Month: December 2008

THE THIEF CRIES, "CATCH THE THIEF"
Vrezh Aharonyan

Azat Artsakh Daily
09 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR

What is Seda Safaryan’s mission?

By proposing lawyer Seda Safaryan’s candidacy for the fact-finding
group, the radical activists knew from the very start that they were
grossly violating the laws. They did know about it and nevertheless
made that step.

Moreover, bringing to light the factor of Tovmas Poghosyan, a lawyer
who was involved in the fact-finding group by the coalition, they
made a "shocking disclosure". In the person of David Shahnazaryan,
they announced, "You know, Gevorg Tovmasyan’s presence in the fact
finding-group is a violation, as this person is a representative of
the ruling coalition."

Before touching upon the "shocking disclosure", let’s note that apart
from being a gross violation, the membership of Stepan Safaryan’s
sister in the fact-finding group may impede the further inquest of the
"March 1" case.

Who is lawyer Seda Safaryan, and what role is vested in her?

First, Seda Safaryan is one of the lawyers who has assumed the
duty of defending different individuals accused of the March 1
disorders. That’s to say, she is an interested party.

It has been announced many a time that the group of lawyers (consisting
of 4-5 people) dealing with the "case of 70 is not the only one. There
are also some "supporting lawyers", so to say. Although, these
people are not going to act in defense of the culprits, they will,
as a matter of fact, do the same thing "stealthily", by "supporting"
the defendants, as they say.

We have reliable information that Seda Safaryan is among the
individuals who are involved in the group of the "supporting
lawyers". That’s to say, she is actually acting in support of the
interests of the accused. So, what is Seda Safaryan’s mission in the
fact-finding group?

Just see. She is, on the one hand, a member of the "support group"
dealing with the "case of 7", and on the other hand, being a involved
in the fact-finding group, she is required to know what data the
inquest body has with regard to other criminal cases concerning
those individuals. Naturally, she will submit those materials to the
support group dealing with the "case of 7" (and there is no other
way of acting in support of these individuals).

This is an obvious violation. The problem here does not only consist
in Seda Safaryan’s being an interested party from the very start,
but also in the fact that being a lawyer and defending the interests
of the accused, she possesses certain data that may impede the further
inquest of the "March 1" case. And it s no secret that some people are
now being searched, and the inquest body has many a time announced
that certain steps still have to be undertaken towards finding the
culprits."

There were also people who died as a result of firearm injuries and
people who, despite having received bodily damages, escaped from the
healthcare institutions, so it is now necessary to find them. After
all, the inquest body possesses some information on the individuals who
used arms. By the way, all these data are not published, considering
the confidentiality of the inquest.

And it is not absolutely difficult to imagine Seda Safaryan making
haste to tell the ‘congressmen’ about everything she knows. As to what
the Armenian National Congress can do, it is quite easy to imagine it
based on the preliminary information we have. Especially, considering
the fact that the latter pursued certain goals in proposing Seda
Safaryan’s candidacy for the fact-finding group.

And what’s more, they realized from the outset that there would sooner
or later be certain problems with regard to S. Safaryan’s candidacy.

They realized it and that’s why, decided to launch the attack first,
by inventing certain ‘disclosures’."

And it is not accidental that the Armenian National Congress is just
now touching upon the information posted on the Web site of the General
Prosecutor’s Office back in Ma rch (in particular, he is reported to
be conducting direct control over the legality of the inquest of the
"March 1" case and directing the court proceedings). What’s more,
the Congress is doing that by publicizing pompous headlines such us
"Congress Submits Successive Shocking Document", "What has Congress
Disclosed?", "D. Shahnazaryan Discloses the Successive Disclosure of
Congress" etc.

Oh, boy! How can the information posted on the Web site of a state
agency back in March be a disclosure for the Armenian National
Congress? If that’s true, they can make similar disclosures every
day. All they have to do is just to visit the Web site of the General
Prosecutor’s Office at

And in general, the opposition is doing whatever it wants to. And
that’s quite right. It is, actually, violating the terms of the
agreement and announcing that the coalition is breaching the law. The
latter did not raise Seda Safaryan’s question in proper time; it
didn’t say, ‘Dear friends, you don’t have the right to propose an
interested party as a member of the fact-finding group.’

It didn’t say so and remained silent, and now the Armenian National
Congress can also accuse the coalition of representing the well-known
truths as disclosures.

THE PRESIDENT’S DECREE ON AMNESTY

Azat Artsakh Daily
09 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR

And The Swamp Of The Snipes

The Press Secretary of the President S. Farmanyan informed us
yesterday: "According to the December 3 decree signed by President
Serge Sargsyan, three convicts Edward Garnik Ashughyan, Arman
Khachatur Margaryan and Arthur Suren Nazaryan, sentenced to 3-3,5
years imprisonment, for the participation in the March 1 disorder in
Yerevan and showing resistance to the police and other violent actions,
were granted amnesty.

Before taking the decision of granting amnesty, the President took
into account the request for amnesty addressed to the President by
the before mentioned three convicts, the fact that these people have
not been convicted before and many other circumstances linked with
their families.

The President has always been ready to observe the request for
amnesty. And even at present there are no changes in his approach
towards this issue."

Of course the before mentioned will be interpreted by the
neo-Bolsheviks as a consequence of the pressure by international
organizations and European officials.

But it is quite clear that neither the international organizations nor
the European officials have anything to do with this issue. Because
they didn’t ask Edward Garnik Ashughyan, Arman Khachatur Margaryan
and Arthur Suren Nazaryan, to address this letter of request to the
President. So the speculations here are absolutely not proper.

The radicals will always be dissatisfied with all the actions of
the ruling power. What they think is that the more detained, the
better. That is why they raise hullabaloo regarding any issue. Like
the snipes living in the swamp always disapproved of the surrounding,
but after the improvement of the lands they raise uproar. The snipes
can’t help raising uproar. This is their quality. People can think
that they are really disapproved of the swamps. But it is far not
like that, because the snipes understand that their existence is
impossible without swamps.

Thus any person that makes infringement towards the swamp is an enemy.

KEY TO THE SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH ISSUE – IN OUR HANDS
Gevorg Haroutyunyan

Azat Artsakh Daily
09 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR

Interview with MP HAMLET HAROUTYUNYAN, Head of "Artsakh" compatriots’
union

"Mr. Haroutyunyan, how do you account for the haste over the settlement
of the Karabakh conflict and the unprecedented activeness of the
international organizations and some internal political forces?"

"The Karabakh settlement talks have really taken a much more intensive
course. The meetings between the Presidents and Foreign Ministers
of Armenia and Artsakh organized by the mediation of the OSCE Minsk
Group and in other formats have become more frequent. In this context,
I consider the increased hue-and-cry quite natural.

It is not proper to any nation to make the solution of a pan-national
problem dependent upon the attitude towards this or that politician.

Moreover, it is illogical when they bring harm to the nation and
torpedo the pro-Armenian settlement of the problem with the purpose
of impeding the activities of he given figure. Unfortunately, we
won’t learn lessons from the sad examples of our history.

Generally, these forces speculating the interests of the nation
and state pursue only one goal: to come to power. The individuals
yearning for power do not even hate the idea of undermining the state
and splitting the nation, since they are c onvinced that even in such
circumstances, there is something for them to plunder.

In our reality, there are also hidden traitors who manage to split
the people, make the country vulnerable and remain unpunished. One
can always strive for power and be dissatisfied with the rulers, but
it is not allowed to trample on the national interests and sacred
values. Expressing their views on the pages of the press, those
people do not even conceal their admiration when, leaning on the
misinformation disseminated by the Turkish-Azerbaijani propaganda,
they allegedly point out to the lapses and defeats of our country’s
leadership and diplomacy. The threat to Artsakh has not, in any way,
increased over the recent period but in this way, they are instilling
defeatist moods among the people. This is the tragedy."

"What solution do you see for the Artsakh issue? What else should be
done apart from undertaking diplomatic-political steps?"

"It is obvious that at some stage of the negotiations held within the
frameworks of the Minsk Group, Nagorno Karabakh will inevitably become
a negotiating party. Even the fate of the smallest nation cannot be
determined without the participation of one of its representatives. As
to the people of Artsakh, they are solving a national problem for
their liberation, and the world is well-aware of that.

On the geo-political plane, the Artsakh issue will find a solution
when the superpowers reach a common agreement over their interests
in the Caucasian region."

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES

Azat Artsakh Daily
09 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR

>From yesterday morning the taxi drivers are standing in front of the
government building with their cars.

The demands of the demonstrators haven’t changed: to annul the
decision on the improvement of the sphere, taken earlier by the
government. The taxi drivers demand to pay confirmed taxes in every
three or six months.

The taxi drivers also demand to annul the obligation of using yellow
state numbers, as well as mitigate the 10 years limitation linked
with the cars’ production date.

RUSSIA, BELARUS SIGN SECURITY COOPERATION PLAN FOR 2009

RIA Novosti
09:22 | 10/ 12/ 2008

SEVAN (Armenia), December 10 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian and Belarusian
state security councils have signed a cooperation plan for next year,
the head of the Russian Security Council said on Wednesday.

The plan was signed at a meeting of security council chiefs of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Armenia.

Russia and Belarus are both members of the CSTO, which also comprises
Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Nikolai Patrushev said Russia and Belarus were strategic partners
and worked together in a variety of areas, in particular stressing
attempts to reach common positions at international organizations
that both countries enjoy membership of.

GAGIK MINASYAN: ARMENIA WILL MANAGE TO RESIST ALL THE CHALLENGES OF THE FINANCIAL CRISIS
Hasmik Dilanyan

"Radiolur"
10.12.2008 15:40

In the recent period the professional and non-professional circles have
been continuously referring to the world financial crisis. Armenia did
not avid it, either, although the Armenian authorities were declaring
for a long time that there was no crisis in our country. We managed
to overcome the financial crisis, but resisting the second wave,
the economic phase, was no longer possible. However, the danger
threatening Armenia is not that big.

Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Financial-
Credit, Budgetary and Economic Affairs Gagik Minasyan told a press
conference today that Armenia is able to resist all the challenges
that came forth as a result of the crisis. Ggaik Minasyan said it
will become possible via establishment of the Pan-Armenian Bank,
construction of a new nuclear power plant, exploitation of the
Meghri-Batumi highway, as well as the reduction of shadow economy.

The shadow can be reduced at the expense of tax revenues. However,
according to Gagik Minasyan, this will not become an extra obstacle
for representatives of small and medium-sized businesses.

"Three hundred large tax payers pay 65% of our budget, while the
small and medium-syzed businesses pay 5-7%. Next year we expect 21%
rise in tax revenues. It’s obvious that=2 0we will ensure the raise
exceptionally through reducing the shadow in large businesses."

The world financial crisis affected especially the mining industry. In
the near future special programs will be implemented in Lori and
Syunik marzes, where most of the enterprises of the sphere are
concentrated. This, according to Gagik Minasyan, will enable to avoid
temporary unemployment.

ARMENIA, BULGARIA PRESIDENTS MEET IN SOFIA

armradio.am
10.12.2008 15:56

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan started his official two-day
visit to Bulgaria at the invitation of President Georgi Parvanov on
Wednesday. This is the third visit here by an Armenian state leader
since 1995.

The Armenian President was welcomed in St Alexander Nevsky Square. The
two Heads of State reviewed the guard of honor and Sargsyan laid a
wreath at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier.

After the ceremony, the two Presidents started a one-to-one meeting,
and the official delegations are holding plenary talks. The two
presidents will attend the signing of four agreements and a stamp
cancellation, Bulgarian News Agency reported.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARF BUREAU HOLDS PLENARY SESSION IN BEIRUT

Yerkir
04.12.2008 16:13

Yerevan (Yerkir) – The ARF-Dashnaktsutyun Bureau held its plenary
session in Beirut, Lebanon, during November 29-December 1.

The agenda included the approval of plans based on proposals-decisions
of previous plenary sessions, the evaluation of completed activities,
forthcoming organizational and public relations tasks, the discussion
of internal and external challenges facing Armenia.

The plenary session discussed the new situation in the South Caucasus,
the tasks to be undertaken by the party, its affiliate organizations
and the Armenian Cause offices in defending the statehood, and the
immediate steps to be taken regarding the Artsakh issue, the recent
developments in Armenian-Turkish relations, and the international
recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

It was reiterated that the final settlement of the Artsakh issue is
possible only through peaceful negotiation process, where the Republic
of Mountainous Karabakh is a negotiating party.

Considering that following the Moscow Declaration Azerbaijan has not
backed down from its warmongering rhetoric, it is extremely important
to continue keeping the issue on the pan-national agenda, as an issue
related to the existence and security of Armenia and the Armenian
people. For us, the basis of the negotiating process should be the
fact of self-determination by the people of Artsakh, expressed on two
occasions, through the 1991 independence and 2006 MKR constitutional
referendums. The mutual concession can only be equal, proportionate,
and concurrent and part of a comprehensive settlement package.

Reaffirming that as neighboring states Armenia and Turkey should
continue their efforts towards normalizing relations, it was stressed
that thus far Turkey has not taken any positive steps. On the contrary,
there are attempts to use the ongoing meetings as hindrance to
the genocide recognition process, and make the relationship of the
two states conditional to Armenia’s relations with a third state,
namely Azerbaijan.

In this context, it was appreciated that the highest authorities of our
country are in complete accord that the recognition and condemnation
of the Armenian Genocide in general, and by Turkey in particular,
is one of the strategic directions of Armenia’s foreign policy. On
the other hand, it was stressed, that the present importance of
regulating Armenia-Turkey relations should not be valued more than
the rights of generations to come.

Decisions were adopted regarding all the discussed issues, always
based on the party’s fundamental policy, that the foremost issue for
the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun is ensuring the independence, security and
utmost self-reliance of the Republic of Armenia.

ARF-Dashnaktsutyun Press Office Yerevan, 2 December 2008

TIGRANAKERT BECAME NATIONAL PARK

Lragir.am
14:50:33 – 10/12/2008

The ancient town of Tigranakert which was discovered in NKR, to the
left of Aghdam-Martakert road was given the status of a national
park. The decision on this was made during the discussion of the NKR
state budget. The 2009 budget of NKR has foreseen 35 million drams
to continue the excavations.

Part of the money will be spent on the restoration of the findings,
Regnum reports.

ARTSAKH NGOs DEMAND FROM SERGE SARGSYAN NOT TO FALSIFY THE REALITY

Lragir.am
11:35:52 – 10/12/2008

The national liberation war for the liberation of Artsakh ended in
the victory of Armenians 14 years ago. Thanks to this victory, the
Armenian soldiers reached the northeastern border of the Armenian
Homeland. This war was waged first of all for the liberation of the
sacred land of the Armenian Homeland.

Erasing the illegal, artificial and unviable borders of the autonomous
region of Nagorno-Karabakh imposed on the Armenian people, the NKR
Constitution adopted by the Referendum in 2006 set down the sovereign
borders of the Armenian land liberated at the cost of blood of the
best sons of our people.

This war was not just a war for the liberation of the native
land but also a fair retribution of the Genocide perpetrated by
Azerbaijan in answer to the political claims of the Armenians of
Artsakh. Establishing the results of the victory, the Armenian
people showed to the world that such ambitions will never go
unpunished. Overlooking the results of the victory of the Armenian
people in the spheres of ideology or politics is not only profanation
of the eternal contribution of the heroes killed at war but also
violates the memory of the Armenians slaughtered in Sumgait, Baku,
Gandzak (Kirovabad) and other cities and villages of Azerbaijan,
encouraging new military aggression by Azerbaijan against the
Armenian state.

There can be no trifles in such issues. The daily display of the map
of the autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which does not exist
since the proclamation of NKR, on the Public and other TV channels
of Armenia deeply insults not only the viewers of Armenia and NKR but
also the Diaspora. It has an especially negative political effect now,
in a deciding phase of the talks for the settlement of the conflict
when we all hope the Armenian diplomacy struggles to protect the
interests of the Armenian people.

We demand that the image of the autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh
be removed from the weather forecast maps and replaced by the map
of Armenia and NKR. We are convinced that in the shortest possible
time all the necessary measures will be taken to change the existing
situation.

The Club of Young Political Scientists of Artsakh Hayrenyats Pashtpan
NGO of the Union of Veterans of Artsakh ARF Dashnaktsutyun Artsakh
youth union The youth wing of the Democratic Party of Artsakh The
youth wing of the Azat Hayrenik Party Vachagan Barepasht NGO Haiki
Serund NGO Alfa Omega NGO Zepyur NGO