PRESS RELEASE
Office of Sarkis Yedelian, Independent Councillor, City of Ryde.
Email: [email protected]
(02) 9879 4159 BH, 0412 048 330 Mobile.
Unit4, 191 Victoria Rd., (PO Box 631)
Gladesville NSW 2111, Australia

April 5, 2004

YEDELIAN ELECTED TO RYDE CITY COUNCIL

Newly elected Councillor for Central Ward, Ryde City Council, Mr Sarkis
Yedelian today thanked the people of Ryde for electing him to serve on Ryde
City Council.

“I am deeply humbled and grateful to the people of Ryde for their support
and trust,” Clr Yedelian said.

“It is an immense honour for me to be given the opportunity to serve the
people of Ryde.

“I convey my sincere thanks to all those people who supported me during the
local government campaign.

Yedelian was elected on a platform on delivering a fresh approach to
dealing with Council issues, and bringing accountability to Ryde City
Council.

Yedelian will be calling on Ryde City Council to consider local resident
concerns first and foremost before any decision is taken on the Top Ryde
Urban Village Plan.

Yedelian will also seek to introduce Council-Business partnerships. A
model to seek cooperation with the North Ryde corporate IT business sector
to improve local childcare and sporting facilities.

“Ryde city is a great place to live, and I’ll be doing everything I can to
ensure it remains so,” Clr Yedelian said.

Yedelian has lived in the Ryde area for over 20 years, and operates a
camera and video production business in Gladesville.

Yedelian is a founding and current board member of Community TV
Sydney Ltd., CH31. He is also the president of Armenian TV Sydney
Incorporated. Established in 1994, it is the first and remains the
only Armenian TV broadcast service in Australia run entirely by
volunteers and producing 3 hours of broadcasting each week.

Yedelian is the first Councillor elected in Australia of Armenian
ancestry. He is married with two children.

A1 Plus | 15:27:44 | 05-04-2004 | Politics |

ANOTHER ARREST

Member of “Republic” party’s council Suren Surenyants was taken in the
police custody on Sunday. No formal charges are bought against him so far.

A criminal case is believed to be opened.

—

A1 Plus | 18:13:29 | 05-04-2004 | Politics |

DASHNAKS’ UNILATERAL MOVE

Dashnak party said Monday it was ready to offer some cabinet minister
portfolios to the opposition activists to ease tension.

Kocharyan’s bitter opponent and key rival in presidential elections Stepan
Demirchyan rejected the proposal on Monday saying the opposition is
struggling for constitutional law restoration, not for portfolios.

Commenting on the coalition move he denounced the offer as hypocritical.
Coalition does nothing without Robert Kocharyan’s and Serge Sargssyan’s
instructions.

—

A1 Plus | 16:01:28 | 05-04-2004 | Politics |

POLICE AUTHORITIES TAKE PREVENTIVE STEPS

Haykakan Zhamanak daily newspaper’s correspondent and photojournalist Hayk
Gevorgyan was taken in custody on Monday after he tried to photograph roads
blocked by the police.

He was released later.

—

A1 Plus | 20:30:16 | 05-04-2004 | Social |

MINISTER’S SON CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED HOMICIDE

Urban Planning Minister Ara Aramyan’s son Hayk Aramyan was arrested on
Monday. He is charged with one count of attempted homicide and one of
illegal gun possession.

Investigation is launched into the accident happened on March 12 in cafe
Triumph, in which five were injured.

Two of the cafe personnel – Karen Hovakimyan and Arthur Gevorgyan- are
wanted in connection with the accident. They are still at large.

—

A1 Plus | 20:05:36 | 05-04-2004 | Politics |

A GUY INJURED AT TODAY’S RALLY

A 17 year-old resident of Haghardzin village was slightly injured with knife
at today’s rally. He said he had been stabbed in the head while trying to
help photo-reporters to resist violence committed against them.

Witnesses say the group of instigators vented their anger at reporters when
they were shooting the offenders’ attack on a woman, Geghamyan supporter,
which condemned egg-throwers.

—

A1 Plus | 18:12:28 | 05-04-2004 | Politics |

DATE FOR NATIONWIDE RALLY ALREADY SET

On Monday, opposition leaders and MPs Stepan Demirchyan and Artashes
Geghamyan, speaking at a joint news conference in parliament announced a
nationwide rally should be held on April 9 at 16:00 in Liberty Square.{BR}

They said dozens of opposition activists including women were arrested.
Artashes Geghamyan also said his meeting with people scheduled for today
will be held despite any obstacles.

The only way to break the deadlock reached is to come to agreement on
confidence referendum, he said.

—

A1 Plus | 22:17:27 | 05-04-2004 | Politics |

ASPAREZ CLUB’S STATEMENT

Journalists’ Club Asparez came up with a statement on Monday condemning
violence committed by unidentified men against reporters.

What happened today proved that pressure can be put on freedom of speech
with impunity. Those whose direct duty is keep order encourage violence
perpetrators by turning blind eye to the illegalities being committed by
them, the statement says.

The statement contains strong condemnation of violence committed against
media representatives.

—

Thousands gather at protest in Armenian capital, call for bigger rally Friday

AP Worldstream
Apr 05, 2004

An estimated 8,000 opposition demonstrators gathered for a rally in
the center of the Armenian capital on Monday, and one of the protest’s
leaders said an even larger demonstration to take place Friday.

“A change of power is unavoidable,” Artashes Gegamian, leader of the
National Unity bloc, told the gathering. “Massive acts of protest will
begin April 9.”

Armenia is gripped by an array of dissatisfactions _ from poverty to
the unresolved status of the ethnic Armenian enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan _ which were aggravated by widespread
complaints that last year’s presidential and parliamentary elections
were fraudulent.

Unidentified youths smashed video and still cameras of several
journalists at the rally.

Some women at the rally circulated among police, giving them
carnations in an apparent echo of the roses given by protesters to
police in neighboring Georgia during last year’s massive
demonstrations that forced President Eduard Shevardnadze to resign.

Armenian minister’s son detained over alleged shootout

Noyan Tapan news agency
5 Apr 04

YEREVAN

Hayk Aramyan, son of Minister of Town Planning Ara Aramyan, has been
detained on charges of involvement in an exchange of fire at a cafe in
Yerevan.

The press service of the Prosecutor-General’s Office has told an
Arminfo correspondent that he was detained under three Articles of the
Armenian Criminal Code: Articles 34-104 (attempt on life), 235
(illegal possession of weapons) and 258 (hooliganism). Aramyan is the
only one of those involved to be detained so far.

It should be noted that the shoot-out was committed at the cafe
Triumph in the evening on 12 March. As a result of the incident, five
people were injured.

[Passage omitted: minor details]

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili, who was on a visit to Yerevan, were in a cafe next to
Triumph, when the incident happened.