Author: Topchian Jane

BAKO SAHAKYAN GIVES HIGH ASSESSMENT TO UNITED ARMENIAN FUND ACTIVITIES

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.03.2010 21:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On March 30, NKR President Bako Sahakyan met
United Armenian Fund president, Lincy Foundation vice-chairman Harut
Sassounian.

Issues related to developing socio-economic spheres of Artsakh as well
as strengthening NKR- Diaspora ties were discussed during the meeting.

NKR leader gave high assessment to the role of the United Armenian
Fund in programs implementation, construction works, as well as making
increasing world awareness of Artsakh, Central Information Department
at NKR President’s Office reported.

ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR TO NATO TALKS ON KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

Yerkir
29.03.2010 12:40
Yerevan

Yerevan (Yerkir) – The head of the Armenian mission to NATO, Samvel
Lazarian, delivered a lecture at Antwerp University College on
Armenia’s security policy and security of South Caucasus. Professors,
students, representatives of European Commission and other
international organizations attended the lecture, Armenian MFA PR
department reported.

The head of the mission presented CSTO membership, improvement of
cooperation with NATO, ties with Armenia’s direct neighbors – Georgia
and Iran.

Samvel Lazarian has thoroughly introduced the historic sources
of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to the attendants, Azerbaijan’s
discriminative policy, Azerbaijan’s aggression against Artsakh people
and efforts to settle the conflict.

The Armenian Ambassador has also told about the normalization of
Armenian-Turkish ties and Turkey’s attempts to delay it artificially.

TURKEY ALMOST AN OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIR: SUAT KINIKLIOGLU

Tert.am
15:51 30.03.10

Turkey, without being named, has practically become an OSCE Minsk
Group co-chair country, said Deputy Chair for External Affairs of
the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Suat Kiniklioglu,
according to Turkish daily Star.

"Today’s situation is quite different [from the previous one]. Though
slow-moving, nevertheless, there is a process of normalizing relations,
and it continues. We want that process to reach its purpose, but
at the same time we want to see that steps are being taken for the
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict…

Normalizing relations is a territorial issue. If Armenian-Turkish
relations are normalized, the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict will be put on the rails and, the South Caucasus will
become a corrdor of Turkish influence. Armenia says that there was no
precondition [in the Protocols], but even if there is no mention of
Karabakh conflict in the Protocols, there is mention of the peaceful
resolution of territorial conflicts," mentioned Kiniklioglu, adding
that the NKR conflict has a great impact on the region.

He also mentioned that Armenia-Turkey rapprochement indirectly
signifies the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

"There is active diplomatic traffic [meaning diplomats involved
actively hold meetings over the conflict]. Turkey, without being named,
has practically become an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair country.

There is no success yet. I cannot say when the conflict will be
resolved or what type of outcome there will be, but I hope that
relations between Turkey and Armenia will normalize… Should the
Protocols fail to be ratified we will not return to the point where
we started from, but to a worse place. As soon as wee see the "road
map" of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, then we will have generally
reached the normalization," he said, highlighting the importance of
a proposal by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to initiate
contacts with the Armenian Diaspora, and adding that he plans to meet
with certain representatives of the Diaspora in April.

FORMER AND CURRENT AUTHORITIES ARE TO BLAME FOR SQUANDERING VICTORY: SAMVEL BABAYAN

Tert.am
16:27 30.03.10

Ninety per cent of those in Armenia’s political arena should’ve
retired long ago but they haven’t, former Nagorno-Karabakh Defence
Minister Samvel Babayan said at a press conference today.

"For 16 years, they’ve been squandering a glorious victory due to
their way of thinking," said Babayan, pointing the finger at both
former and current ruling authorities.

Babayan also said that he won’t join in the development of any new
oppositional power.

"It’s been a year since that power is spoken about, but I don’t see
anything yet. I don’t intend to enter into a new power or create one,"
said Babayan, adding that his mission ended yet in 1993. In his words,
there is no need to joint a political field where viewpoints are not
listened to or accepted.

The former NKR defence minister also mentioned that he would not
participate in the next elections as he doesn’t see the existence of
a political arena in Armenia.

TURKEY’S ENVOY RETURNS TO SWEDEN AFTER ARMENIA ISSUE

March 30 2010
Turkey

Turkey’s senior diplomat returned to Sweden after consultations in
Ankara on the decision of the Swedish parliament to adopt a resolution
on the incidents of 1915.

Tuesday, 30 March 2010 13:10

Turkey’s senior diplomat returned to Sweden on Tuesday after
consultations in Ankara on the decision of the Swedish parliament to
adopt a resolution on the incidents of 1915.

Zergun Koruturk, Turkey’s ambassadress to Sweden, told reporters
that she was going back to Sweden after she had held consultations in
Ankara on Swedish parliament’s adopting the resolution acknowledging
Armenian allegations regarding the incidents of 1915.

"Calling back an ambassador to his/her country for consultations is
a serious reaction, and even a protest, in diplomacy," she said.

Koruturk said Turkey showed that reaction and the Swedish government
did no way approve the decision of the parliament.

"The Swedish constitution authorizes the government to deal with
foreign policy, and therefore this decision is only recommendatory,"
she said.

Koruturk said the Swedish government had clearly stated that it would
not implement that decision.

Ambassadress Koruturk flew to Turkey by the first flight immediately
after adoption of the resolution.

Foreign ministers of the two countries met in Finland afterwards,
and Swedish prime minister called Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
and apologized for developments.

"Therefore, many things have passed since that day, and it has been
seen that this is a wrong decision and the government has clearly
showed that it will not implement it," she said.

Koruturk said then, Turkey showed a political will that it was time
that the senior diplomat went back to Sweden.

"My return to Sweden is a political decision, just as my return to
Turkey," she said.

Koruturk said every one had thought that all conditions had emerged
for her return to Sweden.

"We will altogether see what they will do to compensate this mistake,
and I hope the Swedish government will do its best," she also said.

Swedish Parliament approved on March 11 a resolution on Armenian
allegations regarding 1915 incidents.

The resolution was approved with 131 votes against 130.

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs also
approved the resolution on Armenian allegations regarding incidents
of 1915 earlier this month.

Turkey strongly rejects the genocide allegations and regards the
events as civil strife in wartime which claimed lives of many Turks
and Armenians.

Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols on October 10, 2009 to
normalize relations between the two countries. The protocols envisage
the two countries to establish diplomatic ties and open the border
that has been close since 1993.

Turkey and Armenia also agreed to take steps to operate a
sub-commission on impartial scientific examination of the historical
records and archive to define existing problems and formulate
recommendations, in which Armenian, Turkish as well as Swiss and
other international experts would take part.

However, on January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of Armenia
declared a decision of constitutional conformity on the protocols.

Turkey thought the fifth article of Armenian Constitutional Court’s
verdict regarding the protocols was against the target and basis of
the protocols.

TURKISH PRIME MINISTER AGAIN THREATENS TO DEPORT ARMENIANS

NOYAN TAPAN
MARCH 29, 2010
ANKARA

ANKARA, MARCH 29, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated his threat of deporting from the country
Armenians illegally living there, this time in his interview to the
Schpigel German magazine.

Erdogan, in particular, declared: "Armenians, both citizens and
illegal residents, live in Turkey. We had not raised the issue of
illegal residents before but if the Armenian Diaspora continues its
pressures we will have to do it," CNN Turk reported.

AZERBAIJANI CRIMES IN 1992 IN MARAGHA SETTLEMENT TO BE PRESENTED AT "MARAGHA" WEBSITE

737/lang/en
2010-03-24

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS: International scientific-practical
conference entitled "The state terror of Azerbaijan and the ethnic
cleansing policy against Nagorno Karabakh" kicked off in Stepanakert,
continued its works on March 23 in Shushi town. Before the conference
the participants were present at the requiem ceremony of thousands of
Armenians who fell a victim to the Turkish-Azerbaijani aggression of
different years. The ceremony was held in All the Savior-Ghazanchetsots
Church of Shushi.

Afterward the scientific conference continued its works. A trouble
was expressed in all the presented reports, besides analyses and
assessments, that the Azerbaijani crimes committed against the
Armenians in the 20th century have not deserved any assessment by
the international community.

Senior scientific employer of the Archaeology and Ethnography Institute
of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Doctoral
Sciences Tamar Hayrapetyan referred to the looting implemented within
two weeks on April 10, 1992 in Maragha settlement of Maragha region
which had about 4 000 residents by the divisions of the Azerbaijani
army, as well as to the planned pogroms against a great number of
peaceful Armenian population. "Eighteen years have passed from that
tragedy, but up today it has not received a worthy assessment, and
about the falsification of Khojalu the whole world knows," she noted.

Culture and Youth Affairs Minister of Nagorno Karabakh Republic Narine
Aghabalyan informed on that occasion that currently works are being
carried out in that direction, and soon the presentation of "Maragha"
website will be held, where the details of the crime will be presented.

Today the scientific conference will sum up the works. Mher
Harutyunyan, one of the organizers of the conference, head of "Kachar"
scientific-cultural center of Shushi said that all the presented
reports will be published in near future in a separate collection.

TURKISH ENVOY WILL NOT RETURN TO US JUST YET

Press TV, Iran
March 25 2010

Davutoglu says the return of the Turkish ambassador depends on US
stance regarding the Armenian issue.

Turkey’s foreign minister says Ankara will not return its ambassador
to Washington unless the US administration and Congress show better
understanding of Turkey’s history.

In an interview with CNN in Ankara, Ahmet Davutoglu said that the
return of the Turkish Ambassador, Namik Tan, depends on the development
of a "strategic alliance" between the two countries.

"We cannot accept the judgment of members of the foreign relations
committee, who do not know anything about the history," he added.

Last month, Ankara recalled its ambassador from the United States
for consultations after the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed
a so-called "Armenian genocide" resolution.

Ankara warned that such a resolution would harm ties between the two
NATO members.

Turkish officials are waiting to see how US President Barack Obama
will express himself on April 24, when US commemorates the alleged
genocide which took place in the last days of the Ottoman Empire.

Armenia says up to 1.5 million Armenians lost lives during and just
after the World War I, when the Ottoman Empire deported Armenians en
masse from eastern Anatolia.

Yerevan believes that the Armenians were killed by troops or died
from starvation and disease. It has campaigned for the killings to
be internationally recognized as genocide.

Meanwhile, the Armenian lobby is mounting pressure on Obama to use
the term, "genocide" in his annual speech, as promised during his
election campaign.

The Turkish government condemned the resolution on Thursday, declaring
that "supporters of this resolution have taken a wrong and unjust
stance, ignoring historical facts and differences of opinion among
experts."

"The resolution includes tangible errors related to the incidents of
1915, and it has completely been prepared with a one-sided approach,"
the statement added.

INVITATION REJECTED

vardan-harutyunyan
06:52 pm | March 24, 2010

Politics

The 37-th international forum of International Federation for Human
Rights (FIDH) titled "Justice. The right to an effective remedy before
an independent jurisdiction. New Challenges" will be held in Yerevan
on April 6-8. The upcoming event will be attended by delegates from
more than 100 countries as well as high-ranked officials of influential
European organizations.

Armenian advocacy organizations are among the invitees. In his letter
to the forum organizers, Vartan Harutyunyan, Head of the Centre of
Right and Freedom NGO rejected the invitation.

"Regardless of any project proposed by an international structure,
Armenian authorities will attempt to use the opportunity on their
behalf, which, of course, will be an unsuccessful experience. I do
not want to deal with these authorities therefore I rejected the
invitation," Vardan Harutyunyan told A1+.

Asked whether his withdrawal will not promote to the error concealment,
Mr. Vradanyan said: "In fact, the invitees are not granted freedom
of speech. Armenian delegates will simply have to listen to the RA
Justice Minister’s report on independent courts but they cannot speak
against the report."

Vardan Harutyunyan depicted Armenia’s real image in the letter
addressed to the forum organizers. The letter reads in part:

"The situation in Armenia is quite different today. The presidential
election of 2008 was conducted with large-scale violations. Thousands
of Armenians went to the street in protest against the authorities
who came to power through fraudulent vote.

Authorities decided to "silence" the opposition’s peaceful
demonstrations by force. On March 1, 2008, riot police and Armed
forces were sent against demonstrators. They came into clashes with
the demonstrators leaving 10 dead and 200 injured in downtown Yerevan.

To date, no one has been made accountable for the deadly clashes.

Neither the perpetrators nor the organizers have been detected.

Dissatisfied with the murder of ten victims, the authorities started
mass arrests and a chase against the proponents of the opposition
candidate at the same time announcing the post-election events as an
attempt of power seizure.

Hundreds of people were detained, many businessmen lost their jobs
because of their political views. Armenian prisons were filled with
political prisoners. Two years have since then but many of them are
still in jails.

Armenian courts having nothing in common with justice returned similar
verdicts on the basis of trumped-up evidence of policemen. They did
their utmost to please the authorities.

Nothing has changed during the past two years. The situation became
even worse. Political persecutions are still ongoing, courts obviously
meet the authorities’ demands, and opposition-linked businessmen
lose their businesses. Marches and demonstrations are banned in the
country. PACE, OSCE/ODIHR and U.S. Department of State, Freedom House
and Human Rights Watch have already given assessments to the state
in Armenia.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Director
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Watch our latest videos on YouTube here:

THE NEW COMMITTEE OF THE ARMENIAN CHURCH UNIVERSITY STUDENT ASSOCIATION
(ACUSA) MEETS HIS HOLINESS ARAM I

On Tuesday 16 March 2010, the newly elected committee of ACUSA, accompanied
by their spiritual advisor Fr. Mesrob Sarkissian met with His Holiness Aram
I. Following introductions, the members discussed with His Holiness their
proposed two-year programme. After listening the committee’s proposals, the
Catholicos gave his blessing, and assured them of the support of the
Catholicosate to the work of ACUSA because he said: "The gifts of young
adults to the Church and our society is the sustaining element of Armenian
community life".

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Photo: os/Photos454.htm#2
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the youth
activities 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.