Author: Navasardian Karapet

Posted 09/26/05 09:39

Armenia Bolsters Air Force With 10 Russian Fighters
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, YEREVAN

Armenia has taken delivery of 10 new Russian-made SU fighter jets as part of
a program to update its air force, Armenian Defense Minister Spokesperson
Seiran Shakhsuvaryan said Sept. 26.

“The purpose… is to update the air fleet. We previously had a total of six
such fighters,” the minister told AFP.

He added that the purchase was in compliance with international agreements
limiting the size of conventional forces in Europe.

Armenia’s arch-rival Azerbaijan has been building up its armed forces,
saying it may one day need to use force to retake territory seized by
Armenia in a conflict in the 1990s – should bilateral talks on the problem
fail.

Of the three South Caucasus countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia –
Armenia has maintained the closest ties with Moscow since the end of Soviet
rule in 1991.

Turkey muzzles speech

The Globe and Mail, Canada

Sept 26 2005

Editorial

It is still a crime to speak freely about the past in Turkey. Earlier
this month a Turkish prosecutor charged leading novelist Orhan Pamuk
with denigrating the Turkish identity, for having said, in an
interview with a Swiss newspaper, that the genocidal killing of
Armenians in 1915 is a historical fact. Then on Thursday, a Turkish
court tried to ban an academic conference on the events of 90 years
ago. It also made an outrageous demand to review the credentials of
each participant at the conference.

The freedom to think loses meaning if a person can’t speak his
thoughts and share them with others. Mr. Pamuk is sometimes mentioned
as a possible Nobel laureate. His most recent novel, Snow, was lauded
by Margaret Atwood in a front-page New York Times Book Review last
year. Speaking up, as he has done, may shape the thoughts of others.
Those others may in turn have something to say. The freedom to
inquire into a nation’s past is closely linked to the freedom to
think.

The genocide is, as Mr. Pamuk says, a historical fact,
well-established in diplomatic reports and news dispatches at the
time (Canadians were so distressed they made an exception to their
discriminatory immigration rules and took in 100 Armenian orphans in
the 1920s) and affirmed since then by independent historians.

Mr. Pamuk’s willingness to challenge the official truth is one
encouraging sign of change. Another is that the academics that the
court wished to silence said they would go ahead anyway at a
different venue. As Turkey presses on with its bid to join the
European Union, it will find that the country is increasingly
buffeted by currents of thought it cannot control.

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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 MEETS WITH ARMENIAN ORGANIZATIONS IN MONTREAL

“ANTELIAS’ PRAYER IS COMMITMENT, STRUGGLE AND SERVICE”

SAYS THE PONTIFF

His Holiness Aram I met with around 250 leaders and representatives from
the Armenian community of Montreal on September 2005.

Representatives from Montreal’s Armenian political, cultural, educational,
social, sports’ and youth organizations and unions, religious officials,
teachers of Sunday Schools, members of their boards of trustees greeted His
Holiness in the “Aharonian” hall of Montreal’s Armenian Center (“Hay
Getron”).

Viken Tufenkjian delivered the opening remarks, speaking about His
Holiness’ 10-year tenure. Tufenkjian highlighting the wide scope of the work
carried out during this time and the flourishing of the Catholicosate of
Cilicia with all its dioceses as a result.

Tufenkjian also spoke about His Holiness’ international, ecumenical
activities, due to which the Armenian Church and the Catholicosate claimed
their rightful place in the community of churches.

Prelate Archbishop Khajag Hagopian then invited His Holiness to have an
honest discussion with the representatives of the community about issues
related to the Armenian Church and the nation’s collective life.

His Holiness welcomed the attendants, extending his Pontifical blessings
to them. He spoke about the role of the Armenian Church vis-à-vis the
challenges of the current world.

“Our church has an urgent need of reform. Today’s world has changed and
our church should adopt measures suitable to the current circumstances so
its service would be more effective,” said His Holiness.

His Holiness also spoke about the necessity of approaching the youth and
listening to their expectations. “The church is not a regular institution;
it’s a mission, a movement. Therefore, it has to approach the youth, not
only attracting them but also involving them in its mission.”

“Christian education should adopt new methods particularly in passing the
church’s moral teachings to Armenian children. Today’s religions should work
together to bring out the common aspects of their moral teachings and to
face the challenges of the current world,” stated His Holiness.

The Catholicos expressed his thoughts on Armenia-Diaspora cooperation. His
Holiness considered the strong Diaspora, which has preserved its Armenian
identity, as imperative for the strengthening of Armenia. His Holiness
assured that the true path for Armenia and the Diaspora is for each to
carefully carry out its role.

His Holiness Aram I also spoke about the efforts for the restoration of
the Armenian nation’s life and the work carried out within the context of
the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. He highlighted the role of
the Catholicosate of Cilicia in this respect in the past decades.

“The church has a right to pursue this just cause, because it is the
foremost protector of human rights. Second, as a national church our church
can not remain indifferent to our nation’s suffering. Third, the
Catholicosate of Cilicia is itself a victim of the Armenian Genocide; with
its people, it is the holder of its rights and will therefore be the pursuer
of those rights until their restoration,” said His Holiness.

At the end of the meeting His Holiness questions related to national,
ecclesiastical, ecumenical and political issues concerning the Armenian
nation’s collective aims and worries.

Similar meetings are scheduled to take place with the youth in many cities
within the three dioceses of Northern America.

##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the dioceses 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.

ARMINFO News Agency
September 24, 2005

ALL UNRECOGNIZED CIS STATES ADVOCATE KARABAKH’S INDEPENDENCE FROM
AZERBAIJAN

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 24. ARMINFO. The last Moscow scientific
conference “Parallel CIS: Abkhazia, Transdniestria, South Ossetia and
Nagorny Karabakh as Post-Soviet Area Realities” has been discussed at
the discussion club of the Helsinki Initiative – 92 NGO (NKR).

Invited to the discussion was one of the conferees, NKR presidential
advisor David Babayan who noted that the representatives of all the
unrecognized CIS sates were unanimous that Nagorny Karabakh must be
independent from Azerbaijan.

Babayan said that the Nagorny Karabakh conflict is very specific –
there is no as full independence awareness in either Abkhazia, South
Ossetia or Transdniestria as there is in Nagorny Karabakh. All of
them seem to just want to secede from one state and accede to another
which is not the case with Nagorny Karabakh. Besides NKR is far ahead
of them in both economy and state building.

Before the conference there had been reports that Nagorny Karabakh
was trying to estrange itself from the other unrecognized states
which was reportedly not as much the wish of Stepanakert as of
Yerevan. But there is no pressure on Nagorny Karabakh by Armenia. On
the conrary it is Nagorny Karabakh who has influence on Armeia. The
idea of Artsakh’s (Nagorny Karabakh) independence was the basis of
Armenia as a republic and the sovereign and idependent NKR is the
embodiment of this idea. Whoever in power in Armenia the idea of
Nagorny Karabakh will be the key stone of Armenia’s state policy.

Mediamax news agency, Yerevan, in Russian
24 Sep 05

ARMENIA BUYS 10 WAR PLANES – DEPUTY MINISTER

Yerevan, 24 September: The Armenian air force recently received 10
war planes, Armenian Deputy Defence Minister Lt-Gen Artur Agabekyan
told reporters today. However, he refused to say where the planes
were bought from.

He said that all the country’s military hardware, both existing and
purchased, is quite efficient and additional money is being spent to
improve it. He went on to say that munitions need to constantly
updated. “This is an everyday task of the armed forces,” he said.

The Armenian armed forces are equipped mainly with Russia-made
hardware.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
September 23, 2005 Friday

Interenergo to control Armenian electricity distribution grid

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

The Armenian government has decided to transfer the entire stock of
the republican electricity distribution grid to Interenergo – a
component of the Unified Energy System of Russia, Armenian Energy
Minister Armen Movsesian told a Friday press conference in Yerevan.

He said the Unified Energy System of Russia would assume all the
commitments of the current owner of the republican electricity
distribution grid, the British-based Midland Resources. The British
company suggested the stock transfer two weeks ago.

The minister denied claims that the Unified Energy System of Russia
would allegedly become the monopoly on the Armenian energy market. He
said the Russian company produces only 10% of the republican
electricity.

On June 23 Interenergo acquired the right to 99-year control over the
Armenian electricity network with $73 million.

The Independent (UK)

Armenian rebuke deals blow to Turks’ EU ambition

By Stephen Castle in Brussels
Published: 24 September 2005

Turkey received a direct rebuke from the European Commission yesterday
after a court ruling prompted the cancellation of a conference of
historians to discuss the massacre of Armenians early in the last century.

Coming just 10 days before Ankara is due to open EU membership
negotiations the judgement prompted an unusually blunt condemnation from
the Commission, which described it as “yet another provocation”.

Last night efforts were under way to salvage the conference and bypass
the legal ruling by holding it today at a new location.

But the judgement, which was condemned by the Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, is a reminder of how far Turkey still needs to travel to
guarantee freedom of expression.

Evidence of the power of the conservatives in Turkish society is likely
to embolden critics of the country’s EU membership bid. However Ankara’s
supporters say that internal reforms will only continue if Turkey is
given the prospect of joining the bloc.

The row is unlikely to derail plans to start EU membership negotiations
on 3 October in Luxembourg. The two leading sceptics over Turkey’s EU
membership, France and Cyprus, have been placated by language in a
declaration stating that Ankara must recognise Cyprus before it joins
the EU. Austria is isolated in its efforts to inject a new pledge that
the negotiations could lead to a “privileged partnership” instead of
full membership.

But the European Commission’s spokeswoman for enlargement, Krisztina
Nagy, said: “We strongly deplore this new attempt to prevent Turkish
society from freely discussing its history. The timing of this decision
the day before the opening of the conference looks like yet another
provocation.” She said the cancellation “illustrates the difficulties of
Turkey, and in particular of the judiciary, to ensure effective and
uniform implementation of the reforms”. The killing of Armenians during
the collapse of the Ottoman Empire remains a sensitive issue. A number
of countries have recognised the massacres as genocide though that
description is flatly rejected by Turkey.

The furore comes after a legal case against one of Turkey’s most
acclaimed writers, Orhan Pamuk who has been charged with insulting the
country’s national character. The trial, arising out of comments made on
Turkey’s killing of Armenians and Kurds, could lead to a prison sentence
of up to three years.

The conference, which had already been postponed once, was scheduled to
be held at Bogazici University. Aydin Ugur, president of Istanbul Bilgi
University, said the gathering would take place this morning at Bilgi.
He said the court’s order was directed at two other universities, and
had “nothing to do with Bilgi”. But Laurent Leylekian, executive
director of the European Armenian Federation, said: “We would be
surprised if this kind of conference takes place in Turkey. There is no
will in the government to open the Armenian file because this issues is
deeply linked with the founding of the Turkish republic.”

One EU diplomat described the ruling as “stupid” but added: “It is not
going to cause a problem between now and 3 October. The EU has been very
ready to criticise but not so ready to come through with its
commitments.” The Commission said it would note the issue in its annual
report on candidate countries which is used as a yardstick of the
membership preparation.
—-__ListP

Pan Armenian News

RUSSIAN INTERIOR MINISTER ARRIVING IN YEREVAN SEPTEMBER 29

20.09.2005 07:21

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Rashid Nurgaliyev
will visit Armenia September 29. He will take part in the session of the CIS
Council of Ministers of Internal Affairs. In the course of the session the
parties will discuss issues important to the Council member states,
specifically those referring to struggle against organized crime, illegal
turnover of drugs and psychotropic substances, trafficking. R. Nurgaliyev
will leave Yerevan September 30, reported IA Regnum.

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Sept 21 2005

Defying Swiss police, Perincek addresses Armenian conference

Lausanne – Attempts yesterday by Swiss police to block Workers’ Party
(IP) leader Dogu Perincek from holding a conference on the so-called
Armenian genocide were unsuccessful.

It was learned that prior to Perincek’s arrival to the hall to
address the conference, Swiss police warned him not to deny the
so-called Armenian genocide. If Perincek speaks about the
controversial issue and this includes an element of crime, as defined
by Swiss law, this would be added to the ongoing investigation on
him.

In July, Perincek was interrogated after he denied the Armenian
genocide claims. The Lausanne Prosecutor’s Office has asked Perincek
to come in for a second round of questioning.

Perincek: Switzerland is biased on Armenian issue

Following the unsuccessful attempts by Swiss police, Perincek
addressed the controversial Armenian issue during his speech, and
said, “Switzerland has accused Turkey of committing genocide without
verifying historical facts and in a biased way.”

Perincek called on Switzerland to conduct a serious investigation
into the Armenian issue. It was unjust to accuse a nation of
“committing genocide” without thoroughly examining events that
happened 90 years ago, he said.

“Turks never committed genocide, on the contrary Armenians — under
the command of Russians — committed a genocide on Turks who were
trying to defend their country,” Perincek said.

Swiss police were present at Perincek’s speech and videotaped it to
add it to the prosecutor’s investigation.

Perincek will hold a press conference in Zurich after first speaking
with the Lausanne Prosecutor’s Office today.

In related news, an investigation was previously this year opened in
Switzerland against Professor Yusuf Halacoglu, the Turkish Historical
Society (TTK) head, for his rejection of the so-called Armenian
genocide allegations. He later said he was wanted by Interpol, a
claim the international police organization flatly denied.

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CANADA: ARMENIA JOINS INTERNATIONAL DAIRY FEDERATION

just-food.com, UK
Sept 20 2005

The International Dairy Federation has announced the accession of
Armenia, its 42nd member, at its General Assembly in Vancouver.

Armenia is a country with a very ancient dairying history, the IDF
said. The famous tradition of dairying in the Caucasus region began
some 2000 years ago with the preparation of fermented milk mainly on
the basis of ewes’ milk.

Armenia, as a former Soviet republic, participated in the activities
of IDF for many decades. The country suffered from a major earthquake
that destroyed large parts of the infrastructure, including the dairy
sector, almost completely in 1988. It took several years to rebuild
infrastructure and electricity supply.

The newly formed Armenian National Committee comprises members
representing dairy production, processors, education, consumers and
government. Ashot Apoyan, has been appointed to take the lead and will
occupy the position of the first president of the Armenian National
Committee IDF.

Armenia also gains access to IDF’s worldwide network of 1200 leading
experts in all aspects of dairying.