Author: Ekmekjian Janet

DEPUTIES PRO-KURDISH PARTY DECIDED TO STAY IN PARLIAMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.12.2009 19:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Deputies from Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party,
which was banned last week, have decided to stay in parliament,
the head of the party said on Friday.

The banned Democratic Society Party (DTP) chairman Ahmet Turk said
they would join another pro-Kurdish party (BDP). Turk said democratic
powers, intellectuals, authors and academic circles had underlined
importance of being represented at the parliament in that process.

"Ocalan had a meeting with his lawyers on Wednesday, and Ocalan told
his lawyers that it was not right to leave the parliament ground and
continue this struggle, Turk also said, referring to PKK jailed leader
Abdullah Ocalan.

Earlier on Friday, BDP chairman Demir Celik called on the members of
the outlawed DTP to continue their political life in their party.

The the Constitutional Court found the Democratic Society Party (DTP)
guilty of links with PKK militants.

BDP was formed in 2008 after the court case against the DTP was opened
and is regarded as a potential replacement in the case of a ban.

HANS JOCHEN SCHMIDT: PROTOCOLS SHOULD BE RATIFIED NO LATER THAN FEBRUARY

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.12.2009 19:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ I hope that Armenian-Turkish Protocols will be
ratified in due time, Hans Jochen Schmidt, Ambassador of Germany to
Armenia told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

"As I stated earlier, the Protocols are a window of opportunity. The
Armenian side has repeatedly said that the Protocols should be ratified
no later than February. I share this position,"

Mr. Schmidt said. He did not rule out that the Protocols ratification
may have an impact on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

According to him, the ratification would also enable Turkey to
strengthen its role in the South Caucasus. "So, we can say that Turkey
is also interested in this process. Ankara will show that it has a
balanced policy towards Armenia and Azerbaijan, " the ambassador said.

"I hope that ratification of the Protocols by Turkey would signal of
their readiness to positively affect the Karabakh conflict settlement,
" Hans Jochen Schmidt said.

EUROPEAN ARMENIANS CONVENTION HELD IN COLOGNE

NEWS.am
12:08 / 12/17/2009

Dec. 12, 2009 the convention of European Armenians was held in
Cologne, Germany. The authorized representatives from various European
countries and organization members attended the event. Legislative
and organizational issues, introduced structural reforms and relevant
solutions were discussed and approved at the convention.

New Supreme council was elected by 5 permanent and 2 non-permanent
members chaired by Karo Hakobyan. In addition, local and working
committees were nominated.

Besides, the general meeting canvassed crucial issues and current
challenges that Diaspora, namely European Armenians face.

Serious concerns over the interests of Armenian nation in the view
of foreign policy adopted by RA authorities were voiced.

NATIONAL CINEMA CENTER ELABORATED INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS ON SHOOTING JOINT FILMS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
16.12.2009 21:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ National Cinema Center’s principal achievement of
2009 was the elaboration of international agreements with foreign
film production companies, according to Gevorg Gevorgyan, Director
of the National Cinema Center of Armenia. "Those agreements will
enable us to make joint investments, raising the quality of films,
as well as bring together actors from various countries," he told
Wednesday a news conference.

At that, he noted that Armenia, Russia and France concluded agreement
on shooting Maria Sahakyan’s "Alaverdi" film. France has agreed to
invest ~@ 650 thousand, Russia – ~@ 195 thousand and Armenia – ~@
65 thousand.

"We receive application packages, and send them to artistic council
for approval," Gevorgyan said, answering journalists’ question on
funding criteria. In that regard, he said that the 2009 State Budget
envisages AMD 405615.3 allocations to the National Cinema Center.

According to him, the Center funds worthy projects, not elaborated by
Armenian producers. These include children’s broadcasts (such as Hay
Aspet), "Gzhuk" satiric newsreel etc. Many of the films shot under the
funding of National Cinema Center will be screened during national and
international festivals, Gevorgyan said. Among them is "Don’t Look into
the Mirror" (director: Suren Babayan). It is also planned to send the
films to Argentina, Romania, Slovakia, United Arab Emirates and Russia.

The best film was Harutyun Khachatryan’s "Border" which received 10
awards. Hovhannes Galstyan’s "Bonded Parallels" came next.

SERZH SARGSYAN: NKR PARTICIPATION CAN ENSURE SUCCESSFUL TALKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.12.2009 22:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met Tuesday with
the NKR parliamentary delegation led by speaker Ashot Ghulyan.

Welcoming the guests, the President appreciated collaboration between
the parliaments of the two republics and voiced hope that NKR MPs
will have an opportunity to participate in various regional and
international processes.

"All should know that winning the war imposed by Azerbaijan, the
people of Artsakh asserted their right live freely," Mr. Sargsyan said.

He also emphasized that NKR participation can ensure successful talks
for resolution of the conflict.

ALEN ALAIAN-WEIGHTLIFTING CHAMPION

News from Armenia – NEWS.am
12:01 / 12/15/2009

Armenian weightlifter Alen Alaian became the champion of Weightlifting
Championship of Uruguay, November 2009, Sportinfo.am e-source reports.

Presently, Alaian prepares for Pan-Armenian Games. He wishes to come to
Armenia and meet with Armenian sportsmen, including his idol-Champion
of Olympic Games Yuri Vardanyan.

AZERBAIJANI SUBDIVISIONS KEEP ON FIRING ON KARABAKH POSITIONS

ArmInfo
2009-12-14 13:16:00

ArmInfo. A number of cease-fire violations took place on the contact
line of the NKR and Azerbaijani Armed Forces over the last week.

As ArmInfo correspondent in Stepanakert reports, according to the data
of the NKR Defense Army, the Azerbaijani party fired on the Karabakh
positions in all directions of the contact line from December 7 to 13.

There are no victims as yet. Subdivisions of the NKR DM took adequate
actions on suppression of the enemy’s fire.

PREGNANT WOMAN DIES OF AH1N1 IN ARMENIA, TOLL RISES TO 2

Panorama.am
15:30 14/12/2009

Armenia has confirmed 2 A/H1N1 death cases, one of them being a
pregnant woman in her 6th month, the other one a 28-year youth.

According to the chief infectiologist Ara Asoyan, the latter was a
Yerevan resident, he died in Nork infection clinic, while the former,
as the deputy director of the Medical Center in the city of Hrazdan
Sasun Hovhannisyan said, was a Hrazdan resident and died after she
was taken to Erebouni medical center.

Healthcare Minister’s Assistant Shushan Hunanyan told Panorama.am
swine flu total number in Armenia has hit 80. Though, she stated the
number of respiratory diseases have decreased in the republic.

US INFLUENCE IN AZERBAIJAN DECLINES

news.az
Mon 14 December 2009 | 12:27 GMT Text size:

Aslan Ismaylov "After the USSR collapse the attitude to the United
States in Azerbaijan was positive, while now we cannot say so.

The influence of the country in Azerbaijan declines. Therefore, if
Washington does not want to lose Azerbaijan as its partner in the
region, it should change its policy on Azerbaijan", lawyer Aslan
Ismaylov told commenting on the financial assistance to Karabakh
separatists by the United States.

"Their policy can affect the energy projects with participation
of the United States. Now they ask us to participate in Nabucco,
to support them in Afghanistan and other issues. How can we do ao
if they finance separatists and terrorists. How would the United
States perceive Azerbaijan’s financing of Al Gaeda? They would not
like it. We also do not like their financing of Karabakh separatists.

Azerbaijan has always fulfilled its obligations before the United
States and we haven’t got anything in response. A reasonable question
is why do we need this alliance, if the United States are rudely
violating our interests.

Certainly, the Armenian lobby played a certain role here, but
the decision was taken by the US Congress, therefore, our claims
regarding the US policy are quite fair. Moreover, by doing so the
United States is discrediting such concepts as democracy and human
rights. I have repeatedly been in the United States, I love this
country, but after they take just unfair actions on my country,
I lose any respect towards them. This is not only my opinion. It is
an opinion of the majority of our people", the lawyer said.

MEDIATORS TO PRESENT UPDATED MADRID PRINCIPLES TO YEREVAN AND BAKU

News.Az
Thu 10 December 2009 | 13:31 GMT

OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will soon
present to Armenia and Azerbaijan an updated version of the Madrid
document on a Karabakh settlement.

"Considering the discussions held in the past two years (since the
Madrid document was drawn up) by the presidents of Azerbaijan and
Armenia, the co-chairs have prepared an updated version of the Madrid
document which will be presented to the parties in the near future",
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrey Nesterenko told a briefing
in Moscow on Thursday.

He recalled that the Madrid document contains the proposals put
forward by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs (Russia, France and the USA)
on the basic principles of a settlement. The document was presented
to the Armenian and Azerbaijani representatives at the OSCE summit
in Madrid in November 2007.

According to Nesterenko, "If the positive dynamic in the negotiation
process achieved this year is maintained next year too, it will be
possible to hope for the quick and complete coordination of the basic
principles of the settlement and their development on the basis of
a peace agreement."

Commenting on the statement about the Azerbaijani leadership’s
alleged discontent with the work of the Minsk Group, Nesterenko said,
"The Russian side did not receive any sign of discontent from the
Azerbaijani leadership about the actions of the OSCE Minsk Group and
the mediation efforts of its co-chairs." "Meanwhile, we have received
repeated thanks for these efforts," the spokesman said.

The basic principles set out in the Madrid document and reiterated
by the French, American and Russian presidents at the G8 summit in
L’Aquila in July are:

the return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to
Azerbaijani control an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh providing
guarantees for security and self-governance a corridor linking Armenia
to Nagorno-Karabakh future determination of the final legal status
of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will the
right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to
their former places of residence international security guarantees
that would include a peacekeeping operation.