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  • ASBAREZ Online [04-03-2006]

    ASBAREZ ONLINE
    TOP STORIES
    04/03/2006
    TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
    WEBSITE AT <http://www.asbarez.com/>HTTP://WWW.ASBAREZ. COM

    1) Genocide Commemoration Announcement
    2) Oskanian Meets with Kofi Annan And UN Leadership
    3) Rice and Mamedyarov to Meet in Washington
    4) Kurdish Protests Toll Rises to 15

    1) Genocide Commemoration Announcement

    April 24, Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day, is fast approaching. 91 years
    after the Genocide, Armenian people are still deprived of their rights. Turkey
    refuses to acknowledge the Genocide, which it thoroughly planned and
    perpetrated, and is now launching denialist campaigns throughout the world,
    before the international community.
    Turkey's denial is not a new crime. It adds to the still unpunished crime
    against humanity.
    The Armenian people will pursue their rights until a just solution is
    reached.
    The demand for these rights has only gotten stronger, as Armenians continue
    political activities in Europe, the US, and the Middle East, in order put
    press
    on Turkey, and to gain genocide recognition and restitution for the Armenian
    people.
    In order to make our voice heard, the political, cultural, and community
    organizations of California Armenians will commemorate those who lost their
    lives in the Genocide together. The central commemorative event will be
    held at
    the Genocide Monument in Montebello on Sunday, April 23 at 4 PM.
    We call on all Armenians in California to attend this event so that our voice
    will be heard throughout the world.
    Further information will be provided by the media.

    Respectfully,
    Western Diocese of the Armenian Church North America
    Western Prelacy of the Armenian of Apostolic Church
    California Armenian Catholic Community
    Armenian Evangelical Community of California
    ARF "Dashnagtsutyun" of Western USA
    Armenian Democratic Liberal Party (Ramgavar)
    Armenian General Benevolent Union
    Armenian Society of Los Angeles
    Istanbul Armenian Organization
    Armenian Youth Association of California

    2) Oskanian Meets with Kofi Annan And UN Leadership

    Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met last week with Kofi Annan,
    Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Jan Eliasson, President of the
    General Assembly of the UN, and Kemal Dervis, Administrator of the UN
    Development Program.
    During his meetings with Secretary General Annan and Eliasson, Oskanian
    discussed the Karabagh resolution process as well as recent ceasefire
    violations. He expressed Armenia's serious concern that the military rhetoric
    of Azerbaijan's leaders is leading to increasingly more frequent ceasefire
    violations by the Azeri military along the line of contact.
    Armenia's Foreign Minister also discussed UN reforms, and welcomed the
    formation of the new Human Rights Council, reiterating Armenia's desire to
    remain engaged in human rights issues.
    In these meetings, and during his talks with Dervis, Oskanian also stressed
    Armenia's commitment to rural development. He stressed that the Millennium
    Challenge Compact, recently signed with the US government, will create a
    necessary momentum to spur development and that the Armenian government is
    committed to building on this momentum with its comprehensive plan. He said
    the
    Armenian government's plan for rural development is based on a public-private
    partnership, which includes Armenia's diaspora, Armenia's business community,
    the Armenian government, and international organizations.

    3) Rice and Mamedyarov to Meet in Washington

    YEREVAN (RFE/RL/PanArmenian.Net)--Russia's chief Karabagh negotiator and Minsk
    Group co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov said Monday that the foreign ministers of
    Armenia and Azerbaijan will hold further discussions on the Karabagh conflict
    this week in Moscow and Washington respectively.
    Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov will meet with US Secretary of
    State Condoleezza Rice in Washington, DC from April 6-7. At the same time,
    Armenia's Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian is scheduled to meet his Russian
    counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow. The Karabagh dispute will be high on the
    agenda of both talks.
    "The Minsk Group is today working in a more bilateral format. Namely, the
    co-chairs plus a representative of Armenia or Azerbaijan," said Merzlyakov.
    Merzlyakov said that the peace process is not in deadlock and may still yield
    a breakthrough this year. He pointed to a continuing flurry of diplomatic
    activity involving top representatives of the conflicting parties as well as
    the three nations co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group.
    The Russian diplomat added that the Minsk Group's French co-chair, Bernard
    Fassier, will pay a separate visit to Baku and Yerevan later this month. The
    group's third, US co-chair, Steven Mann, toured the conflict zone last
    month as
    part of a high-level US delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State Dan
    Fried.
    In a March 27 speech in Washington, Fried said he was "sufficiently
    encouraged" by what he was told by Azeri and Armenian leaders. He also said
    that the United States will not seek to impose any solutions on the parties.
    "We're not going to force Armenia or Azerbaijan to take anything," he said.
    Merzlyakov also stated that the international mediators do not plan to
    arrange
    another meeting between Presidents Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliyev in the
    coming months. He said the two leaders could only meet on the sidelines of an
    international forum.
    "The meeting of the Presidents should be properly prepared and this demands
    time," he said.

    4) Kurdish Protests Toll Rises to 15

    ISTANBUL (Reuters)--Hundreds of Kurds clashed with police in southeast Turkey
    on Monday and in Istanbul three people were killed as they fled a bus set
    ablaze by protesters, bringing the death toll over the past week to 15.
    The latest violence sustained a week of unrest triggered by the funerals
    of 14
    rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who were killed in
    clashes with security forces.
    It marked some of Turkey's worst civil unrest since the PKK took up arms
    against the state in 1984 in an insurgency which has killed more than 30,000
    people and fueled fears of an escalation of the conflict.
    Demonstrators threw petrol bombs at a bus on Sunday evening and Istanbul's
    governor said the three died, apparently crushed by the bus, as they fled.
    Anatolian news agency said the three victims were two teenage sisters and a
    62-year-old woman.
    In Istanbul's Gazi district, which has a sizeable Kurdish population, police
    also fired tear gas to break up a 150-strong group of stone-throwing youths
    who
    had set up barricades and set fire to rubbish containers, CNN Turk reported.
    "Molotovs in their bags, massacre on its way," Hurriyet newspaper said in a
    headline below a photo of masked youths setting petrol bombs alight.
    Police fired tear gas and water cannon to break up a crowd of some 500
    protesters in Viransehir near the Syrian border, chanting slogans in
    support of
    jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and waving PKK flags, security officials
    said.
    Police fired shots into the air and the crowd scattered from the main square,
    throwing petrol bombs and stones at the security forces and local buildings,
    smashing some windows.
    The governor's office in the mainly Kurdish region's largest city Diyarbakir
    said the toll there had risen to nine after three people died in hospital. Two
    people have died in Kiziltepe near the Syrian border and one in the town of
    Batman.
    "We have launched rapid efforts to heal the wounds... In 10 days 30 of our
    citizens have lost their lives," said Diyarbakir mayor Osman Baydemir.
    Baydemir said it was "shameful" that an official investigation had been
    launched into comments he had made about the latest violence, including the
    deaths of the militants.
    The cabinet is expected to discuss the violence at a meeting on Monday and
    parliament is scheduled to hold a debate on the issue on Tuesday.
    Some 360 people have been injured in the violence, including 199 members of
    the security forces. Of 566 people detained by police, 354 have been remanded
    in custody awaiting trial.
    Political analysts and diplomats say the violence reflects local anger over
    high unemployment, poverty and Ankara's refusal to grant more autonomy to the
    mainly Kurdish region.
    Ankara, like the European Union and the United States, regards the PKK as a
    terrorist organization responsible for the deaths of more than 30,000 people
    since it launched its armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in 1984.
    But many Kurds sympathize with the PKK.
    The country's main Kurdish political group, the Democratic Society Party
    (DTP)
    said the government had failed to respond to its calls for talks on the
    violence.
    "We wanted to talk with (Prime Minister Tayyip) Erdogan, but this was
    rejected. There is a lack of dialogue," DTP deputy chairman Hasip Kaplan said
    during a visit to the Diyarbakir mayor.
    The local DTP leader in Batman turned himself in to police on Monday a day
    after police ordered his arrest for calling on locals to take part in protest
    marches.

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    (c) 2006 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved.

    ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for
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    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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