Author: Emil Lazarian

Today, Azerbaijan
March 4 2007

EU endeavors for Armenia’s participation in regional projects and
opening of Turkish borders

04 March 2007 [13:51] – Today.Az

EU Special representative in South Caucasus Peter Semneby and
Armenian Premier Andranik Markarian discussed a number of issues on
relations between the EU and Armenia, forthcoming parliamentary
elections, regional cooperation and settlement of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict.

It was concluded that after the EU/Armenia Action Plan signed the
parliamentary elections and democratization process in the country
have become more important.

The EU diplomat said that bringing elections in line with
international standards is crucial for not only Armenia but also the
South Caucasus. Andranik Markarian expressed deep concern over the
construction of the Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi-Baku railway project
which bypasses Armenia.

Peter Semneby said the EU continues to endeavor for Armenian’s
participation in the projects in the South Caucasus and opening of
the Turkey-Armenia borders, adding that the Union is ready to help
settle the Nagorno Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

As we have close relations with both Azerbaijan and Armenia,
resolution of the conflict is also to our interests. Although we
don’t take part in the negotiations, we support the process and offer
our help, he noted.

URL:

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Panorama.am

17:44 02/03/2007

`NEW WAVE OF VIOLENCE EXPECTED AGAINST MASS MEDIA’

Impediments of reporters’ activities continue both by individuals and
the state. Violence against them becomes intensive when the political
situation becomes heated. These are some of the opinions Davit
Sandukhchyan, Olga Safaryan, lawyers of Internews NGO, expressed. They
believe there will be more violence against reporters taken the fact
of upcoming parliamentary elections.

Speaking about the recent two months of the running year, Ashot
Melikyan, chairman of freedom of speech committee, said cases of
hindering the activities of the mass media have continued. `Recently,
it has become a fashion to burn cars. This year, the car of Suren
Baghdasaryan, editor of Football+, was burned two times. Later the car
of Ara Saghatelyan, owner of Panorama.am web portal and `My Right’
newspaper, was burned,’ Melikyan said.

The study conducted by the committee on violence against reporters
says that 16 such cases were reported and few of them got into
court. If judicial proceedings were instituted, such cases were either
suspended or discontinued. Sandukhchyan believes article 164 in
Criminal Code envisages too mild punishment for hindering reporters’
activities.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri officials reportedly evacuate relatives over possible US-Iran war

Yeni Musavat, Baku
2 Mar 07

Excerpt from report by Arslan Aras and Sams in the Azerbaijani
newspaper Yeni Musavat on 2 March headlined "Officials are relocating
families from Baku"

According to information available to us, some high-ranking officials
have recently started sending their family members, especially
youngsters and children, abroad.

As is known, the Azerbaijani authorities consider that the start of
the US-Iran war is highly probable. They are concerned that missiles
may hit Baku and Azerbaijan’s other populated areas during the war. We
wrote in our previous publications that the authorities have already
instructed the appropriate bodies to draw up a plan of measures to
counteract consequences of possible missile strikes. In addition, it
emerged that a presidential instruction to improve the material and
technical infrastructure of the First Aid Service has to do with the
said assumptions about war.

On the other hand, the fact that the Emergencies Ministry has hastily
started a campaign for vacating basements in Baku and its statements
that the latter will be used as shelters are not in vain. Civil
defence exercises broadcast by TV channels are not
accidental. Azerbaijani officials have involved our country in [US
President] George Bush’s escapade and turned it into a secret member
of the anti-Iran coalition. They have given four military units to US
military [as published] and have therefore turned themselves and our
country into a target. They would not have relocated their families if
they didn’t know something.

[Passage omitted: real estate prices have stopped to rise after the
war assumptions]

Long time ago Tehran said that it will target the countries in the
sphere of US interest in case of military intervention. Azerbaijan is
named among these countries. According to some experts, the main
targets which Iran might hit are located in Baku. For this reason, it
is expected that prices for flats in the capital will speedily
reduce. Our interlocutor, who is a businessman working in the
construction sphere, has said that prices in the flat market will
really reduce if the US-Iran war starts. According to our
interlocutor, some businessmen are already going to stop the
construction of buildings.

"Half of the population will flee Baku if a missile hits
it. Especially rich people who are our main clients will not want to
live in a dangerous zone. Therefore, we are not in a hurry to launch
new projects. Personally, I am about to end the construction of two
buildings. I am going to start the construction of another two. I
simply do not start the new projects as I am concerned about the
US-Iran war," he said.

[Passage omitted: the subject to be covered again in the near future]

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Russia’s new air defenses to be based on S-300 and S-400 systems

14:06|02/ 03/ 2007

TVER, March 2 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s fifth-generation air defense
missile system will be developed on the basis of existing S-300 and
S-400 air defense complexes, the Air Force commander said Friday.

"The system will undoubtedly inherit the best features of the S-300
and S-400 systems, but will be designed using advanced technology,"
Army General Vladimir Mikhailov said.

The new missile system will combine elements of air, missile and space
defenses, and will be developed by the Almaz-Antei air defense
consortium.

Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, who has been
charged with supervising the country’s defense industry, said earlier
that priority should now be given to the development of a
fifth-generation air-defense system capable of staving off
commensurate threats.

"It must be an integrated system combining weapons, information and
fire control elements," he said, addressing the participants of a
meeting of the Military-Industrial Commission.

Almaz-Antei, one of Russia’s largest defense-industry holdings,
specializes in the development of air defense missile systems and is
famous for its S-300, S-400, Pechora-2A, Buk-M1 and Tor-M1
ground-to-air missile systems.

The S-300 (SA-10 Grumble) anti-aircraft missile system was designed to
protect military and industrial facilities from massive air strikes.

A missile launched from the system can travel at a speed of 2,000
meters (6,000 feet) per second, and is capable of hitting a target at
a distance of 150 kilometers (93 miles), flying at an altitude of up
to 30 kilometers (19 miles) and at a speed of up to 10,000 kilometers
per hour (6,215 miles per hour).

According to Alexander Lemansky, chief designer at Almaz-Antei, the
S-400 Triumf air defense complex is considerably superior to the S-300
system because of its effective firing range, firing capacity and
other parameters.

The Air Force commander said Friday the first air defense regiment
equipped with S-400 ground-to-air missile systems will be put on
combat duty in the Moscow Region in July 2007.

Mikhailov reiterated that the Russian Air Force currently deployed
more than 30 regiments equipped with S-300 missile complexes, which
will be gradually replaced with S-400 systems.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Senior Russian diplomat blasts U.S. missile shield plans in Europe

19:59|01/ 03/ 2007

MOSCOW, March 1 (RIA Novosti) – U.S. plans to place elements of its
missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic could destroy the
detente process and destabilize the situation in Europe, a senior
Russian diplomat said Thursday.

Washington said in January it planned to build a radar installation in
the Czech Republic and a missile interceptor base in Poland in the
next five years.

The U.S. insists that the European missile shield is meant to counter
possible attacks from Iran or North Korea, but Moscow strongly opposes
the deployment of a missile shield in its former backyard in Central
Europe, describing the plans as a threat to Russian national security.

"A country cannot ensure its own security by raising other countries’
concerns for their security," Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander
Grushko said.

He said Europe and the world have been strengthening security in the
past 20 years through open dialogue and the reduction or elimination
of "elements that caused mutual concern, including nuclear weapons and
conventional weapons."

But the recent U.S. missile shield plans and NATO’s eastward expansion
could turn this positive trend around and lead to another spiral of
the arms race characteristic of the "cold war," the Russian diplomat
said.

"In addition, destabilizing consequences of this [missile shield]
project are reflected in the fact that the announced U.S. desire to
protect itself from certain countries could force these countries to
consider scenarios of extreme response to U.S. policies toward them,"
Grushko said.

He said these scenarios might include "the possibility of these
countries delivering missile strikes against the United States from
their territory."

Grushko also said that the U.S. administration announced last week a
possibility that the future missile shield could be placed not only in
Poland and the Czech Republic but also in other countries.

"Just because we have systems deployed potentially in the Czech
Republic as well as in Poland, that does not mean that through other
avenues of cooperation the [missile shield] architecture might change
and evolve over time," U.S. Department of State Spokesman Sean
McCormack said at a Daily Press Briefing on February 24.

The Russian diplomat said such a statement could indicate that "this
[missile shield] program might have a long-lasting influence on
U.S. policies, including during future U.S. administrations."

In response to U.S. missile shield plans, Moscow has already warned
Washington that it could unilaterally pull out of the
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) and resume production
of intermediate- and short-range missiles in the future.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Germany calls for more NATO talks on U.S. anti-missile program

PAUL AMES

AP Worldstream
Mar 02, 2007

Germany’s defense minister on Friday urged more talks within NATO on
the U.S. plan to locate elements of an anti-missile shield in Europe
which has raised tensions between Russia and the United States.

"We should talk about the development of such a measure within the
framework of NATO," Franz Josef Jung told reporters on the sidelines
of a European Union defense ministers meeting. He said NATO should
also do more to ally Moscow’s concerns about the American plan.

The U.S. has formally requested to place a radar base in the Czech
Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland as part of its plans
for a missile defense shield that Washington says would protect
against a potential threat from Iran or North Korea.

Britain is also in talks with the U.S. about the deployment. On
Thursday, the director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency,
Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering, said Washington wants to base an
anti-missile radar in the Caucasus, a move likely to intensify Russian
concerns.

Officials in Azerbaijan and Georgia say they are not in talks with the
United States on the possibility of placing missile defense components
on their territory. The other Caucasus nation, Armenia, has close
military ties to Russia and would be an unlikely choice.

"There have been no negotiations, and we are not discussing these
questions either in a bilateral or multilateral format," said
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Khazar Ibrahim.

Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said Tuesday that Georgia
has received no request from the United States to allow deployment of
missile defense elements on its territory, and ministry spokeswoman
Nato Chikovani said that was still the case Friday.

On Thursday, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana
said the EU had no plans as a bloc to participate in the development
of a missile shield, but said member nations were free to decide if
they wanted to join the project.

"We are not as Europeans concerned to establish a mechanism of that
type," Solana said. "This is for every country to decide." He
questioned whether there was an immediate threat to Europe from a
missile attack, but said it was something the EU should consider in
the future.

NATO leaders at a summit in November ordered further study on
"political and military implications of missile defense for the
alliance including an update on missile threat developments." A
preliminary report by NATO experts last year concluded there was a
missile threat and that it was technically feasible to develop such a
defense system.

However, while several allies are wary of pouring billions of euros
(dollars) into developing a NATO alliance system, the United States is
pressing ahead with its own missile shield plans.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Polish foreign minister underlines strategic importance of south Caucasus

PAP news agency
2 Mar 07

Warsaw, 2 March: Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga has told PAP that the southern
Caucasus was a "strategic direction of Polish interests". She added that
there were a number for reasons for Poland’s interest in Caucasus, including
energy security.
During a few-day tour of the region the minister visited Armenia, Georgia and
Azerbaijan. On the way back to Poland, the delegation made a stop over in
Sochi.
Fotyga said that the visit showed how much it was needed and promised more
frequent trips by the Polish authorities to the region.
At the end of March, President Lech Kaczynski is going to pay a visit to
Georgia. According to the foreign minister, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski
also has plans to visit the region.
Fotyga added that Poland and its partners in Caucasus were ready to support
certain projects. "We are aware that we support the development of alternative
ways of energy transmission for Europe," she added.
According to the foreign minister, Poland’s partners positively welcomed
President Lech Kaczynski’s initiative to organize an energy summit in Poland.
Minister Fotyga said she had supported the peace process between Armenia and
Azerbaijan and was ready to continue supporting it. "Our partners are aware
of this," she added.
Fotyga said Poland "has monitored the course of negotiations" though, as she
put it, it is a difficult process.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian officials to be invited on opening ceremony of St Cross
Church in Akdamar

02.03.2007 12:12

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Opening of the St Cross Church in Akdamar will be a
gesture to Armenians and the whole world, Yusuf Halacoglu, head of the
Turkish Historical Society stated. `We don’t have anything to hide. I
shall be present on the ceremony,’ he said.

Armenian officials, leaders and culture ministers from European
countries will be invited to the opening of the church, The New
Anatolian reports. The opening ceremony will be held not April 11, as
was scheduled before, but April 15.

The opening of the church located on Akdamar Island was delayed until
April 24 by the Culture Ministry, but under the pressure of
Turkish-Armenian community and Constantinople Patriarch Mesrob II
Mutafyan the ceremony was changed to an earlier date.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Karabakh historian: one shouldn’t step on dead bodies for one’s own interests

ArmRadio.am
2007-03-02 14:42:00

"Today, official Baku applies to international organizations to
qualify the events in Hojalu as a genocide. But how can one speak of a
genocide if the Karabakh side officially, at a governmental level
provided a corridor so that the peaceful population could safely go to
Aghdam?", Hrachik Harutyunyan, a Karabakh historian, told an ArmInfo
correspondent.

According to him, the Azeri military servicemen accompanied the
peaceful population to the Armenian village of Nakhijevanik along the
provided corridor. Nakhijevanik, like other nearby Armenian villages,
as well as Stepanakert, the capital of Karabakh, were constantly under
artillery bombardment from Aghdam, a town which turned into a strong
military base by the Azeri authorities. The historian considers that
the people of Hojalu were deliberately taken under artillery
bombardment in order to compromise President Ayaz Mutalibov and
discharge him. "By the nature of my service, I managed to recapture
the Azeri communication personnel’s negotiations which were held all
night long from 25 to 26 Feb 1992. In the morning, the signaller of
the Regional Department of Internal Affairs of Hojalu with "Chinar"
call-sign reported about what had happened. Receiving no answer, he
swore and stopped talking. One shouldn’t step on dead bodies for one’s
own interests. People should know the truth about Hojalu. Sooner or
later, the truth will come out", H.Harutyunyan said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Festival celebrates Armenian filmmakers
Rick Bentley

The Fresno Bee – California – KRTBN
Mar 02, 2007

The Eighth Annual Armenian Film Festival will be held 7-10 p.m. today
in the Leon S. and Pete P. Peters Educational Center on the Fresno
State campus. The event is co-sponsored by The Armenian Students
Organization and Armenian Studies Program of California State
University, Fresno.

Filmgoers will be able to discuss films after the screenings.

Barlow Der Mugrdechian of the Armenian Studies Program says that there
has been significant growth in the number of Armenian filmmakers in
both the United States and Armenia.

"It is making it a little easier to find films. We have 8-10 films we
could show if time allowed," Der Mugrdechian says.

Featured films in the festival include:

"The Story of My Name: An Armenian Tale": The movie was directed by
Dorothee Forma. It is the story of a man who discovers that his
biological father is Armenian. At the age of 44, he decides to take on
his father’s name, Alex Peltekian, and to find out the story behind
the name.

"The Long Journey from the NFL to Armenia": Tennessee Titans football
player Rien Vartan Long takes a 12-day trip with his mother and
grandmother to Armenia.

Der Mugrdechian says that the films in the festival reflect views of
Armenian culture not often depicted in films.

"There are not that many Armenian football players in the NFL," Der
Mugrdechian says.

The film program is supported, in part, by funds of the Fresno State
University Student Union Diversity Awareness Program.

The festival is open to the public, and admission is free. Parking
restrictions in Lot V will be relaxed after 6:30 p.m.

For more information, call the Armenian Studies Program office at
(559) 278-2669.

The reporter can be reached at [email protected]_
(mailto:[email protected]) or at (559) 441-6355.