Author: Hambardsumian Paul

Vartan Oskanian: Lachin corridor issue never discussed during talks

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.04.2007 19:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Finally a chance occurred for settling the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
stated at the interview to Austrian newspaper Der Standart. He said,
currently Armenia and Azerbaijan discuss a text, which is very
rational and since we agreed on various moot points, "this document
offers a real chance for reaching an agreement." Speaking about how
close the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement is, the RA FM said,
"Close" is a relative notion. I mean, if compared with the previous
text, we’ve approached the solution. But we all must continue the
talks over its principles."

Mr. Oskanian underlined the issue of Lachin corridor has not been
discussed. "This corridor is a guarantee of free and unhampered
communication between Armenia and the Nagorno Karabakh. But it must
be viewed as a part of Nagorno Karabakh. Recently the Azeri side
tried to push forward the idea of its common use. But it has never
been a subject of talks. The international mediators too immediately
rejected that idea," Oskanian stressed.

The Armenian FM reminded that country’s former President Levon
Ter-Petrossian had to resign since he tried to settle the problem
step by step. "He was ready to return territories, which now are under
Armenia’s control, but without clear definition of Nagorno Karabakh’s
future status. It was unacceptable for the Armenian society. Today’s
difference is that all moot points are components of agreement,
if even its realization will be carried out step by step," Vartan
Oskanian said.

"ZHARANGUTIUN" PARTY TO BE "SURPRISE" OF NEW PARLIAMENT THIS TIME, SAMVEL NIKOYAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Apr 20 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 20, NOYAN TAPAN. 6-7 parties will enter the parliament
after the May 12 elections. If the NA "surprise" the previous time was
"the ULP, Zharangutiun (Heritage) party will be this time." Samvel
Nikoyan, a RA NA deputy, member of the RPA Council made such a
statement at the April 20 press conference. But, in his opinion,
unlike the ULP, which did nothing new at the parliament and did not
bring freshness, "Zharangutiun will bring new speech, new approach
and new way of thinking to the NA." "I will be very glad to see Raffi
Hovannisian at the parliament instead of many many other. Finally,
he will not humble the picture of the parliament, but will raise it,"
S. Nikoyan emphasized.

He also mentioned that according to surveys, the Republican Party
of Armenia, Bargavach Hayastan (Prosperous Armenia), Orinats Yerkir
(Country of Law), Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Zharangutiun
parties will overcome 5%.

According to S. Nikoyan’s estimation, the propaganda mission is in
general held in civilized conditions, and there is no mutual hatred
or serious competition among the authorities and opposition.

"The opposition understood that it did not got a positive image
by scolding the authorities. That was the reason that the Bargavach
Hayastan party, entering the political field, immediately attracted the
society’s attention," the deputy mentioned, adding that the Bargavach
Hayastan party was created to take the votes of the opposition.

ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN CLOSE TO RESOLVING NAGORNO-KARABAKH ISSUE : ARMENIAN ACTING FOREIGN MINISTER

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
April 20 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku/ Trend / Vardan Oskanian, Armenia’s Acting Foreign
Minister, has stated during the joint press conference being held with
his Latvian counterpart, Artis Pabriks in Yerevan today that Armenia
and Azerbaijan are close to resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"While comparing the document, which is presently on the negotiations
table together with the previous documents, it is evident that the
document is more realistic for both disputing parties. The principles
that are included in the document have been more balanced. In addition,
the overwhelming majority of approaches to the issue have been agreed
by the both parties. We are really close to settling this conflict,"
he stated, Trend reports referring to ARKA.

At the same time, the Head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry noted
that there were some approaches and principles left disagreed by
the disputing parties, but these are to be agreed during the meeting
between the Presidents of the two states. "Only after that, it will
become clear whether the peaceful negotiations will progress or not,"
he added.

Commenting on his last meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart,
Elmar Mammadyarov, Mr. Oskanian refused to comment by stating that
"the time has not yet come to do it". However, during the last meeting
with his Azerbaijani counterpart he did say that the next date for
negotiations between the two Heads of the Foreign Offices of the two
countries had not been determined.

"No agreement was reached on the next forthcoming meeting. However,
the OSCE Minsk Co-Chairmen will certainly visit the region to become
acquainted with the situation there and prepare a ground for the
meeting between the two Presidents prior to the Armenian parliamentary
elections to be held on 12 May" stated Mr. Oskanian.

Notably, the last meeting was between the Armenian and Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministers held in Belgrade on 18 April where both Ministries
participated in the sixteenth meeting of Foreign Ministries of
BSEC (Black Sea Economic Cooperation). All the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairmen, namely Matthew Bryza (U.S.A.), Yuriy Merzlyakov (
Russia), and Bernard Fassier ( France), as well as Andjey Kaspshik,
the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office participated
in the meeting between the Foreign Ministries of the disputing parties.

During the discussions held, the Minsk Group Co-Chairmen put forward
some proposals to the disputing parties emphasizing a number of issues,
which have been not been agreed within the principles being presently
viewed by the parties.

GOVERNEMT APPROVES BILL ON APPROVAL OF ANNUAL REPORT ON EXECUTION OF 2006 RA STATE BUDGET

Noyan Tapan
Apr 19 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 19, NOYAN TAPAN. At the April 19 sitting, the Armenian
government approved the bill on approval of the annual report on
execution of the 2006 RA state budget, which will be submitted to the
RA National Assembly in prescribed order. The bill proposes approving
the annual report on execution of the 2006 RA state budget in the
amount of 441 bln 483 mln 135.6 thousand drams (revenues). 481 bln
183 mln 188.4 thousand drams (expenditures), and the budgetary defecit
in the amount of 39 bln 700 mln 52.8 thousand drams.

The RA Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy, the RA Chief Treasurer
Atom Janjughazian said after the sitting that taking into account the
economic developments in 2006, the amount of revenues was reconsidered
and set at 451.461 bln drams instead of the planned revenue amount of
412 bln 356 mln drams (based on 2006’s average exchange rate – about
991 mln USD), with a 97.8% fulfilment being registered. In his words,
the main reason for underfulfilment of the revenue index was receiving
only 15.2 bln drams (38.4% of the envisaged amount) instead of the
envisaged 39.5 bln drams from foreign sources. The fulfilment of the
expenditure index was low – 523 bln drams or 92% for the same reason.

A. Janjughazian said that the fulfilment index of expenditures
from own sources made 98%, that from foreign sources – 46%. 55.5%
fulfilment was registered against 71.6 bln drams envisaged by the
2006 deficit financing program.

RAFAEL DE NOGALES MENDES AND WE
By Yuri Khachatrian

AZG Armenian Daily
19/04/2007

Moscow publishing-house ‘Russki vestnik’ has recently published
a new book concerning our biggest national tragedy -The Armenian
Genocide. The book called ‘Four years under the crescent’ is written
by a Venezuelan writer, service man and political figure Rafael de
Nogales Mendes. This book is one of the first worldwide echoes of
the Armenian Genocide, which has had a hard and peculiar destiny.

Rafael de Nogales Mendes was born in 1879, in San Christobal,
Tachira state, Venezuela. He got higher education in Europe –
studying at High Military Colleges of Germany, Belgium and Spain. He
was fluent not only in Arabic and Chinese, but also in Spanish,
English, French and German. He took part in many military actions and
had a stormy life full of events: in 1898 he struggled with Spanish
against USA in Cuba, in 1902 he took part in the next Latin-American
revolution in Venezuela, in 1904 he appeared in China and took part
in Chinese-Japanese war, in 1908 he returned to his motherland but
because of the new dictator Chuan Vicente Gomes he had to leave for
Europe. Soon he became an officer of the Turkish expeditionary forces
in Iran, and after this took part in the evacuation and genocide
of the Armenian people of West Armenia as an officer of the Ottoman
Empery military forces. So he became one of the eyewitnesses of the
First Genocide in the world.

He is a bearer of the Iron Cross Order, which he received at the
hands of Wilhelm 2nd for the services in the World War I.

Then he took part in the revolution of Nicaragua.

After that he was a military leader of the Palestinian right-bank
region. After the war he appeared in Alaska as a gold searcher and
soon he became a cowboy in Arizona.

Rafael de Nogales took part also in the Mexican revolution being with
Madero side-by-side after the revolution.

He wrote several books about his stormy and rough life – ‘Memories
of General Rafael de Nogales’, ‘The plundering of Nicaragua’, ‘Four
years under the crescent’, etc.

The book ‘Four years under the crescent’ (‘Cuatro anos bajo la Media
luna’) is very important and significant for Armenian people as it is
about the Armenian Genocide. The acknowledgement of his guilt and the
pangs of conscience made him to speak and tell the world about the
first genocide and the most nasty and horrible tragedy in the world.

The book was published in 1920, in Venezuela. The writer was pursued
and even an attempt was made upon him, and all the print run of the
book was bought and destroyed. The second edition published in the
Caracas City by the ‘Casa de Especialidades’ publishing-house had
the same fate. At that time Nogales lived in Panama. He died in 1936
from tuberculosis.

Even today its very difficult and even impossible to find this book
in the libraries of the world. Only an example of this edition was
preserved by an eyewitness of the Armenian Genocide, our compatriot
Mihran Kehyan, who had been evacuated from the West Armenia and
settled in Venezuela. The mentioned example has been placed at the
disposal of the publishing-house in Moscow.

The book has a nice preface. The parts about Armenia and Armenians
have detailed footnotes. The book has also a wonderful design and two
maps – one is the map of the historical Armenia and the second one is
the map of the regions where the genocide has been committed. There
are also several photographs in the book that have historical and
documentary value. The print run of the book is ten thousand.

Our people must know about Rafael de Nogales and his life. This book
is translated and published into English and French languages. It
would be great if the book was translated into Armenian and presented
to the Armenian reader.

TAMAZYAN FAILED, DALUZYAN WON

A1+
[04:07 pm] 19 April, 2007

Today, RA weight lifters competed at Euro-Championship for the first
time in Strasbourg. Arsen Tamazyan (w. 62kg) was not a success at
the competition. At double-event Arsen appeared at the 14th point.

Meline Daluzyan showed her best and became a champion among champions
weighing 63kg. Meline was able to lift the 108kg weight thus getting
the first point as a result of 243kg double-event and putting the
135kg shot.

Today Nazik Avdalyan w.69, Hripsime Khurshudyan w.75, as well as
Tigran Martirosyan will compete today.

EX-SPEAKER URGES VOTERS TO SPURN BRIBES
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
April 18 2007

Former parliament speaker Artur Baghdasarian urged impoverished
voters not to sell their votes to pro-government parties as he took
his opposition Orinats Yerkir Party’s election campaign to the central
Aragatsotn province on Wednesday.

Visiting the economically depressed regional town of Talin,
Baghdasarian claimed that residents of nearby villages are being
offered vote bribes worth up to 10,000 drams ($27) en masse. "By
selling your votes you would sell the future of your children," he
told about 200 people attending an Orinats Yerkir campaign gathering
in Talin.

"I have just been told in villages that [people there are offered]
5,000 drams, 10,000 drams per vote," he said. "A question arises. If
you divide [the figure] by 2,000 days [remaining before next elections]
it will make 50 lumas (0.5 dram). Is it worth selling the honor of
your family for 50 lumas a day?"

"Make a choice accordance with your conscience. Make a choice that
will let your children live in a normal country," added Baghdasarian.

Vote buying by governing parties has increasingly characterized
various-level elections held in Armenia over the past decade. Many fear
that the illegal practice will reach a new height during the May 12
parliamentary election. The governing Republican Party (HHK) and the
Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) of pro-presidential businessman Gagik
Tsarukian have already been accused by their opponents of planning
to hand out cash. But both parties deny the allegations.

Baghdasarian and his associates visited Talin and nearby villages
the day after campaign rallies held there by the HHK’s top leader,
Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian. Sarkisian gathered senior government
officials in Yerevan on Wednesday to discuss numerous socioeconomic
grievances voiced by local residents.

"I’m sure there are many problems which you can solve quickly," he
said, according to the Armenian government’s press office. "People
must know when a particular problem will be solved. This is the only
way we can enjoy [their] trust."

Some of the disgruntled Talin voters claimed that they were too
scared to confront Sarkisian with demand for the government’s
resignation. "Many people here are kind of scared and call themselves
Republicans to avoid getting into trouble," said one man.

"If I criticize the party its activists will beat me up," said another.

Other people were frustrated with the abundance of opposition parties
running for parliament on their own. "If the opposition had joined
forces for regime change, we might have had some expectations from
these elections," said one of them. "But nothing will change in
this situation."

EU DIPLOMATS: BAN ON HOLOCAUST DENIAL WON’T CURB CIVIL LIBERTIES
By DPA

Ha’aretz, Israel
April 17 2007

BRUSSELS – Planned new rules to criminalize racism and xenophobia,
including Holocaust denial, in the European Union will not force
member states to change standards on freedom of expression, European
Union diplomats said Tuesday.

Under the new proposals, hate declarations referring to religion such
as "Kill the Jews" or "Kill the Christians" would remain unpunished
in EU countries where such statements are not criminalized, the
diplomats said.

They indicated that Britain and the Nordic countries had blocked
attempts by current EU president Germany to push through tougher
rules on inciting violence against a specific group or person.

EU justice and interior ministers are expected to discuss the
controversial plans at a meeting in Luxembourg later this week.

Germany, which currently runs the agenda-setting EU presidency, wants
to use its term at the bloc’s helm to harmonize EU-wide differences
on combating racism and xenophobia in the 27-member bloc.

However, EU diplomats said that the planned rules only aimed to
achieve a "minimum level of harmonization" as the differences in
national legal systems had to be respected.

Germany views a common EU law as a moral obligation, but countries
like Britain, Ireland and the Scandinavian states resist unified
legislation as a violation of civil liberties.

Under the text being debated, EU countries would set jail terms of
at least one to three years for "publicly inciting to violence or
hatred… directed against a group of persons or a member of such
a group defined by reference to race, color, religion, descent or
national or ethnic origin."

EU diplomats also said that a German proposal to push through new
rules which would make denying the Holocaust – the mass killing of
Jews by Nazis and Nazi supporters – a crime in the EU, would not
cover denying the massacre of Armenians in World War I.

Turkey denies that the killing of up to one million Armenians
constituted genocide, putting their deaths down to ethnic strife,
disease and famine, and has prosecuted historians and journalists
for calling it genocide.

In addition, the proposed EU rules would not make denying crimes
against humanity under the Stalin regime punishable, diplomats said.

The Baltic states want the EU to make it a crime to deny the abuses
of the Stalinist regime in the former Soviet Union.

The proposed rules would also apply to people "publicly condoning,
denying, or grossly trivializing crimes of genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes" as defined by international crime courts.

Citing its "particular historic responsibility" due to its Nazi past,
Germany has said it wants EU member states to adopt the proposed
legislation before it ends its term at the EU helm at the end of June.

Two years ago, Luxembourg tried to use its EU presidency to push
through legislation to unify legal standards for Holocaust denial,
but was blocked by Italy on the grounds that the proposed rules
breached freedom of speech.

Laws against denying the Holocaust already exist in Austria, Belgium,
France, Germany and Spain.

NUMBER OF COMMERCIAL LEGAL ENTITIES REGISTERED IN ARMENIA GROWS BY 3.11%, NUMBER OF PRIVATE BUSINESSMEN DECLINES BY 40.41% IN ONE YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Apr 16 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 16, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the data of the RA Justice
Ministry’s State Register of Legal Entities and Private Businessmen,
in January-February 2007, 533 commercial legal entities and 1,086
private businessmen got registered, and their total number made
54,206 and 43,164 respectively as of March 1, 2007. According to the
RA National Statistical Service, as of March 1, 2006, the number of
legal entities registered made 52,572, that of private businessmen –
72,429: in one year, the number of legal entities increased by 3.11%,
whereas the number of private businessmen declined by 40.41%.

In January-February 2007, 173 legal entities and 211 private
businessmen were liquidated.

Investments of 712.65 mln drams (over 1 mln 980 USD) were made by 533
legal entities registered in the indicated period of 2007. Investments
of 504.6 mln drams were made in 32 enterprises founded only by foreign
legal entities and citizens, investments of 94.25 mln drams were made
in 9 joint ventures.

"SCREAMERS" TO BE SCREENED IN YEREVAN

ArmRadio.am
17.04.2007 17:15

The first screening of the "Screamers" documentary telling about
genocides and the Armenian Genocide, in particular, will take place
in Yerevan today.

During the week preceding April 24 it will be screened in "Moscow"
cinema.

Director Carla Garapedian has arrived in Yerevan to present the film
to Armenian viewers.

The "Screamers" is starred by Grammy-award winning band "System of
a Down."

The film tells about the trips of four members of the band, during
which they propagate the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and
call to recognize the genocide which is still being denied by Turkey
and the US.

The heroes of the film are trying to find out why genocides continue
nowadays. They participate in meetings held in different parts of
the country, organize rallies, including to the White House, share
information with their supporters and politicians. The film includes
episodes of their live concerts and stories about the private life
of the singers.

The "Screamers" are those who can never be silenced, who will continue
screaming against injustice.

During the stay in Yerevan the American Armenian director will have
meetings with different youth groups and NGOs. The evening of April 23
Carla Garapedian is expected to participate in a march to the memorial
to the Armenian Genocide victims: on that day she will lead all the
"screamers."