Author: Antonian Lara

ZARUHI POSTANJIAN: LEVON TER-PETROSIAN SHOULD HAVE BEEN WITH PEOPLE ON MARCH 1

YEREVAN
JUNE 8, 2009
NOYAN TAPAN

The wrong decisions of the Armenian National Congress resulted in
a very low turnout of civil society in Yerevan Council of Elders
elections. Armen Martirosian, the head of the Zharangutiun (Heritage)
party parliamentary faction, expressed such an opinion at the June 5
press conference. In his words, a great part of electorate would go
to ballot if another opposition candidate were also nominated besides
Levon Ter-Petrosian.

According to Zharangutiun faction member Zaruhi Postanjian, personally
she was against the ANC list, as "obsolete people" were presented
on it. According to the deputy, new, young figures should have been
included in that list. And now, according to Z. Postanjian, if ANC
wants to stay in the sphere as a political structure, it should draw
conclusions from its own mistakes. "We saw in fact that ANC is not a
fully-fledged opposition force and does not enjoy people’s confidence,"
she said.

According to Z. Postanjian, society expects "everyday work" from
ANC "and not activation from one event to another." She gave the
example that Zharangutiun members are constantly and always with
the people. "We were also with the people on March 1, while it was
them who were obliged to do it. Levon Ter-Petrosian irrespective of
the fact that he was under arrest should have come and been with the
people," Z. Postanjian said.

LAKE SEVAN EXPERT – NO COMMERCIALLY VIABLE FISH POPULATIONS REMAIN
Astghik Khachatryan

2009/06/05 | 15:19

Ecology

At a press conference held today Boris Gabrielyan, Director of
Institute of Hydro-Ecology and Ichthyology of the National Academy
of Sciences stated that Lake Sevan no longer has viable fish stocks
for commercial use.

He said that besides a fish locally called "karas", an undesirable
species that competes with others for food and habitat, there are
few other native species that reproduce naturally.

Mr. Gabrielyan said that two subspecies of Lake Sevan "ishkhan"
fish has disappeared all together.

He pointed to the fact that this wasn’t the case 100, 50 or even as
late as 10 years ago.

"The government is allocating funds to restock certain species with
3 year-old fingerlings. But their efforts are mostly in vain since
much of the restocked fish, once they reach adulthood, are illegally
being trapped and fished for commercial purposes. There is no adequate
oversight," Mr. Gabrielyan argued.

According to the director what is needed is a comprehensive plan
to tackle the issue and not just restocking efforts. "The plan
must monitor the fish markets and the roadways to see that illegal
catches aren’t being sold. Also, the socio-economic needs of local
residents must be addressed. The only way to make a living for many
is to poach fish."

Director Gabrielyan also expressed concern about the dwindling
whitefish population. In the 1980’s it stood at some 30,000 tons but
has dropped to 170 tons today."It isn’t a commercially viable stock
and is just barely enough to preserve a gene pool. It we had banned
whitefish fishing five years ago we’d have a better picture today." he
declared and called for a ban on whitefish.

"For some strange reason, the RoA Ministry of Nature Protection doesn’t
use the term ‘banned’ but rather what is ‘permitted’, arguing that
if certain species are permitted to be fished, by logical extension,
others must be considered off-limits," he went on to say.

Today, only crayfish and "karas" can be legally fished for in Sevan.

Referring to plans by GeoProMining to build a processing plant for
Sotk gold on the shores of Lake Sevan, Mr. Gabrielyan said that their
studies of the matter or continuing but that they hadn’t given a
green light for the project.

PRINCE WARNS ARTSAKH HE REIGNED OVER IS ARMENIA

LRAGIR.AM
13:14:02 – 05/06/2009

Surprising the world by discovering the historic Tigranakert in
the territory of the present Aghdam, the Armenian archeologists
made another discovery. In the territory of the region of Hadrut,
they discovered the ruins of a prince palace of 18th century, which
belonged to prince of Dizak.

Of a particular historic value is the note of 22 lines, which proves
the merit of one of the most powerful princes of Artsakh. And it is
also notable that the Dizak prince himself underlines in the note
that the Artsakh territory he reigned over is "his Armenia".

RUSSIA’S ROLE IN REGULATION OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT IS SO EFFICIENT AS IT IS DEMANDED: AMBASSADOR

Today.Az
tics/52897.html
June 5 2009
Azerbaijan

Russia’s role in the process of settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh is so efficient, as it demanded,
Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Vladimir Dorokhin said.

"Russia stands for peaceful settlement of the conflict. There
was a period when Moscow wanted to send its peacemakers to
Nagorno-Karabakh. The composition of international mediators on the
conflict has been formed and Russia has to reckon with it," Dorokhin
said at a meeting in the Azerbaijani President administration Strategic
Studies Centre on June 5.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed
forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan
and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are currently
holding the peace negotiations.

Russia cannot take the settlement of the conflict in its hands and
command," Dorokhin added.

According to him, Russia’s position is neither pro-Armenian
nor pro-Azerbaijani. "We want to reach fair settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," the ambassador said.

US CONGRESS MIGHT REMOVE SANCTIONS AGAINST AZERBAIJAN

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
05.06.2009 12:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe, a senior
member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Robert
Wexler and Co-Chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, member
of the House of Representatives Bill Shuster introduced legislation
that would repeal Jackson-Vanik trade restrictions on Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani embassy in Washington told APA’s US bureau about it. The
congressmen believe that Azerbaijan, which is a strategic security
and energy partner of the United States, has long met its obligations
to comply with freedom of emigration requirements and that Congress
should remove Jackson-Vanik requirements for Azerbaijan.

According to the 1974 Trade Act of the United States, the Jackson-Vanik
amendment denied most favored nation to certain countries with
non-market economies that restricted emigration rights.

"I strongly support repealing Jackson-Vanik for Azerbaijan, one of
America’s most important strategic allies in the Caucasus region,
which has met all obligations to comply with freedom of emigration
requirements and continues to ensure that these commitments are
fulfilled," Congressman Wexler said. "Passage of this legislation
would send a strong signal to Azerbaijan about American intention to
enhance relations and cooperation in a number of key areas, including
energy security, counter-terrorism cooperation and trade," APA cited
Wexler as saying.

AZERBAIJAN VIOLATES THE PROVISIONS OF THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS

armradio.am
04.06.2009 18:18

On May 31, at 2 p.m. recruits of the NKR Defense Army Ohan Harutyunyan
and Gevorg Tovmasyan voluntarily left the military unit and crossed
to the Azerbaijani side, Press Service of the Armenian Ministry of
Defense reports.

"Over the past days Azeri media have been disseminating information
about the captured soldiers, where the latter tell about the
deplorable situation and illegalities in the Armed Forces of the
Republic of Armenia.

Making use of the unstable psychological-moral condition of the
recruits and applying special means of influence, the special services
of Azerbaijan aim to raise the reputation of their own armed forces by
disseminating false information about the Armed Forces of the Republic
of Armenia and the Defense Army of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

Such tricks of the Azerbaijani propaganda once again prove
that Azerbaijan is trying to compete with the NKR Armed Forces,
which prevails with the level of military and moral-psychological
preparedness.

The international community has to address the above-mentioned
actions of Azerbaijan, since they violate the provision on defense
from the "public curiosity" envisaged by Article 13 of the Third
Geneva Convention and Article 27 of the Forth Convention," reads the
statement of the Ministry of Defense of the republic of Armenia.

HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN EXPRESSED CONDOLENCES TO HIS BRAZILIAN AND FRENCH COLLEAGES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
04.06.2009

/PanARMEN IAN.Net/ The Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia,
Hovik Abrahamyan, expressed his condolence to On behalf of the National
Assembly of Armenia and himself, Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan expressed
sympathy with the people and authorities of Brazil and France, as well
as the families and friends of the dead crewmembers and passengers.

LOW COMPETENCE AND STRONG COMPLEXES HAMPER SERZH SARGSYAN’S UNDERSTANDING OF OBJECTIVE REALITY

Today.Az
s/52826.html
June 3 2009
Azerbaijan

The world is witnessing a geopolitical process of transition from
globalization to localization, or the formation of local regions with
their leading powers.

This trend is clearly observed in a symptomatic statement of Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili, who, while being in Baku, stated
the actual creation of an informal confederation between Azerbaijan
and Georgia.

"It is obvious that Saakashvili was asked to voice this idea by
certain powers close Georgia", considers director of the Center for
Political Innovation and Technology Mubariz Ahmedoghlu, according
to Novosti-Azerbaijan.

Speaking Wednesday at a press conference, he said that owing to
circumstances, namely, the strong economy, rich energy resources,
population and territory, Azerbaijan is outstripping both Georgia
and Armenia, taken as a whole.

"Azerbaijan is an undoubted regional leader and not a single regional
issue can be settled without taking into account its opinion and
interests", said Ahmedoghlu.

According to the political scientist, this pattern is not yet
understood or accepted in Armenia.

"Serzh Sargsyan’s provincialism, low literacy level and personal
complexes hamper his understanding of this", announced he.

VLADIMIR KARMIRSHALIAN GIVEN DEGREE OF AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY OF RA

Noyan Tapan
June 3, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Under RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s
June 2 decree, Vladimir Karmirshalian was given a degree of Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Republic of Armenia to Argentina,
Chile, Uruguay. Noyan Tapan was informed about it by RA President’s
Press Office.

TURKEY DEFEATING CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLY BILL 961

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
04.06.2009 00:55 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ National and grassroots Turkish American associations
joined power to defeat California Assembly Bill 961, a proposed law
that sought to punish companies who did business in the Ottoman Empire
or do business in Turkey today. The bill was introduced by Armenian
Assemblyman Paul Krikorian and supported by nationalists Armenian
groups, TurkishNY reports.

On the front line were activists from ATAA component organizations,
the Turkish American Association of California (TAACA) and the
Association of Turkish Americans of S. California (ATASC). Ergun
Kirlikovali and Karahan Mete lead over 25 local Turkish Americans
to provide statements at the public hearings of the Business and
Professions and Judiciary Committees.

ATAA President Nurten Ural submitted a statement to the California
Assembly that A.B. 961 was an unconstitutional creation of foreign
policy and an unconstitutional interference against the private
sector. President Nurten stated: "A.B. 961 is nothing more than
Armenian ethnic politics to legislate Turkish history and a genocide
conviction against Turkey, and to vent that condemnation by punishing
companies, including but not limited to energy (e.g., BP, Shell,
Exxon), insurance (e.g., New York Life, AXA), and other sectors
(e.g., Nestle), who did business with the Ottoman Empire nearly one
hundred years ago and to prohibit them from doing business with the
State of California. A.B. 961 contravenes good history, good law,
and good social responsibility in business. A.B. 961 contradicts
federal foreign affairs efforts to support truth and reconciliation
between Turkey and Armenia."