they are also spending longer periods in exile. It is estimated that
in 2003 major refugee situations, protracted or not, averaged 17
years — nearly twice as long as in 1993.

RosBusinessConsulting, Russia
Jan 29 2007

Armenia’s GDP growth beats expectations

RBC, 29.01.2007, Yerevan 12:52:10.Armenia’s GDP grew 13.4
percent in 2006, the Armenian government’s press office announced
citing data from Economy Minister Karen Tchshmarityan’s report.
Meanwhile, experts had projected a 4.5-percent GDP growth in 2006.

According to the report, several economic indicators were up in
Armenia in 2006. Hence, foreign trade soared 115.2 percent to some
$3.198bn compared to 2005. Foreign investment surged 31.8 percent in
the first nine months of 2006.

Iran to launch satellite into space
TLT News
· 01/27/2007 15:20

Iran is poised to launch a satellite into space, Aviation Week and
Space Technology has said on its website.

According to Iranmania.com, a recently assembled, 30-ton ballistic
missile-turned space launcher could also be used for testing
longer-range missile strike technologies.

The Iranian space launcher `will liftoff soon’ with an Iranian
satellite, said Alaoddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the Iranian
parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.

Iran’s space launcher raises concerns in the West that it could
eventually lead to an Iranian intercontinental ballistic missile
(ICBM) with a range of nearly 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles), putting
central Europe, Russia, China and India within its range.

The planned satellite launch, besides demonstrating Iran’s technical
prowess, `would be a potent political and emotional weapon in the
Middle East,’ the Aviation Week article said.

`Orbiting its own satellite would send a powerful message throughout
the Muslim world about the Shiite regime in Tehran,’ it said.

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE
January 26, 2006
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
E-mail: [email protected]

ARMENIAN COMMUNITY, ASSEMBLY HOLD MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR HRANT DINK IN
WASHINGTON

State Department Official Hails Dink For Bridging Armenians, Turks

Washington, DC – More than 200 members of the Armenian community in the
Washington area attended a memorial service Tuesday night for slain
journalist Hrant Dink, whose tragic death last week sent shock waves
throughout the Armenian community. A senior U.S. State Department
official attending the service called Dink "a proud son of the Armenian
people," who advocated for understanding and dialogue between Armenians
and Turks.

Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried expressed awe and admiration
for Dink, saying that he "stood for a civic virtue higher than hatred,
higher than ethnic stereotypes, higher than fears and repression and
ignorance. His was a vision of a better world."

"The measure of how our world falls short must be judged by his murder
at the hands of an ignorant, hate-filled nationalist," he continued.

Turkish journalists, who have been reporting extensively on Dink’s
assassination, also attended the memorial service, broadcasting news of
the commemoration to various media outlets in Turkey and beyond.

Bishop Vicken Aykazian, Legate of the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic
Church of America (Eastern) and Diocesan Director of Ecumenical
Relations, presided over the memorial service with Reverend Father
Vertanes Kalayjian at St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church.

"I had the honor of [Hrant Dink’s] personal friendship," said Bishop
Aykazian, who is also president-elect of the National Council of
Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC). "But more than being my personal
friend, he was a friend to all Armenians, in Turkey, and in the Diaspora
Armenian communities throughout the world."

"Hrant Dink called upon the world – and Turkey in particular – to
acknowledge and admit the truth of the Armenian Genocide," the Bishop
continued. "Not to shame or humiliate the Turkish people, but to engage
our two neighboring people in a fruitful dialogue for the betterment of
their relations."

Reverend Father Kalayjian said that Dink was a man who put his life on
the line for his beliefs and convictions. He read, in tribute, a
heartfelt poem authored by Adam Garrie of UCLA.

Executive Director Bryan Ardouny said that the Armenian Assembly grieves
Dink’s tragic death and calls upon people of goodwill to denounce his
assassination and join the Assembly’s efforts to ensure that the cycle
of genocide and its denial ends.

"We remain deeply concerned with Turkey’s continued failure to adopt
standards and practices of both domestic and international conduct that
would reverse and overturn the climate of intolerance, prejudice and
repression as exemplified by Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code which
precipitated this crime," said Ardouny.

"The murder of Hrant Dink challenges America and the rest of the
civilized world to stand up against political violence, and the
atmosphere that fosters it," he added.

Alen J. Salerian, M.D., a longtime friend of Dink’s, said that "[Dink]
is more than a hero, he’s more than a heart. He’s a brain, he’s a
peacemaker, he’s an orphan who became a father and husband and a loving
citizen."

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of
Armenian issues. It is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt membership organization.

###

NR#2007-017

Editor’s Note: The full text of the remarks made by Assistant Secretary
of State Daniel Fried, Bishop Vicken Aykazian and Assembly Executive
Director Bryan Ardouny, are attached to this release and also available
on the Assembly Web site at

Adam Garrie’s poem below is also available on the Assembly Web site.

Elegy For An Armenian
A Tribute To Hrant Dink

By: Adam Garrie, UCLA

The questions with answers that dare not speak,
A life dedicated to all who seek,
To lift the veil from tired eyes,
Craving justice’s shelter from both truth and lies.

The adopted children of a wandering world,
Where dreams are written but scarcely heard,
A warrior armed but with a pen,
And by the bullet met untimely end.

The stewardship of a refugee,
So perhaps a shrunken world could see,
The fields of death whose blood is dry,
When overdue tears do cease to cry.

The debt of honour without a price,
Ignorance for paradise,
The consequence of the words one speaks,
In times of bounty when men grow meek.
But undeterred by time and place,
Running marathons in a thankless race,
A progressing world on a circular track,
History is the shadow behind your back.

Modern men with medieval souls,
Could not hallow such noble goals,
The ancient streets a witness bear,
Soldiers are those who dream to dare.

Time makes legends but martyrs are made by man,
Forgiveness is for the living and those who understand,
The shadow that walks behind you-once was a child too,
Your world is always given-but your path you have to choose.

>From India’s rivers and Persia’s ancient sands,
On both sides of the Bosporus to the New World’s foreign lands,
A people live not by soil but by unspoken fact,
That no swords, empires, or bullets can from this world extract.

With mourning comes tomorrow,
And duty must fulfill,
To answer destiny’s horn call,
That bows before our will.

Photographs are available on the Assembly Web site at the following
links:

ss/2007-017/2007-017-1.jpg

Caption: Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried addressed members of
the Armenian-American community at the memorial service on January 23 at
St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Washington, DC.

007-017-2.jpg

Caption: Bishop Vicken Aykazian, Legate of the Diocese of the Armenian
Apostolic Church of America (Eastern) and Diocesan Director of
Ecumenical Relations, presided over the memorial service. Bishop
Aykazian and Dink were lifelong friends having attended the same
seminary school together.

-017/2007-017-3.jpg

Caption: Reverend Father Vertanes Kalayjian led the memorial service for
Hrant Dink at St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Washington, DC.

007-017-4.jpg

Caption: Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny called Hrant Dink a
catalyst for mutual understanding, tolerance and dialogue.

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Jan 19 2007

YEREVAN SHOULD BECOME ATTRACTIVE, COMFORTABLE CITY TO LIVE IN

YEREVAN, January 19. /ARKA/. Yerevan should become an attractive and
comfortable city to live in, the problems of its residents should be
paid more attention, Armenia’s President Robert Kocharyan said at the
meeting held to discuss the work of the Yerevan Municipality in 2006
and its plans for 2007.
Kocharyan pointed out the positive changes in the municipal
performance discipline and the apparent increase in the volume of
work done. But the country’s economic growth and the dynamic
development of Yerevan create new problems that should be addressed
promptly, the President said.
Kocharyan pointed out the problem of motorway traffic in the capital.
The number of cars increasing every year makes us seek new solutions
to the problem, he said.
The President considered it necessary to improve the traffic centers,
speed up in providing the capital with public transport of high
carrying capacity and to completely solve the problem within one or
two years.
Kocharyan addressed the issue of infrastructure modernization along
with the development of Yerevan.
He said that the Municipality should provide sound forecasts on the
development within the next few years. Based on the forecasts,
calculations are to be made as to what kinds of investments are
required (including the business and natural monopolies).
"The capital is in large-scale construction: construction share in
GDP increased by 37% last year, which is a high rate. New residential
areas and streets are built. If the infrastructures do not meet the
requirement, we will be in the trouble then and the Municipality will
turn to a structure endlessly chasing after breakdowns," Kocharyan
said. N.V. -0–

Turkish Daily News, Turkey
Jan 25 2007

Slain journalist commemorated in Washington

Dink’s vision for a better world came true when tens of thousands
displayed solidarity at his funeral, US official says

UMİT ENGINSOY
WASHINGTON – Turkish Daily News

Washington’s Armenian community mourned the assassinated journalist
Hrant Dink at a memorial service on Tuesday night, as a senior U.S.

official said that Dink’s vision for a better world of dialogue and
reconciliation had come true when tens of thousands of marchers at
his funeral displayed solidarity with his views.

Bishop Vicken Aykazian, legate of the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic
Church of America (Eastern), presided over the memorial service at
St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church. The Armenian Assembly of America
(AAA), one of the largest U.S. Armenian groups, organized the event.

Describing Dink as a man of courage, Dan Fried, assistant secretary of
state for European and Eurasian affairs, said that the slain journalist
insisted on reconciliation and dialogue in his work and life.

"His was a vision of a better world," Fried said. "Tens of thousands of
people, Armenians, Turks, Greeks, filled the streets and stated their
solidarity with his vision… His vision was made a reality today."

More than 100,000 mourners marched in Istanbul earlier on Tuesday
in a funeral for Dink, who was gunned down outside the office of his
newspaper, Agos, in Istanbul last week.

Fried said that Dink’s life came to an end "at the hands of an ignorant
and hateful nationalist."

Bishop Aykazian said Dink’s murderers also attacked Armenia, Turkey
and the advancement of Turkey into the European Union.

"Hrant Dink called upon the world, and Turkey in particular, to
acknowledge and admit the truth of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman
Turkey – not to shame or humiliate the Turkish people, but to engage
our two neighboring peoples in a fruitful dialogue for the betterment
of relations," Aykazian said.

"For a nation to deny its history, no matter at times how dark,
is to deny itself," the bishop added.

AAA’s executive director Brian Ardouny blamed "a climate of
intolerance, prejudice and repression" in Turkey, "which precipitated
this crime."

"Sadly, 92 years after the beginning of the Armenian genocide, Hrant
Dink is the latest victim of Turkey’s inexcusable campaign of denial,"
he said.

Dink had stood trial several times for his public comments on the
genocide, and was convicted last year for "insulting Turkishness"
under a much criticized article in the penal code. He received a
six-month suspended sentence.

In a related development, a fresh resolution formally recognizing
World War I-era killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as
genocide will be introduced at the U.S. House of Representatives,
Armenian sources said.

Pro-Armenian lawmakers sponsoring the resolution originally had
planned to introduce it last week, but then delayed the procedural
move in an effort to maximize the number of legislators backing the
measure in writing, analysts said. The House is expected to discuss
and probably vote the resolution within the next few months.