Author: Jagharian Tania

SWITZERLAND READY TO PROMOTE ARMENIAN-TURKISH RECONCILIATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.06.2008 13:58 GMT+04:00

Switzerland has always spoken out for the Armenian-Turkish
reconciliation, Micheline Calmy-Rey, head of the Swiss Federal
Department of Foreign Affairs said at a joint news conference with
Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

"If requested, Switzerland is ready to help normalization of relations
and opening of the Armenian-Turkish border," Ms. Calmy-Rey said.

For his part, Minister Nalbandian reiterated that Armenia is willing
to open a dialog without preconditions.

Turkey closed the land border with Armenia in 1993 over the war in
Nagorno Karabakh. One of conditions Turkey sets to Armenia to reopen
the border is resolution of the conflict in favor of Azerbaijan

GOVERNMENT WITHOUT DEPARTMENT OF MIGRATION AND RESETTLEMENT

KarabakhOpen
27-06-2008 11:56:13

On June 26 the NKR parliament affirmed without debate the new structure
of the government according to which several departments of the
government were set up, including the department of tourism. In the
new structure of the government there is no department for migration,
settlement and refugees. By the proposal of the government the
ministry of social security will perform those functions. However,
there is no decision on this yet.

The chair of the Committee of State and Legal Affairs Garik Grigoryan
noted that the parliament had too little time for the discussion of
this issue, only a few days. Nevertheless, Speaker Ashot Ghulyan had
managed to hold a meeting of the standing committees and factions
before the session and demand explanations from the prime minister,
first of all regarding lowering the status of the department of
migration and settlement. The preamble of the bill on the new structure
of government holds that the structural changes are determined by
the requirements of the law on president.

Apparently the prime minister could not motivate the changes, at
least they were not reflected in the official information. Instead,
the information reflected the indignation of the members of parliament
that the role of such an important sphere is reduced.

In the meeting of parliament no questions were asked to the prime
minister.

The parliament passed the bill. 22 voted for the bill. 2 voted against
the bill. We have learned that the independent member of parliament
Gegham Baghdasaryan and the member of parliament from the region of
Kashatagh Karen Grigoryan disapproved the bill.

IRAN, ARMENIA SIGN AGREEMENT ON POWER PLANT CONSTRUCTION

Fars News Agency
June 25 2008
Iran

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s Deputy Energy Minister and Armenia’s Energy and
Natural Resources Minister signed two Memoranda of Understandings
(MOUs) on construction of a hydro-electric power plant on Aras River.

According to a report by Islamic Republic of Iran’s Embassy in
Armenia on Monday, Rasoul Zargar, Iran’s Deputy Energy Minister in
Water Affairs, discussed the outlook of cooperation between Iran and
Armenia concerning generation of electricity and issues related to
construction of a hydro-electrical power plant on Aras River with
the Armenian Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisyan
and his deputy in Armenia’s capital city, Yerevan.

The principle agreement on construction of Aras hydro-electrical
power plant was signed during President Ahmadinejad’s state visit to
Armenia in the year 2006.

CHAIRMAN OF CE CABINET OF MINISTERS: "THE SOLUTION TO NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT IS BEYOND CE COMPETENCE"

Today.Az
June 24 2008
Azerbaijan

Chairman of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers and Swedish
Foreign Minister Carl Bildt made a report on the first working day of
PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) summer session.

He said his organization always kept the situation in the South
Caucasus in the focus of attention, APA European bureau reports.

"Elections in this region were accompanied by some violations. It
is necessary to eliminate these violations and to achieve democratic
elections".

Carl Bildt said Council of Europe gave a fundamental importance to
the territorial integrity of Georgia.

"There is no doubt that Abkhazia will be granted with the wide
autonomous status in future, but it should not shadow the territorial
integrity of Georgia, because it can create threat for the stability
in the region".

Answering the question of Azerbaijani parliamentarian Ganira Pashayeva
"Why doesn’t Council of Europe demand from Armenia to fulfill its
obligation to withdraw its forces from the Azerbaijani territories?",
Bildt said the solution to this conflict is beyond CE competence.

"I can only say that the negotiations over the conflict solution are
developing and the presidents of both countries met in St. Petersburg
recently. I have no information about the results of this meeting,
but I can say that we should support such kind of meetings because
these meetings will bring the solution to the conflict closer".

CYBERTERRORISM IS ATTRACTIVE VARIANT FOR MODERN TERRORISTS, RA DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS

NOYAN TAPAN

JU NE 24

An international conference dedicated to prevention and response to
cyber attacks started on June 24 at Yerevan’s Ani Plaza hotel. As
Gegham Gharibjanian, the RA Deputy Foreign Minister, mentioned at
the conference’s opening, breaking into almost all spheres of life,
Internet not only facilitates solution of many problems, but also
brings many dangers and threats. According to him, some individuals
and groups, including terrorist ones, can use cyper space for the
purpose of creating threats not only for citizens, but also for states
and international organizations.

According to the Deputy Minister, cyberterrorism can weaken countries’
economy and make these countries vulnerable for a military attack. He
also said that cyberterrorism becomes an attractive variant for modern
terrorists, as it requires less expenditures, is more "impersonal,"
and the targets can be more various and numerous.

Mentioning that fighting cyberterrorism will be impossible without
use of the international scientific potential, G. Gharibjanian also
attached importance to cooperation in this direction as means of
developing the scientific thought.

The conference held with the participation of NATO member and partner
countries has been organized within the framework of the Euroatlantic
Partnership Council by the RA Foreign Ministry and NATO International
Staff.

PAVLIK-ABRAHAM: THE ONLY FIGHT THAT MATTERS
Anthony Coleman

EastsideBoxing.com
June 23 2008

Let me make one thing clear from the start: I thought that Abraham
was going to win the fight. I knew he was the better technician on
offense and defense and before his jaw was broken by a Miranda uppercut
in the first fight, Abraham was giving the business to the Columbian
born fighter. However, going into the rematch I didn’t think that he
would blast Miranda out of thing ring, but in the fourth round that is
exactly what happened. The German based Armenian couldn’t have been
more impressive in his KO victory and he has now created universal
demand in the boxing world for a showdown with the Middleweight
champion of the world, Kelly Pavlik.

The first two rounds were won by Miranda based purely on activity as
Abraham went into his high guard defensive shell. The whole time,
while Miranda swung for the fences Abraham was studying him and
waiting to attack. In the third round the game plan was put into
fruition as the German was able to tee off on Miranda with extremely
accurate counter punches. In the fourth round Abraham scored a left
hook knockdown over Miranda. "Pantera" was able to beat the count,
but then was sent back down by another huge left hook by Abraham. This
time he was slower in getting up and was still allowed to continue,
but the end was clearly at hand if couldn’t force a clinch. The clinch
didn’t happen and Abraham landed another brutal left hook that sent
Miranda a few feet into the ropes and then to the ground. The referee
immediately waved the fight off and Abraham had earned unquestionably
his greatest career victory.

I couldn’t have been more impressed with Abraham’s performance
and skills. He has good handspeed, a high defensive guard, is a
great counter puncher, has good footwork, and he is perhaps the most
underrated puncher in boxing today. Yet the most damaging aspect of his
game is his versatility. When he wanted to hang back and let Miranda
pound on his high guard, he was able to deflect the blows. When he
decided to draw the line in the sand and toss those counters he was
able to fade Pantera into oblivion. Abraham has now earned a permanent
fan in this boxing writer.

Although this fight took place at 165 pounds, the overall dominance
of his performance has made a potential showdown with Pavlik the
only fight that matters at Middleweight. If he is able to get back
down to 160 pounds he has now made himself unavoidable to Pavlik. If
this fight doesn’t happen within the year then Middleweight title is
essentially worthless.

Yet for the next few months, a Abraham and Pavlik showdown will
probably be put on hold because of Boxing’s politics. Abraham will
probably take on his IBF mandatory, Raul Marquez in October or
November; and Pavlik will probably take on Marco Antonio Rubio in
that same time period. If that were to happen then I would hope for
both fights to be shared on the same card so to create more demand
for this fight. It is not only the biggest fight to be made in the
Middleweight division, but in boxing PERIOD.

Sunday Age (Melbourne, Australia)
June 22, 2008 Sunday
First Edition

Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922;
BOOKS – Cover notes

by Lucy Sussex

PARADISE LOST: SMYRNA 1922
Giles Milton
Sceptre, $35

The city of Smyrna (now Turkish Izmir) was a cool place in the early
1900s. The coffee and food were good, and Turks, Jews, Armenians and
Greeks co-existed without rancour. The place was Paradise to Giles
Milton and to its varied inhabitants. Its geography, between West and
East, would ultimately doom it – and the ending was savage. Milton
paints a broad canvas here, with characters as diverse as a wily and
tolerant Turkish governor, Rahmi Bey, wealthy English expatriates, and
a mild-mannered American YMCA worker, Asa Jennings. He needs the epic
mode, for a clash of empires is depicted. World War I saw the end of
the Ottoman empire, and the hope of a resurgent Greek one, the Megali
idea. Rahmi Bey, a superb diplomat, was able to protect the city when
in power, but its territory was in dispute. The Greek army invaded,
with dreams of an Anatolian province, but were defeated by Ataturk.
His army burnt the city, trapping refugees between an inferno and
European ships – who were neutral and would not intervene. Jennings
did, and saved hundreds of thousands. An extraordinary if grim read.

NO INCREASE IN PRICE FOR FIXED-LINE TELEPHONE EXPECTED IN ARMENIA

ARKA
June 20, 2008

YEREVAN, June 20. /ARKA/. ArmenTel company is not planning to increase
prices for fixed-line communication, General Director of ArmenTel
closed joint stock company (Beeline brand) Neycho Velichkov told
journalists. The company has no intention to reduce the monthly
no-charge call limit either, he said.

Yet, he reported, the company is negotiating with the Public Services
Regulatory Commission over possible balancing of the current prices.

"We understand that prices for telecommunication services are falling,
and that the Armenian market has great opportunities for growth, but
this does not mean than we have to constantly subsidize one direction
of our activities at the expense of other services," Velichkov said.

He pointed out that the company intends to go back to the system
of balanced prices among others through expansion of the range of
services offered.

The current price for fixed-line telephone communication is 1,100 drams
including VAT (about $3.15) for population and 4,800 drams (about $14)
for organizations. No-charge call limit is 360 minutes for digital
lines. After that, the cost is 5drams per minute starting from the
361st minute and 9drams per minute starting from the 1601st minute.

"ArmenTel" closed joint stock company is a daughter enterprise
of "Vimpelcom" Russian telecommunication company (Beeline
trademark). It provides services to about 640,000 subscribers of
stationary communication and over 450,000 subscribers of mobile
communication. ($1=304.59drams).

ASIM MOLLAZADE: "NORMALIZING OF RELATIONS BETWEEN TURKEY AND ARMENIA IS QUITE POSSIBLE BUT ONLY AFTER ARMENIA RELEASES THE OCCUPIED LANDS OF AZERBAIJAN"

Today.Az
s/politics/45825.html
June 20 2008
Azerbaijan

Day.Az interview with chairman of Democratic Reforms Party, MP Asim
Mollazade.

– Assistant US Secretary of State Daniel Fried said Turkey needs
to reconcile with a dark chapter in its history: mass killings and
forced deportation of up to 1,500,000 Armenians in the end of the
Osman Empire. Doesn’t it imply possible recognition of the so-called
"Armenians genocide" by the United States?

– I do not think there is a possibility for recognition of the
"genocide of Armenians" by the United States. On the whole, I consider
that history should involve historical scientists not politicians. In
this connection, it should be noted that the Azerbaijan-Turkey Fund
of Historical Researches, engaged in studying all political facts
including 1915 events in Osman Turkey, has already been created. We
are ready to cooperation with the historical scientists of the world
in this issue, as our purpose is to restore historical justice.

– How would you comment on Fried’s announcement that the US are for
normalizing relations between Armenia and Turkey?

– I think normalizing of relations between Turkey and Armenia is quite
possible but only after Armenia releases the occupied Azerbaijani
territories. If not, improvement of relations between Turkey and
Armenia is out of the question. I think it would be more correct and
expedient for the United States to use its influence for boosting
peace and good neighbor relations in our region.

– Doesn’t the tone of Fried’s announcement imply that the US intend
to put pressure on Turkey for normalizing relations with Armenia?

– I do not think any country in the world will manage to impose
pressure on Turkey and Azerbaijan in the issue of normalizing
relations with Armenia if the occupied territories of our country
are not liberated. There is a great potential for restoring peace
and tranquility in our region by means of pressure on Armenia, which
must disavow the territorial claims to the countries of our region
and liberate the occupied lands of Azerbaijan.

– But how Turkey benefits from closing borders with Armenia?

– This is a way of non-forced pressure on Armenia, aiming to show
the leadership of this country the erroneousness of the expansionist
policy. Moreover, the position of Turkey, which is a brother to
Azerbaijan, is strong, as the whole world has already realized the rude
violation of all international rules and norms by Armenia. Turkey
simply supports international law. And I do hope that all world
countries, stating need for normalizing of Azerbaijani-Armenian and
Turkish-Armenian relations should also be loyal to these principles.

Moreover, in this case not the usefulness of the quo status for Turkey
but its consequences for Armenia should be spoken of. Here everything
is clear: Armenia has turned into Russia’s outpost in the Caucasus,
isolating itself from all regional projects, involving Azerbaijan,
Turkey and Georgia and attractive for European countries. Armenia’s
lagging behind all other regional countries is growing each year.

The most pragmatic and wisest part of the Armenian society also
realizes the situation. They voiced their distrust to the incumbent
Armenian authorities during the recent presidential elections in
this country. As you remember, the Karabakh clan representatives
committed bloodshed and held repressions against their own citizens,
protesting against the results of elections. People were killed in
the Yerevan streets during the upheaval, censorship was applied,
repressions against opposition members are still conducted in Armenia
and strict restrictions were imposed on freedom of speech.

It all proves disappointment with the Armenian powers, understanding of
the deadlocked situation, to which the country has led itself by its
policy of territorial claims to neighbor countries of the region. I
want to believe that world society will help this country get rid of
the "war party" by means of democratic reforms.

STRUGGLE AGAINST THE REFORMS
Armen Tsaturyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
June 19, 2008
Armenia

The nearer the 100 days of the activity of the newly elected government
in power the more evident that both the country’s President and the
Head of the government are doing their best to annihilate people’s
dissatisfaction towards the government, and the main "targets" of
criticism for the opposition.

We must remind you that the "super-centralized" activity of the
government in power is one of the before mentioned "targets", the
total control over the economy, tax and customs monopoly granted to
certain privileged entrepreneurs, the violation of citizens’ rights
by certain force structures, firstly the police and the existing gaps
in the sphere of the freedom of speech.

If you carefully observe the issues touched upon during the government
sessions you will notice that they are much more radical and what
is more important, much fresher than the statements made by ex Prime
Minister Hrant Bagratyan in 1990, regarding the essence and direction
of the reforms to be made in the country.

The present day authorities are more creative and courageous
particularly regarding the maintenance and use of the country’s
intellectual potential, making Armenia a financial center in the
region, than Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s team that failed to implement
these programs.

Does this mean that the authorities meet halfway all the political and
economic demands of the opposition? Of course no because the present
day authorities have chosen not the revolutionary but the reforming
path of the country’s development. For this the country needs,
balance, political stability. But not only doesn’t the opposition
not contribute to the implementation of the reforms but also makes
the authorities be cautious of its tempo, for the maintenance of the
internal political stability.

Ter-Petrosyan’s camp persistently continues to concentrate on its own
standpoint of overcoming the consequences of March 1-2 developments,
which from a goal has turned into means. The reason is, though
the new authorities have already started to fulfill the demands of
PACE resolution, their intentions to avert the new intensification
of internal political confrontation, makes them "move forward by
looking back".

Which means, in this case as well the aggressiveness manifested
by Ter-Petrosyan’s supporters and their boycotting the works of the
Public Council and the Parliamentary temporary committee investigating
March 1-2 developments is a real obstacle for the swift and perfect
fulfillment of the requirements advanced by PACE resolution.

Thus a really interesting situation has been created in our reality,
on the eve of the demonstration to be held by the opposition on June
20, Ter-Petrosyan and his team members who were the champions of
the radical political and economic reforms during the pre-election
campaign are struggling against the political team that is going to
implement these political and economic reforms.

Moreover though many of the demands advanced by Ter-Petrosyan and his
team have already been brought to life they still hope to take power.

A question arises here, in that case what is important for our
citizens – implementation of the reforms, or using the slogan of the
reforms only to take power, something that can be of great harm for
our country.