Author: Chalian Meline

PRESIDENT OF THE NKR CONVOKED A CONSULTATION…

Azat Artsakh Daily
28 Aug 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

On 27 August President of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic Bako
Sahakyan convoked a consultation on the current developments in the
region. Issues related to internal life of the Republic, such as army
building, state-church relations were discussed at the consultation
too. Head of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church,
Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, chairman of the NKR National Assembly
Ashot Ghulyan, premier Ara Haroutyunyan, head of the Office of the
NKR President, secretary of the Security Council Marat Mousaelyan,
first deputy commander of the NKR Defense Army – head of the army’s
staff major-general Levon Mnatsakanyan partook in the consultation.

ENVOY REITERATES US SUPPORT TO GEORGIA, AZERBAIJAN

Turan news agency
Aug 26 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku, 26 August: US Vice-President Dick Cheney’s visit to Georgia,
Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Italy in early September is intended
to consolidate strategic partnership relations in all spheres
between the two states [as published], and that it will be the most
representative US delegation that has visited Baku since bilateral
relations were established. US Ambassador Anne Derse told this to a
group of Azerbaijani journalists in Baku. She said that the visit was
connected with the situation in Georgia and Cheney would visit Tbilisi
to show solidarity with and support to the people of Georgia, as well
as to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia. The visit
to the region is aimed at showing Washington’s support to Georgia’s and
Azerbaijan’s orientation towards integration into the Euro-Atlantic
space, the ambassador said. She gave to understand that it was not
spontaneous but a preplanned visit, however the developments in
Georgia attached special "topicality" to the visit.

"After Russia’s incursion into the territory of a sovereign state and
the US steps were not intended to threaten Russia. However, things
that mean that we cannot behave as if nothing occurred. Russia’s
deeds speak for themselves and many in the region fear that those
deeds are aimed not only against Georgia but against those aspiring
democracy. Being independent states, Georgia and Azerbaijan will
themselves define their course and in doing so they can rely on US
support and cooperation. Dick Cheney’s visit is intended to stress
this support," Derse said. She said that a wide range of issues,
first of all security problems and energy cooperation, would be
discussed at a meeting with President Ilham Aliyev. "We will work
with Azerbaijan to ensure its interests in the issues of delivering
its energy resources to world markets," she said.

Asked by a Turan correspondent what moves would Washington make in
Georgia if Russia refuses to pull back troops, the ambassador said
that the situation there was absolutely unacceptable. "We demanded
that all troops be pulled out, hostilities be ceased and humanitarian
corridors be opened. We also declared that territorial integrity of
Georgia cannot be put into question. If the situation does not change,
together with our partners we will continue demanding that all these
terms be fulfilled and take relevant steps in this direction," Derse
said. The ambassador evaded the question about the possibility of the
US providing direct military aid to Georgia. Asked what the USA may
offer Azerbaijan and Georgia to ensure security of the [oil and gas]
pipelines and transport routes in the light of direct threats to these
communication lines from Russia, the ambassador gave to understand that
all this had been taken into account and these issues would be in the
focus of attention during Cheney’s consultations with the Azerbaijani
leadership. Asked by the Turan correspondent what ordinary citizens
of Azerbaijan could wait from Cheney’s visit and would their live
be safer after the visit, the ambassador said "the main task is to
restore stability and security in the region and ensure continuation
of our strategic partnership and that is in the interests of everyone".

She added that the issues of ensuring democracy and the forthcoming
presidential election would be discussed during the visit.

She refused to comment on rumours that the OSCE Minsk Group for
[the settlement of] Nagornyy Karabakh conflict may be dissolved,
saying that she "has not heard such rumours".

STUCK IN GEORGIA

New York Times
weds1.html
Aug 27 2008

This is where things stand nearly three weeks after Russia invaded
Georgia and radically upended ties with the West: Russian troops still
occupy key areas including the port of Poti; Moscow has recognized the
independence of Georgia’s two breakaway regions; Georgia’s president,
Mikheil Saakashvili, is still talking tough even though his army is
routed and his country shattered.

And if that isn’t unnerving enough, President Bush has decided to
dispatch Vice President Dick Cheney, that master of diplomacy, to
the region.

Awash in oil wealth and giddy after crushing tiny Georgia, Russia’s
leaders are striking back at real and imagined humiliations. The
West’s failure to fully marshal its leverage is painful to watch. But
Russia also has a lot to lose. Moscow’s decision to recognize South
Ossetia and Abkhazia will only harden battle lines and sow further
regional instability.

Recognizing these enclaves could inspire a host of rebellions around
and inside Russia: Transdniester from Moldova, Nagorno-Karabakh from
Azerbaijan and the oil-rich province of Tatarstan from Russia. If
Moscow has forgotten its horrifying war to suppress the Chechens,
we have not.

We know some in the Kremlin don’t care if ties with the West are
broken. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the dark hand behind Russia’s
aggression, blustered this week that Russia would be better off if
it didn’t join the World Trade Organization.

While many Russians are cheering him now, we doubt that they will
be eager to return to the grim days of Soviet isolation. For all its
oil wealth, Russia is still a poorly developed, corrupt and fragile
state. It is not in its long-term economic and security interest to
divorce from the international mainstream.

The Bush administration deserves considerable blame for letting this
crisis get so far out of hand. Since the invasion, it has deftly
bolstered Georgia, using military transports to deliver humanitarian
aid. It gets mixed marks for its response to Russia. The White House
eagerly used the crisis to seal a missile defense deal with Poland —
adding to Mr. Putin’s list of resentments. It also, more sensibly,
suspended military cooperation and a civilian nuclear deal worth
billions to Moscow, but left the door open for reviving both.

We do not know what Mr. Cheney will say when he visits Georgia,
Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Italy next week. The last thing the world
needs now is him inciting more resentments and anxieties. Georgia’s
president certainly seems to have learned nothing from the last
few weeks, telling The Times that he would continue his campaign to
reassert Georgian control over South Ossetia and Abkhazia. He seemed
to think that Washington would back him up.

A blustering visit from Mr. Cheney would also make it far easier for
the Europeans to avoid doing what they need to do: send their own
clear message to Moscow that there will be no business as usual. That
does not mean completely isolating Russia. But when the Europeans meet
next week, they should agree to put on hold a trade and security deal
with Moscow so long as it continues to occupy Georgia and threaten
its neighbors.

Ties between Russia and the West are now the worst in a generation. It
will take toughness and subtlety to ensure they do not lock into a
permanent confrontation — not more bluster from anyone.

‘MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES’ CORPORATION NOT TO STOP ITS PROGRAMME IN ARMENIA

arminfo
2008-08-27 12:29:00

ArmInfo. ‘Millennium challenges’ Corporation is not going to stop its
programme in Armenia, director of ‘Millennium challenges’ Corporation
programme Alex Rasin told ArmInfo correspondent. He also added that
at present there is no word about stopping of the programme. All the
sectors of the programme on construction and repairing of irrigation
systems continue being implemented, he said. Voting of the new
council of beneficiaries of the programme will be held at the end
of September. The council consists of 15 people, 5 of which will
join managers’s council of the state non-commercial organization
‘Millennium challenges- Armenia’ headed by Armenian Prime Minister
Tigran Sarkisyan.

To recall, in March 2008 executive director of ‘Millennium challenges’
foundation John Danilovich sent a letter to president Robert
Kocharyan to inform about possible stopping of US aid to Armenia
within the frames of the programme of the foundation because of the
tense post-election situation in Armenia. But the programme was not
stopped and is being implemented at present.

NO CITIZENS OF ARMENIA WERE AMONG PASSENGERS OF BOEING 737 CRASH NEAR BISHKEK

arminfo
2008-08-25 16:09:00

ArmInfo. ‘By official data, no citizens of Armenia were on board
of Boeing 737-200 that crashed yesterday’, Head of Armenian Foreign
Ministry Press Service Department for Media Tigran Balayan said.

Boeing airliner crashed during takeoff from the airport of Kyrgyzstan’s
capital Bishkek Sunday night. For some failures on board, pilots
tried to return to the airport but failed. 22 people survived and 65
were killed.

ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS CRITICIZES AUTHORITIES FOR MISTAKES IN MANAGING FUEL RESOURCES

arminfo
2008-08-25 19:49:00

ArmInfo. All companies wishing to import petrol must be allowed to do
it, the Armenian National Congress (an assembly of supporters of the
first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossyan) says in a statement
commenting on the delays in the import of fuel into Armenia caused
by the Georgian-South Ossetin conflict.

The Congress says that as a result of the delays the shadow price of
one liter of petrol in Armenia has hit 1,000 AMD.

The Georgian-South Ossetian conflict continues having negative
consequences on Armenia as it is not clear when the Armenian goods
that are presently in Georgia will arrive in Armenia. The Armenian
authorities have made a number of mistakes in their fuel resource
management strategy. Particularly, it was a big mistake to zero
Armenia’s fuel reserves. One more mistake is that the authorities
have not developed alternative fuel import schemes, particularly,
fuel might be imported from Iran. Besides, it is necessary to abolish
the monopoly over the import of liquid fuel into Armenia as monopoly
may result in energy crisis in the country.

LEVON TER-PETROSIAN AND PETER SEMNEBY DISCUSS REGIONAL SITUATION AND INTERNAL POLITICAL SITUATION IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan

Au g 25, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The first Armenian president Levon
Ter-Petrosian had a meeting with the EU Special Commissioner in the
South Caucasus Peter Semneby in Yerevan on August 24. The charge
d’affaires of the European Commission Delegation to Armenia Raul de
Luzenberger and political advisor Andrey Didenko also took part in
the meeting.

NT was informed by the head office of the Armenian National Congress
that during the meeting the sides exchanged opinions on the situation
in Georgia, its impact on Armenia, and the possile solutions of the
frozen conflicts.

The internal political situation in Armenia, as well as the problems
related to the political prisoners and their trials were also
discussed.

OLYMPICS SERVE TO PROMOTE NATIONALISM
Nickolas Conrad

The Daily Evergreen
5
Aug 24 2008
WA

The United States is not the best country in the world. The 2008
Olympics should be making this quite evident now that China has
pulled ahead in the medal race. I am sure that coming in second is
unacceptable to all the flag-waving Americans who take pride in our
country’s domination of other nations in any trivial way.

It is important to keep a perspective on what a national, physically
competitive enterprise entails. The Olympics is a summation of
human physical achievement divided by national borders. It is
entertainment. Every four years we congratulate ourselves on how
far we can throw a spear, toss a disc or swim segmented lanes of pool
water. It does not bring the world together to create peace or harmony;
rather, the Olympics is used as a showcase for political egotism.

As far as bringing greater harmony and collaboration, the 1936
Olympics, held in Berlin, Germany by the Nazi Party, should serve as
an example. The Nazis held and won the 1936 Olympics; the U.S. took
a somewhat distant second. The Nazis flaunted their racial theories
to other nations and led us into the conflagration of World War
II. Sports did not create greater harmony. If anything, the Olympics
made the situation worse.

Sports are a cathartic expression of our aggressive natures that
revel in violence and domination. Sports do not bring people to the
negotiation table. Russia is not pulling out of Georgia any faster
because they feel any respect for American athletes.

When I watch the Olympics, I see a contest that brings out blind
ethnocentric patriotism. Everyone becomes uncritical and gives their
undying devotion to their country’s honor. This patriotism causes us
to wish for our opponents’ utter humiliation. All I see is people
waving their flags, complimenting themselves and denigrating their
competitors.

The Olympics is an embodiment of the 19th century notion of nationalism
based on the ethnic, geographic and linguistic heritage of different
people. Having studied the political history of the 19th and 20th
century, I am extremely suspicious of naive nationalism. Most of
the wars of the 20th century can be attributed to nationalistic
fervor. The genocide of the Armenians by the Turks, the World Wars
and wars of resistance and liberation are all results of violent
nationalistic fervor.

Let us take a moment and put aside our patriotic self-love and reflect
on China’s lead in the Olympics to remind ourselves the U.S. is not
the greatest country in the world. Dominating others through physical
competition, economic arrangements or military does not qualify any
nation as the greatest.

We are taught as children to pledge our allegiance to the flag. As
we grow up, we fill our time watching Hollywood films or events such
as the Olympics that are blindly patriotic and one-sided. Since the
U.S.’ establishment in 1776, it took us 89 years to end slavery and
189 years to make equality a reality in law. It took us 144 years
to give women the right to vote. To expand the U.S. territories,
wars of aggression were fought against American Indians, the British,
Spanish, Mexican and Filipinos. We dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese
civilians, indiscriminately killing two entire cities of men, women
and children.

I appreciate America and all the opportunities it has provided
me, yet I will not let the media brainwash me into unquestioning
patriotism. We have to question even the most sacred icons of our
identities to truly see ourselves for who we are.

A-Info news agency, Akhalkalaki
Aug 19 2008

ETHNIC ARMENIANS IN GEORGIA URGE TBILISI TO SET UP FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Akhalkalaki, Georgia, 19 August: The following is the declaration of
the Council of Armenian Non-Governmental Organizations of
Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli.

Declaration

Now that the military operations have stopped and the repositioning of
military forces in the country is slowly returning to the status quo
of 6 August;

When the conflicting parties and the international community are
searching for ways out of the current situation and in order to
re-establish the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty;

It is clear that the main victim of attempts to resolve inter-ethnic
issues through military operations is the peaceful population, without
any positive movements on the political front, on the contrary, with
complicated political consequences;

We, the public representatives of the Armenian population of
Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli, concerned with re-establishing
peace and stability in our country, assert that:

a) In order to re-establish Georgia’s territorial integrity and
sovereignty and, as a guarantee to the country’s stability and
democratic development to resolve the ethnic conflicts in an
objective, just and legal manner, Georgia should have a federal state
structure, composed of territorial units and a central government;

b) Under the federal system of state structure, the central
authorities of Georgia will retain all the powers provided by the
subsections of the first section of Article 3 of the Constitution of
Georgia;

c) The basis for the creation of the territorial units should be the
needs for preserving and advancing the ethnic identity of the
nationalities comprising Georgia’s population;

d) Samtskhe-Javakheti – with its current boundaries and with the
neighbouring mainly Armenian-populated areas of the Kvemo Kartli
region – should have the status of a territorial unit comprising the
Georgian federal state, with broad self-governing rights, including
the right to free elections by the population for all local
self-governing bodies and jurisdiction over cultural, educational and
socio-economic policies, as well as the spheres of public order, local
self-government and environmental protection in Samtskhe-Javakheti;

e) Guarantees should be provided through the constitution, that the
Armenian language will be a regional official language in
Samtskhe-Javakheti, in addition to the official state language;

f) The representation of Samtskhe-Javakheti in the legislative,
executive and judicial branches of government of Georgia should be
constitutionally guaranteed.

It is about time, that the political elite of Georgia acknowledge,
once and for all, that:

– The way to the development and strengthening of the state is through
its formation on the basis prescribed above;

– In order to re-establish the integrity of the country the
law-abiding citizens should be sufficiently appreciated, their
concerns and reasonable demands should be heard, and they should be
provided with at least as much jurisdiction as is being promised to
those who have raised arms against the state;

– The country’s integration into Euro-Atlantic structures first of all
requires complete adoption and application of European values and
the complete and immediate realization of obligations – including
those regarding the full protection of national minorities –
undertaken vis-a-vis European institutions.

We are aware that this declaration will not be received
unequivocally. There will be efforts to misconstrue or misuse it. But
we, as citizens concerned with Georgia’s destiny, could not refrain
from repeating the truth, which we have been proclaiming for years. We
are guided solely by the interests of Georgia and Samtskhe-Javakheti,
which is a component unit of the country. This is what the memory of
those who fell during the last clashes requires; this is what the
right of return of those hundreds of thousands of the recently
displaced people requires; this is what the future of Georgia
requires.

[signed] Council of Armenian Non-Governmental Organizations of
Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli

ARMENIA-UKRAINE TRADE TURNOVER EXPECTED TO REACH $300MLN BY END OF 2008

ARKA
Aug 22, 2008

YEREVAN, August 22. /ARKA/. Trade turnover between Ukraine and Armenia
is expected to reach $300mln by the end of this year against $250mln
at the end of 2007, Ukrainian Embassy to Armenia reports.

Over the last 10 years trade turnover between Armenia and Ukraine
grew by 20 times and today Ukraine is the third biggest commercial
partner of Armenia after Russia and Germany, says the report of the
Embassy on the Independence Day of Ukraine.

Bilateral political dialogue is maintained through regular
consultations between the countries’ foreign ministries with the most
recent one held in April 2008 in Yerevan.

According to the report, Armenian delegation headed by President
Sargsyan attended the ceremony of opening of renovated Surb Khach
monastery in Crimea in July. The renovated church was

consecrated by Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin the
Second. President Sargsyan met with his Ukrainian counterpart Victor
Yushenko and agreed on his official visit to Ukraine.