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BY REPLACING "GENOCIDE" TERM WITH ONE MOST ACCEPTABLE TO TURKS, RAFFI
HOVANNISIAN RUINED OUR DECADES’ WORK, CHAIRMAN OF ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF
SLOVAKIA CLAIMS

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. "Armenians Today" electronic
newspaper received the chairman of the Armenian community of Slovakia
Ashot Grigorian’s open letter to "Zharangutyun" ("Heritage") party in
connection with the information "Refutation" spread by the party. The
open letter sent to various addresses in particular reads:

"Dear partners of the press center of "Heritage" party.

I consider the letter "Refutation", which I received today, as quite
strange. In this letter you present comments on the phrase "Great Home
Deprivation" or "Great Displacement" used in the congratulatory message
of the respected Raffi Hovannisian to the president of Turkey: in my
opinion, by doing so you have provided a disservice to your political
figure.

When hearing comments of "Haylur" on this issue, I cherished a hope
that the son of the much respected historian, an exceptional expert on
genocide issues Richard Hovannisian has not done such an absurd step
and I impatiently expected a new comment. No doubt, Raffi Hovannisian
should have been well aware of the political value of the term
"genocide", whose importance is hard to overestimate today. Turkey is
ready to pay dearly if the Armenians agree to replace the term
"genocide" with any other word. We have had quite serious conversations
on this subject with the Turkish ambassador to the Slovak Republic Tuno
Ugdul in recent months. He has two problems, for solution of which he
would stop at nothing: to remove the khachkar we placed in downtown
Bratislava (with the help of Nig-Aparan compatriot union) and to
replace the term "genocide" with any other term. And then, all of a
sudden, your report came: yes, in his letter Hovannisian replaced
voluntarily the term "genocide" with another term more acceptable to
Turks, thus ruining the work we have done for years and decades. This
calls into question today the result of the huge and hard work on
passing the resolution on the genocide in the National Council of
Slovakia. The resolutions passed by the parliaments of about twenty
countries have also been deprived of meaning. Yes, all this is called
into question, if we so easily reject the term "genocide". And this is
taking place against the background of the recent statement of
"Heritage" to back the Armenian National Movement (ANM) party. I have
to state with regret that I no longer want to have the honor to be your
friend and I ask you not to take trouble to inform me from your
information source any more. I think that by cooperating with
Ter-Petrosian, who has become blind from his aggressiveness, you stop
serving our people and in case of being frank, it is only you who can
tell us what real goals you have and what masters you serve in reality.
I would not be surprised if in the near future we heard your and ANM
gangsters’ other proposals to put the country at the disposal of Turks.
Believe me that we who live far from Armenia take hard and cannot
understand such acts of our country’s treachery and we are perplexed at
your frenzy to stab in the back of our long-suffering people".

Robert Kocharyan: It has always been prerogative of the state to apply
force within the law, including during post-election period

2008-02-16 20:18:00

ArmInfo. It has always been and is the prerogative of the state to
apply force within the law, including during post-election period,
President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan said in an interview to local TV
channels today.

Recently people have expressed growing concern with respect to the
coming election. Election is always followed by certain tension. The
task of the state is to keep the post-electoral processes in check. If
the election is followed by peaceful actions and demonstrations, the
state will have nothing to do but to see that everything goes well. But
if anybody tries to cause disorders, the state machinery will have to
put things in order and will apply force within the confines of the
law. "We have such a right and my duty as president is to prevent any
encroachments on the constitutional order. I have always complied with
my duties and to protect order is one of my duties," Kocharyan said.

"Stability is one of our key achievements. It is the basis of our
national welfare. And we will not allow a group of people to spoil our
work," Kocharyan said. He said that it was necessary to carry out
active explanatory work with people so as to prevent clashes and
confrontation. "Some people are using blackmail and are trying to prove
their own courage. However, our authorities are trusted and our law
enforcement system is strong. And this is also one of our
achievements," Kocharyan said.

Government will compensate for tuition fees

16-02-2008 17:05:23 – KarabakhOpen

The NKR government will compensate for the tuition fees of students of
both state and private universities, including distance learners. The
government will compensate widows and children of killed soldiers,
parentless children, disabled people of 1 and 2 degree, people with
childhood disability, as well as the children of 1 degree disabled
people of the Karabakh war.

The minister of education Vladik Khachatryan says 347 students will get
compensation. The government has allocated 37 million drams for this
program.

The fees paid by the beneficiaries of the program in the fall term of
2007-2008 will be returned to them.

"DASHNAKTSUTIUN" BELIEVES THAT "THE AUTHORITIES OF ARMENIA TOOK UP ALL THE EFFORTS FOR THE PRE-ELECTION STRUGGLE TO PROCEED IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF INSTABILITY"

Mediamax
February 15, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Armenian authorities have taken up all the
efforts for the pre-election struggle to proceed in an atmosphere of
instability, representative of "Dashnaktsutiun" party Bureau Hrant
Margarian stated in Yerevan today.

Mediamax reports that, according to Hrant Margarian, despite the
efforts of "Dashnaktsutiun" to establish atmosphere of "ideology
struggle" in the country, both the authorities and separate candidates,
destabilize the situation in Armenia by reciprocal accusations and
improper agitation methods.

"The political field of Armenia is like our society, which has
deep-rooted notions of the criminal world", Hrant Margarian stated.

At that, he strictly criticized the presidential candidate Levon
Ter-Petrosian. "Having united around himself three-four thousand
people, he is already using blackmail against people, who are not
with him", Hrant Margarian stated. According to him, the very means
of the pre-election struggle should be worth the goal, which is not
the case here.

Hrant Margarian expressed opinion that the presidential elections will
consist of two rounds. He did not rule out the possibility that the
events may develop by another scenario, which may lead to collisions
and destabilization in future.

RAUL DE LUZENBERGER HOPES THAT ARMENIA WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP IN DIRECTION OF GENERAL DEMOCRATIC VALUES

Noyan Tapan
Feb 15, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. On February 14 Ambassador Raul de
Luzenberger, the Head of the delegation of the European Commission
in the Republic of Armenia, conveyed the copy of his credentials to
Armen Bayburdian, the Deputy Minister of the Foreign Affairs of the
Republic of Armenia.

During the meeting the sides discussed a number of issues, in
particular, the current level and perspectives of the implementation
process of the RA-EU New Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan. They also
touched upon the forthcoming presidential elections of Armenia.

Raul de Luzenberger mentioned that the European Union is interested
in the continuation of a stable cooperation with Armenia, about which
the opening of the EU delegation in Armenia speaks. He expressed
hope that the country will continue to develop in the direction of
the general democratic values.

Reference: Raul de Luzenberger was born in 1958 in Italy. In 1981 he
graduated from the Economics Faculty of the University of Neapole,
in 1985 the Economics Faculty of the University of Varvik, in 1987
the Political Economics Faculty of the University of La Sapienza of
Rome. In 1982-2001 he held a number of offices in state bodies and
private companies. In 1998-2003 he was the Head of the branch office
of TACIS in Minsk. In 2003-2007 he worked in the Main Department
of Foreign Relations of the European Commission as a responsible
for Moldova. Since 2007 he has been the confidential person of the
EU delegation in the Republic of Armenia. He masters the Italian,
English, Russian, and French languages.

According to the information provided to Noyan Tapan by the Press and
Information Department of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Charles
Lonsdale, the newly-appointed Ambassador of Great Britain, as well
conveyed the copy of his credentials to A. Bayburdian on the same day.

Wishing the Ambassador success in the implementation of his high
mission, A. Bayburdian mentioned that Armenia attaches importance
to the development process of the Armenian-British relations and
intends to still more strengthen and deepen the bilateral relations
with Great Britain.

Reference: Charles Lonsdale was born in Oxford in 1965. In 1987-2003
he held a number of offices in the Foreign Service system of the United
Kingdom, including the representations of the United Kingdom abroad. In
2003-2005 he was the Deputy Head of the Group for Afghanistan in
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 2005-2007 the Deputy Head of the
Group of Human Rights, Democracy and Government. He is not married. He
masters the English, Russian, French and Hungarian languages.

ONE OF ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS OF PRE-ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE LEVON TER-PETROSIAN SUBMITTED TO SEVERE HIDING

Noyan Tapan
Feb 14, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, NOYAN TAPAN. "The act of violence committed
against Krist Gasparian, the son of the late Manuk Gasparian, the
Chairman of the Democratic Way party, on February 12 is, certainly,
conditioned by the political views of the latter," Arman Musinian, the
spokesperson of the pre-electoral headquarters of Levon Ter-Petrosian,
a candidate running for the post of the RA President, told a Noyan
Tapan correspondent. In his words, Krist Gasparian is actively involved
in the pre-electoral campaign of Levon Ter-Petrosian. The number of
people, who have attacked him and given a severe hiding, according
to A. Musinian reached 40. As a result of the act of violence, Krist
Gasparian has received injuries on the part of the head.

It should be mentioned that the other son of M. Gasparian Manvel
Gasparian is leading the pre-electoral headquarters of Levon
Ter-Petrosian in the Kanaker-Zeytun community.

OSCE MONITORING ON CONTACT FRONT LINE IN AZERBAIJANI REGION HELD SMOOTHLY

Today
43112.html
Feb 14 2008
Azerbaijan

A monitoring was held at the contact front line of Azerbaijani and
Armenian armed forces near Tapgaragoyunlu village of Geranboy in
line with the mandate of the personal representative of the OSCE
chairman-in-office Thursday.

Novosti-Azerbaijan reports with reference to spokesman for Azerbaijan’s
Defense Ministry Ilgar Verdiyev that the monitoring took place without
any incidents.

Azerbaijan was represented by personal representative of OSCE
chairman-in-office Andjey Kaspshik and his field assistants Imre
Palatinus and Jaslan Nurtazin.

Armenia was represented by the field assistants of the personal
representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office Antal Kherdich and
Miroslav Vymetal.

ARMENIA AND BRITAIN WILLING TO REINFORCE THE BILATERAL RELATIONS

armradio.am
14.02.2008 16:44

On February 14 the newly appointed Ambassador of Great Britain Charles
Lonsdale presented the copies of his credentials to RA Deputy Foreign
Minister Armen Baibourtian.

Greeting the Ambassador, the Deputy Foreign Minister wished him success
in carrying out his high mission. Speaking about the current level
of Armenian-British relations, Mr. Baibourtian noted that Armenia
attaches importance to the process of development of Armenian-British
relations and is determined to reinforce and deepen the bilateral
ties with Great Britain.

During the conversation the newly appointed Ambassador also appreciated
the active collaboration between Armenia and Britain and assured that
he will spare no effort to reinforce the bilateral relations.

ARMENIA TRANSFERS RAILWAYS TO MANAGEMENT OF RUSSIAN-OWNED COMPANY

Mediamax
Feb 13 2008
Armenia

Yerevan, 13 February: An agreement was signed in Yerevan today on the
transfer of Armenian Railways to the concession management of South
Caucasus Railways, which was founded by Russian Railways.

Mediamax reports that the trilateral agreement was signed by Armenian
Transport Minister Andranik Manukyan, the general director of South
Caucasus Railways, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, and the president of Russian
Railways, Vladimir Yakunin.

In line with the agreement, Armenia is obliged to transfer the right to
use and manage the concession assets to the concession holder, South
Caucasus Railways, for a 20-year period with the option of extending
the agreement for another 20 years. The agreement is underwritten by
Russian Railways.

The concession holder is obliged to invest 174.5bn drams [about 600m
dollars] in the development of Armenian Railways, of which 53.3bn
drams should be spent on renovating infrastructure, and 8bn drams on
buying new rolling stock. As a guarantee, Russian Railways should in
turn pay 57m dollars to the Armenian side and assume responsibility
for the fulfilment of obligations.

According to the agreement, South Caucasus Railways should within
30 days of the signing of the agreement make a lump-sum payment of
1.7bn drams to the concession provider. In addition, the Armenian
side will every year receive 2 per cent of the concession holder’s
gross revenues.

OSKANIAN LIKELY TO MEET VUK JEREMIC IN KYEV

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.02.2008 16:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian will meet
with his Georgian counterpart David Bakradze in Kyev on February 13,
RA MFA Spokesman Vladimir Karapetian told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

In the evening, the RA FM is likely to hold a meeting with Serbian
Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic.

Tomorrow Minster Oskanian is expected to address the summit of Foreign
Ministers of EU and Black Sea basin countries.