Panorama.am

17:53 24/03/06

POLICEMEN DEFEND, SMI INSPECTORS DEFY

Do the policemen defend or defy the rights of the citizens? It turned
out that they defend, but how much? `So much as you see. I associate
with the representatives of state bodies and citizens more often and
their main complaints refer to the work of state motor vehicle
inspectorate,’ said first deputy of the head of the Police Ararat
Mahtesyan in reply to Panorama.am question.

But the latter hopes that soon the reins of the inspectors will be
restrained as the President has signed a decree according to which a
working group has been founded. `The working group has prepared a long
document according to which great work has to be carried out in the
legislative, financial and many other fields. After these works we
shall have a State Motor-vehicle Inspectorate of new, higher quality
and the contacts between an inspector and a citizen will be rather
rare as a result of which they will be more objective,’ A. Mahtesyan
said.

And it is hard to say when the expectations of the deputy of the head
of the Police will come true. And before that drivers who have done no
violations will be stopped by Motor vehicle inspectors and the former
will have to pay 500 drams for the Inspector to let them drive
on./Panorama.am/

Panorama.am

15:29 24/03/06

SHAHGELDYAN SUGGESTS AN INCOMPLETE PRESCRIBTION

`Today it is too early to make any calculationas as the gas price is
not finally fixed yet,’ mentioned NA Deputy, RLC member Mher
Shahgeldyan touching upon the announcement of Central Bank manager
Togran Sargsyan made yesterday.

To remind, according to the head of the Central Bank if the gas price
remains 90 drams for 1 cubic meter until the end of the year it can
have an influence of 1% inflation on the consumer’s basket of the
population. As the deputy mentioned he hopes the results are not going
to be too bad even after the inflation.

`We need to have mechanisms which will liquidate and or at least make
those influences minimal,’ M. Shahgeldyan suggested yet without
mentioning any particular mechanism and who has to form these
mechanisms. /Panorama.am/

Glendale News Press, CA
March 24 2006

Schiff names Women of the Year

Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat who represents Burbank and Glendale,
named Tuesday his women of the year from the cities in the 29th
District in honor of Women’s History Month.

They are: Beth Marcus of Burbank, Seta Simonian of Glendale; Angie
O’Brien of Pasadena; Betty Wang of South Pasadena; Helen Hancock of
Alhambra; Nancy Donohue of Temple City; Pat Maguire Freeman of San
Gabriel; Sandra Thomas of Altadena and Sharon Martinez of Monterey
Park.

Marcus is a family physician who practices in La Cañada Flintridge,
where she has practiced for more than 10 years on the medical staffs
of Verdugo Hills Hospital and Glendale Adventist Medical Center.
After completing her family medicine residency, she went on to
complete a fellowship in adolescent medicine, where she worked with
adolescents struggling with poverty, family estrangement, drug abuse,
homelessness, and other issues.

As Burbank Temple Emanu El’s social action chair, Marcus has
coordinated numerous efforts to help others in the Burbank, Glendale,
North Hollywood area. She has arranged blood drives, collected shoes
and clothing for impoverished children, gathered donations for
tsunami victims and hurricane victims, filled backpacks with school
supplies, assembled items for homeless women, and made sandwiches for
the hungry.

She also volunteers her time to help the PTA at Emerson Elementary
School in Burbank, and is planning to implement a nutrition program
at the school called Food is Elementary.

Simonian, a math teacher at Wilson Middle School in Glendale, was
born in Aleppo, Syria, and at age 11 moved to Beirut, Lebanon.

Upon graduating from the American University of Beirut at the age of
22, she married Hratch Simonian.

The Simonians lived and worked in Saudi Arabia for eight years, then
moved to California in 1985. Since 1987, Seta, her husband, and their
two children, Karin and Sebouh, have resided in Glendale.

Simonian co-founded and chaired the Hamazkayin Educational and
Cultural Society of Pasadena.

Panorama.am

13:47 24/03/06

DALLAKYAN OFFENDED FOR BEING OMITTED FROM THE LIST OF TOP SEXY

`I think from now on journalists will be more practical and will
appreciate the real sexiest man,’ `Justice’ grouping secretary
informed the correspondents today.

To remind, on the eve women-correspondents had carried out public
opinion poll among them to find out the sexiest men-politician. As a
result of the poll R. Kocharyan, V. Siradeghyan, Aram Z. Sargsyan,
`Hayrusgazard’ manager Karen Karapetyan, David Shakhnazaryan and Vahan
Hovhannisyan were recognized sexiest men. And Victor Dallakyan got,
in fact, offended that women-correspondents had omitted him, and he
was left out of the list of the sexiest men-politicians./Panorama.am/

March 24 is the international day for fight against tuberculosis

ArmRadio
24.03.2006 14:48

March 24 is the international day for fight against tuberculosis (TB).
Despite the efforts directed at control and prevention of the disease,
the desirable results have not been achieved. The rate of tuberculosis
continues to remain high all over the world. 9 million TB cases are
registered annually, 2 million of which die. The mortality rate from
TB has also increased. According to the coordinator of the national
program to fight TB Vahan Petrosyan, the implementation of the DOTS
strategy by the World Health Organization has raised the effectiveness
of the fight against the disease.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Sitting of the Parliamentary Assembly of South Caucasus to be held in Berlin

ArmRadio
24.03.2006 13:50

The sitting of the Parliamentary Assembly of South Caucasus, which was
previously scheduled late March, will be held in April in Berlin,
member of the initiating group from the Azerbaijani side, Deputy Zahid
Oruj said, noting that issues of integration of South Caucasus
countries in different spheres will be discussed during the
sitting. He noted also that discussions will center also on the topic
of `The precondition of peace and a view into future.’

The sittings are being held at the initiative of the British `Links’
organization.

24-03-2006

Abkhazia: Deeper EU Engagement in South Caucasus Conflicts

The future of the South Caucasus hinges on the sound resolution of its
ethnic conflicts, said the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Europe
and Eurasia on a recent visit to Yerevan.

“The countries will lead a peaceful lifestyle and they will define
their place in the world without any pressure,” said Daniel Freed,
according to Regnum.

But some analysts are less optimistic. It is impossible to resolve the
conflicts in the near future, they say, though the will to do so
should intensify.

Russia has long been the main “peacekeeper” in the South Caucasus. But
with little progress in the past 12 years of negotiations, hopes for a
brighter future have thinned since the 1990s.

Even the West is troubled by the conflicts in the South Caucasus,
perceiving them as a potential threat to regional security and taking
a more active role in their settlement. But the European Union has
been more cautious than the Americans.

In a recent report on “Conflict Resolution in the South Caucasus: The
EU’s Role,” the International Crisis Group (ICG) called for greater
involvement on the part of the European Union, which has an interest
in South Caucasus security, it argues. For an outbreak of war on the
periphery of Europe could spread to involve its core, reports Regnum.

According to Director Sabine Freizer of the ICG Caucasus Program,
Brussels became involved in the South Caucasus conflicts only
recently. The UN is actively engaged in Abkhazia and the OSCE in South
Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

The European Union can do more: not only can it serve as a mediator,
but it can encourage cooperation among the parties by offering deeper
integration into its structures.

“The European Union tries to define its role in new neighborhood where
there is neither peace nor war,” says Director Nicholas Whyte of the
ICG Europe Program. If the EU can’t develop a strategy for South
Caucasus security, argues Director Whyte, then it will lose regional
credibility. Worse still is the possibility of a war breaking out for
which the EU had no effective response.

Why should the EU grow more active in the South Caucasus? For
starters, to ward off the impending threat of conflict. But also, as
several European analysts note, to promote democracy and lasting
political stability.

The EU has other interests in the South Caucasus: access to Caspian
oil and natural gas, reliable communication between Europe and Asia,
and the suppression of drug trafficking, human trafficking and
environmental protection.

While Georgia often tries to distance itself from its South Caucasus
neighbors in its case for joining the EU, European analysts cast doubt
on the accession of any South Caucasus states. Nonetheless, the EU
must recalibrate its approach. It must embrace the action plan of the
European Neighborhood Policy and set out to resolve the South Caucasus
conflicts.

EU strategy should aim to promote a united and strong South
Caucasus. This could lay the groundwork for the peaceful resolution of
South Caucasus conflicts.

While South Caucasus states remain disunited, and local analysts rule
out any future federation, the EU could use the “Stability Pact for
the Caucasus” as the basis of its conflict resolution policy.

Regional cooperation grows more urgent with time – the South Caucasus
cannot escape this.

1991-2006 UNPO – Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
_Source: The Messenger_
( 5_march_23_2006/opi_1075.htm)

Friday, March 24, 2006 – Last Updated: 6:39 AM
Stop another holocaust

Post and Courier
Chalston.net
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian <[email protected]>
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

Close to a million people were killed in Rwanda in 1994 when the
dominant Hutus turned against the Tutsis. The slaughter that went
unchecked should have ensured that at the first signs of genocide the
United Nations would act to prevent yet another human tragedy.

Not so. Genocide has been proceeding in the Darfur region of Sudan as
if there had never been a commitment by the international community to
make the vow “Never Again,” after the Jewish Holocaust, mean
something. To date, the United Nations has shrunk from its
responsibility to intervene and the United States, overstretched in
Afghanistan and Iraq, is in no position to act unilaterally.

Over the past three years, during which at least 300,000 people were
killed and two million displaced from their homes, the United States
was at the forefront of diplomacy aimed at persuading the Sudanese
government to rein in its murdering militias, known as the Janjaweed,
and to cease the “ethnic cleansing” of the black Christian population.

Eighteen months ago, then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
declared that the Arab government was carrying out a campaign of
genocide against the people of Darfur and was using rape as a
weapon. President Bush has repeated the charge of genocide, as has
Congress.

A campaign mounted by the American Jewish World Service called
“Million Voices for Darfur” calls on people around the world to remind
President Bush that during his first year in the White House, he wrote
in the margins of a report on the Rwandan genocide, “Not on my watch.”
American Jews are organizing a mass rally in Washington on April 30.

Last month, the president called for a mission to Darfur under “NATO
stewardship, planning, facilitating, organizing, probably double the
number of peacekeepers that are there now, in order to start bringing
some sense of security.” The Associated Press reports that after a
visit with President Bush in Washington Monday, NATO Secretary General
Jaap De Hoop Scheffer told reporters: “I am quite sure, as I told the
president, that when the U.N. comes [to ask for help], the NATO allies
will be ready to do more in enabling a United Nations Force in
Darfur.”

The president was quoted as saying the African Union must ask the
Security Council to put its mission in Darfur under a U.N. flag. When
that happens, he said, NATO can move in with U.S. help “to make it
clear to the Sudanese government that we’re intent on providing
security for the people there and intent upon helping work toward a
lasting peace agreement.”

Evidently, President Bush has not forgotten the words, “Not on my
watch,” that he scribbled on the Rwandan genocide report.

PRESS RELEASE
Fund for Armenian Relief
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Edina N. Bobelian
Tel: (212) 889-5150; Fax: (212) 889-4849
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

March 24, 2006
____________________

FUND FOR ARMENIAN RELIEF ORGANIZING 10th ANNUAL YOUNG PROFESSIONALS TRIP TO
ARMENIA
Applications for the June 2006 Trip Available Now

The Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) is organizing its tenth annual Young
Professionals Trip to Armenia. From June 12 to 24, 2006, FAR will take a
group aged from 23 to 40 on a journey to all four corners of Armenia and
into Karabagh.

The group will see many of Armenia’s beautiful landscapes and treasures.
The trip begins with a visit to the pagan temple of Garni and the 13th
century Geghart Monastery carved out of a mountain. Following a tour of
Yerevan, including the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial, the group will
travel north to Gyumri, the second city of Armenia that had been devastated
by the 1988 earthquake.

After spending the night in Gyumri, the FAR Young Professionals will stop at
Haghartsin, the 7th century UNESCO-recognized monastery perched on a
forest-covered mountainside. The Young Professionals will then visit Lake
Sevan, the peninsula and its two chapels dating back to the 12th century.
The top of the peninsula provides a breath-taking vista of the largest
alpine lake in the world whose turquoise shimmers on a clear day.

The next day, the FAR group will take the new Selim Pass highway, stopping
to enjoy the panorama of Armenia’s southern city of Goris on the way to
Karabagh. They will see Shushi, Stepanakert, the 13th century Gandzasar
Monastery, Babig and Dadig (the symbol of Karabagh), and meet with a
Karabagh government representative.

Back in Armenia, the Young Professionals will visit Noravank, tour the Holy
See at Etchmiadzin, and meet with Catholicos Karekin II. As part of
experiencing Armenia’s enduring Christian faith, the Young Professionals
will have the opportunity to climb down into the Khor Virap pit where St.
Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned for thirteen years.

The FAR journey will also include seeing Mesrob Mashtots’ birthplace,
Oshagan, and a hike up the Amberd fortress atop Mt. Aragats. Throughout the
trip, there will be ample views of the snow-capped Mt. Ararat and Mt.
Aragats.

Participants in FAR’s Young Professionals Trip do more than just see the
country’s sites. They learn about Armenia’s place in the world, her
religious, political and economic heritage, and engage government leaders in
official state visits. On the last day of the two-week adventure in June
2006, the FAR Young Professionals will meet Armenia’s Minister of Foreign
Affairs Vartan Oskanian.

Nightlife in Yerevan is also plentiful. The 2006 Young Professionals Trip
participants may watch an opera, listen to the Yerevan Philharmonic, eat in
gourmet restaurants, or hit the latest bars, cafes and clubs.

While it is important to witness Armenia’s rich cultural heritage, it is
just as critical for the Young Professionals to understand the realities of
life in Armenia and Karabagh today. They will go to various FAR projects,
such as the Ounjian School in Gyumri, the Children’s Center in Yerevan, the
Nursing Home in Vanadzor, and a few sites completed thanks to the $15
million humanitarian assistance contract in Karabagh that USAID awarded FAR.

The total cost of FAR’s 2006 Young Professionals Trip is $2,420 and includes
airfare to and from Armenia (departing from New York), all taxes, double
occupancy at the Armenia Marriott Hotel Yerevan and other superior hotel
accommodations outside of Yerevan, two meals per day in Yerevan, three meals
per day outside of Yerevan, entrance fees, and guided daily sightseeing.

Applications may be downloaded from FAR’s website, , by
clicking on the “Young Professionals” tab. Applicants meeting all
qualifications for participation will be accepted in the order received.
Space is limited for this program.

For more information, please contact Arto Vorperian at FAR, 630 Second
Avenue, New York, NY 10016, or by telephone at (212) 889-5150 and email at
[email protected].

— 3/24/06

# # #

Common Dreams (press release), ME
March 24 2006

MARCH 24, 2006
10:45 AM
CONTACT: Amnesty International

Turkey: In Support of Freedom of Expression Media Information

WASHINGTON – March 24 – From 1-10 April 2006, Amnesty International
groups around the world will be asking members of the public to sign
postcards urging the Turkish authorities to abolish Article 301 of
the Turkish penal code.

Amnesty International believes that Article 301 of the Turkish Penal
Code poses a threat to the fundamental right to freedom of
expression. Individuals including human rights defenders, publishers,
prominent writers, and journalists, are being prosecuted because they
have dared to discuss publicly the “official” version of the
country’s history or the role of the army, or have caricatured state
officials.

The case against Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk for comments on the
deaths of Kurds and Armenians in Turkey has been dropped. However,
this is too small a step on the road to freedom of expression.

Amnesty International members are appealing to members of the public
to put pressure on the Turkish authorities to immediately stop
prosecutions against individuals under the article and to abolish it
in its entirety.