Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 29 2006

Abbas Abbasov: `Tension in Armenia-Azerbaijan talks compels
strengthening of our strategical positions’

[ 29 Apr. 2006 14:19 ]

Kazakhstan prime minister, Danial Akhmetov will also take part in the
meeting of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) to be held on May
5 in Azerbaijan. According to first deputy prime minister of
Azerbaijan, Abbas Abbasov, within the frame of the visit the guest is
expected to meet with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and Prime
Minister Arthur Rasizadeh, as well as will participate in cornerstone
laying ceremony of grain terminal of Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan joint
venture. (APA)

Abbas Abbasov giving comment on the issues of importing Kazakhstan
grain to Azerbaijan being met with dissatisfaction by local
entrepreneurs, he said this project is implemented aimed at
regulating the inner market: `Construction of grain terminal will be
enough to Azerbaijan. We are a country living in war condition, it is
15 years that 20% of Azerbaijani lands are under occupation, and
talks’ being in tension in this direction compels us to strengthen
our positions. The government is concerned in provision of grain
resources in Azerbaijan.’
It should be noted that, today next meeting of inter-governments
committee on Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan economic cooperation was held in
Baku. Issue of paying Azerbaijani debt to Kazakhstan has also been
discussed in the meeting of the committee. According to Mr.Abbasov,
establishing of working group has been decided to investigate this
issue. `The date of the debt has already passed 13-14 years, and
financial and bank organizations of both countries should work on
this issue seriously. All documents being prepared should be
submitted to both countries’ co-chairs.’/APA/

RIA Novosti, Russia
April 29 2006

Armenia’s foreign trade turnover in 1Q06 hits $606.4 mln, up 7%
13:20 | 29/ 04/ 2006

YEREVAN, April 29 (RIA Novosti, Gamlet Matevosyan) – Armenia’s
foreign trade turnover in January-March 2006 was at $606.4 million,
up 7% on 2005, the National Statistics Service said Saturday.

Exports were worth $184.4 mln and imports $422 mln.

Armenia’s foreign trade deficit in January-March 2006 was $237.6 mln.

Germany accounted for the largest share of Armenian exports (18.3%),
followed by the Netherlands (15.5%), Belgium (13.1%), Russia (10.3%),
Israel (9%), Georgia (6.5%), and the United States (6.47%).

Most of Armenia’s imports came from Russia (13.2%), followed by
Ukraine (9.7%) Turkmenistan (7.8%), Germany (6.9%), Belgium (6.5%),
Israel (5.7%), and the United States (4.9%).

AsiaNews.it, Italy
April 29 2006

Humanitarian, exposition of human rights violations, starts today

Asia will also come under the spotlight in the nine-day event in
Valmontone, near Rome, with a focus on Cambodia (encounter with
Philip Short, the author of the books Pol Pot and Mao), China
(encounter with Fr Bernardo Cervellera, director of AsiaNews and
author of the book Missione China (Mission China), Tibet (encounter
with Ugo Papi, president of the association Friends of Tibet and
Marialaura Di Mattia Polichetti, Indo-Tibetologist).

Rome (AsiaNews) – Violated human rights will be the major theme of
`Humanitarian’, a nine-day event that will tackle genocides, women’s
and children’s rights, torture and the death penalty, arms
trafficking, wars, hunger and poverty, the struggle against AIDS and
poetry.

The manifestation will be held in Valmontone – in the province of
Rome – from today, 29 April until Sunday 7 May. It includes times of
research and reflection interspersed with theatre, music, cinema and
dance. Throughout the event, documentaries, videos, photo exhibitions
and artistic shows will be featured.

Many governmental and non-governmental organizations that safeguard
human rights in Italy and the rest of the world will take part in all
stages of the event – elaboration of the programme, interventions,
exhibitions, and video materials. Some of the organizations are:
ActionAid International, Amnesty International – Italian section,
Italian Refugee Council, the inter-ministerial committee for human
rights, the Italian Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, Hands off
Cain, Save the Children Italy, Terre des hommes Italy, Unicef Italy,
and the International Voluntary Association for Development.

The event will be opened on Saturday by Aldo Forbice, creator and
director of Humanitarian and by Giovanni Conso, chairman of the
honorary committee. The chairpersons and directors of organizations
taking part in Humanitarian will be present, together with Italian
and European MPs.

The opening will be followed by a concert of Grazia Di Michele.

Sunday will focus on genocides of today and yesterday: there will be
testimonies, film clips and commentaries about the Armenian genocide,
the Shoah, the gulag, Chechnya, Rwanda and Darfur. Space will be
allotted to Asia, with a focus on Cambodia (encounter with Philip
Short, the author of the books Pol Pot and Mao); China (encounter
with Fr Bernardo Cervellera, director of AsiaNews and author of the
book Missione China – Mission China); Tibet (encounter with Ugo Papi,
president of the association Friends of Tibet and Marialaura Di
Mattia Polichetti, Indo-Tibetologist); Iran, with testimonies of ex
political prisoners, and Iranian dissidents.

>From Monday onwards, it will be time for shows, debates and
exhibitions, like `A world of rights’ by Amnesty International that
aims to be a key to the theme of the interdependence of all human
tights, revealing links between civil and political rights on the one
hand and economic and social rights on the other. The initiative will
analyze current problems like fundamental rights, the impact of
economic choices on the world of nature and human societies, the
right to peace and how this is threatened by economic interests, the
arms trade, identity and self-determination of peoples.

Zaman, Turkey
April 29 2006

Bush Guarantees Aliyev Peaceful Iranian Solution
By Foreign News Desk, Istanbul
Published: Saturday, April 29, 2006
zaman.com

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliev, who paid a critical visit to
Washington at a time when the nuclear row still continues, met US
President George W. Bush yesterday.

Regional security, the Upper Karabag (Karabagh) under Armenian
occupation, energy issues, and the Iranian crisis were handled in the
talk that took place at the White House.

Bush guaranteed Aliyev the solving of the Iranian problem in
diplomatic and peaceful ways, as Aliyev said Azerbaijan will not join
a possible strike against Iran.

Bush appreciates Baku’s troop contribution in Iraq; stressing the
importance that US ally Azerbaijan should remain fully briefed on
developments in the region.

Azeris are grateful for the United States’ undertaking a leadership
role to support energy security in the region, said Aliyev. “I am
sure our strategic relationships will be reinforced in the future.”

According to Aliyev, President Bush and he mainly discussed the
Armenian occupation in the Upper Karabag (Karabagh) in their talks.

TREND Info, Azerbaijan
April 29 2006

PACE reporter on disappeared persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Georgia arrives in June

Source: Trend
Author: R. Abdullayev

29.04.2006

PACE reporter on disappeared persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Georgia, Leo Platvoet arrives to Azerbaijan in June to Azerbaijan,
Platvoet told at the press-conference in Baku on April 28, Trend
reports.

«My visit will be a part of PACE report preparation on situation in
South Caucasus, issues of displaced persons will be discussed in its
frames,’ Platvoet said.

Platvoet reminded about his visit to the head of office of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva, where he
discussed the report with ICRC leadership.

`I will visit the region to gather information which will be later
used in my report,’ Platvoet said.

Globe and Mail, Canada
April 29 2006

‘Like coming to my house’

At a tiny Beaches restaurant, hospitality, Armenian-style, knows no
bounds
IAN HARVEY

Special to The Globe and Mail

It’s Saturday night in the Beaches and Raffi Asparian is in full
stride.

“Here,” he says to a couple seated in his tiny Queen Street East
storefront restaurant, Arax, which is named after the Armenian river.
“Try this. It’s good.”

He offers one of the diners a morsel of sausage from the plate he’s
carrying, then sweeps off to set the plate down at another table in
front of the guest who had ordered it.

“You need more from the bar. You help yourself. I’m busy,” he
suggests to another thirsty customer.

It’s Mr. Asparian’s way. He’s just as likely to pull up a chair and
join you as he is to help himself to a glass of wine from your table
or extend an invitation to dance — all the while maintaining a
staccato stream of cordial conversation about life, love and
business. And that’s just during his evening shift. Fired with
restless energy, the gregarious restaurateur also owns and runs Jewel
on the Beach, a jewellery store across the street, where he begins
his workday at noon, closing up at 5 p.m. to open the restaurant.

All of this he’s been doing single-handedly, from running the
jewellery business to greeting, cooking and serving the
Mediterranean-influenced food at his 26-seat eatery.

But after years of juggling two jobs, that crazy Armenian guy, as
he’s more familiarly known in the neighbourhood, is finally taking a
break. Next month, he’ll turn the jewellery store over to son Jacob,
22. Which will leave Mr. Asparian free to finally enjoy a few
afternoons off.

“I don’t want my kids to work in the [restaurant] business,” he says.
“It’s too hard. It takes you away from your family.

“I want them to have a normal life.”

Still, it’s clear to most customers that Mr. Asparian, a fixture on
the strip for 14 years, enjoys the restaurant business. And the
lifestyle appears to suit him.

While he posts official hours for the restaurant, he often decides
when he has had enough for the night, and sometimes leaves his diners
to close up.

“He’s actually slowed down, believe it or not,” notes Charles
Farrugia, president of Datacom and a regular from the days when Mr.
Asparian’s family ran a restaurant at Avenue Road and Eglinton.
“[Arax] is not really a restaurant as much as a tourist attraction. I
love to bring people there. My parents, even, they love him.

“He has this incredible recollection and treats people like he’s
known them all his life. He loves to interact.”

“I survive because of my customers,” says Mr. Asparian, who is 52.
“They keep me in business. When they eat at my restaurant, it’s like
coming to my house.”

Whether at the store or the restaurant, he greets customers as if he
knows them, and banters brusquely, in the way old friends josh and
chide each other.

“I thought he was drunk or crazy,” says Margaret Czaja, recalling how
she met him 12 years ago when she dropped by for drinks after
finishing her shift at a Polish restaurant. “He sat down, grabbed my
wine and drank it. Then he brings another round for the table, and
the next day he sent flowers.”

It was the start of what turned out to be a long-term friendship.

Armenian by way of Lebanon, Mr. Asparian’s family opened the first
incarnation of Arax in 1975 when they arrived in Canada. The food was
much as it is today, a mix of Mediterranean, along with more Middle
Eastern Armenian dishes. Over the years, the business migrated to
different locations, some big, some smaller, at Bathurst and
Lawrence, Warden and Lawrence, and finally the Beaches.

“What a country Canada is,” he says, repeating the classic
immigrant’s mantra. “You work hard and you have success. Don’t tell
me you can’t get a job. I have two.”

But from now on, he’ll have just one, and regular diners at Arax are
glad he’s chosen to stick with the restaurant gig.

“If I did some of the things he’s done, I’d be in jail,” laughs Steve
Ferguson, who has followed Mr. Asparian across the city for 30 years.
“He gets away with it, though. It’s always a party and fun.”

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 29 2006

Armenia should look forward for future not keeping past memories-
PACE chairman

Source: Trend
Author: Z. Ibrahimli

29.04.2006

In order to normalize its relations with Turkey Armenia `should look
forward for future not keeping past memories,’ the chairman of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Rene Van der
Linden told in exclusive interview to MediaMax.

`The fact that both Armenia and Turkey are members of the Council of
Europe allows MPs from both countries to meet and hold joint
discussions. I think that if you live in the same region and you
don’t have any open relations in trade, economy, culture you are not
benefiting your own countries in the first place. You can not create
a stable future in the region if you are isolated from your
neighbors.’

`If you are looking for a solution you will find it. Though, you will
never find a 100% solution. Compromise is always a must as both
sides have their own arguments and if you will only stay on your own
principles and feelings it won` t be possible to find appropriate
peaceful solution for future,’ Van der Linden said.

Boston Herald, MA
April 29 2006

Genocide’s lesson timeless

By Adam Strom/ As You Were Saying
Saturday, April 29, 2006

To prevent mass violence and genocide, we will need to summon the
commitments of new generations around the world. Here, education in
schools and in broad public venues holds the best promise.

On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Turk government began rounding up
Armenian intellectuals and community leaders and executing them. It
was the first phase of what soon became a full-fledged genocide –
more than a million Armenians would eventually die and nearly every
Armenian would be driven from Turkey.

In the United States and Europe, journalists, politicians and
ordinary people who knew of the horrors and outrages in Turkey’s
Anatolian desert wrestled with how to respond. Most simply averted
their eyes. Others, unable to remain silent in the face of the
growing atrocities, challenged tradition by boldly proclaiming that
responsibility for human life does not stop at national borders.
Their solutions set important precedents for international law. In
fact, the phrase `crime against humanity,’ made famous as one of the
counts at the post-Holocaust Nuremberg trials, was first used to
describe the massacres of Armenian civilians in the spring of 1915.

To many who had followed the bloody history of Turkey’s campaign
against its ethnic minorities, the impunity enjoyed by those who had
ordered and carried out the killings was unbearable.

Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew and a law student, was one of them.
Lemkin confronted one of his law school professors, `Why is the
killing of a million people a lesser crime than the killing of a
single individual?’ His professor used a metaphor to explain that
courts did not have any jurisdiction: `Consider the case of a farmer
who owns a flock of chickens. He kills them and this is his business.
If you interfere, you are trespassing.’ But, replied an incensed
Lemkin, `the Armenians are not chickens.’

Lemkin dedicated the rest of his life to finding a way to make
sure that the law would recognize the difference. In 1944 Lemkin
coined the word `genocide’ and later he drafted the United Nations
Convention on Genocide. The convention was ratified on Dec. 9, 1948,
one day before the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. The ratification was too late for Lemkin’s own family, many
of whom were murdered in the Holocaust.

In the 20th century more people died through genocidal violence and
state-sanctioned murder than in wartime combat. The 21st century is
not looking much better. The violence now taking hundreds of
thousands of lives in Darfur is a vivid reminder of how little we
learned from the last 100 years.

To prevent mass violence and genocide, we will need to summon the
commitments of new generations around the world. Here, education in
schools and in broad public venues holds the best promise. Students
can learn about the failures of democratic accountability that so
often precede atrocity. Communities can learn about the dangers of
blind obedience and about the power of bystanders to become what
author Samantha Power calls `upstanders,’ speaking out against hatred
and violence.

Even today, 91 years after the start of the Armenian genocide,
the Turkish government and others seek to deny that the crimes ever
occurred and some argue that teachers need to `tell both sides of the
story.’ These denials just deepen the effects of the crime; they
allow today’s generation – and generations going forward – to ignore
the truth and, in so doing, learn nothing from it.

They pave the way for new genocides by disarming all of us, by
not providing us with the knowledge we need to recognize the
conditions that might create genocidal behavior and to see clearly
when genocide begins.

In April our calendar is stained with the memory of the
anniversaries of four genocides – the Armenian Genocide, the
Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide and the Rwandan Genocide.

Facing History and Ourselves believes that by facing history
honestly, without distortions or denial, we can educate a new
generation to realize Lemkin’s vision.

Adam Strom is director of research and development for Facing History
and Ourselves, an international nonprofit organization that was
founded in Brookline 30 years ago. As You Were Saying is a Herald
feature. We invite readers to contribute pieces of 600 words. Mail to
the Boston Herald, P.O. Box 55643, Boston, MA 02205-5643, or e-mail
to [email protected]. Submissions are subject to editing and
become Herald property.

Burbank Leader,CA
April 29 2006

Language credential in bill

The Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday approved Assemblyman
Dario Frommer’s legislation seeking to include the Armenian language
in the single-subject foreign language California Subject Examination
for Teachers.

California has the largest Armenian population outside of Armenia yet
there is no program for teachers who want to be credentialed in the
Armenian language, said Frommer, a Democrat who represents Burbank
and Glendale.

If the bill passes, it would better equip teachers in districts with
large Armenian populations and spur interested students to study the
Armenian language in high schools, colleges and universities, he
said.

The Glendale Unified School District reported that it had 3,904
English language learners who speak Armenian primarily, making up 49%
of the district’s total English language learner population.

Assembly Bill 2913’s expansion of the test’s single subject teaching
credential to include the Armenian language will permit high schools,
colleges and universities to offer the Armenian language as a course
in the curriculum and will guarantee that those courses will be
taught by teachers credentialed in Armenian.

The first Armenian test must be administered by Sept. 1, 2009,
according to the bill.

Riding a fast track to teaching credential

State Sen. Jack Scott, a Democrat who represents Burbank, Glendale
and La Cañada Flintridge, is urging those interested in shifting
their professional abilities into teaching by participating in a
“fast-track” teacher- credentialing exam.

One exam is scheduled for June 10 and another for Aug. 5.

The registration deadline for the June exam is May 11.

Aspiring teachers can dramatically reduce the time to earn a teaching
credential by passing the Teaching Foundations Exam also known as the
Early Completion Option. Prospective teachers must prove they have
knowledge of their subject. The exam will be conducted statewide for
candidates in math, English and other subjects.

Those who want to take the science test may only participate at a
reduced rate in order to set statistical passing scores for this
exam.

The science exam is normally $155 but the first 100 people who sign
up for June 10 will be offered a reduced rate, Scott said.

Many people would make wonderful teachers, but are discouraged by the
time and expense of teacher training, Scott said.

Taking the test can cut the time to get a credential from two years
to several months, he said.

Scott’s SB 57, which passed in 2001, included creation of the
fast-track process.

The law requires that all teacher internship programs approved by the
California Commission on Teacher Credentialing offer this early
completion option.

Would-be teachers are able to bypass most teacher education courses
by enrolling in an approved university or school district intern
preparation program.

For information on the Early Completion Option exam, e-mail Michael
McKibbin at the Commission on Teacher Credentialing: mmckibbin@
ctc.ca.gov. The Commission’s website address is

Illegal immigrants cost millions annually

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, whose district
includes Glendale, Burbank and the foothills, reported that nearly
100,000 children of illegal immigrants collected nearly $23 million
in Aid to Families of Dependent Children funding in Los Angeles
County in January 2006 — or nearly $276 million annually.

Antonovich said 98,703 children of 57,458 undocumented parents
received aid in January 2006 — for a total of 156,161 immigrants. If
incorporated into a city, it would be the 6th largest city in the
county.

While legal immigration is a positive influence on our culture and
economy, illegal immigration has had a devastating impact on the
county, Antonovich said.

Antonovich made his statements while meeting with Congressional
representatives in Washington, D.C., to provide information regarding
the impact illegal immigrants have on our county, Tuesday.

Candidate forum to be held Monday

The Glendale Homeowners Coordinating Council will host a discussion
featuring the four candidates running in the June 6 primary for the
43rd District Assembly seat.

The candidates’ forum will be held at 7 p.m. in the board room at the
Glendale Unified School District’s administration center, 223 N.
Jackson St.

The four candidates in the running are Republican Michael Agbaba,
Democrats Paul Krekorian and Frank Quintero and Libertarian Steve
Myers.

Dreier honored for extradition work

Rep. David Dreier, a Republican who represents La Cañada Flintridge
and La Crescenta, was honored Sunday by Justice for Homicide Victims
Inc. for his work to bring about a change in Mexico’s extradition
policy.

Justice for Homicide Victims is the action arm of the California
Center for Family Survivors of Homicide Inc.

Dreier was presented with the Victim’s Outstanding Service Award by
Executive Director Marcella Leach.

Dreier said he was humbled by the honor.

In 2004, Dreier traveled to Mexico to meet with Mexican officials,
including the Mexican Supreme Court justices, to urge a change in
their extradition policy.

He argued that Mexico should extradite suspects accused of violent
crimes in the United States even if they face life in prison.

In November 2005, the Mexican Supreme Court reversed a previous
decision banning such extraditions.

The Free Lance-Star, VA
April 29 2006

Faith groups rally in D.C. to ‘Save Darfur’

A displaced Sudanese mother and child wait in a dispensary run by the
French organization Action Against Hunger in South Darfur. Religious
leaders will rally on the Mall tomorrow for the refugees.

Faith groups unite for action in Darfur

By NATASHA ALTAMIRANO

Religious leaders of different faiths will stand together in the
nation’s capital tomorrow for a basic tenet that crosses theological
and political lines: human rights.

Representatives from dozens of Christian, Muslim and Jewish groups
will unite for “Save Darfur: Rally to Stop Genocide” on the National
Mall.

“God does not challenge us to speak out just for Christians–he
challenges us to speak out for the human rights of all people,” said
the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs for
the Washington-based National Association of Evangelicals.

“If there’s one thing that we can all stand together and say as faith
leaders and as citizens, it ought to be this.”

Cizik, who lives in southern Stafford County, is on the executive
committee of the Save Darfur Coalition, which organized the rally.

The Sudanese government has killed more than 300,000 people in the
Darfur region in western Sudan. An estimated 3.5 million refugees
depend on foreign aid for survival, according to the coalition.

“The world stood silent in the face of Armenian, Jewish, Cambodian
and Rwandan genocide,” said Cizik, who will lead the rally’s opening
prayer. “Nothing on the global agenda is more urgent than rescuing
Darfur’s people from a campaign of extermination.”

Inaction on previous genocide is a major reason Darfur has become
such an important issue to the Jewish community, said said Julie
Weingrad, assistant director of the Jewish Community Relations
Council of Greater Washington.

The council has $45,000 for humanitarian aid in Darfur, Weingrad
said.

“A lot of people look back to the genocide in Rwanda and think, ‘I
wish I had done more, so I’m going to do more now,'” she said.

Experiencing the reality of genocide through the Holocaust is another
reason Jews have played an active role in the Save Darfur campaign.

“It’s something that’s affected someone in almost every Jewish
person’s family,” Weingrad said.

Like all people of strong faith, the Jewish community feels an
obligation to social justice.

“There’s a very strong sense that, as Jews, we need to participate in
‘tikkun olam’–it literally means ‘repairing the world,'” Weingrad
said.

The rally culminates a 22-city tour to raise public awareness of the
situation in Darfur and to pressure Bush administration officials and
congressional leaders to intervene.

The event also marks the end of the “Million Voices for Darfur”
campaign to generate 1 million postcards urging President Bush to
take action in Darfur.

More than 500,000 electronic and hard-copy postcards have been
signed. They will be delivered to government officials tomorrow.

Other religious leaders scheduled to speak include the Rev. Richard
Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and
Religious Liberties Commission; Rabbi Steve Gutow, executive director
of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; and Cardinal Theodore
McCarrick, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of
Washington.

Imam A. Rashied Omar with the Kroc Institute for International
Studies at Notre Dame University, former Sudanese NBA basketball
player Manute Bol and refugees from Darfur also will be there.

They’ll be joined by Academy Award-winning actor George Clooney; Sen.
Barack Obama, D-Ill.; and House of Representatives Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., among other political leaders.

For details, visit savedarfur.org/rally.