Author: Antonian Lara

DISCREPANCY BETWEEN CANADA’S “FIRST DYNASTY MINES” COMPANY AND ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT
Today, Azerbaijan
Oct 31 2006
There is a discrepancy between Armenian Government and “First Dynasty
Mines” (FDM) Company of Canada extracting gold in Soyudlu gold deposit
in Kalbajar, the occupied Azerbaijan region.
Though in order to reduce transportation expenses FDM presented the
Armenian Government the project of gold extraction plant with little
oil percentage near Soyudlu deposit official Yerevan did not allow
the construction alleging to ecological norms.
Besides the Armenians working in the company were incited to hold
protest actions against the leadership. Because of the protest actions
500 Armenians working for FDM were dismissed, Arif Isgenderov the
chief of Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry Ecology and Nature
Protection Policy Department told the APA.
He said that Armenian press close to official authorities and Russian
press try to create a negative opinion about FDM. “Probably this
kind of actions serves to reconsider the agreement between FDM and
Armenian Government or to stop FDM activity. Analogous processes
happened between Armenian Government and Greek company Armentel.”
FDM invested US $22.1 mn in gold extraction in Nagorno Garabagh. The
company plans to invest US $12mn in Armenia’s gold extraction by the
end of next year. At the moment Armenian Government holds negotiations
with the World Bank International Finance Corporation and other foreign
banks with a view to make investments in the field o f gold extraction
in the occupied Azerbaijan territories. FDM has invested US $4 mn
in the geological explorations in Armenia and occupied Azerbaijan
territories. It is expected that the company plans to extract over
5 tons of gold and with the agreement of the Armenian Government to
make geological explorations in the 20 km round the deposit.
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NEW ORDER OF GETTING FREE PRIMARY MEDICAL ASSISTANCE AND SERVICE TO FUNCTION IN ARMENIA FROM 2007
Noyan Tapan
Oct 31 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 31, NOYAN TAPAN. Every citizen of Armenia may
get, within the framework of the state order, free primary medical
assistance and service guaranted by the state from any doctor working
at licensed medical institutions, who he will choose and at who he
will register according the fixed order.
Samvel Hovhannisian, the Chairman of the Armenian Association of
Family Doctors informed the Noyan Tapan correspondent about it. He
mentioned that according to the new order, if a citizen did not choose
the doctor of his place of settlement, but chose another doctor,
a form on his removal will be filled in. In S.Hovhannisian’s words,
it will give possibility to transfer the money allocated from the
state budget for the given person on the account of the medical
institution chosen by the citizen.

TBILISI TO HOST FESTIVAL OF DOCUMENTARIES
ArmRadio.am
31.10.2006 15:28
Early December festival of documentaries of South Caucasian countries
will be held in Tbilisi. The event is aimed to activate the cooperation
of cinematographers of the South Caucasus. Organizers of the festival
told “Trend” agency the films will focus on the following topics:
man against nature, the hero of our time, cultural complacency
and globalization. Directors aged 16-27 from Armenia, Georgia and
Azerbaijan can participate in the competition.
The subtitles must be in English or Russian. Professional education
is not compulsory. Authors of the three best films will be awarded
prizes worth 250, 150 and 100 Euros. A seminar dedicated to documentary
films will be held in the framework of the festival.

ACCORDING TO PRELIMINARY DATA, RUBEN HOVSEPYAN WAS ELECTED HEAD OF AJAPNYAK COMMUNITY
ArmRadio.am
30.10.2006 14:29
With 76% of the votes Ruben Hovsepyan was elected Head of Ajapnyak
community of Yerevan, President of the 6th Precinct Electoral
Commission Samvel Yeranyan declared, summing up the results of
self-government elections.
Let us remind that there were three candidates: Ruben Hovsepyan,
Gagik Sargsyan and Ishkhan Arshakyan.
“75 188 citizens in Ajapnyak community had franchise right. All in all
18 932 voters participated in the elections, 32 of which resumed their
voting right through court. The ballots were distributed as follows:
Ishkhan Arshakyan – 1 920 votes, Ruben Hovsepyan – 13 930 votes and
Gagik Sargsyan – 2 416 votes. Thus, with 76 percent of the ballots
Ruben Hovsepyan was elected head of community,” Samvel Yeranyan told
“Radiolur.”

‘U.S. GOVERNMENTS NEVER DESCRIBED THE EVENTS OF 1915 AS GENOCIDE’
By Selcuk Gultasli
Zaman, Turkey
Oct 21 2006
* US Urges France to Promote Discussion
The United States has expressed it views on the Armenian genocide
legislation criminalizing the denial of the issue, noting that it
did not make sense.
Washington, which has taken a firm stance against the regulation,
called on Paris “not to take sides but to promote the debate in Turkey
and the dialogue between Turkey and Armenia.”
Fried Meets Reporters
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Daniel Fried
spoke on Friday in Brussels to a small group of reporters, including
some from Zaman.
Asked by a Zaman, Turkish daily, reporter to assess the bill, he said
“this is a very intricate matter, and it deserves a comprehensive
answer.”
Noting that French President Jacques Chirac had sounded his concerns
about the bill, Fried said, “We believe those concerns to be right
ones,” and he emphasized that the U.S. governments never described
the events of 1915 as “genocide.”
“This doesn’t mean that we belittle or deny the mass killings that
took place in 1915. President Bush has always accentuated his grief
caused by the events” said Fried.
Fried emphasized that forbidding any discussion about the issue made
no sense and said “Every country has parts in its history that it
is not proud of. For instance, slavery, the maltreatment of American
Indians, and the gathering of Japanese-origin American citizens into
camps during World War II are such examples from my country.”
Fried also said that his country discusses all such subjects
transparently just the way it has to be in modern societies and Turkey
should be encouraged to do so as well.
Warning that “the French bill is not going to promote discussion,”
Fried uttered that the responsibility of other countries involved
were to foster the air of discussion in Turkey and the efforts for
dialogue between Turkey and Armenia.
Also calling on France “to promote dialogue instead of taking sides,”
he pointed out that the subject in Turkey was already being discussed
and Turkish intellectuals had started adopting different angles to
evaluate the events of 1915.
It was very unusual of Fried to call on both the Turkish and Armenian
side to look at the 1915 events “with pain but honestly.”
Also touching on the Cyprus matter, Fried said they hoped that a
train wreck would not occur between Turkey and the European Union
and considered it a positive development that none of the parties
had rejected the Finnish plan yet.
Praising the president of Turkish Cyprus Mehmet Ali Talat’s efforts
toward a solution, Fried never mentioned Tassos Papadopoulos, the
president of Greek Cyprus.

TURKEY AND ISLAMISM: THE DEBATE
ThreatsWatch.Org
Oct 23 2006
The primary rubbing point between the United States and Turkey right
now is not related to radical Islam. Quite the opposite – it is related
to the Marxist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish terrorist
group which has taken refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan. Yet as Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development
Party (known by its Turkish initials, the AKP) continue to dominate
Turkey’s political scene, there are rising concerns on both sides of
the Atlantic about the rise of Islamism in Turkey.
The two sides of this debate were on feature in two recent op-eds
in the Wall Street Journal. The first, Mr. Erdogan’s Turkey, Michael
Rubin, a Middle East scholar, argued that the AKP posed a threat to
Turkish democracy, and was slyly and slowly but steadily eroding the
country’s independent institutions. Rubin argues:
…Over the party’s four-year tenure, Mr. Erdogan has spoken of
democracy, tolerance and liberalism, but waged a slow and steady
assault on the system. He endorsed, for example, the dream of Turkey’s
secular elite to enter the European Union, but only to embrace
reforms diluting the checks and balances of military constitutional
enforcement…
The assault on the secular education system has been subtle but
effective. Traditionally, students had three choices: enroll at
religious academies (so-called Imam Hatips) and enter the clergy;
learn a trade at vocational schools; or matriculate at secular high
schools, attend university and pursue a career. Mr. Erdogan changed
the system: By equating Imam Hatip degrees with high-school degrees,
he enabled Islamist students to enter university and qualify for
government jobs without ever mastering Western fundamentals. He also
sought to bypass checks and balances. After the Higher Education
Board composed of university rectors rejected his demands to make
universities more welcoming of political Islam, the AKP-dominated
parliament proposed to establish 15 new universities. While Mr.
Erdogan told diplomats his goal was to promote education, Turkish
academics say the move would enable him to handpick rectors and swamp
the board with political henchmen…
Such tactics have become commonplace. At Mr. Erdogan’s insistence and
over the objections of many secularists, the AKP passed legislation
to lower the mandatory retirement age of technocrats. This could
mean replacement of nearly 4,000 out of 9,000 judges. Turks are
suspicious that the AKP seeks to curtail judicial independence. In
May 2005, AKP Parliamentary Speaker Bulent Arinc warned that the AKP
might abolish the constitutional court if its judges continued to
hamper its legislation. Mr. Erdogan’s refusal to implement Supreme
Court decisions levied against his government underline his contempt
for rule of law. Last May, in the heat of the AKP’s anti-judiciary
rhetoric, an Islamist lawyer protesting the head scarf ban shouted
“Allahu Akbar,” opened fire in the Supreme Court and murdered a
judge. Thousands attended his funeral, chanting pro-secular slogans.
Mr. Erdogan was absent from the ceremony.
There have been other subtle changes. Mr. Erdogan has replaced nearly
every member of the banking regulatory board with officials from the
Islamic banking sector. Accusations of Saudi capital subsidizing AKP
are rampant…
Rubin also takes aim at U.S. diplomacy, noting that U.S. Ambassador
Ross Wilson has publicly taken the side of the AKP against its secular
political opponents, describing domestic criticism of Erdogan’s
Islamist policies as “political cacophony.”
Matthew Kaminski, a member of the Journal’s editorial board, took the
opposite point of view (although without criticizing Rubin by name).
Writing in Turkish Tiger: Freedom Thrives Even Under an ‘Islamist’
Government, Kaminski argues:
…The recent troubling news here, from Kurdish terrorism to the rise
of political Islam and anti-Americanism to tensions with Europe, can’t
take away from Turkey’s economic renaissance. New and old industries
powered a 7% expansion in 2005, the fourth consecutive year that growth
approached double digits; this year, it’ll be around 5%. Inflation,
an old Turkish non-delight, is under control. Inside the European
Union’s free-trade area since 1996, Turkey has done especially well
with export-driven manufacturing. More than half of Europe’s television
sets are made here. Investors are taking notice; Citigroup last week
bought 20% of the third-largest bank for $3.1 billion. Though the
economic gap with Europe remains wide, Turks are spending their way
to bourgeois respectability, buying, in the past year, $3.5 billion in
imported cars. Consumer loans are up 120% in that time, housing 300%…
The good times have made for a richer civil society. Since the last
military-led regime in 1980-83, notes author Hugh Pope, 27 private
universities have been founded, mostly courtesy of tycoons like the
Koc and Sabanci families. Sabanci University’s art gallery last year
put on a popular Picasso exhibit, a first in Istanbul; Rodin followed
this summer. Associations and lobby groups are mushrooming; they are
giving voice to competing interests and providing counterweights to
the Islamists in charge, even as opposition parties remain weak.
Turkish democracy has never been stronger…
While Turkey continues “talks” with European governments about
entering the European Union, that prospect is all but dead. The
major governments remain in support, but across Europe the publics
are opposed, and their governments are starting to bend. Recently
the French parliament passed the first reading of a bill that would
make it a crime punishable by prison to deny that the Turks committed
genocide against the Armenians in the First World War. As this is in
fact denied by virtually all Turks, not simply the nationalists, many
very mainstream Turkish public figures would be inviting prosecution
by travel to France if the bill becomes law. While such a law would
serve no practical purpose for France, it would ensure that Turks
know they are not welcome.
No, the real issue is whether or not Turkey will maintain its
democratic institutions, or else make a U-turn toward history. There
is no need to assume a choice between extremes; there is a middle
ground in which Turkey could stay outside the EU, but maintain strong
economic, military and diplomatic ties with the West, and be a force
for peace and a non-threatening current of Islam. Yet that middle
ground cannot be assumed, either.
0/turkey-and-islamism-the-debate/

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Oct 20 2006
Meeting of Azeri and Armenian Defense Ministers Lasted for Hour
Source: Trend
Author: A.Ismaylova
20.10.2006
On October 20, the Defense Ministers of Azerbaijan Safar Abiyev and
Armenia Serj Sarkisyan met on the border of the two countries, the
Assistant of the Head of the Executive Power of Gazakh district of
Azerbaijan Tahir Musayev told Trend.
He stressed that the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian Defense
Ministers began at noon and lasted for nearly one hour. The meeting was
held in the neutral zone of Ijevan-Gazakh border. The details of the
meeting aren’t available yet, Musayev stressed. Look for the updates.

PRESIDENT GHUKASSIAN MET WITH ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER
Azat Artsakh, Reublic of Nagorno Karabakh
Oct 20 2006
AA
On October 15 NKR President Ghukassian met with the foreign minister
of Armenia Vardan Oskanian visiting Stepanakert. They discussed the
current stage of the process of settlement of the Karabakh conflict
and the prospect of a resolution. They also discussed the results
of the OSCE mission, which monitored the state of environment of the
areas along the Nagorno-Karabakh – Azerbaijani border.

GEORGIA . . . ON RUSSIA’S MIND
By Ariel Cohen
Washington Times, DC
Oct 19 2006
Amid great power fretting over North Korea’s nuclear test and
continuing Iranian truculence against the West, Russia escalated its
confrontation with the neighboring Georgia. The arrest of five Russian
alleged intelligence officers two weeks ago was a pretext for Moscow
to further escalate an already difficult relationship with Tbilisi,
now affecting the 1 million Georgian Diaspora in Russia.
Ethnic Georgians, including children, were loaded on cargo planes
and expelled from Russia, citing their illegal immigration status.
Prominent Georgian intellectuals, who are Russian citizens, are being
harassed by the tax police. Georgian businesses in Moscow are singled
out by law enforcement authorities. The handling of the crisis is
threatening Russia’s international standing as a responsible and
constructive great power.
Georgia may have overplayed its hand by arresting the military
intelligence officers, whom it accused of sabotage, and not just
expelling them quietly — an acceptable modus operandi in such cases.
In response, Moscow recalled its ambassador from Tbilisi, evacuated
diplomats and their families and halted issuing visas to Georgian
citizens. The Russian military forces stationed in Georgia have gone
on high alert. Russia cut air and railroad links, and blocked money
transfers from Georgians working in Russia, denying an important
source of income for many Georgian families.
Since Mikheil Saakashvili came to power in the Rose Revolution of
2003, anti-Russian statements by Georgian leaders, a relentless
push to evacuate Russian military bases (to which Russia has agreed
previously), an attempt to join NATO, and opposition to Russian
membership in the World Trade Organization, have caused the Putin
administration to embargo the two key imports from Georgia. These
are Borjomi mineral water and wine, much beloved in Russia.
It did not end there. In September, South Ossetian separatists, who
receive Russian military support, have fired on Georgian helicopter
carrying the defense minister. This was a provocation, which, if
successful, could have led to conflagration of hostilities in the
small secessionist territory that belongs to Georgia. However, Russia
made little secret of its desire to start a war in the Caucasus that
would lead to a regime change in Tbilisi.
There are regional and global reasons why Moscow is escalating the
crisis over Georgia: c? To begin with, this is not the first time
Russia is trying to stop NATO enlargement into the formerly Soviet
territory. In 1999, Russia fulminated against the Baltic States’ NATO
membership. But at that time, Russia was extricating itself from the
1998 economic crisis while a power struggle was afoot in Moscow to
succeed President Boris Yeltsin. As energy prices were much lower
in 1999, Western European countries supported the Baltic States’
NATO bid despite Russian protests. However, today, Western Europe is
increasingly energy-dependent on the Gazprom and so is taking Russian
foreign-policy positions much more seriously.
c? Second, the Kremlin is now buoyed by $250 billion in petrodollar
reserves. These funds buy a lot of hardware for the Trans-Caucasus
Military District and for pro-Russian separatists in Abkhazia and
South Ossetia.
c? Third, Russia is uneasy over the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export
pipeline, which takes Azeri oil to the Mediterranean markets, and
crosses Georgia but bypasses Russia. The Absheron-Erzurum gas pipeline
will be coming online, bringing Azeri gas to Turkey and Europe. Gazprom
is concerned that this gas pipeline may eventually allow export of
Turkmenistan and Kazakhstani gas to Europe, circumventing Russia’s
pipeline network.
If Georgia comes under the Russian sway, neighboring Azerbaijan
and Armenia will feel the full weight of Russian presence. Leading
foreign policy experts in Moscow believe Azerbaijan has not allocated
enough oil patches to Russian companies and facilitated oil exports
via Turkey instead of Russia, which may explain why Russia is leaning
on Georgia so much.
The Armenian opposition openly demands a more pro-Western and less
pro-Russian policy, noting close ties with Moscow did not improve
Armenia’s abysmal living standard and did not allow it to receive
international recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence.
A pro-Russian Georgia in the Collective Security Treaty Organization
of the Commonwealth of Independent States would permit Russia and
Iran to dominate Azerbaijan and Armenia, severely limiting the U.S.
policy options there. Furthermore, such a development would put to
rest U.S. ambitions in Central Asia and may cut off strategically
important Kazakhstan from Western energy markets.
Russia has warned repeatedly it will retaliate severely in case
Kosovo is granted independence against the will of Serbia, a
historic ally. Mr. Putin has called for imposition of the Kosovo
criteria on separatist enclaves in the former Soviet Union, including
Transnistria, which is a part of Moldova, Abkhazia, South Ossetia
and Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia would enforce a referendum in these
territories, and would recognize their independence, opening the door
to their eventual incorporation in the Russian Federation. Moreover,
such an approach would create dangerous precedents vis-a-vis the
Crimea, where a majority of the population is pro-Russian; for
Russian-speaking Eastern Ukraine; and even for predominantly Slavic
Northern Kazakhstan.
Violations and alternations of the existing borders of the former
Soviet Union may generate severe tensions in Europe and open the
Pandora’s box of territorial claims and ethnically based border
challenges there and elsewhere, for example in Iraq and Kurdistan.
The United States today is preoccupied with major crises, such as
Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea. Russia is a key player in all
these. Its true and real cooperation would be welcome, although so far
it is not sufficient. It is vital for the future of the U.S.-Russian
relations and for global security that Moscow behaves responsibly and
constructively. Quickly defusing the Georgian crisis via diplomacy
is a good place to start. Washington should encourage the European
powers, the European Union and Turkey to become more engaged in
diffusing the Georgian-Russian confrontation. It should also advise
Georgia not to escalate rhetoric and performance vis-a-vis Russia
unnecessarily. After all, a peaceful and prosperous Caucasus is in
the Russian, Georgian and American interests.
Ariel Cohen is senior research fellow in Russian and Eurasian studies
and international energy security at the Heritage Foundation.

FOREIGNERS TO GO THROUGH 8 INSTANCES TO RECEIVE PERMISSION FOR CLIMBING ARARAT
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.10.2006 13:37 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “The claims of the Armenian political and military
circles to the mountain of Ararat (formally named in Turkey as
Agry Dag) and hoisting of the Armenian flag on its top exasperated
the Turkish government”, reports AT news agency from Ankara. “As a
counteraction the administration of the Turkish Prime Minister, the
Ministry of Culture of Tourism and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Federation of Mountaineers
have signed a protocol urging foreign mountaineers to receive a
special permission for climbing Ararat. According to the protocol,
foreign mountaineers should appeal to all the above-mentioned instances
as well as to the governors of the provinces of Agra and Igdir. The
appeals will be considered; however permissions will not be granted
to people having no connection with sports. The document also limits
conduction of foreign scientific investigations on the mountain. It
should be noted that these rules do not refer to Turkish citizens,
reports IA Regnum.