Author: Felekian Ara

RUSSIA’S CFE MORATORIUM CAME INTO EFFECT

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.12.2007 14:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia’s unilateral moratorium on a major arms
reductions treaty in Europe came into force immediately after
midnight on Wednesday. The law to freeze Russia’s participation in
the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty has been unanimously
approved by parliament and signed on November 30 by President Vladimir
Putin. "The moratorium will remain valid until all NATO member states
without exception ratify the Treaty and follow it," he said.

Moscow considers the original CFE treaty, signed in December 1990 by
16 NATO countries and six Warsaw Pact members, to be discriminatory
and outdated since it does not reflect the dissolution of the Warsaw
Pact, the breakup of the Soviet Union, or recent NATO expansion.

Russia is particularly concerned about the so called flank limitations
under the CFE treaty, which essentially prohibit Moscow from
reinforcing its military contingents in the North Caucasus military
district and in Russia’s northwest Leningrad military district.

Russia has been pushing for a new adapted version of the CFE, which
sets specific ‘ceilings’ for each participant of the treaty on five
categories of conventional weapons – battle tanks, armored combat
vehicles, artillery pieces, combat aircraft and attack helicopters.

However, NATO countries have insisted on Russia’s withdrawal from
Moldova and Georgia as a condition for their ratification of the
modified document. As a result, only Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and
Kazakhstan have so far ratified the adapted document.

Gen. Yury Baluyevsky, chief of the Russian General Staff, earlier said
that the current treaty favored the U.S. and NATO because it allowed
them to exceed national and territorial limitations on the number of
armaments, freely deploy and re-deploy military contingents anywhere
in Europe, and monitor Russian troops in the European part of Russia.

According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, NATO has substantially
exceeded armament levels permitted by the CFE for NATO members –
by 6,000 tanks, some 10,000 armored vehicles, over 5,000 artillery
items and 1,500 combat planes.

Baluyevsky also said at the time that the Baltic States, which had
not signed the adapted document, remained "grey zones" not covered
by arms control agreements.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement early on Wednesday
that under these unfair conditions Russia "had no alternative but to
suspend its CFE membership to protect its interests in the sphere of
military security."

The ministry said Russia would not immediately increase the strength
of its Armed Forces along its borders, but would not hesitate to do
so if the need arises.

"During the temporary suspension of Russia’s participation in the
CFE treaty, the country will not be bound by limitations [under the
treaty], including by ‘flank limitations’, on the number of deployed
conventional weapons," the statement said.

"At the same time, we do not have plans to amass and concentrate
these weapons on the borders with our neighbors," the document said.

In practical terms, Moscow will not share with NATO information
specified by the provisions of the CFE treaty, and will not allow any
NATO military inspections on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The ministry also said that Russia could resume its participation in
the treaty shortly after NATO countries ratify the adapted version
of the CFE treaty, signed on November 19, 1999 by all NATO countries
except Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Slovenia.

The moratorium "is justified politically, is legitimate, and allows
Russia to resume its participation in the treaty by presidential
decree if our [NATO] partners show their political will [by ratifying
the adapted document]," the statement said.

The ministry reiterated that Russia proposed to NATO concrete measures
to revive the arms control treaty, which the West considers the
cornerstone of European security. They include agreements on how
to compensate for misbalances in the number of deployed weaponry,
which emerged after NATO’s expansion, and the abolishment of the so
called flank limitations on the territory of Russia.

In addition, Moscow insists that new NATO members – Estonia, Lithuania,
Latvia and Slovenia – must sign the treaty and immediately ratify it
together with other NATO countries.

"We are waiting for a constructive response from NATO to these
proposals," the Foreign Ministry said, stressing the need for
productive dialogue on the issue with respect to mutual concerns.

"Russia is ready to continue a result-oriented dialogue on the CFE
even during the current moratorium," the statement concluded, RIA
Novosti reports.

NO VIRUS?

A1+
[01:10 pm] 12 December, 2007

People sneezing at every step turn out to have caught a cold. They
are not infected with viral influenza.

Nowadays people rarely come down with the flu. The number of infected
patients is decreasing day by day, Liana Torossian, chief professor
of Epidemic Department of the Ministry of Health, assured A1+.

People go to hospitals "after losing all patience," Liana Torossian
states.

"There are different types of viral influenza, A, B, C, which have
their subspecies. Whenever a person is taken with the flu he doesn’t
acquire immunity to other subspecies of the disease. Therefore,
people come down with the flu immediately after recovering,"
Mrs. Torossian says.

It is due to mention that booklets covering seasonal influenza will
be distributed in policlinics, schools, hospitals, nursery schools
and other establishments.

OPINION: GUAM INTRODUCES QUESTION ON FROZEN CONFLICTS IN RESPONSE TO RUSSIA’S STATEMENTS

Regnum, Russia
Dec 10 2007

A draft resolution on frozen conflicts released at the UN headquarters
is a failure of the Armenian diplomacy, Armenian political analyst
Hamayak Hovhannisyan told a REGNUM correspondent.

According to the analyst, it is absolutely clear that the Armenian
envoy to the United Nations must be acting effectively so that he
could respond to all challenges timely and adequately. "However,
Armenia failed to prevent from putting it on the agenda, despite the
fact that it had managed to do so several times by threatening to
Azerbaijan to withdraw from the current format of the negotiations,"
Hovhannisyan said. It is unclear for him why Armenia, in particularly,
its foreign ministry, did not make effort to prevent from debating
the issue at the UN and explained it by the fact that "they do not
want to harm the negotiation process within frameworks of the OSCE
Minsk Group." However, according to Hovhannisyan, discussion of the
issue at the UN coincided with increasing prospects of declaration
of independence by Kosovo and with escalation of the tension between
Abkhazia and South Ossetia on one side and Georgia on the other side.

As the analyst believes, in reality, Georgia and Moldova are more
interested in discussing the frozen conflicts at the UN than Azerbaijan
is. According to him, the conflicts in Abkhazia, South Ossetia and
Transdnestr are seen in the frameworks of the Russian mandate and,
to avoid one-sided mediation, and taking into account the willingness
to take away the peacekeeping mandate from Russia, those countries
proposed the issue for discussion of the international community,
while the Nagorno Karabakh conflict was a subject of a multilateral
debate within the OSCE Minsk Group. "The key reason for putting the
question for the discussion at the UN so fast was Russia’s statement
that if the West recognizes Kosovo, it would recognize independence
of the republics in the post-Soviet territory," Hovhannisyan concluded.

The Canadian Press
Dec 8 2007

Turkey investigates alleged ties between police and alleged killers
of Christians

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey has launched an investigation into alleged
collusion between police officers and at least one of the suspects
charged with killing three Christians earlier this year at a
publishing house that produces Bibles, an official said Saturday.

Two senior police inspectors will be assigned to investigate whether
any officers provided assistance to the suspects, an Interior
Ministry official said on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to the media. He did not provide further details.

The three Christians – a German and two Turks – were killed in the
southern city of Malatya on April 18. The killings – in which the
victims were tied up and had their throats slit – drew international
condemnation and added to Western concerns about whether Turkey can
protect its religious minorities.

Five people were arrested and charged with murder. The trial opened
last month, but was quickly adjourned until Jan. 14 because defence
lawyers requested more time to prepare their arguments.

The Interior Ministry decided to open an investigation after several
newspapers published stories Saturday alleging co-operation between
police and at least one of the suspects.

Radikal newspaper quoted two of the suspects, Abuzer Yildirim and
Salih Guler, as saying in their testimonies that a third suspect Emre
Gunaydin told them that he had met with police officials and learned
about the locations of Christian churches in the city.

"I asked him who are the police chiefs that you are speaking to, he
said: ‘Don’t ask, take it easy,"’ Radikal quoted Yildirim as saying.

Similar allegations have also emerged after the January killing of an
ethnic Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, who was detested by hardline
nationalists because he described the mass killings of Armenians in
the early 20th century as genocide.

Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, insisting those killed
were victims of civil war and unrest.

Critics have accused authorities of failing to act on reports of a
plot to kill Dink but there has been no evidence that directly
implicates any police or government officials in the slaying of Dink
outside his office.

Many Turks are convinced that a so-called "deep state" – a network of
state agents or ex-officials, possibly with links to organized crime
– periodically targets reformists and other perceived enemies in the
name of nationalism.

Christian leaders have said they are worried that nationalists are
stoking hostility against non-Turks and non-Muslims by exploiting
uncertainty over Turkey’s place in the world.

The uncertainty – and growing suspicion against foreigners – has been
driven by Turkey’s faltering EU membership bid, a resilient Kurdish
separatist movement and by increasingly vocal Islamists who see
themselves – and Turkey – as locked in battle with a hostile
Christian West.

DEPUTIES APPEALED TO CANDIDATES

Panorama.am
21:44 04/12/2007

Today speeches and different announcements were made in the Parliament
and were appealed to the candidates.

Viktor Dallakyan, an independent deputy made the first appeal to
them "Do not put negative accents on the sacred pages of founding
the third country and the liberation of NK." He said that he is
sure that the up coming elections are like the ones held in 1998
when Karen Demirchyan returned "In those days people waited for him,
and the political forces were against to his return. But in the case
of Levon Ter-Petrosyan it is vice versa. Will he manage to break the
ice? Time will show." The deputy also mentioned that what is the most
important is not who will be elected, but how he will be elected.

Razmik Zohrabyan, a member of the "Republican" party, was the next
deputy to express his thoughts connected with the theme. He said that
our nation needs "a leader who will support national state problems
and who works in team work", in a word he meant their leader Serjh
Sargsyan.

The next speaker was again Zohrabyan, but this time Naira. She
particularly appealed to the candidates to hold moral elections. She
continued that they – "Prosperous Armenia" will support their candidate
giving great importance to the morality.

The Messenger, Georgia
Dec 6 2007

Armenia to close nuclear power plant
By M. Alkhazashvili

(Translated by Diana Dundua)
Thursday, December 6

Yerevan finally agreed to shut down its only nuclear power plant,
which accounts for almost 50 percent of Armenia’s electricity supply,
at a government session on November 29.

The reactor, located at Medzamor (30 kilometers from Yerevan) first
went into service in 1980, and was closed owing to the 1988
earthquake, before resuming operations in 1995. The Armenian
government has come under pressure from the EU to close the reactor,
although the European Neighborhood Policy Action Plan that it adopted
in 2006 did not specify a deadline for its closure.

Shutting down the plant will cost up to USD 280 million, according to
the Armenian Energy Minister, Armen Movsisian, and the EU has already
offered loans of USD 295 million to facilitate the process.

Both the US and Russia have pledged assistance for constructing a
replacement power plant, which is planned to have an output of 1 000
megawatts, and will cost over USD 3 billion to build, according to
Armenian President Robert Kocharian.

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 6 2007

ANALYZING MATERIAL FOR TER-PETROSYAN

Although the police refused to issue a certificate on permanent
residence in Armenia over the past ten years and the court declined
the appeal against the decision of the police, the leader of the Nor
Jamanakner Party Aram Karapetyan stated December 6 that on January 21
he will launch his election campaign because it has no importance for
him whether they registered him or not. Aram Karapetyan stated that
he is not going to support anyone, and he is going to advise his
supporters to vote for the people who are real opposition. The real
opposition are the candidates whom the government refuses to register
and criticizes, Aram Karapetyan says in answer to the reporters. The
leader of the Nor Jamanakner Party promised to point to the real
opposition for his voters on the last day of the election campaign.

Aram Karapetyan will launch his campaign at full, at least he says he
is going to pay for advertising on TV, not at the expense of the
other candidates. He thinks it is not probable. Aram Karapetyan
promises that although he was not registered, he will reveal corrupt
officials. `I do not care for this registration. I work with people,
I work with you. People will decide if I will succeed or not. I think
everyone believes that the election will be rigged because in
yesterday’s interview Mr. Kocharyan said the problem of government of
Armenia has been solved. I think we will start action on February 20.
I never believed in February 19. Therefore, whether I am registered
or not, February 20 belongs to those who want to change something in
Armenia. I do not need registration with the Central Electoral
Commission for that,’ Aram Karapetyan says. He repeats that after the
election campaign starts he will tell whom the government will take
to the second round, how many percent Serge Sargsyan will get in the
second round to become president. The leader of the Nor Jamanakner
Party says he will release those figures on the basis of his
information that the society will check. Aram Karapetyan stated that
he has learned that they are planning to place Levon Ter-Petrosyan in
the fourth or fifth place.

The leader of the Nor Jamanakner Party says although he does not
support anyone, after the parliamentary election he stated during the
last rally with the Impeachment and the Republic Party that they have
different ideologies but they will come across after the presidential
election. Aram Karapetyan says he disagrees with most ideas of Levon
Ter-Petrosyan and his team but respects them. `These people think
that process is right and they will take that track. We think Armenia
needs new people, we have chosen this track. As to actions, I stated
in the recent rally, I appealed to people, that would come across on
the next day of the presidential election. Because if they are real
opposition and they will see what is going on, and if the rumors that
Levon Ter-Petrosyan will be left in the fourth or fifth place are
true, and yesterday Serge Sargsyan was already preparing for it,
saying that elections are an interesting thing, those who get few
percentage go to the Constitutional Court, go on protest, and so on.
He did not mean me, I was not registered. The team should already
analyze what is being prepared. If they should agree to it, they have
been registered, if they agree, they will agree, if they disagree, we
will come together on the next day,’ Aram Karapetyan says. He rules
out that this government will be reproduced again saying that the
psychological and the geopolitical climates are other.

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION WEEK PRESENTS NAZI GERMANY, ARMENIANS AND JEWS

AZG Armenian Daily
27/11/2007

Toronto, Canada-It was an eye-opening experience for the people
of Temple Har Zion and the Armenian Community Centre to learn
that there are so many links between the Armenian Genocide and the
Jewish Holocaust, as presented in a lecture by Prof. Eric D. Weitz,
Distinguished McKnight University Professor of History and Arsham and
Charlotte Ohanessian Chair in the College of Liberal Arts, where he
is also Chair of the History Department.

Len Rudner, National Director of Community Relations for the Canadian
Jewish Congress, noted in his introductory remarks, "This is the
27th year of Holocaust Education Week, an event sponsored by the UJ
Federation’s Holocaust Education Centre of Toronto. It is one of the
most comprehensive Holocaust education programs in the world. Our
goal is to educate people of all ages, ethnic backgrounds and
religions about the Holocaust and the extreme dangers of religious
and racial intolerance." In that spirit, the lecture was organized
by the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
(A Division of the Zoryan Institute), with the participation of the
Armenian Community Centre the Armenian General Benevolent Union of
Toronto, and the Canadian Jewish Congress-Ontario Region.

Prof. Weitz began his lecture by discussing Raphael Lemkin, who coined
the word "genocide." Lemkin, who was deeply influenced by his study
of both the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust, devoted his
life to creating international law for the prevention and punishment
of genocide, adopted as the United Nations Genocide Convention in
1948. In his autobiography, Lemkin expressed disappointment and concern
that the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide had not been punished
by the Allied Powers. Some of the other points Weitz discussed are
presented below.

Contrary to orders, German Army medic Armin T. Wegner, took many
pictures of the Armenian Genocide, some of which have survived
and become iconic representations of this terrible crime against
humanity. Wegner was the same German humanitarian who, in 1933, dared
write a personal letter to Adolf Hitler protesting Nazi Germany’s
treatment of the Jews. That act resulted in his own persecution by
the Nazis and his exile from Germany.

The use of technology to facilitate the destruction of the Armenians
and Jews was used by both the Young Turks and the Nazis. For example,
the trains to deport Jews efficiently to the concentration camps have
become a widely recognized symbol of the Holocaust.

Similarly, the Ottomans used trains to move large numbers of Armenians
to eastern Turkey where they were subsequently marched to the desert
of Der Zor and their ultimate death.

Germany’s foreign policy, as the military and political ally of
the Ottoman Empire during World War I, was interested in seeing that
empire succeed in its war aims so that Germany itself could expand its
influence eastwards into the region. Accordingly, when German consular
officials in the Ottoman Empire continually wrote to Berlin protesting
the Turkish annihilation of the Armenians, the German government by
and large chose to ignore it. This is the same policy followed during
World War II in its expansion eastward into Poland and beyond.

German officers served with Turkish commanders, as military
advisors. They observed the Armenian Genocide first-hand and some
were actively involved, and some went on to become Nazi supporters.

The cold, impersonal reporting by some German officials in the
Ottoman Empire as they described the extermination of the Armenians
was echoed in the reports by Nazi bureaucrats regarding the number
of Jews exterminated in the eastern front.

The absence of punishment for the perpetrators of the Armenian
Genocide by the Allied Powers gave confidence to Hitler to declare in
August 1939, "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the
Armenians," while justifying to his generals his plan to kill, oppress,
and brutalize the Poles, and to conclude that he could get away with
exterminating the Jews and committing other crimes against humanity.

The radical nature of both political parties-the CUP in the case of
the Turks and the Nazis in the case of the Germans-took control of
the government and succeeded in mobilizing significant sectors of
society to be involved in the mass killing, or at least condone it.

Giving a positive example of similarities, Prof. Weitz mentioned that
there were many cases of gentiles who saved Jews, as were there Turks
who also saved Armenians.

Not being familiar with the connections between the two cases of
genocide, and empowered by Prof. Weitz’s historical information and
analysis, the audience raised numerous earnest questions about the
linkages and particularly the relation of geo-politics to denial. It
was pointed out by one audience member that the recent denial of
the Holocaust by the President of Iran and the recent support for
Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide by the President of Israel
caused a great outcry around the world, because of the pain both
those denials caused survivors and descendants of the Holocaust and
the Armenian Genocide.

"This was a timely collaboration between Jewish and Armenian
organizations," said another member of the audience, referring to
the recent controversy surrounding the Anti-Defamation League in the
United States, which publicly opposed official American recognition of
the Armenian Genocide, House Resolution 106, and the recent complicity
in that effort by top official in Israel and the United States.

Prof. Weitz closed his lectures by stating that genocide is not only
a political decision but a personal choice, not an accident. He stated
that the "Holocaust and Armenian Genocide are too important to be left
just to the Armenians and Turks or the Jews and Germans, as the common
history and lessons they contain should be used to help ensure that
no community has to suffer in the future what they did in the past."

George Shirinian, IIGHRS Executive Director, stated his "firm belief
in the solidarity of Armenians and Jews, as well as other national
groups who have endured the overwhelming trauma of genocide, as these
are inter-related and part of a continuum of human tragedy. We have
much to teach the world, and we have much to learn from one another."

The International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
(A Division of the Zoryan Institute) is dedicated to the study and
dissemination of knowledge regarding the phenomenon of genocide in
all of its aspects. This is achieved through the annual Genocide
and Human Rights University Program, public lectures, seminars and
publication of Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International
Journal in partnership with the International Association of Genocide
Scholars and the University of Toronto Press.

OPPOSITION SEEKS KEY CHANGES IN ARMENIAN ELECTION LAW
By Astghik Bedevian

Radio LIberty, Czech Rep.
Nov 27 2007

The opposition minority in the Armenian parliament proposed on Tuesday
fresh amendments to the country’s Election Code, saying they would
prevent a possible falsification of the February 19 presidential
election.

The parliament factions of the Orinats Yerkir and Zharangutyun parties
said other amendments to the code that were adopted by the National
Assembly earlier this month are too insignificant to complicate
vote rigging.

The package of 16 draft amendments jointly circulated by them is
primarily directed against multiple voting and vote buying, practices
which opposition leaders claim were instrumental in pro-government
parties’ landslide victory in the May parliamentary elections. It
includes two specific changes demanded by former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian at a recent rally. Those envisage that all ballots for
the vote will be printed in a European Union member state and that
voters casting them will have their fingers marked by indelible ink.

Ter-Petrosian alleged that the Armenian authorities printed hundreds
of thousands of extra ballots ahead of the May elections and bribed
tens of thousands of people to vote for pro-government parties in
more than one polling station. He urged the international community
to pressure the Armenian authorities into enacting these changes.

"The experience of the last elections exposed the numerous ways of
ensuring multiple voting by a single person," said Vartan Khachatrian,
a Zharangutyun parliament and co-sponsor of the draft legislation.

The authorities already rejected the idea of inking voters’ fingers
a year ago and during the adoption of the most recent changes in the
Election Code. They enacted instead a provision requiring election
officials to put special stamps in the passports of Armenians going
to the polls.

Zharangutyun and Orinats Yerkir are also seeking a stricter ban on
vote buying which wealthy pro-government candidates often present as
an act of benevolence or "humanitarian assistance" to voters. The
Election Code already prohibits provision of any goods or services
during election campaigns. But the clause did not prevent some
contenders of the May polls, notably the pro-presidential Prosperous
Armenia Party, from handing out lavish gifts to local communities
and individual voters.

The opposition bill would also place limits on the price of political
advertising set by Armenian TV and radio stations. In particular,
they would be banned from making election campaign ads more expensive
than regular commercials aired by them.

Both opposition parties, who control only 15 seats in the 131-member
National Assembly, admitted that their chances of pushing the
amendments through the legislature are slim. "We can’t be very
hopeful," Hovannes Markarian of Orinats Yerkir told RFE/RL. "Some of
our proposals were already rejected this month."

"In any case, we must give it a try because we are accountable to
the public," said Khachatrian.

Samvel Nikoyan, a senior lawmaker from the governing Republican Party
(HHK), made it clear that the opposition bill is unlikely to even reach
the parliament floor. "The electoral process has already started,"
he told RFE/RL. "It is meaningless and inadmissible to change rules
mid-way through the process."

"They [the opposition minority] are well aware that their proposals
will never be debated at the National Assembly," said Nikoyan.

AZERBAIJAN DEFENSE MINISTER WARNS TERRITORIAL DISPUTE COULD SPARK NEW WAR

Associated Press
Nov 27 2007

The long-standing dispute over the Armenian-controlled territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh could spark a new war if it remains unresolved,
Azerbaijan’s defense minister said Tuesday.

"As long as Azerbaijani territory is occupied by Armenia, the chance
of war is close to 100 percent," Safar Abiyev said during a meeting
in Kazakhstan of defense chiefs from ex-Soviet republics.

His startlingly worded remark was a reminder that Azerbaijan has
not ruled out use of force in recapturing Nagorno-Karabakh and
surrounding areas.

Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territory that is also part of
Azerbaijan have been controlled by Armenian and ethnic Armenian forces
since a shaky 1994 cease-fire ended one of the bloodiest conflicts
that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. The six-year war
killed 30,000 people and drove more than 1 million from their homes,
including many of the region’s ethnic Azeris.

Azerbaijan and Armenia remain locked in a dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh
despite more than a decade of coaxing from international mediators led
by the United States, Russia and France to resolve the region’s status.

Gunfire breaks out regularly along the border between Azerbaijan and
Armenia and in the regions near Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenian Defense Minister Mikhail Arutyunian said he sees no
alternative to a peaceful settlement, the RIA-Novosti news agency
reported.