Author: Nalchajian Markos

PRESS RELEASE
Nor Serount Cultural Association
440 W. Colorado Blvd. Suite 201
Glendale, CA 91204
T: 818-502-6580
F: 818-502-6543
Email: [email protected]

Turkish Scholar Keynote Speaker at Armenian Genocide Commemoration Event in Glendale
Rep. Schiff Will Update on US Congress Resolutions

GLENDALE — Increasing number of Turkish scholars believe that
the massacres of Armenians by the Young Turks from 1915 to 1917
were a case of genocide. One of these scholars is Ragip Zarakolu,
the keynote speaker of the commemorative event to be held at the
Glendale Community Church, on Saturday, April 22nd starting at 7:30
p.m. This event is organized by Nor Serount Cultural Association and
Organization of Istanbul Armenians.

Speaker Ragip Zarakolu is the director of Belge International
Publishers, in Istanbul, who for almost 30 years has exhibited
extraordinary courage by publishing books in Turkey that are about
taboo subjects related to the histories of the minority people of
Turkey – the Armenians, Kurds, Greeks.

Zarakolu has long faced harassment for publishing his books. In 1971
a military junta assumed power in Turkey that immediately convicted
and imprisoned him for three years. On his release Zarakolu refused
to abandon his campaign for freedom of thought, striving for an
â~@~attitude of respect for different thoughts and cultures to become
widespread in Turkeyâ~@~].

The Belge Publishing House, established in Istanbul in 1977 by Zarakolu
and his wife Ayse Nur, has been a focus for Turkish censorship laws
ever since. Charges brought against the couple – at one point there
were over thirty government-brought actions – resulted in imprisonment
for both Nur and Zarakolu, the wholesale confiscation and destruction
of books and the imposition of heavy fines. In 1995 the Belge
Publishing House offices were firebombed by an extremist rightist
group, forcing it to be housed in a cellar. Since his wifeâ~@~Ys
death in 2002, Zarakolu continued to face further prosecutions.

Since November of last year, Zarakolu has been facing new charges of
â~@~insulting and undermining the Stateâ~@~] under Artricle 301 of
the new Penal Code in Turkey. These charges stem from the publication
of two new books about the Armenian Genocide. If convicted, he could
face six-year imprisonment.

Zarakoluâ~@~Ys latest publication is the translation to Turkish
the memoires of Henry Morgenthau, US Ambasaador to Turkey from 1913
to 1916.

Last year, writer Peter Balakian shared his 2005 Rapahel Lemkin prize
from the Institute for the Study of Genocide with Zarakolu.

US House Representative Adam Schiff will be updating on pending
Armenian Genocide resolutions in the Congress (H. Con. Res. 195 and
H. Res. 316). Both these resolutions, for the first time in five
years, were passed by the House International Relations Committee
with overwhelming majority clearing the way for a historic vote
on the House Floor The Glendale Community Church is located at 333
E. Colorado Boulevard in Glendale. This event is free of charge and
all are welcome.

For additional information please call Harout DerTavitian (818)
502-3233

–Boundary_(ID_JdJm+3wQ4LzRgiKA/l7 APw)–

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DECLARED GOVERNMENT DECISION UNLAWFUL BUT …

Lragir.am
18 April 06

The Constitutional Court of Armenia read the ruling on the government
action of alienation of property of the residents of Buzand Street
and North Avenue at 17 PM April 18. The ruling contained 17 points and
it took Gagik Harutiunyan, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court,
and the present 45 minutes to read it.

The residents of Buzand Street and North Avenue, present at the
hearing, applauded to the decision of the Constitutional Court. The
Constitutional Court recognized the government decision on alienation
of property of the residents of Buzand Street and North Avenue for
the development of Yerevan unconstitutional.

The decision of the Constitutional Court says that under the
Constitution of Armenia property can be alienated only on exclusive
superior public interest. In accordance with the decision of the
Constitutional Court, the property of the residents of Buzand Street
and North Avenue was alienated without sufficient statutory grounds
and a cause and effect relation between the national and community
interest and the necessity for alienation of property.

The Constitutional Court finds that in its famous decision the
government did not show that the alienation was based on exclusive
public interest. The Constitutional Court decided that the decision
of the government and the sections of the Civil and Land Codes of
Armenia the government decision emanated, are not consistent with
the Constitution of Armenia.

In accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court, by
October 1, 2006 the government and the National Assembly must adopt
necessary legislative acts to suspend the decision of the government
on alienation of the property of residents of Buzand Street and North
Avenue. The decision of the Constitutional Court cannot be appealed.

The residents who have lost their property considered this decision
their first victory. But it can also be their last victory, if it
is a victory at all. The point is that the decision is in favor of
the government rather than the residents. In fact, the decision on
recognizing the action of the government unconstitutional has no
retrospective force. In other words, no one will recover the losses
of residents. Of course, the persons who lost their property can sue
their property after October 1, when the decision of the government
is suspended. However, they may not have this opportunity either. The
problem is that the decision of the Constitutional Court is a new
circumstance to the case that enables the residents to sue their
property in the court of law. However, if the inconsistency between the
Civil Code and the Constitution of Armenia is eliminated by October
1, the decision of the Constitutional Court may not be considered a
new circumstance. Therefore, the joy of the residents might be early
and determined by their unawareness of legal procedures. And the
decision of the Constitutional Court may simply solve the question
of constitutionality for future alienation. This is, of course,
favorable for the residents, not for those residents who have lost
their property, however, but for the residents of the streets that
are found on the map of national needs.

Besides, the decision of the Constitutional Court favors the government
rather because it solves a minor problem and helps it to avoid the
snowball effect. Even the government recognized that alienation was
unconstitutional and it could not carry on. Besides, the government
could not change the regime of alienation set up by themselves. A
way out was found, which improved the image of the ombudsman, and
entitled the government to more legal alienation by virtue of the
decision of the Constitutional Court, necessary to sell the apartments
built currently. After all, the buyers will not buy apartments this
intensively, if the lawfulness of construction arouses suspicion.

BUSH SAYS WILL RAISE IRAN NUCLEAR ISSUE WITH HU

Tehran Times, Iran
April 18 2006

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he
will raise the issue of Iran’s nuclear program with China’s President
Hu Jintao later this week and refused to rule out nuclear retaliation
if diplomatic efforts fail.

Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful electricity
generation. Asked if his options included planning for a nuclear
strike, as some news reports have said, Bush replied: “All options
are on the table. We want to solve this issue diplomatically and we’re
working hard to do so.” Bush said the best way to deal with Iran was
through a united effort with countries “who recognize the danger of
Iran having a nuclear weapon.”

“I intend of course to bring the subject up of Iranian ambitions to
have a nuclear weapon with Hu Jintao this Thursday,” he told reporters
in the Rose Garden.

“We’ll continue to work diplomatically to get this problem solved.”

Azerbaijani leader to meet Bush on Iran

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will hold talks next week at the
White House with U.S. President George W. Bush on the impasse over
Iran’s nuclear program and other strategic issues in the Caspian
region, officials said on Tuesday.

The Azerbaijani leader will travel to Washington on Tuesday for an
official visit Wednesday and Thursday, Azeri presidential spokesman
Tair Tagizade said.

Aliyev will also meet other U.S. officials to discuss issues including
Iran, construction of oil and gas pipelines through Azerbaijan and
steps toward resolving Azerbaijan’s conflict with Armenia over the
enclave of Nagorno Karabakh, a diplomatic source in the president’s
office told AFP.

IRANIAN “EASTERNIZATION” IS STRONGER THAN TURKISH “WESTERNIZATION”
Hazem Saghieh Al-Hayat

Dar Al-Hayat, Lebanon
April 17 2006

Lying in the dark shadow of dealing with the US-Iranian issue is the
Turkish issue, and by extension, the Turkish-Kurdish issue.

If Washington and Tehran reach a settlement over Iraq, after a partial
military clash caused by Uranium enrichment, or even without this
enrichment, the issue of Turkish influence and interests in northern
Iraq will be raised. One of the geo-political constants that have
accompanied this region is the preservation of balance between the
Turkish and Iranian roles, whether extending toward Iraq or keeping
distant from it.

Currently, the probable course of this issue joins up with two other
courses, making the problem even more unstable.

With the creeping civil war in Iraq, the Kurds of the North might
survive; they have lived in a state of quasi-independence since
the secure zone was established there in 1992. The situation
was strengthened by the establishment of independent political
institutions, like a Parliament and autonomous government, as well
as the Kurds’ own political parties.

If this is added to what is taking place in terms of infrastructure,
economic development and security arrangements, the “separatist”
form involves a serious amount of content.

Perhaps Washington, if there is a total collapse in Iraq and the
reshaping of the country along communal spheres of influence, will
approach Iraqi Kurdistan as the “share” that it can retain and perhaps
transform into the model that was desired for the entire country.

However, all of this is connected to Turkey, to a great extent,
to the degree that American interests and its own become one. It is
a complex matter, naturally, which complicates the second direction
that further crisis is likely to take, a direction that involves the
relationship between Ankara and its Kurds. It was interesting to see
the situation explode, with no obvious introduction, in a way not seen
since 1994. The violent clashes between Kurdish fighters and Turkish
security forces led to the killing of 20 people in south-east Turkey
as well as Istanbul itself.

In fact, Ankara, under constant pressure from the European Union,
lifted the state of emergency in Kurdish regions and began paying
compensation to Kurds for the destruction of their villages by
the Turkish Army. The government also endorsed some cultural and
linguistic rights for the Kurds. This is of course insufficient,
especially since the economic despair that hovers over the Kurds of
Turkey, the widespread unemployment, low wages and lack of investment,
makes Kurdish anger an event to be anticipated. But the defeat of this
course is another thing altogether, quantitatively and qualitatively
different. In this sense, some observers fear that the recent clashes,
sparked by the funeral of 14 members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party,
was the beginning of a wide-scale deterioration, especially since
the KWP two years ago ended a unilateral truce that had lasted for
six years.

If things goes this way, and militarization and oppression return to
the southeast, Turkey’s desire to join the EU will be threatened again;
it is a desire about which doubts of its success are growing.

That said, the possibilities of “easternization” via Iran remain
stronger than the possibilities of “westernization” via Turkey. Even
if the Iraqi Shiite Coalition splits off, this possibility remains
“safer” and easier to travel.

Pure authoritarianism, which characterizes the Iranian state, makes
it a candidate for imperial expansion in a way that does not suit the
current nature of the Turkish state. Turkey has become a complicated
mixture of aspects that are authoritarian, democratic, nationalist and
Islamic, not to speak of civilian and military. In times of crisis,
the decisive entity wins out over the confused entity.

The Turkish stumbling is revealed in its points of contact with
all concerned parties, and all of the issues that concern them. It
reveals that the deadlocks practically represent impossibilities. If
relations with Europe are threatened because of the Kurds, in sympathy
with the Armenian genocide and the rest of the “human rights” agenda,
following the US policy will provoke the majority of people, which
will make the claim of democracy purely that – a claim.

Meanwhile, a just solution of the Kurdish problem will mobilize a
rainbow in Turkey consisting of the military, the nationalists, and
some Islamists; dealing with the matter through repression will weaken
any Turkish role in Iraqi Kurdistan, especially if the Kurdish-Turkoman
conflict there explodes, in parallel to the Kurdish-Arab conflict,
over Kirkuk.

The Iranian authorities appear to be united around Khamenei and
Ahmadinejad, while “opponents” like Rafsanjani and Khatami are out of
the spotlight. However, when these two are in line with the regime,
the Turkish authorities, after the fall of the one-sided Kemalism,
seem closer to coalitions that are made and broken on a daily basis
between the Islamists and the army, and the president of the Republic
and these two groups.

In this situation, it is said that what made democracy fail in Iraq
could make it fail in any part of the country, despite the good
thinking shown by the Kurds ever since their mid-1990s fighting.

However, the Kemalism of Turkey that involved modernization from
above requires some rethinking, about the ways it can be corrected
and the methods used.

If it is true that Turkey went too far in its anti-pluralistic
nationalism, especially regarding the Kurds, its militarism remains
more effective in a region that voted for Ahmadinejad as president.

These are certainly narrow options, and ones likely to provoke
despair. However, they put us face to face with certain questions:
Why, at a stone’s throw away from India, with its different experience,
has no instance of modernization arisen in our region, unless it comes
at the expense of freedom. And when freedom arises, modernization
collapses, while the nation either collapses or is paralyzed. This
question will be increasingly asked in the event of a wide-scale
military confrontation between Tehran and Washington, doing away
with the Khamenei regime or weakening it until it does away with
many of the above-mentioned hypotheses, without doing away with the
question itself.

HEAD OF GENERAL HEADQUARTERS OF RA ARMED FORCES SHARES HIS IMPRESSIONS
FROM COMMAND-HEADQUARTERS EXERCISES OF NKR DEFENCE ARMY WITH NKR
PRESIDENT

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 14, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On April 13, NKR
President Arkadi Ghukasian received RA Deputy Defence Minister, Head
of the General Headquarters of RA Armed Forces, Colonel-General Mikael
Haroutiunian who took part in the program army command-headquarters
exercises of NKR Defence Army as an observer. Sharing his impressions
from the preparatory stage and course of the exercises with Arkadi
Ghukasian, M.Haroutiunian said that what he saw is impressive but the
final estimation will be clear after summing up the results of the
exercises. Among other issues the interlocutors touched upon the
recent facts of violation of the cease-fire regime. Both sides
mentioned that such incidents hamper establishment of mutual
confidence between the parties. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the
Acting Spokesperson for NKR President, NKR Defence Minister,
Lieutenant-General Seyran Ohanian was also present at the meeting.

OSKANIAN AND FASSIER DISCUSSED KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.04.2006 00:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian met with OSCE Minsk
Group French co-chair Bernard Fassier, reports the Press Service of
the Armenian MFA. During the meeting the interlocutors discussed the
current situation in the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
as well as exchanged views on the prospects of the talks.

SOCIAL PROGRAM PLANNED AFTER BASE PULLOUT FROM AKHALKALAKI

Civil Georgia, Georgia
April 13 2006

Georgian Parliamentary Chair Nino Burjanadze said on April 13
that the authorities have a plan to employ the local population
of the predominately Armenian-populated town of Akhalkalaki, in
Samtskhe-Javakheti, which will be implemented simultaneously with
the withdrawal of Russian military base from there.

“The authorities have a precise plan about what to do to employ
the local residents currently working at the military base [in
Akhalkalaki]… The government is discussing concrete proposals,
according to which food processing enterprises will be opened in
Akhalkalaki that will create new jobs,” Burjanadze said at the April
13 parliamentary session dedicated to discussion on the March 31
Russian-Georgian agreement on the withdrawal of Russian military bases.

According to the agreement, the Akhalkalaki military base should be
pulled out before December 31, 2007.

“Although certain forces tried to use the local population to express
protest against the pullout of bases, the majority of the [Akhalkalaki]
population met Georgia’s national interests with understanding,”
Burjanadze said on April 13.

KARABAKH SETTLEMENT TALKS GOING IN NEW FORMAT – ALIYEV

ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 12 2006

BAKU, April 12 (Itar-Tass) – The talks on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
settlement are going in a new format that meets the national interests
of Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev has said.

He said at one of border outposts in the northwest of Azerbaijan on
Wednesday that the new format also “creates a basis for territorial
integrity of the country”.

“We don’t want war, but we are building our military potential for
strengthening security of the country. Our military expenditures are
with growing with its growth too, Aliyev said.

He added that the state budget had increased “four times over the
past four years”.

Aliyev stressed the importance of strengthening the state border,
saying that in the globalisation period, “threats and dangers are
arising: terrorism, illicit drug turnover and contraband”.

“Our borders should be open for friends and closed for enemies.

Azerbaijan should be able to defend itself and the Azerbaijani people
should live in security”.

The president promised that the state would allocate in 2006-07
additional funds for equipment of borders.

He said that “by strengthening its borders, Azerbaijan strengthens
its security”.

US-IRAN STAND-OFF NOT ON ALIYEV’S VISIT AGENDA

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 12 2006

The Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict will be in
spotlight during President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to the United States
late in April.

The US-Iran tension is not likely to be tabled, a presidential
administration official has said, despite earlier reports suggesting
otherwise.

“The visit has long been planned. But parliamentary elections and
similar issues have led to its delay,” the head of the President’s
Office socio-political department, Ali Hasanov, told reporters Tuesday.

He said the US-Azeri multi-lateral relations are developing in the
form of strategic partnership.

“Azerbaijan is implementing a peacekeeping mission alongside the U.S.

in the hot spots around the world – Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Moreover, the country is involved in the energy and global transport
communication projects in the South Caucasus region jointly with the
United States.”

The official continued that Azerbaijan is working hard to achieve its
admission to the World Trade Organization and the U.S. supports these
efforts. The country also maintains ties with American institutions
to promote democratization and civil society building on its soil.

Hasanov said the Azeri leader’s upcoming visit aims to discuss the
course of cooperation and future prospects for bilateral ties. He
said the discussions will focus on the Garabagh problem as well.

“The key principles for the conflict resolution should be outlined
and certain pressure applied to solve the conflict. Azerbaijan adheres
to firm principles in this respect that we will never back away from.”

Hasanov dismissed the reports that the US-Iran tension will be
discussed during President Aliyev’s visit.

“I don’t believe the Iran issue will be the main topic of the talks
between the two countries. Our ties with Iran are just as good as
those with the United States. Iran is a neighboring country and we
share common culture. Our citizens have close ties with this country.”

The official did not rule out that the US-Iran relations will be free
of third-party involvement.

1ST RA OMBUDSWOMEN TO BE INVITED TO DISCUSSION OF REPORT ON ACTIVITIES OF OMBUDSMAN IN 2005

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
April 11 2006

YEREVAN, April 11. /ARKA/. The first RA Ombudswomen Larisa Alaverdyan
will be invited to discussion of the report on the activities of
the RA Ombudsman and violations in the sphere of human rights in
2005, according to the Speaker of the RA National Assembly Arthur
Baghdasaryan. “Alaverdyan will be officially invited to discussion and
she will be also given right to make a speech”, Baghdasaryan stated.

Report about the activities of the Ombudsman in 2005 is included in
the agenda of the 4-day session of the RA NA.

Deadline of authorities of the RA Ombudswoman Larisa Alaverdya expired
on January 5, 2006. New ombudsman of Armenia was elected candidate
of the ruling coalition of Armenia, rector of the Academy of State
Governing of Armenia Armen Harutyunyan on February 17, 2006.