Author: Chakrian Hovsep

RELATIVES OF IRANIAN PLANE CRASH VICTIMS STAGE PROTEST IN TEHRAN

Noyan Tapan
July 24, 2009

TEHRAN, JULY 24, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A protest against
the indifference and the policy of Caspian Airlines and the Iranian
authorities in relation to the Tu-154 plane crash was staged in Tehran
on July 22.

Marmara daily reported that the protesters handed letters consisting
of 14 points to Iran’s parliament and government, representatives of
the mass media, and the officials of Caspian Airlines.

According to the newspaper, the correspondent of Iran-based Alik daily
Artyom Gharibian was arrested during the protest, but several hours
later he was released thanks to the mediation of Gevorg Vardanian,
a parliamentary deputy representing the northern Iranian Armenians.

RA PRIME MINISTER TIGRAN SARGSYAN VISITED ASPAR WILD TOUR TRAVEL AGENCY, WHICH SINCE 2006 HAS BEEN ORGANIZING GUIDED TOURS TO SIGHTS IN ARMENIA AND IN KARABAKH TRYING TO EXPAND ITS RANGE OF SERVICES IN A MODERN LIGHT

Tuesda y, 21 July 2009

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan noted that Aspar Wild Tour’s activities
are in full accord with the Government’s focus on the development
of tourism at home and expressed hope that they will be realized
successfully in case of effective cooperation. Tigran Sargsyan
emphasized that in an effort to back domestic tour operators, the
Government has came up with a series of proposals during the year,
aimed at developing tourism in the Republic of Armenia and in the NKR.

After viewing a fact-finding film on the sights of the NKR, the head of
the Armenian government had an interview with the representatives of
travel agencies. With reference to the Low-cost holiday and tours in
Artsakh package, presented last July 8 in the Office of Government,
Tigran Sargsyan expressed appreciation of sector representatives’
3-day fact-finding visit to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic by stressing
that it helped trace out the existing problems and identify prospects
for development.

In conclusion, the Prime Minister pointed out the need for conducting
a comprehensive research into this sphere through close teamwork
between large enterprises and travel agencies20and, in this context,
highlighted the role of continued government-travel agencies dialog.

Armenian Youth Federation
Eastern U.S.: 80 Bigelow Ave, Watertown, MA 02472 – [email protected]
Western U.S.: 104 N. Belmont St. Suite 206, Glendale, CA 91206 –
[email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

July 23, 2009

Chevron Responds to National Campaign Exposing "Profit from
Genocide Denial" Scheme

SAN RAMON, CA — Chevron Corporation tried to explain away
its opposition to Congressional legislation affirming the Armenian
Genocide, using the standard Turkish and Azerbaijani government
talking points to justify their complicity in denying this crime
against humanity, reported the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF).

"As a major energy producer in the region, we support the integrity
of multiple energy transportation routes and a diplomatic
relationship between Turkey and Armenia," Chevron spokesman Justin
Higgs announced, adding that the genocide resolution, "would have
hurt, not helped, relations between Turkey and Armenia."

"An enduring diplomatic relationship between Turkey and Armenia can
only be based on truth," said AYF San Francisco chapter chairman
Matt Senekeremian, leading the Bay Area protest. "Lobbying against
the Armenian Genocide resolution is a pure and simple case of
profiting from the denial of the murder of 1.5 million men, women
and children – a short-sighted policy which only serves to fuel
greater instability in the region."

Chevron’s comments came as the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF)
joined with Armenian Americans and human rights activists in
kicking off a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about Turkish
Government coercion of the energy giant and some five multinational
corporations currently lobbying against Armenian Genocide
legislation (H.Res.252). The resolution, spearheaded by
Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA), George Radanovich (R-CA), and
Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone and Mark
Kirk, has over 125 cosponsors.

Rep. Schiff chastised Chevron and the other corporations for
opposing the Genocide resolution, noting "I don’t think any major
American corporation should be lobbying against the genocide
recognition and become complicit in another country’s genocide
denial," Schiff told the Glendale News-Press. "I don’t think that’s
being a good corporate citizen. It’s certainly putting profits in
front of the public interest."

The protests began on July 22, 2009 at the Chevron headquarters in
San Ramon, California and local stations across the U.S., including
sites in Burbank, La Crescenta, Pasadena, San Fernando Valley,
Orange County, Glendale, Fresno, as well as Bethesda, MD, Orlando,
FL and Philadelphia, PA. An online letter writing campaign to
Chevron CEO Dave O’Reilly was launched in conjunction with the
protests, urging the company to publicly apologize for profiting
from Genocide denial. A copy of the letter was hand delivered to
the Chevron corporate headquarters by protesters in San Ramon.

Concerned about public response to their action, Chevron’s
corporate headquarters had alerted their franchisees about the AYF
led protest prior to the campaign launch. Washington, DC area
protesters also reported that Chevron had sent their own
photographers to the protest.

Protests were covered in local newspapers, including the Orlando
Sentinel, where AYF Keri chapter member Raffi Mekhdjavakian explained
"It’s contradictory of Chevron to have their motto ‘The Chevron
way’ and say that they are responsible and ethical when they are
lobbying against a human rights situation," said Raffi
Mekhdjavakian, an Oviedo resident with the Armenian youth group.
"If [the genocide] is denied it’s as if it never happened."

Mekhdjavakian referrred to statements on Chevron’s website –
— where the corporation
prides itself on running the company the "Chevron Way" –
responsibly, ethically and with respect to human rights. However,
on June 13th, the Associated Press revealed that Chevron and 5 other
multinational energy and defense corporations, including BAE
Systems, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, United Technologies and
Goodrich have filed disclosure forms with the Senate and House
"quietly" lobbying against H.Res.252 the Armenian Genocide
Resolution, among a wide array of legislation. In first quarter of
2009 alone, the six firms have spent some $14 million in
Congressional lobby efforts. This is in addition to the over $3
million spent annually by the Government of Turkey to block U.S.
affirmation of the Armenian Genocide, a cornerstone of their
foreign policy priorities.

"Clearly, Turkey will spare to no expense to cover up its dark
past,"said AYF Western Region Chairman Vache Thomassian. "Coercing
corporations like Chevron to do its dirty deeds is just the latest
tactic – exporting genocide denial to our neighborhoods, one gas
station at a time."

Complete information about Chevron’s lobbying efforts – including
lobby disclosures forms filed with the Senate and House – are
posted at A Facebook group calling
attention to the effort has over 1300 activists.

UN RIGHTS COMMITTEE SAID SET TO CENSURE AZERBAIJAN
By Robert Evans

Reuters
July 22 2009
UK

GENEVA, July 22 (Reuters) – United Nations experts are set to censure
energy-rich Azerbaijan over its human rights record after suggesting
it was in denial over violations of global rights pacts, officials
and diplomats said on Wednesday.

They said the critique, which could be harsh, was likely to be
formulated in recommendations to the government in Baku on what it
should do to clean up its act. It would be issued on July 31 by the
U.N.’s watchdog Human Rights Committee.

"After comments made by committee members this week, it is clear
they are going to be tough over attacks on independent journalists,
on freedom of expression and on state control of judges," said one
official, who asked not to be named.

The 18-member committee, a body made up of independent academics and
lawyers from developed and developing countries, met on Monday and
Tuesday to quiz an Azeri government team on what was happening in
the former Soviet republic.

An official U.N. report on the session said the committee questioned
the team on killings and arrests of journalists and suicides of others
in police custody, on bans on opposition rallies, on violence against
women and attacks on homosexuals.

Khalaf Khalafov, Azerbaijan’s deputy foreign minister, told the
committee that journalists were only arrested for violating the law
and that any interference with the media or freedom of expression
was illegal, according to the report.

One committee expert told Khalafov, the account said, that his country
"appeared to be in a state of denial" on police violence, and officials
present said the scepticism was clearly shared by other members of
the body.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with offices in Baku, including
the chairman of an Azeri group on protection of journalists, told
reporters after the session that the country appeared sliding back
to Soviet-era practices.

And during the committee discussions, Khalafov argued that the traces
of the Soviet "totalitarian past" when, he said, the Azeri judiciary
had been subject to "the dictatorship of the proletariat," would not
disappear overnight.

The committee session was held as a top-level delegation from the
European Union, with which Azerbaijan is seeking to boost economic
relations especially in the energy sector, was expressing alarm in
Baku about rights.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who headed the EU team, told
reporters there on Monday that he had expressed concern to President
Ilham Aliyev over the arrest of two opposition bloggers who were
accused of hooliganism.

At the same time, ambassadors of the 27 EU member states voiced
disquiet "about the condition of human rights and freedoms" in the
country where Aliyev and his late father have held power almost
uninterrupted for nearly three decades.

But at a Geneva news conference, NGOs said they feared the EU was
unlikely to go beyond words in its criticism of Azerbaijan, a key
supplier of oil and gas from Caspian Sea fields offering an alternative
to energy from Russia.

"In our experience, the countries most likely to take a strong stance
are the United States and (non-EU member) Norway — they have their
own oil," said Florian Irminger of the Geneva-based Human Rights
House Foundation. (Editing by Jonathan Lynn)

ARTHUR ABRAHAM: HE WHO IS CLEVER WINS IN THE BOXING RING

Noyan Tapan
July 22, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. "It would be painful for me to be
defeated by a Turk. Our grandfathers suffered so much at the Turks’
hands, so my defeat would weigh me down. I was training hard to win and
uphold the honor of our nation," the IBF Middleweight World Champion
Arthur Abraham said at the July 22 press conference. Commenting
on his recent match with the boxer of Turkish descent Mahir Oral,
Arthur Abraham aslo noted that it was psychologically important to
him. "He who is clever rather than a strong person with a good body
wins in the boxing ring," he declared.

A. Abraham said he has changed his weight class from 72.5 kg to
76.2 kg to compete in super middleweight because the world-famous
boxers refused to fight against him in his previous weight class. He
has taken a decision to participate in the Super Six World Boxing
Classic Tournament, which will last until 2011, for the WBA and WBC
super middleweight title. "No such thing took place in the history
of boxing so far," A. Abraham said, adding that during two years,
4 world champions will fight with each other.

According to him, he will not be able yet to compete under the Armenian
flag as he has a contract with a German company until 2011.

In response to the question about what he is going to do after he
quits boxing, A. Abraham replied that he would conduct real estate
and aircraft business.

Reuters, UK
July 19 2009

Armenia, Azerbaijan still apart on Karabakh

Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:13am EDT

* Armenia hails talks, but Azeris see no progress

* Leaders to meet again in autumn, says Armenia

By Hasmik Lazarian and Afet Mehtiyeva

YEREVAN/BAKU, July 19 (Reuters) – The presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan plan to meet again this autumn after talks in Moscow over
Nagorno-Karabakh which the Azeri side said were unproductive,
officials said on Sunday.

Armenia’s Serzh Sarksyan and Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev met Kremlin
chief Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday in a bid to resolve the Karabakh
dispute, one of the so-called ‘frozen conflicts’ left by the Soviet
Union’s 1991 collapse.

"Statements by officials made after the meeting indicate that no
progress on principle issues has been made," Panakh Huseinov, from
Azerbaijan’s security and defence parliamentary committee and an
opposition member, told Reuters.

Armenia hailed the talks as "constructive" and its foreign ministry
said the leaders would meet again in autumn. Armenian state TV said it
will be in October.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly ethnic Armenian Christian enclave inside
Azeri borders, declared independence in 1991 with support from Armenia
and fought Muslim Azerbaijan in a war that killed some 35,000 people
before a shaky ceasefire was signed in 1994.

No country has recognised Karabakh’s independence.

The dispute led to Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey closing their
borders with Armenia and remains one of the biggest threats to
stability in the South Caucasus, a key route for oil and gas supplies
from the Caspian region to Europe.

Azerbaijan’s Huseinov said that his country believes "real steps on
elimination of occupation" need to be made before any kind of
agreement is signed.

Late on Friday, Sarkysan’s press office issued a statement saying his
talks with Aliyev earlier that day were held "in a constructive
spirit" and that the two sides will continue negotiations aimed at a
"peaceful settlement".

Efforts by international mediators under the auspices of the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), focused on
finding a temporary solution to the problem including strong autonomy
for Karabakh, have so far led nowhere.

Russia exerts strong leverage on both ex-Soviet states, and experts
say mediation in Karabakh could consolidate Russia’s strong role in
the Southern Caucasus region.

The Kremlin’s chief foreign policy aide, Sergei Prikhodko, who
co-chairs the Minsk Group, which is mandated to act as an
intermediary, was quoted by Interfax on Saturday as saying that the
lengthy talks were "very constructive".

(Writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman in Moscow; Editing by Richard
Balmforth)

Armenian, Russian and Azeri Presidents had their trilateral meeting in Moscow
18.07.2009 18:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ After participating in traditional presidential race
in Moscow hippodrome, Presidents Dmitry Medvedev, Ilham Aliyev and
Serzh Sargsyan continued communication in trilateral format. At the
start of the meeting, parties expressed willingness to discuss further
ways of settling NKR conflict, Kremlin press service reports. They
plan to continue coordinating basic principles regarding Karabakh
settlement.

Presidential races have been held in Moscow since 2004 upon the
initiative of Agriculture Ministry. The first races took place on June
3, 2004 in Moscow Central Hippodrome. Annual horse races have always
been attended by Russian Presidents and CIS leaders.

Unlike previous years, Presidents and other visitors are no longer
allowed to offer bets as such practices are prohibited by law

RA JUDO FEDERATION EXTENDED CONDOLENCES TO FAMILIES OF THOSE KILLED IN JET CRASH

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
16.07.2009 22:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ President of the Armenian Judo Federation Aleksan
Avetisyan extended condolences to families of those killed in jet
crash on July 15.

"It was extremely painful to know about the death of our Iranian
friends. On behalf of the Armenian Judo Federation, I express our
deepest condolences to the families of those killed," the address
reads.

Russian Judo Federation as well as European and International Judo
Federations also expressed condolences.

ORANGE ARMENIA TO BECOME UITE MEMBER

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
17.07.2009 20:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Orange Armenia , the third mobile telephony operator
of Armenia intends to become UITE member within coming quarter,
Karen Vardanyan, Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE)
told a forum today in Yerevan. The forum is devoted to promotion of
start-ups in IT sphere.

According to Karen Vardanyan, recently ADC, providing broadband
Internet service and I-max Internet service provider joined UITE.

"Orange Armenia company has already expressed interest in the area,
and within a month the issue of its membership in the Union will be
solved, " Vartanian said

ARF ‘DASHNAKTSUTYUN’ REQUIRES RESIGNATION OF ARMENIA’S FOREIGN MINISTER

ArmInfo
2009-07-16 14:09:00

ArmInfo. ARF Dashnaktsutyun party requires resignation of Armenia’s
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan for elimination of the negative
phenomena, observed in the country’s foreign policy, and establishment
of a national state vector, representative of ARFD Supreme Body,
parliamentarian Armen Rustamyan said at today’s press-conference in
Urbat club.

According to him, in view of the situation developed around the
Karabakh conflict settlement, ARFD Supreme Body came out with the
following statement: ‘Turkey and Azerbaijan try to weaken Armenia’s
positions in the international arena in order to make the region
a zone of its influence. The economic and political weights of
Azerbaijan gradually increases. The only way out in this situation is
our consolidation. We note again that the foreign policy of Armenia
deviated from the basic provisions of the Military Doctrine and the
National Security Strategy’.

The statement also says that the process, hindering international
recognition of the Armenian Genocide, is going on. There is no relevant
fight against the consistent anti- Armenian actions by Azerbaijan and
Turkey. The activity of Armenia’s Foreign Ministry in the internal
and external propaganda remains unsatisfactory. The attempt of OSCE
MG co-chair-countries to forcedly achieve efficient settlement of
the Karabakh conflict endanger our national and state interests. In
the created situation, ARFD Supreme Body requires political will and
foresight from the Armenian and Karabakh authorities.

The party expresses hope that the president of Armenia will not sign
any document that ignores the Karabakh people’s will, having been
already expressed via referendum. ‘We expect for the president to take
the required measures to return the NKR to the negotiation process’,
the statement says.

ARFD representatives also say it is necessary to reconsider the
foreign policy of Armenia and open a new page while the going is good.