Author: Emil Lazarian

ELECTIONS IN 2007 AND 2008 MAY CUT THE MILLENNIUM MONEY

Lragir.am
13 april 06

The group of U.S. Congress representatives and John Danilovich,
Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, who
arrived in Yerevan with the group, are pleased with their meetings
in Armenia. Jim Golby mentioned that the main purpose of their visit
was to study conditions for launching the Millennium Challenge program.

The U.S. government will grant 235 million dollars to Armenia
within 5 years. The money will be spent on the development of rural
infrastructures.

Jim Golby says the Millennium Challenge program is a dynamic program
of U.S. assistance to countries which are committed to fair governance
and a transparent society, and they believe that Armenia proceeds
along this path.

The director of the MCC John Danilovich stated that their visit to
the region established their commitment to implementation of the
agreement signed March 27 in Washington.

John Danilovich said during their meetings with the speaker, foreign
minister and president of Armenia they became convinced that the
government of Armenia is eager to implement the program successfully.

The corporation will assist the government of Armenia in a successful
implementation of the program. Besides, Danilovich said the MCC will
control the implementation of the program to prevent corruption. For
this purpose the American side lays emphasis on the engagement of
civil institutions in the implementation of the program. During their
visit that lasted for almost three days John Danilovich and the U.S.

Congress representatives met with non-governmental organizations. He
said hopefully the non-governmental organizations will get widely
engaged in the MCC program.

He assured that the program will help to cut poverty, promote
democracy and judiciary reforms and development of other spheres of a
transparent and open society. With regard to the level of democracy
in Armenia John Danilovich said democracy is a continuous process,
and Congressman Golby said the basic principle of democracy is fair
elections, and the MCC would not launch the program if the government
and the society of Armenia did not seek for fair elections. Jim Golby
said fair election is not just voting; it is electoral registers,
campaign, fundraising. He stated that the elections in 2007 and
2008 may call a halt to the program of the MCC if they do not comply
with the standards of democracy. The Congress representative stated,
nevertheless, that the United States is hopeful the elections will
be fair.

The delegation of the U.S. Congress representatives, which had arrived
in Yerevan from Georgia, left for Azerbaijan full of hopes.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PARLIAMENT MAY INTERFERE WITH ELECTION TO PRESIDENT OF ACADEMY

Lragir.am
13 april 06

The National Assembly may actively influence the outcome of election
of the new president of the NAS. An indirect interference is meant,
which may have a significant role, however.

The point is that the parliament decided to empower the directors of
institutes to vote to the election of president of the Academy. This is
regulated by law, and the academicians will turn to the parliament. No
doubt expanding the range of eligible members of the academy may
essentially modify the scenario of the election if there is such. Ten
voters is not the same as twenty voters. Moreover, the categories
of voters vary. In other words, the members of the presidium of
the NAS have a motivation, differing from that of the directors of
institutes. Hence, the decision of the parliament may have a deciding
role in the election of the president of the academy.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WE ARE RUINING THE FOUNDATIONS OF JUSTICE IN TURKEY

TDN
Thursday, April 13, 2006

The chief prosecutor of the Turkish supreme court, Nurettin Ok,
must definitely stand behind a recent statement he made about how the
leadership of Turkey has not put enough importance on the independence
of justice in this country and how politics has made its way into
the justice system itself.

Mehmet Ali Birand

Nurettin Ok, the chief prosecutor of the Turkish supreme court,
must definitely stand behind a recent statement he made about how the
leadership of Turkey has not put enough importance on the independence
of justice in this country and how politics has made its way into
the justice system itself. Ok’s analysis of the situation is spot
on. He has touched on the most important reason for the crisis being
experienced in the system today. There are phrases that you repeated
over and over in the government. They go: “Justice is independent. No
one should fear the scales of justice. Justice will arrive at the
truth.”

The public, however, perceives things a bit differently. Whether true
or not, the public sees these phrases as sometimes being hollow,
sometimes meaningful, but definitely not consistent. This is the
result of some of the justice system’s past acts. In his column
on Tuesday Hurriyet’s Ertugrul Ozkok gave a few clear examples of
what I’m talking about. Pointing at a list of allegations about
the Welfare Party (RP) and the Milli Gorus (National View) movement
prepared by two of our most famous prosecutors, Savas and Yuksel,
Ozkok notes that rather than relying on any concrete evidence, these
allegations were based on personal opinions. What Ozkok says in his
column in true. This is also the impression among many members of
our society. Our leaders give the impression they are pleased with
the results emerging from the courts, which reflect the conditions
of the day or the direction the political winds are blowing. Let’s
look back into the past a bit… The words of former Justice Minister
Sami Turk, who said Article 312 of the penal code was interpreted in
an exaggerated manner, had a great effect on the public.

In former allegations a few articles from a writer, or even accusations
based entirely on rumor, would be accepted as information. General
applause for the prosecutors creating these questionable allegations
started to raise eyebrows and elicit questions from other circles.

After all, these were like the methods employed under communism during
the cold war years. Later, these methods continued, in an approach
seen as being protective of the secular republic and the unity of
the nation.

There’s no doubt that we were acting with good intentions.

But this sort of winking at justice brought along with it terrible
effects on the justice system as a whole.

Another important point is that we never attached enough importance
to the education of judges and prosecutors.

We didn’t prepare them for the changing conditions in Turkey and
in the world at large. We didn’t expand their horizons enough. We
treated them as though they were just any old bureaucrat. We didn’t
compensate them properly for the work they were doing. And now we
complain. But don’t we reap what we sow?

No matter what happens, if we don’t stop meddling in justice, Turkish
society as a whole will never trust it.

Ismet Berkan, the general editor of Radikal, also touched on a critical
point in his column yesterday.

The case against a group of journalists who criticized a court
decision to stop the Armenian conference held in Istanbul was dropped
this week. The journalists, for whom prison sentences of up to 10
years apiece were being sought, are Hasan Cemal, Ismet Berkan, Haluk
Sahin and Erol Katircioglu. In addition, the Bagcilar 2nd Criminal
Court, which was deciding matters in this case, announced that Kemal
Kerincsiz, a board member of the Legal Union Foundation, would not
be allowed to interfere in the case from now on.

Berkan noted: “We always talk about the heavy load on the justice
system. But this case actually shows why there has been such an
unnecessary increase in the load.” And in truth, there really is a
completely unnecessary load on the justice system, and it is being
increased, in fact, by our prosecutors themselves. Saying, “I’m going
to file a case and let the courts decide,” the prosecutors escape all
responsibility while clogging up the schedule of the courts. Completely
needless cases are filed against people.

They are brought before the public clamoring argument, and our image in
the world abroad is simultaneously ruined. The sensation behind these
cases grabs everyone’s immediate attention, though no one hears when
the cases are rejected. And thus, the idea that Turkey is a country
that tries to prevent freedom of thought is the only real lasting
impression remaining after everything is said and done.

Prosecutors, get to work.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VERDICT EXPECTED IN TRIAL OF AZERBAIJANI ACCUSED OF MURDER AT NATO COURSE

AP Worldstream
Apr 13, 2006

A court in Hungary is expected to issue a verdict Thursday in the case
of an Azerbaijani officer accused of murdering an Armenian classmate
with an ax at a NATO training course in Budapest.

Lt. Ramil Safarov of Azerbaijan has confessed to hacking Lt. Gurgen
Markarian of Armenia to death with an ax in February 2004 in
a dormitory used by participants of a NATO Partnership for Peace
English language course in Budapest.

Police said Safarov confessed to the killing, claiming that the
conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia was at the root of his act.

The two neighboring, former Soviet republics remain at odds over
the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave within
Azerbaijan.

Safarov is scheduled to make his final statement Thursday morning
and the Budapest City Court is expected to announce its verdict in
the afternoon.

Prosecutors asked that Safarov be sentenced to life in prison, with
a 30-year minimum before any parole hearings.

Armenian-backed forces drove Azerbaijan’s army out of the ethnic
Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s.

A 1994 cease-fire ended the six-year war that killed 30,000 people
and left about 1 million homeless and the enclave is now under the
control of ethnic Armenians.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHOSE FACTS ARE TRUE?

Lragir.am
13 april 06

The idea that was most often repeated during the parliamentary debates
on the report on performance of the 2001-2003 program of privatization
was the great difference between the value of the company and the price
at which it was sold. For instance, Orbita Factory was assessed at
3 billion but sold for 116 million. Hours after the debates on this
issue the minister of trade and economy Karen Chshmarityan replied
to similar accusations made during the debates on April 10-12.

The minister, as well as the head of the Department for Management
of State Property Karineh Kirakosyan delivered a small lecture on the
topic of value and price, then said, “Orbita was assessed at 3 million
drams and sold at 750 million.” Plus, the company owed debts of 320
million, 220 million other liabilities, salary debt, and products of
550 million produced for the Near East, which, however, the company
had been unable to sell due to the embargo.

Before the privatization 30 people were employed in Orbita who were
paid 15 thousand drams monthly, after the privatization 150 people
work here and get 60 thousand drams, says Karen Chshmarityan. And such
allegations may have a negative impact on the investment environment
in Armenia, he believes. It should be noted that the allegations
of the members of parliament are based on the facts that another
representative of the Executive, the head of the Department for
Management of State Property Karineh Kirakosyan had provided. The
latter characterized Victor Dallakyan’s allegation that the minister
of trade and economic development Karen Chshmarityan owns several
buildings in the center of Yerevan as “irresponsible.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘HOLY FIRE’ EASTER RITUAL CASTS LIGHT ON GREEK ORTHODOX BATTLES IN JERUSALEM
Brian Murphy

AP Worldstream
Apr 13, 2006

ATHENS, Greece _ For Orthodox Christians, one of the most stirring
images of the Easter season is a burning candle being carried from the
site in Jerusalem where tradition says Jesus was crucified and buried.

The “holy fire” is passed among worshippers outside the Church of
the Holy Sepulcher and is taken aboard special flights to Athens and
other cities _ connecting many of the 200 million Orthodox worldwide
to their spiritual roots.

But in recent years, it also has illuminated the messier passions
of the Holy Land: religious rivalries among the Orthodox and the
building-by-building competition between Israelis and Palestinians
in some parts of Jerusalem.

Greek and Armenian clergymen have exchanged blows over who would
be the first to bring out the flame. Last year, Israeli police held
back Palestinians outraged by alleged deals to lease Greek Orthodox
properties to Jewish investors in Jerusalem’s Old City.

The upcoming ceremony on April 22 _ the eve of Orthodox Easter _
has elements for even higher drama. The land scandal has splintered
the Greek Orthodox, one of the caretakers of the Holy Sepulcher shrine.

Orthodox leaders last May ousted the church’s Jerusalem-based
patriarch, Irineos I, after reports of deals for several prime
buildings near Jaffa Gate. The church’s mostly Palestinian Christian
congregation denounced it as another attempt to weaken the Arab
presence in east Jerusalem _ which Palestinians insist must be the
capital of any future state.

Irineos, however, has not gone quietly. He has refused to recognize
his dismissal and still commands a band of loyalists. Israel, too,
has not given its formal backing to the new patriarch, Theofilos III,
who says he opposes the reported leases. Traditionally, the Greek
patriarch needs three-way approval that includes Jordan and the
Palestinians, which have given the nod to Theofilos.

The patriarchate dispute is now before Israel’s Supreme Court.

In Greece, meanwhile, investigators are digging deeper into a possible
espionage affair involving Irineos’ selection as patriarch in 2001.

The probe centers on whether a convicted drug trafficker, Apostolos
Vavilis, was sent on secret missions to lobby for Irineos, who was the
choice of Greek officials and clerics at the time. Vavilis _ whose
aliases included Apostolos Pavlos, or Apostle Paul _ was extradited
from Italy on April 6 to face charges including “revealing state
secrets” to foreign agents. He was returned to Greece wearing the
black robes of an Orthodox priest, although he is not ordained.

The official who allegedly negotiated the leases, church financial
officer Nikos Papadimas, remains a fugitive.

It’s possible Irineos could attempt to directly challenge Theofilos’
authority at the flame ceremony, but that would constitute an almost
irreparable rupture in the church. More likely is a noisy showdown
of taunts and name-calling between the rival groups. Israeli security
was heightened last year because of showdowns.

“Father Irineos is the legal patriarch,” said a supporter, a clergyman
also called Irineos. The former patriarch could not be reached for
comment.

Archbishop Aristarchos, who handles security for the patriarchate,
said there are “rumors” Irineos could make an appearance but “there
is no way that the previous patriarch will come to the ceremony as
the patriarch.”

“Only Theofilos III will come to the ceremony as the patriarch,”
Aristarchos said. “I hope and I wish that there will not be any
unpleasant episodes.”

The Orthodox ritual of the “holy fire,” performed alone by a
patriarch in the tomb of Jesus, dates back at least 1,200 years, and a
“miraculous” fire is mentioned in earlier texts. The precise details of
the lighting are a closely guarded secret, but some faithful consider
it an annual miracle.

It also illustrates another of the intricate protocols that govern
the site, which is administered by Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic
and Roman Catholic clerics. The Coptic, Ethiopian Orthodox and Syriac
Orthodox churches also have duties to maintain specific areas. Under
a pact going back to 16th century Ottoman rule, two Muslim families
share duties as the sole gatekeepers.

For some, the tensions this Easter also help drive home demands to
end Greek control of the Jerusalem patriarchate and its 40,000-member
flock.

The Greek clerics leading the church “are foreigners who don’t work
for the best interests of the Palestinian Christians,” said Dimitri
Diliani, who leads of a coalition of Palestinians Christians that plans
to bring more than 1,500 faithful to the flame ceremony. “They have
been irresponsible in handling the property of Palestinian Christians
and have been involved in ‘Judaizing’ Jerusalem.”

But Daniel Rossing, who heads a Jerusalem-based group that promotes
inter-religious dialogue, said it’s difficult to make such sweeping
changes to religious traditions in Jerusalem, which has deep
significance for Jews, Christians and Muslims.

“Any event in Jerusalem, like the Greek church troubles, cannot
just be looked at as a local squabble,” he said. “It affects all of
Christianity because of the universal nature of Jerusalem.”

___

Associated Press reporter Laura Resnick in Jerusalem contributed to
this report.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HEARINGS ON THE KARABAKH ISSUE TO BE HELD AT NKR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

ArmRadio.am
13.04.2006 14:47

April 21 hearings on “Karabakh Issue: Prospects for Resolution ”
will be held at the National Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh. Head of
the RA NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Armen Rustamyan,
a number of political scientists and experts of Armenia have been
invited to participate in the hearings.

In his talk with “Radiolur” correspondent Tatul Hakobyan, President
of the NKR NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Vahram
Atanesyan said that this is the second time such hearings are
organized. According to Atanesyan, the forces represented in NKR
Parliament will try to evaluate the negotiation process since the
establishment of the cease-fire and to decide upon the future deeds.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI LAWMAKER SUGGESTS JOINT SEARCH FOR WAYS TO SETTLE KARABAKH ISSUE

Armenpress
Apr 13 2006

BAKU, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS: An Azerbaijani parliament member said
lawmakers from Armenia and his country could meet to discuss the best
ways to resolve their dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Sabir Hajiev, who is also chairman of a small party called Civic Unity,
was quoted by Trend news agency as saying that the accord of Armenian
and Azeri presidents was needed to convene the first such meeting. “If
they (the presidents) believe a joint search for ways to settle the
conflict by lawmakers could help they should endorse this proposal,”
he was quoted as saying.

This idea was supported also by another Azeri lawmaker, Fazan
Gazanfarogly, who however, argued that this problem could not be
solved by the efforts of deputies, because it was not solved so far
either by presidents or their foreign ministers.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA’S MFA EXAMINES QUESTION OF 19-YEARS-OLD ARMENIAN TO BE DEPORTED TO BAKU BY AUTHORITIES OF GREAT BRITAIN

Yerevan, April 12. ArmInfo. The Armenia’s MFA examines the question
of a 19-years-old Armenian Karen Avanessyan , whom the authorities
of Great Britain intend to deport to Baku.

As the press-secretary of Armenia’s MFA Hamlet Gasparyan told to
ArmInfo, the Armenian party worries that Karen Avanessyan can be
conveyed to Baku as his fate there is In view of this, Armenia’s
MFA and the Embassy of Armenia to London undertook steps to bring
Avanessyan to Armenia. The situation will clear up today in the second
half of the day, taking into account time difference between Yerevan
and London.

Karen Avanessyan had arrived in Great Britain three years ago as an
illegal emigrant. He was studying in school and living within the
state-paid allowances since he had no right to work. Avanessyan’s
father was Azerbaijanian. He leaved the family when his son was still
a child. The young man could not get the right for sanctuary in Great
Britain. As Avanessyan was born in Nagorno Karabakh, the Englishmen
decided that his motherland was Azerbaijan and decreed to send him
to Baku. According to the previously made decision, Avanessyan has
to be deported today by the London-Moscow route and then to Azerbaijan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

QUAKE IN GREECE

Yerevan, April 12. ArmInfo. A 3.5-point earthquake took place in
Greece, 60 km south-east of Patras Apr 11 10:29 PM local time,
reports the National Seismic Protection Service of Armenia.

In the epicenter the magnitude was 8 points (on 12-point scale). No
reports of casualties.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress