Author: Chmshkian Vicken

ARMENIA AND VIETNAM WILLING TO DEVELOP ECONOMIC COOPERATION

armradio.am
25.03.2008 13:38

The newly appointed Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Bui
Dinh Zinh (seat in Moscow) presented his credentials to RA President
Robert Kocharyan, President’s Press office reported.

Robert Kocharyan congratulated the Ambassador on appointment and
specially noted the traditionally warm ties and attitude of the
Armenian and Vietnamese peoples.

Underlining the high level of political relations between the
two countries, the effective cooperation within international
organizations, the parties stressed the importance of development
of economic relations, expressing willingness to undertake concrete
steps in this direction.

The parties prioritized the organization if reciprocal visits, the
activation of business contacts, exchange of varied information,
which will allow clarifying the possible spheres of cooperation.

ARMENIA CAN IMPLEMENT C WITHOUT U.S. HELP – KOCHARIAN

Interfax News Agency
March 20 2008
Russia

Armenia will implement a program developed together with the Millennium
Challenge Corporation (C)

regardless of the foundation’s stance, Armenia’s outgoing President
Robert Kocharian told a news conference in Yerevan on Thursday.

Kocharian also said that he received a letter from C CEO Ambassador
John J. Danilovich, in which Armenia was warned that the United States
could stop offering assistance to Armenia under this program.

This decision "may have other connotations, not only economic ones,"
the president said.

"Of course, we do not want the program to be stopped, we would like
for it to continue. However, if the U.S. makes such a decision,
Armenia will nevertheless continue fulfilling what was outlined. But
this will be at the expense of other organizations, particularly the
Linsy Foundation, the all-Armenian charity union Aiastan and other
donors," Kocharian said.

The outgoing president also noted that there is nothing unusual about
the fact that U.S. President George Bush has yet to congratulate
Armenian President-elect Serzh Sargsyan. "Me, personally, received
congratulations from Bush only on April 10, after the inauguration,"
Kocharian said.

"It is for someone’s congratulations that we hold elections for,
because such psychology is humiliating," Kocharian said.

THE OSCE GROUP FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT DISAPPOINTED THE AZERBAIJANIS
by Svetlana Gamova, Sohbet Mamedov

DEFENSE and SECURITY
March 19, 2008 Wednesday
Russia

DETERMINED TO HAVE MOSCOW CHANGE ITS STAND ON KARABAKH, BAKU IMPLIES
THAT AZERBAIJANI-RUSSIAN RELATIONS MAY BE REVISED; Azerbaijan is
disappointed by the stand of the OSCE Minsk Group on the UN General
Assembly resolution and suspects foul play on the part of Moscow,
Paris, and Washington.

The UN hearings on "the occupied Azerbaijani territories" stirred
all of Baku. Branding the UN resolution as triumph of the Azerbaijani
democracy, Baku nevertheless wondered why the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia,
France, and the United States designated to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict) wouldn’t second the document. A spokesman for the Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry even said that Baku might choose to revise relations
with these countries.

Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister, Araz Azimov, expressed
bewilderment that Russia, France, and the United States voted against
the UN resolution. These three countries are co-chairs in the OSCE
Minsk Group, a structure set up to facilitate settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azimov said Azerbaijan might decide to
revise relations with Russia and some other UN countries that had voted
against the resolution demanding the withdrawal of Armenian regular
army from Karabakh. Azimov alleviated the gravity of his own words,
however, by saying that "We believe that an important document, valid
from the legal and political standpoint, has been adopted." According
to the diplomat, the voting shouldn’t upset the Azerbaijanis merely
because Russia, the United States, and France had voted against.

By and large, Baku welcomed the adoption of the UN General
Assembly Resolution, "The Situation in the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan". This document insists on an instantaneous, complete,
and unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian forces from the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan. The document confirmed the right of the
population driven from the occupied territories to return to their
homes. It also recognized the necessity of normal, safe, and equal
living conditions for the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of
the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

"As for the position of the OSCE Minsk Group, they are clearly
out to demonstrate that they do not have anything to do with the
decisions made by international organizations including the UN,"
political scientist Fikret Sadykhov said. According to Sadykhov, these
countries view themselves as instrumental players and emphasize their
willingness to operate only within the framework of the OSCE mandate.

The Azerbaijani general public in the meantime is clearly perplexed.

Governments of the countries running the OSCE Minsk Group make a
lot of references to territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. When it
came down to adoption of an actual document, however, these countries
reneged on the principles they themselves had pledged to uphold. Most
Azerbaijanis are convinced that either Moscow, Paris, and Washington
are insincere, or they want the conflict put on hold.

ADOPTION OF ANTI-ARMENIAN RESOLUTION IN UN WAS CONSEQUENCE OF DERELICTION OF OUR DIPLOMACY, POLITICAL SCIENTIST LEVON MELIK-SHAHNAZARIAN CONSIDERS

Noyan Tapan
March 18, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 18, NOYAN TAPAN. With the anti-Armenian resolution
adopted at the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly Azerbaijan has
not won, but Armenia has been defeated. Political scientist Levon
Melik-Shahnazarian expressed such an opinion at the March 18 press
conference. According to him, it is the title of the above mentioned
resolution, which is first of all to the detriment of Armenia, "The
Situation in the Occupied Territories." In L. Melik-Shahnazarian’s
words, the four resolutions over the Nagorno Karabakh problem adopted
in UN so far regarded only the situation in Karabakh, while this one
essentially differs from the previous ones with its content.

As the political scientist is convinced, it was possible to prevent
the adoption of that resolution not favorable for Armenia, as the
United States, Russia, France from the very start were disposed to
vote against as both great powers and as country-members of the
OSCE Minsk Group. According to M. Shahnazarian, under such favorable
conditions it was not very difficult for the Armenian diplomatic corps
to hinder the adoption of the resolution. It was also possible to in
advance carry out agitation with the representatives of the countries,
for which the Nagorno Karabakh problem and the resolutions on it are
of no special interest and therefore, it is easy to persuade them.

In particular, Paraguay, Zambia, Malaysia, and others are among
these countries. However the Armenian diplomatic corps, according
to L. Melik-Shahnazarian, displayed unconscientiousness in that
issue. In general, according to him, Armenia having many facts against
Azerbaijan, fails to submit them to the international structures,
while Azerbaijan without any grounds tries to "blacken" the Armenian
side by all possible means.

L. Melik-Shahnazarian said that the above mentioned resolution is
to be also discussed at the next session of the UN General Assembly,
and the number of those who will vote for is likely to increase this
time. In his words, the Armenian diplomats should take into account
that circumstance and organize their work proceeding from it.

VARDAN OSKANIAN: IF AZERBAIJAN FINDS THAT ISSUE SHOULD BE SETTLED IN UN, NEXT STEP OF ARMENIA SHOULD BE PROVISION OF SECURITY OF KARABAKH

Noyan Tapan
March 18, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The resolution passed by the
UN has no mandatory and legal force, it is just of consultative
character. This statement was made by Vardan Oskanian, the Minister
of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, in his interview with
the Kentron TV company. It should be mentioned that by the insistance
of Azerbaijan a resolution was passed in the UN, which called Armenia
to free the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. According to the RA
Minister of Foreign Affairs, the situation is quite different today
and the fact that the OSCE co-presiding countries: Russia, France,
the United States, which are involved in the settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, voted against the resolution "is an unequivocal
call to Azerbaijan that there is one solution to this problem,
which has arisen by adoptions of resolutions," the Minister said,
quoting as an example the decision made by the UN General Assembly
yet in 1948 on the partition of Palestine: "Look, how many years have
passed." According to the RA Minister of Foreign Affairs, only one
document can bring to the solution of the issue: the document signed
by Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia.

"If Azerbaijan really believes that the contents of the resolution
will be a guide for the negotiations, we will not reach any
results. However, it fully understands that it is being done for an
internal consumption. The Minister excluded that the OSCE will be
led with these consultative suggestions of the United Nations.

In the opinion of Vardan Oskanian, the main reason for the claim of
Azerbaijan to put to the vote the resolution, which had been on the
agenda for about two years, is Kosovo and the situation of Armenia
to some extent: "They noticed a window: the breach of armistice on
the front, which was also contributed to by the adoption of this
resolution. They thought that Armenia is weak, internally split,
Ambassadors resign: they found that the moment is expedient and
claimed that it should be put to the vote."

According to the Minister, Serge Sargsian approves and Ilham Aliev
"shows signes of approval" for their possible meeting to be held
in Bukharest within the framework of the NATO’s summit on April
3-4. Vardan Oskanian expressed an opinion, according to which at the
first meeting of cognitive character the RA newly-elected President
should tell the President of Azerbaijan: "if you find that the issue
is to be settled according to your document passed in the UN, we have
nothing to speak about, let us not lose time, each of us should go
his own way, we will reconsider our position and make the next step
in the direction of providing the security of Karabakh."

In response to the question of whether Armenia will come out of
the negotation process in that case, Vardan Oskanian mentioned:
"The process will collapse by itself as there are, really, no edges
for speaking." "I hope that Azerbaijan will estimate the situation
in a right way and will understand that they cannot settle an issue
by documents passed in other organizations. they should be realist,
and continue taking the document existing today as basis, which is
a result of two-year work." The right for the self-determination
of nations and the principle of the territorial completeness of
countries have been compared in that document: "The main reason
that the co-Chairmen qualified the resolution of Azerbaijan as not
balanced is that it concerned only the territorial completeness of
Azerbaijan, the principle of the self-determination right of nations
was completely lacking."

ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION THREAT FOR TALKS

DeFacto Agency
March 18 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, 18.03.08. DE FACTO. "We are inspired by the fact that during
the voting the civilized countries refrained from the draft resolution
presented by Azerbaijan to the U. N.", the RA President’s spokesperson
Victor Soghomonian stated at a briefing. "As for the fact that the
resolution was on the agenda I would like to note it was not a surprise
for us. This is not the first case when such attempts are made. So,
I think the Armenian party should not worry".

According to Victor Soghomonian, the representatives of the Minsk
group countries believe the adoption of the resolution by the U. N.

can create a threat for the talks. Besides, now there are numerous
questions referring to the fact how seriously Azerbaijan regards the
talks in general. "I would not like to speak of Armenia’s possible
secession from the talks’ current format", the President’s spokesperson
noted, adding that "time will show".

TURKISH NOVELIST UP FOR BRITISH PRIZE

Reuters
New York Times
March 18 2008

LONDON (Reuters) – A writer whose novel put her on trial for "insulting
Turkishness" made the longlist for a prestigious British fiction
prize on Tuesday.

Elif Shafak, author of the bestseller "The Bastard of Istanbul" was one
of 20 writers longlisted for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.

Ms. Shafak was prosecuted in Turkey over comments made by characters
in her book about the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

She was acquitted by an Istanbul court in 2006.

The book interweaves stories of a Turkish and an Armenian family in
the United States and Istanbul.

The Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and other Turkish intellectuals
have been prosecuted for the same offense.

In January of 2007, Ms. Shafak cut short a book tour promoting the
novel in the United States because of fears for her safety after
the murder of Hrant Dink, a newspaper editor who was prosecuted
for challenging the official Turkish version of the 1915 Armenian
genocide, her publisher said. She was attacked on nationalist Web
sites the publisher, Paul Slovak, of Viking, said at the time. Ms.

Shafak was born in France and is of Turkish descent.

The Orange Prize is open to any woman writing in English.

The novel is one of several in this year’s longlist to deal with
immigration.

The winner will be announced at a ceremony on June 4.

PARLIAMENT LIMITS RIGHT TO PROTEST IN ARMENIA
by Natalia Leshchenko

Global Insight
March 18, 2008

The Armenian parliament has passed in two readings amendments to the
law on public rallies and demonstrations that allows local authorities
to ban public protests if they have "reliable information" that they
would threaten public order and security. The term for consideration
of applications for public rallies was also extended from three to
five days. The organisers of the rallies have the right to appeal
against their events being banned, and the law-makers also pledged
to send the amended legislation to international experts to scrutinise.

Significance:Armenian is currently under a state of emergency that
is supposed to last at least until 20 March. This was imposed after
the clashes between the police and the public contesting the official
results of the 19 February presidential election. While the authorities
appeared shaky and vulnerable during the post-election protests,
they resorted to a police clampdown on 1 March that left at least
eight people dead, and have regained their grip over the country. The
opposition is dispersed and defeated, with nearly 100 arrests, and
the presidential position, if tarnished by violence and democracy
limitations, is back in the hands of president-elect Serzh Sargsyan.

SAUDI ROYALS ON FIRST-EVER TRIP TO ARMENIA

Radio Liberty
March 17 2008
Czech Republic

A prominent Saudi prince met President Robert Kocharian and Prime
Minister Serzh Sarkisian in Yerevan at the weekend during a first-ever
visit to Armenia by a member of Saudi Arabia’s ruling dynasty.

It was not immediately clear if the visit by Prince Al-Walid bin
Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud and his wife, Princess Amira, heralded
the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations.

Saudi Arabia is among a handful of Islamic nations, including Turkey
and Pakistan, that have lent their full support to Muslim Azerbaijan
in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and refused to establish diplomatic
ties with Christian Armenia. As recently last Friday, the oil-rich
kingdom voted for a UN General Assembly resolution that referred to
Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan and demanded an "immediate,
complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces" from occupied
Azerbaijani lands.

Official sources in Yerevan said Prince Al-Walid, who controls Saudi
Arabia’s largest company, Kingdom Holding, discussed with Kocharian
and Sarkisian the possibility of making investments in the Armenian
economy and, in particular, its tourism and leisure sectors.

"The Saudi Arabian prince emphasized his warm feelings towards
the Armenian people and noted that he has many Armenian friends,"
Kocharian’s office said. According to a separate statement by the
Armenian government’s press service, the billionaire prince told
Sarkisian that Armenia has achieved "spectacular progress" in recent
years and is "on the right development track."

Kocharian was quoted as stressing that Armenia has "extremely warm,
extensive and multi-layered relationships" with many Arab states not
least because of their affluent Armenian communities.

Sarkisian, for his part, said he would only welcome Saudi investments
in his country’s economy. "Both sides stressed at the end of the
meeting that economic cooperation and closer ties could also foster
the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries,"
his press service said.

"SCHOOL BUILDING" AND "ROAD BUILDING" PROGRAMS OF LINCY FOUNDATION TO FINISH WITHIN ENVISAGED PERIOD

Noyan Tapan
March 17, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The head of the RA presidential
staff, chairman of the management board of the Lincy Foundation
Armen Gevorgian and the foundation’s deputy chairman Harut Sasunian
on March 17 visited the building sites of the structures included in
the programs of the Lincy Foundation. They familiarized themselves
with repairs of Yerevan schools No 125, 168 and 194 included in
"School Building" Program.

The director of "Road Building" Program Implementation Office Eduard
Bezoyan presented the construction process of the new highway to
connect Heratsi, Saralanj and Avetisian Streets. It is envisaged to
finish the construction work in August 2008.

According to the RA president’s press service, the persons in charge
of the programs assured the foundation representatives that the
construction work is being done in line with the quality requirements
and will finish within the envisaged period.