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  • ASBAREZ Online [05-19-2005]

    ASBAREZ ONLINE
    TOP STORIES
    05/19/2005
    TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
    WEBSITE AT <http://www.asbarez.com/>HTTP://WWW.ASBAREZ.COM

    1) ARF Lebanon Pulls Candidates, Independent Candidates Follow Suit
    2) Erdogan Adamant on Turkey's 'Innocent' Past
    3) Russian Military Equipment in Georgia 'Could Be Moved to Armenia'
    4) Rizhkov Visits Dzidzernagapert, Discusses Cooperation
    5) ANCA to Hold Darfur Genocide Vigil at White House

    1) ARF Lebanon Pulls Candidates, Independent Candidates Follow Suit

    LEBANON--Following its calls to local Armenians to withhold from voting in the
    Beirut parliamentary elections, Lebanon's Armenian Revolutionary Federation
    (ARF) pulled its two candidates from Beirut's third constituency race to
    protest the snubbing of Beirut's majority of Armenians.
    Saad Hariri, son of the slain former premier Rafik Hariri, on Sunday announced
    his electoral list for Beirut's constituencies; though four Armenian seats are
    vacant, Hariri excluded the two candidates put forth by the Armenian
    Revolutionary Federation (ARF), which enjoys extensive support among Beirut's
    significant Armenian minority.
    On Monday, the party called on its supporters in Beirut to boycott the Beirut
    elections because the Armenian candidates put forth by Hariri represent the
    smallest sector of Lebanon's Armenian community--and not the majority will.
    The party called the decision to pull its two candidates Stepan Der Bedrossian
    and Jacques Chookhadarian from the race, a "logical subsequent step" to
    boycotting the elections--since the ARF's candidates would have garnered
    victories, considering the party's influence in the area.
    In a symbolic move, independent candidates from Beirut's first and second
    constituencies, Haigaz Yardemian and Abraham Matossian, also pulled out of the
    race to show that Hariri's four Armenian candidates will be legally elected,
    but not with Armenian votes.


    2) Erdogan Adamant on Turkey's 'Innocent' Past

    ANKARA (AA)--According to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey
    has never committed genocide throughout its history, making it impossible to
    accept "such accusations,'' he said on Wednesday.
    Addressing a gathering of his governmental Justice & Development Party,
    Erdogan
    said that Armenian genocide "allegations" were discussed at the Council of
    Europe Heads of State and Government Summit, held in Warsaw at the
    beginning of
    this week.
    Claiming that Armenians living during Ottoman reign fell prey to the games of
    foreign powers and rebelled (at this point, the prime minister resorted to
    slang, saying that Armenian's 'got pumped-up'), Erdogan said the "Ottomans did
    what they had to do. We will never succumb to the pressure to accept the
    Genocide."
    ''During my speech [at the summit], I said that we have opened our state
    archives. We don't have any concerns about our history, and believe that
    reality should be revealed. Armenia should also open its archives and
    historians, jurists, political scientists, and archivists should work on them.
    Then, we make the political decision. Unfortunately, I cannot get any positive
    response from [Armenian President] Kocharian so far,'' Erdogan said.
    Insisting that international diplomacy is contradicted because certain
    countries' parliaments have recognized "these so-called Armenian genocide
    allegations," Erdogan continued, "There is no word for assuming such an
    attitude without basing on any document or information against a country with
    which you are together in international institutions. In Warsaw, I told
    reporters that parliaments of 15 countries made such a decision, and we will
    examine these 15 countries. There are countries among these 15 which carried
    out genocide in the past. We will bring them to our parliament and pass a
    decision, basing on real documents and information, not with lobbying. We will
    take this step because Turkey had never committed genocide throughout its
    history.''
    ''Of course some people might have died during relocation. It is true. But,
    why
    were these people forced to migrate? Documents indicate that the Ottomans were
    fighting in three fronts, and there was an Armenian nation which started to
    rebel due to provocations of some other circles. Naturally, the administration
    encouraged such a relocation under these circumstances. But it also met
    traveling costs of the people forced to migrate. And it issued circulars for
    the protection of these people. But the state did not carry out a genocide,''
    remarked Erdogan.
    ''There might have been some problems for this or that reason, but it is wrong
    to define it as genocide. We won't build our future on hatred and
    resentment,''
    added Erdogan.


    3) Russian Military Equipment in Georgia 'Could Be Moved to Armenia'

    MOSCOW (AP)--A top military officer said Thursday that some of the equipment
    from Russia's bases in Georgia could be transferred to Armenia, where Moscow
    also has a military presence.
    General Yuri Baluyevsky, chief of the Russian General Staff, said that would
    help Russia reduce the timeframe for withdrawing the bases to four years,
    Interfax news agency reported.
    "The military bases will be withdrawn from Georgia to Russia. It is not ruled
    out that some property and military hardware will be deployed in Armenia," he
    said. Baluyevsky stressed that Russia makes the only principal condition--that
    Russian servicemen be withdrawn to some territory with developed
    infrastructure.
    Russia and Georgia have been in tense negotiations over the base withdrawal,
    which Tbilisi insist be complete by the beginning of 2008. The two sides
    are to
    hold a fresh round of negotiations on the lingering dispute in Tbilisi on
    Monday.


    4) Rizhkov Visits Dzidzernagapert, Discusses Cooperation

    YEREVAN (Armenpress)--Co-chairman of Armenian-Russian inter-parliamentary
    cooperation commission and head of Armenian-Russian Business Cooperation
    Association Nikolay Rizhkov visited the Dzidzernagapert Genocide Memorial on
    Thursday, as well as placed a wreath on behalf of the Russian Senate.
    "We [Russians] agree with Armenians in the assessment of the Armenian
    genocide.
    Only by passing to future generations the truth about these evil deeds can we
    prevent repetition of such crimes in future."
    Rizhkov met with President Robert Kocharian, where he shared his
    impressions on
    the immense change that has taken place since he visited regions damaged by
    the
    1988 earthquake. He added that the foremost issue is to increase employment,
    which will be promoted by the expansion of Armenian-Russian economic
    cooperation.
    Kocharian, in his turn, noted that the commission has implemented many
    successful programs in the past, but should work to find new ways of
    cooperation.


    5) ANCA to Hold Darfur Genocide Vigil at White House

    --May 25 Protest to Call for Decisive US Response to Unfolding Genocide

    WASHINGTON, DC (ANCA)--Armenian Americans, the descendents of the first
    genocide of the 20th century, will host a White House vigil on May 25 to help
    bring an end to the first genocide of the 21st century--the systematic
    massacres, mass starvation, and ethnic cleansing taking place today in the
    Darfur region of Sudan.
    Up to 400,000 people have already died and more than 2,000,000 dislocated in
    Darfur over the past two years. Recent reports confirm that the situation on
    the ground is deteriorating and the humanitarian crisis is reaching desperate
    proportions.
    This special Armenian American vigil, hosted by the ANCA, will take place from
    5:30-6:30 pm in Lafayette Park, across from the White House on Pennsylvania
    Avenue.  The gathering will be the most recent in a series of vigils,
    organized
    every Wednesday by Africa Action, a leading advocate for US and international
    action on the Darfur genocide.  For directions or more information, contact
    ANCA at (202) 775-1918 or [email protected].
    New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof, a leading voice for US action on
    Darfur, has written to the ANCA about the situation in Sudan. In a powerfully
    worded letter, he touched on the unique responsibility of Armenians, as
    victims
    of genocide, to help end the ongoing suffering in Darfur and to work toward
    preventing future crimes against humanity. In congratulating the ANCA for
    holding the vigil, he stressed, "Obviously, crimes against any part of
    humanity
    require a response from all the rest of humanity, but I think any group that
    has suffered a systematic attack also has a particular responsibility to make
    sure that doesn't happen again to some other group."
    The ANCA has participated in previous Darfur vigils, protested outside the
    Sudanese Embassy, spoken at genocide prevention conferences, and generated
    support--both at the grassroots level and in Washington, DC--for Congressional
    legislation aimed at ending the slaughter in the Darfur region.


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    (c) 2005 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved.

    ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for
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    --Boundary_(ID_vuSbj/7H5uieOgUBK/Dwuw)--

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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