Author: Felekian Ara

SKINHEAD CONFESSES OF MURDERING 37

ArmRadio.am
29.05.2007 17:55

Detained on suspicion of murdering Armenia’s native Karen Abramyan
Arthur Ryno said he killed 37 for ethnic reasons, Vremya Novostey
reported with reference to prosecutors of South-West District of
Moscow. The detectives that are checking acknowledging statement of
the accused have found evidences for some murders already.

On April 17, three unidentified young men attacked Karen Abramyan, 46,
sticking knifes into him several times. Abramyan died in a hospital
of wounds. The attackers had been shouting nationalist slogans,
he managed to say before death.

But Vremya Novostey mentions only two detained – Arthur Ryno, 18,a
student of Kiselev Icon Painting School, and Pavel Skachevsky, 18,a
student of Russia’s State University of Physical Culture. They were
caught nearly red-handed because of the witness testimonies.

Having seen the tape of watching camera, Ryno told about a series of
murders that he allegedly committed from August 2006.

He was attacking in different regions of Moscow. Skachevsky helped
him in 20 crimes. Though Ryno gave details of the crimes he couldn’t
specify exact dates and places. But at least one more murder has been
confirmed already, sources with the prosecutors said.

Unlike Ryno, Skachevsky denies participation in the attacks.

National imperatives or European values?

26-05-2007 13:34:30 – KarabakhOpen

Member of Parliament Vahram Atanesyan, chair of the Committee on
External Relations, says the institution of political and public
debates needs to be established in the country.

With regard to the development of a civil society, Vahram Atanesyan
underlined: `The society seeks openness, pluralism. And this urge
becomes stronger day by day, becomes a way of life for young
people. However, the society which faces the European community cannot
be confined to the national ideology because Europe rejects it. If we
face Europe, if we say Europe must be ready for a dialogue with us, we
must be able to speak the language of the civilized world. So what do
we need? European democracy at the expense of our national
imperatives, or must we remain bearers of ethnic imperatives to the
detriment of freedom of speech, civil society, human rights?

I think we are facing this choice. It is possible that there is a
point where the national imperatives and European standards combine, I
don’t know. After all, the essence of European integration supposes
certain limitation of national sovereignty. For a country aspiring to
international recognition of its independence, it may be a
tragedy. But it is also a topic for debates we avoid.’

POWER IS IN YOUR HANDS!

A1+
[08:37 pm] 25 May, 2007

The rally of the Impeachment bloc, the Republic and the New Times is
continuing near the Matenadaran.

"The power in the country is in the hands of one person. You are that
person!" announced Nikol Pashinyan. The rally participants repeated
after him, "I am that person!"

Today the rally participants are comparatively fewer.

Nikol Pashinyan, the leader of the Impeachment bloc, explains people’s
passiveness by the ceremony of the "Last Ring."

It is noteworthy that the change of the venue is determined by
the fact that the Municipality has decided to hold the "Last Ring"
ceremony at Freedom Square.

During his addressing speech, Nikol Pashinyan highlighted the first
report presented by the International Election Observation Mission
(IEOM) and considered it their victory. The report referred to election
frauds registered by the rally initiators.

The Impeachment is going to submit an application to the Constitutional
Court on May 26.

LEVON MKRTCHYAN WILL HOLD HIS POSITION IF DASHNAKTSUTYUN DECIDES SO

armradio.am
23.05.2007 15:38

Whether Levon Lazarian will hold the position of RA Minister
of Education and Science depends on the decision of the ARF
Dashnaktsuyun. "If the Party decides to become part of the coalition
and takes a corresponding decision, I will continue my work. I will
obey if any other decision is made," Levon Lazarian said today.

POLL SAYS PASSAGE OF ARMENIAN RESOLUTION WILL WORSEN TURKS’ OPINION ABOUT THE U.S.

Turkish Press
May 22 2007

WASHINGTON – According to a new nationwide public opinion survey
recently conducted by Terror Free Tomorrow, a nonprofit organization,
the adoption of a resolution on the so-called Armenian genocide
allegations by the American congress would worsen Turks’ opinion on
the United States, hurting U.S. interests, and deal a major blow on
efforts towards reaching a compromise between Turkey and Armenia.

"The passage of the resolution would set back cause it purports to
achieve and harden the Turkish public view of Armenians," Ken Ballen,
leader of Terror Free Tomorrow said in the poll report.

According to the survey, 78 percent of Turks opposed any
U.S. Congressional resolution and almost four-fifths of Turkish
citizens favored strong action by the Turkish government if
a resolution was adopted, including of suspension of diplomatic
relations with the U.S.

Of the Turks surveyed, 83 percent would oppose Turkey assisting the
U.S. in neighboring Iraq should a resolution pass.

A plurality of Turks indicated that they would boycott American
products with 84 percent of those –who now have a very favorable
opinion of the United States– responded that their opinion would
deteriorate if the resolution passes.

73 percent of Turks said a resolution would have the opposite effect
and actually worsen relations between Turkey and Armenia rather than
promoting reconciliation between the two countries.

"The task of the Congress should be to help promote a neutral,
independent and credible mechanism. That neutral forum should not
only include expert historians, legal scholars and political leaders
from both Turkey and Armenia, but similar representatives from other
countries, as well," Ballen said.

"After all, if the parliament of Turkey, or for that matter, Russia
or France, were to pass a resolution condemning the United States for
the genocide of American Indians in the 19th century, would that lead
to acceptance and reconciliation in the US, or merely condemnation
of the foreign government which judged American history?" he asked.

TAVIANI BROTHERS’ LARK FARM FLIES TO RAI TRADE
Sheri Jennings In Cannes

Screendaily.com , UK
May 21 2007

Italian sales company RAI Trade has added the Taviani’s latest film,
The Lark Farm, to its Cannes slate.

The film, which played in Berlin, is the latest effort from Paolo
and Vittorio Taviana, who won the Palme d’Or in 1977 for My Father,
My Master and a special jury prize in 1981 for The Night of the
Shooting Stars.

The Lark Farm is the tragic war story of an Armenian family in Turkey
who see their peaceful lives destroyed when Turkey begins to order
the massacre of the Armenians. The women of the family have to fight
to survive harsh conditions.

The Lark Film will open in France this month and was produced by AGER
3 in collaboration with RAI Cinema and Eagle Pictures. Co-production
partners are Nimar Studios in Bulgaria, Sagrera TV, TVE and ICAA in
Spain and Flach Film, France 2 Cinema, Canal + and 27 Films Productions
in France and Ard Degeto in Germany.

The Taviani Brothers are in Cannes to commemorate the 30th anniversary
of My Father, My Master with a limited edition book.

RAI’s slate also includes Caravaggio, a biopic on the Italian artist
starring Alessio Boni and directed by Angelo Longoni.

ticle.aspx?intStoryID=32730&Category=

Rotation of Armenian peacekeepers in Kosovo to take place May 23-25

ArmRadio.am
21.05.2007 11:46

The rotation of Armenian peacekeepers in Kosovo will take place May
23-25, ArmInfo was told from the Peacekeeping Battalion of RA Defense
Ministry Department. Currently the sixth group of peacekeepers
comprised of 34 people is carrying out mission in Kosovo.

Armenia joined the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo in 2004. The first
group of Armenian peacekeepers left for Kosovo on February 12, 2004.

RUSSIAN FM TO DISCUSS THE KARABAKH ISSUE IN THE FRAMEWORK OF HIS VISIT TO BAKU

armradio.am
18.05.2007 15:56

During the forthcoming visit to Baku the Foreign Minister of Russia
Sergey Lavrov will discuss the current state of the Karabakh conflict
settlement, official representative of the Russian MFA Mikhail Kaminin
told RIA Novosti.

"Russia is ready to uphold the assistance for finding a compromise
solution to the issue. Our position on the Karabakh conflict settlement
remains unchanged. Our start point is that the main responsibility for
the final choice of the settlement formula lays on the Azerbaijanis
and Armenians themselves. Russia will back the way of resolution
that will favor the conflicting sides and will act as the guarantor
of settlement in case an agreement is reached," Kaminin said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Baku is scheduled
May 21-22. in the framework of the visit Lavrov will meet with the
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. He is due to have a meeting
with Azerbaijani Prime Minister Arthur Rasizadeh.

Military drill held in Russian military base in Armenia

Zvezda TV, Moscow
14 May 07

[Presenter] A regular military training has taken place on a Russian
military base in Armenia. The command was satisfied with the
firing-range practice. Our special correspondent Andrey Kovtunenko
was watching the aimed fire.

[Correspondent] The final inspection for the winter period started for
the motor-rifle regiment with the lining-up. Weapons and military
ammunition are ready for the military use. The next stage is a
lining-up training. [Servicemen shown marching and singing]

Another motor-rifle regiment is passing the fire-range practice 120 km
away from Yerevan near Gyumri at the height of over 2,500 m.

[Video shows an officer saying "Eyes right! Attention! Commanders of
the crew, report on receiving the weapons!"]

The arms have been received. The order "All to the cars!" is
given. The crews are taking their places. Firing moving targets from
the infantry combat vehicle is a challenging task.

[An unidentified serviceman] The first, the second, this is the guard
tower speaking, forward!]

Not all the shells are reaching the targets at the first try, but the
second shot corrects the mistake. The targets are destroyed. Firing
out of the BMP [infantry combat vehicle] is one of the main exercises
of the firing-range practice.

The infantry is practising on their own. The shot from the grenade
launcher has almost deafened the shooter. Not only the accuracy but
also good nerves are important here.

[An unidentified serviceman commands] Target three under the tower!
Fire!

The grenade projectile has accurately hit the target. The disguised
BMPs of a hypothetical enemy have been disabled.

While some soldiers are on the military range, others are passing
physical training tests. The cross-country race is being held just on
the territory of the 102nd Russian military base.

The construction of the fortress began in 1827 and continued over 12
years. Tsar Nikolay I himself has laid a stone at the
foundation. There are the headquarters of the 102nd Russian military
base here now.

The only aim of the Russian base in Armenia is to prevent undesirable
developments of the events in the region. It is not a threaten to any
state.

[Andrey Kholzakov, commander of the 102 military base, captioned] We
have BMP-1, BMP-2 and armoured carrier vehicles on the inventory list
of motor-rifle regiments. It is not a secret for anyone. According to
the agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the Russian
Federation, [changes tack] the threats have always existed in the
southern region. There are countries here which are part of the NATO
bloc, they have certain interests involving Russia. And Russia is
taking its firm position.

[Correspondent] Commanders say that on the whole, they are satisfied
with the results of the military drill. The evaluation given to the
regiment for the firing-range practice is pretty high. The next
inspection, for the summer period this time, will be held in autumn.

AZERBAIJAN AND US RESTORE SECURITY TALKS

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
May 16 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend A.Ismayilova / Jonathan Henick, Head
of the Public Relationships Department at the US Embassy in Baku,
has reported that the next round of the Azerbaijani-US security
consultations will be held in Washington on 9-10 July.

He noted that the format of talks remained as previously. Araz Aizmov,
the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister, and officials from relevant
ministries will represent Azerbaijan in the talks.

The Azerbaijan-US security consultations, originally scheduled for
23-25 April, were delayed by the Azerbaijan government. Baku protested
to changes made by the US Department of State on 20 April to its
Human Rights Practices Report issued on 6 March, which indicated
the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 districts attached to it
by Armenia.

In this respect Baku postponed the visit to Washington for security
consultations, of the government delegation headed by Deputy foreign
minister, Araz Asimov. However, on 25 April the US Department of
State restored the report to its original version.