Author: Harutyunian Christine

OFFICE OF THE NAGORNO KARABAKH REPUBLIC IN THE USA
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20036
Tel: (202) 223-4330
Fax: (202) 315-3339
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site:

PRESS RELEASE
September 24, 2007

CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING ON FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS IN ARTSAKH

U.S. Representatives Congratulate NKR President Sahakian on Assuming
Office

Washington, DC – Three members of the Independent American
Monitoring Delegation spoke on Capital Hill September 19 on
democracy building in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, Artsakh.
Vladimir Matic, Paul Williams and Meghan Stewart, all affiliated
with the Washington-based Public International Law and Policy Group
(PILPG), reiterated the main conclusion of their election monitoring
report in which they assessed this summer’s vote as "free and fair".

In his opening remarks, Vardan Barseghian, the NKR Representative to
the United States, thanked congressional friends for their
outstanding leadership on issues impacting the people of Artsakh.

Speaking about Artsakh’s democratic development, Rep. Barseghian
said: "Just eighteen days after its referendum on independence in
1991, the Nagorno Karabakh Republic held its first democratic
parliamentary elections. These elections marked the beginning of a
difficult, complex but fruitful process of democratic state building
amidst significant internal and external challenges."

Ambassador Vladimir Matic, a retired diplomat now teaching
international relations at Clemson University, headed the group’s
mission to Artsakh. He said that Karabakh’s conduct of the summer
2007 election is one of the "best examples" of democratic practices
that they have ever observed having monitored elections in a dozen
of other post-conflict areas. He also noted progress compared to
past elections in Artsakh.

Paul Williams, a former State Department lawyer and currently a
professor at the American University specializing in conflict
resolution and post-conflict legal development, argued that
"Karabakh has made much more progress in terms of its constitutional
development" than Kosovo and urged the international community to
take note of this progress.

Meghan Stewart discussed the details of their monitoring mission
which included visiting nearly 50 polling sites in all of Karabakh’s
electoral districts and meeting with presidential candidates and
civil society representatives.

The congressional briefing was spearheaded by the Co-Chairs of the
Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and
Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), who wanted to provide an opportunity for
Members of the U.S. Congress and their staff to hear about
developments in Nagorno Karabakh.

"The United States Congress has championed economic aid to Nagorno
Karabakh to assist with post-conflict rehabilitation of the region.
We know that the U.S. assistance has helped alleviate the needs, but
much more needs to be done," said Rep. Joe Knollenberg.

"Today, we were very pleased to hear from the American election
observers that Nagorno Karabakh has also steadily progressed in
democratic development. The United States should support Karabakh in
this effort," echoed Rep. Frank Pallone.

Earlier this month, Representatives Knollenberg and Pallone sent a
joint letter to Mr. Bako Sahakian, the winner of this summer’s vote,
congratulating him on assuming the presidency of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic, Artsakh. In their letter, the two congressional
leaders emphasized the importance of democratic elections and the
ensuing democratic transfer of power in Artsakh.

"We have stood with the people of Artsakh along your heroic path to
liberty and we continue standing with you in your noble efforts to
strengthen your democracy, build a better life for your people and
achieve formal, international recognition of Artsakh’s
independence," the letter said in part.

NKR Rep. Barseghian thanked the two Co-Chairs of the Armenian Caucus
for their staunch support of Artsakh. He also thanked the Armenian
Assembly of America (AAA), the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA) and the US-Armenia Public Affairs Committee (USAPAC).

"We look forward to continue working with our American friends
towards ensuring a more stable, secure and prosperous Caucasus,
which also serves the U.S. strategic interests. An independent,
democratic, prosperous and formally recognized Nagorno Karabakh
Republic must be part of that picture," stressed Barseghian.

The Office of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the United States is
based in Washington, DC and works with the U.S. government, academia
and the public representing the official policies and interests of
the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

* * *
The full report of the Independent American Monitoring Delegation is
available at

* * *
This material is distributed by the Office of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic in the USA on behalf of the Government of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic. The NKR Office is registered with the U.S.
Government under the Foreign Agent Registration Act. Additional
information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington,
D.C.

LITHUANIA "READY" TO MEDIATE IN KARABAKH CONFLICT

ANS TV
13 Sep 07
Baku

Lithuania has offered to mediate a solution to the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, ANS TV has reported.

Speaking at a joint news conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart
in Vilnius on 13 September, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said
that his country supports Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and is
ready to mediate, ANS said.

Adamkus said that during his one-to-one meeting with Ilham Aliyev,
they discussed economic relations between the two countries and
prospects for the Baku-Odessa-Brody-Gdansk oil pipeline.

He added that he invited Ilham Aliyev to continue talks on the project
during the energy summit to be held in Vilnius on 10-11 October.

ANS added that a joint business forum attended by the two presidents
was also held in Vilnius.

Aliyev said at the forum that despite full mutual understanding
on political issues between Azerbaijan and Lithuania, potential
opportunities in economic and trade relations have not been used yet,
ANS reported.

He said that the forum will open up new opportunities in joint
business, and trade between the two counties could be increased,
ANS reported.

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey

Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project reviving the
historic Silk Road

Sunday , 23 September 2007

* ‘Iron Silk Road’ becoming a reality

* Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project reviving the
historic Silk Road continues nonstop as 14 companies
submit bids for the construction of the Turkish part
of the strategic railway

By FULYA ÖZERKAN (Turkish Daily News)

ANKARA – Turkey on Thursday took the first step for
the construction of a strategic railway line linking
it to Central Asia, increasing hope for a much better
economic and political integration with that part of
the world, except for Armenia.

Fourteen companies have submitted bids to participate
in the construction of the 76-kilometer long Turkish
part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. Turkey put
aside YTL 380 million from its budget for the
258-kilometer project that will hook up its rail
network with that of Georgia and energy-rich
Azerbaijan.

Experts, contacted by the Turkish Daily News, praised
the railway project reviving the historic `Iron Silk
Road’ and said it clearly indicated the willingness of
Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia to realize the
long-awaited project despite obstacles.

`Turkey was in need of an alternative road to be tied
with former Soviet Republics,’ said Hasan Kanbolat of
the Ankara-based Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies
(ASAM). `This railway will pave the way for a direct
connection with the Caucasus, Russia and China.’

The rail project between the eastern Turkish town of
Kars and the Azerbaijani capital of Baku is only a
part of larger regional cooperation that also
encompasses major oil and natural gas pipelines.

`This (Baku-Tbilisi-Kars) is a vital line integrating
the economies of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia,’ said
Sedat Laçiner, director of the International Strategic
Research Organization (USAK).

He emphasized that the project would make
contributions to the Turkish economy, raising
prospects for direct trade with Central Asian
countries including energy-rich Kazakhstan, as well as
having a strong political impact in the region.

* Armenia isolated; region is integrated

Armenia opposes the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project
bypassing its territory. Both Yerevan and the Armenian
Diaspora in the United States were up in arms, arguing
that there is already a railway passing through
Armenia that could be used to build a trans-Caucasus
railroad.

`Armenia is isolating itself, whereas the other
countries in the region are getting integrated. This
isolation caused by the policies Yerevan has so far
pursued and will get even deeper in the future,’ said
Laçiner.

Turkey closed its borders and severed diplomatic ties
with Armenia in the last decade after Armenian troops
invaded Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave in
Azerbaijan.

`The settlement of the border dispute with Yerevan and
the activation of the existing railway line passing
through Armenia will not become a setback for Turkey,’
said Laçiner, when asked whether Ankara would have
wasted its money on the `Iron Silk Road’ in the event
that the railroad with Armenia reopens.

`To the contrary, this would be an asset for Ankara,’
he added.

European Union candidate Turkey sees infrastructure
projects as boosting its role as a bridge for trade
and energy between the East and the West.

23 September 2007

By FULYA ÖZERKAN

TURKEY’S OLD CRIMES REFUSE TO STAY BURIED
by Elif Shafak

Telegraph.co.uk
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 20/09/2007
United Kingdom

If Orhan Pamuk and Elif Shafak, the two best-known Turkish novelists in
the English-speaking world, have one virtue in common, it is that both
have dedicatedly interrogated their country’s self-image, contrasting
the narrowness of ?Turkism with the cosmopolitanism of the old Ottoman
empire. Both have gone on trial, too, under an infamous article of
the Turkish Penal Code, for the crime of ‘insulting Turkishness’.

In terms of their viewpoints there is not much to choose between
them. Shafak’s latest novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, shows her though
to be a more attack-minded and less sophisticated novelist than her
Nobel Prize-winning contemporary.

advertisementThe novel drives the distant past into the path of
the heedless present through a multi-generational narrative, and it
addresses explicitly a controversial episode in Turkish history, the
massacre of perhaps a million Armenians by Ottoman forces in 1915-16.

The bastard of Istanbul is Asya Kazanci, the illegitimate child of
one of four headstrong sisters who live together as one family –
the Kazanci men having an unfortunate habit of dying young. Asya does
not know who her father is and has been taught not to bother to try
and find out; she is similarly indifferent to her country’s history.

The single living Kazanci man, Asya’s uncle Mustapha, has settled in
America and married a divorcee of Armenian descent. When Mustapha’s
step-daughter, Armanoush, arrives suddenly in Istanbul in search of her
family’s roots, the Kazanci women are forced to accept the truth that
the novel dramatises, which is that ‘the past is anything but bygone’.

Shafak’s double-sided narrative demonstrates how the Armenian diaspora
and the Turkish people live in different time frames, one still nursing
the wounds of old crimes, the other living in a present that accepts
no responsibility for the past.

Yet it could be said that Shafak’s novel is, on balance, not all that
novelistic. Its characters lack true freedom and interiority and can
seem mere symbols or meanings fitted into an overarching structure.

Indeed part of the problem, it might be said, rests less with Shafak’s
theory of character here than with her choice of language.

Shafak is that rarity, a bilingual novelist, and this is her second
novelin English. But sentences such as: ‘If her passion for books had
been one fundamental reason behind her recurring inability to sustain
a standard relationship with the opposite sex?…’ raise doubts about
whether even a novelist as gifted as she is possesses the understanding
and intuition to novelise successfully her undeniably powerful ideas
in two languages.

September 19, 2007

Belmont and Newton Also Withdraw From the ADL’s No Place for Hate

Two towns have joined Watertown in protest against the Anti-Defamation
League, which sponsors the "No Place for Hate" anti-hate crime
program.

Belmont’s Board of Selectmen voted on Monday to withdraw from the
program. Yesterday, Newton mayor David Cohen issued a statement
saying: "The recognition of the Armenian Genocide is an important step
along the path of freedom and justice, and crucial in combating other
genocides now and in the future."

The Anti-Defamation League is so controversial because of its stance
on the Armenian Genocide. Although they have the words
"anti-defamation" in their title, they do not support congressional
legislation that would formally recognize the Armenian Genocide as a
genocide. (For more information on why this matter is so important,
visit the BBC’s page on the history of the incident.)

It was the legislation part of the ADL debate that stirred up anger in
Belmont, even though the selectmen voted unanimously to withdraw. The
selectmen also voted 2 to 1 against an additional clause that would
tell the ADL to recognize the genocide and start backing the
congressional legislation. Selectman Dan Leclerc didn’t think it was
Belmont’s place to do that, and one person accused Leclerc and Angelo
Firenze of "treating [Armenians] as second-class citizens." But all
three selectmen said that the decision to withdraw from "No Place for
Hate" would still stand.

The anger may have spilled over because the ADL’s position on the
genocide isn’t outright denial, but it is still fuzzy. During the
fierce debate in Watertown, which resulted in Watertown’s withdrawal
>From the "No Place for Hate" program, the ADL’s regional director,
Andrew Tarsy, was fired for telling national leader Abraham Foxman to
recognize the genocide. Recognizing that anger against the ADL would
spread, Foxman said that the Armenian Genocide was "tantamount to
genocide," and he reinstated Tarsy. But – and most important of all –
Foxman didn’t say that it "was genocide" and refused to back
legislation saying it was.

By Caroline Roberts

Source: p

ROVSHAN BAYRAMOV HAD A VICTORY OVER ROMAN AMOYAN

ArmInfo-TURAN
2007-09-17 10:59:00

Azerbaijani wrestler Rovshan Bayramov had a hard victory by points
over the Armenia wrestler Roman Amoyan in the first fight of wrestlers
in the category 55 kg. The wrestle was going in an equal fight. The
Armenian wrestler did not lose courage at the Baku carpet and was
demonstrating the attacking style. But the decisive throw at the
end of the wrestle brought 3 victorious points to Bayramov. Amoyan’s
battle features could not but cause respect of audience.

SERJ INTERVIEW WITH AMNESTY: "MY SENSES FOR JUSTICE"

SOADFans
Tuesday, September 18, 2007 – 06:23 PM
Egypt

Amnesty International’s Plugged In newsletter talks to System Of
A Down front man and longtime Amnesty International supporter Serj
Tankian about music, human rights, confronting injustice, and his
first solo project.

Plugged In: You have a long history of working with Amnesty
International, on your own and through Axis of Justice. In fact you
are a member of Amnesty International. What in particular attracted
you to AI?

Serj: I always had a nasty relationship with injustice growing up. The
lessons of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey had raised me to be more
empathetic toward people fighting for freedom, more compassionate
towards those without a voice, or with a voice but the inability
to express. Amnesty’s worldwide outreach and work on releasing
political prisoners appealed to my senses for justice. I have been
a member since.

Plugged In: Rock and Roll and Amnesty International seem to have an
almost symbiotic relationship with one another. Did you see any of
those huge Human Rights Now concerts Amnesty International did in
the late 1980s?

Serj: I don’t really remember seeing one, but I have a few of the
concerts on CDs. Any event that works toward a goal for the greater
good is worthy of praise and contribution. Amnesty’s done a great
job at reaching out to the music community over the years to address
serious human rights issues.

Plugged In: We just saw Live Earth on TV, another good cause. Rock
and Roll has been used for all kinds of purposes; some have been good,
some questionable, commercial and otherwise.

Serj: Music has been used as a commercial product, a vehicle to sell
other products, a vehicle for change, and let’s not forget that every
army has a band too.

Pure expression, art or music, is a gift from the universe to us to
share as a reverie reminiscent of our first language of intuition. It
would be wise to use it for purposes of communication geared toward
positive transcendence.

Plugged In: Right now you are working with Amnesty International
on cases involving Turkey’s Article 301, a law which is being used
by some in Turkey against journalists to keep them from digging
into or reporting on some darker chapters of early 20th century
Turkish-Armenian history, the 1 million Armenians murdered under the
old Ottoman Empire. Why does this issue interest you?

Serj: There are a great number of journalists, writers, politicians
and human rights workers imprisoned or threatened with imprisonment
in Turkey today. Article 301 is an archaic law on the books in the
Turkish penal code that allows fascist elements within the country
to prosecute people striving for positive change. Even fictional
characters in a novel can be used to prosecute a writer for "insulting
Turkishness." The law has been used to bind the mouths of many Turks,
Armenians, and Kurds who are fighting to reveal truths in Turkey. It’s
one of the largest stumbling blocks against Turkey’s accession into
the European Union.

Plugged In: Hrant Dink, a prominent Armenian-Turkish journalist
who had been prosecuted under Article 301, was recently gunned down
outside his Agos newspaper office as he was preparing to take his
case to the European Court on Human Rights. You met him didn’t you?

Serj: Yes, I met Hrant Dink at the premiere of the film "Screamers"
in Los Angeles. He was a very humble and gentle person. He praised
me for being a screamer for human rights. I laughed and told him it’s
easy for me since no one’s trying to murder me for it here. I told him
that he was the real hero. Dink was being prosecuted for calling the
mass slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey during World War
I genocide, a historical fact agreed upon by International genocide
scholars associations, and recognized by a large number of countries
around the world, including the European Parliament.

Plugged In: Carla Garapedian’s "Screamers" featured System Of A
Down. During the shooting you had the opportunity to interview your
own grandfather who had lived through the slaughter. What was that
like for you?

Serj: My grandfather, who has recently passed away, was a survivor
of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey.

Years ago, I had a non-profit organization called the Genocide Project
come over and interview my grandfather for testimony about his life. I
also ran my own video camera. The horrific stories of murder, the
pogroms, and the sheer terror seen by his eyes were beyond moving,
beyond belief. I just want his story to be told and the story of all
those that were orphaned like him due to genocide.

Plugged In: Another journalist, in fact last year’s Nobel Prize winner
for literature, Orhan Pamuk narrowly escaped conviction under Article
301 on a technicality for writing about this history. Are you concerned
for his life?

Serj: I think he’s very concerned for his life. In fact, Hrant Dink’s
killer openly threatened Pamuk’s life in the press; all this just
because he dared to talk about the genocide.

Plugged In: Turkey has been having a hard time trying to break into
the European Union because some in the EU doubt Turkey’s commitment
to democracy and human rights, among other things. What does the
existence of Article 301 say about that commitment?

Serj: Well, trying to get into the EU without a full capacity to
offer freedom of speech is like becoming a state in the U.S. without
accepting the Bill of Rights. There’s also the issue of Turkey’s
unlawful occupation of Cypress that needs to be dealt with as well.

Plugged In: The great French singer Charles Aznavour is also of
Armenian heritage and has worked on this issue too. Have you ever
met or worked with him?

Serj: I’ve never met him but have a lot of respect for him personally
and musically.

Plugged In: There are some who would say, why dust off this piece
of ancient history? I mean the Ottoman Empire died with the end of
World War I.

Serj: Without coming to grips with the truth in our personal lives,
we tend to repeat our same mistakes.

It’s no different with the lives of nations and the international
community. Darfur is a great example of why the lessons from the
Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust should never be forgotten.

Plugged In: You see parallels between what is happening in Sudan
today and what happened to the Armenians under the Ottoman Empire?

Serj: Yes. In fact, the film "Screamers" shows a lot of parallels of
suffering and of political denial having to do with both genocides.

Plugged In: What would you say to fans who say, c’mon Serj, get over
yourself with this political stuff?

Serj: The fact that we drink bottled water instead of water from the
tap or rivers and lakes is an ecological issue. So even if you’ve
never been interested in the environment it is affecting you. The
same goes for politics.

Plugged In: So what is in Serj Tankian’s MP3 player right now?

Serj: Thousands of records…too many to name.

Plugged In: What are you reading?

Serj: Too many emails…haha…The last few books I read were: Noam
Chomsky’s Failed States, Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, and a book by
Eckhart Toll.

Plugged In: You just recorded your first solo album.

Why now?

Serj: Why not? "Elect the Dead" is a record I’ve been waiting my
whole life to make. I had the same fun and excitement making it as
in making the first System record with the band.

Plugged In: You’ve started a record label too. Tell us about that.

Serj: Actually, Serjical Strike Records has been around for more
than six years with about eight or so releases. Our active records
are Buckethead and Friends, Fair To Midland, and now Serj Tankian
(Elect the Dead). We’ve released records by Bad Acid Trip, Kittens for
Christian, Slow Motion Reign, Axis of Justice Concert Series Vol. 1,
and Serart besides the ones above.

Plugged In: What niche do you see "Serjical Strike" filling in the
music industry?

Serj: We’re a boutique label without a label. We’re very selective as
to whom we work with being a small label, yet we have partnerships
with majors as well as indie distribution partners. We sign music
that’s extremely powerful, creative, and emotive.

Plugged In: Anything in the name, other than a play on your own
name, of course. Can we predict a sister label, "Collateral Damage,"
perhaps? One usually follows the other.

Serj: Hahaha

NOTIFICATION OF THE NKR CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION

AzatArtsakh
18-09-2007

Being guided by the 1st point of the 37th clause of the NKR electoral
code, I pronounce the changes made in the structures of the territorial
electoral commissions of the republic. According to the 4th subpoint
of the 2nd point of the 39th clause of the NKR electoral code, the
commissions of the members of the territorial electoral commission of
Martouni Rima Baghdasarian and Levon Hayrapetian, the members of the
territorial commission of Kashatagh Tigran Meghlumian were resigned
ahead of time. Alvina Danielian – the secretary of the school number
2 of Martouni Hranush Hovsepian – doesn’t work were appointed the
members of the territorial electoral commission of Martouni. Levon
Tassalian – the head of the department of work and employment of
social maintenance of the stuff of Kashatagh board of administration
was appointed the member of the territorial electoral commission of
Kashatagh. the chairman of the NKR CEC S.Nassibian

ARMENIA’S EMERGENCY NEEDS RADICAL REFORMS

ARKA
September 17 2007

The sphere of emergency in Armenia needs radical reforms, reported
RA Minister of Health Harutyun Kushkian.

A number of problems must be solved in the emergency sphere, he said.

According to him, first of all good specialists are necessary who
might rescue people in emergency situations and take them to hospital.

Kushkian believes each ambulance car should have necessary medical
equipment. "Of course, it is inadmissible that emergency doctors should
have only ten types of medicines," the Minister said. According to him,
each emergency doctor should have at least 100 medicines.

Kushkian pointed out that the RA Ministry of Health and Yerevan
Municipality are trying to solve the problem.

OSCE SHOULD AVOID SUPERFLUOUS ‘TOLERANCE’ IN KARABAKH ISSUE

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.09.2007 16:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "As a matter of fact, ability of the parties to
the Karabakh conflict to make agreements and fulfill commitments is
questioned. Threats to resume hostilities run counter to the commitment
to resolve the conflict peacefully, as urged by the Council of Europe
entry condition. Verbal threats are transformed into real deeds through
armament race and incitement of hatred towards the neighbor nation,"
former Russian Co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador Vladimir
Kazimirov said in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.

"Two out of three parties cannot agree on settlement
‘principles’. However, to sign an agreement does not mean to implement
it. That is why the OSCE should take it into account and refrain from
superfluous ‘tolerance’ in the Karabakh issue. Presently, Armenians
make use of Azerbaijan’s obvious irresponsibility as regard the UN
resolutions. But democracy is not the only point for competition. The
state’s consistency is also an important factor at the international
arena," he said.