Author: Tumanian Talar

EDGAR MANOUCHARYAN SIGNED A CONTRACT WITH «AJAX»

A!plus

| 18:54:42 | 18-04-2005 | Sports |

Edgar Manoucharyan, the 18-year-old player of the Armenian National
Team and «Pyunik» of Yerevan, has officially signed a 3-year
contract with «Ajax» from Amsterdam. Manoucharyan became the first
Armenian player to have ever signed a contract with such a remarkable
club. «Ajax» is the most titled team of the Netherlands and has been
very successful in the European competitions.

Edgar had arrived in Amsterdam in 2004 December but he had a serious
trauma in the game against «Barcelona» and was not able to continue
the trainings.

–Boundary_(ID_FB5UfDejg298iUtVOj2ZEw)–

PRESS RELEASE

The Genocide Education Project
“Learning the Past, Building the Future”
51 Commonwealth Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 264-4203
[email protected]

Contact: Raffi Momjian (415) 264-4203

THE GENOCIDE EDUCATION PROJECT ESTABLISHED
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San Francisco, CA – The Genocide Education Project proudly announces its
formal establishment as a non-profit educational organization and the
recent hiring of Sara Cohan as its Education Director.

The mission of The Genocide Education Project is to assist educators in
teaching about human rights and genocide, particularly the Armenian
Genocide, by developing and distributing instructional materials,
providing access to teaching resources and organizing educational workshops.

“We’re excited that The Genocide Education Project has become a
full-fledged non-profit organization, and that Sara Cohan, an
exceedingly qualified and enthusiastic educator has come on board,’ said
Raffi Momjian, Executive Director. “We’re eager to put into motion many
of the ideas we’ve been developing to encourage educators to teach the
lessons of genocide to their students.’

In addition to reaching out to public school districts about the
importance of genocide and human rights education, organizing workshops
for teachers, distributing resources and lesson plans to be used in the
classroom, The Genocide Education Project maintains a website at
This cyber resource library was published
specifically for teachers, providing resources for classroom use about
the Armenian Genocide and other gross human rights violations.

The Genocide Education Project has published a comprehensive binder for
educators that includes step-by-step lessons to use in the classroom as
well as information about other curriculum, videos, books, and
discussion topics. The binder, “Human Rights and Genocide: A Case
Study of the First Genocide of the 20th Century’ is sponsored by the San
Francisco Unified School District and was developed in close cooperation
with San Francisco high school history teachers.

Sara Cohan, the organization’s new Education Director, was a classroom
teacher in Florida for five years. She has a Master’s Degree in Social
Science Education, received a Fulbright-Hayes Fellowship, and served as
the Research Fellow at Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern
Poverty Law Center. Cohan also served on state and national education
committees and was a research associate at the Armenian National
Institute. After serving briefly as a volunteer for The Genocide
Education Project, she welcomed the opportunity to serve the
organization in a more comprehensive manner.

“I am looking forward to serving an organization with the mission of The
Genocide Education Project,’ said Cohan. “Incorporating human rights and
genocide education in the classroom is an important step in training
young people to be proactive when genocidal events occur in the future.”

The Genocide Education Project began seven years ago as the Genocide
Curriculum Project, one of the many public education initiatives of the
Bay Area Armenian National Committee. When members recognized that the
Armenian Genocide was generally not being taught in public schools,
despite a 15-year old California law mandating instruction of the
Armenian Genocide, an effort was conceived to reach out to school
districts, reminding them of the need for instruction on this crucial
part of modern history. With the publication of the “Human Rights and
Genocide” lesson plans and TeachGenocide.org website, volunteers began
the process of establishing a new organization whose mission is to help
institutionalize public education about the Armenian Genocide and the
problem of genocide and human rights violations. Volunteers from
Southern California, New York, Washington DC and Chicago joined the
effort to reach school districts all over the country, and the process
of establishing a new organization and receiving non-profit status began
in 2004. Tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) status is now pending and expected to be
complete within the coming year. For more information about the efforts
of The Genocide Education Project please visit their website at

The Genocide Education Project is a nonprofit organization that assists
educators in teaching about human rights and genocide, particularly the
Armenian Genocide, by developing and distributing instructional
materials, providing access to teaching resources and organizing
educational workshops.

Texas Joint Committee for the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

PRESS RELEASE
Texas Armenian Committee
March 25, 2005
Contact: [email protected]

90TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO BE COMMEMORATED ON APRIL 23,
2005, 1 P.M. ON THE STEPS OF STATE CAPITOL, AUSTIN, TEXAS

Armenian-Americans of Texas from Dallas, Houston, College Station, San
Antonio, El Paso and Austin will gather on this day of remembrance to
bring their story to light in speeches, prayers, music and poetry, pay
homage to their dead, and declare their fellowship with genocide
survivors of all ethnicities and races. An exhibition will be on
display at South Gallery of Texas State Capitol (April 23 – 26). The
event will be part of a unified international effort on this weekend
led by the descendants of Armenians who were scattered across the
world (see ).

The Armenians are among the world’s oldest civilizations with at least
a 3000 year history. In 301 A.D., they became the first nation to
adopt Christianity as their state religion. With the Turkish invasion
in 1375, Armenians became an occupied people for almost six centuries.
The Turkish Ottoman Empire was based on twin myths – racial purity and
military superiority. In the late 19th century, as Armenians were
striving for reform and freedom from religious persecution, they were
targeted by the Ottoman government for extermination of their entire
race (A&E, Time Machine, The Hidden Holocaust, 5/28/93). Michael
Arlen in his Passage to Ararat referred to the Genocide as “the
beginning of a bloody river linking the great murderous events of our
century.” On April 24, 1915, in Constantinople (modern Istanbul,
Turkey), 250 Armenian cultural leaders were rounded up, late in the
night after their Easter celebration, sent to prison and summarily
executed.

Thus began the Armenian Genocide, a government-sponsored, premeditated
and orchestrated race murder that would annihilate over 1.5 million
Armenians by 1923. There were an estimated two million Armenians
living in the Ottoman Empire at that time. Hundreds of thousands were
butchered outright. Many others died of starvation, exhaustion, and
epidemics on death marches and in concentration camps. Also during
this time and in the years following, innumerable monuments and
cultural treasures were methodically destroyed and place names were
changed, so that no one might imagine Armenians had ever lived in
Eastern Anatolia, which had been the heartland of the Armenian nation
even before the Biblical times.

To this day, the Turkish government denies this Genocide ever took
place. Furthermore, it has been conducting a cover-up since 1915 with
an image-cleansing campaign to erase and obfuscate the facts. The
evidence, however, remains irrefutable. It includes official Ottoman
records, reports of foreign ambassadors at the time in Turkey, The Red
Cross, thousands of eyewitness accounts including American and German
missionaries, medical doctors, photographs of the concentration camps
and film footage of the death marches into the Syrian desert where
thousands of human skeletons still exist. On March 7, 2000, a petition
was signed by 126 of the world’s preeminent genocide scholars,
including Nobel Laureate for Peace Elie Wiesel, calling on the Turkish
government to recognize the incontestable fact of the Armenian
Genocide. Many countries around the world, including France, Canada,
Russia, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Argentina, Greece, Slovakia,
Lebanon, Belgium, and thirty-seven of the United States have
recognized these events as a Genocide by legislation or
proclamation. Texas recognition is still pending.

`Far more people were murdered by governments in the 20th century than
died in all the century’s wars combined’ (`Murder By The State’, The
Atlantic Monthly, November 2003). On April 23rd, the public is invited
to unite with the Armenian-Americans of Texas against all governments
that have perpetrated genocide upon their own citizens including
Hitler’s Germany, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sudan and all
others.

For more information see:

“PARTIES ALREADY GO INTO SCHOOLS,” GALUST SAHAKIAN RAISES ALARM

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. “Parties have already gone into
schools and try to reveal their fragment interests even in everyday
life of teachers and, in general, of school,” Galust Sahakian, the
leader of the RPA faction stated this during “Parliamentary Week”
Sunday TV show. He considered “very dangerous” attempts to make
political the education sphere, and did not consider appropriate
“placing” parties or their regional organizations at schools. The MP
promised the next time to speak with concrete facts, if the tendency
goes on, and before that, he turned to teachers calling to inform him
if there are such facts.

POLICE DISCOVERS GANG RESPONSIBLE FOR MANY AUTOTHEFTS AND BURGLARIES
IN YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. Head of RA Police Criminal
Investigation Department Hayk Militosian told at a meeting with
reporters organized by the NGO Femida with the the European
Commission’s sponsorship on April 8 that a gang which committed many
autothefts and burglaries in Yerevan has been discovered. 3 members of
the gang (one of them previously convicted) have been arrested.

Turkey’s archives open to check Armenian genocide claims – premier

NTV television, Istanbul
11 Apr 05

[Studio announcer] Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that
the concept of Kurds must not be confused with the PKK [Kurdistan
Workers’ Party]. Speaking in Norway, Erdogan also touched on the
Armenian genocide claims. NTV reporter Nermin Yurteri will inform us
now on the details:

[Yurteri] [Passage omitted] Prime Minister Erdogan conveyed important
messages in connection with the Armenian genocide claims. He said: The
government and the opposition challenged the claims. We are opening
all the state archives. Everyone should come and study the
documents. If an act of genocide was committed in the past, then we
will be prepared to account for it . However, the Armenians must be
prepared to account for their history if an act of genocide was not
committed.

Prime Minister Erdogan underlined another important point. He said
that a letter has been drawn up in connection with the Blue Book on
the Armenian allegations and noted that it will be signed by 550
MPs. Erdogan said that the letter will be conveyed to the two houses
of the British parliament. In a sense, it will call for an apology to
Turkey. The copies of the same letter will be conveyed to the 11
countries that have taken the book as a reference. [Passage omitted]

Pan Armenian News

INFORMATION ON POSTPONEMENT OF CONSIDERATION OF DRAFT RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE IN BUNDESTAG NOT TRUE

11.04.2005 02:47

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The German Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social
Union’s initiative entitled `The day of commemoration of Armenians on
occasion of 90-th anniversary of the massacres on April 24, 1915: Germany
should contribute to reconciliation of Turks and Armenians’ will be
submitted to the consideration of Bundestag April 21 or 22, author of the
resolution, President of German-Caucasian parliamentary group Christoph
Bergner stated, Arminfo Agency reports. In his words, the information was
spread by the Turkish media that the consideration has been postponed for an
uncertain term does not correspond to reality. `The first reading is
scheduled for April 21 or 22 after what the Committee for International
Policy will the discuss the issue. The parliament is expected to come to
final decision till summer’, Mr. Bergner said. To remind, according to
reports of Turkish media, the consideration of the resolution in Bundestag
has been postponed since the German party allegedly did not want to hurt
Turkey on the threshold of Gerhard Schroder’s visit to Ankara.

US envoy visits Azeri regions to secure fair parliamentary polls

Turan news agency, Baku
6 Apr 05

Calilabad, 6 April: One of the goals of US ambassador to Azerbaijan
Reno Harnish’s visits to Azerbaijani regions is a desire to get
familiar with the readiness of local population for the upcoming
parliamentary elections. The ambassador has discussed the forthcoming
elections at meetings with representatives of local authorities and
the opposition.

“Equal” participation of all sides in the elections, peaceful situation
during the elections, freedom of assembly, freedom of the media and
fair vote-counting are the topics discussed during these meetings,
Harnish told journalists in Calilabad [southeastern Azerbaijan] today.

Harnish said he was surprised at the statement by member of the ruling
New Azerbaijan Party [MP] Bahar Muradova saying that a proposal to
sign an agreement between the authorities and the opposition in the
run-up to the elections is “not serious”. “I really did not know that
a fuss would be made about my opinion,” the ambassador said.

“Azerbaijan has very good potential to build a new model of
democracy in the post-Soviet space. You know that there is no talk
of democracy in many countries – south and north of Azerbaijan. The
ruling regimes in these countries strive to stifle democracy as
much as they can. Given that Azerbaijan has a progressive leader,
[Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev, why should not the New Azerbaijan
Party and other parties reach common ground to conduct free, just
and fair elections and ensure freedom of assembly and unimpeded work
of the mass media? The most important point is that all sides should
renounce violence during the election campaign,” Harnish said.

Harnish described Aliyev’s call for dialogue as a positive fact. At
the same time, the ambassador said that he had never heard opposition
leaders refusing dialogue. In his view, such a dialogue is crucial
in order to hold fair elections.

Commenting on frequent exchanges of fire on the front line,
Harnish said that representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office
Andrzej Kasprzyk is making efforts to stop the shootouts. However,
if his efforts fail, the issue will be discussed at a meeting of the
Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers in mid-April in London,
which will also be attended by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen.

European justice ministers vow to continue fight against terrorism
By MATTI HUUHTANEN

The Associated Press
04/08/05 08:52 EDT

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) – European justice ministers pledged Friday
to continue the fight against terror, including money laundering and
the financing of terrorist attacks, and make easier the confiscation
of proceeds from criminal activities.

However, anti-terrorist measures should “fully respect human rights,”
the Council of Europe ministers said in a resolution adopted at the
end of a two-day conference.

Finnish Justice Minister Johannes Koskinen, who hosted the meetings,
said that the anti-terrorist campaign was “a top priority” in the
46-nation organization.

“Terrorism is a threat to European fundamental values; the rule of law,
human rights and democracy,” Koskinen said at a news conference. He
urged member nations to adopt previous anti-terrorist protocols as
well as resolutions passed in Helsinki.

Finnish President Tarja Halonen, who opened the conference, said
the Council of Europe – the continent’s top human rights watchdog –
played a central role in “strengthening human rights, democracy and
the rule of law” in Europe.

“It has laid a firm foundation for the rapid progress of European
integration,” Halonen said, but cautioned that several nations that
had recently adopted parliamentary democracy and the rule of law “have
a long way to go in strengthening civil society … and safeguarding
the freedom of expression.”

Concerned about growing debt in “a consumer credit society,” a
resolution passed by the participants, including 30 justice ministers,
called on governments “to take measures to seek legal action and
practical solutions to debt problems encountered by citizens.”

Participants also discussed the reform of European prison rules,
standardizing regulations in the fight against crime and assisting
prisoners to reintegrate into society.

The next meeting of the council’s justice ministers is scheduled to
be held in Yerevan, Armenia, in 2006.

On the Net:

SURVEY ON PROMOTION OF ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION IS CARRIED OUT IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. “Involvement and promotion
of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms(ADR) in Armenia will
increase legal and administrative barriers and assist development
of business in the country.” Anna Minasian, the President of
“Advanced Social Technologies” NGO stated at the April 6 roundtable
dedicated to the representation of results of the research on ADR
development. According to her, for a country like Armenia, it is very
important to develop ADR as a way of democratic settlement of economic
conflicts among businessmen. According to A.Minasian, the goal of the
sociological research, carried out by the NGO in 100 small and middle
enterprises of Yerevan, Giumri, Yeghegnadzor and Abovian with the
help of “Euroasia” fund, was estimation of opportunities, existing in
Armenia, of ADR development. According to the results of the research,
most of responders doesn’t trust courts and prefers to solve arguments
out of court system. At the same time, as the research showed, there
is a number of obstacles for ADR development in Armenia. Among them
is: absence of standards of concluding treaties among businessmen,
considering that it is not necessary to follow the concluding
treaties. Besides, populations’ having no necessary information,
unclearmess of legal norms in this sphere are also obstacles for ADR
development. According to A.Minasian, though AMCSs are not aimed to
replace judicial processes, but this system cannot completely act in
conditions of absence of normal judicial system.