Author: Chalian Meline

MINISTER NALBANDIAN DISCONTENT WITH AZERBAIJANI STATEMENTS

A1+
17 July, 2008

RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who is presently on official
duty in Washington, met U.S. Deputy Secretary of State on the European
and Eurasian affairs Mr. Daniel Frid.

The two parties discussed the agendum of Armenian-American cooperation
and referred to the problems of security and stability in the region.

Minister Nalbandian and the Deputy Secretary of State exchanged ideas
on the possible causes and consequences of post-election developments
in Armenia and discussed Armenia’s steps towards their settlement. The
interlocutors also conversed over the perspectives of regulation of
Armeinan-Turkish relations.

On July 16 Edward Nalbandian had another meeting with US Co-chair
of the OSCE Minsk Group Methew Bryza. The parties discussed the
process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict regulation, the results of
the co-chairs’ latest visit to the region, as well as the possibility
of a new meeting between the foreign ministers of both countries.

At the meeting Minister Nalbandian expressed his dissatisfaction
about the reaction of international public to the Azerbaijani warlike
statements, directed to Armenia.

The second half of the day RA Foreign Minister spent meeting
representatives of Armenian organizations in the U.S.A. – Armenian
National Committee of America, Armenian Assembly of America and
U.S.-Armenian Public Affairs Committee – presenting them the
cooperation project with the Armenian Diaspora.

IS LAKE BLUFF RESIDENCE A HOME OR A CHURCH?

Chicago Tribune
July 17 2008
IL

LAKE BLUFF, Ill. – A battle is brewing in the North Shore suburb
of Lake Bluff over a Chicago banker and real estate firm owner’s
contention that his $3 million home is a church.

When George Michael converted his residence into the Armenian Church
of Lake Bluff, it qualified him for a nearly $80,000 break on his
annual property tax bill.

Village officials wonder how they will make up the lost revenue.

Michael told state officials last month that he began his congregation
more than a year ago after he got a pastor’s degree from an online
religious site.

While only a handful of close friends and family attend the church,
his attorney said Michael made the move to spare his disabled wife
the hardship of having to travel to practice her religion.

RA FOREIGN MINISTER HOPES FOR SOONEST ARRIVAL OF U.S. AMBASSADOR IN ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.07.2008 14:19 GMT+04:00

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and U.S. Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice discussed appointment of new U.S. Ambassador
to Armenia.

"I hope for soonest arrival of the new Ambassador, what will encourage
development of the Armenian-U.S. relations," Minister Nalbandian said,
the RA MFA press office said.

On March 28, 2008, Pres. Bush nominated Marie L. Yovanovitch to serve
as America’s next Ambassador to Armenia.

U.S. Senate confirmation hearings for the new ambassador-elect
were postponed because the State Department has delayed responding
to Senators’ questions about her position on Armenian Genocide
recognition.

"We remain troubled by Ambassador Yovanovitch’s evasive answers,
her outright non-responses, and her refusal, in her replies to
Senator Obama and other Senators, to offer anything approaching
a reasonable or factually supportable explanation of the reasons
behind Administration’s misguided policy on the Armenian Genocide,"
said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA.

Bush’s previous nominee as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, Richard
Hoagland, was subject to two legislative holds by Sen. Bob Menendez
(D-NJ) and was ultimately withdrawn by the Administration, following
the nominee’s statements denying the Armenian Genocide.

The position of Ambassador to Armenia has been unfilled since
Ambassador John Evans was recalled two years ago by the Bush
Administration for recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN VISITS FRENCH EMBASSY ON THE OCCASION OF FRANCE’S NATIONAL HOLIDAY

ARMENPRESS
JULY 14

The presidential press service told Armenpress that President Serzh
Sargsyan paid a visit today to the French Embassy in Armenia on the
occasion of France’s National Holiday.

It said the president congratulated the embassy staff. Noting with
pleasure the high-level French Armenian relations he expressed hope
that they will continue to successfully develop.

Zaman Online, Turkey
July 14 2008

A Swedish witness to the `silent revolution’: Turkey decoded

Å?AHÄ°N ALPAY [email protected] Columnists

Sweden throughout the 1990s was one of the most vocal critics of human
rights violations in Turkey. At the Helsinki summit of the EU in 1999
Sweden was one of the last member states to give its consent to
Turkey’s candidacy. Today, in contrast, Sweden is the strongest
supporter of Turkey’s membership in the EU. Cecilia Malmström,
Sweden’s minister for EU affairs, recently made the following
statement:
"We recommend membership — when Turkey fulfils the criteria —
because we believe that a democratic and open Turkey has much to
contribute to the EU and that the country will be able to serve as an
important bridge between Europe and the Muslim world. There is
naturally a long way to go before membership can be considered, but it
is important that we send positive signals to Turkey and to all those
people who want the prime minister and the government to move closer
to Europe and bring the country into the EU. We need to show our
support particularly now that he and his party are experiencing major
problems with nationalist forces who have reported the ruling [Justice
and Development Party] AK Party to the Constitutional Court. The whole
matter may appear farcical but is an example of the powerful forces
struggling in this country. It is no less than an attempt at a
constitutional coup d’état…" (Europaforum, April 14, 2008)

Sweden is the only country where both left and right-wing governments
and all parties in parliament support Turkey’s membership in the
EU. There is not a single member in the Swedish Parliament who is
against Turkish accession. The Swedish Parliament has so far rejected
all draft resolutions put forward for the recognition of the "Armenian
genocide," most recently on June 14, 2008 when out of 254 members of
parliament who voted only 32 cast their votes in favor.

Sweden is the only EU member country which has opened a
Swedish-Turkish Cooperation Center in Ä°stanbul to promote
Turkey’s integration into the EU. In a recent conference on Turkey-EU
relations I attended in Holland, a high-ranking Dutch diplomat stated,
with astonishment, that Sweden is the only country which is putting up
a fight in favor of Turkey against France in Brussels. According to
Eurobarometer surveys, Swedes are the people most supportive of
Turkish membership in the EU, with 46 percent being in favor. Sweden
is surely Turkey’s best friend in the EU. Why?

Swedish governments, both left and right, are fully aware of the
benefits of enlargement and oppose the EU turning into a federal
superstate. They have observed how the EU’s soft power, its ability to
attract and persuade countries to adopt its norms and goals, has led
to a silent revolution in Turkey between 2001 and 2005 towards greater
freedom and prosperity, and also how negative signals coming from the
EU since then have led to a nationalist backlash, dangerous for both
Turkey and the union.

One of Sweden’s former social democratic foreign ministers, the late
Anna Lindh, and current conservative Foreign Minister Carl Bildt have
both shown a keen interest in Turkey. This has helped Stockholm to
understand, perhaps better than any other EU capital, the dynamics of
Ankara. Swedish Ambassador to Turkey Christer Asp, former Swedish
Ambassador to Turkey Henrik Liljegren, former Swedish Ambassador to
Turkey Ann Dismorr and Swedish Consul-General in Ä°stanbul
Ingmar Karlsson have all made outstanding contributions to bring
Turkey closer to Sweden and the EU. Karlsson believes that history is
an important factor in explaining Swedish sympathy for Turkey: Austria
is Turkey’s staunchest opponent in the EU, perhaps because the Turks
twice attempted to take Vienna. Sweden and Turkey, on the other hand,
have never been at war against each other.

Dismorr served in Ankara precisely in the period between 2001 and 2005
when the prospect of EU membership helped Turkish governments achieve
substantial democratic reforms which led to the start of accession
negotiations with Brussels in October 2005. She recently published a
book, titled "Turkey Decoded" (Saqi Publishers, 2008), which is
undoubtedly the best account so far of the role of the EU’s soft power
on what has been called a "silent revolution" in Turkey. The
concluding sentences of the book seem to summarize its main argument:
"President [Abdullah] Gül and the AK Party government face a
historic challenge to demonstrate that Islam and democracy are
compatible. Turkey has come a long way in proving that. ¦ The EU is
facing a historic choice of how to deal with Turkey — the most
liberal and well-developed democracy in the Muslim world of 1.2
billion people. The world is watching."

14.07.2008

GERMAN MOUNTAINEERS WILL NOT BE RELEASED SOON, SAYS PKK

Turkish Daily News
July 11 2008
Turkey

Germany’s efforts to crackdown on the outlawed PKK is the reason why
three mountaineers were kidnapped as they were climbing Mt. Agrı,
the group said in a statement. The governor’s office says the mountain
is closed to climbers until the Germans are freed

ISTANBUL – TDN with wire dispatches

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) confirmed yesterday they
had kidnapped three Germans on a climbing trip in eastern Turkey
and said they were in good health, the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency
reported.

The group threatened not to release the hostages unless Berlin ended
its crackdown against their group and its supporters, according to
a statement by the PKK, published on Firat’s Internet site.

"The German tourists will not be released unless the German state
announces that it has given up its hostile policies against the
Kurdish people and the PKK," the statement said.

The PKK’s statement came as Mount Agrı (Ararat) in the east of the
country is declared closed to climbers until further notice in order
to prevent mountaineers hindering the security operation launched to
free the kidnapped Germans, the Dogan news agency reported yesterday.

Five members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK,
kidnapped three of a group of 13 German mountaineers late Tuesday as
they were camping at an altitude of 3,200 meters.

The PKK members told the group that they were taking hostages in
protest at the German government’s crackdown on PKK-affiliated bodies
and its supporters in Germany, Agrı Governor Mehmet Cetin told the
Anatolia news agency Wednesday.

The kidnappers took the tourists’ mobile phones as they left the camp.

"The remaining mountaineers noticed in the morning that the PKK members
had thrown some of the phones under a rock and used them to inform us,"
Cetin said.

Paramilitary troops have launched an operation to rescue the hostages,
while the other climbers were brought down from the mountain.

Last month, German authorities banned the Danish-based Roj TV from
broadcasting in the country because it promoted the PKK. They also
ordered the closure of a production house that supplied the channel
with programming.

The PKK, which is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and several
Western countries, has been fighting for self-rule in the east and
southeast of the country since 1984. The conflict has claimed more
than 37,000 lives.

Mount Agrı, situated close to the Iranian and Armenian borders,
is the highest mountain in Turkey at 5,137 meters (16,853 feet) and
is believed by many to be the final resting place of the Biblical
Noah’s Ark.

The Dogan news agency identified the kidnapped Germans as Lars Holger
Renne, 33, Martin Georg, 49, and Helmut Johann, 65.

Governor Cetin said they will do everything in their power to rescue
the kidnapped Germans safely. "We will consider opening Mt. Agrı to
climbers after the release of the tourists," he said, adding that
the rest of the mountaineering group left Dogubeyazıt yesterday
for Istanbul.

The security forces have established a cordon around the mountain,
reported Dogan news agency, noting that all details of individuals
traveling to and from villages on the outskirts of Mt. Agrı were
being recorded.

Bad for business:

Travel agents and hoteliers in the region are furious over the wide
coverage generated by the kidnappings, arguing that it has cost them
serious business, reported Dogan.

One agent told Dogan that the biggest revenue generator in the
region is tourism and after Mt. Agrı is closed to climbing, no one
will visit.

–Boundary_(ID_2g4FvZGmzqweeFwaVTApkw)–

SULEIMAN DECREES LEBANON’S NEW CABINET: 30 MINISTERS FROM SEVEN SECTS

NaharNet
July 11 2008
Lebanon

President Michel Suleiman on Friday decreed the formation of a national
unity cabinet, the first in his six-year term.

The cabinet, headed by Premier Fouad Saniora, groups 30 ministers from
the seven major sects in a nation made up of 18 religious communities.

Maronite Ministers: Ziad Baroud, Nassib Lahoud, Tony Karam, Gibran
Bassil, Mario Aoun and Elie Marouni.

Greek Orthodox ministers: Issam Abu Jamra, Elias Murr, Ibrahim Najjar,
Tareq Mitri and Raymond Audi.

Catholic ministers: Elie Skaff, and Youssef Takla.

Druze: Talal Arslan, Ghazi Aridi and Wael Abu Faour.

Sunnis: Fouad Saniora, Bahia Hariri, Mohammed Safadi, Tammam Salam,
Mohammad Shatah and Khaled Qabbani

Shiites: Mohammed Fneish, Ali Qanso, Ibrahim Shamseddine, Mohammed
Jawad Khalifa, Fawzi Salloukh and Ghazi Zoayter.

COMMISSIONER HAMMARBERG VISITS ARMENIA TO ASSESS PROGRESS MADE IN THE INVESTIGATION OF POST-ELECTION EVENTS

armradio.am
11.07.2008 15:25

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg,
will start on Sunday a three-day visit to Yerevan to weigh the progress
made in the investigation of the violent events in connection with
the demonstrations after the Presidential election in March. He will
meet with the highest national authorities and will visit prisons
accompanied by two members of his Office and Johan Hirschfeldt, an
international expert with extensive experience on national commissions
of inquiry.

"This visit is part of the ongoing dialogue with the Armenian
authorities, and follows the visits carried out last October and March"
said the Commissioner. "In my last report on Armenia, I advocated for
a comprehensive investigation into the 1 March events. The aim of this
visit is therefore to take stock of the progress made towards this
end and gather accurate information on the number of detainees and
their judicial status" continued Commissioner Hammarberg. "I have also
taken note of the recent Resolution adopted by the Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly on the functioning of democratic institutions
in Armenia. In this context, I intend to provide an international
contribution towards the improvement of the human rights situation
in the country."

During his visit,20the Commissioner will meet the highest State
authorities, including the President Serzh Sargsyan, leading members of
the Government, Parliament representatives, the Prosecutor General and
members of the ad hoc Parliamentary inquiry committee. Commissioner
Hammarberg will also hold further meetings with detainees and their
lawyers, the Human Rights Defender, as well as representatives of
international organisations and civil society.

ARF’S NEWLY ELECTED BUREAU HOLDS ITS FIRST PLENARY MEETING

Yerkir
08.07.2008 17:21
Yerevan

The ARF newly elected Bureau held its first plenary meeting in Yerevan
on July 8.

The meeting’s agenda included issues discussed by the General
Congress. The domestic and external challenges Armenia faces,
socio-economic issues, the implemented reforms were in the focus of
the Bureau.

It was said at the meeting that the Artsakh issue as well as the
Armenian genocide issue should be kept on Armenia’s agenda.

The reorganization of the Diaspora in terms of making it an important
political and economic factor was also discussed.

The Bureau said that the fact of the Armenian genocide cannot be
questioned and no high-ranking Armenian official should have any
other approach. The meeting also outlined the ways of strengthening
the party and its modernization.

The meeting also noted with pride that an ARF representative has been
recently elected a vice-president of the Socialist International,
uniting 169 political parties around the globe.

The ARF Bureau’s goal is to normalize the moral environment in Armenia,
further democrat

ARMENIA, ROMANIA WILLING TO DEEPEN MILITARY COOPERATION

armradio.am
09.07.2008 15:18

On July 9 RA Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan received the Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to Armenia, Mr. Chrina
Prunariu and Lieutenant Colonel Corneliu Calistru on the occasion of
the latter’s appointment as Romania’s Military Attaché in Armenia.

At the beginning of the meeting Seyran Ohanyan congratulated the
newly appointed Military Attaché, expressing hope that the bilateral
military cooperation will further expand during the latter’s tenure in
office and wished him success in carrying out his mission in Armenia.

The newly appointed Military Attaché thanked the Defense Minister
for good wishes and assured that he will continue the work of his
predecessor, Lieutenant Colonel Radu Philip, with new vigor to have
the bilateral cooperation reach a qualitatively new level.

The parties turned to the political and economic cooperation between
the two countries, underlining the necessity to deepen this cooperation
especially in the military field.

Seyran Ohanyan noted that Armenia expresses willingness to develop
the cooperation especially in the field of peacekeeping, maximally
supporting the operations in Afghanistan, as well.

The Minister attached importance to the cooperation in the
military-educational sphere, underlining the existing broad
opportunities.

The existing potential of cooperation between the defense agencies
of the two countries demands taking more practical steps.

The parties spoke about the reforms implemented in Armenia through
joint programs with European structures, especially within the
framework of the Individual Partnership Action Plan with NATO,
stressing that the defense reforms in Armenia should be implemented
in compliance with Euro-Atlantic standards.

–Boundary_(ID_ZCEkmz4DlZj8w3KIsimnqA) —