MIKAEL HARUTYUNYAN TO PARTICIPATE IN MEETING OF CIS DEFENSE MINISTERS
PanARMENIAN.Net
18.06.2007 14:51 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Delegation of the Armenian Defense Ministry led by
Mikael Harutyunyan will depart for Moscow May 20. RA Defense Minister’s
Spokesman, col. Seyran Shahsuvaryan told PanARMENIAN.Net that the
delegation will take part in the meeting of CIS Defense Ministers.
A BOMB BLAST IN DIARBEKIR
AZG Armenian Daily
19/06/2007
57 soldiers’ murders and various terror attacks were recorded in
Turkey in recent 6 month as a result of PKK activities.
6 people (an officer and 5 citizens) were wounded in a bomb blast in
Diarbekir on June 15. The bomb, which was installed near a bus stop,
exploded when a military car was passing by.
The previous day Kemalist Ideology Union’s Diarbekir branch
accused Masud Barzani, a member of Kurdish regime in North Iraq,
of contributing terror and brought an action against him demanding
to freeze his and his family members’ stocks and confiscate their
real estate in Turkey.
NO SERIOUS PROGRESS EXPECTED ON KARABAGH ISSUE IN NEAR FUTURE
Yerkir.am
June 15, 2007
Kiro Manoyan, the director of the ARF Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political
Affairs Office, says the last talks on Karabagh settlement showed
that no serious progress will be achieved in the negotiations for at
least some time. This can be explained by political developments.
"Negotiations show that the mediators’ optimism is not very
realistic because Azerbaijan has a tendency of stepping back from
arrangements achieve during the negotiations," Kiro Manoyan said
during the discussion of the Karabagh issue with ex-Prime Minister
Hrant Bagratian in "Hayeli" (Mirror) Club. Manoyan added that the
international community is not very interested in the Artsakh issue
because it has many other things to do: much more attention will
be paid to the presidential elections in USA in November. The last
meeting of the two presidents also shows that no fast solution is
possible. This is why we should use the time to concentrate on issues
we did not pay enough attention to.
Manoyan stressed the issue of repopulation of the territories
through a government-funded program, changing the format of the
negotiations. After the presidential elections in Armenia and
Azerbaijan there will be no point in starting the talks from scratch.
It should be made clear for Azerbaijan that if it does not use
this opportunity it will appear in a new situation whereby direct
negotiations with Nagorno Karabagh will be necessary. Presidential
elections will be held in Karabagh and the new Karabagh president
might raise the issue of direct participation in the negotiations.
"This process cannot go on forever. It is clear for us that first of
all the issue of Nagorno Karabagh’s status must be clarified. All other
issues are secondary," Manoyan said. The logic of the negotiations
is to finalize the issue of the status without clarifying the issue
on the liberated territories.
Hrant Bagratian believes the situation is getting worse. The
step-by-step option was discussed in 1997, it is still on the
table today. However, in 1997 the issue was about the return of 5
territories, meanwhile, today it is about the return of 7 territories.
Kiro Manoyan objected to Bagratian’s position noting that the principle
of self-determination of the Nagorno Karabagh people that is accepted
today through the negotiations was not accepted in 1997.
Commenting on the issue of repopulation of the liberated territories
Manoyan reminded that back in 2003 the ARF tried to repopulate these
territories with government funding and pan-Armenian assistance.
An agreement was reached among representatives of the Church, national
parties and charity organizations whereby they were planning to meet
in Echmiadzin to sign a cooperation agreement. However, this did
not take place due to some reasons. Manoyan still believes serious
measures must be undertaken in this direction.
International organizations in their turn are hindering this
process. They call on us to wait until the conflict is settled. Manoyan
says people were dissatisfied with the repopulation efforts because
some people who were in charge of this process used it for their
personal benefit.
"We saw what happened as a result of this. We voiced our protest
several times. We even nominated our candidate to coordinate these
works. The officer in charge of the process was replaced but our
candidate was not appointed."
When the Constitution of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic was drafted the
ARF proposed that these territories are defined in the constitution
as territories of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic and not as liberated
territories.
However, this proposal was not fully accepted. As a result, it was
stated in the constitution that these territories will be controlled
by Karabagh until the final status is determined. Manoyan believes
the concept of ‘liberated territories’ should not be differentiated
from the territories of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic.
We have lost something in terms of propaganda diplomacy due to both
our state’s and Azerbaijan’s initiatives. Azerbaijan was trying
to transfer this issue to other international arenas, but did not
succeed in this. Now it is time to be more cautious not to repeat
the mistakes of the past. Repopulation of the liberated territories
is the most important task in this context. This was the only issue
on which the debaters’ opinions coincided.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
June 11, 2007
REVIEWS; Nonfiction; Pg. 49
Extraordinary Evil: Why Genocide Happens
Extraordinary Evil: Why Genocide Happens
Barbara Coloroso. Nation, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-1-56858-371-6
Placing genocidal campaigns at the extreme on a spectrum of bullying
that begins in socialization’s earliest stages, Coloroso (The Bully,
the Bullied, and the Bystander ) seeks to strengthen the legal and
moral prevention of genocide and to improve humanitarian
intervention. Analyzing the plight of the Armenians; the Jews, Roma
and Sinti; and Rwandan Tutsis, she marshals solid studies, victim and
perpetrator testimonies, as well as her own expertise as a nationally
recognized speaker on conflict resolution. Her discussion of problems
of definition, political will, and social and psychological
persuasion are useful, but her argument can be tedious, despite
graphic and distressing detail. Drawing heavily and only
semiconvincingly on her earlier child-centered work, Coloroso has a
tendency to rely on Power Point-style lists, brusquely contextualized
quotations and even a cartoon-illustrated flowchart of bullies and
their enablers. Her generalizations can be disturbing-for example,
when she suggests Rwanda’s colonial past plays no role in the current
violence, despite contrary arguments from Mahmood Mamdani and others
not cited here. Coloroso’s checklist of genocidal prerequisites can
also blur into other acts of state-sponsored or condoned aggression
and exploitation. This book provides entry into a vital dialogue, but
should be considered at best a beginning. (Sept.)
PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
31 Moscovian Street
Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 53.69.13
Fax: (+374 – 10) 53.26.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:
June 15, 2007
HOVANNISIAN RECEIVES SEMNEBY
Yerevan–Today, June 15, the Heritage Party’s parliamentary leader Raffi
Hovannisian and MP Stiopa Safarian received a European Union delegation led
by EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Ambassador Peter Semneby
and German Ambassador Heike Renate Peitsch.
This regular meeting between Hovannisian and Semneby was their first since
Heritage’s election victory and subsequent entry into the National Assembly.
They discussed the electoral process and results, the challenge of
democracy, conflict resolution in the Caucasus, and broader geopolitical
considerations.
Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land. Its
central office is located at 31 Moscovian Street, Yerevan 0002, Armenia,
with telephone contact at (374-10) 536.913, fax at (374-10) 532.697, email
at [email protected] or [email protected], and website at
Yet another time pilot-captain of the plane belonging to the Armavia
had to fly back because of health declining of one of the passengers
arminfo
2007-06-16 15:34:00
At the 40th minute of the flight pilot-captain of the plane of the
Armenian national carrier Armavia that was flying from Yerevan to
Moscow on 12 June made a decision to fly back to Yerevan and the plane
landed at Zvartnots airport.
As press-secretary of Armavia Jasmen Vilyan told ArmInfo, the
pilot-captain’s decision was conditioned by sharp health declining of
one of the passengers – Roland Sarkisyan who was forbidden to use
air transport by doctors. At present Armavia accounts big finance
losses because of the canceled flight. Vilyan also added that last year
the national carrier came across 5 such cases.
RA READY TO EXPAND ITS PARTICIPATION IN PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
June 15 2007
June 14 RA Defense Minister Mikael Harutyunian participated in an
annual sitting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the countries
of Euro-Atlantic Partnership.
According to the information DE FACTO received at the RA MOD Press
Office, before the sitting RA Defense Minister had held a meeting
with NATO Secretary General Yaap de Hoop Scheffer, in the course of
which the parties had exchanged views on the processes referring
to ensuring security in the Euro-Atlantic region. NATO Secretary
General congratulated Mikael Harutyunian on appointment as RA Defense
Minister. Mikael Harutyunian addressed the audience at the Council’s
sitting and reaffirmed RA government’s readiness to expand Armenia’s
participation in peacemaking missions.
The same day RA Defense Minister held bilateral meetings with Defense
Ministers of Greece and Czechia. In the course of the meetings
the parties considered the issues referring to the development of
peacemaking mission’s possibilities.
AZERBAIJAN PREVENTED OSCE MONITORING MISSION FROM REACHING FIRST LINE
By Nana Petrosian
AZG Armenian Daily
14/06/2007
Yesterday, the OSCE Monitoring mission carried out a regular
observation of the borderline between NKR and Azerbaijan near
Karakhanbey dwelling place in Fizouli region.
Pete Keen, Assistants of the OSCE Chairman-in- Office, and
Zhaslan Nourtazin carried out the observation from the NKR defense
positions. As compared with NKR, Azerbaijan didn’t allow the monitoring
mission to reach the first lines, and that’s why the OSCE monitoring
mission had to carry out the observation from longer distance. No
ceasefire violation case was fixed during the observation.
UNION OF NATIONAL DEMOCRATS TO SUPPORT VAZGEN MANUKIAN’S CANDIDATURE AT 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Noyan Tapan
Jun 13 2007
YEREVAN, JUNE 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The Union of National Democrats party
will support Vazgen Manukian’s candidature at the 2008 presidential
elections.
Party Chairman Arshak Sadoyan reported at the June 13 press conference.
A. Sadoyan said that it is planned to convene a conference of Union
of National Democrats by the end of the current month, the goal of
which will be to work out steps aimed at joint organization of control
over the presidential elections, as well as steps aimed at forming a
civil society in Armenia. Representatives of not only political forces,
but also civil society – NGO members, intellectuals and all those "who
are anxious about country’s future" will take part in the conference.
"We will try to do at the presidential elections what we did not manage
to at the parliamentary elections. And the step we offer now is aimed
at not permitting damage of process of elections control because of
conflicts, ambitions struggle among candidates for presidency in the
future," Sadoyan declared.
NO EXPECTED BREAKTHROUGH REGISTERED DURING KOCHARIAN-ALIEV MEETING IN ST. PETERSBURG
PanARMENIAN.Net
11.06.2007 13:17 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The next meeting between Armenian President
Robert Kocharian and his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliev took place
in St. Petersburg in the framework of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement process. No expected breakthrough was registered during
the meeting. At the meeting, which lasted more than three hours,
the presidents could not reach agreement on a number of issues,
particularly concerning the status of Nagorno Karabakh. After the
meeting Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliev, as well as the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairs abstained from making any comments.