Author: Jalatian Sonya

CITIZEN OF IRAN TRIES TO SET HIMSELF TO FIRE IN YEREVAN

ArmInfo
2008-11-18 16:08:00

ArmInfo. On November 17 approximately at 4:20pm local time
Central Office of Armenian Police received an alarm that a certain
person was trying to set fire on himself in front of UN Office in
Yerevan. Armenian Police press-service reported that operatives
arrived on the sport and found out that approximately at 4:10pm
a citizen of Iran Mehrdat Avshar (1971) was trying to set fire on
himself. The UN officers prevented the attempt before arrival of
operatives. Investigation is underway.

PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA: FRANCE – RELATIVE COUNTRY FOR ARMENIA

Panorama.am
21:13 17/11/2008

Today the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan received the Chairman
of Parliament of Vandea state of France, the member of European
Parliament Philip de Villiet, and the delegation headed by him,
reported the press service of President’s Administration.

According to the source, the President thanked the deputies for
supporting Armenia, for contributing to strengthen Armenian-French
relationship, for recognizing Armenian Genocide and their efforts
to make it condemnable. "France is a close and relative country for
Armenians, which treats Armenian problems seriously and contributes
to their solutions," said S. Sargsyan.

DEMIRCHYAN IS CONCERNED

A1+
[02:39 pm] 14 November, 2008

Leader of the People’s Party of Armenia (HZhK) Stepan Demirchyan
thinks the Armenian side has considerably weakened its stance in
the negotiations of the Karabakh conflict settlement. Armenia should
exert diplomatic efforts to fully involve Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
in the talks.

The Moscow declaration reconfirmed that the conflict should be
settled in the realms of the Minsk Group with peaceful means, stressed
Demirchyan. The HZhK Leader is concerned that the settlement is being
reached on the basis of the Madrid principles.

"We have announced many times that the conflict cannot be resolved
without Karabakh’s involvement in the talks. The Madrid principles are
worrying unless they are deciphered. But the information we possess
at present is rather concerning," noted Demirchyan.

As to the opposition’s alleged recess in connection to the Karabakh
conflict, Stepan Demirchyan said "the opposition is not going to
become an observer, and in case of dangerous developments it will
spell out its stance."

He cited a decelration privision under which the Karabakh conflict
must be settled in the framework of international documents.

"In particular, I would like to mention the CoE document which is not
favourable for Armenia and speaks for the surrender of territories. We
don’t endorse the idea of unilateral concessions," said HZhK Leader
adding that the conflict will hardly be settled in the coming two
months.

THE BAD OLD DAYS RETURN

Strategy Page
es/20081113.aspx
Nov 13 2008

November 13, 2008: The November 8 submarine accident off the Pacific
coast occurred once before, in the 1990s, when a submarine that
had been refurbished, had the fire extinguisher system go off
in a compartment because shipyard workers had rewired a control
panel incorrectly. This sort of sloppiness is all too common, and
Russians have long ago learned to live (or die) with it. Things are
changing, however, as more and more Russian manufacturers adopt
higher international standards for quality control. Otherwise,
Russian exports could not compete. Even the military manufacturing
industries are slowly moving in this direction. Meanwhile,
Russians have this inferiority complex which is often expressed by
aggressive behavior. It’s nothing new. During the communist period,
the bad behavior was hidden by a facade of communist revolutionary
rhetoric. But now we’re back to where we were a century ago, when the
czar was in charge. Go read some of old newspaper stories from back
in the day, and you’ll find that the Russians are picking up where
they left off. The communists came and went, but Russian paranoia
and threats prevail.

November 11, 2008: Off the coast of Somalia, a Russian and British
frigates cooperated to drive away pirates who were trying to capture
a Danish merchant ship. Both warships sent an armed helicopter to
the scene, once they received the distress call from the Danish ship.

November 9, 2008: In Chechnya, someone attacked a police station,
killing one policeman and wounding two others.

November 8, 2008: Off the Pacific coast, 20 people died when the
fire extinguishing system was accidentally set off in the forward
compartment of a new Akula II submarine undergoing sea trials. A
sailor who survived the incident later admitted he had set off the
fire extinguishing system. This process removes most of the oxygen in
the compartment, and sailors are trained to reach for breathing masks
when this happens. But most of the people in the compartment were
civilian shipyard workers and technicians. In addition to the dead
(most of them civilians), 21 people were injured.

November 6, 2008: In another paranoid outburst, the government said
it was sending five brigades (60 launchers) of Iskander ballistic
missiles to Kaliningrad (on the Polish border) to neutralize the
American anti-missile system being built there (to protect Europe
from Iranian missiles.) Russia insists the anti-missile system is
actually there to neutralize Russian missiles that might be used
against Europe. Or something like that.

Another terrorist bomb went off in North Ossetia, killing eleven
people in a market. A female suicide bomber was involved. No one took
responsibility for the attack.

November 5, 2008: A small bomb (about three pounds of dynamite)
went off on railroad tracks on the outskirts of Moscow. There were
no injuries and no one took responsibility.

November 4, 2008: In Georgia, the head of the armed forces
was replaced, as part of reforms to make the military more
effective. Georgia believes that Russia may invade again, and new
military leadership is needed to improve Georgian defenses. Russia
now defends its invasion of Georgia with the "Rwanda Defense." This
doctrine was developed by the UN to justify invading another nation
to halt atrocities against civilians. About a hundred civilians died
when Georgian troops moved into their province of South Ossetia,
which the Russians now say qualifies as genocide, and justifies an
invasion of Georgia.

November 1, 2008: Russia has offered to mediate the dispute between
Armenia and Azerbaijan (both parts of the former Soviet Union). In
the early 1990s, Armenia went to war with Azerbaijan to annex an
Armenian majority district (Nagorno-Karabakh) that was separated
from Armenia by a strip of Azerbaijan territory (populated largely
by Azeris). Although Azerbaijan is larger than Armenia, and has oil,
the Armenians are better fighters, and the conflict festers, despite
a 1994 ceasefire.

October 30, 2008: The Russian president has removed the head of
the south Caucasus province of Ingushetia (which is adjacent to
Chechnya). Both provinces are run by corrupt officials, who stay
in power by catering to their cronies, and Russia, and screwing
everyone else. Russia will tolerate this, as long as the local guy
keeps things under control. Murat Zyazikov was not doing that, and is
now the former boss of Ingushetia. He was given a new job in Moscow,
just in case he is needed again in the future.

TURKEY AND EU IN TRADE ROW OVER BORON
By John C. K. Daly

Eurasia Daily Monitor
Nov 13 2008
DC

In Turkey’s convoluted "long march" toward European Union membership,
Ankara has exhibited immense patience during the accession process,
which began 21 years ago, when on April 14, 1987, Turkey applied to
join the EU, having been an associate member of the European Union
and its predecessors since 1963. Now an EU decision on a Turkish
mineralogical export has threatened to roil the economic waters
still further.

The mineral in question is boron, of which Turkey has an estimated
72 percent of the world’s estimated reserves of 3 to 4 billion tons
(Anadolu Ajansi, November 9). While boron and its allotropes and
compounds, from boric acid to sodium tetraborate, have extensive
industrial uses, including boron fibers used to reinforce metallic
elements in military aircraft fuselages, their primary use, an
estimated 95 percent, is in the production of glass, ceramics,
cosmetics, and detergents.

Annual global consumption, including in Turkey, is 4 million tons. In
2008 Turkey expects boron exports to bring in $500 to $600 million,
of which $130 to $140 million will be exported to the EU (Anadolu
Ajansi, November 9).

The EU legislation that has Ankara so concerned had its genesis in
2002, when the Swedish government decided to classify borates as toxic
to the human reproductive system. In February 2007 the EU Working
Group on the Classification and Labeling of Dangerous Substances
subsequently recommended that the EU Commission adopt a similar
definition under the terms of the working group’s Directive 67/548/EEC
Category 3. The EU Commission gave its assent to the recommendation
in June, and on September 15 the Official Journal of the European
Union published the decision, with the condition that it would
take effect 20 days after publication (EBA memo on the regulatory
framework for borates, European Borates Association, June 27,
ssued%20at%20REACH%20Workshop.pdf;
Zaman, November 7).

Since last year Turkey has voiced its objections several times to
the World Trade Organization (WTO) and has offered to cooperate
with the EU to resolve the issue, but nothing concrete has been
accomplished. During a technical meeting in February with the EU,
Turkey stated that it intended to raise the issue with the WTO’s
Dispute Settlement Body if the classification decision were approved.

Turkish bureaucrats worry that if the EU decision becomes fully
implemented, Turkey’s boron exports to the EU could shrink by 50
percent or more, meaning an annual loss of at least $65 million. Even
more worrisome, Ankara believes that the decision will also have
"secondary and psychological impacts" once other nations consider
implementing the EU directive in their own national legislation. The
directive stipulates that boron and its derivatives, containing more
than 5.5 percent of boron, will be forced to carry a warning label
and certain symbols such as a skull indicating the toxicity of the
package’s contents (Hurriyet, November 7).

The decision comes as a blow to Turkey’s mining industry, which
dreamed of becoming a global boron hub, seeing a rapidly expanding
global market. The general manager of NNT Nano Teknoloji A.S.,
Mehmet Can Arvas, stated that boron could play an important role
in reducing vehicular pollutants, saying, "Products manufactured
using boron minerals decrease the amount of exhaust released by
motor vehicles by 15 percent." He added optimistically, "If our
company’s boron products are used in vehicles all over the world,
the hole in the ozone layer will narrow in 20 years" (Anadolu Ajansi,
May 26). According to Arvas, boron could also play an important role
in the world’s move away from fossil fuels toward greener energy,
with boron as an integral component in hydrogen-fuelled motor vehicles.

Turkey has received support for its position from other boron exporting
countries, including the United States, Malaysia, Australia, Argentina,
Chile, Japan, and China, which have also contacted the relevant
EU bodies voicing their concerns and asking that the boron issue
be reconsidered. In April Turkish Minister of State Kursad Tuzmen
expressed his concern about the impending EU legislation during
discussions with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. trade
representative Susan Schwab during a meeting of the American-Turkish
Council in Washington D.C. He told them, "The EU wants to bring a
definition that will restrict boron trade. Turkey will defend its
rights on the matter within the framework of the rules of the World
Trade Organization" (Anadolu Ajansi, April 20).

Boron is regarded in Turkey as more than a useful element, even
having strategic overtones; last year Ali Kulebi president of the
Ankara-based Ulusal Guvenlik Stratejileri Arastirma Merkezi (National
Security Strategies Research Center [TUSAM]) said, "21st century wars
will also be for elements like boron, neptunium and uranium, which
economic resources and modern technology will be in need of only when
oil reserves are completely gone…" (Hurriyet, May 10, 2007).

Perceptions about boron’s strategic value have even infiltrated
into popular culture. In 2004 a future military conflict between the
United States and Turkey over the country’s boron resources formed the
basis of the wildly popular (and anti-American) novel, Metal Firtina
("Metal Storm"), in which the U.S. military launched Operation Sevres,
named after the 1921 Treaty of Sevres, to partition Turkey between
Greece and Armenia while encouraging the proclamation of a Kurdish
state. The Turks prevail in the end with the help of the Russians and
Europeans. While such fantasies rank up there with the more lurid James
Bond films, the popularity of the novel should have given Washington
officials pause.

If the EU legislation is not rescinded, it will not mean the end of the
Turkish boron industry. According to Eti Maden Enterprises director
general Orhan Yilmaz, 63 nations worldwide purchase Turkish boron,
including the United States, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain,
Canada, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Russia,
and Saudi Arabia (Anadolu Ajansi, November 9). It will, however,
leave bruised feelings in Turkey, adding to the belief that the EU
always treats Turkey by different, harsher standards.

As Turkey and the United States are the world’s largest producers of
boron, Washington could engender gratitude in Turkey while protecting
its own interests by dropping discreet hints into the "Eurocrats’"
ears in Brussels that the new legislation might merit further review,
being one of those rare occasions when the U.S. using its influence
with the EU could also further its image in the Middle East by placing
a much-needed band-aid on its bruised relations with its old ally.

MATTHEW BRYZA: "THE ISSUE OF REFERENDUM CAN BE REVIEWED AFTER THE LIBERATION OF AZERBAIJANI REGIONS FROM THE OCCUPATION AND DEPLOYMENT OF PEACEKEEPERS IN THE TERRITORY"

Azeri Press Agency
Nov 13 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov-APA. "The co-chairs have proposals related
to the settlement of Nagorno karabakh problem.

We are working on the proposals now", said Matthew Bryza, American
Co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group, who is on a visit to Baku, APA
reports. The co-chair called Moscow Declaration as a step forward
toward the settlement of the conflict and said this document would
assist the solution to the problem.

Speaking about Turkey’s efforts toward the settlement of Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, Bryza noted that this country was a loyal partner
of the United States. "Therefore we positively appreciate the Turkey’s
efforts toward the solution to the conflict".

The US co-chair said negotiations between Azerbaijani and Armenian
presidents created good environment for mutual trust and expressed
opinion about the liberation of occupied Azerbaijani lands,
peacekeeping forces and referendum. "The issue of referendum can
be reviewed after the liberation of Azerbaijani regions from the
occupation and deployment of peacekeepers in the territory. It depends
on getting the working agreement between the presidents. During the
last meeting of the presidents, a good environment was created for
developing the negotiations".

THROUGH ASSISTANCE OF HYPOTHECARY COMPANY CONCRETE PROGRAMMES WILL BE IMPLEMENTED

NKR Government Information and Public Relations Department
November 08, 2008

On October 8, 2008, with participation of the NKR Prime Minister Ara
Haroutyunyan and representatives of the RA Central Bank discussion
concerning foundation of a Hypothecary Company, its essence and
activity was carried out. It was noted, that Hypothecary companies
are mainly founded on the basis of state and private cooperation
principles aimed at creation of long-term credits, which will be
allotted for settle term housing financing.

A Hypothecary Company obtains hypothecary credits from financial
institutions (banks, crediting companies), by securing these credits
edits stocks, then means received from it are aimed at obtaining new
hypothecary credits. Thus, in the result of rendering hypothecary
credit to Hypothecary Company, financial institutions get a chance
to overcome difficulties in rendering means on long-term credits.

The specialist of the Hypothecary Company noted that the activity
of a hypothecary company may be divided into two main directions:
refinancing of hypothecary credits rendered by financial institutions,
and refinancing of social housing programmes.

Investing a sum equal to 1.2 mlrd drams once, the Hypothecary Company
will be able to secure financing of a housing programme at cost of
3.6 mlrd drams within 3 years (about 320 flats). The total cost of
the programme will form 4.5 mlrd drams, and yearly expenses of the
state – 207 mln drams.

In conclusion of the discussion, concerning efficiency of making
use of services rendered by the Hypothecary Company, the NKR Prime
Minister A.Haroutyunyan expressed gratitude to the leadership of the
RA Central Bank for cooperation, and hoped to start implementation
of concrete housing and other social programmes in the Republic from
June-July 2009.

FRENCH CITIZEN ARRESTED IN ARMENIA FOR FALSE ALLEGATIONS ABOUT PLOT AGAINST PRESIDENT

Interfax
Nov 10 2008
Russia

Armenia’s National Security Service has arrested a French citizen
of Armenian ethnicity, Sargis Atspanian, who claimed in an interview
with an Armenian newspaper that an attempt was being prepared on the
life of President Serzh Sargsyan.

"Atspanian has been arrested as part of a criminal case, opened by the
National Security Service on charges of false denunciation, following
the allegations, published by the newspaper Aikakan Zhamanak, that
an attempt was being prepared on the life of President Sargsyan,"
National Security Service spokesman Artsvin Bagranian told Interfax.

Earlier reports said that the National Security Service had started
a criminal case in relation to an article about an attempt allegedly
being organized on the president’s life, published in the opposition
newspaper Aikakan Zhamanak.

SARGIS HATSPANIAN ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF FALSE CRIME REPORTING

Noyan Tapan

Nov 10, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The former azatamartik (freedom
fighter), French citizen Sargis Hatspanian was taken to the National
Security Service (NSS) late November 7 where he was asked questions
about his interview with Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Time) daily,
during which he spoke about the possible attempt upon the president
Serzh Sargsyan’s life. After the questioning, S. Hatspanian was
arrested on suspicion of false crime reporting (Article 333 of the
RA Criminal Code).

To recap, as long ago as during the February rallies, the law enforcers
made several attempts to take S. Hatspanian to police. Then the former
azatamartik went underground and was in one of Artsakh’s liberated
regions in the period from the March 1 events to October 6. Some people
who came to his house on October 6, as well as a police officer on
October 9 told him that the second president Robert Kocharian had
divested him of the right to stay in Armenia and on March 10 signed
an order on deportation of the azatamartik from Armenia.

LES HISTORIENS N’ONT PAS LE MONOPOLE DE LA MEMOIRE

Le Monde
8 novembre 2008 samedi
France

Les citoyens ont leur mot a dire sur la gestion de leur propre
passe. N’en deplaise aux specialistes

Un debat ouvert dans Le Monde par les articles de Pierre Nora et
Christiane Taubira (les 10 et 16 octobre) ne peut se reduire a une
opposition entre historiens et politiques, car il divise aussi les
historiens. Dès mars 2005, nous avons reagi contre la loi du 23
fevrier qui invitait les enseignants a montrer le " rôle positif "
de la colonisation, mais nous n’avons pas signe la petition " Liberte
pour l’Histoire " publiee neuf mois plus tard dans Liberation. Nous
ne pouvions pas accepter que la " loi Gayssot " (penalisant les
propos contestant l’existence des crimes contre l’humanite), la "
loi Taubira " (reconnaissant la traite et l’esclavage en tant que "
crimes contre l’humanite ") et la loi portant sur la reconnaissance
du genocide armenien de 1915 soient mises sur le meme plan qu’un
texte faisant l’apologie de la colonisation, et cela au nom de la "
liberte de l’historien ".

Nous l’acceptions d’autant moins que cet appel ne posait pas dans toute
sa generalite la question du rôle de la loi par rapport a l’histoire,
laissant notamment de côte d’autres " lois memorielles " comme celle
de 1999 substituant l’expression " guerre d’Algerie " a " operations en
Afrique du Nord ". L’appel de Blois lance recemment par les promoteurs
de la petition " Liberte pour l’Histoire " n’aborde pas, lui non plus,
la question des rapports entre la loi, la memoire et l’Histoire,
sur des bases pertinentes. Contrairement a ce qu’affirme ce texte,
nous ne pensons pas qu’il existerait en France, ou en Europe, une
menace serieuse contre la liberte des historiens.

Cet appel se trompe de cible quand il presente la decision-cadre
adoptee le 21 avril 2007 par le conseil des ministres de la justice
de l’Union europeenne comme un risque de " censure intellectuelle
" qui reclamerait leur mobilisation urgente. Ce texte demande aux
Etats qui ne l’ont pas deja fait de punir l’incitation publique
a la violence ou a la haine visant un groupe de personnes donne,
de reprimer l’apologie, la negation ou la banalisation des crimes
de genocide et des crimes de guerre, mesures que la France a deja
integrees dans son droit interne par les lois de 1990 et de 1972.

Il ne nous paraît pas raisonnable de laisser croire a l’opinion que des
historiens travaillant de bonne foi a partir des sources disponibles,
avec les methodes propres a leur discipline, puissent etre condamnes en
application de cette directive pour leur manière de qualifier, ou non,
tel ou tel massacre ou crime de l’Histoire. Pour la Cour europeenne,
" la recherche de la verite historique fait partie integrante de la
liberte d’expression ". La decision-cadre precise qu’elle respecte les
droits fondamentaux reconnus par la Convention europeenne des droits
de l’homme, notamment ses articles 10 et 11, et n’amène pas les Etats
a modifier leurs règles constitutionnelles sur la liberte d’expression.

LES " REPENTANTS "

En agitant le spectre d’une " victimisation generalisee du passe
", l’appel de Blois occulte le veritable risque qui guette les
historiens, celui de mal repondre aux enjeux de leur epoque et de
ne pas reagir avec suffisamment de force aux instrumentalisations du
passe. Nous deplorons egalement la croisade que ce texte mène contre
un ennemi imaginaire, les " Repentants ", qui seraient obsedes par la
" mise en accusation et la disqualification radicale de la France
". L’Histoire, nous dit-on, ne doit pas s’ecrire sous la dictee des
memoires concurrentes. Certes. Mais ces memoires existent, et nul
ne peut ordonner qu’elles se taisent. Le reveil parfois desordonne
des memoires blessees n’est souvent que la consequence des lacunes
ou des faiblesses de l’histoire savante et de l’absence d’une parole
publique sur les pages troubles du passe.

Dans un Etat libre, il va de soi que nulle autorite politique ne
doit definir la verite historique. Mais les elus de la nation et,
au-dela, l’ensemble des citoyens ont leur mot a dire sur les enjeux
de memoire. Defendre l’autonomie de la recherche historique ne
signifie nullement que la memoire collective soit la propriete des
historiens. Il n’est donc pas illegitime que les institutions de
la Republique se prononcent sur certaines de ces pages essentielles
refoulees qui font retour dans son present.

En tant que citoyens, nous estimons que la loi reconnaissant le
genocide des Armeniens – heureusement non prolongee, a ce jour, par une
penalisation de sa negation – et celle reconnaissant l’esclavage comme
un crime contre l’humanite sont des actes forts de nos institutions
sur lesquels il ne s’agit pas de revenir.

Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch, Gilles Manceron et Gerard Noiriel
sonthistoriens et membres du Comitede vigilance sur les usages
publicsde l’histoire (CVUH).

–Boundary_(ID_jL3fFNleGbli+u12Epgy5A)–