Author: Jane Topchian

"Artsakh and Armenia unite"

25/miatsum
06:28 pm | September 25, 2009 | Politics

Today afternoon, RA police chained the entrances of the U.S., French
and Russian Embassies.

The Miatsum (Unification) Initiative today staged another protest
action in front of the embassies against Armenian-Turkish relations
and Armenian leadership.

The protesters handed letters to the three countries chairing the OSCE
Minsk Group.

In the letter entitled "To OSCE Minsk Group’s Co-Chair countries for
perpetrating new genocide against the Armenian people," Miatsum states
that the Madrid Principles are incompliant with the survival of
Armenian statehood.

With their approval of Armenian-Turkish Protocols and Madrid
Principles, Presidents Barack Obama, Dmitri Medvedev and Nikola
Sarkozy aim to incite new genocide against Armenians and thwart
Armenia’s statehood.

Miatsum’s member Tigran Khzmalian told A1+ that the letter is an
appeal to the embassies and Armenian people.

"We shall awaken this country. All their secret plans backed by Serzh
Sargsyan will finally fail. The RA President mustn’t yields to foreign
pressure, he must obey his people," says Tigran Khzmalian.

The protesters marched from the Statue of Myasnikian to the embassies
chanting: "Artsakh and Armenia unite."

MATTHEW BRYZA TO PARTICIPATE IN EUROFURUM DUE IN TSAKHKADZOR

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
05.08.2009 15:55 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On August 7, Tsakhkadzor will host a meeting between
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs,
MG OSCE Co-Chair for NKR conflict settlement Matthew Bryza with
Armenian and European students within Euroforum program framework. At
the meeting, the American diplomat will present regional issues and
reply questions of students and media representatives, US Embassy in
Yerevan reported.

BARACK OBAMA TO SWEAR IN AS 44TH US PRESIDENT

armradio.am
20.01.2009 13:07

US President Elect Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony will start at
7 p.m. Yerevan time tonight. It will be opened by the chorus of the
military navy of the United States. It will be followed by prayer,
after which Joe Biden will swear in as Vice-President.

With one hand on the bible used at Abraham Lincoln’s 1861 inauguration,
but not since, Barack Obama will swear to preserve, protect and defend
the US Constitution to the best of his ability.

He will deliver one of the most eagerly anticipated inaugural addresses
in history.

After the ceremony, the new occupant of the White House will wave
goodbye to his predecessor, before joining the new Vice-President and
congressional leaders to feast on pheasant and duck at the traditional
inaugural lunch.

Following that, there will be the inaugural parade and a long, long
night of ball-going for the new First Couple.

Before that, on Monday Mr. Obama paid tribute to Dr King and
urged Americans to work together in "renewing the promise of this
nation." Americans marked the annual public holiday in memory of
black civil rights leader Martin Luther King – on the eve of Barack
Obama’s inauguration.

Obama reflected that Tuesday’s inauguration ceremony would take place
on the same mall where many thousands gathered in 1963 to hear Martin
Luther King’s so-called "I Have A Dream"=2 0speech – in which he
foresaw a day when people would be judged not by the colour of their
skin. For many Barack Obama’s presidency will be the culmination of
Dr King’s dream

Crowds are gathering in Washington DC ahead of Barack Obama’s swearing
in as President of the United States. According to Police data, about
5 million people have arrived in the capital for the inauguration.

Washington is preparing for the ceremony. There have already been
painstaking preparations, with rehearsals for security officials –
not just for the military precision of the ceremony and the parade. At
a US military base in Washington they have been planning for any
eventuality for the past six months.

Along Washington’s waterways the coast guard will be watching from
high speed boats.

Snipers will be positioned on the rooftops near the Capitol building
and along the parade route.

Roads and bridges into Washington will be closed to traffic, with
sniffer dogs on the subway and thousands of armed police, soldiers
and plainclothes agents on the streets.

In total, there will be 4,000 Washington police, reinforced by another
4,000 officers from all over the country. Thousands more National
Guard members have been called in.

That is on top of the 5,000 professional soldiers and sailors who
will be on the ground.

There are 57 different government agencies involved in what has been
declared a "National Special Security Event." And overseeing the
entire operation is the US Secret Service.

MOSCOW MEETING TO PROMOTE KARABAKH SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS – YEREVAN

Interfax
Oct 30 2008
Russia

YEREVAN. Oct 30 (Interfax) – Yerevan expects positive results from the
upcoming Moscow meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders on the
Karabakh settlement with the participation of the Russian president.

"We hope that this initiative will give a boost to [the Karabakh
settlement] negotiations," Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian
told a Thursday press conference.

"The conflict is being settled within the framework of the OSCE Minsk
Group and on the basis of the Madrid proposals. This is an efficient
format, and there is no need to invent anything else," he said.

"In fact, we may resolve the Karabakh problem if Azerbaijan displays
the political will and does not try to shift the issue to other
areas. We have a big desire for resolving the problem. We also think
that the negotiations are passing through an important stage. We hope
that the presidents’ meeting in Moscow will step up the negotiations,"
Nalbandian said.

The minister will visit Moscow on October 31 for a tripartite meeting
with Russian and Azerbaijani colleagues in preparations for the
November 2 meeting of the three presidents.

"The possible mediation of Turkey in the Karabakh settlement is not on
the agenda. Turkey may contribute to the process by opening the border
on Armenia and establishing diplomatic relations with our country. It
may also encourage Azerbaijan to take a more constructive stand. That
is the possible assistance [of Turkey]," Nalbandian noted.

U.S. Daily Press Briefing
Wednesday, 1 October 2008, 9:50 pm

Press Release: US State Department

U.S. Daily Press Briefing
Scoop.co.nz (press release), New Zealand

MR. WOOD: I don’t have anything for you, so why don’t we go right to
your questions.

Sir.

QUESTION: Could I ask for a reaction on the Belarus elections? Are you
guys planning to recognize —

MR. WOOD: Well, what I have is an initial read and I think we found
them to be well short of international standards. We certainly took
note of the OSCE report. But again, this is an initial take. We
obviously want to work with the Belarusian Government and we’ll be
looking for ways to do that. But again, this is just an initial read,
and hopefully, we’ll have some more details for you a bit later.

QUESTION: Can you go into why you think it’s well short of
international standards?

MR. WOOD: Well, I think, there were some issues with regard to the
vote count. But again, this is, as I said, an initial take. Let us get
back to you with a more fuller readout a little bit later.

QUESTION: What is Assistant Secretary Hill going to do this week?

MR. WOOD: Well, he’s leaving today from New York and he is going to go
to the region. He’ll be meeting with his counterparts in the Six-Party
Talks. He’ll arrive in Seoul tomorrow, Tuesday evening, where he’ll
meet with Kim Sook. Later in the week, he’ll visit Pyongyang before
going to Beijing, where he’ll meet with the Chinese Vice Foreign
Minister Wu Dawei. He is also scheduled to visit Tokyo for
consultations with the Japanese. I don’t have any more details on his
schedule. Sung Kim will be traveling with him, but that’s all we have
at the moment. So we’ll update you as we can.

QUESTION: So later in the week — you said Pyongyang.

MR. WOOD: Yeah, later in the week.

QUESTION: No specific date.

MR. WOOD: No specific date.

QUESTION: And he’s (inaudible) for Seoul?

MR. WOOD: He’s in New York now. He’ll be leaving for Seoul later
today.

QUESTION: And Tokyo follows his trip to Beijing?

MR. WOOD: To Beijing. That’s correct.

QUESTION: And just simply stated, can you tell us why he is making
this trip?

MR. WOOD: Well, obviously, we’re very concerned about some of the
reversal of disablement activities that the North has been in engaged
in. And he obviously wants to consult with his counterparts in the
region out there to see what our next steps are going to be with
regard to a response to what the North is doing. Again, we encourage
the North very strongly to submit that verification regime so that we
can move forward on the other aspects, positive aspects of the
Six-Party framework. And Assistant Secretary Hill will be obviously
out in the region looking for ways to work with our allies to bring
North Korea into compliance with its obligations.

QUESTION: Two things, Robert.

MR. WOOD: Yes.

QUESTION: One, on all the things you just described, I think are all
things that he could have done in New York this past week, or the
Secretary could have done, in other words, consult with your allies
and partners in this process. And I think the thing that is most
interesting to us is that he’s going to Pyongyang. Can you flesh out
at all what he hopes to do in Pyongyang? Is it to get a better feel
for why they have begun to roll back on the denuclearization steps? Is
it to see if there’s some kind of negotiating room on the nature of
the verification mechanism? I mean, what ` that’s probably the aspect
that’s most striking about this trip, so if you could try to address
that?

MR. WOOD: You know, I’ll do the best I can on that. The Secretary
obviously believes it’s important for Chris to go out to the region,
particularly to go to Pyongyang to get a sense on the ground as to
what’s going on and obviously to talk with North Korean officials
about why they’ve taken the steps they’ve taken. And obviously, as I
said earlier, to encourage them, once again, to submit this
verification package, which we have said is not an onerous task that
we have asked the North Koreans to undertake. It’s a standard, you
know, verification package that’s been done in other cases in the
international community. And so that’s, in essence, is why the
Secretary wants Chris to go to the region, so that we can get a
firsthand look at what’s going on.

QUESTION: And, just one other related one. Forgive me, I wasn’t here
on Friday, so I don’t know to what extent you addressed this. But the
Post on Friday said it had obtained a copy of ` a four-page copy of `
that essentially laid out the verification procedures that the Bush
Administration wanted to see. It quoted David ` well, being a former
weapons inspector David Albright as saying that this was a very
extensive one. And The New York Times in an op-ed today says, I think
` excuse me, an internet editorial says that it was so extensive that
only a vanquished ` a country vanquished in the war might submit to
the verification measures that the United States is seeking of North
Korea. One, are — was The Washington Post report correct in terms of
the verification document? And two, how would you ` since I assume you
would dispute the notion that this was, in fact, a very intrusive and
extensive set of verification measures?

MR. WOOD: Well, for one I’m not going to comment on the Post story
that referred to a document that wasn’t to be made public. But again,
as I said on Friday, I believe it was July 10 ` 12 ` there was a heads
of delegation meeting in which the verification principles were agreed
to by the parties. And so again, this call from us and from others in
the international community for the North to submit this verification
package is not new and we have made the case over and over again that
this needs to happen before we can take any steps with regard to
delisting.

And as I said, we’re talking about a standard verification
package. This is not onerous. It’s not unusual in terms of trying to
verify activities that may have taken place. So you know, the North
cannot expect that after submitting over 19,000 pages that, obviously,
we, the other parties to the framework ` we need to be able to verify
what they’ve submitted. And so again, Chris Hill will be going to the
region, trying to look for ways that we can encourage the North to
live up to its obligations.

Kirit.

QUESTION: Just a follow-up on that: When you say that the Secretary
wants Chris Hill to go and get a sense on the ground in Pyongyang with
what’s going on over there, do you mean to say that you’re trying to
understand who is calling the shots now with the reports or the
indications that Kim Jong Il is sick? And given their turnaround since
that time, is there an effort to find out who is in charge right now?

MR. WOOD: I think the effort is to find out why North Korea has taken
the steps that it’s taken. And we want to see those steps reversed.

And again, Chris is not just going to Pyongyang, although that’s a
very important stop, obviously, on the trip. He is going to meet with
his counterparts in other capitols in the region to talk about how we
can get the North back on the path to what it’s committed to
doing. And so I think it’s more trying to get a sense as to why they
took the steps that they took.

QUESTION: In a general sense, is it fair to say that you know that
it’s partly because of the delisting issue and the verification issue?
That they find it too stringent, the verification? Can you say that at
this point?

MR. WOOD: Well, you know, all I can say is that they haven’t submitted
a verification package. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find out better
why they have not done so. And again, in conversations with his
counterparts, Chris Hill is going to try to see what ways we can work
with our allies in the region to get the North to submit this
verification package.

But again, I want to stress this is not something that’s out of the
norm. It is a standard verification package. The North knows that it
is supposed to present the Six-Party ` the other members of the
Six-Party framework with this verification package. And again, Chris
will be making those points when he goes to the region.

QUESTION: Can I follow up with one more on this, Robert?

MR. WOOD: Sure.

QUESTION: You know, the North Koreans are known to be sticklers on
written agreements. I don’t believe that any of the agreements — any
of the written agreements ` flowing from the September 2005 agreement
actually explicitly addresses verification or explicitly requires the
North to submit a verification package. I think that the key document
referred to their making a complete and correct declaration, but I
don’t think it said anything of their nuclear programs ` but I don’t
think it said anything about submitting a verification package.

And the Singapore agreement ` again, an agreement on verification
principles ` is different from a specific agreement to, sort of,
produce a package or to accept the package that the United States has
proposed. So from the North Koreans point of view, they may feel that
they gave you a declaration. They may regard it as complete and
correct, and they may not feel obliged to accept your definition of a
verification regime.

MR. WOOD: Well, all I can say is that the North knows exactly what it
has to do. The verification package ` they’re quite aware that we need
to have that in place, a verifiable one, so that we can move forward
on other aspects of denuclearization. I can’t tell you why the North
is saying what it’s saying, but let me just again reiterate the fact
that this is not new. The North Koreans know exactly what’s required
of them. And you know, the idea that they couldn’t possibly ` or a
verification package is not something that they believe that they
needed to submit. That’s just not the case.

All the other members agree that we need to be able to verify the
declaration that the North submitted. And in order to do that we need
a verification package.

Let me try to ` go ahead, Kirit.

QUESTION: This is follow up on Arshad’s question Is there a ` can you
say whether Chris Hill is leaving the U.S. with any sort of idea or
compromise in mind to try to break the logjam?

MR. WOOD: Well, if he is, I’m not going to reveal anything here.

QUESTION: Could you say if he has ` I mean, is there something ` he’s
had a lot of meetings — the Secretary has, as well — over the past
week in New York. Can you say whether in those conversations ` the
consultations with the other four members, whether they’ve been able
to come up with some sort of proposal that they’re going to present at
Pyongyang?

MR. WOOD: Well, again, I’m not going to go into the substance of any
message or proposal that Chris may be carrying to the region, except
to say that we are going ` he is going to the region to try to look
for a way to move this process forward. And obviously, Chris will have
some ideas about how to do that. And we’ll just have to wait and see
where we go from there.

Please.

QUESTION: The process has been going precipitously backward for a few
weeks now. And going to the region is pretty much standard operation
for Chris Hill, but going to Pyongyang is not. Is this a — an effort
to try to salvage the process? Because he’s only gone to Pyongyang at
critical moments of the process. Is this an effort to try to salvage
the process right now?

MR. WOOD: Well, we want to get the process back on track. You know,
the fact that the North has taken these steps at reversing disablement
is of concern, major concern to us and the other members of the
Six-Party framework. So obviously, this is an important visit. And as
I said, Assistant Secretary Hill is looking to see what the reasons
are that the North took ` or what the reasons are for the North taking
these steps to reverse disablement. So that’s about the best I can say
on that at this moment.

QUESTION: If he comes away empty handed, is that very damaging for
this process?

MR. WOOD: Well, let’s not speculate. Let’s let him get to the region
and have him begin his diplomacy there.

Please.

QUESTION: Thank you. Very recently there was a meeting between
Armenian President and —

MR. WOOD: Can we stay North Korea and then we can come back to that?

Charley.

QUESTION: Okay.

QUESTION: Just briefly, you said he’s going at the direction of
Secretary Rice. Did he receive an invitation from the North Koreans?
Did he seek an invitation? Is there anything you can give us about the
timing of that?

MR. WOOD: I don’t know the details of that. I just know that he is
going to the region, and he’s going to obviously meet with
representatives of the North Korean Government. But I don’t know the
background of that, Charley, as to —

QUESTION: Do you have any update on the activities in Yongbyon? Like,
do you have any information?

MR. WOOD: No, no new information.

QUESTION: What’s going on?

MR. WOOD: No new information, but again, Chris will be going there and
hopefully will be able to get a better read on what’s happening there.

QUESTION: The (inaudible) are still there?

MR. WOOD: Yes, our monitors are still there.

QUESTION: He’s not going to go to (inaudible) — he’ll stay in
Pyongyang, right?

MR. WOOD: I don’t know. I just know that he’s going to Pyongyang. His
schedule isn’t, you know, finalized yet and there’ll obviously be more
details and we’ll try to fill you in on those as they become
available.

QUESTION: Do you know how long he will be ` his trip to North Korea?

MR. WOOD: Don’t know. Don’t know. Anything else on North Korea?

QUESTION: Did you —

MR. WOOD: Oh, I’m sorry, was there one more? Okay. Please, go.

QUESTION: I’m sorry. Did you say that ` who he’s going to meet in
Pyongyang?

MR. WOOD: No.

QUESTION: You don’t have that information?

MR. WOOD: We don’t have the information.

Okay, sir.

QUESTION: Thank you. Yeah, there was a meeting between President of
Armenia in New York with Condoleezza Rice, the United States
Secretary. I’d like to ask if you can provide any information how the
meeting passed? And maybe we can broaden the topic of how you estimate
U.S-Armenia relations during the last period, especially after the
Ossetian crisis when there was cooperation between Armenia and the
United States concerning U.S. citizens who were coming from Georgia to
Armenia for ` leaving the region? Thank you.

MR. WOOD: Yeah, our cooperation with the Government of Armenia is very
good. I’ll have to refer you to the ` our people up in New York for a
more detailed readout of the Secretary’s meeting, because I don’t have
them here. Sorry.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. WOOD: Anything else?

David.

QUESTION: Did you have anything on the Ecuador election that passed,
the constitutional changes that would sort of solidify the position of
the president there?

MR. WOOD: Yeah. We offer our congratulations to the people of Ecuador
on the successful referendum and we reaffirm our commitment to build
on our successful cooperation with Ecuador, consistent with our
commitment to supporting Ecuadorian efforts to strengthen democratic
institutions and the prosperity of its people.

QUESTION: You’re not at all concerned about the provisions there that
would allow the incumbent president to stay in office?

MR. WOOD: Well, again, this referendum is something that was decided
on ` or the results of the referendum were decided on by the
Ecuadorian people and it’s a decision for them to make.

Charley, were you going to ask some more? No, okay.

QUESTION: This ` the weapons on this Ukrainian ship that was hijacked
by Somali pirates on its way to Sudan, apparently — does the
U.S. interpret this sort of arms shipment as a violation of the UN
arms embargo?

MR. WOOD: Well, right now, I understand the Pentagon has a ship that’s
monitoring the situation out there right now. I don’t have any other
details about it, other than to say that, obviously, we’ve been
concerned about piracy in this part of the world for a very long
time. We’ve had travel warnings in the past about the situation off
the coast there. And ` but beyond that, I don’t have anything for you
on that. I’d probably refer you to the Pentagon for more details on
that.

QUESTION: Do you have lawyers who are examining whether this was a
violation of the UN —

MR. WOOD: I’m sure people will be looking at those aspects of it. But
right now, they’re obviously trying to resolve a standoff in the area,
first and foremost.

QUESTION: Could you say whether the U.S. is concerned or welcomes a
Russian ship that is also heading towards this, apparently, hijacked
ship?

MR. WOOD: Well, the Russians, I believe, are trying to lend their
support to the ship that was hijacked. So I don’t have anything to say
beyond that on it. They’re obviously concerned about it as we are.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. WOOD: Okay, thank you.

ENDS

ARMENIA, SLOVAKIA INTERESTED IN DEVELOPING CULTURAL TIES

armradio.am
26.09.2008 16:59

RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan today received the Minister of
Slovenia Marek Madyaric. The Prime Minister welcomed the initiatives
of development of cooperation between the Culture Ministries of the
two countries. Tigran Sargsyan noted that deepening of relations in
the field of culture can become a good means for the reinforcement
of Armenian-Slovak economic ties and active cooperation. RA Prime
Minister attached importance to the cooperation agreement signed
between the Culture Ministries of Armenia and Slovakia, noting that
this interagency document will promote the interesting bilateral
initiatives in the field of culture.

Minister of Culture of Slovakia Marek Madyarich also underlined the
importance of the document from the perspective of development of
cooperation. According to the Minister, the political relations between
his country and Armenia are on a high level. However, the same cannot
be said about the cultural and economic ties. Mr. Madyarich considers
that the existing potential is not fully utilized, and there is still
a lot of work to be done in this direction.

The interlocutors spoke about the process of Armenia’s European
integration, the activity of eth Armenian community in Slovakia,
the latest developments in the region.

PACE PLENARY SESSION TO DISCUSS ISSUE OF PUTTING DEBATES ON THE SITUATION IN ARMENIA ON AGENDA OF SUMMER SESSION

ArmInfo
2008-06-23 12:50:00

PACE Plenary Session is to discuss the issue of putting debates on the
situation in Armenia on the agenda of Summer Session Monday, Head of
the Armenian delegation to PACE, Chairman of the Armenian Parliamentary
Commission for State and Legal Affairs David Haroutunyan told ArmInfo.

Commenting on the most probable developments at PACE, D. Haroutunyan
said: process>. As regards the opinion that any sanctions on Armenia
will hinder democratization of the country, he said: ‘I think it will
become known after the debates. In the meantime, we have much to do
at the Monitoring Committee. So, the issue will be mainly discussed
there’.

To recall, in April 208 PACE adopted the Resolution No1609 ‘Functioning
of democratic institutions in Armenia’. Among the recommendations to
the Armenian party, the Assembly urges the Armenian authorities to
undertake the following reforms without further delay: the political
system should guarantee a proper status and appropriate rights to the
opposition and a fully transparent administration of the election
process; the independence from any political interest of both the
National Television and Radio Commission and the Public Television
and Radio Council must be guaranteed; the authorities should step up
their efforts to establish a truly independent judiciary and enhance
the public’s trust in the courts; arbitrary arrests and detentions, as
well as the ill- treatment of detainees, in particular during police
custody, should be stopped; an effective public control mechanism
over the police must be guaranteed both in law and practice.

It should be noted that PACe co-rapporteurs that had recently visited
the country found the efforts of the authorities insufficient. PACE
adopted the above Resolution after post- election incidents in Yerevan.

IDEX Online, Israel
June 1 2008

Kristall Increasing Polishing Operations in Armenia

(June 1, ’08, 10:12 Ronit Scheyer)

CEO Maxim Shkadov of DTC Sightholder Kristall of Smolensk announced
that the firm is planning to double its diamond production volume and
sales to $1 billion by 2013, the 50th anniversary of the company’s
founding, the Russian gold industry newsletter Vestnik
Zolotopromyshlennika reported.

"We finished the first quarter approximately on the same level as last
year – just over $100 million. The results of the year should be
around $600 million," Shkadov said

He added that because, "The supply of rough from abroad grew
significantly [and] shipments of Russian rough by Alrosa remained at
the same level, this means that the firm’s production growth can be
attributed first of all to imports."

There is rapid development of the domestic market, Shkadov explained,
saying, "We expect sales in the Russian market to grow by at least 20
percent. Over the past two years the Russian market has doubled itself
– up to $10-12 million.’

He added that Kristall’s online sales have already earned it more than
$1 million.

Kristall launched its online diamond trading floor in early 2006.

As part of Kristall’s overall expansion plans, Shkadov announced that
the firm plans to ship approximately 3,000-4,000 carats of diamonds,
worth around $500,000 to $600,000 to Armenia per month for
polishing. The CEO noted that these will be mostly smaller goods,
which are not profitable for Kristall to polish itself.

`The cost of polishing 1 carat in Russia is more than $40, while in
Armenia it is approximately $25, with virtually no difference in
quality,’ Shkadov said.

In May alone, Kristall shipped more than 2,000 carats of rough to
Armenia.

However, the price factor is not the only attraction to polishing in
Armenia for Kristall. `In terms of legislation, the import and export
of goods to Armenia is much simpler and easier than to other foreign
countries,’ Shkadov noted.

Apart from Armenia, Kristall also sells rough to Ukraine and Belarus –
a total of up to 10 thousand carats per month – a cooperation that
Kristall has expressed interest in expanding.

A state-owned manufacturer, Kristall of Smolensk is Russia’s first and
only DTC Sightholder.

lNews.asp?id=30431

RULING NEW AZERBAIJAN PARTY SENDS PROTEST STATEMENT TO EMBASSIES OF OSCE MG CO-CHAIRMAN COUNTRIES

Trend News Agency
March 31 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 31 March /corr. TrendNews G.Jabiyev / The ruling
New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) sent a protest statement to the embassies
of the co-chairman countries (The USA, France, Russia) of the OSCE
Minsk Group, a source at the NAP reported to TrendNews on 31 March.

During the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly, the co-chairman
countries of the OSCE Minsk Group voted against the adoption of the
Resolution on Situation in Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan.

The statement describes the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group
directed towards the peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and highlights the responsibility of the
organization that the conflict has not been settled to this day. The
document says that the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group expressed
unbalanced attitudes towards the sides, giving interviews hiding
aggression of Armenia, took steps which did not serve towards the
settlement process of the conflict. In particular, such attitude took
place during the voting over the Resolution on Situation in Occupied
Territories of Azerbaijan.

The statement describes the fact that the co-chairman countries of
the OSCE Minsk Group voted against the Resolution and it caused great
dissatisfaction of the Azerbaijani community.

Political parties and National Forum of NGOs condemned the position
demonstrated by the co-chairman countries of the OSCE Minsk Group
with regards to the Resolution and called on them to act in accordance
with the standards and principles of the international law.

Together with the NAP, the statement was signed by Ana Veten Party,
Social Welfare Party, Great Establishment Party, Azerbaijan Unified
Popular Front Party, Adalet Party, Civil Unity Party, Civil Solidarity
Party, Alliance for Azerbaijan and National Forum of NGOs.

NAP was established in 1992 in Nakchivan by ex-President of Azerbaijan,
Heydar Aliyev. Currently the Party is being chaired by the President
of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.

DEFENDANTS ADMIT THEY KNEW OF PLOT TO KILL HRANT DINK

Agence France Presse
March 20, 2008 Thursday

Two Turkish soldiers admitted in court Thursday they knew of a plot
to kill ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink months before the murder
happened, Anatolia news agency reported.

The two are the first members of the security forces to stand trial
in the Black Sea city of Trabzon, where the murder was planned,
amid widespread allegations that some officials condoned the killing.

The investigation is seen as a test for Ankara’s resolve to eliminate
the "deep state" — a term used to describe security forces acting
outside the law to preserve what they consider Turkey’s best interests.

The 52-year-old Dink, whom Turkish nationalists hated for calling
the World War I massacres of Armenians genocide, was shot dead in
central Istanbul on January 19, 2007, outside the offices of Agos,
the weekly newspaper he ran.

One of the defendants told the judge Thursday he had been informed
of the plot in August 2006 by a relative of its alleged mastermind
Yasin Hayal, Anatolia reported.

He passed the tip-off to his superiors at the local paramilitary
force policing rural areas, but no action was taken, he said.

"We did not do anything afterwards because we were given no
instructions or orders," said the defendant, identified only as O.S.

His superiors fabricated documents after the murder to create the
impression they had no prior knowledge of the plot, he alleged.

He had come under "psychological" pressure to collude and lie to
government inspectors who probed the conduct of the security forces,
he added.

The other defendant, identified as V.S., agreed with the statement
of his colleague.

The two soldiers risk between six months and two years in jail for
"abuse of power."

The judge decided to ask prosecutors to launch an investigation into
the officials the defendants had implicated at Thursday’s hearing.

Hayal’s uncle has already testified that he informed the two defendants
of his nephew’s plans to kill Dink, but the pair sought to cover up
the issue.

The self-confessed hitman, 17-year-old Ogun Samast, went on trial in
Istanbul last year, along with Hayal and 17 suspected associates. The
trial is still going on.

Lawyers for Dink’s family say the police also withheld and destroyed
evidence to cover up the murder, including footage from a bank security
camera near where Dink was killed.

In September, two policemen went on trial in the northern city of
Samsun for their role in a scandal that saw security forces posing
for pictures with the gunman after he was captured there a day after
the murder. This trial is also still in progress.

Dink had impressed many in Turkey with his efforts for Turkish-Armenian
reconciliation and more than 100,000 people marched at his funeral.

Also Thursday, a court in Istanbul sentenced a man to three years in
jail for sending hate mail and death threats to the Agos newspaper
after Dink’s murder, Anatolia reported.

The man reportedly used racist insults and wrote that "we have many
other Samasts and Catlis," referring to Dink’s assassin and Abdullah
Catli, a shadowy figure known as a hitman of the "deep state" who
died in a 1996 car accident.