Author: Chmshkian Vicken

The Federal Register
8 Sept 2005
H.R.3103
Title: To direct the Secretary of State to submit a report outlining the
steps taken and plans made by the United States to end Turkey’s blockade of
Armenia.
Sponsor: Rep Schiff, Adam B. [CA-29] (introduced 6/29/2005) Cosponsors
(3)
Latest Major Action: 6/29/2005 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred
to the House Committee on International Relations.
COSPONSORS(3), ALPHABETICAL [followed by Cosponsors withdrawn]: (Sort:
by date)
Rep Baca, Joe [CA-43] – 9/7/2005Rep McCotter, Thaddeus G. [MI-11] – 9/7/2005
Rep Pallone, Frank, Jr. [NJ-6] – 6/29/2005

RUSSIA-GEORGIA MILITARY NEGOTIATIONS HAVE GOOD PROSPECTS-DIPLOMAT
By Ksenia Kaminskaya
ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 6, 2005 Tuesday 3:04 PM Eastern Time
Russian-Georgian military negotiations have good prospects, Russian
Foreign Ministry Ambassador Lev Mironov told Itar-Tass ahead of a
Russian delegation visit to Tbilisi.
Negotiations on the Russian bases’ pullout from the territory of
Georgia will be held in Tbilisi on Wednesday.
“We want to coordinate an agreement on transit of military cargo
across Georgia. The bases are being pulled out, and we are taking
away property. Some cargo is being transported to Russia, and some
goes to Armenia, where a Russian base is located,” Mironov said.
Russian Foreign Ministry Representative for CIS Affairs, Ambassador
Igor Savolsky and Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Merab Antadze will
hold the negotiations as the heads of delegations, while Mironov
and his Georgian counterpart Malkhaz Mikeladze will hold expert
consultations.

THE NA PRESIDENT CONTINUES HIS VISIT TO USA
National Assembly of RA (press release), Armenia
Sept 6 2005
Continuing his visit to Washington Artur Baghdasaryan NA President
met the leaders of a number of international organizations, which
have authority in democracy development, protection of human rights,
fighting corruption and other fields (“Transparency international,”
“Freedom House,” “ABA-CEELI,” US National Democratic Institute,
US Peace Corps).
Issues concerning the democratic and electoral reforms in Armenia,
fighting corruption, support of human rights and free media,
cooperation in fighting against terrorism were discussed. During the
meetings concrete arrangements for future cooperation were reached.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FORMER HANRAPETUTYUN MEMBERS WANT TO CREATE NEW PARTY
Armenpress
Sept 6, 2005
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS: Albert Bazeyan, a former senior
member of Armenia’s most radical opposition Hanrapetutyun (Republic)
party, who abandoned the party together with six other senior members
of its ruling board last week, questioned today the party leader,
Aram Sarkisian’s ‘constant’ promises to force president Kocharian
and his administration to step down through a revolution.
Speaking to a news conference Bazeyan argued that no political force is
able to carry out a revolution all alone. “If you want to carry out a
revolution you must have a clearly-designed plan of actions,” he said.
Bazeyan cited Aram Sarkisian’s increasingly pro-Western orientation
and uncompromising stance against the authorities as the main reasons
of why they left the party. “The Hanrapetutyun party has turned away
from Vazgen Sarkisian’s (Aram Sarkisian’s elder brother, a former prime
minister killed in 1999 parliament attack) ideology,’ Bazeyan argued.
Bazeyan also admitted to having plans to establish a new party,
but added that lack of money is a problem. Vagharshak Harutunian, a
former defense minister, who also left the party, said 75 percent of
Hanrapetutyun’s regional chapters said they would leave the party too.

REVERSING THE LOGIC OF GROWTH
By Mher Ohanian
Yerkir/arm
September 02, 2005
According to the data provided by the CIS Inter-State Committee on
Statistics, among the CIS countries the economy of Azerbaijan has
experienced the fastest growth in the first half of 2005. The growth
rate of the Armenian economy for the same period has been 10.2%. While
in Armenia agriculture and construction remained the main sources of
economic growth, in Azerbaijan the growth was accomplished through
production and sale of oil.
Summing up qualitative changes
It is obvious that the Armenian economy, irrespective of several
internal and external circumstances, has entered a certain level
whereby definition of strategic priorities for development becomes
crucial. Judging from the statistics, the Armenian economy … is
one of the most dynamic and growing economies in the world.
According to expert estimates, the average annual growth of GDP has
constituted 8.5% for the period of 1994-2004. With such growth rate,
Armenia can only aspire for EU membership in some 10-12 years after
an average per capita income of 6500-7000 dollars is ensured for
the population. Meanwhile, for Armenia, a country with developed and
high quality human resources, such a scenario is not acceptable. The
experience of the recent years shows that much higher growth rates
can be achieved – 9.5-12.5%.
On the other hand, it should be noted that in the context of the
present economic situation the economic growth cannot be sustainable
in the long run. It is obvious that the present economic growth is
concentrated in several sectors.
Meanwhile, the factors contributing to favorable conditions in these
sectors cannot be sustained. This is true for large scale construction
works and agriculture. Therefore, if the share of these sectors in the
economy decreases with time, the economic growth will also slow down.
The agricultural sector in Armenia is in a privileged position vis a
vis the foreign producers since the domestic agricultural sector is
exempt from VAT. However, these privileges will be gradually eliminated
in 3-4 years. In this context, if the inevitable increase of the prices
of agricultural products is not balanced with growth of productivity
in the agricultural sector, economic decline will be inevitable.
Finally, one of the main factors contributing to the economic growth in
Armenia has been large scale foreign financing through loans provided
by international financial organizations and humanitarian assistance
from donor countries and international organizations.
This assistance has made it possible to sustain the infrastructures
and ensure the population’s purchasing power. The last factor has
stimulated activation of the domestic producers. Provision of foreign
loans and formulation of domestic demand have thus made it possible
to significantly decrease imports increasing instead exports from
the country.

PUBLIC PRESSURE POSTPONES EVICTION
A1+
| 13:50:29 | 05-09-2005 | Social |
Today at 08:00 a.m. 5 families were to be evicted from the Buzand
street. The eviction is supposed to be repeated daily till there
are no old dwellers in the street.
Today residents of the North and Main Avenues, other citizens,
students, representatives of non-governmental organizations were
gathered in the street in order not to allow the eviction to be carried
out. At about 10:30 – 11:00 a.m. several policemen visited the street,
but seeing the crowd, left immediately.
Let us remind you that on September 1 the house of the Mouradyans has
been leveled to earth. The family has lived in the street ever since,
as no money has been allotted to them to buy a new house.
By the way, the crowd was determined not to allow any eviction
today. Head of the North Avenue Residents Committee Vachagan Hakobyan
announced, “If they come, we will never give up and let them destroy
another house”.
The residents were even “prepared” to meet the police. Resident of the
Buzand street Susanna Pogosyan confessed that has 3 large canisters
of petrol at home. “I’d better die. Otherwise, where shall I go? Come
into my house and see how many children I have. My family consists
of 12 persons. I cannot hire an apartment”.

EXHIBITION “HISTORY OF THE ARMENIAN DRAM” TO OPEN IN STEPANAKERT
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 2 2005
YEREVAN, September 2. /ARKA/. The exhibition “History of the Armenian
dram” will open today in Stepanakert, press-service of the Central
Bank of Armenia (CBA) reported ARKA News Agency. The exhibition is
organized by the CBA, and its goal is to present the history of the
national currency, money circulation as well as activities of the
CBA. The ancient copper coins of Artashesyan’s heritage (coined by Tsar
Tirgan the Great) will be exhibited, as well as the coins of the kings
of the Armenian Kilikia. The coins minted in Shushi (Karabakh Khanate,
XVIII century), which will be exhibited too, are of special interest.
The exhibition will present the first Armenian paper money circulated
in Armenia, as well as all types of bank papers of today’s Armenia.
Visitors will be able to get acquainted with materials presenting
the issuing process of money as well as with some instruments applied
during their issuing. The other part of the exhibition will present
history of the banking system of Armenia and paintings of the winners
of “Dram as it seen to children” contest. The exhibition will last
for ten days.
The CBA intends to announce competition among NKR students for Isahak
Isahakyan stipend. The students will have to submit their researches
on economic issues to the CBA. The Board of the CBA will decide upon
the winners. The exhibition is dedicated to the 14th anniversary of
NKR Independence. A.A. -0–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OPPOSITION DID NOT PARTICIPATE
A1+
| 13:16:19 | 31-08-2005 | Politics |
Today the National Assembly adopted the 18 new or radically changed
articles of the draft constitution. 92 deputies voted for and 1 voted
against it. The issue was put to voting despite the displeasure of the
deputies of the Justice oppositional bloc. By the way, the opposition
did not participate in the voting.
After the voting, as Shavarsh Kocharyan mentioned is his speech,
the coalition rejected all their offers, and in that case, “What else
can we speak about”. The deputy announced that he is tired of quoting
the demands of the Venice Commission and the EU.
According to Kocharyan, if the Constitution in question was offered
to any European country, they would be terrified.

TURKEY HANDS ITS ENEMIES AN OWN GOAL
Maureen Freely
The Independent – United Kingdom; Aug 31, 2005
Turkey was never going to have an easy ride into Europe. There was
the question of Cyprus, and the question of the Kurds. Turkey’s
checkered human rights record was a cause for concern, as was the
role the military played until very recently. There were also dark
mutterings about the Islamicization of Europe.
But the ghost at the feast has always been the question of the
Armenian massacres in 1915. Europe would like to see Turkey recognise
its responsibility and apologise. Turkey continues to maintain that
” while several hundred thousand Armenians may have perished ” this
happened in the context of parallel massacres perpetrated against
Muslim Turks.
In certain parts of the Turkish intelligentsia, however, there is
growing recognition that Turkey will not be successful in its European
bid until this issue is aired in an open way and somehow resolved.
It was in this spirit that Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s most famous novelist,
said, in an interview last winter with the Swiss newspaper Tages
Anzeiger that ‘30,000 Kurds and one million Armenians were killed in
these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it’. His comments,
reprinted in the Turkish press the following day, caused a furore,
with leading commentators denouncing him as a traitor.
There followed death threats, ostensibly from offended members of
the public, probably linked to right-wing paramilitaries. Fearing
for his safety, Pamuk’s friends advised him to leave the country. In
his absence, the story ran and ran, with the Turkish press seizing
on every comment from abroad to paint him as a Turk who shames his
country abroad.
As his friend and translator, I would like to make it very clear
(here and in the Turkish newspapers where this piece will no doubt
appear tomorrow) that this image is wholly false. This is a man who
loves his country deeply, defends it fiercely, especially when abroad,
and who cannot imagine living anywhere else.
Pamuk is not the only Turkish intellectual to have brought the Armenian
question into the public domain in recent months. Last May, a group
of Turkish academics ” some from Turkish universities, some based
in the US and Europe ” tried to hold a conference on the subject at
Bogazici University in Istanbul.
Entitled ‘The Ottoman Armenians during the Era of Ottoman Decline’,
its aim was ‘to understand and recount a historical issue that
… has become trapped and increasingly politicised between the
radical Armenian national and official Turkish theses’. There was
also a recognition amongst the (largely pro-EU) participants that
if Turkish academics were able to find a space in which to ‘own’ the
issue, this would in itself be proof to the European community that
Turkey was a maturing democracy, intent on promoting and protecting
freedom of thought.
Sadly, the Justice Minister, Cemil Cicek, saw fit to indicate otherwise
in the National Assembly the day before the conference was due to
open. When an opposition deputy denounced the organisers as traitors,
he rose to concur, going on to call the conference a ‘dagger in the
back of the Turkish people’.
The conference was postponed. Many of those who were to have given
papers vented their anger in the press, and though they were roundly
condemned by very angry others there were those who saw this fiery
exchange as proof that matters previously viewed as untouchable were
at least getting a public airing.
The optimists were vindicated when the conference was rescheduled for
late September, and they were further encouraged when Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan told the organisers that he supported the conference and
wanted it to take place before his own talks with the EU on 3 October.
But now this same government seems to have decided to shoot itself
in the foot. For a public prosecutor has brought a case against Orhan
Pamuk, having found his remarks in the Swiss newspaper last winter to
be an infringement of Article 301/1 of the Turkish Penal Code. This
states that ‘the public denigration of Turkish identity’ is a crime
and recommends that those found guilty be given prison sentences of
six to 36 months.
Because another law prohibits Pamuk from commenting on his case
while it is pending, the statement that his Turkish publishers will
be sending out today is a three-sentence affair which sets out the
facts and offers no opinion. It is up to us to decide how to read it.
There is no doubt that it will raise questions about the wisdom of
Turkey’s EU membership bid. How can it possibly claim to be a European
country if it has such laws on the books, and if public prosecutors
can bring such cases? No doubt the censure has already started behind
closed doors. No doubt it will be followed by more public denigration
of Turkishness in the European press.
This does not preclude a fairy-tale ending: common sense could
prevail. The government could persuade the public prosecutor to drop
his case. It could then put its full weight behind the conference,
and signal to the right- wing paramilitaries to stay away.
If the government fails to achieve any of the above, it may well be
because it can’t. Since December of last year, there has been a slow
but steady rise of nationalist, anti-EU sentiment inside the ruling
party, an even more dramatic rise in nationalist rhetoric in the
main opposition party, and a growing recalcitrance in the vast state
bureaucracies that must implement the sweeping legal, social, and
economic changes Turkey must make if it is join the EU. In the same
period, the government’s ability to make a case for Europe has been
severely weakened by the stream of anti-Turkish voices from Europe.
The then French Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, set the tone
during the French referendum, when he cast doubt on Turkey’s EU bid
by wondering if it was wise for the ‘river of Islam to enter the
riverbed of secularism in Europe’. (Did they forget to tell him that
Turkey has been a secular state for more than 80 years?) The great
man did not intend his remarks for the Turkish public, but of course,
they read it, too. Now, with Merkel and Chirac promising to block
Turkey’s EU bid altogether, resentment can only grow.
This is good news for all those inside Turkey who would like to stay
out of the EU, and especially good news to hardliners who would like
to see the state and the military returned to their former power, and
the intelligentsia muzzled. The badmouthing from Europe has greatly
strengthened their cause. The case against Orhan Pamuk is more grist
for their mill. Unless it is handled wisely, that is. If you care at
all about democracy in Turkey, don’t let them use him as a pawn.

ALI KERIMLI POSTERS WITH ARMENIAN FLAG EVERYWHERE IN BAKU – REPORT
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 29 2005
The Central Election Committee will study the issue of posters on the
Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), reformists, Ali Kerimli on
the background of the Armenian flag, spread in Baku, the Azerbaijan’s
CEC chairman Mazahir Panahov told Trend.
“We will study the issue. Certainly, it is not the time now to hold
campaign and propaganda. The relevant stage will start only after 7
September”, the CEC head said. The information of the posters in the
city is, of course, a serious matter, and we are to investigate it.
If a candidate is really conducting campaign he must be seriously
punished. But now the issue must be seriously studied,” Panahov added.
Panahov said any candidate, officially set to campaigning may be
seriously punished. “Ali Kerimli has not been even registered as the
candidate,” he said.
PFPA (reformists) has earlier reported that posters of Ali Kerimli
on the background of the Armenian flag spread in the city is another
“black PR” campaigning and counter-propaganda against Ali Kerimli.