Author: Frangulian Shushan

ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF USA PROTESTING AGAINST ACTIONS BY DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATIVES OF AZERBAIJAN

arminfo
2008-03-21 12:08:00

ArmInfo. The Armenian-American community stands united in rejecting
recent attempts by Azerbaijan’s representatives in the United
States to exploit the recent tensions in Armenia to misrepresent our
community; anything less tan fully committed and forever devoted to
the independence, security, and growth of the Republic of Armenia
and Nagorno Karabakh, says the statement by the Armenian-American
community received by ArmInfo.

‘Recent statements y Azerbaijan’s Consul General in Los Angeles,
Elin Suleymanov, represent an unprofessional and cynical, but
ultimately fruitless, effort to play divide-and-conquer politics
among Armenians both within the homeland and among the Diaspora. His
comments intentionally misinterpret a diversity of opinion among
Armenians regarding issues of governance within the motherland as a
lack of resolve to vigorously assert our rights, defend our common
interest, and protect our hard-fought freedom.

Having lost, in the international court of public opinion on historical
and legal grounds, and already having proven themselves incapable
on the battlefield of imposing a military solution, Mr. Suleymanov
and his government are now resorting to irresponsible and incendiary
tactics that seem to serve no other purpose than to incite domestic
support for their corrupt and increasingly unpopular regime in the
run-up to this year’s Azerbaijani elections.

In the past, we have stood together in defending ourselves against
Azerbaijan’s war of aggression. Today, more determined than ever
we will continue to work together to further strengthen Nogorno
Karabakh’s statehood, and are ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with
our brothers and sisters in Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and worldwide
in collectively responding to any threat against the Armenian people’,
the statements says.

FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER OF KARABAKH: PASSAGE OF AZERI RESOLUTION AT THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY IS FAILURE OF ARMENIAN DIPLOMACY

arminfo
2008-03-21 15:48:00

ArmInfo. "Even if the resolution were passed at the UN General Assembly
by narrow adds, nevertheless it is an international document. Therefore
the passage of the document "On the situation in occupied territories
of Azerbaijan" at the UN General Assembly may be considered failure of
the Armenian diplomacy in any case", Arman Melikyan, a former candidate
for Armenian president, the former foreign minister of Karabakh, said.

According to him, the Armenian authorities shouldn’t shut their eyes
the resolution passed at the UN General Assembly. Nevertheless, the
politician noted that this measure is not a disaster for Armenia, and
one may find out a worthy way out of the current situation. Armenia
should take the lead in settling the conflict and taking more active
steps in this direction. The republic needs new approaches and new
people to participate in negotiations.

People who gave no promises or who are bound with no agreements
are needed.

We have all the trump cards and nobody can take them away, all the
more so as Azerbaijan has held quite an aggressive position in the
peace process", Melikyan said.

KARABAKH MEDIATORS PUSH FOR NEW ARMENIAN-AZERI SUMMIT

Radio Liberty
March 20 2008
Czech Republic

International mediators urged the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan
late Wednesday to resume "as soon as possible" negotiations on the
basic principles of a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement that were formally
submitted to the conflicting parties last November.

In a joint statesmen, the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group said they pressed for the holding of a fresh
Armenian-Azerbaijani summit on Karabakh during separate meetings last
week with the foreign ministers of the two countries. They said both
sides agreed to such a summit "in principle." The statement did not
specify when and where it might take place.

Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said earlier this month that
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev and his newly elected Armenian
counterpart, Serzh Sarkisian, could meet on the sidelines of the NATO
summit that will take place in Bucharest on April 3-4.

Oskanian said nothing about such a meeting as he commented on the
Karabakh peace process in Armenia’s parliament on Wednesday. He spoke
instead about Azerbaijan’s reported demands for the dissolution
of the Minsk Group and a radical change in the format of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. He said Baku has been emboldened
by the passage late last week of a UN General Assembly resolution
that upheld Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh and demanded an
"unconditional" Armenian withdrawal from occupied Azerbaijani
territories.

Aliev on Thursday touted the resolution as a "big diplomatic victory"
for Azerbaijan." According to the APA news agency, he also said that
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity can not be a subject of negotiations
with the Armenians.

Armenia’s outgoing President Robert Kocharian, meanwhile, said
Yerevan should formally recognize the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic as an independent state if Baku pulls out of the Minsk Group
process. "At least, that’s what I would do," he told reporters.

"We can’t have a better format," Kocharian said of the Minsk Group.

"But that doesn’t mean that if Azerbaijan doesn’t want to negotiate,
we will cling to [that format.] They don’t want to? No problem. But
they must at the same time think about who will bears responsibility
for further developments."

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin also spoke out against
any changes in the negotiation format "Any change in format would
bring a sense of uncertainty and an expectation of something new,"
he said after meeting Kocharian and Sarkisian in Yerevan. "I think
that is hardly appropriate in delicate and sensitive processes like
a peaceful settlement."

ARMENIE: KOTCHARIAN CONTRE LES ELECTIONS LEGISLATIVES ANTICIPEES

RIA Novosti
20 Mars 2008
Russie

EREVAN, 20 mars – RIA Novosti. Le president armenien Robert Kotcharian
a insiste jeudi sur l’inutilite des elections legislatives anticipees
reclamees par certaines forces politiques en Armenie.

"J’entends parler de la necessite d’organiser de nouvelles elections
legislatives pour sortir le pays de la crise politique. Je vous dis
clairement que je rejette ce point de vue", a-t-il indique a la presse.

D’après M. Kotcharian, on ne pourrait organiser des elections
legislatives anticipees que dans si le parlement elu ne parvient
pas a former le gouvernement. "C’est le b.a.-ba de la politique,
et ceux qui veulent des elections legislatives anticipees devraient
le savoir", a-t-il fait remarquer.

Selon le president sortant, aucune campagne electorale organisee
jusqu’a present en Armenie n’a contribue a calmer les passions au sein
de la societe. "Pourquoi entrer a nouveau dans ce cycle?" s’est-il
demande.

Cinq partis sont entres dans le parlement armenien a l’issue des
elections legislatives du 12 mai dernier: le Parti republicain (65
sièges), Armenie prospère (25), le Parti socialiste (16), Etat de droit
(8) et Heritage (7). En juin 2007, les leaders du Parti republicain,
d’Armenie prospère et du Parti socialiste ont cree une coalition.

–Boundary_(ID_UHm54q3pwmSzGqZqqSuBoQ) —

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION REPRESENTATIVES HIDING IN GEORGIA – NGO

Kavkas-Press
March 20 2008
Georgia

Tbilisi, 20 March: The head of the Multiethnic Georgia NGO, Arno
Stepanyan, has confirmed in remarks to Kavkas-Press that some 40-60
representatives of the Armenian political opposition are currently
in Georgia.

He said opposition representatives began entering Georgia two or
three days after the violent dispersal of protests in Yerevan [on 1
March] which followed the disputed Armenian presidential election on
19 February.

Stepanyan says it cannot be ruled out that some of them will request
asylum in Georgia.

POLITICAL PARTIES CONDEMN POSITION OF OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIR COUNTRIES

AzerTag
March 20 2008
Azerbaijan

At the initiative of the New Azerbaijan Party, representatives of
various political parties gathered at the "roundtable" meeting on
March 19 at the Ataturk Center to protest against the position of OSCE
Minsk Group co-chair countries, which voted against the resolution
"The situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan" adopted at
the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly.

The event brought representatives of political parties, NGOs and
public represented in the Milli Majlis.

YAP deputy chairman, executive secretary Ali Ahmadov said Azerbaijan
was hopeful that OSCE Minsk Group peace process will produce positive
results, and Azerbaijan`s occupied territories would be freed. He
expressed regret that while OSCE meetings adopted some documents
ensuring fair resolution of the conflict, Armenia`s non-constructive
position did not allow reaching the agreement.

He pointed out that OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs were not consistent in
their efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement of the conflict. Their
statements distorting the essence of the conflict have a negative
impact on the process of talks.

While the resolution "The situation in the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan" was adopted at the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly,
the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries voted against it.

It casts shadow on their objectivity and indicates that they show
solidarity with aggressive Armenia.

Ahmadov said the position of co-chair countries is "unacceptable". It
contradicts the UN resolutions No 822, 853, 874 and 884, which demand
withdrawal of Armenian forces.

Speaking at the meeting were members of the Milli Majlis: chairman
of the Ana Veten party Fazail Agamaly, Chairman of the Great Gurulus
(Establishment) Party Fazil Mustafayev, President of the National
NGO Forum Azay Guliyev and Zahid Oruc. They strongly condemned the
position of co-chair countries.

AGREEMENT REACHED BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ARMENIA ON SIMPLIFICATION OF CUSTOMS PROCEDURES

arminfo
2008-03-20 15:43:00

ArmInfo. The State Customs Committee of Armenia and the Federal
Customs Service of Russia signed a protocol, which envisages
facilitation of customs procedures. The document was passed after
the Armenian exporters raised the problem of export of excisable
goods, in particular, the alcohol products through Caucasus port,
several months ago, during the meeting with the two countries’ prime
ministers, deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee of Armenia
Gagik Khachatryan said after the protocol signing ceremony.

The Armenian exporters will shortly enabled to supply the Armenian
goods through Caucasus port, as well as by introduction of a simplified
customs procedure of execution. "We should strengthen the control of
quality and quantity of products by special excise stamps, marking of
which will be carried out by representatives of two countries. Such
an approach allows to rule out additional customs procedures in
the destination point", Khachatryan said. He added that it also
envisages implementation of new technologies, which will be probably
used as bar-codes. Perhaps, this service will be paid. "Such marking
of products will arouse trust of the Russian Customs Service and will
require no additional documentation", Khachatryan said and added that
transfer to this regime will supposedly start on May 1, 2008.

To recall, during the visit of RF PM Victor Zubkov to Armenia on
February 6, 2008, the customs services were charged to carry out a
work to reveal illegal supplies of excisable alcohol drinks, mainly,
brandy. The Russian delegation of FCS arrived in Armenia to reveal
such cases and establish more productive cooperation. Earlier, the
Council of Heads of CIS countries’ customs services considered the
possibility of implementing a common duty tariffication system. The
Council also made a decision to pass to a common coding of goods that
allows to register similar goods in all CIS countries under one code,
and it will be possible to send the data on the declared goods under
identical code to the neighbouring countries.

CRIMINAL CASE ON DEATH OF LEVON GULIAN QUASHED

Noyan Tapan
March 19, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 19, NOYAN TAPAN. NT has been informed that the criminal
case, which was opened based on the fact of the death of the citizen
Levon Gulian and was investigated by the RA Special Investigation
Service, was quashed on March 12 due to the absence of corpus
delicti. By the official version, L. Gulian died on May 12, 2007,
after falling down from a window of the building of the criminal
investigation department of the RA police.

RA FM: KARABAKH STATUS KEY ISSUE IN OSCE MG DOCUMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.03.2008 17:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Official Yerevan agrees to basic principles of
the Karabakh conflict resolution submitted by the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-chairs, although some details still need to be clarified, Armenia’s
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian told Kentron TV Channel.

"The document combines the principle of self-determination and
territorial integrity, at that Karabakh’s status is the key issue,"
he said.

The Minister said that Armenia is ready for a presidential meeting
during NATO summit in Bucharest on April 3-4. "Serzh Sargsyan has
agreed to meet. The matter depends on the Azeri President. At that
the agenda will include the resolution on Karabakh adopted by the UN
General Assembly on March 14."

"If Azerbaijan keeps on putting forth the principles of the resolution,
Serzh Sargsyan should announce senselessness of further talks. In
this case, Armenia will have to reconsider its approaches and focus
on ensuring NKR’s security. If Baku agrees to continue talks on
the basis of the OSCE MG proposals, we are ready to negotiate,"
the Minister said.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTRY: RUSSIA ACTIVATED NK INTERCESSORS COOPERATION

Panorama.am
17:03 18/03/2008

In the regulation process of the NKR question Russia managed to
activate the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, USA, and France) co-chairmen
close relations and cooperation. The information is mentioned in the
report made by the RF Foreign Affairs Ministry on their conducted
jobs and programs last year.

"The Western colleagues keep fair to their positions, that
the negotiations on the NK regulation do not have another
variants. Besides, that implementation of force is impossible in this
sense," is written in the report.

"Yet in Madrid the Foreign Affairs ministers of Russia and France,
and the deputy state secretary of the USA handed official document
to the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, where
the main regulative points of question were stated. The step was
hold taking into account the forthcoming presidential elections in
both countries in order to keep the already gained agreements and
possibilities through the negotiations," is written in the report.