NKR MINISTRY REFUTED NEWS ON SKIRMISH
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
15 March 05
The news agency `Arminfo’ informed that the NKR Ministry ofDefence
refuted the Azeri mass media report on a skirmish allegedly taken
place last night on the frontier near Aghdam. Commenting on the
reports spread by the Azerbaijani news agency TURAN, the spokesperson
of the Defence Ministry of Karabakh said it was a recurrent
provocation of the Azeri mass media.
PANARMENIAN.NET.
15-03-2005
Baku Today
Extraordinary frontline monitoring due Thursday
AssA-Irada 16/03/2005 12:25
The OSCE will hold extraordinary monitoring of the contact line of the
Azerbaijani and Armenian military units on Thursday due to frequent
ceasefire breaches over the past month, according to the spokesman for the
Ministry of Defense Ramiz Malikov.
Commenting on the frequent ceasefire violations, Malikov said that Armenia,
which does not follow the ceasefire agreement, relies on Russia.
Windsor Star (Ontario)
March 15, 2005 Tuesday
Final Edition
Immigrant programs starving for support
by Monica Wolfson, Windsor Star
Iraqi immigrant Badri Naser, 25, is so committed to learning English
that she would cut back on groceries before giving up her class.
The married mother of a two-year-old daughter gets free bus tickets
to go to school, but she’s in jeopardy of losing the subsidy because
of budget cuts.
Naser spends $50 a week on food for her family, while a month’s worth
of two-way bus tickets costs $47.
Ceasing to go to school isn’t an option, said Manjola Vasil, 26, who
arrived from Albania eight months ago. She needs to speak English in
order to work, she said.
The free bus ticket program offered by the Women’s Enterprise Skills
Training of Windsor Inc. is just one of many local immigrant services
that providers say is underfunded. The $8,000 bus ticket assistance
will be slashed in half in April and disappear in 2006. Rose Anguiano
Hurst, executive director of WEST, said she’ll avoid nixing the
program if the federal government delivers on its budget promise to
boost funding for immigrant services by $398 million over the next
five years.
Free child care is another essential service newcomers rely on to
attend English classes.
Gayane Avagyan, a 32-year-old Armenian immigrant with a two-year-old
son, said she’d have to give up learning English if the New
Canadians’ Centre of Excellence didn’t provide child care while she
studied.
“It would be very difficult, hard for me,” Avagyan said while her
child played in an adjacent room under the watchful eye of child care
workers who speak three languages each.
Child care could cost Avagyan up to $48 per day if the free
babysitting didn’t exist.
The Excellence Centre cares for about 40 children per language
session, which are held three times a day. Children must be at least
18 months old.
“Infant care is what we are asking the government to fund,” said Reza
Shahbazi, executive director of the Excellence Centre. “Some parents
will have a four-year-old and an infant and can’t take the training
because they don’t have anyone to care for the baby.”
Shahbazi said he needs an additional $300,000, but requests for more
money have been ignored.
Most immigrant service providers said they’d use new funding to
eliminate child care waiting lists and expand employment, settlement
and adaptation programs. The Windsor Essex County Family YMCA/New
Canadians’ Center offers training to help immigrants adjust to
Canadian culture.
“Basic settlement, language, employment, these are key to a
successful transition to a community,” said Dan Pelletier, chief
executive officer of the YMCA.
The federal government has pledged to give Ontario the bulk of new
immigration money, confirmed the Ministry of Citizenship and
Immigration. Officials couldn’t say how much cash Windsor would get.
Windsor’s immigrant population has exploded in the past decade as
24,305 newcomers came here between 1991 and 2001, a 126 per cent
increase from the previous decade.
BOTTOM LINE
According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, last year Ontario
got $127 million to aid about 133,440 new immigrants. By comparison,
Quebec received $149 million for about 32,489 newcomers. Windsor was
awarded $5.6 million for its 2,418 new immigrants.
PRESS RELEASE
MARCH FOR HUMANITY
104 N. Belmont St. Suite 206
Glendale, CA 91206
Contact: Serouj Aprahamian, Vicken Sosikian
Tel: 818.507.1933
Fax: 818.240.3442
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
March For Humanity Reaches Final Preparation Stage
Los Angeles, CA March 14, 2005 – Less than three weeks from the start of an
unprecedented display of solidarity for the 1.5 million forgotten victims of
the Armenian Genocide, the organizing committee of the March For Humanity
reported Monday that it has completed the planning and organizing phase of
the 215 mile walk.
More than 40 Californians, 17 of which will walk the full 19 days, have
registered as marchers, prior to the beginning of the main recruitment
efforts.
“People of all age groups and many different ethnicities have shown interest
in marching the 215 mile course. This coupled with the outpour of moral and
financial support from dozens of communities including Central California,
the Bay Area, Washington D.C., New York, and Boston; gives us the confidence
that the March For Humanity will become the march of all justice loving
people,” said Vicken Sosikian director of the March For Humanity. “The
marchers’ heartfelt sacrifices show that even after 90 years of deceit,
denial and distortion; the Turkish government must come to terms with its
history and finally take genuine responsibility for the 1.5 million victims
of the Armenian Genocide.”
The march set to begin on April 2 in Fresno, Calif. will reach Sacramento on
April 21, where march participants, human rights activists and Armenian
American community members will gather for a rally organized to thank the
California State Legislature and 36 other states’ legislatures for
officially recognizing the Genocide. The “Rally For Humanity” will also
promote public involvement in securing justice not only for the Armenian
Genocide, but also for all unpunished crimes against humanity.
“The interest generated about the March For Humanity, on the internet alone,
has already surpassed our pre-march expectations,” said Serouj Aprahamian
coordinator of the March For Humanity. “Thousands have visited
, the official site of the march, hundreds have
completed action alerts and websites, blogs, message boards, and discussion
groups from as far as Europe, the Middle East and Armenia have been buzzing
with talk about the March For Humanity.
Aprahamian, a full distance marcher, says that the Armenian people living in
the Turkish Ottoman Empire suffered unspeakable and unimaginable horrors;
that this is the least the youth can do to show its solidarity.
For more information about the March for Humanity, visit
or call (818) 507-1933.
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:
HIS HOLINESS EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF
COOPERATION AND COHERENCE IN THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITIES
In a speech he gave in Nicosia’s St. Asdvadzadzine Church on Sunday the 6th
of March, His Holiness Aram I emphasized the need to create harmony and
coherence inside the Armenian communities. “Diversity is a natural
phenomenon in our lives. On many occasions we have stressed the importance
of preserving diversity as enriching factor in various aspects of our lives.
But when diversity isn’t expressed harmoniously, it can lead us to
polarization. When distinction is not transformed to cooperation, it can
become a source of internal tension,” said his Holiness.
The Catholicos added, that now more than ever, the Armenian people need to
generate harmonious activity in Armenia and the Diaspora, in
Armenia-Diaspora relations, as well as inside each Armenian community. He
emphasized that the activities of the Armenian Community of Cyprus should be
based on this principle.
His Holiness praised the spiritual and cultural activities of the Armenian
Community of Cyprus under the leadership of the Catholicosal Vicar of the
Diocese of Cyprus: “We greatly appreciate the activities of all the
structures if their aim is to serve the nation, the motherland, the church,
culture and the Armenian Cause,” said His Holiness, stressing that all
Armenians should gather around the church, considering it their spiritual
home.
In the second part of his speech, his Holiness spoke about the true
understanding of life, calling on believers to adopt the true values of life
given to humanity through Jesus Christ.
Representatives from the Greek and Coptic churches of Cyprus also attended
the Eucharistic celebration.
##
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.
Turkey to open archives for probe into alleged WWI genocide
Xinhua General News Service, China
March 9, 2005 Wednesday 9:30 AM EST
ANKARA — Turkey is to open its archives for historians in a bid to
fight against Armenia’s allegation of genocide during World War I,
private NTV reported Wednesday.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the statement after
a meeting on Tuesday with Deniz Baykal, leader of the main opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP).
“We will open our archives to those people who claim there was a
genocide. Teams of historians from both sides should conduct studies
in these archives,” he said.
Such a study should be carried out by historians from both Turkey
and Armenia, Erdogan said at a press conference following the meeting.
Erdogan said there should be an unbiased and impartial study into
allegations that the Ottoman Empire carried out acts of genocide
against the empire’s Armenian citizens during World War I.
Baykal, on his part, said the allegation being levelled at Turkey
was part of a deliberate campaign against the country.
Turkey has always denied that the Armenians were subjected to genocide
in the period between 1915 and 1923. However, it does acknowledge
that up to 300,000 Armenians, and an even higher number of Muslims,
died during fightings and Ottoman’s efforts to relocate populations
away from the war zone in eastern Turkey.
Armenian claims up to 1.5 million Armenians died in the period as a
result of systematic genocide.
Bulgaria, Armenia sign cooperation accord on transport, information exchange
BTA web site
11 Mar 05
Sofia, 11 March: Transport and Communications Ministers Nikolay
Vasilev of Bulgaria and Andranik Manukyan of Armenia on Friday [11
March] signed a programme for cooperation between their ministries
in 2005-2006.
The programme stipulates exchange of regulatory policy information
and joint initiatives for Information Society development. The sides
will research and develop methods for protection and use of information
resources. Bulgaria and Armenia will also cooperate in the development
of computer programmes and on-line trade.
Vasilev told journalists that a scheduled air service between Sofia
and Yerevan is to be set up shortly. The service provider will be
named within a month, his ministry said.
Vasilev recalled that negotiations with Russia were opened on
Manukyan’s initiative last year for setting up a direct ferry line
between the Bulgarian coastal city of Varna and Port Kavkaz (Port
Caucasus) on the Russian coast across from the Crimean Peninsula, which
will facilitate the transportation of goods to and from land-locked
Armenia. In this context, Vasilev is planning to send a letter to
the Georgian transport minister to ask for prompt ratification of a
multimodal transport agreement.
Bulgaria’s trade with Armenia has been growing continuously over the
last three years, Vasilev said.
Russian chairman of CIS security body reports success in combating drugs
ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow
11 Mar 05
United Nations, 11 March: Combating drugs is one of the most effective
directions of work of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO), its secretary-general, Nikolay Bordyuzha, told ITAR-TASS. A
presentation ceremony of CSTO, an international regional organization,
embracing Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and
Tajikistan, was held at the UN headquarters on 10 March.
“As a result of several successful operations we have reached a
very high level of interaction among CSTO members,” Bordyuzha said.
“Together with the six member-states, Iran, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan
took part in the latest operation, known under the code name of Kanal
[Russ: canal],” he added. This helped create a “antidrug security
belt along Afghanistan’s northern borders”, he said.
The effectiveness of the CSTO work in combating drugs cannot be
measured in confiscated kilograms and tonnes of narcotics alone,
Bordyuzha said. “We have reached a new level of coordination among
appropriate antidrug structures. This helps us create the necessary
data bank, and conduct so-called controlled deliveries,” he added.
At the same time Bordyuzha acknowledged that one could only reduce
the flow of drugs from Afghanistan with the use of prohibitive
measures. “Afghanistan should be restored, relevant power-wielding
structures should be created and interact properly, and stability
should come to stay,” he said.
Armenian Assembly of America
122 C Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:
Â
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2005
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
Email: [email protected]
Â
FORMER AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA HARRY GILMORE RECOGNIZES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Calls for International Recognition of Crimes
Washington, DC – Harry Gilmore, the first American Ambassador to
Armenia, is the latest U.S. official to publicly acknowledge the
Armenian Genocide and call for international recognition of this
crime against humanity. In an interview with Radio Free Europe/ Radio
Liberty (RFE/RL) this week, the retired diplomat said, “There is no
doubt that the Armenian events were genocide.”
Gilmore’s comments follow those of current U.S. Ambassador to Armenia
John Evans, who repeatedly referenced the Armenian Genocide during
his first stateside visit to Armenian communities across the country.
During a series of public exchanges with Armenians late last month,
Evans said “The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the
twentieth century.”
Gilmore told RFE/RL that the crimes against the Armenians fit the
definition of genocide as determined by the U.N. Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.
“The key point is that the convention sets up a standard and the
massacres and deportations of the Ottoman Armenians meet that standard
fully,” Gilmore stated.
The Ambassador’s characterization also conforms to the summary
conclusions of the International Center for Transitional Justice
on the use of the term Armenian Genocide, which states that: “The
Events, viewed collectively, can thus be said to include all of the
elements of the crime of genocide as defined in the Convention, and
legal scholars as well as historians, politicians, journalists and
other people would be justified in continuing to so describe them.”
In addition, the remarks are in keeping with the publicly stated
declarations of over 120 renowned Holocaust and Genocide scholars who
signed a statement in 2000 affirming that the Armenian Genocide is
an incontestable historical fact and urging that the governments of
Western democracies likewise recognize it as such. The petitioners,
among whom is Nobel Laureate for Peace Elie Wiesel, also asked Western
democracies to urge the Government and Parliament of Turkey to finally
come to terms with a dark chapter of Ottoman-Turkish history and to
recognize the Armenian Genocide.
The Assembly last week launched an aggressive campaign for
U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide – urging President Bush
to properly characterize the attempted annihilation of the Armenian
people as genocide.
The Assembly additionally sent a “call to action” to thousands of
its members and activists around the country, encouraging their
involvement in the campaign for formal, full and irrevocable U.S
reaffirmation of the Genocide.
For information on how to get involved, log on to the Assembly Web
site at or send an email to the Assembly’s grassroots
branch ARAMAC at [email protected].
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#2005-023
–Boundary_(ID_Pzqkc/sGCo6jJnJO8j2C5g)–
Azertaj
March 10, 2005
COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION CONSIDERS REPORT OF
AZERBAIJAN
[March 10, 2005, 11:56:24]
As learnt correspondent AzerTAj from the Foreign Minister~Rs press
service, on March 6-7 the United Nation~Rs Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination has considered the report of Azerbaijan on
its implementation of the provisions of the International Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Presenting the report was Khalaf Khalafov, the Deputy Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, who said his country had been very
active in improving national legislation and strengthening political
institutions while bearing in mind the principles of universal access
to human rights. The conflict in Nagorny Karabakh between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, Mr. Khalafov said, had a negative impact on Azerbaijan’s
efforts to implement the principles of the Convention. Today there were
more than one million refugees and displaced persons in Azerbaijan and
one-fifth of the country was occupied by Armenian forces. The Deputy
Minister affirmed his country’s belief that Azerbaijan should be a
single home for all its citizens, providing the opportunity for all
to pronounce and preserve their national identity by way of promoting
and protecting their human rights.
In the course of the discussion, which was held over two meetings,
issues concerning the Office of the Ombudsman and the types of cases
handled by it; the State party’s fight against human trafficking;
Azerbaijan’s rules on citizenship; the rights of national minorities in
general; employment rights and other social matters; and the rights
of refugees, stateless persons and the displaced in Azerbaijan,
in particular those coming out of the conflict in Nagorny Karabakh
between Armenia and Azerbaijan were raised among other subjects.
In preliminary remarks, the country Reporter for the report, Committee
Expert Tang Chengyuan, commended the Government of Azerbaijan for the
positive steps it had undertaken with regard to the Office of the
Ombudsman; its fight against human trafficking; and its assistance
to refugees and displaced persons, in particular refugees from the
conflict in Nagorny Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Among
other things, he noted the Committee’s need to receive additional
information on ethnic groups living in Azerbaijan.
The Committee will present its final conclusions and recommendations
on the third and fourth periodic reports of Azerbaijan, which were
presented in one document, at the end of its session, which concludes
on 11 March.
The delegation of Azerbaijan also included representatives of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of Justice; the Ministry
of Internal Affairs; the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection; the
Ministry of Health; the Ministry of Economic Development; the Office
of the Prosecutor General; the Department for National Policy of the
Office of the President; and the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to
the United Nations Office at Geneva.