Author: Topchian Jane

Today, Azerbaijan
May 6 2005

Azeri ombudsman appealed the international organizations for the
purpose of discharging our 3 soldiers being held in captivity

06 May 2005 [15:47] – Today.Az

The Commissioner of Human Rights Elmira Suleymanova addressed a
letter to the president of the International Committee of Red Cross
(ICRC) Yakob Kellenberg, representations in Azerbaijan and Armenia
of this organization, and to the Commissioner for Human Rights of
Council of Europe Alvaro-Hil Robles for discharging the soldiers of
the Azerbaijan Armed Forces Hikmet Taghiyev, Khayal Abdullayev and
Ruslan Bashirov captivated by Armenians on February 15.

According to the information given to APA from the Ombudsman’s Office,
E.Suleymanova dealt with the aggressive politics of Armenia and its
results on Azerbaijan. E.Suleymanova resembled that according to
the official information about 500 Azerbaijanis are captivated by
Armenians and stated that Armenia often breaks the ceasefire.

The ombudsman also showed in her appeal that the Commission of Human
Rights of Armenia informed that as if the Armenian soldier Z.Tamanyan
was arrested on the grounds of sanction of the Azerbaijan Ministry
of Defense, however the Ministries of Defense and the National
Security disproved this information. She noted that Armenia spreads
disinformation systematically.

The ombudsman requested the leaders of the international organizations
to enjoy their privileges for the purpose of restoring the rights of
the 3 Azerbaijani prisoners and to help their returning back.

URL:

Official hails Armenian money laundering effort

Mediamax news agency
5 May 05

Yerevan, 5 May: No cases of terror funding have been established in
Armenia, Central Bank chairman Tigran Sarkisyan said in Yerevan today.

An international conference “Formation and introduction of a system
of preventing money laundering and terror funding in Armenia” is
being held in Yerevan today, Mediamax news agency reported.

Sarkisyan said that only two attempts at money laundering had been
recorded and immediately cut short in the country. He went on to say
that no-one mentioned in international black lists had been found
in Armenia.

[Passage omitted: OSCE envoy Vladimir Pryakhin praised Armenia for
efforts to combat money laundering]

TURKISH HISTORIAN CAN BE ARRESTED FOR DENYING GENOCIDE

Pan Armenian News
04.05.2005 05:11

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ As it was reported earlier, Switzerland came to
decision on detainment of head of the Association of Turkish Historians
Yusuf Ghalachogly for public denial of the Armenian Genocide in the
Ottoman Empire at the beginning of last century. The legal proceedings
were initiated last spring when during a scientific conference
Ghachalogly questioned the fact of the Genocide and stated that the
“activity of the Swiss juridical bodies and the resolution of the
Belgian parliament mean that Europe judges not people but the Turkish
State.” Meanwhile Swiss historian Andre Egne said that if Ghachalogly
fails to prove his statements he can be detained. To note, according
to Article 261.2 of the Swiss Criminal Code the person, who shows
disrespect for the fact of Genocide and for the victims of this crime
against humanity can be sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment and should
pay a penalty amounting in 5 thousand Swiss franks, IA Regnum reports.

Lawless Europe
BY OKTAY EKSI

Turkish Press
May 4 2005

HURRIYET- Last year on May, Yusuf Halacoglu attended a meeting
where he insisted that the Armenian ‘genocide’ claims are baseless
and false. However, Swiss law considers it a crime to reject the
‘genocide’ claims. Therefore, a legal investigation was begun into
Halacoglu. Assuming the reverse, what if a Turkish court had opened
an investigation against a citizen of Switzerland?

There’s little doubt what would happen. We’d be getting letters of
protest from Europe complaining, ‘There’s still no freedom of speech in
Turkey.’ The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly would condemn the
decision of Turkish courts, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
would eagerly wait in line to take their shots at Turkey. We’d be
listening to European Parliament members lecturing us on learning the
rules of the Union, and most of us would be thinking they were right.

But now, Switzerland, which often brags to be the most civilized
country in the world, opened a legal investigation against a Turkish
historian who merely expressed his own point of view…

The reason? According to the Swiss Parliament, the Ottoman Empire is
guilty of ‘genocide’ against the Armenians. Therefore, it’s a crime
to reject this ‘genocide.’ However, there’s no court precedent saying
that the Armenian ‘genocide’ claims are true. Without a court ruling
on the Armenian ‘genocide,’ how can they ever accuse Halacoglu of
rejecting a crime? That seems quite impossible.

However, each day we witness another double standard in our relations
with the EU, so we shouldn’t really expect Europe to come up with a
fair ruling.

NEW SOUTH WALES
Minister for Justice
Minister for Fair Trading
Minister Assisting the Minister for Commerce
Minister Assisting the Premier on Citizenship

MEDIA RELEASE

May 4, 2005

MINISTER HATZISTERGOS CONDEMNS REMOVAL OF ARMENIAN PLAQUE

The Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Premier on
Citizenship, Mr John Hatzistergos today condemned the removal of
a plaque in Meadowbank, commemorating the 90th anniversary of the
Armenian genocide.

The plaque, which was installed on April 24, 2005, the 90th anniversary
of the Armenian genocide – has been forcibly removed from Memorial
Park, Meadowbank. It is unknown who has removed the plaque.

“This is a disgraceful and cowardly act,” Mr Hatzistergos said.

The plaque was installed following a motion from Ryde City Council
officially recognising and condemning the Armenian Genocide of 1915,
the first genocide of the twentieth century.

“The plaque is solemnly dedicated to the 1.5 million men, women and
children who were victims of the Armenian genocide.

“It serves as a reminder to the community of such darks chapters in
human history.

“I urge anyone with information concerning the removal to contact
Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000,” Mr Hatzistergos said.

In 1997, the NSW Parliament passed a unanimous bi-partisan motion
condemning the Armenian genocide of 1915.

In the following year, the Parliament passed another motion to install
a memorial for the victims of the genocide. That memorial is located
in the NSW Parliamentary precinct.

MEDIA CONTACT: ANDREW MELLAS ON 9995 6300 OR 0403 329 268

Azerbaijan News Service
April 23, 2005

COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MINISTRY TO JAM RTR
BROADCAST FOR THIRTY MINUTES
2005-04-23 15:47

Armenian president Robert Kocharyan will be the guest of weekly
`Zerkalo’ talk show of RTR, Russian state channel. The topic of the
program will be 90th anniversary of unrecognized Armenian genocide,
which will be marked on April 24. It was decided to cut broadcast of
RTR in Azerbaijan for 30 minutes starting from 9:25 p.m. Ali Abbasov,
minister of communication and information technology has already
given appropriate orders in this regard. Programs of Russian channels
confronting national interests of Azerbaijan were repeatedly aired
before. And in some cases, broadcast of these programs was
temporarily obstructed in Azerbaijan.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005
IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UCLA Armenian Graduate Students Association Graduate Students Association
c/o Armenian Graduate Students Association Kerckhoff Hall Room 316
308 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Contact: Haig Hovsepian
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

UCLA AGSA joins graduate student government in screening “Vodka Lemon”

LOS ANGELES, CA – On Thursday, April 28th at 7:30pm the UCLA Armenian
Graduate Students Association, in collaboration with the graduate student
government’s Director of Melnitz Movies will host a screening of “Vodka
Lemon” in the James Bridges Theater.

“This is the first time the UCLA AGSA has screened a film on campus and so
it was only natural to partner up with [the Director of] Melnitz Movies,”
commented Haig Hovsepian, project director for the organizing committee.
“The UCLA AGSA already hosts an annual international conference in
Armenian Studies, but this project allows our members to explore more of
the performing arts.”

Directed by Hiner Saleem, an Iraqi Kurd, “Vodka Lemon” is a comedic love
story set in a remote, isolated village in post-Soviet Armenia. It was
the winner of the “San Marco Prize” at the 2003 Venice Film Festival and
has been an official selection at a number of other film festivals.

“The screening of Vodka Lemon and other films by Armenian artists or
concerning Armenian themes are important because Armenian Cinema is a
relatively untapped resource,” noted organizing committee member Ara
Soghomonian, a student in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and
Cultures whose focus is Armenian cinema. “Hopefully through Melnitz
Movies, the UCLA community has found a way to explore Armenian Cinema,
allowing our ever-shrinking world to shrink even more.”

The screening is free and open to the public. Tickets are issued for
seating capacity purposes only and the box office opens at 6:30pm.

———-

“Vodka Lemon” Screening
UCLA AGSA in collaboration with GSA Melnitz Movies James Bridges Theater
at Melnitz Hall Thursday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Box Office opens at 6:30 p.m.
Free Admission

MAYOR OF IGDIR, TURKEY, INTENDS TO SUE ARMENIANS AT INTERNATIONAL COURT

YEREVAN, APRIL 25. ARMINFO. The mayor of Igdir, Turkey, Nurettin Aras
is going to sue the Armenians at the International Court for
“deporting Turks from Yerevan during WWI and 30s of XX,” reports
Milliyet (Turkey).

Aras has started searching for Turks born in and deported from
Yerevan. He claims that part of them moved to Igdir.

PRAVDA, Russia
April 25 2005

Ottoman Empire: Turkey is to admit genocide

10:11 2005-04-25
Hundreds of thousands gathered in Yerevan yesterday to mark 90 years
since the murder of up to 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman empire
and to add their voices to an international campaign to press Turkey
to admit genocide.

Authorities led by President Robert Kocharyan hoped for 1.5 million
people to visit a giant hilltop memorial in the capital of Armenia as
the former Soviet republic seeks international recognition of the
genocide of its people under Turkish rule.

Many members of the Armenian diaspora worldwide converged on Yerevan
for remembrance ceremonies and to join the Christian republic’s 3.8
million inhabitants in a minute of silence at 7pm.

While Turkey acknowledges the tragedy of hundreds of thousands of
deaths, it denies that there was a state-sponsored extermination
plan, a stance that has complicated its hopes of joining the European
Union. Accession talks are due to start this year, tells the
Trelegraph.
Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died, but says
the figures cited today are inflated and that the deaths occurred in
the civil unrest during the disintegration of the troubled Ottoman
Empire during the First World War.

Canada, France, Russia and many other countries have already declared
the killings were genocide.

Armenians say that no country stood up to protect their citizens as
the slaughter continued until 1923.

However, today France is suggesting it will block Turkey’s entry into
the European Union until the genocide is recognized.

Armenia and Turkey have no diplomatic relations. Turkey shut the
border in 1993 out of solidarity with Azerbaijan, when it was
fighting a territorial war with Armenia.

A Canadian parliamentary delegation is in Armenia this weekend to
take part in events. The delegation, including MPs Madeleine
Dalphond-Guiral and Jim Karygiannis, met with Armenian Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian Saturdaym, publishes CTV.

L’UE n’exige pas les excuses de la Turquie
La France isolée en Europe sur le dossier arménien

Bruxelles : de notre correspondante Alexandrine Bouilhet
[23 avril 2005]

Dans ses négociations avec Ankara, l’Union européenne n’a jamais
exigé de la Turquie une reconnaissance du génocide arménien. Et
pour cause : aucun État membre, pas même la France, ne l’a encore
explicitement demandé. La question arménienne ne figure pas parmi
les critères officiels d’adhésion de la Turquie. Le silence d’Ankara
sur le massacre de 1915 n’a pas été un obstacle à la décision
des Vingt-Cinq, le 17 décembre dernier, d’ouvrir les négociations
avec la Turquie, le 3 octobre. A l’occasion de ce sommet européen, les
Arméniens étaient venus en bus à Bruxelles, manifester leur
colère. Sans aucun effet sur les dirigeants européens, à
l’époque, bien plus préoccupés par la question chypriote.

L’anniversaire du génocide fournit aux Arméniens une nouvelle
occasion de faire pression sur Bruxelles. La Fédération européenne
des Arméniens a appelé, jeudi, la Commission et les États membres
à faire pression sur la Turquie pour exiger une reconnaissance
officielle du génocide. Au même moment, les ambassadeurs des États
mem bres préparaient la prochaine réunion des ministres des Affaires
étrangères avec leur homologue turc, mardi, à Luxembourg. Dans
leurs conclusions, pas une ligne ne sera consacrée à l’Arménie. Le
reconnaissance de Chypre par Ankara reste leur principale priorité.

Cette frilosité européenne reflète l’état embryonnaire du
débat. Seuls trois États membres sur Vingt-Cinq ont officiellement
reconnu le génocide de 1915 : la Grèce dès 1996, la Belgique en
1998 via le Sénat, et la France en 2001 par le biais du Parlement.
L’Allemagne, qui compte plus de deux millions de Turcs, n’a jamais
reconnu la réalité du génocide, pas plus que l’Espagne. La
Grande-Bretagne reste très prudente sur la question. En Italie, la
Chambre des députés a bien adopté, en 2001, une résolution
invitant le gouvernement à faire pression sur la Turquie, pour
reconnaître le génocide, mais cette démarche est restée sans
suite. Seule la France, où vit une importante communauté
arménienne (400 000 personnes), relance régulièrement le débat,
mais apparaît très isolée.

Pressé d’agir, Jacques Chirac se trouve en porte à faux car il est
aussi l’un des plus fervents défenseurs de la candidature d’Ankara.
Malgré la pression des Arméniens de France, Chirac n’a pas voulu, le
17 décembre, faire de la reconnaissance du génocide une condition
à l’ouverture des négociations avec Ankara. En revanche, le chef de
l’État a mis en garde la Turquie pour l’avenir. «Le travail de
mémoire de la Turquie dans cette affaire est incontournable», a-t-il
affirmé à Bruxelles. «Si ce travail n’était pas fait d’ici la
fin des négociations, les Français en tiendront compte dans leur
jugement sur le traité d’adhésion.» Jacques Chirac a promis aux
Français un référendum sur l’entrée de la Turquie dans l’Union
«d’ici dix ou quinze ans».