Month: October 2008

SETTLEMENT BASED ON AZERBAIJAN TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY CENTER OF KARABAKH TALKS – BAKU

Interfax News Agency
Oct 21 2008
Russia

While saying that the right of nations to self-determination is the
subject of the talks on Karabakh settlement, Armenian President Serge
Sargsyan is distorting the truth, Baku said.

"We have made our position clear on this issue on many occasions, and
we have done so in lucid terms: the talks deal with the step-by-step
settlement of the conflict on the basis of the principle of
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity," Azeri Foreign Ministry spokesman
Khazar Ibragim told Interfax.

Sargsyan told the press earlier on Tuesday that, Yerevan was "ready to
continue the talks guided by the Madrid principles" which, he said,
"include the recognition of the principle of self-determination and
the right of the people of Karabakh [to it]."

MEDVEDEV NAMES KEY RUSSIA-ARMENIA COOPERATION AREAS

RosBusinessConsulting Database
October 21, 2008 Tuesday 8:44 AM EST
Russia

The energy sector, industry, transportation, banking, and information
technologies remain the priority areas of Russian-Armenian cooperation,
the ARKA news agency reported Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as
saying in Yerevan today. He noted that the two countries intended
to further develop industrial cooperation, boost mutual investments,
and expand interregional relations. The agreements signed in Yerevan
are expected to serve this purpose, Medvedev stated. He added that
Russia was Armenia’s major economic partner and that trade between
the two countries actually grew during the first eight months of 2008.

ENZYME RESEARCH: STUDIES FROM NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE ADD NEW FINDINGS IN THE AREA OF ENZYME RESEARCH

Pharma Law Weekly
October 21, 2008

Scientists discuss in ‘Complex of dipeptidyl peptidase II with
adenosine deaminase’ new findings in enzyme research. According
to recent research from Yerevan, Armenia, "Dipeptidyl peptidase
II (DPPII) from bovine kidney cortex and lung was purified to the
electrophoretically homogeneous state. The molecular and catalytic
characteristics of the enzyme were determined."

"It was revealed that DPPII preparations possess adenosine deaminase
(ADA) activity at all purification steps. For the first time, the
ADA-binding ability of DPPII has been shown similar to the well-known
ADA-binding enzyme, DPPIV. The dissociation constant of the DPPII-ADA
complex was estimated using a resonant mirror biosensor (80 nM),
fluorescence polarization (60 nM), and differential spectroscopy
(36 nM) techniques," wrote S.G. Sharoyan and colleagues, National
Academy of Science (see also Enzyme Research).

The researchers concluded: "The data demonstrate that DPPII can form a
complex with ADA, but with one order of magnitude higher dissociation
constant than that of DPPIV (7.8 nM)."

Sharoyan and colleagues published their study in Biochemistry (Complex
of dipeptidyl peptidase II with adenosine deaminase. Biochemistry,
2008;73(8):943-9).

For additional information, contact S.G. Sharoyan, Buniatyan Institute
of Biochemistry, Armenian National Academy of Sciences, Yerevan,
Armenia.

Publisher contact information for the journal Biochemistry is: Maik
Nauka, Interperiodica, C, O Kluwer Academic-Plenum Publishers, 233
Spring St., New York, NY 10013-1578, USA.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TORCH WOMAN DIES OVER LOVER PROTEST

Metro (UK)
October 21, 2008 Tuesday
London and all shared stories Edition

A FRENCH woman died after setting herself ablaze in a desperate
protest to stop her immigrant lover from being deported. Dozens of
people looked on as Josiane Nardi, 60, doused herself in alcohol and
set herself alight outside a detention centre in Le Mans, where her
boyfriend was being held. Armenian Henrik Orujyan, 31, is serving
two years in jail for theft and is due to be deported next month. The
French government said the case had little to do with immigration. It
wants 25,000 illegal immigrants deported this year.

DMITRY MEDVEDEV AND SERZH SARGSYAN LAUNCHED WIMAX NETWORK

RIA Oreanda
Oct 21 2008
Russia

Yerevan. ">OREANDA-NEWS . October 21, 2008. This is a project of the
Russian Comstar United Telesystems company.

The network of wireless broadband access based on WiMAX technology
will cover Yerevan and the 18 largest cities in Armenia.

The establishment of this new network in Armenia is expected to resolve
the problem of the availability of telecommunication services to the
public, government and business.

Presently fixed line services are available for 30 percent of the
Armenian population while the Internet is available for seven percent.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MANY RUSSIAN ARMENIANS SEEK RA CITIZENSHIP

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.10.2008 15:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Several dozens of Armenians living in the south
of Russia have already taken the opportunity to acquire Armenian
citizenship as a second citizenship, Yerkramas, the newspaper of
Armenians of Russia, quoted Armenia’s Consul General in the RF Federal
Okrug Ararat Gomtsyan as saying.

"There are many Armenians in Russia wishing to be granted Armenian
citizenship. It’s gratifying that Armenia demonstrated political will
by introducing changes in its Constitution for its compatriots living
abroad," he said.

TURKISH COURT ACQUITS POLICEMEN POSING WITH DINK MURDERER

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.10.2008 15:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Two senior police officers charged with negligence
over the leaked photos of police and gendarmerie officers posing with
the man suspected of murdering Agos editor Hrant Dink were found not
guilty yesterday, Anatolia News Agency reports.

‘Souvenir photos’ with suspect is not a crime, the court decided.

Ultra-nationalist teenager Ogun Samast gunned down Dink outside his
newspaper office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007 and was captured by
the gendarmerie on his way back to his hometown of Trabzon on the
Black Sea.

The murder of Dink, who was tried under article 301 of the Turkish
Penal Code, caused serious domestic and international criticism.

The photos of the suspect with police and gendarmerie officers appeared
in the media, causing a huge embarrassment for the department.

Two senior police officers were charged with dereliction of duty by
allowing the photos to be taken and then leaked to the media and
causing the public to believe the department sympathized with the
murder suspect.

The court said there was no evidence the charged officers were
responsible for the leak and found both defendants not guilty.

LAVROV FORETELLS NEW CLASHES IN SOUTH CAUCASUS?

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.10.2008 16:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia is concerned over the fact that the EU
observers do not act as security guarantors in the buffer zone around
South Ossetia and Abkhazia, RF Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"The Georgian side doesn’t meet its pullout commitments and keeps on
sending special services to these regions. The EU observers who are
supposed to be guarantors of non-use of force seem to neglect this
fact. This is a dangerous game, pregnant with new clashes," he said,
Russian media reports.

RUSSIAN LEADER SEEKS NEW ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN PEACE PUSH
by Marina Lapenkova

Agence France Presse
October 21, 2008 Tuesday 12:30 PM GMT

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday proposed a renewed role
in mediation between Caucasus foes Armenia and Azerbaijan, amid a
rising push by outside powers for influence in the region.

Speaking in Yerevan on his first visit to the South Caucasus since
Russia’s recent military thrust into Georgia, Medvedev said he planned
to host peace talks on the war-torn Nagorny-Karabakh region between
the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"I hope that in the near future a meeting between the three presidents
will take place to find a solution to the problem" of the disputed
territory, Medvedev said at a news conference with Armenian President
Serzh Sarkisian in Armenia’s capital. "I hope it will take place
in Russia."

Nagorny-Karabakh, a region inside Azerbaijan, was seized by Armenian
separatists in a 1990s war that claimed tens of thousands of lives,
one of several armed conflicts that broke out in the dying months of
the Soviet Union.

Medvedev’s initiative comes as the United States and Turkey are
seeking greater influence in Armenia, a nation that has relied on
Russia as its protector.

In a sign of shifting political currents, Armenia took an ambiguous
stance on Russia’s conflict with Georgia in August and refused to
follow Moscow’s lead in recognising the independence of the rebel
Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Sarkisian said Armenia was ready for talks with Azerbaijan on the
basis of principles worked out at international negotiations in Madrid
last year, meaning that the people of Nagorny-Karabakh gain the right
to self-determination.

Soldiers in the Karabakh conflict regularly exchange fire, claiming
lives on both sides.

"Armenia is ready to pursue (peace) negotiations on the basis of the
Madrid principles," Sarkisian said.

Medvedev’s visit, in which he presided at the renaming of a central
Yerevan square as Russia Square, came amid growing Western attention
to the war-torn Caucasus in the wake of the August war with Georgia
over the Russian-backed region of South Ossetia.

While the Russian daily Izvestia pointed to Armenia’s isolation and
said Russia was its only real friend, other observers believe the
conflict in Georgia, which disrupted gas supplies in the region,
may spur Armenia into new alliances.

Russia currently has a military base in Armenia and runs the country’s
chief energy source, a nuclear power station.

The country is not only cut off from Azerbaijan but also has no
diplomatic ties with western neighbour Turkey, reflecting a bitter row
over Armenian claims that Ottoman-era killings of Armenians amounted
to genocide.

But in the wake of the August war in Georgia, Turkey, historically
a counter-weight to Russia, proposed a new format for discussions:
a "Platform for Cooperation and Stability in the Caucasus."

And last month saw an historic first visit to Armenia by Turkish
President Abdullah Gul.

STEPAN GRIGORYAN: RUSSIA CAN CEDE A PART OF ITS TERRITORY TO AZERBAIJAN, WITHOUT USING NKR AS TOKEN COIN

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.10.2008 16:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The events that followed Kosovo’s proclamation of
independence and deployment of EU peacekeepers in Georgia will affect
the Nagorno Karabakh settlement process, an Armenian expert said.

"The latest hearing in the NKR parliament revealed the whole range
of opinions on the conflict. I don’t think that such an event would
be possible in the Armenian or Azeri parliament, due to the lack of
pluralism of opinions," Stepan Grigoryan, head of analytical center
of globalization studies, said during a round-table discussion today.

The OSCE MNG format is jeopardized due to global processes, relating
to the U.S. and Russia, according to him.

"Russia attempts to speed up the Karabakh process artificially, what
is to some extent conditioned by the impending presidential election
I the United States. As to unwillingness to spoil relations with
Azerbaijan, Russia could cede some 5 thousand km2 to this country,
without using NKR as a token coin," Grigoryan said.