Month: October 2008

RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES BLAME INTERNET FOR INCITING ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS STRIFE

Pravda.Ru
01.10.2008

The Office of the Prosecutor General of Russia blames the Internet
for the distribution of extremist and racial hostilities in the
nation. Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Grin said in his speech at
the Russian State Duma Tuesday that about 500 websites in the Russian
zone of the World Wide Web incite international strife.

The official said that such websites contain tips on making explosives,
and provide detailed descriptions on how to place the bombs properly
for a successful attack. The official added that the criminals,
who conducted terrorist attacks with the use of bombs in different
cities and towns of Russia, used the information of those websites.

In addition, one may find whole books on the subject of terrorism on
the Internet too. Viktor Grin also pointed out that violent computer
games propagate hostility against people of other nationalities.

The official said that the Internet activity must be subjected to
legal regulations to cease the use of latest technologies in the
propaganda of terrorism and racial hatred.

Moscow is the ultimate leader in Russia on the number of hate
crimes. Nineteen crimes (with lethal outcomes) have been committed
in Russia on the base of the national or religious hostility during
the first half of the current year. Seventeen of those crimes have
been committed in Moscow. All of those 17 grave crimes have been
committed by groups of young men aged between 16-22 years old. The
men attacked nationals of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia
and Kyrgyzstan.

Two hundred and fifty extremist crimes have been reported in Russia in
total during the first six months of this year. Moscow is the leader
at this point with 73 hate crimes.

It is worthy of note that local authorities have already denied
access to several websites, which the Office of the Prosecutor General
considered extremist-oriented. Such measures have been taken in the
Novosibirsk region of Russia, for example.

There is a number of websites which contain appeals to change the
constitutional organization of the Russian Federation and conduct
terrorist acts against Russia. They also contain the materials to
justify the humiliation of the national dignity and the incitement
of racial and religious strife.

The popularity of the Internet has doubled in Russia during the
recent three years. However, more than a half of Russian citizens –
69 percent – do not use the World Wide Web. Twenty percent of Russians
used the Internet this year as a source of information only.

The Internet does not take the lead in Russia yet in comparison with
other sources of information, opinion polls say. Only eleven percent
of the polled said that they use the Internet daily. Nine percent of
the polled said that they use the net several times a week, whereas
seven percent said that they use it several times a month.

PLANS TO ISOLATE ARMENIA LIKELY TO BE SHELVED

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.10.2008 15:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Information on Turkey’s doubts about expedience
of Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku line is verisimilar enough, a Russian
expert said.

"The project had a goal to isolate Armenia. Aspired to segregate
Armenia from all regional communication projects, Azerbaijan showed
the highest interest in it," Andrey Areshev, expert at Strategic
Culture Foundation, told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

"I would like to mention that construction of another line from
Kars to Nakhijevan would ensure complete transport isolation of
Armenia. However, the situation changed when Russian Railways (RZD)
became the concessioner the Armenian Railways. One of major Russian
giants would hardly engage in abstract philanthropy. Anyway, plans to
lift isolation can be realized only in case of warming in bilateral
relations," he said, adding that Serzh Sarsgyan announced his intention
to invite his Turkish counterpart Gul when he was in Moscow.

Plans to isolate Armenia are likely to be shelved, according to the
expert. "Turkey’s position seems logical. It doesn’t wish to stubbornly
support Baku in Karabakh talks. Moreover, it coordinates its moves
with Russia and I would like to emphasize that Russian specialists
are engaged in reconstruction of the Gyumri-Kars line," Areshev said.

VARTAN OSKANIAN: STRENGTHENING OF ARMENIAN STATEHOOD MAIN GOAL OF CIVILITAS FOUNDATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.10.2008 15:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The main task of Civilitas Foundation is to
strengthen Armenian statehood.

"The Foundation will analyze the developments in the Armenian foreign
policy and consider democracy issues," ex-Foreign Minister of Armenia,
promoter of the Foundation Vartan Oskanian told a news conference
today.

"We will deal with regional problems and hold conferences and
round-table discussions on urgent issues. Publication of weekly and
monthly newsletter is also envisaged," he said.

"Civilitas will sponsor agriculture programs and provide scholarship
for Armenian students abroad," Mr Oskanian added.

ISSUES OF ARMENIAN-POLISH COOPERATION DISCUSSED

armradio.am
01.10.2008 16:15

Secretary of the National Security council Arthur Baghdasaryan
received the Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland Andrzej Kremer and
his delegation. During the meeting the parties discussed issues
of Armenian-Polish cooperation in the fields of politics and
security. Mr. Kremer conveyed the greetings of the Secretary of
the national Security Council of Poland and an invitation to visit
his country.

At the request of the guest, Arthur Baghdasaryan presented the main
directions of activity of the Armenian National Security Council. The
parties agreed to launch cooperation between the National Security
Councils of the two countries. The interlocutors discussed a broad
range of issues related to regional security and cooperation.

The Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland presented the new Eastern
Neighborhood Policy worked out together with Sweden and presented to
the consideration of the European Union. Armenia is one of the six
countries involved in the program. It envisages deeper dialogue with
the European Union, exchange of experience in the field of security

GURGEN ARSENYAN WELCOMES ANY STEP THAT WOULD REDUCE THE TENSION IN ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

armradio.am
01.10.2008 17:17

"I welcome any step that will allow to reduce the tension in
the Armenian-Turkish relations and raise the level of possible
cooperation," leader of the United Labor Party Gurgen Arsenyan told
a press conference today, assessing Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s
visit to Armenia. He welcomed Serzh Sargsyan’s initiative targeted
at bringing the process of the Karabakh conflict settlement to a more
productive phase.

According to him, the latest Russian-Georgian event showed that
the normalization of relations with Turkey is of vital importance
for Armenia.

"Armenia’s economy would be at the threshold of paralysis if the
war lasted another 10 days," he said. It’s necessary to normalize
the relations between the two countries and establish economic,
political and public ties.

Asked whether Turkey’s activeness can play a negative role in the
Karabakh conflict resolution, Gurgen Arsenyan said it’s necessary
to apply diplomatic flexibility to avoid that danger. "If Turkey’s
activeness can bring any danger, the leadership of the country should
be able to neutralize it with its diplomatic tools: it’s already the
task of the diplomats," Gurgen Arsenyan said.

SYCOPHANTS ARE THE FIRST TO BETRAY AT DIFFICULT MOMENTS
Gevorg Haroutyunyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
01 Oct 2008
Armenia

Interview with MP VICTOR DALLAKYAN

"Do you yourselves see the 36 individuals who can remain objective
and impartial, oppose the country’s President and the other state
officials?"

"I am sure that the most difficult task at this point falls to the
lot of the President of the country. Out of the 36 members of the
Public Council, 12 are going to be appointed by him. I am sure that
the President will select such people who will really be able to
contradict or oppose him.

If those 12 members are people who are only going to fawn on the
President, this institute will never become accomplished.

During the very first session of the committee Serge Sargsyan
emphasized this fact. The ‘army’ of those fawning on the President
and the other officials is very big as it is, and there is no need
to create a new structure for enlarging it still further.

Besides, that poses danger to the President himself. History proves
that the sycophants are always the first to betray, and they always
appear in the ‘army’ of the opposite side. I don’t think the President
of our country needs new Brutuses.

But finding 12 impartial and honest individuals is really very
difficult.

Unfortunately, there are no Sakharovs or Solzhenitsins in 0AArmenia,
and many estimable representatives of the intelligentsia became
politicized in the early 1990’s for well-known reasons."

"Mr. Dallakyan, is the Public Chamber just a linking channel between
the President and the people or an attempt of introducing moral
standards to the political domain and restoring moral values in
politics."

"I approve of the Public Chamber’s role you sketched in the second part
of your question. A structure set up under the President of the country
does not really have unlimited competences,and can be influential and
effective only due to its moral power. I am sure that the civil society
will become accomplished when the moral values are prevalent. If the
political circles in our country were guided by those values and the
state government and local government systems worked efficiently,
there would be no need to set up such structure under the President.

After all, it is an axiomatic truth that the authorities are created
for ensuring the welfare of their own people. Of course, this problem
isn’t solved by setting up separate structures, because the existing
non-governmental structures may contribute to or hamper the process
of the implementation of the authorities’ main tasks."

STRANGE INSTRUCTIONS FROM EUROPE
Kima Yeghiazaryan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
01 Oct 2008
Armenia

Some days after March 1-2 developments, when even the General
Prosecutor’s and the special investigative service didn’t imagine what
volumes will the case have, beginning from March 5 the Europeans were
very concerned about the destiny of the detained.

>From that day on, till now they continuously appear with announcements,
calling the authorities "to release those who didn’t commit serious
crime or those who are detained because of their political views,
as soon as possible."

Undoubtedly the before mentioned instructions coming from Europe
are quite understandable for us. The members of more than 60 parties
registered in our country have quite different "political views". Which
means all of them can organize a coup, to prove their loyalty to their
"political views." And no punishment.

And after all who said that the attempts of takeover, by means of
organizing massive disorder is not considered a serious crime

And of course those who are concerned about the problems of the
"political prisoners" have no time to listen to similar questions or
moreover to ground their appeals and demands.

The most important thing for them is to see the "fighters for
liberty" released. Whereas the process of the court procedure and
the already accomplished=2 0verdicts demonstrate that everything is
clear – 42 persons have been released immediately from the court,
they are on probation, and 39 persons have been sentenced to 3 –
3,5 years imprisonment.

But it turned out that PACE is not satisfied with these data. In its
conclusion published the day before Council of Europe Human Rights
Commissioner Tomas Hammarberg over again called the authorities
to release the revolutionaries, meanwhile he underscored that he
considers the continuation of the court procedures unacceptable. "The
continuation of the court procedures which are based on the person’s
political views or their detention for not violent actions, are
unacceptable."

This not very clear explanation brings to one conclusion, the law
enforcers must stop the questioning of the ex chief warder Mushegh
Saghatelyan, who, on March 1 fled the Theatrical Square and acted
violently towards the policeman who caught him.

They must also change all the verdicts taken by now and justify the
"freedom fighters". It is impossible to give another interpretation
to the ideas of the Human Rights Commissioner. By the way we must
underscore that Hammarberg has pointed out article 300 of the
Criminal Code, he has used certain judicial language, but he didn’t
say a word about why this criminal case has been instituted. In his
report you will not find the words "massive disorder followed by
m urders". Which means according to Hammarberg’s conclusion one can
think that the "incident" that took place on March 1-2 in the heart of
our capital city was a "significant event". The next idea expressed
by the commissioner is not less noteworthy: "The interlocutors of
the commissioner believe the competencies of the parties before the
court have been violated."

What does the commissioner mean, when the court procedures were very
rarely held in peaceful atmosphere. The Commissioner, who paid a two
days visit to Yerevan in July, naturally couldn’t participate in the
court procedures that reminded of a bullfight. But he could at least
go through the reports made by the press belonging to Armenian Pan
National Movement. When the furious activists used to capture the
halls of the court, attack the court managers, and drive the judge
presiding over the procedure, away from the hall.

So it turns out that if the halls of the court were small for
the demonstrations it means their rights have been violated. Very
ridiculous.

Another court procedure is in store, on October 7. Do the law enforcers
have the right to clarify, why Sasun Mikaelyan hid arms in his personal
small lake? Or why he supplied food to the demonstrators?

Or do they have the right to clarify why after descending from the
barricades Myasnik Malkhasyan ran away with an iron stick in his
=0 Apocket. What about Alik Arzumanyan’s telephone conversations,
where he announced that there is no other option except an armed coup.

After all it was Hakob Hakobyan’s personal desire to be detained
"to have everything clarified", which he announced in the parliament.

So if the law enforcers release these people, what will the process
of the investigation be like? Most probably it will be quashed because
of the absence of the corpus delicti.

DISCUSSION WAS NOT OBJECTIVE

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
01 Oct 2008
Armenia

The discussion held yesterday by the Monitoring Committee of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) was mainly
devoted to the last report of Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas
Hammarberg and the process of Armenia’s implementation of Resolutions #
1609 and 1620.

"Unfortunately, I can’t say that the major part of the speeches
was sufficiently impartial, taking into consideration the fact that
attempts were made to associate the situation with the Karabakh issue,
the so-called occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenia and
the ethnic cleansings. That is, I can’t say that the discussion was
objective," Head of the Armenian delegation David Haroutyunyan reported
to Radio Station "Liberty" at the end of the Committee session.

However, Mr. Haroutyunyan also said that the Armenian delegation was
able to point out to the Committee members certain positive progress
made by Armenia. "First of all, I attach much importance to the
fact that the inquest is over, because delays in inquest procedures
constitute a most serious violation of human rights and should be
put an end to as quickly as possible.

The case is still being considered by the court, and at this stage,
I attach importance to holding an independent and impartial proceeding
which will make it possible to eval uate the process at the end. The
fact that certain positive steps have already been taken does not
give way to any doubt, in my opinion.

"Unfortunately, we are still unable to achieve the adoption of
any document on setting up a fact-finding expert group, but the
negotiations with the Commissioner for Human Rights and the experts
continue intensively.

I hope that the adoption of a legal document of setting up that group
is a matter of just a couple of days," D. Haroutyunyan mentioned,
not ruling out the possibility that Thomas Hammarberg will again
visit Armenia in the nearest future.

The Monitoring Committee didn’t discuss the recent amendments to the
law "On Television and Radio".

GEORGIA’S STABILITY EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR ARMENIA
Hrayr Zoryan Armenpress

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
01 Oct 2008
Armenia

"We highly appreciate the relations between Armenia and Georgia,
and we are also very glad to notice lots of opportunities to expand
our friendship, integrate our economies, and make communications more
stable," Armenian President Serge Sargsyan announced yesterday during
his tête-a-tête with Michael Sahakashvily.

Serge Sargsyan considers the existence of those opportunities
extremely important and underscored that he attaches great importance
to stability.

"I have told you many times that Georgia’s stability is extremely
important for Armenia, so important that we can compare it with
Armenia’s stability. 75% of our foreign commodity circulation passes
via Georgia; we have hundreds and thousands brothers and sisters in
Georgia and our activity derives from this circumstance."

In his turn Sahakashvili underscored that Armenia and Georgia are
historically close allies, friends and brother states, united not
only by their joint history but also their prosperous future. "We
follow all the events that take place in Armenia. We highly appreciate
Armenia’s stance towards Georgian events. We received unprecedented
assistance from the whole world, lots of countries expressed their
positive attitude and Armenia supported the idea of the peaceful
settlement of Georgi an conflict. Our unity is very important, not
only from the point of view of the authorities but also the people,"
Georgian president Michael Sahakashvily said and added that people
usually remember who helped them in their hard times.

Michael Sahakashvily underscored that ethnic Armenians have a great
role in Georgia. "We don’t make a distinction between our citizens
in terms of their ethnic origins, but meanwhile we respect their
culture, identity, because they are part of Georgian culture and
identity. Naturally we are in close cooperation with them, because
there should be a dialogue between the cultures."

He considered the border between Armenia and Georgia a border of
friendship: "Consequently together with the Armenian President we
decided to make it transparent," the Georgian President announced
and informed that next week Georgian Minister of Economy and Finance
will visit Armenia to discuss those issues. He said the process of
crossing the border must be very clear.

"In my view the border between Armenia and Georgia must be like the one
between Switzerland and France," he underscored and added: "Yerevan
and Tbilisy are so close that in some sense they are continuation of
each other, we must try to fill each other’s gaps."

In this regard Sahakashvily attaches great importance to road
construction.

He informed that at the moment the road connecting

Akhalkalak and Ninotsminda with Tbilisy is in the process of
construction, which will finish in two years. "This road must move to
the borders of Armenia and Turkey. The whole region must be united
by qualitative roads. We decided to create a consortium, which will
be engaged in road construction from Goderz mountain pass to the
Black Sea."

–Boundary_(ID_iL+m3rOhr7X4zMb1lgoNSQ) —

THE ONLY DIFFICULTY IS A CONTINUOUS INCREASE OF PRICES
Sussanna Balayan

Azat Artsakh Daily
01 Oct 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

As we have informed, recently by means of "Hayastan" all-Armenian Fund
some buildings have have been put into operation: school building in
Togh and water-pipes in Hadrut and Spitakashen.In Togh after solemn
ceremonies the deputy manager Ara Vardanyan answered the journalists’
questions. "In what direction will the money, got from the telethon,
be expended?". A.Vardanyan particularly noted, that as always, by
means of money got from the telethon which will take place on November
27th in Los Angeles, the Fund will continue the works in Martuni,
Hadrut and Martakert regions. "How do the preparatory works of the
telethon pass?".

"All the subjects directed to the organization of this year’s telethon
are already ready, now the final preparation of the subjects for just
this day is carried out. Corresponding interviews, meetings with the
management of "Hayastan" Fund are realized. Taking the opportunity,
let’s say also, that the president of the republic assisted the
preparatory works and under his protection a banquet we’ll organize,
in which businessmen from RA and RF will participate and questions
refering to the program will be discussed. "And what works are realized
in Artsakh?". "In Artsakh during the tele thon we’ll show the society
what works have been realized and what is foreseen. In Artsakh during
the last two months our photographing group has already prepared
all the materials about realized works. Also we work with companies
realizing huge business in NKR "Karabakh Telecom", "Base Metals" for
providing their participation in the telethon". "It has been always
spoken about promised and non transfered sums. What difficulties
meets the Fund during the realization of the programs?". "Generally,
in the Fund’s practice we are leading in the sense of the sums.One
of the difficulties, that I can note, is a countinous increase of
prices. The construction becomes more expensive year after year This
is the main complication, but I must note, that Diaspora understands
by what it is conditioned, and that Armenia and Artsakh can’t fight
against it",- emphasized Ara Vardanyan at the end of the talk.