Month: July 2007

VARDAN OSKANIAN: DE FACTO NKR IS ALREADY INDEPENDENT, IT ONLY REMAINS
TO CONFIRM THIS DE JURE, THROUGH NEGOTIATIONS

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian Foreign Minister, Vardan
Oskanian, at the June 29 press conference, stated that the official
bellicose statements of Baku are an obstacle in the settlement of the
conflict. He said that with their statements the sides should promote
and not hamper the process of settlement.

In V. Oskanian’s words, the document, which is being discussed during
the negotiations over the Nagorno Karabakh settlement, includes all
principles related to the settlement. In particular, this is the issue
of Nagorno Karabakh’s status, territories, and refugees. The Minister
also mentioned that the document contains points which are unacceptable
for both sides.

In connection with the possibility of reaching a deadlock situation in
the negotiations process, he mentioned that nothing should be excluded.
At the same time, V. Oskanian stated that everything possible should be
done to ensure progress in the issue of the settlement.

As regards the issue of possibly giving independence to Kosovo and the
impact of that decision on Nagorno Karabakh’s fate, the Minister
stated: "If Kosovo is given independence, it is not excluded that the
international community can declare that it will no longer consider
issues connected with nations’ right of self-determination. And, unless
they give independence to Kosovo, this is also dangerous for us. We
should take into consideration the fact that the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic is already independent, it only remains to confirm this de
jure, through negotiations."

V. Oskanian did not agree with the opinion that no progress has been
registered in the negotiations process on Nagorno Karabakh settlement
today, compared with 1997. "Unequivocally, this is not so. Today the
core of the negotiations is the issue of Nagorno Karabakh’s status,
which should be solved through a referendum," the Armenian Foreign
Minister said.

VARDAN OSKANIAN: TURKEY’S POSITION IN RELATION TO ARMENIA HAS NOT
CHANGED

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian Foreign Minister, Vardan
Oskanian, at the June 29 press conference, said that Turkey, as before,
is putting forward preconditions in the issue of normalization of our
relations.

He mentioned that prospects of an establishment of Armenian-Turkish
relations, as well as the problem of a settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict were discussed during his meeting with his Turkish
counterpart Abdullah Gul held on June 25 in Istanbul within the
framework of the Summit of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
organization. "I again confirmed Armenia’s position to establish normal
relations with Turkey without preconditions," V. Oskanian stated.

However, the Minister said, Turkey’s position in relation to Armenia
has not changed, and we need not expect any changes in the nearest
future, as this country is on the threshold of elections. V. Oskanian
also reported that he presented Gul with the last developments in the
process of the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, as well as
the Armenian side’s position in that issue.

VARDAN OSKANIAN ATTACHES MUCH IMPORTANCE TO MEETINGS BETWEEN ARMENIAN
AND AZERI INTELLIGENTSIA

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Foreign Minister, Vardan
Oskanian, at the June 29 press conference, said that he evaluates very
positively the meeting of Armenian and Azeri intelligentsia. He said
that this is a positive step and he hopes it will continue. In his
words, one of the obstacles in the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict is a lack of confidence between the two peoples and,
naturally, under these conditions it is difficult to achieve a
compromise.

It should be mentioned that the day before, a group of Azeri and
Armenian cultural and scientific figures, receiving support by the two
countries’ Presidents through Ambassadors of Armenia and Azerbaijan to
Russia, had a one-day joint journey via the Stepanakert-Yerevan-Baku
route.

V. Oskanian said that the idea of meetings of Armenian and Azeri
intelligentsia was approved by Presidents R. Kocharian and I. Aliyev
during their last meeting in Saint Petersburg.

In connection with the possibility of further meetings within the
framework of the negotiations process, the Minister said that an
individual meeting between the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs and the
Armenian and Azeri Foreign Ministers will take place soon.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ACCORDING TO YERJANIK ABGARIAN, DANGER OF RESTARTING ARTSAKH WAR IS
BECOMING STRONGER

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. According to political scientist
Alexandre Manasian, the promotion of the Armenian side concerning the
Karabakh conflict is developing in the wrong direction. He mentioned
during the June 29 debate with Yerjanik Abgarian, a member of the
"Alternative" political NGO, that as a result of a wrong promotion "a
situation has been created where we are considered to be usurpers of
the territories belonging to us." In Alexandre Manasian’s opinion, the
approach, according to which Armenia is fighting for the
self-determination of Artsakh, is not right, either, as in that case it
would mean that Armenia accepts the fact that the Republic of Nagorno
Karabakh is a part of Azerbaijan. In the political scientist’s
conviction, it would be right if Armenia accepted and introduced to
other countries that currently only consultations are being conducted
between Yerevan and Baku in order to continue the triple side
negotiations interrupted some years ago.

As for Yerjanik Abgarian, he believes that "Turks are not good
diplomats, the thing is that there are no good ones to interact with."
He also observed that currently "those, who are not lazy" in the
international scene are speaking about the territorial completeness of
Azerbaijan. Y. Abgarian mentioned that the striving for status quo
leaves Armenia out of all international and regional projects. Instead,
he believes, the danger of restarting the Artsakh war is becoming more
and more real: the army of Azerbaijan is quickly arming itself.

HAROUTIUN ARAKELIAN: "TERRY DAVIS ENTITLES HIMSELF TO BE MASTER OF
ARMENIAN PEOPLE’S DESTINY"

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. "Terry Davis, the Secretary General of
the European Council, is abusing his position by using it in favour of
the anti-Armenian policy of the British Government," Haroutiun
Arakelian, the Chairman of the Armenian Liberal Democratic Party,
believes. As he mentioned at the June 28 press conference, Terry Davis
"has entitled himself to be the master of the Armenian people’s
destiny." According to H. Arakelian, nobody is entitled "to foresee
beforehand on behalf of the world that the presidential elections of
the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh will not be recognized by the world
and declare that the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh is considered a
captured territory."

In H. Arakelian’s opinion, Terry Davis is openly conducting a pro-Azeri
policy by using the Council of Europe in the interests of the "British
Petrolium" organization of the oil industry, which has made great
investments in Azerbaijan.

Taking into consideration the lately published "ideas and wishes" of
the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the Chairman of the
Armenian Liberal Democratic Party suggested to the factions represented
in the National Assembly to organize open hearings concerning the
developments expected in the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh and the
suggested solutions, as well as "envolving all interested parties in
them."

H. Arakelian says: "The RA Minister of Foreign Affairs should be
engaged in issues of the foreign department at least from time to time
besides making intrigues in the Diaspora and expressing his
dissatisfaction with Terry Davis’ partiality and abuse of position."

"CREATING ATMOSPHERE OF CONFIDENCE BETWEEN SOCIETIES OF ARMENIA AND
AZERBAIJAN TO BE GOOD CONTRIBUTION TO ISSUE OF KARABAKH CONFLICT
SETTLEMENT," RA PRESIDENT BELIEVES

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. Robert Kocharian, the RA President,
received a number of Armenian and Azeri culture and science figures on
June 28, who initiated a one-day joint visit via the
Stepanakert-Yerevan-Baku route after receiving the assistance of the
Presidents of the two countries through the Ambassadors of Armenia and
Azerbaijan to the Russian Federation.

R. Kocharian welcomed their initiative and mentioned that the
establishment of communication and the formation of an atmosphere of
confidence between Armenian and Azeri societies will be a good
contribution to the issue of the Karabakh conflict settlement.
According to him, terms of cooperation should be found, and Armenia, to
all appearances, is ready to support this process.

The guests touched upon the necessity to provide communication between
Armenian and Azeri societies and the ways of its implementation during
the conversation with the RA President. Azeri intellectuals believe
that it is necessary to re-establish the former friendly and associate
interrelations between Armenian and Azeri representatives of the old
generation, as well as to envolve the young generation in these
relations.

According to the information provided to Noyan Tapan by the RA
President’s Press Office, after paying a visit to Robert Kocharian, the
group left for Baku to meet with Ilham Aliyev, the President of
Azerbaijan.

It should also be mentioned that they met with Arkadi Ghukasian, the
President of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, before arriving in
Yerevan.

MORE THAN 50 COMPANIES TAKE PART IN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION PUBLIC
HEALTH AND PHARMACY EXPO 2007

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. The main spheres of public health and
pharmacy are presented at the 6th specialized international exhibition
Public Health and Pharmacy: Expo 2007, which opened on June 29 at the
Yerevan’s House of Moscow center. More than 50 pharmaceutical companies
rendering medical services from Armenia, Russian and Belarus take part
in the exhibition, which will last till July 1.

As RA Deputy Minister of Health Tatul Hakobian said at the opening of
the exhibition, a progress is registered in the sphere of rendering of
medical services. In his words, each person’s health is of big value,
and the very health of the people is the basis of the country’s
economic development. That’s why, in his words, in the sphere of health
we should first of all pay attention to the quality of medical
assistance and services, and the financial profits should be in the
second place.

The exhibition held within the framework of the second International
Medical Congress of Armenia was organized by the exhibition company
LOGOS EXPO Center with the assistance of the RA Ministry of Health.

PREPARATORY MEETING OF THIRD ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDS IN HRODOS

HRODOS, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. The preparatory meeting of the third
pan-European Ecumenical Conference to be held in the city of Sibiu in
Romania on September 4-9 took place on the Hrodos island on June 24-28
at the invitation of the Cosmic Patriarchate, and about 30
representatives from Orthodox churches took part. Bishop Yeznik
Petrosian and Archimandrite Hovakim Manukian represented the Armenian
Apostolic Church at the meeting with the blessing of the Catholicos of
All Armenians Garegin II.

According to the information provided to Noyan Tapan by the Information
Service of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the meeting was aimed at
finding out what contribution the Orthodox churches may have in the
proceedings of the Third Ecumenical pan-European Conference of Sibiu in
a theological point of view. A number of practical issues which concern
the Orthodox churches were also discussed.

The participants will visit the sanctuaries of Hrodos and meet with
Metropolitan Kirilos.

ARMENIAN FROM BEIRUT, PIERRE GUYUMCHIAN, GRANTS DIGITALIZATION DEVICE
TO MATENADARAN FOR TWO MONTHS

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. Pierre Guyumchian, an Armenian engineer
from Beirut, granted a digitalization device Atiz BookDrive Diy to
Mesrop Mashtots Matenadaran for two months. An agreement "On Free of
Charge Use of Property" was signed on June 26 between Arshak Banuchian,
the Acting Director of Matenadaran, and P. Guyumchian.

In P. Guyumchian’s words, it occurred to him to give that device to
Matenadaran after the stir over the agreement signed between the U.S.
Minnesota Hill Museum-Library of Manuscrips and Matanadaran.

P. Guyumchian stated that Matenadaran’s manuscripts should be
digitalized without the participation of foreigners, only Armenian
specialists should be engaged in it. "There are few centers like
Matenadaran in the world, and we should not give out its wealth to
foreigners," he said. P. Guyumchian said that before coming to Armenia
he visited Mayravank in Antelias and was upset to find out that part of
the books kept there had been already digitalized by the Hill
Museum-Library. As a result, if someone wishes to use that books, he
should receive the Hill Library’s consent. At the same time, P.
Guyumchian said that the device given by him is more suitable and
operates more smoothly than the one offered by the Hill Library.

A. Banuchian said that they plan to find out by means of the device
given by P. Guyumchian how quickly manuscripts’ digitalization is done,
how much that device is useful for that purpose, whether it can be
perfected, and how many devices of the kind are necessary for
digitalization of all manuscripts of Matenadaran.

The RA Ministry of Education and Science charged Matenadaran to submit
a manuscripts digitalization program to the RA government within three
months. In A. Banuchian’s words, this program should also include
manuscripts’ restoration, photography, creating databases, as well as
publication of unpublished originals.

It was mentioned that a proposal of a method of Matenadaran
manuscripts’ digitalization has been received from Karl Franz
University of the city of Graz, Austria.

GEORGIAN MINISTER OF JUSTICE VISITS AKHALKALAK TO ANSWER CITIZENS’
QUESTIONS

AKHALKALAK, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On June 29, Gia
Kavtaradze, the Minister of Justice of Georgia, arrived in Akhalkalak.
According to Javakhk-Info, the goal of the visit was to meet with the
local citizens, to listen to the questions interesting them trying to
clear them up as far as possible.

"The initiative of organizing such an action belongs to the Ministry.
Its goal is that the local population instead of leaving for Tbilisi
will be able to get the answers of the questions interesting them
connected with the passport and other migration problems on the spot,"
said Artur Yeremian, the Head of the Akhalkalak Municipality.