Author: Tashjian Arbi

THREE-DAY EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN HISTORIC AND CULTURAL MONUMENTS

ArmrRadio.am
18.04.2006 15:48

“Nikol Aghbalyan” Students’ Union of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation is organizing a three-day exhibition of Armenian historic
and cultural monuments, which are currently on the territories of
neighboring countries.

A similar exhibition was organized also in 2005. The former and
current state of Armenian monuments in Azerbaijan, Nakhijevan,
Georgia and Western Armenia and Iran is presented at the exhibition.

GUEST WITH NO FUTURE
by Andrey Semyaninov

Kommersant, Russia
April 17 2006

The first foreign soccer coach in Russia signed his contract on April
14. He is Dutchman Guus Hiddink. Fifteen trainers for the national
teams of seven countries of the former Soviet Union have been hired.

Almost all of them ended up the same.

Photo:

Former Soviet Republics Make Strides in Soccer Independence

Georgia has been the most strident of the former Soviet republics for
soccer independence. It withdrew from the championship of the USSR in
1990, even before the Baltic republics, and hired its first foreign
coach, also from The Netherlands, in 1998. Former Belgian Genk coach
Johan Boskamp was brought in to coach Tbilisi Dynamo. Although he
didn’t speak a word of Georgian or Russian, and the players did not
know any other languages, things went not badly. Boskamp, a protege
of Dutch coach Rinus Michels, believed that discipline was the secret
to success, and with that philosophy, Dynamo became the champion
of Georgia. More accurately, it remained the champion of Georgia,
since it almost always was in any case.

Then the Georgian Football Federation decided to try an experiment,
which it later regretted. Boskamp, while remaining Dynamo coach, was
also made head coach of the national team. Here there were team members
from Western Europe who did speak other languages. When Boskamp began
to berate the stars of Georgian soccer for lateness, missed practices
and drinking, there was a problem. Some of the players were driven off
the team by Boskamp, others refused to play for him. Georgia finished
in last place in the qualifying round for the Europe 2000 championship.

Photo:

Georgia risked taking on another foreign coach in the spring of 2003.

Croat Ivo Susak retraced Boskamp’s path from Dynamo to the national
team. He beat the Russian national team 1:0 in his first match,
for which is became the third foreigner to be awarded the title of
Distinguished Trainer of Georgia (along with French rugby coach Claude
Saurel and Russian figure skating coach Elena Chaikovskaya).

That initial victory over Russia was not repeated at the return game
in Moscow, and Georgia finished last in its group again. President of
the Georgia Football Federation Merab Jordania suggested that Susak
restrict himself to a single team, and he chose Dynamo. For lack of
anyone else, Jordania became the coach of the national team.

The next foreigner to head the Georgian national team was Frenchman
Alain Giresse, who is determined to take the Georgians to the 2006
world championship. In the course of a year under Giresse, the team
made five points in seven games and the Frenchman, who had taken
part in the 1982 world championship, was sent packing. Jordania
couldn’t replace him this time, because he was being held by the
law on suspicion of corruption. In February 2006, another foreign
trainer, German Klaus Toppmoller, who led Bayer to the final of the
League of Champions, came with the promise of taking Georgia to the
2008 European championship.

Armenian also tried making foreigners coach of the country’s best
team and the national team. There are two points to the doubles
appointment. First, the foreigner becomes better acquainted with the
local soccer scene, and he gets two salaries.

Therefore, when Argentine Oscar Lopez arrived in Yerevan in 2002,
he was immediately entrusted with the local Punic club in addition
to the national team. President of the Armenian Football Federation
Ruben Hayrapetyan said at the time that “Lopez is the only person who
can lead Armenia to the next championship of Europe.” The Argentine
also assured Armenian fans that it would only be two years “before
the phoenix arose.” Six months later, Lopez asked for a 150 percent
raise in his two salaries, and the flight of the phoenix was cancelled.

Photo:

Romanian Mihai Stoichita stepped in to earn both of Lopez’s unraised
salaries, and left only good memories behind. He was able to win two
out of the six matches he led (Lopez left at zero for two) then stepped
out again with a polite explanation about family complications. Those
complications turned out to be an invitation from the French club
Bordeaux, but it didn’t hire him any way.

Next Armenia hired two Frenchmen at once, the great player for
Marseille Bernard Casoni as head coach and Bernard Pardo as coach.

Casoni was also known for his role in the corruption case against
Marseille president Bernard Tapie and Pardo for drug smuggling. But
Pardo was of Armenian ancestry. Those are the details that they
are best remembered for. After winning one match and tying another,
they too were fired. In May 2005, Dutchman Henk Wisman was hired in
the two positions. Punic won the championship of Armenia, and the
national team won one match out of eight. The Armenian federation
fired Wisman tow weeks ago.

The closest comparison to Russia’s invitation to Hiddink can be made
in Estonia. They only name Dutchmen coach of their national team in
Estonia. Arno Pijpers worked there from 2000 to 2004, longer than any
other foreign coach in the former Soviet Union. His highest attainment
previous to his Estonian appoint was as assistant to Euro 2000 Dutch
team coach Frank Rijkaard. And he was personally acquainted with
Rinus Michels, of course. Pijpers, who held that “a soccer player
should be taught to work with the ball until age 17, and only then
physically and tactically encumbered,” was simultaneously coach of
the national team and Estonia’s best local club, Flora, which became
the main source of fresh blood for the national team.

Estonia’s has thus been the only post-Soviet team to gain from having
a foreign coach. Nonetheless, the Dutchman’s performance is a source
of conflicting opinion in Estonia. He turned the team around. In the
qualifying round for the 2002 world championship, the team passed
Andorra and Cyprus. But the better adapted Pijpers got to Estonia,
the more scandals came up. By the end of his four-year contract,
Pijpers had spoiled his relations with almost everyone in Estonia. It
was only possible to be picked for the national team from Flora.

Players from other teams were taken on only for Pijpers throw them
out with a bang. Flora and national team members were subject to
an unbearable prohibition of profane language. Pijpers ceaselessly
criticized members of the Estonian Football Association on television
and in the papers. The prickly Pijpers then let it be known that his
salary would have to be raised by a third – if, that is, they wanted
him to sign a new contract.

Guus Hiddink Hopes to Put Russia on the True Path

“He just couldn’t stand it that some damn Estonians had the nerve
to break it of with him,” vice president of the Estonian Football
Association Aivar Pohlak recounted. “There are no two ways about it.

Hiring Pijpers was a big mistake for Estonia.”

The biggest winner from that mistake was Pijper’s assistant and former
Dutch soldier Jelle Goes, who became head coach. They are happy with
Goes, with whom the team has passed Luxembourg, Lichtenstein and,
importantly, Latvia.

Pijpers found work in Kazakhstan. The Dutchman mentioned his training
under Rinus Michels, promised to make the Kazakh national team feared
throughout Europe and was made coach of the national team and local
leader Zhenis at the same time.

The Azeri national team has tried to improve the performance of
its national team with a foreign coach as well. In 2004, Carlos
Alberto, who coached the world champion Brazilian team in 1970, was
hired. But the gulf between Pele and the Azeri players unhinged Alberto
somewhat. In June 2005, when Azerbaijan lost to Poland 3:0 at home,
its fifth loss with only two ties besides in the qualifying round,
Alberto made a gesture that was later described as “shaking his fist”
at the reserve referee. Alberto got a double whammy when he was fired
right in the stadium for the loss, and the FIFA disqualified him and he
could no longer work in Europe. His losing streak continued in Brazil
then, where he led a club into the second league, for which he was
fired, but not before getting in trouble with the local federation
for insulting a referee.

Foreign trainers did not help the national team in Latvia very much
either, although they found a way to put the good qualities of the
foreign specialist to good use there. (The Russian team won’t be able
to do the same with Hiddink.) The Latvian team was led by Englishman
Gary Johnson from 1999 to 2001. His assistant was Alexander Starkov,
who later became head coach of the team, sensationally taking them
to the Championship of Europe in 2004 before moving over to the
Russian Spartak.

The former Watford coach maintained good relations in his homeland,
and six Latvian soccer players found work on English teams while
Johnson coached the Latvian national team. Those players’ careers
depended on Johnson completely. To work in England, a soccer player
has to demonstrate his professional qualifications by paying in no
less than 75 percent of their national team’s matches in a calendar
year. The qualified players in the English premiere league later
fired Johnson when he was unable to beat San Marino at home.

The fashion for foreign coaches even reached Central Asia before
it hit Russia. German Heinz-Jurgen Geode rose through Uzbek soccer
gradually. He started as coach of the national youth team. Then he
became a consultant for the national team when the team was striving
to participate in the 2006 world championship.

Like most of the other foreign coaches in the former USSR, Geode had
worked with a famous coach in the past. He was an assistant to Udo
Lattek on Schalke 04, although he had worked independently only in
the championship of Iran. It was more prestigious and more profitable
to work for Uzbekistan. Just as a consultant for the national team
he earned at least $50,000 a month (according to local rumor). Like
many coaches, consultants and so on working abroad, he brought a
brigade of assistants with him from Germany. According to Geode, they
followed him to Uzbekistan without any expectation of remuneration –
purely for the sake of the rebirth of Uzbek soccer.

Team Members Have Shown More than One Coach that They Can Go Their
Own Way

Geode’s happiness became complete in January 2005, when he was finally
officially appointed coach of the Uzbek national team. But he did
not remain in that post for long. Within two months, Geode and all
his associates were dismissed for “obvious miscalculations.”

Uzbekistan had only tied one match out of three in the final round of
the Asian zone before the championship of the world. Rumor also has
it that they didn’t pay the Germans when they tore up their contract.

Three months later, Geode had been replaced by Englishman Bob Houghton,
who was best known for becoming coach of the Swedish Malmo at age 32
and taking it to the champions’ cup final in 1978/79. In the succeeding
26 years, Houghton’s best job had been with the Saudi Arabian club Al
Ittihad and in China, where was assistant to Boris Milutinovich. At
the time of his appointment, the Uzbek team had lost one match and
tied another.

Not all was lost though. They had to beat Kuwait at home and then
Bahrain and Trinidad and Tobago on aggregate. The Englishman cleared
the first hurdle. He almost made it across the second, but fell victim
to outrageous fate. The hosts won the first Uzbekistan-Bahrain match
1:0 and even made a penalty goal, but the Japanese referee not only
refused, in violation of all the rules, to count it, because of a
technical error, but he refused to allow the team another try. The
Uzbeks appealed to the FIFA, but with fatal results. The FIFA agreed
that the referee’s mistakes were egregious and ordered a rematch,
which ended 1:1. The return game ended 0:0 and Bahrain, even though
it lost 1:3, continued on. Houghton’s contract was not renewed. He
had been considered only a temporary appointment. He was replaced
by Russian Valery Nepomnyashchy. Nepomnyashchy, while not exactly
from distant shores, was as much a cosmopolitan as the rest of the
foreign coaches in the former Soviet Union. In his 20-year career,
he had only worked in Russia for three months.

Hiddink compares well with the other hapless foreign coaches. He has
participated in the final stage of the world championship twice, and
will do so again soon. He led his native Holland to the quarterfinal,
Korea to the semifinal, and in two months he will try to achieve
success with Australia. He has also repeatedly participated in the
League of Champions and has been with Real.

He has somewhere to go back to too. He has been in the PSV Eindhoven
system for more than 20 years. His globetrotting has not been in
search of cushy jobs in exotic locations but at the behest of soccer
headhunters.

Hiddink won’t try to establish himself artificially in this exotic
location. He will work on the Russian national team (as he does
on the Australian) on a rotational basis. There is an upside and a
downside to this approach, but the potential for conflict is greatly
reduced. Local coaches ever like a foreign colleague, and the local
candidates for the post have already made angry denouncements of the
very ideas of a foreign coach on the Russian national team.

Therefore, the farther from the public eye a foreigner remains and
the less he becomes involved in local soccer, the better it will be
for him, the fewer the opportunities will be to get at him.

Hiddink, like the majority of the unsuccessful coaches, does not know
Russia. Nor is it necessarily true that he understands the mentality
of the players. Like his predecessors, he too will be forced to choose
from just 30-40 Russian citizens who are able to play soccer at that
level. That number is continually falling, and the hiring of Guus
Hiddink may be a final attempt to avoid the fate of the Georgian and
Armenians teams.

An Interview With British Journalist Robert Fisk
A meeting with the Middle East correspondent of The Independent of London

Horizon Weekly, Canada
April 14, 2006

By Aris Babikian

Earlier this year renowned British journalist Robert Fisk recently published
`The Great War For Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East,’ an
outstanding book on the recent history of the Middle East. In a 50-page
chapter on the Armenian Genocide, Fisk deftly condensed the 90-year-old
history of the Genocide with fairness, rendering justice to the victims and
to the survivors of the first genocide of the 20th century. The extensive
chapter covered the history, the circumstances, the betrayal, the cover up,
the denial, and the political intrigues behind the Armenian Genocide.

During his visit to Toronto to promote the book, we met him to discuss his
views on the Armenian Genocide.

Aris Babikian: Reading your chapter `The First Holocaust’ on the Armenian
Genocide, I was amazed by your ability to encapsulate the complex history of
the Armenian Genocide in 50 pages. Can you tell me how did you stumble on
the Armenian Genocide? What was your motivation in exploring the calamity?

Robert Fisk: The book is partly about the First World War and the results of
that war. I realized, because my father was a soldier in the First World
War – he took part in the Gallipoli landing, that the Armenian Genocide took
place in a context of that war, not a civil war.

When I first arrived to Lebanon in 1976, during the civil war there, I
become aware of the Armenian Community. Armenians were playing this
difficult role, being neither with the Christian Falange nor with the Moslem
and Palestinian militia. So I started to meet Armenians, at that stage – in
`76. There were still Armenian Genocide/ Holocaust survivors then. I call it
Holocaust with capital H, just like I call the Jewish Holocaust with capital
H. At that stage the Armenian Genocide was not my main issue. I was
covering the civil war. But then I went to Anjar. I saw this Armenian city.
I learnt about Mousa Dagh, and gradually while covering the Lebanese war,
the Iraq-Iran war, the Iranian Revolution, I noticed that always there were
Armenians on the periphery. The Armenian Community invited me to visit their
community centres in Tehran and in Northern Syria, in Kamishly. As the years
went by I learnt more and more about the Armenian Genocide and came to
realize clearly it prefigured the Jewish Holocaust, as well. It was a while
before I realized how closely it prefigured the Jewish Holocaust . . . the
fact that the rail cars, the box cars to transfer the Armenians by rail, the
fact that German diplomats had seen the Armenian Genocide, and later the
same scenes popping up in Eastern Europe – the killing of the Jews by the
Wehrmacht or the SS . . . it is clear lines of direct contact between that
Armenian Genocide and the second genocide of that century.

Then I went to the Syrian Desert and to Deir ez Zorr. This was in 1993. It
was a major photo story. I went with French photographer, to do pictures on
the Genocide and what had happened in the northern Syrian Desert. The story
is in the book. We went looking for this hill called Halgada. We knew about
it from an old Armenian lady . . . the location of where her family was
killed, next to the Khabur River. But there was nothing next to the Khabur
River. It was only when we got to the top of the hill that we realized the
Khabur River has moved about a mile to the east since 1915. Perhaps because
of the number of bodies in it. There must have been heavy rainstorms; I was
wondering around what must have been once an island in the river. Isabel
[the photographer] was walking down a newly cut hillside. She said: `Robert,
Robert come here.’ I went across the top of the hill. At first I thought
she was in trouble. As I walked towards her I saw the side of the hill was
lined with skeletons. Some of them with bits of materials on the bones. They
were tied together. I used my car key to pull the skull . . . there were
teeth of young people, of women and children, as well as men. So, we found
the killing fields.

Later on they took me up to these caves where the Turks had lit bonfires
outside to set the smoke into [the caves] and to asphyxiate Armenians in the
world’s first gas chambers. We made a huge report on this and, off course,
endured the usual hate mail from Turkey. At that time, we are talking about
1993, it wasn’t normal for British newspaper or any newspaper to do a big
investigation on the Armenian Holocaust. I saw it as an outrageous
injustice. You know the Jews of Europe have quite rightly received
compensation for their Holocaust. The Germans have owned up and constantly
apologized for that Holocaust. But the Turks don’t want admit to the
Armenian Genocide. They paid nothing, and they went on saying that it was
the fault of the victims and that there was no Genocide, anyway. I still
think that unless there is full acknowledgment by the Turkish authorities
that their Ottoman Turkish predecessors carried out the Holocaust/Genocide .
. . I think the outrageous nature of the denial of this Genocide–as a
political issue – is almost as deplorable as the actual genocide originally.

It’s outrageous that the American press, which exposed the original
Genocide, should have spent so many years recently giving the Turkish point
of view and denials. It is a shameful piece of journalism. Can you imagine
running a story saying that 6 million Jews died in Europe and many Germans
say it did not happen. We will never write that; we will never dream of
that.

AB : As a journalist, why you think that the international media has a
double standard when it comes to the Armenian Genocide – even though some of
these newspapers, you mentioned the New York Times, and here in Canada the
Globe and Mail, have plenty of archives on this issue.

RF: You know, the Globe and Mail carried an article by me about the Genocide
and deleted the word `Genocide’ and included `tragedy.’ When I talked to
them I was told that it was done by an editor… as if that is an excuse.

AB: Why do you think so much of the international media has a double
slandered on this topic?

RF: Because Turkey is in NATO and because the media have this balancing act.
They don’t associate the Genocide with the Holocaust. That is why I call it
the Armenian Holocaust. Also, because journalists think they are giving
balance to everything. Anyone who denied anything gets in the newspaper his
denial. He gets 50% of the story. Which is ridiculous. We wouldn’t allow the
Germans to deny the Jewish Holocaust; why would we allow the Turks to deny
the Armenian Holocaust? And it is also the gutless sense of American
journalism, to go along with the authorities. The attitude is this: since
the U.S administration is not prepared to call it a Genocide that’s
sufficient for us not mess with our Turkish allies our, NATO ally. Right? We
need them for their air bases. So, why upset them? Look what happened to
France. The moment the National Assembly brought the Armenian Genocide to
the table and said it happened, they lost so much, so many economic
agreements [between Turkey and major French companies] including weapon
agreements were cancelled. Lockheed and Boeing are not going to support the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. So it is very much an economic thing.
The fact that the New York Times, which exposed the Armenian Genocide in the
first place, should now spend so many paragraphs to Turkish denials is
amazing.

AB: Do you think that the concept of uniqueness of the Holocaust in certain
circles within the Jewish community and the Jewish diaspora has anything to
do with the issue of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide?

RF: We know that Shimon Perez has publicly stated it was not Genocide. It is
in my book. He was admonished, quite rightly so, by Israel Charny, the
Holocaust scholar. He [Charny] does not want to be associated with the Perez
statement. Mr. Charny is a very moral man. Over and over again, even the
Israeli ambassador to Yerevan announced that it was not Genocide.

The Armenian Genocide issue is very straightforward. It happened, and people
are denying it and those who deny it are wrong. I told the San Francisco
Bay Area Armenian Community four, five years ago, that there was one way to
turn the story around – changing the narrative back to reality. It’s for
Armenians to honour those brave Turks who helped Armenians during the
Genocide. Here are these brave Turks . . . we dare the Turks to honour their
brave men…

AB: You are right. Many Turks did help Armenians during the Genocide.

RF: I have suggested to Armenians to do what the Israelis do – honour brave
Gentiles who saved Jews. Let’s honour Turks who helped the Armenians, who
upheld the honour of the Turkish nation when the Turkish Government was
destroying its own Armenians. I don’t know what the Armenians have done
[about this idea]. The Turkish Government will have a big problem if this
becomes a major issue. Are they to honour brave Turks who upheld the honour
of their nation or are they to despise them and honour the men who destroyed
the honour of the nation by killing the Armenians? These are major moral
issues. I don’t think at the moment that Armenians have really looked on
this issue the way they might. But again, it’s for Armenians to decide. I am
not Armenian.

AB: When it comes to Armenian Genocide denial, you least expect the Israeli
state to be a party to denial. Their policy on such a moral issue is ironic,
considering the Jewish Holocaust and its deniers.

RF: Israel puts Israel first as Armenians put Armenians first. But the fact
that you have someone like Shimon Perez adopting the Turkish line on the
Armenian Genocide is astonishing. It is not astonishing because the Israelis
demand the uniqueness of the Jewish Holocaust. It is unique in terms of
numbers but in terms of structural, political, direct physical relationship
the Armenian Genocide is Genocide as is the Holocaust. It was a clear
attempt to eliminate the Armenian people as a people, as a nation. It was
similar to the Holocaust. Turks managed to do their best to thrash
Morgenthau. But look at all the other reports. Look at the photographs. Look
at Armin Wagner’s pictures. I point, in my book, documents never quoted
before – from Britons, showing the women walking naked to Deir ezz Zor.
British readers wrote to me, with their long-dead fathers’ notebooks,
written in their handwriting about this material. They were never published
before. They did not tell a lie. They were not dreaming when they wrote in
their notebooks.

AB: Is it the economic, military, intelligence alliance between Turkey and
Israel that makes Israel join Turkey in denying the Armenian Genocide?

RF: And Turkey and the United States.

AB: There are many righteous Jews in support of Armenian Genocide
recognition.

RF: Yes there are. Armenians who live in Jerusalem and speak Hebrew call it
the Armenian Shoah, the Hebrew word for Holocaust. The Jerusalem Post wrote
fine articles about the Armenian Genocide. And The Jerusalem Post being
pretty right wing Israeli paper.

AB: You now see many countries coming forward, acknowledging the fact of the
Genocide. Even Germany recently passed a very strong resolution, even though
they did not use the word Genocide.

RF: You are getting there. You are getting there, slowly but surely.

AB: Can we conclude that these current alliances and denials are not based
on moral or historical facts but on short-term political and economic
factors?

RF: Of course. Of course.

AB: There are some Europeans who are using the issue of Armenian Genocide as
a pretext to block Turkey’s entry to the European Union. Under the
circumstances, wouldn’t it be wiser for the Turkish Government to come to
terms with the Armenian Genocide issue?

RF: Of course it would. You know, an increasing number of Turks are
admitting it. I gave a lecture in Sabanci University [Istanbul] a year ago
and mentioned the Armenian Genocide. A former Turkish army colonel stood up
at the end and said: `You are right.’ When I was covering the Turkish
earthquake, in 1999, I talked to large number of seismologists and civil
servants. During a big dinner gathering in Istanbul, I raised the Genocide
issue. `You are absolutely right. It happened. We did it. We should
acknowledge it,’ they all said.

AB: Why is it that they do not come forward?

RF: Because of ultra-nationalist arrogance. Because the ultra-nationalist
elements in the Turkish society, which identify with Moustafa Kamal Ataturk,
altough Ataturk himself, in interviews, said that the people responsible for
the Genocide should be hanged. He knew it had happened. `Our Christian
citizens,’ he called Armenians. There is a newspaper interview with him
which I have a copy in English.

AB: Is it the Los Angeles Examiner interview?

RF: Yes.

AB: You know, some Turks now deny that Ataturk did give such an interview.

RF: I have the original. I have seen the original newspaper and I have a
photocopy. It is real, of course.

AB: Recently we have witnessed some Turkish scholars and intellectuals
questioning the Turkish Government’s policy of denial. Some have been
threatened, blackmailed . . .

RF: They have suffered for it. They have suffered for it.

AB: What do you think of this phenomenon? How far it will go?

RF: They cannot be stopped. Once you open the door to discussion, you cannot
close the door again. People lose their fear. If any element loses its fear
you can not inject fear into it again. Once historical scholarship loses its
fear . . . you cannot lock it back again. So, it is out of the bag. The door
is open. You can only move forward. You can not go back. Even if you lock up
all the scholars it becomes bigger strain and there will be more scholars.
It is little bit like water coming under the door. You can seal the bottom
of the door, but eventually it will come from the top of the door. Why it
happened [Turkish scholars researching the Armenian Genocide]? I don’t know.
I hate journalists who talk through the top of their heads on subjects like
that. I am sure it’s like the situation in the U.S. where Turkish
scholarship has contaminated American universities through the system of
Turkish Government sponsorship of chairs of Turkish studies. So more and
more Turkish academics, younger academics, have been trained to work abroad
and learn the necessity of starting scholarship outside the politically
accepted dogma. I will give you practical example. A young Turkish girl who
must remain anonymous. She was a student who came to work in America. And by
chance she lived in a U.S. city with a large Armenian community. She started
to take an interest in the Genocide. Until then she had believed that what
had happened in 1915 was a civil war. Armenians had suffered; Muslims had
suffered. Then she started interviewing Armenians. And talking to Armenians
she realized that there was a genocide. She started cataloguing the stories
of the Armenians in Turkish. Two years ago she turned out in southeast
England, to talk to a very old lady who had seen children set on fire by
Turkish gendarmes. I interviewed her. She is in my book. In the book I
mentioned the letter she had received from a Turkish woman who said that she
was so sorry for what her people had done. That Turkish woman is preserving
the Genocide records in Turkey in Turkish.

So it is out. You cannot go back no matter how the nationalist opposition
fights it.

AB: What do you think of the Turkish integration into the European Union?
Will the Genocide recognition play a big role whether Turkey is admitted?

RF: The problem around the European issue is this: Europeans who don’t want
Turkey in the European Union will use the issue of the Armenian Genocide not
for your view but for there’s. You might think they would stand up for
freedom of information and force the Turks to indulge in the truth. They
will be working from the principle that the Turks will not recognize the
truth. Therefore, they will keep them out of the European Union. That is a
big danger for Armenians. You will have `friends’ of the Armenians who
demand Turkish recognition of the Armenian Genocide as a condition of entry
to the European Union, in the hope that the Turks would refuse to recognize
and thus Europeans will be able to keep Muslim Turkey out. That’s about
their interests. My theory is that if Turkey joins the European Union many
Armenians, who have European passport, can claim compensation for the
property taken from their ancestors.

AB: Did you receive complaints about your writings on the Armenian Genocide?

RF: Yes. I have received anonymous phone calls from Turks; probably calling
from London, saying `why do you hate the Turkish people?’ I had one or two
complaints from the Turkish Embassy sent to my paper. But we reply most
vigorously to them, saying `don’t waste our time writing letters and saying
the truth isn’t the truth.’

AB: Armenians in the diaspora are facing an uphill struggle, lobbying to
bringing this matter to the attention of the international community.

RF: You have done a lot better than the Palestinians. The Armenian diaspora
is very wealthy, compared to other minorities whose history has been denied.

AB: What do you think of the reconciliation talks between Turks and
Armenians, without Turkish Government’s acknowledgment of the Genocide?

RF: It sounds strange to me. Unless the Turkish Government recognizes the
Genocide what you got to reconcile about?

VAZGEN MANUKIAN: RUSSIA FINDS NEW LEVER FOR RULING IN POLITICAL FIELD
OF ARMENIA

YEREVAN, APRIL 14, NOYAN TAPAN. Russia’s economic capacity in Armenia
constantly grows and after the upcoming elections Russia can say that
it will make price for gas in Armenia 250 USD unless the country’s
President is the person Russia wants. Vazgen Manukian, Chairman of the
National Democratic Union, expressed such an opinion at the April 14
meeting at the Hayeli (Mirror) club.

In his affirmation, doing so, Russia finds a new lever for ruling in
the political field of Armenia. According to Manukian, it is not
accidental that RA Defence Minister Serge Sargsian is so happy. NDU
Chairman commented upon S.Sargsian’s expression that he is involved in
all good affairs in the following way: “In all cases when it is good
for Serge Sargsian it is mainly bad for Armenia”. Vazgen Manukian
insisted that the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline has been already sold to
Russia, too. According to him, either by means of this gas pipeline
Russia will limit Iran’s competition in the issue of exporting gas to
Europe or on the contrary, it will parallelly build a gas pipeline of
a larger diameter and gas will be supplied to Europe under its
control. “So, a struggle goes on in the territory of Armenia between
two states having gas and Armenia plays the role of a “pawn” in this
struggle,” he mentioned. According to Khosrov Haroutiunian, Chairman
of the Christian-Democratic Party of Armenia, it became obvious that
the Armenian-Russian relations by their content are no longer
strategic, moreover, this is even not a partnership. According to
Kh.Haroutiunian, it is also obvious that Russia has qualitatively
changed its foreign political strategy. In his opinion, Armenia could
not prevent the policy conducted by Russia but it could take adequate
steps through negotiations, in particular, it could reconsider the
terms of military bases’ stay in Armenia, the conditions of their
maintenance. In his opinion, in this issue the executive power has
remained alone and the parliament having an important role does
nothing. Both speakers considered it necessary to build a new nuclear
power plant.

AYDIN MORIKIAN’S “JOURNALISM” BOOK IS FIRST ATTEMPT TO CREATE IN
ARMENIAN ALL-EMBRACING HANDBOOK ON JOURNALISM, CHAIRMAN OF YEREVAN
PRESS CLUB THINKS

YEREVAN, APRIL 14, NOYAN TAPAN. Aydin Morikian’s “Journalism: What,
How, Why” book is published the presentation of which took place on
April 14. It was published with the assistance of the Open Society
Institute, within the framework of the “Development of Resources for
Free and Qualified Mass Media” program implemented by the Yerevan
Press Club. The book, particularly, touches upon the brief history of
journalism, origin of the professional journalism, main functions and
main genres of journalism. As Boris Navasardian, the Chairman of the
Yerevan Press Club mentioned, the book is the first attempt to create
an all-embracing handbook in the Armenian language. According to him,
it will be useful not only for students but for lecturers and
journalists as well.

It was also mentioned that at present A.Morikian forms “Anthology of
Journalism” which will be published within the framework of the same
program late this year.

PACE CALLS FOR FURTHER AZERI-ARMENIAN TALKS

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 11 2006

Baku, April 10, AssA-Irada
The Council of Europe supports the continuation of talks on settling
the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict, the CE Parliamentary Assembly
president Rene van der Linden has said.

“Both countries are CE member states and we are interested in moving
the negotiating process forward,” Linden told a news conference
dedicated to the opening of the Assembly’s spring session on Monday.

He noted that no progress was achieved at the latest round of talks
between the Azeri and Armenian presidents at Rambouillet in February.

“But we believe that in the end, the sides should reach an accord on
a peaceful settlement.”

The PACE president ruled out the possibility of altering the current
format of the international mediating mission.

“We will await the completion of talks brokered by the OSCE Minsk
Group. But replacing the MG format with the Council of Europe mediation
would be inappropriate,” Linden said.

TURKEY ACCUSES ARMED GROUPS OF DRUG TRAFFICKING

Agence France Presse — English
April 9, 2006 Sunday 11:29 AM GMT

Kurdish rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and
smaller armed leftist groups in Turkey are deeply involved in drug
trafficking according to a Turkish police report, the Anatolia news
agency said Sunday.

Since 1984, the report contends, the PKK, the Armenian Secret Army
for the Liberation of Armenia, and two extremist communist groups
have been involved in 333 separate drug trafficking incidents.

The two extreme-left groups are the Turkish Communist Party, and the
Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party Front.

A total of 3.7 tons of heroin, four tons of morphine-base, 710 kilos
of cocaine and various quantities of other drugs have been seized
by police, who also shut down two illegal drug-making laboratories,
Anatolia said.

Anatolia did not provide any statistical breakdown of trafficking
by group.

The police report noted that the PKK — classified as a terrorist
organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States —
is also routinely identified by international experts on narcotics
as being involved in drug trafficking.

The conflict between the PKK, which seeks an independent state in
Turkey’s predominately Kurdish southeast, and Turkish security forces
has claimed an estimated 37,000 lives since 1984.

THEY READY IN JAVAKHK TO WITHSTAND AVIAN INFLUENZA

AKHALKALAK, APRIL 7, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. As soon as the
spring starts, means of struggle against avian influenza have been
strengthened in the regions of Akhalkalak and Ninotsminda. The case of
the country’s being full of lakes arises particular danger.

Corresponding courses are held in all schools of the region to
withstand the possible danger. Corresponding instruments of
disinfection and overalls were brought from the Georgian capital,
Tbilisi. Groups of volunteers controlling the lakes are also created,
the most part of participants of which are veterinary surgeons.

According to the “A-Info” agency, the created operative offices which
are headed by heads of the regions, work with regime of 24 hours
shift. According to Boris Balasanian and Sos Amirkhanian, the chief
veterinary surgeons of the regions of Akhalkalak and Ninotsminda, the
regions are completely ready to withstand the avian influenza.

Armenian president, EU envoy discuss expanding ties

Mediamax news agency
7 Apr 06

Yerevan, 7 April: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and the EU envoy
for the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, discussed issues “related to
the organization and holding the elections in 2007-2008 in line with
international standards”, the presidential press service has told
Mediamax.

The Armenian president hailed the establishment of institution of the
EU special representative for the South Caucasus “which made it
possible to make relations with European structures more coordinated”.

Semneby pointed that relations between the South Caucasus and European
Union have entered a qualitatively new level and the establishment of
peace and stability in the region is at the centre of the EU’s
attention.

At the meeting, the parties also discussed issues related to drawing
up Armenia’s action plan within the framework of the European
Neighbourhood Policy. Kocharyan noted the importance of implementing
the document as soon as possible.

At Semneby’s request, Kocharyan briefed him about the latest
developments in the Nagornyy Karabakh peace talks and outlined the
Armenian approach to the issue.

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
April 7 2006

PRIME MINISTER: ARMENIA AGREES TO CLOSE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT ONLY IN
THE PRESENCE OF ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF POWER

YEREVAN, April 7. /ARKA/. Armenia agrees to close nuclear power plant
(NPP) only in the presence of alternative sources of power. According
to the Public Relations and Press Department of the RA Government,
this was stated by the RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan during
his meeting with Deputy Director-General for External Relations of
the European Commission Fokion Fotiadis.
“Armenia is not against closure of the nuclear power plant, however
only on the assumption of creation of alternative traditional and
non-traditional sources of power and guarantee of energy security and
independence of the country”, Margaryan stated.
In his words, during recent years the RA Government actively
negotiated not only with international structures for solving this
problem but also took some steps in this direction, particularly
promoting construction and exploitation of small hydroelectric power
plants (HPP) and wind power plants (WPP). “The decision on closing
the NPP or constructing a new one will become more real in the
presence of the necessary financing”, Margaryan added.
In his turn Fotiadis emphasized that the EC is ready to support
Armenia in solving problems of energy security.
He added that existence of accurate program of closure of the NPP
will enable the international community better to realize seriousness
of the problem and envisaged work.
“It will create favorable conditions for organizing a conference for
donors with an aim to discuss possibilities of financial assistance
for solution of this problem”, Fotiadis added.
According to the previous statement of the RA Minister of Energy
Armen Movsisyan, the project of closure of the Armenian NPP will be
submitted to the RA Government in 2007. In his words, closure of the
NPP will cost $300-400 mln. Movsisyan added that submitting of the
project doesn’t mean closure of the plant. “Resource of the Armenian
NPP expires in 2016. Nevertheless I don’t mean that the plant will
close exactly in 2016”, he stated. S.P. -0–