Author: Badalian Vardan

IT IS THE TURN OF THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSION TO DEAL WITH "HUMAN FACTOR"
HAKOB BADALYAN

LRAGIR.AM
11:33:19 – 04/06/2009

Opening the topic on Andranik Kocharyan’s terribleness, the government
seems to have found a wonderful excuse to close the March 1 topic. It
was difficult to find some other "safe" way than to represent the
representative of the ombudsman Vahe Stepanyan, the representatives
of the coalition Robert Avagyan and Gevorg Tovmasyan as victims. If
the question is posed the way that the above-mentioned people should
be saved form Andranik Kocharyan, so, the public is probable not to
prefer to reveal the March 1 crimes at the cost of other victims. Ten
citizens have already been killed, one cannot return them into life
by exposing to danger the lives of Stepanyan, Avagyan and Tovmasyan.

In addition, Andranik Kocharyan seems to be a present for the
government, as the affirmations on his persecutions may seem real and
really dangerous to a tangible part of the society, because while in
power, Andranik Kocharyan did enough "work" to shape such an image
of himself. But the government, while appointing the members of the
fact-finding group, had to know him very well, because they were in the
same coalition with him before. Consequently, if the government had
the intention to make the work of the fact-finding group effective,
it needed its governmental members to be boxers or wrestlers or
shaved-headed, who would successfully resist Andranik Kocharyan.

After all, the government seemed not to need to appoint a lawyer in
the group, as the only problem of the government was to prove to the
opposition that there are no circumstances other than those, which
the pre-examination revealed. Of course, the government knows better
than anyone else that there are many other circumstances and their
revelation would be very unpleasant for the government. Therefore, they
had to appoint people who in reality would not be able to deal with
Andranik Kocharyan for at least 24 hours. But the present members had
to be awarded, as they managed to deal with him for a couple of months.

Before it, the question on the parliamentary commission to study
March 1 should be solved. If they are able to abolish this commission
"humanly" and to close this topic, this will be the only technological
victory of the government over the public. The point is that the
other victories nevertheless were by force, even if they contained
some technological ideas. It will be a bit difficult in case of
the parliamentary commission, since there is no Andranik Kocharyan
there. Consequently, they have to think a little more. But there
seems to be nothing to think about. After all, the members of the
commission are people.

And the question on the Europe, which as if demands to reveal the
March 1 crimes, is the easiest to be solved "humanly". The human
being is the axis of the European values, therefore, the Europeans
will let no one feel bad in Armenia in order to reveal the March
1 events, or the March 1 events be revealed if it is going to make
someone feel bad. Besides this, is there anyone naïve in Armenia,
who thinks that Europe is interested in the March 1 revelation.

ARMENIA’S EX-LEADER SEEKING JOB IN PHONE COMPANY

AzerNews Weekly
June 3 2009
Azerbaijan

Armenia`s former president, Robert Kocharian, is likely to begin a
new career working for a telecommunication company, Russian media
reported. He has been nominated to the Board of Directors of AFK
Sistema, a major Russian telephone company. A source from the company
has confirmed the report, saying 13 people have been nominated to
membership on the Board. The final make-up of the board will be
approved by shareholders on June 27.

Kocharian has been jobless since being succeeded as Armenian
president by Serzh Sarkisian. Some time ago it was reported that he
was considering a career with Russia`s gas giant, Gazprom.

STEPAN GRIGORYAN DOES NOT EXPECT A BREAKTHROUGH FROM TOMORROW’S MEETING OF PRESIDENTS
Alisa Gevorgyan

"Radiolur"
03.06.2009 15:57

"Armenia and Azerbaijan should start negotiating a peace treaty, it
will be one of the most important achievements of the negotiations
process for both parties," head of the Analytical Centre on
Globalization and Regional Cooperation Stepan Grigoryan told a press
conference today.

War, peace imposed by international forces or peace talks: these are
the three main ways of conflict resolution known to the civilized
world.

Political scientist Stepan Grigoryan considers that the last option
is the most suitable for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

The political scientist appreciates the fact that the negotiation
process between Armenia and Azerbaijan is finally resuming after a
long break.

"Of course, there were meetings, but there was no negotiation process
as such," he said.

Stepan Grigoryan is assured that it’s high time to lay greater emphasis
on the issues of Armenian refugees and involving Artsakh as a party
to the talks. As for tomorrow’s meeting of the Armenian and Azeri
leaders in Saint Petersburg, the political scientist does not expect
a breakthrough.

"Once again they will speak about the referendum and the right of
the Karabakhi people to self-determination. An attempt will be made
to convince the Armen ian side and present the advantages we will
have in case of opening of the Armenian-Turkish border. But I’m
sure that the position of the Armenian side will be very clear: the
Armenian-Turkish relations and economic issues should not be linked
to the Karabakh issue," Stepan Grigoryan said.

However, Stepan Grigoryan is assured that there will be no essential
changes after tomorrow’s meeting. "The parties will meet in a friendly
atmosphere and will get parted. Upon their return to Baku Azeris will
probably declare that the Armenian side started to understand them
but failed to be maximally constructive," he said.

DIAMOND AND JEWELRY EXCHANGE TO BE SET UP IN ARMENIA

/ARKA/
June 2, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, June 2. /ARKA/. A diamond and jewelry exchange is to be
set up in Armenia, head of trade and market efficiency department of
Armenian Ministry of Economy Gagik Kocharyan told a press conference at
"Novosti" International press center.

The exchange is to operate within a free trade zone to be established
at Zvartnots airport, he said.

Kocharyan said that both raw and cut diamonds, as well as jewelry
produced in Armenia, are to be sold on the exchange.

Creating of a diamond and jewelry exchange in Yerevan will give
Armenia an opportunity to play a serious role in the region, to
attract various world market participants to Armenia and to ensure
jewelry sales inside the country, Kocharyan said.

He also pointed out that implementation of this idea may require quite
much time as necessary raw materials base and respective infrastructure
need to be established.

"Armenia needs to get well prepared not to disappoint the market and
to provide a wide range of products in terms of kinds and quality to
ensure the respective permanent demand for the produce," Kocharyan
said.

The project will be implemented in close cooperation with the private
sector.

The necessity of creating a diamond exchange in the country was first
raised back in 2003 by representatives of jewelry sector as lack of
the exchange impeded t he activities of jewelry companies.

According to the market participants, the exchange could be formed
only through large financial investments that were impossible from
internal sources and were expected to be received from the Armenian
communities abroad.

SYRIAN FM: SYRIA STANDS FOR A FAIR SOLUTION OF THE KARABAKH PROBLEM

Today.Az
s/52769.html
June 2 2009
Azerbaijan

Syria supports the fair solution of the Karabakh problem, meeting
the interests of the parties, said Foreign Minister of Syria Walid
Muallem in Yerevan Tuesday.

"We believe it is necessary to find a political solution to the problem
through a direct dialogue. This solution must be fair and meet the
interest of Azerbaijanis and Armenians and lead to a settlement of
relations between the two neighboring countries", said Syrian Foreign
Minister at a press conference with his Armenian counterpart Edward
Nalbandyan.

"Attempts to find any decision contrary to the interests of two
peoples will further complicate the problems in the region and delay
the desired solution", said Muallem.

According to him, the parties must show courage and political will
to reach an equitable solution.

International observers keep silent, local once give controversial
assessments
31.05.2009 18:02

Lena Badeyan
`Radiolur’

All in all, 5 953 observers are following today’s elections for the
Yerevan City Council. They represent 29 local and one international
organization. The local `Choice Is yours’ NGO is represented by 900
observers.

The elections are being observed by just one international
organization ` the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the
Council of Europe, represented by 15 observers. This is the case,
despite the fact that the same international organizations attach
great importance to the process of formation of the fist City Council
of Yerevan.

Representatives of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
visit different polling stations over the day, trying not to ignore
any precinct. What have the observers registered today? They usually
don’t speak on the election day, they only watch and refrain from
assessments, noting that they will present the preliminary results at
a press conference on June 1st.

Other international organizations are following the elections at
distance. For example, Director of the Europe Department of the
Freedom House Vladimir Shkolnikov declared that `the elections of May
31 are an opportunity to regain trust and this opportunity should not
be missed.’

The Millennium Challenge Corporation is also watching the ele ctions
to see whether the state of democratic governance has improved in the
country.

Unlike the foreign colleagues, the local observers say a little more
today. President of the `Free Society Institute’ Edgar Hakobyan has
been at polling station #9/10 since morning. `No violations, no
emergency situations have been registered,’ he told `Radiolur.’ `The
voting is very civilized, the turnout is very high,’ Edgar Hakobyan
said.

President of the Transparency International Amalia Kostanyan gave a
quite different assessment of the voting process. She said the
observers of the organization had been working at polling station #8.
Without extra comments Amalia Kostanyan said that what was happening
there was shameful. The Transparency International is going to present
a complete report tomorrow.

Observers usually start publicizing their conclusions the day
following the poll. At least one week is needed for final conclusion.

MONTH-LONG CELEBRATION OF ARMENIAN CULTURE AT NEW BRITAIN PUBLIC LIBRARY

Noyan Tapan
May 29, 2009

NEW BRITAIN, MAY 29, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The New Britain
Public Library held a month-long celebration of Armenian culture,
and traditional Armenian folk and fairy tales were presented during
the celebration events.

Amy Litke, head of the children’s department noted that some of the
fairy tales have themes similar to American stories.

The library’s "World of Words" program also includes other
Armenian-themed events. Pat Watson, the library’s assistant head
of adult services noted that within the framework of the program
they each year hold an event dedicated to some country’s culture,
literature and history. They usually select such country which is
the homeland of other nations living in New Britain.

On May 27 Armenian poetry was presented bilingually, in Armenian and
in English, and on May 30 Armenian national music will be featured
and national delicacy will be served.

IRAN: LAWYERS SEEK REVERSAL IN SECOND "U.S. SPY" CASE
Omid Memarian

Inter Press Service

May 26 2009

SAN FRANCISCO, May 26 (IPS) – In a case that human rights activists
say echoes that of recently released journalist Roxana Saberi, the
Iranian government has imprisoned a woman employed by a U.S.-based
non-profit organisation working to improve child and maternal health
in the country, alleging that she acted as a spy for the United States.

Silva Haratounian, an Iranian citizen of Armenian descent, held a
modest position with the International Research & Exchanges Board
(IREX), which focuses on international education, academic research,
professional training and technical assistance.

Her work and life were interrupted on Jun. 26, 2008 when she was
detained by Iranian authorities and charged with participating in
an effort to overthrow the Iranian government through a "velvet
revolution." On Jan. 19, 2009, she was sentenced to three years
in jail.

"Haratounian is completely innocent and has not committed any
crime," Abdolfattah Soltani, a human rights lawyer in Tehran who is
representing Haratounian, told IPS.

"She told me she had lost 11 kilogrammes in one month," he
said. "Though she has not been physically hurt, she has had to endure
a lot of psychological hardship."

On May 11, a three-judge panel announced that the revolutionary court
that convicted Roxana Saberi, an American Iranian journalist who was
held in Tehran’s Evin prison for more than three months, had charged
her under the wrong section of Iran’s criminal code.

Saberi was initially sentenced to eight years in prison after being
convicted of "cooperating with a hostile state", but the appeals court
overturned that verdict on the grounds that Iran and the United States
cannot be described as states that are hostile to each other in the
legal sense of being at war.

Haratounian was sentenced under the same section of Iran’s penal code,
making her family and lawyers hopeful that an appeals court could
overturn the verdict.

"I believe suspects such as Roxana Saberi and Silva Haratounian
and people in other similar cases have not committed any crimes,
rather, these are cases which have been reviewed with a very harsh,
personal, and unique approach of certain judges and some intelligence
operatives based on their interpretation of the laws," said Soltani
in a telephone interview.

Soltani said that many defendants are perfectly willing to be tried
in a public court, "So why don’t they do it? If [prosecutors] have
evidence, why would they cut the suspects off from the outside world
during early interrogation stages, preventing their contact with their
attorneys? Why don’t they let them contact their families? Why are
they isolated and forced to accept whatever the interrogators want
them to accept?"

In December 2007, Haratounian responded to a newspaper advertisement
and was hired as an administrative assistant, working for IREX on a
maternal and child health education exchange programme.

A few days after Saberi’s release earlier this month, Haratounian’s
mother, Nvart Moradkhan, told IPS by telephone, "This is good news
for Silva, right? The two cases are similar, and we should hear some
positive news about Silva soon."

Haratounian’s ailing mother is the only person who can visit her
weekly. "Her health is deteriorating," said Moradkhan. "She has lost
so much weight. Her hair is all gray, she looks very old. She is very
depressed. She has a lot of health problems, [including an] ulcer,
and had asked the attorney to ask for doctors."

"Silva Haratounian is an innocent victim of the Intelligence Ministry’s
obsession with finding American spies," Hadi Ghaemi, coordinator of
the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a New York-based
group, told IPS.

"She was simply an administrator for an American NGO doing a project
in Iran and the Iranian government was aware of its activities. She
was unfairly prosecuted based on the same indictment that Roxana
Saberi received an eight-year sentence for originally, and then the
appeals court threw out that indictment."

"Standards of justice need to be consistent in Iran and if Saberi’s
appeals court ruled the U.S. is not an ‘enemy government’ then
Haratounian should be released too because her conviction is based
on the same article of the law," Ghaemi said.

Paige Alexander, vice president of IREX, told IPS that the government
has thus far failed to respond to letter sent by the organisation
appealing for Haratounian’s release.

"We have coordinated with a number of different lawyers on this case
and we have been working tirelessly to bring attention to Silva’s
plight through the formulation of the website,
press outreach and other public and private religious and diplomatic
efforts," Alexander said.

"Having had IREX attend meetings in Iran at the government’s request
before, we believed that this modest programme was a proper vehicle
to start reaching out to Iran in a non-controversial way," she noted.

"IREX never imagined that anyone could construe this programme to
be inconsistent with any interest of the Iranian government and
since the purpose of the programme was to have Iranian and American
participants enhance their knowledge of best practices in this field,
IREX believed this was completely consistent with Iran’s national
interest," she said.

In July 2008, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had declared
that "contacts between Iranians and the American people will be a
useful step for better understanding of the two nations," according
to the Islamic Republic News Agency.

"IREX attempted to model the MCHEEP programme on other programmes
which we believed had been sanctioned by the Iranian government,"
explained Alexander.

Haratounian’s attorneys are now in the last phase of her appeal.

"I am hopeful Silva Haratounian’s three-year jail term will be reversed
in a trial with educated and experienced judges," Soltani said.

ARMENIAN-AZERI FILMS SERIES – "FAREWELL TO ARMS: FROM BELFAST TO BALKANS"

Panorama.am
18:07 26/05/2009

"Farewell to Arms: From Belfast to Balkans" film series presentation by
"Internews" NGO took place today. The films are produced in the frames
of "World of Conflicts" project. Nune Sargsyan the president of the NGO
told that the films have joint Armenian-Azeri production. Six films
are included covering various European conflicts and the mechanisms
to overcome them.

"Between pain and hope" film tells about Bosnia, "At the edge of
trust" is about Northern Ireland, "Undeparted island" tells about
Cyprus conflict, "Islands of success" film is about Alands’ conflict,
etc. N. Sargsyan said that Armenian and Azeri colleagues took part
in the production of the films.

ICG: OPTIMISM ABOUT NORMALIZATION OF TURKEY-ARMENIA RELATIONS FADED

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
26.05.2009 11:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Optimism about the normalization of Turkey-Armenia
bilateral relations, so prevalent on 22 April when the two countries
announced that they had agreed on a comprehensive framework for
reconciliation, has suddenly faded, Sabine Freizer, Caucasus
project director of the International Crisis Group wrote in "The
EU-Turkey-Cyprus Triangle: "Time for Turkey to Be Visionary in
S. Caucasus" article in Greek News Online.

The article goes on: "Normalization would include opening of the
Turkey-Armenia border, establishing diplomatic relations, and setting
up of bilateral commissions to deal with multiple issues, including
the historical dimension of their relations. It first seemed that
these steps could be accomplished by Autumn 2009. Now they may be
delayed for years.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan put a brake on the reconciliation
effort when in Baku on 13 May, he did not mince his words: "the
closure of the [Turkey-Armenia] border is a result of the [Armenian]
occupation in Karabakh […] until the occupation ends, the border
gates will remain closed."

Since 1993, Turkey has maintained a policy of keeping its border
with Armenia closed until Armenian forces withdraw largely due to
its wish to express its respect for historical and ethnic ties with
Azerbaijan. The closed-border policy had no impact on Armenia’s
Nagorno-Karabakh stance, and arguably made Armenia less likely
to withdraw in exchange for peace; Turkey’s threatening posture
did however cost it considerable political capital in the U.S. and
Europe. But in 2008, after several years of secretive talks between
Turkey and Armenia, it seemed as though Ankara had foresightedly
de-linked its relations with Armenia from the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. Turkey appeared ready to re-open its border with Armenia as
part of a broader normalization package with its immediate neighbor –
in exchange for Yerevan’s recognition of Turkey’s current borders and
participation in a commission to analyze their historical differences,
including about the great massacre of Ottoman Armenians of 1915.

This visionary policy shift not only had the potential to help resolve
one of the most strained relationships between two European countries
since World War I but also to open new transport and communication
links in the strategic South Caucasus. It was backed by Russia,
and even more strongly by U.S. President Obama during his visit to
Turkey in March.

For Turkey, breaking with its former tried and failed policy,
normalizing with Armenia offers an opportunity to become a strategic
player in the South Caucasus. It has had success in establishing
discussions through a Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform,
but it will have difficulty promoting and leading this as long as
it blockades one of the countries that participates. It wants to
cooperate as equal partners with Russia in the South Caucasus, in
political and economic spheres, but it will be limited unless it is
seen as even handed.

Russia, which has signed a collective security arrangement with
Armenia, has understood this over the past several months and
repeated its overtures to Azerbaijan in a host of fields. Turkey is
interested in supporting the ongoing OSCE Minsk Process to resolve
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but it cannot be a neutral broker
while it openly supports one of the conflicting sides. Finally an
open Turkey-Armenia border is likely to have the immediate effect
of ending Armenian perceptions of encirclement by hostile Turkic
peoples, and making them more likely to withdraw from territories
around Nagorno-Karabakh now retained as security guarantees. These
are the messages that Turkey’s leaders should be sending to their
Azerbaijani counterparts, rather than nationalist pledges to remain
"one nation in two states."

Instead, Turkey seems on the verge of giving up these benefits,
halting the momentum towards reconciliation and returning to its
traditional positions. This strengthens arguments that it only
used the promise of normalization in its talks with Armenia to
delay U.S. genocide recognition, especially by President Obama,
on 24 April. But Turkey should not allow its Armenia policy to be
held hostage to the Nagorno-Karabakh stalemate or to Azerbaijani
blackmail. Baku is now threatening to sell natural gas from its
still-to-be-developed Shahdeniz 2 field to Russia, instead of Turkey,
but it is likely to do this regardless of Turkey’s relations with
Armenia, if Russia offers it a better pricing and transit deal.

There is no doubt that progress on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict would enhance Turkey’s ability to normalize relations with
Armenia and stability in the South Caucasus. But Ankara’s best chance
of bringing a new positive momentum to the process is precisely by
normalizing with Armenia. It is quite wrong in believing that with
its traditional policy it can have any impact on the talks mediated
since 1992 by the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its French, Russian and
U.S. co-chairs, and more specifically since 2005 with the aim of
obtaining agreement on a 2-3 page document on basic principles.

Regarding Nagorno-Karabakh, the best that can be expected any time
this year is agreement on these basic principles, and the mediators
sound optimistic about a possible breakthrough. Another meeting of the
Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents is expected in Saint Petersburg
around 4-6 June. But there is a long-running stalemate over several
issues, including the modalities of a plan to hold a referendum to
determine Nagorno-Karabakh’s final status and the status and size
of a possible corridor linking Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia in the
Lachin district. Once an agreement on basic principles is signed,
lengthy and difficult talks await the sides to reach a comprehensive
settlement leading to the start of actual withdrawals.

If Turkey plans to wait until this occurs, it will remain on the
sidelines for many years to come in the South Caucasus, allowing
the U.S., EU and especially Russia to maintain the lead in its own
backyard."