Author: Hovhannisian John

NAGORNO-KARABAKH MPS SUPPORT SELF-DETERMINATION

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS
March 12 2008
Russia

The Nagorno-Karabakh National Assembly, the parliament of the
unrecognized republic, has issued a call to all nations to "show
consistency on the issue of the recognition of states that have
appeared as a result of the self-determination of nations and avoid
double standards."

"Talks that would lead to a mutually acceptable solution providing for
the international recognition of the self-determination of Nagorno-
Karabakh are impossible," the MPs said on Wednesday in a resolution
adopted in response to the declaration by Kosovo of its independence.

The resolution supports the principle of self-determination and hails
the decision of the international community on the issue of respect
for the civil rights of the majority in Kosovo.

"For many years, the Azeri authorities have consistently pursued
a policy of discrimination, restriction of civil rights, ethnic
purges and forced deportation towards the Armenian population of
Nagorno-Karabakh, whose tragic consequences could only be prevented
by organized self- defense," the document says.

Therefore, Azerbaijan lost all legal and moral ground to extend its
authority on Nagorno-Karabakh from the moment of the disintegration
of the Soviet Union, the document says.

PRESS RELEASE
UCLA AEF Chair in Armenian History
Contact: Prof. Richard Hovannisian
Tel: 310-825-3375
Email: [email protected]

Attached press release and photo on Professor
Hovannisian at Florida Atlantic and Clark Universities. Also pasted below

Press Release-UCLA-March 13, 2008

Richard Hovannisian as Distinguished Professor at
Florida Atlantic and Clark Universities

UCLA-Richard G. Hovannisian, AEF Chair in Modern Armenian History at
UCLA, has been invited as a distinguished visiting professor at
Florida Atlantic University and Clark University, two leading
institutions with programs in Holocaust and Genocide studies, during
the months of March and April.

Florida Atlantic University

At Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, from mid-March
to mid-April, Hovannisian will be the first Jim and Marta Batmasian
visiting scholar associated with FAU’s Holocaust Center and its
Ph.D. Program in Comparative Studies. He will teach a graduate seminar
on `Recent Historiography on the Armenian Genocide,’ be the guest
speaker of the "Friends of the Raddock Chair" in Holocaust Studies on
March 19, make a presentation to the parish of St. David Armenian
Church on March 21, and give two public lectures at FAU on the
Armenian Genocide as a prototype on April 2 and 6. Professor Alan
Berger, Raddock Family Eminent Scholar in Holocaust Studies, stated:
`We are elated and most honored that Professor Hovannisian will join
us at FAU, and know that he will contribute greatly to our
understanding of the Armenian Genocide in comparative perspective.’

Clark University

From Florida, Richard Hovannisian will travel to Worcester,
Massachusetts, as a distinguished visiting professor at Clark
University, its Kaloosdian-Mugar Chair in Armenian Genocide Studies
and Modern Armenian History and its Strassler Family Center for
Holocaust and Genocide Studies. As the search for the next occupant
for the Kaloosdian-Mugar Chair is being conducted, Hovannisian will
help to maintain the program’s continuity by meeting with graduate
students in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, giving guest lectures on
the subjects of `Premeditation or Incremental Violence in the Armenian
Genocide?’; `Denial of the Armenian Genocide in Comparative
Perspective’; `Oral History: How Reliable Is It?’; `The Landscape of
Historic Western Armenia’; and `Must We Still Remember? The Armenian
Genocide’, and a `Lunch and Learn Seminar.’ His visit will commence
with receptions by Clark President John Bassett and Provost David
Angel and will include events with Professor Deborah Dwork, Director
of the Strassler Family Center, the Kaloosdian and Mugar families and
other donors to the Armenian Program, and the Armenian community of
Central Massachusetts.

Recent Activities

During the Winter Quarter at UCLA, Professor Hovannisian has
maintained a busy schedule of teaching, community outreach, and
conferences. In January, he participated in the American Historical
Association’s Annual Conference held in Washington D.C., chairing a
panel on Armenian repatriation, and in a program in the Armenian
Church Western Diocese reflected on the legacy of Hrant Dink. In
February, he lectured on Armenian subjects in Frankfurt and Cologne,
Germany, gave a keynote talk at the Armenian Graduate Studies
Conference at UCLA, and participated in a dialogue with Taner Akcam in
a major human rights convocation at California State University, Long
Beach, with Professors Houri Berberian and Ali Ingman as moderators.

On February 29-March 1, as the Holder of the AEF Chair in Armenian
History, Hovannisian organized the seventeenth consecutive
international conference on Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces,
this one devoted to the communities of the Northeastern Mediterranean:
Dort-Yol, Musa Dagh, and Kessab. On March 6, he participated in a UCLA
panel on genocide denial sponsored by the undergraduate and graduate
Armenian Student Associations and the Shant ARF Student Committee. On
March 7, he spoke under the auspices of the Toronto AGBU on the
Historic Armenian Provinces, and on March 9 gave a power-point
presentation in a program organized by the Armenian National Committee
of New Jersey.

During this same period, three new publications by
Professor Hovannisian were released: 1). The Armenian Genocide:
Ethical and Cultural Legacies (Transaction Books); 2). Armenian
Cilicia (Simon Payaslian, co-editor; Mazda Publishers);
3). Mezhdunarodnye Otnosheniia Respubliki Armeniia, 1918-1920
(International Relations of the Republic of Armenia), a Russian
translation of fifteen selected chapters from his four-volume The
Republic of Armenia (Armenian Academy of Sciences). He also wrote the
chapter on the Armenian Genocide in the photographic
collection by Lane Montgomery, Never Again, Again, Again =85. Genocide.

END

KOCHARIAN TO EASE MEDIA BAN

Radio Liberty
March 12 2008
Czech Rep.

President Robert Kocharian said on Wednesday that he will partly lift
the controversial ban on independent news reporting stemming from a
state of emergency in Yerevan which he declared on March 1.

The state of emergency means the Armenian media can only cite the
government and law-enforcement bodies when covering domestic political
affairs. As a result, virtually all local media outlets not controlled
by the government have suspended their operations or been effectively
shut down by the National Security Service (NSS).

As part of the severe restrictions criticized by the international
community, the authorities also halted the retransmission of RFE/RL’s
daily Armenian-language news programs by local broadcasters. In
addition, they blocked Armenian Internet users’ access to the news
websites of RFE/RL and other foreign media that have extensively
reported on the post-election unrest in the country. Armenians were
thus left to rely only on information provided by the nearly two
dozen Yerevan-based TV stations, all of them loyal to the government.

"I will sign this evening or tomorrow morning a decree that will
change this approach," Kocharian he said in televised comments made
during a visit to a construction site in Yerevan. "Now, under the
state of emergency, we are telling you what you can do regarding the
internal political situation. After signing the decree we will tell
you what you can not do."

"Those restrictions will be very narrow," he told journalists
accompanying him. "They will relate to provocative actions, the
spread of overtly false information. All of you will be much freer to
express your views and approaches, to report analyses and information
in general."

It was not clear if the more than a dozen independent and
pro-opposition newspapers and online news services affected by
the ban will be able to resume their publication without facing
government censorship. In a joint statement issued on Wednesday,
they said the unprecedented media blackout is unconstitutional and
has done nothing to defuse tensions in the aftermath of Armenia’s
disputed presidential election.

"All this is not only failing to ease tensions in society but is
deepening the atmosphere of hatred and animosity," the statement
said. It said the state-controlled media are "stoking unhealthy
sentiment" in the country and strengthening public "distrust in the
state" with their one-sided news reporting.

Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, Armen Harutiunian, also called
for the complete abolition of the restrictions on press freedom. "I
believe that pluralism is very important for democratic societies,"
he told a news conference.

Kocharian acknowledged that the information blackout may have
given rise to various politics "gossips" that have been circulating
in Yerevan since his government quelled opposition demonstrations
against the official results of the February 19 election. "Maybe
there is a lack of information and maybe this decree will somehow
help to address this problem," he said.

Kocharian also said that contrary to speculation by opposition leaders,
he has "no plans yet" to extend the state of emergency beyond March
20. He said no violations of emergency rule have been registered
so far.

NEW SCHOOLS IN NKR

Panorama.am
18:43 11/03/2008

This year the budget investments in educational field of the NKR
formed 830.48 million drams, and in the culture and sport fields-509.4
million drams, in health field-38 million. According to KarabakhOpen
information website it is planned to carry out hospital, children’s
medical centers reconstructions, to build hospitals, policlinics and
medical centers in Martakert and other regions.

The Urban Development minister of the NKR Alexandr Mamunts talked
about the educational system and mentioned that some schools will be
exploited: MArtuni region Emishtshan village school, Askeran School,
and the reconstruction go on in some other regions.

He also said that the reconstruction of N6 school still continues in
Stepanakert. The reconstruction of N11 school will start this year.

GOVERNMENT SHELVES AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE 301
Ercan Yavuz

Today’s Zaman
March 11 2008
Turkey

A possible amendment to the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish
Penal Code (TCK) has been shelved indefinitely, according to sources
in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

Article 301 criminalizes denigrating the Turkish state, government
and military and a vague concept it terms "Turkishness," in ambiguous
wording making it possible to charge and convict people over the
slightest criticism of official policy on a number of issues.

Turkey’s Nobel Prize-winning author, Orhan Pamuk, Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink and author Elif ªafak, as well as many other journalists
and intellectuals, have been tried under Article 301. The EU has long
regarded the article as an obstacle to free speech in Turkey.

However, the government has been accused of dragging its feet on
reforming Article 301. Speaking to Today’s Zaman on Monday, Nihat
Ergun said the AK Party has finished a draft of the amendment to the
article but added, "I don’t know exactly when it will be brought up
[in Parliament]." The draft of the amendment to 301, prepared by
Justice Minister Mehmet Ali ªahin, caused tension in the AK Party,
which is why the proposal has not made it to Parliament thus far.

ªahin’s original text required prosecutors to obtain special
permission from the justice minister before starting an investigation
on 301-related charges.

An alternative to this would be to have this permission granted by
the president. The AK Party ministers could not reach consensus even
on the matter of who should grant permission to start a probe.

In the original amendment text, ªahin had proposed replacing the word
"Turkishness" with "the Turkish nation." His version also reduced the
maximum sentence for a 301 violation to two years from three. It also
added a phrase that would put the burden of proof on the prosecution
to show that there was "intent" to denigrate the subjects mentioned
in the article.

Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek, the most outspoken critic of ªahin’s
draft, argued that if the responsibility for authorizing 301-related
investigations was assigned to the justice minister, this would make
the minister a target. Cicek expressed the opinion that a committee
with at least 11 members should decide whether legal action could
proceed on a 301-related charge. Some AK Party leaders found the
argument reasonable, making ªahin withdraw his version before the
amendment could make its way to Parliament as a new bill.

Now senior sources in the AK Party say the possible changes to Article
301 have been shelved. They say the primary reason for this is that the
opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which recently supported
the AK Party’s constitutional amendment to lift a ban on the headscarf
on university campuses, is preparing a campaign against making any
changes to 301. The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)
and the Democratic Left Party (DSP) also oppose changing 301. The only
other party that supports the change is the pro-Kurdish Democratic
People’s Party (DTP), which has 20 seats in the 550-seat Parliament.

Another reason behind the AK Party’s shelving of the amendment for
now is the opinion that there is actually nothing wrong with the law.

Proponents of this view, including Cicek, believe the solution
to the problems of Article 301 is not to be found in changing the
article itself, but instead in changing Turkey’s prosecutors and
judges into more free-thinking people. The Council of Europe has been
training thousands of Turkish judges and prosecutors in a program on
free speech for the past two years, a process at the end of which,
opponents of changing Article 301 believe, the problem would be solved.

–Boundary_(ID_NieNfDa7LLS/o7SP1vS40A)–

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian-Russian relations face bright future
07.03.2008 16:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian-Russian relations have
bright past, bright present and bright future,
Armenia’s Prime Minister and President-elect Serzh
Sargsyan told Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

`I am glad to see that the commodity turnover between
our states has increased several times. Russia is one
of Armenia’s major investors. Well-known Russian
companies are engaged in various sectors of our
economy. Our political relations are also on a high
level,’ he said.

`The Armenian-Russian strategic partnership meets
interests of both Yerevan and Moscow. There is also
potential for cooperation in educational and cultural
fields,’ he said.

Judges of RA Constitutional Court withdrawn to return verdict on joint
suit of two RA presidential contenders

2008-03-07 12:40:00

ArmInfo. Returning verdict is left in RA Constitutional Court
concerning the joint suit of two RA
presidential contenders Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Tigran Karapetyan.

The hearings were going on in RA CC on March 4, during which the
claimant’s party insisted that the falsifications during February 19
presidential election in Armenia were of mass nature and affected the
voting results, therefore, February 24 decision of the Central Election
Commission about the final election results should be cancelled, while
the defendant’s party called the claimant’s arguments unsubstantiated
and mostly sophisticated, and deputy Head of RA Police Ararat
Makhtesyan even used a term "mystic", in view it advanced a petition to
reject the claim.

To recall, according to the current legislation, RA CC judgment should
be passed no later than at 12:00 AM on March 8.

Armenian foreign minister discusses Armenia’s domestic political
situation with EU ambassadors

2008-03-07 18:04:00

ArmInfo. Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met EU countries’
ambassadors accredited in Armenia and members of the European
Commission, Friday. The meeting covered issues related to the domestic
political situation in Armenia after the Feb 19 presidential election.
The participants in the meeting confirmed the positions of their
countries on the results of the election, the Armenian foreign
ministry’s press-service told ArmInfo.

The interlocutors pointed out the significance of the steps being taken
to settle the situation as soon as possible. They also touched upon
issues related to the incident on the contact line of the
Nagorno-Karabakh and Azeri armed forces, as well as the resolution on
Nagorno-Karabakh presented to the United Nations General Assembly by
Azerbaijan.

Today, Azerbaijan
March 7 2008

Armenian Prime Minister: "Nagorno Karabakh problem can be settled
only peacefully"

07 March 2008 [14:15] – Today.Az

Nagorno Karabakh problem can be settled only peacefully.

The due announcement was made by Armenian Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisyan, winning presidential elections in the country on February
19.

"I have always considered that Nagorno Karabakh problem must be
settled only peacefully on basis of mutual compromises. These
compromises must be reasonable", Sarkisyan noted.

"I am from Nagorno Karabakh: I was born there and occupied the most
responsible posts. Naturally, I am well aware of the problem of this
region. My position on the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh is well
known for already 15 years", the Prime Minister added.

According to the Prime Minister, he expressed his vision of the
problem during the election campaign.

"Those votes which I have gained prove that the Armenian community
approves my approaches to the conflict settlement. I think Azerbaijan
should recognize the right of Nagorno Karabakh people for
self-determination and Armenia Azerbaijan’s right for territorial
integrity. These things initially seem incompatible. But I am sure
that it only seems so. On this very basis, we will be able to find a
reasonable compromise", Sarkisyan noted.

/Novosti-Armenia/

URL:

PanARMENIAN.Net

Azerbaijan violates ceasefire again
07.03.2008 14:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On March 6 night, the Azeri armed
units again violated the ceasefire on Nagorno Karabakh
and Azerbaijan’s armed forces contact line in the
direction of Hadrut.

According to the NKR Defense Ministry’s operational
data, NKR Defense Army’s positions were heavily fired
upon with different kinds of weapon – submachine guns
and sniper rifles.

Observing the ceasefire, the NKR Defense Army subunits
did not commence reprisal fire, the NKR MFA press
office reports