Author: Antonian Lara

STATEMENTS ABOUT "GENOCIDE OF MOUNTAIN JEWS" AIMED TO UNDERMINE FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN JEWS AND ARMENIANS

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.10.2008 15:42 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Despite the bitter lesson of the South Ossetian
and Abkhazian conflicts and neglecting Turkey’s stability pact,
Azerbaijan continues to poison its public with disinformation,
head of the institute of national and strategic studies at the RA
Defense Ministry, major general Hayk Kotanjyan said when commenting on
Azeri media reports that the Knesset intends to form a commission to
investigate "the genocide of Mountain Jews" perpetrated in early 20th
century in the territory of present-day Azerbaijan, the RA Defense
Minister’s spokesman, col. Seyran Shahsuvaryan told PanARMENIAN.Net.

"Specialists know that the so-called "genocide of Mountain Jews
perpetrated by Armenians" is a pure invention being imposed on Israeli
public and Diaspora by Azeri propaganda machine throughout the globe,"
Dr Kotanjyan said, and added, "These actions are aimed to undermine
the centuries-old friendship between Jews and Armenians, the nations
which survived Genocide and Holocaust and managed to restore their
statehood".

"One thing is clear: this falsification is immoral. It’s nothing
but offence to the memory of Armenians slaughtered by gangs of
Caucasian Tatars in habitations of Armenians and Mountain Jews. Now,
the remains of those Armenians are presented as the remains of Jews
killed by Armenians. Actually, the matter concerns the gangs which
killed several thousands of Russian soldiers and officers going back
home from the Caucasus front during that period," he said.

THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW TRADITION
ARMEN TSATURYAN

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
04 Oct 2008
Armenia

The President’s Messages To Be Regular

In the person of Serge Sargsyan’s message of October 2 we deal with a
whole complex of conceptual approaches, which need separate study.

To clarify the main principle of the new government’s approaches, in
the beginning of his speech the President introduced the conceptual
guidelines of his policy, which he summarized with the new commentaries
given to the three categories of the political sciences ”stable”,
”realistic”, and ”balanced”.

From now on political categories will not be observed in our reality as
absolute values, because as the President underscored: ”we must uproot
any possibility of crises in any sphere.” Which means at the moment
the country is ready to pass on to stable-dynamic regime, which
necessarily demands new approaches towards the mistakes of the ruling
power and the realistic decisions taken by them.

By reminding us of the famous truth saying that ”the authorities that
do nothing never make mistakes” the President underscored that, very
often, when we go beyond the limits of realism we make the limits of
this realism greater.

So, in fact the authorities intend to implement a creative, dynamic and
flexible policy, which necessarily presumes wider involvement of the
public and the political forces in the discussion of fatal issue
s.

By advancing this new principle the President pointed out those
problems faced by the country regarding which really pragmatic
discussions will start in the form of the messages delivered by the
president and the proposals made by the political forces and the
public. Serge Sargsyan says all the before mentioned is summed up in
`About Us and the World’, `About Us and Our Economy’, `About Us and Our
Course of Action’, `About Us and Our Society’, `About Us and Our
Problems’ and finally `About Us and Our Future”.

By opening all the brackets of those, for the present, conditional
problems Serge Sargsyan introduced the internal and external problems
faced by the country.

First: when estimating the country’s external-political sphere, based
on the new challenges, including the arms race, which continues in the
region and the absence of Peace agreement between NKR and Azerbaijan
the President came to the conclusion that the fact that Karabakh war is
not over should become a matter of concern for all of us and we should
all become more sensible.

This fact over again demonstrates how primitive are the conclusions of
the external and internal critics who expect concessions from Armenia’s
new authorities.

By summarizing the second point of the message ` `About Us and Our
Economy’ the President came to a conclusion that=2
0the period of the
implementation of super-programs has come for Armenia. From which he
separated the construction of the new nuclear station, Armenia-Iran
railway and the establishment of the Pan-Armenian Bank.

This fact demonstrates that in the near future our country will be able
to solve the issues of the modernization of its economy and raising the
blockade.

Third: In the point: `About Us and Our Course of Action’ Serge Sargsyan
introduced the new methodology of the collective discussion and the
adoption of the future goals, which will be the guideline of the new
government. It previews raising the role of the National Assembly,
political parties and the Security Council, and the involvement of the
society in those processes by means of the Public Council.

In the fourth point of the message ` `About Us and Our Problems’ the
President brought the attention of those present on the vital issue of
discussing the budget of 2013.

The proposal made by the President in the fifth point about changing
the quality of social relations and avoiding the competition that has
been rooted in our reality was rather noteworthy.

In the last point of his message ` `About Us and Our Future’ the
President spoke about the very important issue of overcoming the `wrong
dreams’ by which the coming generations are living. He said our work
would be senseless if the20`hero’ of Armenian children will be not the
one who won in the Olympic games but the one who has an expensive car.

Thus by his first message the President enumerated all the challenges
faced by our country and the concrete recipes to overcome all of them.

The concept of the message displays that the country’s leadership
really intends to make the whole society active, in order to solve all
the external and internal challenges. In such circumstances the
formation of our political culture will be based on the principle of
shouldering joint responsibility for any decision.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Nalbandian: EP important link between Armenia and European family
04.10.2008 17:18 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met
Friday with delegation of the European Parliament lead by Pawel
Bartlomiej Piskorski, member of the European Parliament’s Group of the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe to discuss the
Armenia-EU cooperation and ENP Action Plan implementation as well as
the recent developments in the region, the RA MFA press office told
PanARMENIAN.Net.

By the guests’ request, Minister Nalbandian also briefed on the
current stage of the Nagorno Karabakh settlement talks.

SERZH SARKISSIAN: "MURON IS A MIGHTY WEAPON"

A1+
[02:06 pm] 03 October, 2008

On October 3 Serzh Sakissian hosted the Catholicos of All Armenians
Karekin II, members of the Episcopate of the Armenian Apostolic Church
and secular members of the Supreme Religious Council.

Addressing senior clergymen, Serzh Sarkissian said: "I’m glad to
welcome you at the President’s Office just a few days after the
blessing of the Holy Muron." According to the President, Muron is a
mighty weapon and the ceremony most correctly symbolised the idea
of unity and collectiveness, the defending role of the church for
people. According to the Armenian President, having been deprived of
statehood for a thousand years, the church has always supported our
people and has guided us to the 21st century. "As a state, we have a
duty to return to the church for it to strengthen and lead our people
forward," said Serzh Sarkissian and noted that the state is always
ready to support the church.

The Catholicos welcomed the constant attention of the state towards
the church. He assessed as encouraging and inspiring the attitude
the Armenian Church and the Dioceses get during every visit of the
President. His Holiness Karekin II noted that the church backs all
the programmes of the President, which are targeted at the progress
and development of the country.

The interlocutors attached importance to the establishment of the
Ministry of Diaspora, which will provide an opportunity to address
the Diaspora issues more seriously.

President Sarkissian gave clarifications regarding the recent events,
particularly the Georgian-Ossetian and Armenian-Turkish relations.

OMBUDSMAN: "AUTHORITIES SHOULD BE ALERTED TO REPEAT NORD AVENUE EXPERIENCE"

Panorama.am
14:19 03/10/2008

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia Armen Harutyunyan has made a study
which revealed out that the electronic mass media of Armenia do not
provide people with pluralism. Moreover, the Ombudsman announced that
the "law on TV/radio" adopted by the National Assembly is a regress.

Remind that according to the current law, no tender would be announced
till 2010. "In fact it opposes to the decision made by the European
Court in respect of A1+ case," said the Ombudsman.

Talking about the problems of property that people always seem to have,
the Ombudsman said that 45 people from Lalaiants street applied to
him who have problems with property management in the aftermath of
Nord Avenue construction.

"The reality shows that the adoption of a law does not contribute to
the protection of people’s right to property," said the Ombudsman.

ROBERT KOCHARYAN: IF I DECIDE TO COME BACK TO BIG POLITICS, I WILL NOTIFY ABOUT IT BY MYSELF

ArmInfo
2008-09-29 12:12:00

ArmInfo. ‘If I decide to come back to the big politics, I will notify
about it by myself>, ex-President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan told
journalists today during opening of Saralanj main road in the center
of Yerevan.

‘ have not yet got tired of the freedom I have now. Public work is,
first of all, a daily and tireless work and I have yet no desire to
com back to this.

If I wish again and make a relevant decision, the public will
hear about it from me and not from someone else’, the ex-president
emphasized.

TURKISH NET CLOSURES SPARK DOUBT OVER FREEDOMS
Thomas Grove

Reuters
Globe and Mail
September 24, 2008 at 5:26 PM EDT
Canada

ISTANBUL — A Turkish court decision to ban the website of a renowned
British atheist academic has stirred fresh doubts about the European
Union candidate’s commitment to freedom of speech.

Approximately 850 Internet websites, including Youtube, have been
blocked this year in Turkey, the number swollen by recent laws making
it possible to block sites without a court order.

"When you look at Internet regulation Turkey looks to be in the same
league as Tunisia or North Korea, and that doesn’t bode well for EU
requirements," said Cengiz Aktar, professor at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir
University.

"The Internet is one of the most instrumental means of spreading
information, it is an unprecedented instrument, and forbidding the
internet is forbidding freedom of speech," he said.

The website of Oxford professor and evolutionist Richard Dawkins
was banned in Turkey earlier this month after the Muslim country’s
leading creationist advocate, Adnan Oktar, said he had found slanders
of himself there.

The website currently carries in its masthead a picture of the Turkish
flag and the heading "Banned in Turkey."

Turkey’s AK Party government, which has roots in political Islam but
also embraces centre-right and nationalist groupings, says it has
broadened the scope of public debate since taking power in 2002. But
curbs on websites and a dispute with the country’s leading publishing
group have raised concerns.

Turkey is hoping to start this year two new chapters of EU reform work,
which deal with media and society, and analysts say Europe will not
be pleased with Turkish Internet regulations.

The majority of sites in Turkey closed by court order are due to
allegations sites encourage suicide, contain libel, child pornography,
help users access drugs or promote prostitution.

But Internet websites, including Youtube, have also been closed
for insulting Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey,
or for touching on the concept of Turkishness, a sensitive issue in
the deeply nationalist-minded country.

Internet regulations have been tightened even further recently with
a law that was passed in May, giving permission to the country’s
Telecommunications Directorate to close down websites based on
complaints by individual users.

"All you have to do is give the name of the Internet site, give
some information about the Internet site about why you think the
site is illegal," said Ceren Unal, assistant professor of law at
Bilkent University.

"If they [Telecommunications Directorate] take your complaint into
consideration and they usually do, the site will be closed down."

The ease with which Internet sites have been closed has rattled free
speech advocates in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country but with
a secular constitution.

"It’s like finding two pages in a book illegal and reacting by closing
down the entire library," said Mustafa Akgul, an internet expert at
Bilkent University.

"It’s not only about becoming part of the European Union, about
becoming a democracy. It’s about joining the rest of the world."

The European Union has long criticized free-speech rights in Turkey
since the days of article 301, which punished writers for "insulting
Turkishness."

Under pressure from the EU, the article was changed replacing
"Turkishness" with "the Turkish nation." But critics say the vagueness
of the term can still lead to arbitrary prosecution.

The article was used to prosecute Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk
and Turkish ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was killed by
an ultranationalist.

In protest at the court banning internet websites, some 500 internet
sites closed themselves earlier this summer.

Across the page was written in bold red lettering: "Access to this
Internet site has been blocked on our own decision," mocking the
statement that comes up on Youtube in Turkey, "blocked by court
decision."

One of the largest on-line Turkish-English dictionaries Zargan
participated in the protest.

"I was personally very disturbed by the arbitrary decisions. especially
the fact that no explanation is given. Censorship must be clear and
should not be politically guided," said Orhan Bilgin, founding member
of Zargan.

Closing Internet sites has led to a proliferation of proxy websites
that contain the same content as a banned site, but on a different
web address.

Proxies for Youtube number in the dozens and similar proxies exist
for other banned websites.

"In the end this might be good for Turkey, we’re becoming incredible
savvy about getting around these bans," said Mr. Bilgin.

LATVIA WILLING TO ASSIST ARMENIA ON ITS PATH OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

armradio.am
25.09.2008 15:38

In New York RA President Serzh Sargsyan met with his Latvian
counterpart Valdis Zatlers. The two Presidents appreciated the current
level of relations between Armenia and Latvia. Serzh Sargsyan and
Valdis Zatlers attached importance to the cooperation within the
framework of the EU New Neighborhood Policy. President Sargsyan
said Latvia’s experience of European integration could be useful for
Armenia. For his part, Valdis Zatlers expressed willingness to assist
Armenia in that direction.

The Armenian and Latvian Presidents underlined the importance of
direct flights between the capitals of the two countries.

During the meeting reference was made to a number of regional issues,
Valdis Zatlers invited the Armenian President to visit Riga.

ARMENIA TO ATTEND BSEC FOREIGN MINISTERS MEETING IN NEW YORK

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.09.2008 14:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Member
States of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
(BSEC) will meet in New York on 25 September 2008. The meeting will
be an informal one. It will take place on the sidelines of the 63rd
Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

H.E. Mr. Lulzim BASHA, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the
Republic of Albania, will chair the meeting in his capacity as the
Chairman-in-Office of BSEC. It has become customary practice for the
BSEC Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs to convene in an informal
format every year in New York during the period of the general debate
of the UN General Assembly.

As a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter was told in the RA MFA press office,
Armenia will also be represented at the meeting.

DIRECTOR OF ‘ENTERPRISES INCUBATOR FOUNDATION’: TAXATION OF PHILANTHROPY PARTLY IMPEDES COMPUTERIZATION OF SCHOOLS

Arminfo
2008-09-23 17:37:00

ArmInfo. Taxation of philanthropy partly impedes computerization
of schools, Director of the "Enterprises Incubator Foundation"
Bagrat Yengibaryan told ArmInfo commenting on the issue of taxation
of non-repayable transfer of computers. ‘According to the current
legislation of Armenia, philanthropy, strange to say, relates to the
category of transactions with property, i.e.

it is imposed VAT. So, if any company intends to present computers
to a school or kindergarten, it will have to pay 20% of their cost’, B.

Yengibaryan explained. He thinks that the number of philanthropists
will much reduce under such conditions as 20% VAT payment may
reach considerable amounts, especially subject to great batches of
computers. As a result, the computers and component parts remain in
storages without use. ‘It does not mean that the enterprises want to
get rid of the old equipment under pretence of philanthropy. You see,
‘outdated’ is a relative term. The computers on Pentium IV processors
are outdated for IT- companies, however, they come in useful for
schools’, B. Yengibaryan said.

B. Yengibaryan also said that the number of computers ‘under
philanthropy’ becomes more and more with the time as the period of
amortization of computers at the enterprises in Armenia presently
makes up a year, after which its value on the balance account reduces
to zero. ‘A collateral effect occurs: if one has to get rid of the
old computer in a year, it has become necessary to utilize such a
great number of equipment. This issue should also be solved by joint
efforts of our branch, the Ecology Ministry and independent experts’,
B. Yengibaryan said.