Month: September 2006

RUSSIAN FORTRESS IN GYUMRI BEING REMODELED INTO FESTIVAL CENTER

Armenpress
Sept 28 2006

GYUMRI, SEPTEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS: Authorities in the second-largest
town of Gyumri in north-western Armenian Shirak province hope to
accomplish remodeling of a 19-th century Russian fortress into a
modern art and culture center by 2007 November.

The fortress that was inaugurated by the Russian tsar Nikolay I
will have 1,500 seats. It will host film, theatrical and circus
festivals and also folk and modern music concerts. The fortress is
being reconstructed and remodeled by Hayk Hayrapetian, an Armenian
based in the Russian Saint Petersburg. He said to Armenpress the
center will also have a museum.

Hayrapetian said remodeling of the fortress is just half of the
idea. Later he wants to build a pagan village nearby. He says Gyumri
is perhaps the only Armenian town where one can restore an old Armenian
settlement with its everyday life and traditions. All this is expected
to make Gyumri more attractive for local and foreign tourists. The
project’s cost is about $2,2 million.

ARMENIAN TOP ARMY OFFICER BRUSHES ASIDE AZERI ALLEGATIONS

Armenpress
Sept 28 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS : A top Armenian army officer has
brushed aside today Azerbaijani accusations that Armenia is violating
the terms of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty.

Chief of staff of Armenia’s armed forces, Mikael Harutunian, told
reporters that before trying to accuse Armenia Azerbaijan should
itself observe the terms of the Treaty. He said Azerbaijan has 500
tanks, almost twice as many as it is allowed by the Treaty, also 700
artillery systems instead of 280 and 500 war cars instead of 220.

Mikael Harutunian said numerous inspections in the Armenian armed
forces revealed no violation of the limits. He said Armenia observes
strictly all its commitments stemming from the Conventional Forces
in Europe Treaty.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FRENCH PRESIDENT JACQUES CHIRAC ARRIVES IN ARMENIA

Armenpress
Sept 28 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS: The press office of the Armenian
President said today French President Jacques Chirac will pay a state
visit to Armenia from September 29 to October 1. Chirac is coming at
the invitation of his Armenian counterpart President Robert Kocharian.

Kocharian’s press office said the French delegation includes foreign
minister Phillip Douste Blazy, transport, tourism and seafaring
minister Dominique Perben, state service minister Christian Jacob
and culture and communication minister Reno Donedio de Vabre.

President Chirac will be accompanied also by a vats delegation of
French businessmen, prominent representatives of art, culture,
academic and sport communities, members of the French Armenian
community and journalists.

The official welcoming ceremony will be held at Yerevan Zvartnots
airport . Chirac and Kocharian will speak to reporters after talks
at Kocharian’s residence. The French delegation will lay flowers to
the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan to commemorate the victims of the
1915 Armenian genocide. The French President will then be welcomed
by His Holiness Karekin II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

President Chirac will also meet with the staff of the French embassy
in Yerevan.

Kocharian and Chirac will participate also in the official opening of
France Square in central Yerevan and will attend an open-air concert
of the famous French Armenian singer Charles Aznavour in Republic
Square. All these evens will give the start of the Year of Armenia
in France held under the motto ‘Armenia is My Friend."

HACOBYAN’S NEXT VICTORY

A1+
[12:15 pm] 28 September, 2006

Armenian Grand Master Vladimir Hakobyan beat Evgeny Postny in the fifth
round of the International Chess Tournament which is held in Great
Britain. At present Hakobayn is in the third place with four points.

Michael Krasenko and Mateos Bartel, representatives from Poland,
head the fixture table with 4.5 points.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI MINISTER, OSCE MEDIATORS DISCUSS KARABAKH IN NEW YORK

Azartac news agency, Baku,
27 Sep 06

27 September: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met the
co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group and the personal representative of
the OSCE chairman-in-office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, on the fringes of the
61st session of the UN General Assembly in New York on 26 September.

During the closed-door meeting that lasted two hours the sides
discussed further steps in the peace talks on the settlement of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh.

Mammadyarov told Azartac that the co-chairmen had expressed their
intention to visit the region shortly. They are currently working to
break the deadlock in the negotiations. The co-chairmen are expected
to visit Helsinki this weekend to inform the European Union leaders
of the current stage of the talks.

The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group and Ambassador Andrzej
Kasprzyk met Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan in New York
on the same day.

EURO MPS SLAM TURKEY ON HUMAN RIGHTS, DROP GENOCIDE CLAUSE

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
September 27, 2006 Wednesday 1:45 PM EST

DPA POLITICS EU Diplomacy Turkey ROUNDUP: Euro MPs slam Turkey on
human rights, drop genocide clause Adds quotes, details on Cyprus
issue Brussels/Strasbourg

European lawmakers on Wednesday approved a critical report on
Turkey’s progress towards European Union membership but dropped a
clause calling for Ankara to

recognize the Armenian genocide before Turkey can join the bloc.

However, Euro MPs said that although recognition of the genocide
was not a precondition for EU accession, "it is indispensable for a
country on the road to membership to come to terms with and recognize
its past."

Freedom of expression, minority religion rights and the Cyprus issue
are the key areas where improvement is necessary, Euro lawmakers said
in the report. It was adopted by 429 votes in favour to 71 against
with 125 abstentions.

Leading EU lawmakers said that the Parliament missed its chance to
press Ankara for a solution to the thorny Cyprus issue.

The EU has often warned of a "train crash" in Turkey’s EU negotiations
if it continued to fully implement the Ankara Protocol under which
Turkey agreed to extend its customs union with the EU to Cyprus and
to open its ports to Greek Cypriot ships and planes.

"The European Parliament has taken two steps forward and one step
back in its approach towards the controversial issue of Turkish EU
membership," British Liberal Euro MP Andrew Duff, vice president of
the EP delegation for relations with Turkey, said after the vote.

"The EU still needs to fulfil its commitment to ending the isolation
of the Turkish Cypriot community," he added.

Euro MPs warned Turkey once again that current membership talks with
the bloc are "open-ended" and that Ankara’s entry into the 25-nation
club is by no means guaranteed.

The report, drawn up by Dutch conservative MEP Camiel Eurlings,
also slams Ankara on a deteriorating human rights record and a slow-
down in reforms.

"It is important that the reforms be given impetus from within the
country by the authorities themselves and are not merely the result
of pressure from outside Turkey," EU lawmakers stressed.

Referring to growing public unease at the EU’s eastward expansion,
the report highlights that the bloc’s "capacity to absorb Turkey while
maintaining the momentum of integration is an important consideration."

Euro MPs also urged Turkey to bring its penal code in line with
European standards for freedom of expression.

They said that Ankara must abolish clauses such as article 301 under
which insulting the state and its institutions is considered an
offence which could lead to a sentence of three years in prison.

In addition, Euro MPs criticised Turkey for not respecting women’s
rights and for the strong influence of the military in public life.

EU lawmakers in the past have never vetoed any accession bid.

However, the parliament’s biggest and most influential conservative
group favours a so-called "privileged partnership" with Turkey.

The bloc’s Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn on Tuesday pressed
Ankara for "a more resolute reform process", adding that he was
getting tired of having to repeat himself on human rights issues.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso earlier this week
put a damper on the hopes of Croatia, Turkey and others of joining the
bloc, saying that the EU had to resolve the status of its embattled
constitution before it could accept any more new members.

The commission last week said it would release on November 8 a regular
assessment on whether Turkey had made progress in reforms to qualify
for EU membership.

The EU’s executive is also expected to suggest in its report what
the bloc should do if Ankara misses the EU’s December 2006 deadline
on Cyprus.

Turkey began negotiations aimed at EU membership last year. Talks
are expected to take up to 15 years.

TURKEY TO REJECT TOUGHER CONDITIONS FOR EU MEMBERSHIP – PM

AFX International Focus
September 27, 2006 Wednesday 12:17 PM GMT

ISTANBUL (AFX) – Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said any extra
conditions for Turkey’s European Union entry would be ‘unacceptable’
as he pledged that Ankara would stick to the path of democratic reform.

Erdogan was speaking after EU officials signalled that enlargement
may slow down after they opened the door for Bulgaria and Romania
in January.

‘We do not ask for privileges from the EU, but putting forward
new criteria is unacceptable for us,’ Erdogan told a conference
in Istanbul.

‘You cannot change the rules halfway through the match,’ he said.

‘The game has started and the rules are there.’

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said further
enlargement should be frozen until EU members decide on reforms to
streamline decision-making, referring to a gridlock over the bungled
EU constitution.

Turkey is also irked by attempts by some European Parliament members
to require Ankara to recognize as genocide the massacres of Armenians
under the Ottoman Empire as a condition for EU membership.

‘Our (accession) talks will be tough and will take long time. We are
determined to work closely with the EU… to ensure that they are
successfully completed,’ Erdogan said.

‘Turkey’s reform process is continuing and there will be no going
back on that,’ he added.

The European Commission will issue on November 8 a key report on
Turkey’s progress towards membership, which is widely expected to
be critical.

Turkey is under fire for failing to ensure freedom of speech and its
rejection to open its sea and air ports to EU member Cyprus, whose
internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government Ankara refuses
to endorse.

Its accession talks, which started last October, have already met with
serious European opposition amid concerns over its sizeable population,
relatively weak economy and predominantly Muslim faith.

Erdogan argued that Turkey’s accession would be of ‘vital importance’
to prove that different cultures and religions can co-habitat and
called on EU members to keep that in mind when making their decisions
about the country.

Turkey is not expected to be ready for membership until at least 2015.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MOSCOW CRIES FOUL AS GEORGIA ARRESTS FOUR RUSSIAN ‘SPIES’

Agence France Presse — English
September 27, 2006 Wednesday 7:46 PM GMT

Four Russian officers suspected of spying were arrested Wednesday
in Georgia, sparking furious demands in Moscow for their immediate
release.

"Four Russian officers from the military intelligence service (GRU)
and 12 citizens of Georgia who were spying in Tbilisi, Batumi and
all over Georgian territory were arrested in a special operation,"
Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili told a press briefing.

Merabishvili added that the Georgian authorities wanted to question a
fifth Russian officer, who the Georgian authorities fear may attempt
to flee the country via "diplomatic channels."

Moscow reacted furiously to the news with the Russian foreign ministry
calling for the "immediate release" of the four and accusing Tblisi
of an "anti-Russian policy."

The ministry said in a statement that it had called in Georgia’s
ambassador to Russia and "passed him a note demanding that the Georgian
authorities release the Russian officers immediately."

The head of Russia’s armed forces, General Yuri Baluyevski, reacted
with equal anger, accusing Georgian Defence Minister, Iraki Okruachvili
of acting "arbitrarily," interfax reported.

The foreign ministry statement added that the Georgian accusations
against the Russian soldiers were "baseless" and constituted a
"brutal act showing that Georgia’s leaders are carrying out an
anti-Russian policy."

On Wednesday evening, several hundred police vehicles were seen
surrounding the Tbilisi headquarters for Russian military bases that
cover Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The Georgian authorities are understood to believe the fifth officer
they want to question may be hiding in the building.

Tblisi suspects the five officers of gathering information on Georgia’s
military capacity, its energy resources and on NATO-run programmes
in the country, Merabishvili told journalists.

Two of the arrested officers were lieutenant colonels, who were
apprehended in Tblisi.

The other two, the captain of a frigate and another lietenant colonel,
were arrested in Batumi, western Georgia, where Russia has a military
base.

The espionage activites had been going on for "a number of years,"
Merabishvili said.

The interior minister added that the 12 Georgians arrested with the
Russian "spies" were accused of "high treason".

The officers are also accused of having been "implicated" in a bomb
attack in the town of Gori, 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Tblisi,
which killed three police officers and injured 23 other people.

Relations between Moscow and Tblisi have detriorated steadily since
the January 2004 election of pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Saakashvili wants his country to join NATO and also wants to bring
two pro-Russian breakaway regions of Georgia – Abkazia and Southern
Ossetia – under Tblisi’s control once more.

Georgia has also been demanding for several years that Russia dismantle
its two military bases in the country — aside from the complex in
Batumi it has another base in Akhalkalaki, southern Georgia.

The bases were set up in the 1990s to help put an end to fighting
between Tblisi and the two rebel provinces. Under the terms of a 2005
deal between Moscow and Tblisi they are supposed to be dismantled
in 2008.

Saakashvili was in the Kodori gorges region on Wednesday, an area
near to Abkazia. During his visit he promised "to begin the process
of returning Abkazia" to Georgia.

Georgia was formerly part of the Soviet Union.

TURKEY RISKS SCUPPERING EU MEMBERSHIP TALKS OVER CYPRUS STANCE
by Amelie Bottollier-Depois

Agence France Presse — English
September 27, 2006 Wednesday 4:53 PM GMT

Turkey’s talks on European Union membership could be frozen unless
Ankara fully opens its ports to Cypriot ships, the European Parliament
warned Wednesday.

In a 429 to 71 vote, with 125 abstentions, the euro-MPs voted that a
"lack of progress" in the matter would have "serious implications
concerning the negotiation process and could even stop it".

The vote was merely consultative and has no legal strength.

The deputies were discussing a tough report on Turkey, prepared by
Dutch rapporteur Camiel Eurlings.

"It is important that this process should not be a game of accusing
each other. It should be a process where we advance until we reach a
solution," Eurlings said, while praising the parliament’s stance as
"very strong but also fair".

The euro deputies did however water down the declaration by deleting a
paragraph calling on Turkey to recognise the 1915-17 Armenian genocide
as a precondition for joining the European Union.

Ankara refuses to apply the term genocide to the events. Earlier
this month it rejected an EU report saying that it should do so as
a condition for membership.

In July 2005, Turkey signed a protocol extending its customs agreement
with the EU to the 10 new states that joined in 2004, including the
island of Cyprus which Ankara refuses to recognise.

But its parliament has yet to ratify the document and Ankara continues
to block Cypriot ships’ access to Turkish ports.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Ankara on Wednesday that
any extra conditions for Turkey’s European Union entry would be
"unacceptable", while pledging that his government would stick to
the path of democratic reform.

"We do not ask for privileges from the EU but putting forward new
criteria is unacceptable for us," he told a conference in Istanbul.

Erdogan was speaking after EU officials signalled that enlargement
may slow down after they opened the door for Bulgaria and Romania to
join in January.

Armenians estimate that up to 1.5 million of their forebears perished
in systematic killings orchestrated by the Ottoman Empire between
1915 to 1917.

Turkey rejects all accusations of genocide, estimating the number of
Armenian deaths at 300,000 and arguing they were not a consequence
of deliberate extermination but a combination of war, disease, famine
and ethnic conflict.

The European deputies also deplored the slow pace of Turkey’s
reform process over the past year and called on Ankara to "relaunch"
it immediately.

Their resolution put particular emphasis on freedom of expression
and religion and treatment of Turkish minorities.

The European Commission — the EU’s executive arm — is set to issue a
crucial report on Turkey’s progress towards EU membership on November
8 amid mounting criticism of Ankara within the bloc.

Several European officials have warned that the Cyprus question could
lead to a crisis between Ankara and the EU before the end of the year.

Last week, the EU criticised Ankara for failing to promote free speech
after best-selling novelist Elif Shafak went on trial for insulting
the Turkish nation in a book about the massacres of Armenians.

Even though the writer was swiftly acquitted, the Commission said "a
significant threat to freedom of expression" remains in Turkish law
and urged amendments to the penal code, including the infamous Article
301, which landed Shafak and a string of other intellectuals in court.

Philippe de Schoutheete, of the Belgian Royal Institute for
International Relations, said there was "reluctance over Turkey
entering (the EU) certainly in western Europe and in some parts of
central Europe".

This was apart from the growing feeling of "enlargement fatigue",
he told AFP, and more due to its relatively large size and political
issues including the Armenian question and human rights.

"HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH" INTERNATIONAL REMEDIAL ORGANIZATION IS DEEPLY ANXIOUS ABOUT STATEMENTS OF TORTURES AND INHUMAN TREATMENT ON CASE OF THREE ARMENIAN SERVICEMEN

ARMINFO News Agency
September 27, 2006 Wednesday

The "Human Rights Watch" International Remedial Organization expresses
its deep anxiety about the statements of tortures and inhuman
treatment on the case of three Armenian servicemen, Razmik Sargsyan,
Musa Serobyan, Araik Zalyan, condemned for the murder of their two
fellow-servicemen, it is said in the letter of the Executive Director
of Europe and Central Asia, Holly Cartner, addressed to Chairman of
RA Court of Appeal, Hovhannes Manukyan. To be reminded, R. Sargssyan,
M. Serobyan and A. Zalyan are condemned by the Court of Appeal to
life imprisonment, accused of the murder of their fellow-servicemen,
Hovsep Mkrtumyan and Roman Yeghiazaryan.

Earlier, the Trail Court of RA Syunik region had condemned them to 15
years of imprisonment. According to the case materials, H. Mkrtumyan
and R. Yeghiazaryan had disappeared from the Matagis military unit
of NKR Martakert region December 24, 2003. Only a fortnight later,
January 8, 2004, the Prosecutor’s Office has instituted criminal
proceedings on the fact of the servicemen disappearance. The next
day, January 9, the bodies of H. Mkrtumyan and R. Yeghiazaryan with
the traces of violence were found in the Matagis water channel. As
the advocates state, the testimonies of confession were obtained by
examination under pressure.

As it is noted in the letter, during his recent trip to Armenia, the
Human Rights Watch had gathered an information on this case. "Not
talking of the guilt and innocence of the clients, we are anxious
about the fact that the sentence of both courts was mainly based
upon the testimonies of confession of one of the accused, Razmik
Sargssyan. There are all reasons to suppose that these testimonies
of confession were given by him after tortures".