CIS FM Council Sitting To Be Held In Saint Petersburg April 21

CIS FM COUNCIL SITTING TO BE HELD IN SAINT PETERSBURG APRIL 21

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.03.2006 20:17 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The regular meeting of the Council of the CIS
Foreign Ministers will be held in Saint Petersburg April 21. Having
considered the draft agenda the Council rated it as formed. In accord
with the draft the participants will discuss the consultations to be
held between the Foreign Ministries within the CIS in 2006 as well
as the perfection and reformation of the CIS bodies, reported Interfax.

ANKARA: Bay Area ANC Hosts Publishers Hrant Dink And Ragip Zarakolu

Haber Gazete, Turkey
March 11 2006

Bay Area ANC Hosts Publishers Hrant Dink And Ragip Zarakolu

SAN FRANCISCO–The Bay Area Armenian National Committee (ANC) hosted
its annual “Hye Tad Evening” at Treasure Island, with special guests
including Turkey’s Agos Armenian Weekly editor, Hrant Dink and Belge
Publishing House owner, Ragip Zarakolu.

Hrant Dink is the publisher and founding editor of the only bilingual
Turkish-Armenian newspaper, the Agos Weekly, established in 1996.

Dink thanked the Bay Area ANC for inviting him to the event. Speaking
in Armenian, he said, “I am delighted to have the opportunity to meet
the Armenian community here,” adding that he was happy to have had
the chance to meet and talk with ANC committees all over the world.

Dink grew up in Malatia, attended Armenian school in Istanbul, and
studied Philosophy and Zoology at Istanbul University. Through his
writings, publications, and public statements, Dink has been an
outspoken advocate for the democratization of Turkish society and for
the need to break the silence about the Armenian genocide.

Dink recently went on trial for “insulting the Turkish state,”
because of his remarks about reciting the Turkish oath. Dink said
about the oath, which says “I am Turkish, I am honest, I am
hardworking,” that although he was honest and hardworking, he was not
a Turk, but an Armenian. Although he was finally acquitted in that
case, he was later convicted of “insulting the Turkish identity” for
writing an article about the impact of the Armenian genocide on the
diaspora.

Although his suspended sentence requires that he not repeat the
crime, Dink said, “I will not be silent. As long as I live here, I
will go on telling the truth,” and vowed that he would appeal to
Turkey’s supreme court and to the European Court of Human Rights if
necessary. “If it is a day or six months or six years, it is all
unacceptable to me,” he said. “If I am unable to come up with a
positive result, it will be honorable for me to leave this country.”

Dink now faces new charges for attempting “to influence the
judiciary,” because of his comments about his conviction.

Despite government pressure on people who are speaking out, Dink
said, “It was a dream 10 years ago to imagine seeing the publication
of books and articles on the Armenian genocide. There is no doubt
that there has been some positive change.”

“People are starting to defend their rights,” said Dink, hoping for
“great changes.”

“The activities of the diaspora, the Genocide resolutions passed by
other countries every year, have contributed to the growing
consciousness in Turkey,” said Dink, who also attributed much of the
growing recognition of the Armenian genocide in Turkey to the Kurdish
struggle for national rights there.

“The government used to say, ‘We don’t have Kurds or a Kurdish
problem. Those people fighting up in the mountains are actually
Armenians,'” said Dink. “And to prove their assertions, they would
publish photographs in newspapers showing the uncircumcised corpses
of the defeated fighters. The Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan was
referred to as ‘The Armenian Bastard.'” Dink said that one of the
first things his paper did was to prove a certain priest who appeared
in a government newspaper photo with a Kurdish leader, was not, in
fact, an Armenian priest, as was claimed.

“We said we’re going to speak in their language,” Dink said of the
decision to publish Agos in Turkish as well as Armenian, against the
protests of many in the Armenian community. “Since then we began to
speak about our history and to counter their lies. We said, ‘Now,
it’s our turn.'”

Dink said that the process of democratization in Turkey can no longer
be turned back. “There is a movement to talk about the past and a
desire to know what happened to Armenians, ” he said. One of the
unexpected consequences of this movement was that many people in
Turkey are now revealing that their ancestors were Armenian.

“On the other hand, the Turkish government has responded with more
propaganda,” said Dink, citing the fact that four years ago, new
textbooks were distributed to all the schools which claim that
Armenians massacred the Turks.

Comparing the small number of books on the Genocide now being
published, with the millions of government textbooks denying the
Genocide, Dink said, “My hope is that those 3,000 books will vanquish
the governments’ millions.” He said that the process of recognizing
the Armenian genocide is going to take place from within the country,
starting from the general population. He said that outside pressures
for change must find a partner from within the country, or there is a
danger for extreme nationalism. Dink described a new ideological
movement within Turkey which brings together the Turkish and the
Islamic identities to form one unifying identity. He also pointed out
that the nationalist groups and Islamist groups are competing with
one another and as a result attacks against Armenians have increased.

Nevertheless, Dink expressed optimism about Armenian genocide
recognition. “One day they will recognize that the Armenian genocide
has to be addressed. But they will try to delay it and water it down
as much as possible.”

Regarding Turkey’s entry into the European Union, Dink said, “Turkey
is like a young man in love with a young European woman. But by the
time a union can actually take place, the man will be old and the
woman will be ugly… But love is the important thing. It keeps men
young, because they try to look better, act younger, take care of
themselves. Joining the European Union is not the important thing,
but being in love is important.” Dink also expressed his hope that
one day Armenia would join the European Union.

Ragip Zarakolu is the owner of Belge Publishing House. Through the
publication of books deemed subversive by the Turkish authorities,
Zarakolu has given voice to countless victims of injustice whose
stories have been silenced, denied, and banned by successive Turkish
regimes. The first book on the Armenian genocide which he published
in Turkish was Yves Ternon’s, Le Genocide des Armeniens, under the
title, Armenian Taboo, in 1994. Later came Vahakn Dadrian’s Genocide
as a Problem of National and International Law. When Zarakolu was
acquitted of charges against him for that publication, the
possibility of more free discussion about the Armenian genocide in
Turkey increased.

Among Zarakolu’s other translated publications about Armenian and
non-Armenian human rights issues is Mgrditch Armen’s Heghnar’s
Fountain, Franz Werfel’s Forty Days in Musa Dagh, Avetis Aharonian’s,
The Fedayees, Tessa Hoffman’s Talaat Pasha Trials in Berlin, Peter
Balakian’s Black Dog of the Fate, and most recently, Turkish
translations of Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story.

Because of his work, Zarakolu spent three years in prison in the
1970’s. His wife also spent several years in prison.

Zarakolu spoke about his first exposure to the Armenian genocide,
when his mother, a witness to the deportations, told him about being
kept in the house, while hearing Armenians being taken away outside.

“My mother said, ‘The Armenians were crying outside, and we were
crying inside,'” said Zarakolu. Referring to Turkey’s involvement in
WWI as a “stupid, adventurous war of the Ittihadists,” Zarakolu said
his mother lost both her parents. She was also able to save two
Armenian girls from deportation, but the government later removed
those girls from their home.

Zarakolu also spoke admiringly of Sarkis Cherkezian, an Armenian
genocide survivor born in a Syrian refugee camp who just passed away
at 90 years of age.

“We learned many things about the realities of what happened to the
Armenians,” he said of his close relationship to Cherkezian. He said
it was because of people like Cherkezian that he is able to write.

Zarakolu discussed the initial years of the Belge publishing house,
during which his work was not only banned but received little
attention. “We had a press conference for our collection of writings
of the first reports on the Armenian genocide, but there was no
coverage in the press,” said Zarakolu.

Since then he has withstood a constant barrage of criminal charges,
further imprisonment, confiscation and destruction of books, the
bombing of his publishing house, and heavy government fines and
taxes. His publishing house has endured more than 40 criminal
indictments. Zarakolu is currently being tried for publishing George
Jerjian’s History Will Set Us Free, and Dora Sakayan’s An Armenian
Doctor in Turkey: Garabed Hatcherian: My Smyrna Ordeal in 1922.

Economic means permitting, Zarakolu hopes to publish the Turkish
editions of the Blue Book from the United Kingdom, Armin Wegner’s
testimonies, Captanian’s testimonies, and a selection of Zabel
Yeseyan’s works, as well as a photographic documentation of the
Armenian deportation to the Syrian Desert.

Karabakh Conflict: Not Making Jerks Very Important Today

PanARMENIAN.Net

Hovhannes Igityan:

Karabakh Conflict: Not Making Jerks Very Important
Today

Legal basis for existence of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic (NKR) is becoming increasingly important for
further steps for peace settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh (NK) conflict. Azerbaijan makes more
persistent statements on UN resolutions, which in
Baku’s opinion fully meet Azerbaijan’s interests.
Besides, Baku flatly objects to a referendum in NK.
Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs of
the National Assembly of Armenia in 1995-1999
Hovhannes Igityan presents his vision of the problem
to PanARMENIAN.Net.

08.03.2006 GMT+04:00

Which are the legal bases for recognizing the NKR a
party at the negotiation process?

The referendum in 1991 was fully in line with the
legal framework of the USSR. As you remember, there
was a Law on Withdrawal of a Union republic, which
also provided for secession of an autonomous republic
or district. That was exactly that referendum, which
made the NKR a legal party to the conflict. As you
remember, the UN has adopted several resolutions on
the Karabakh conflict. These maintain positive
nuances, as they not merely condemn the activities of
local forces and urge to abandon the seized regions.
As a matter of fact the resolutions legalize Nagorno
Karabakh as a party to negotiations from the legal
point of view.

In my opinion a new referendum on the status of
Nagorno Karabakh, proposed at the Rambouillet meeting
of the Armenian and Azeri Presidents, is a trap. The
returns of the referendum on NKR’s independence in
1991 are in fact canceled if it is the case. The move
can be considered as a concession by Azerbaijan,
however it is not so. The NKR should be the one to set
conditions of holding (or not holding) a referendum. A
legal formula should be «invented» for displaced
persons and refugees – only the NKR Ministry of
Internal Affairs can deal with that.

Which are the recent changes in the settlement
process?

The format of peace talks over the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict has changed during the 7-8 years. Both
subjective and objective factors were present in this
case. In 1998 new President Robert Kocharian came to
power and the foreign policy changed naturally. New
authorities pursued the policy of bilateral talks
between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which suited the
opposing party rather well. The methodology of the
conflict changed. Azerbaijan started calling Armenia
an aggressor country exclusively. Azeris said it so
many times, that they started believing it even
themselves.

Each new meeting of the two presidents and mediators
only legalized that new format. The OSCE MG accepted
those changes with pleasure – there was one problem
solved. However, it should not be forgotten that
signatures of Armenia, Azerbaijan and the NKR are
under the Bishkek agreement on cease-fire. As of the
participation of the so-called «Azeri community» of
NK, lead by Nizami Bakhmanov, in the talks, it is
absurd at all. Nizami Bakhmanov is not a juridical
person and is not entitled to represent anyone.

What can be expected if the conflict enters a phase of
hostilities?

Presently it’s very important not to make jerks and
harsh statements. Large-scale hostilities may change
the format of the talks. A totally different
atmosphere will be formed and countries wide of the
conflict will settle the Nagorno Karabakh problem. By
the way, this is the purpose of Azerbaijan, which says
that the OSCE MG is already exhausted and tries to
transfer the issue to the UN.

I also want to remind of the right to
self-determination of nations within the UN has been
transformed in the right of peoples. Any change in the
format demands new legal basis. In this case Armenia
and NKR can face the worst scenario – something like
the Moscow Treaty of 1921 between Soviet Russia and
Turkey or the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
«PanARMENIAN.Net», 08.03.2006

Iran Suggests Enriching Uranium In Turkey

IRAN SUGGESTS ENRICHING URANIUM IN TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.03.2006 23:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iran offers Turkey to hold works to enrich
uranium or process nuclear fuel in its territory. Teheran also
invites MPs and journalists from Turkey to visit Iranian nuclear
objects. “We trust Turkey more. We can discuss those initiatives as
part of the package of initiatives. As it is known, disputes refer
to concentration of uranium, processing nuclear fuel and not only
these matters. It would be better for us if one of the initiatives is
implemented in the Turkish territory,” Iranian Ambassador to Turkey
Firuz Devletabadi. In his words, the issue has technical and legal
sides. “We are for involving Turkey in the process. We simultaneously
invite Turkey and its companies to participate in implementation of
our nuclear projects,” the Iranian Ambassador to Ankara said.

Official Ankara has many times expressed concern over implementation
of nuclear programs by Iran and urged to observe conventional
international norms. Turkey also indicated negative consequences for
the international community in case of a military operation against
its neighbor, reports Yeni Safak Turkish newspaper.

MFA of Armenia: Armenia Joined the Bern Convention on the Conservati

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
—————————————— —-
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
375010 Telephone: +37410. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +37410. 562543
Email: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

14-03-2006

Armenia Joined the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European
Wildlife and Natural Habitats

On March 13, Armenia officially joined the Council of Europe Convention
on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats,
[originally drafted in] 1979.

Christian Ter-Stepanian, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the
Council of Europe, and Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary
General of the Council of Europe, signed the document.

Fourty-six states, including the member states of the Council of
Europe, together with the European Union, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia
and Burkina Faso have signed the Convention.

The aims of the Convention are to conserve wild flora and fauna and
their natural habitats, with particular emphasis on endangered and
vulnerable species.

www.armeniaforeignministry.am

Head Of The Protocol Service Was Dead

HEAD OF THE PROTOCOL SERVICE WAS DEAD

Panorama.am
11:54 17/10/05

On October 15, late in the evening head of the protocol service
of president staff, 32 years old Mamikon Tonoyan has died in a car
accident. As the department for emergencies informed, M. Tonoyan’s car
crashed with another machine near the restaurant “Belagio”. M. Tonoyan
has died immediately and his passenger Hasmik Galstyan was sent to
hospital with number of injuries.

On October 16 according to doctors, her health situation was very bad.

Russian police to face an “orange revolution” well-prepared

RusData Dialine – Russian Press Digest
October 12, 2005 Wednesday

Russian police to face an “orange revolution” well-prepared

by Andrey Riskin, Mikhail Tolpegin

SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, No 220, p.1

Law enforcers getting ready to suppress large-scale riots

Russian law enforcement agencies are preparing to deal with mass
protest actions. Large-scale exercises of the Interior Ministry riot
units have been held in several regions of the country and new riot
equipment and hardware is being purchased abroad. A large batch of
water cannons will be bought in Israel, Major General Mikhail
Sukhodolsky, deputy interior minister, said Tuesday. He said they
“will soon be used to stop unsanctioned demonstrations and riots.”
The general also said that an additional sum of 370 million rubles
($13 million) would be allocated for the OMON special police units
and special operations forces.

“Fear sees danger everywhere,” said Lyudmila Alekseyeva, the head of
the Moscow Helsinki Group, a prominent non-governmental human rights
body. “Officials, starting from the deputy minister, have lost sleep
after the events in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. So, they are
spending taxpayers’ money to buy water cannons so that they can
disperse those same taxpayers, although those have shown no intention
to riot so far.”

“Water cannons and tear gas are the necessary instruments of police
in a democratic state,” said Boris Makarenko, deputy general director
of the Center for Political Technologies. “The absence of such
non-lethal weapons in the arsenal of the Kyrgyz police led to very
serious consequences this spring.” As for the deputy minister’s words
about the use of such special equipment ‘soon’, the expert described
it as a Freudian slip: “Our law enforcers have been seeing orange
everywhere since last autumn.”

Last Monday, the special units of the Russian Interior Ministry and
the Armenian police held a joint anti-riot tactical exercise in the
Krasnodar region. Similar exercises were held in Altai last December,
in Chuvashia last May, in the Orenburg region in June and in the
Khabarovsk region in July.

Grossmaisters From Armenia Won International Chess Tournament InStep

GROSSMAISTERS FROM ARMENIA WON INTERNATIONAL CHESS TOURNAMENT IN STEPANAKERT

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Oct 13 2005

The Second International Chess Tournament titled “Karabakh – 2005”
has been finished in the capital of Nagorno Karabakh Republic
Stepanakert. The measure was organized by the NKR government and RA
Chess Academy.

According to the De Facto correspondent in Stepanakert, 20
chess players from 11 countries of the world participated in the
tournament. A famous Hungarian grossmaister Liosh Portish arrived in
Stepanakert as the tournament’s honorable guest.

The winners are international grossmaisters from Armenia Levon Aroyan
(A group) and Tigran Petrosyan (B group).

In the course of the solemn ceremony of the tournament’s closing
the NKR President Arkady Ghoukasyan rewarded Liosh Portish with
“Gratitude” medal and RA Chess Academy President Smbat Lputyan with
“Vachagan Barepasht” medal for “great contribution to the organization
and conduct of the international chess tournament in NKR”.

In his speech a Ukrainian grossmaister Vasily Ivanchuk highly estimated
the tournament’s organization and “creative aura” and suggested that
the tournament should become traditional.

While commenting on Azerbaijan’s negative reaction to conduct of
the tournament in Stepanakert Vasily Ivanchuk stated: “I have come
here to play. I am not interested in the political issues”. He
expressed satisfaction concerning the fact that “Nagorno Karabakh
is reestablishing and developing, and people show great interest
in chess”.

AUA Building Bridges with Silicon Valley

PRESS RELEASE
American University of Armenia Corporation
300 Lakeside Drive, 5th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Tel: (510) 987-9452
Fax: (510) 208-3576
Email: [email protected]
Web: <;

October 12, 2005

Building a Bridge Between the Silicon Valley and the American University of
Armenia (AUA)

Oakland, CA – Mr. and Mrs. Papken and Claire Der Torossian opened their home
in Saratoga, California, for AUA to host a unique evening dedicated to
promoting cooperation and communication between Silicon Valley executives
and the AUA School of Business and Management.

Dr. Rubina Ohanian, the Dean of the School of Business and Management, an
accomplished marketing solutions specialist with over fifteen years of
consulting and corporate experience, was among the guests. She gave a brief
overview of the MBA program, emphasizing that the School of Business and
Management strives to provide its students with quality instruction and a
state-of-the-art curriculum to help them achieve their professional goals.

Dr. Ohanian spoke very highly of the MBA students’ aptitude and the
potential that they have to make a difference to Armenia’s future. She
invited the Silicon Valley leaders to support the University, get involved
in the future of its students. Outsourcing of successful Silicon Valley
businesses to Armenia will create job opportunities for our youth.

President Haroutune Armenian shared with the guests that AUA is an
institution of change and transformation, offering its students quality
education, technology and know-how for entrepreneurial endeavors. “As a
student-centered university, the top priority is our students, and our most
important objectives are maintaining academic excellence, becoming a
knowledge enterprise and developing regional role”, said Dr. Armenian.

This was an emotional evening for Seta Karamardian, the widow of Stepan
Karamardian, who was the founding Dean of the School of Business and
Management. “Seeing AUA Business School prosper is the realization of my
husband’s dream and vision”, said Mrs. Karamardian.

Yervant Zorian, Vice President and Chief Scientist at Virage Logic
Corporation, also a member of the American University of Armenia Corporation
(AUAC) Board of Trustees, highlighted the main purpose of the evening, which
is to establish a permanent bridge between the Silicon Valley Armenian
Community and AUA, that will be beneficial to both groups over the years to
come. “AUA is one of the best fruits that the independence of Armenia
resulted in”, said Dr. Zorian. “It fully realizes the vision of its three
founders and it has been materialized with the great patronage of AGBU”.

Dr. Zorian told the guests that he has had the chance to witness the growth
of AUA at different intervals during the past decade, and has been impressed
with the quality of its programs that Virage Logic employees in Armenia were
offered as part of their continuing education.

It was an informative evening. Some of the guests rediscovered AUA. Many
valuable ideas were exchanged, and pledges for continuous support renewed.
This will help the American University of Armenia to improve its
entrepreneurship programs to enhance the leadership and organization skills
of the students, and to prepare them for active participation in building a
brighter future for Armenia.

http://www.aua.am/&gt
www.aua.am

Armenian Electronic Art Is Best

ARMENIAN ELECTRONIC ART IS BEST

A1+
| 15:25:09 | 12-10-2005 | Social |

The Armenian companies have had unprecedented success in the
award-giving competition of the Informational Society World Summit. The
CD “Aram Khachatryan. Life and Work” of the “ITE” company “MultiWeb”
studio has been recognized the Best Culture CD/DVD of the world
in 2005.

The other work of the same company “Great Armenian Genocide, 1915-1923”
has been included in the top ten of the best works of the world
winning a special diploma of the “Electronic Education” nomination.

The award-giving ceremony will take place on November 16 in
Tunisia. The Armenian delegation will be accompanied by the RA Prime
Minister.

By the way, the CD “Aram Khachatryan. Life and Work” will also be
sent to exhibitions in Frankfurt.