Author: Frangulian Shushan

ARMENIAN PREMIER DISCUSSES KARABAKH WITH MEDIATORS IN BUCHAREST

Public TV
April 3 2008
Armenia

[Correspondent] Prime Minister and president-elect Serzh Sargsyan’s
plane landed today [3 March] in the Romanian capital where a NATO
summit is under way. The delegation led by him includes the Armenian
foreign minister, the head of the Armenian mission to NATO, other
officials. Sargsyan will attend the business lunch for the head of
the Euro-Atlantic Partnership countries. Before that, he had his
first meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in the capacity of
newly elected Armenian president. Lusine Lazarian reports details
from Bucharest.

[Correspondent] The Armenian delegation headed by Prime Minister
Serzh Sargsyan is in Bucharest to participate in the NATO summit:
the NATO expansion is the key issue of the summit. Armenian Prime
Minister and president-elect Serzh Sargsyan met the OSCE co-chairs.

But first, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan spoke with
the ambassadors.

[Passage omitted: correspondent interviews OSCE Minsk Group US co-chair
Matthew Bryza.]

[Presenter] The meeting between Serzh Sargsyan and the co-chairs is
over now. We are on the phone with Lusine Lazarian, who is working
in Bucharest. Lusine, what can you tell us about the talks?

[Correspondent] The meeting between Serzh Sargsyan and the
OSCE ambassadors lasted one hour. Andrzej Kasprzyk, the OSCE
chairman-in-office personal representative, was also present at the
meeting. The parties discussed the current stage of the Karabakh
process and gave their assessments. Sargsyan expressed his concern
over Azerbaijan’s diplomatic moves and the recent events on the
Azerbaijani-Karabakh border. Sargsyan reaffirmed Armenia’s readiness
to settle the conflict by peaceful means in the format of the OSCE
Minsk Group. The meeting took place in a quite warm environment
as you can see from the footage. The US co-chair [Matthew Bryza]
spoke about the impressions following the meeting. Bryza said that
the co-chairs know the respected Armenian president for a long time,
they know what a person he is and that they can continue the talks
with him. Bryza said it is now apparent that the talks process will
continue. He pointed to the importance of continuing the meetings
between the presidents after [Serzh Sargsyan] assumes the post of
the president, underscoring that the co-chairs are waiting for such
an opportunity. Bryza said he thinks that Azerbaijan too agrees that
the process should be continued, however, adding that there were many
tough moments. He said he is sure the process will continue and it
would not take as long as it seems today, expressing hope that the
settlement of the issue is in near future. He said he cannot predict
when the conflict would be settled but said he has a feeling that it
would be in near future and that there is a progress. He said that
it was the beginning today and after the presidential inauguration
the process will continue. I would like to quote him: "We have to
move forward step by step".

HIS EMINENCE ARCHBISHOP AGHAN BALIOZIAN MEETS WITH ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF SINGAPORE

Noyan Tapan
April 2, 2008

His Eminence Archbishop Aghan Baliozian, the Pontifical Legate of
India and the Far East, left for Singapore on March 26 to meet with
community members and also preside over two special sacraments at
the Armenian Apostolic Church of St Gregory the Illuminator, the very
first church in Singapore built by the Armenian Community in 1835.

As they report from Sidney, on the evening of his arrival, on occasion
of the 173rd anniversary of the Church, Archbishop Baliozian celebrated
the Divine Liturgy and delivered the sermon in which he reflected on
the mission of the Armenian Church in the lives of Armenians of the
Diaspora most especially in the history of the earlier South-east
Asian communities.

NATIONAL WEIGHTLIFTING TEAM OF ARMENIA PREPARING FOR EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP IN PODOLSK

Noyan Tapan
April 2, 2008

PODOLSK, APRIL 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The national weightlifting team of
Armenia has been holding a traning gathering since March 25 in the
city of Podolsk.

The team is preparing for the European Championship to be held in the
city of Lignano of Italy on April 13-20. Only Gevorg Davtian is not
taking part in the gathering. By the decision of the trainers’ council,
he is preparing for the "Beijing 2008" with an individual program.

The Armenian team of men will be represented in the European
Championship by Arayik Mirzoyan (69 kg, Baghramian), Tigran
G. Martirosian (69 kg, Gyumri), Ara Khachatrian (77kg, Gyumri), Tigran
V. Martirosian (85 kg, Gyumri), Vahram Gevorgian (85 kg, Vanadzor),
Edgar Gevorgian (94 kg, Vanadzor), Arthur Babayan (105 kg, Vanadzor),
and Artak Mkrtchian (105 kg, Kasakh).

As for the championship of women Tehmine Karapetian (53 kg, Gyumri),
Liana Manukian (53 kg, Kasakh), Anna Govelian (58 kg, Gyumri),
Heghine Epremian (58 kg, Gyumri), Meline Ghaluzian (63 kg, Gyumri),
Nazik Avdalian (69 kg, Gyumri), and Hripsime Khurshudian (75 kg,
Kasakh) will take part.

The congress of the European Weightlifting Federation will take place
in Lignano before the championship.

OSCE CIO GRANTED SICK LEAVE OVER TEXT MESSAGES

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.04.2008 16:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Finland has appointed a new foreign minister
to replace Ilkka Kanerva, who was involved in a scandal over text
messages sent to an erotic dancer.

Mr Kanerva sent 200 allegedly explicit messages to the dancer, and
later made misleading statements about them.

The leader of his Conservative party said Mr Kanerva had lost the
confidence and general respect that would allow him to stay in the job.

The new minister will be Alexander Stubb, aged 40, who is an MEP.

As a PanARMENIAN.Net came to know from Mr Martin Nesirky, Spokesperson
for the OSCE, whoever occupies the post of Foreign Minister of Finland,
will serve as OSCE Chairman-in-Office.

A FACE-OFF OVER TURKISH DEMOCRACY
By Pelin Turgut/Istanbul

TIME
ld/article/0,8599,1726872,00.html
April 1 2008

Turkey is in a turmoil that has all the drama of a Hollywood epic.

There is a new venue for the ongoing power struggle that pits the
old-guard elite – led by a military used to calling the shots since
the country’s founding in 1923 – against a powerful, newly moneyed
class rooted in political Islam. The political vehicle of this class,
the Justice and Development Party (AKP), was reelected last summer
with an overwhelming 47% of the vote. The old guard, having failed
to beat the newcomers at the ballot box, has now asked the country’s
top court to ban the AKP and its leaders for undermining secularist
principles they say are enshrined in Turkey’s constitution.

Heading the all-male cast in this drama is the solitary, hawkish
and staunchly secularist chief prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya,
who has become an Islamist hate target for his 162-page indictment
accusing the AKP of seeking to overthrow secularism. Arrayed against
him is Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a tall, moody former
football player who grew up a hard-line Islamist and was once jailed
for reciting a poem deemed to incite religious hatred. His ally,
President Abdullah Gul, a moderate, must now balance his party
loyalties against the requirement that he be neutral. And lurking
in the wings is the army chief of staff, Yasar Buyukanit, who sees
himself as protector of the republic as conceived by Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk, Turkey’s Westernizing founder. The lanky military man views
his task as upholding Turkey’s hard line against Kurdish separatists
and in divided Cyprus (where Turkey retains a military presence) and
in keeping pro-Islam forces in check. Both sides are equally fervent;
one has the Book (the Qu’ran), the other, Kemalism, a homegrown
ideology named after Ataturk. Neither has any empathy for the other,
and there is no hero on the horizon to save the day.

The fate of Turkish democracy currently rests in the hands of the 11
becloaked members of the constitutional court. In past rulings, the
court has banned several other political parties on similar grounds
of violating the Turkish constitution. But this is different: the AKP
enjoys more popular support than any of its predecessors, and it has
formed the first single-party government in decades. The AKP under
Erdogan has also distanced itself from traditional Islamist rhetoric,
particularly in the impious fervor with which it has embraced liberal
capitalism: foreign capital inflows and economic growth have been at
a record high.

Parallel to the AKP case, Turkey has been gripped by the arrests
of an alleged cabal of nationalist ex-army officers, military and
civilian militants accused of killings and extortion to uphold what
they saw as Turkey’s interests. Their views are deeply isolationist
and anti-Europe, and they oppose rights for minorities. Turks have
long harbored suspicions about the existence of a "deep state," as
this network is popularly called. But Feride Cetin, a lawyer for the
Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was shot dead last year,
considers this the first time specific linkages to elements in the
security forces have emerged. "This is a very important opportunity,"
she says.

On all levels then, Turkey’s democracy is at a turning point; an
age-old political shell is cracking, and it is unclear what will
emerge from the debris.

The AKP now has a month to submit its initial defense, and court
proceedings could take up to six months. Meanwhile Erdogan has
taken to the war path, reciting Quranic verse in heavily emotional
public speeches, with repeated references to "us" and "them." That
polarization could ultimately be the most dangerous aspect of this
debacle. Responding to calls by international organizations to take
a step back, he bristled, and essentially said never. "The AKP say
they want democracy and the European Union, but they don’t have much
to show for this," says Hakan Altinay, director of Istanbul’s Open
Society Institute. "In the next six months, the right thing to do
would be to launch a hearts-and-minds campaign to win over society
as a whole, to truly prove to everyone that they are democrats. That
they are genuinely as much for the rights of Kurdish nationalists,
gays or Christian missionaries, as they are for their own." If they
do this convincingly, Altinay says, it could affect the trial outcome.

There are no signs of that so far. In an gesture of defiance, the AKP
is considering passing a constitutional amendment that could render
the case moot, making it harder to ban parties and reducing the penalty
for the charges applied. But the court could argue that such a change,
enacted while the case is pending, is not admissible. In that event,
Erdogan – who faces a five-year ban from politics should the AKP lose
– could call early elections, or even urge his supporters to take to
the streets. "The man is a fighter," said one leading businessman. "He
won’t give up. If necessary, he’ll take it to the bitter end."

Hollywood epics tend to paint their antagonists in comfortingly
black-and-white terms; Turkey’s dispute has many more gray tones. The
conservative Muslims appear as new democrats, though only when it suits
them; some cast the social democrats in the role of new hard-line
nationalists; and Ataturk, whose biggest aspiration was for Turkey
to join the "civilized West," would no doubt be stunned to hear that
his military is skeptical of entry into the European Union.

Meanwhile, investors are spooked, leading Turkish unions are on
strike over a proposed social security reform law, unemployment is
over 10%, and the Kurdish conflict is brewing. "This is a struggle in
the palace," says political scientist Hakan Yilmaz. "It has nothing to
do with the people." But if Turkey’s polarization increases further,
it could have profound consequences both inside and outside Turkey.

BAKU GOING TO TAKE ACTION TO "LIBERATE TERRITORIES"?

PanARMENIAN.Net
31.03.2008 12:04 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "We did not seize a territory of any country. We
ourselves suffered from aggression," said Eldar Sabiroglu, spokesman
for the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

"Liberation of our lands from occupation is our civil and national
duty and our right. No one can deprive us of this right. Certainly,
it would be better to resolve the problem peacefully but the process
seems to reach a deadlock and Azerbaijan will take action," he said.

Touching on the Azerbaijan-initiated UN resolution, Sabiroglu
sad the document calls for a peaceful resolution of the conflict,
"However, the OSCE Minsk Group, which has been dealing with the
conflict settlement for 15 years already, questioned the UN General
Assembly’s resolution. Azerbaijan has come across an inadequate
attitude," he said, Day.az reports.

LAVROV: NATO EXPANSION EAST INAPPROPRIATE

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.03.2008 17:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia eyes NATO’s expansion plans as inappropriate,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"We can resist challenges by uniting efforts but not by exercising
mechanical enlargement of blocs which base on inertial psychological
sets," he said, RBC reports.

HAMLET TADEVOSYAN POSTHUMOUSLY AWARDED WITH AN ORDER OF THE COMBAT CROSS

armradio.am
26.03.2008 16:47

According to RA President Robert Kocharyan’s decree of March 26,
the Commander of the motorized infantry battalion #1030 of the
Police Troops of the Republic of Armenia, Mayor Hamlet Tadevosyan was
posthumously awarded with an Order of the Combat Cross of the Second
Degree for courage and self-sacrifice demonstrated when defending
public order.

NOKIAN TYRES SHOWS INTEREST IN YEREVAN PLANT

Interfax News Agency
March 25 2008
Russia

Finish car tyre manufacturer Nokian Tyres is interested in the Armenian
tyre plant Dogagorts-1 (formerly known as Yerevan Tyre Plant).

The company is interested in buying shares in the plant and is ready
to raise money for its upgrade, Minna Tihinen, the export manager at
Nokian, told the press.

Tihinen said she had not yet been able to discuss these plans with
the tyre plant or with the Armenian Trade and Economic Development
Ministry.

Economic Development Minister Nerses Yeritsyan refused to make any
comments about the Nokian Tyres plans because the owner of Dogagorts-1
– U.S. company TS-Investment Corp., is involved in a court dispute
with the ministry.

TS-Investment bought 75% of Yerevan Tyre Plant in 2002 for $1.287
million, undertaking to invest $12 to $13 million over three years
after the privatization. In mid-2007, the company filed a lawsuit
in London against the government of Armenia through the Trade
and Economic Development Ministry in order to be released from its
investment commitments. The company accuses the ministry of impeding
the investment program’s implementation.

MATENADARAN DEPUTY DIRECTOR ARSHAK BANUCHIAN ARRESTED

Noyan Tapan
March 25, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 25, NOYAN TAPAN. A search was conducted in the house of
Matenadaran Deputy Director Arshak Banuchian in the evening of March
24 and he was being interrogated at the Special Investigation Service
from 21:15 up to late night. Armen Khachatrian, a representative of
the office of first RA President Levon Ter-Petrosian, reported this
to Radio Liberty. According to him, information on A. Banuchian’s
arrest was received at about 3:00.

It should be mentioned that Arshak Banuchian is one of the
intellectuals, who joined the movement led by L. Ter-Petrosian.