Author: Jilavian Emma

ARMAN KIRAKOSIAN REAFFIRMS ARMENIA’S POSITION OF SOLVING NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT THROUPEACEFUL NEGOTIATIONS

Noyan Tapan
Dec 11, 2007

ASHGABAT, DECEMBER 11, NOYAN TAPAN. A solemn ceremony of opening
of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy in Central
Asia took place on December 10 in the capital city of Turkmenistan,
Ashgabat. Armenia’s delegation led by RA Deputy Foreign Minister Arman
Kirakosian took part in it. According to the report provided to Noyan
Tapan by the RA Foreign Ministry Press and Information Department,
an international conference under the title Preventive Diplomacy and
International Cooperation took place in Ashgabat within the framework
of center’s opening.

A. Kirakosian made a speech dedicated to importance and significance
of preventive diplomacy, settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
positive and constructive activity of international and regional
organizations in the issue of ensuring peace at the conference.

The Deputy Minister estimated the speech of Azerbaijan’s representative
as non-constructive, saying that it did not correspond to the spirit
and tasks of the conference, questioned the OSCE Minsk Group’s activity
in the direction of giving a peaceful solution to the Nagorno Karabakh
problem. A. Kirakosian said in his speech that Armenia from the very
start has set itself the task to solve the problem through peaceful
negotiations, on the basis of provision of Nagorno Karabakh people’s
security and recognition of its self-determination right.

COMMISSION LAUNCHED BATTLE AGAINST MONOPOLY

KarabakhOpen
06-12-2007 11:36:42

The Public Services and Economic Competition Regulatory Commission
has started work. The chair of the Commission Vache Adamyan says the
main goal of the commission is control and coordination of spheres
of life which directly relate to people, and to balance the rights
of producers and consumers.

"We make efforts to create equally favorable conditions for both
producers and consumers. We have affirmed regulations on providing
and using gas, power, electronic communication, radio frequencies,
as well as licensing production and transmission of TV programs. The
documents will be published soon," says the chair of the commission.

"Unfortunately, anarchy is gradually overwhelming the market. Not
government but competition should rule the market. It makes producers
and suppliers depend on the demand of consumers. Without competition
monopolies occur. One way or another it affects prices. Consumers
suffer, monopolies draw immense profit. Therefore, we have affirmed
regulations according to which artificial boosting and reduction
of price by 5 percent from the level of profit will be punished. It
concerns both producers and suppliers," Vache Adamyan said.

Rocky Mountain News, CO
Dec 7 2007

Budding novelists ready to bloom

By Patti Thorn, Rocky Mountain News

New novelists looking for attention might as well be asking for rain
in the midst of a drought. There are always far more titles than
spots available in the newspapers and magazines that might publicize
them.

That, alas, leaves many great works withering on the vine.

So today, just call us the rainmaker, as we shower attention on some
of the best titles of 2007 you may have missed.

To bring you our annual great debuts issue, seven critics volunteered
to read first novels all year long by authors whose works weren’t
reviewed in the regular books pages. They screened more books than
ever before – nearly 100 titles (97 to be exact), stories of all
plots and prose styles.

Here, you’ll find 10 of their favorites. For 15 more, we urge you to
go to RockyMountainNews.com, where we hope some amazing new reading
relationships will bloom.

[parts omitted]

Skylark Farm

By Antonia Arslan (Knopf, 288 pages, $23.95)

* Author’s background: Arslan, who lives in Italy, has a degree in
archaeology, teaches at the University of Padua and has drawn on the
story of her own family for her novel.

* Plot in a nutshell: The human faces of genocide leap poignantly
from the pages of this gripping story as Arslan writes of Turkey’s
systematic attempt to exterminate all Armenians in 1915. The story
follows the gentle pharmacist Sempad, as well as his wife and
children, from the days of their placid life in an Armenian community
through the rumors and suspicions about political alliances to their
final days when all males were savagely butchered and females abused
and sent to desert exile.

* Sample of prose: "The night is over, and no trace of the men. None
of these families will see them again. Many years later, with the
Armenian passion and the world war both at an end, the fate of the
men will be discovered: forced in the night to leave the Walt
Warehouse, where they were killed one after the other in Falls
Valley, where their unburied corpses were left staring at the sky,
their eye sockets empty, naked and stripped of everything, even the
majesty of death."

* Author reminds me of: Micheline Marcom, whose Three Apples Fell
>From Heaven is another story of the Armenian tragedy told in similar
spare but evocative prose.

* Best reason to read: This soul-wrenching novel about man’s
inhumanity to man is all the more powerful because of Geoffrey
Brock’s sensitive translation of Arslan’s tightly controlled, vivid
prose.

For complete list of the books
ec/07/budding-novelists-ready-to-bloom/

Hayots Ashkharh Daily, Armenia
Dec 4 2007

83 RADICAL SPEECHES IN 80 DAYS

On an air `supervised’ by the authorities

The press service of the RA President has conducted the regular
(the fourth) monitoring among the broadcasting companies, in an
attempt to figure out to what extent the rumors on the native
Oppositions’ being deprived of voice, i.e. having no chances to
appear to public prior to the elections, correspond to reality.
The observation covered the heated period of the pre-electoral
autumn, i.e. September 5-November 25, monitoring the `political
programs’ broadcast by `Shant’, `Kentron’, H2, `TV-5′, `Ar’, `Yerkir
Media’ TV channels. The press service applied to the TV Companies
with a request to obtain from their archives the video records of the
political programs participated by the pro-Opposition political
figures and the leaders of parties not forming part of authority,
potential candidates for presidency and representatives of political
forces supporting them, as well as independent political and economic
analysts, sociologists, prominent public figures.
In short, politically active individuals whose chances to express
themselves freely are, as a rule, taken for granted by the western
structures while assessing the level of freedom of speech in this or
that country.
The results of this monitoring do not almost differ from the
previous one, and, as they say, there’s no need for comments.
Here they are. Capable of influencing public opinion, the
specified groups have, within the 80-day period of conducting the
observation, appeared on the above-mentioned TV channels 83 times.
And this is by the most modest calculations In the meantime, their
speeches were not brief introductions; these people appeared in
broadcasts lasting more than half an hour. Moreover, from time to
time, (e.g. on November 14 and 16, when the demonstration movement
was at the peak) almost the whole primary air-time of those TV
channels was devoted to the speeches of those radical figures.
In particular, the representatives of `Rule of Law’ appeared on
these channels 8 times, with Arthur Baghdasaryan having made a speech
4 times. The representatives of `Heritage’ party (Stepan Safaryan,
Vardan Khachatryan, Anahit Bakhshyan and Larisa Alaverdyan) have
appeared 7 times. The members of the Armenian pan-National Movement
and the circles pursuing their views have cursed the authorities 15
times from the air of the TV Channels `totally supervised by the
Presidential residence’. Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, leader of the
Armenian Liberal Progressive Party, has managed to do this 3 times.
Hrant Bagratyan, Head of `Liberty’ faction, Eduard Aghajanov, an
economist belonging to `Armat’ (root) party, and Aram Z. Sargsyan,
leader of `Republic’ party, have each managed to do so twice. As to
Stepan Demortchyan, leader of the Armenian People’s Party, and Souren
Sourenyants, Speaker of `Republic’ party, each of them has done the
same only once. Happy for LTP’s `Second Advent’, Manouk Gasparyan,
Head of Democratic Path Party, has made the same step 3 times.
Vazgen Manoukyan has appeared on the `supervised air’ 5 times,
Artashes Geghamnyan, Head of National Unity Party – 4 times, the
leader of `New Times’ party – 3 times. There were also many cases
when the `guests’ refused the invitation with some consideration. For
instance, leader of `Heritage’ party Raffi Hovhannisyan has refused
the `services’ H2 and `Yerkir-Media’ TV channels, and Artashes
Geghamyan has refused the `services’ of H2 TV Channel. The troika
leading the Armenian pan-National Movement, i.e. Babken Ararksyan,
Aram Manoukyan and Ararat Zourabyan, have not accepted the
invitations of `Kentron’, `TV-5′ and `Shant’ TV channels. Perhaps
this is an easier way for them to present themselves as persecuted
creatures in front of the European structures. It is noteworthy that
the commentator of `Shant’ TV was intimidated after offering B.
Ararksyan to appear on the air of `Heankar’ (prospect) program.
The above-mentioned political programs were periodically
participated by Albert Bazeyan, Head of `National Revival’ party,
Paruyr Hayrikyan, leader of National Self-Determination Union,
Shavarsh Kocharyan, leader of the National Democratic Party, and the
representatives of different communist parties, including Frounze
Kharatyan, Vazgen Safaryan, chief Marxist David Hakobyan, a
self-nominated candidate heralding Mr. Ter-Petrosyan’s `return’, as
well as Arshak Sadoyan, leader of the National Democratic Union. And
it is, mildly speaking, difficult to suspect them of being
pro-Governmental figures. Stepan Grigoryan, a political scientist
belonging to `Armat’ party, Varouzhan Hotkanyan, Vice Chair of
`Transparency International-Armenia’ NGO, and Karine Hakobyan, an
`independent’ pro-Opposition analyst, were also among them.
Political-scientist Alexander Iskandaryan, Artsroun Pepanyan,
Andranik Tevanyan, Gnel Ghlechyan former political secretary of
`Dashink’ and others, i.e. people who either act from neutral
positions or, as it is common in our reality, criticize the
authorities.
Let’s remind you that the Public Television was left beyond the
framework of the observation. And among the guest speakers of
`Megapolis’, a program broadcast by this particular TV channel, were
Arthur Baghdasaryan, Vazgen Manoukyan, Artashes Geghamyan and Aram
Karapetyan, as well as ALM and `Yerevan’ studios which, naturally, do
not `fail’ to give the Opposition an air-time.
The press service of the President does not follow the activeness
of the pro-Governmental political figures, as much as these people’s
appearing on air is concerned. However, based `individual
observation’, we can state that the latter very seldom appear on air,
and whenever they do so, they more act from the positions of
protecting themselves.
If we add to it the printed and on-line press, among which the
media supporting the Armenian pan-National Movement constitute an
absolute majority, it will become obvious that there are, mildly
speaking, no grounds for speaking about the restriction of freedom of
speech in Armenia.
Armenia passed the test in `freedom of speech’ long ago. And the
report published by `Reporters without Borders’, a public
organization warmly favored by pro-radicals, is a fair example of
that. According to the report, Armenia has considerably improved its
positions, ranking as the 77 country on the world-scale (among 169
states) and the second country after Georgia in the CIS territory.

LILIT POGHOSYAN

PROPERTY SHOULD BE RESPECTED
Naira Hayrumyan

KarabakhOpen
04-12-2007 12:07:26

In the previous meeting of government the minister of health proposed
carrying over community hospitals to the ministry of health. The
intention is quite good – the budget of communities is too small
and cannot afford to sustain hospitals and supply medicine and
equipment. The minister decided after lasting consultations that it
is more effective to centralize the hospitals in the system of health
and give them centralized assistance.

The heads of the regional administrations agreed to this, who said the
community hospitals often do not function because there is no funding.

Only the minister of development of infrastructures Benik Babayan
disagreed.

He asked a logical question – how is the government likely to pass
the property of communities to the government agency with a simple
decision?

Everyone was startled with the question. In answer to the embarrassed
look of the prime minister the head of the State Cadastre Committee
confirmed that the government has no right to take the property of
communities by a willful decision.

The proposal was rejected. It is evidence that the "respect for
property" is at last acquiring real legal contours. The law holds that
the property of the community can be carried over in case the community
council or the general meeting of the members of the community make
such a decision. The community councils may disagree because they
may afford to sustain the hospital. And the government has to take
this into account.

Because a liberal market economy is based on respect for property,
be it private, community or public.

Unfortunately, it is not in our consciousness yet. It is especially
difficult to realize for people who were brought up by the
Soviet propaganda when "everything belongs to people", in reality
everything was abandoned. These people easily take away the land
of a poor villager who has not got used to the idea that he is a
landowner. Instead, the notion of "property" becomes real when they
are asked to return what they have stolen. For instance, sponsors
who want to reconstruct a building in Shushi find out that someone
has privatized it, and he has studied the law on the protection of
property well.

People are afraid of the change of the government, especially
revolutions because they fear redistribution of property. Especially
that in Karabakh property is not inherited like in Switzerland. It
is as difficult for the owner of property to prove his right to it
as for the trespasser. We have never heard of cases when someone in
Karabakh presents documents to the court claiming that the given land
belonged to their family.

Nevertheless, respect for property should underlie a state. But this
respect should not occur when someone wants to take away something
from somebody but when somebody privatizes public property for peanuts,
builds a fence around it and becomes its owner.

Naira Hayrumyan 04-12-2007 12:07:26 – KarabakhOpen

FORMER DEFENSE MINISTER OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH REFUTES TER-PETROSIAN’S ALLEGATIONS

ARMENPRESS
Nov 26 2007

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS: A former defense minister of
Nagorno-Karabakh refuted ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosian’s allegations
that he brought prime minister Serzh Sarkisian to Armenia from Moscow
after he was ostracized from Nagorno-Karabakh in 1993.

Ter-Petrosian reportedly made the remark during a meeting with over
1000 students and young people at Marriott Hotel in Yerevan in late
October.

But Samvel Babayan, the former defense minister of Nagorno-Karabakh,
who Ter-Petrosian claimed had driven Serzh Sarkisian out of
Nagorno-Karabakh, denied it Saturday saying Ter-Petrosian’s allegation
were not right.

Samvel Babayan was speaking to journalists after his party’s congress
decided to join the Ramkavar-Azatakan (Democratic Liberal) party. He
said he will unveil soon fresh facts about his relations with Serzh
Sarkisian back in early 1990-s which will shed light on why Serzh
Sarkisian had been dispatched to the Russian capital.

Samvel Babayan said it (presumably Serzh Sarkisian’s dispatch to
Russia) was linked with what he described as ‘criminal actions ‘ of
then Armenian leadership that was against Armenian troops’ advance
and liberation of new areas surrounding the administrative borders of
Nagorno-Karabakh.b "Time will come and I will name all those people
(in the former government) who sent envoys to Nagorno-Karabakh and
Zangezur (southern Armenia) in an effort to stop our advance," he said.

Samvel Babayan declined to go into the details of Serzh Sarkisian’s
dispatch to Russia saying only his task was to secure supply of
equipment and ammunition to Armenian troops.

He also declined Ter-Petrosian’s allegations that Serzh Sarkisian was
absent from Nagorno-Karabakh (in 1993) for a year, saying he was not
there from late May until August.

He said the order to start the Lachin-Kelbajar liberation operation
was signed by Serzh Sarkisian as defense minister of Armenia and
himself as the executor of the order.

CHRISTIAN PRIEST KIDNAPPED IN S.EAST TURKEY

Javno.hr
Nov 28 2007
Croatia

They said the priest, 55-year-old Daniel Savci, was from the Mor
Yakup monastery near the town of Midyat and was kidnapped on Wednesday.

A Syriac Christian priest has been kidnapped in southeast Turkey and
police have launched an operation to secure his release, security
officials said on Wednesday.

They said the priest, 55-year-old Daniel Savci, was from the Mor
Yakup monastery near the town of Midyat and was kidnapped on Wednesday.

An official at the monastery said an unknown person had called the
monastery and said they sought a ransom for the priest’s release. CNN
Turk television said the assailants had ambushed the priest in his
car as he travelled to the Mor Yakup church.

Most of Turkey’s 75 million people are Muslim and it has barely 100,000
Christians, mostly of Greek and Armenian origin. The community has
been the target of attacks in the last two years.

Three Christians, two Turks and a German, had their throats slit by
youths who burst into their Bible publishing house in the southeastern
town of Malatya in April.

Turkish Armenian writer Hrant Dink was murdered in Istanbul in January
by a young nationalist gunman and an Italian Catholic priest was
killed in his church by a youth in Trabzon in 2006.

85 MANUSCRIPTS DIGITALIZED

Panorama.am
21:55 28/11/2007

"This year 85 manuscripts were digitalized by the equipment endowed
by Pier Guyumdjyan from Beirut, and nearly 800 manuscripts will be
digitalized next year," said Gurgen Gasparyan, Matenadaran director’s
advisor of new technologies and publishing issues.

Now Matenadaran owns one digitalizing equipment, and the second one
is considered to be owned next year by the means of Austrian "Grac"
university. This university is specialized in digitalizing manuscripts,
thus a contract will be assigned with them.

"Now there are more than 17.000 manuscripts, and to digitalize all
of them with this only equipment 50 years will be needed. In the case
of new equipments our work will be carried out faster, new vacancies
could be opened, but for all of these state aid is important," said
G. Gasparyan.

The mission of digitalizing the manuscripts is to protect
and propaganda national values. "After the digitalization the
scientific work becomes easier, catalogues of national values will
be created. Thus the world will be aware of what we have here in
Matenadaran, as we protect not only national values but also European
ones," said he.

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE
November 29, 2007
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
E-mail: [email protected]

ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY MOURNS LOSS OF ILLINOIS CONGRESSMAN HENRY HYDE

Washington, DC – The Armenian Assembly of America today mourns the
loss of former Congressman Henry J. Hyde (R-IL), an advocate for
U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide, who believed that
recognition of the truth was in the best interest of the United
States, Turkey and Armenia.

In September 2005, the Armenian Genocide resolution (H. Res. 316) was
overwhelmingly approved by the influential House International
Relations Committee thanks in part to strong support from Committee
Chairman Hyde. The resolution called upon the President "to
accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of
1,500,000 Armenians as genocide."

"The argument has been made that these resolutions, if adopted, will
be harmful to [the] interests [of the United States] by undermining
our relationship with Turkey, which all acknowledge to be one of our
allies….But I do not believe that these resolutions will harm that
relationship," Hyde said. "They merely recognize the fact that the
authorities of the Ottoman Empire deliberately slaughtered the
majority of the Armenian community in that empire. Denial of that
fact cannot be justified on the basis of expediency or fear that
speaking the truth will do us harm."

"I believe it is in the interest of the United States and of Turkey
and Armenia both that we take the lead in dealing with this paralyzing
legacy. And we must start with the truth," he added. "For there is no
possibility that this problem can ever be overcome if we seek to
ground any solution on silence and forgetting."

"Congressman Hyde clearly recognized that Turkey’s ongoing denial
campaign in this day and age is both inexplicable and unacceptable,"
said Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the Armenian Assembly. "He
understood that remembrance and recognition of this fact of world
history would go a long way in preventing the recurrence of genocide.
Congressman Hyde’s passing is a great loss. We extend our sympathies
to his family and friends."

In 2003, when the International Relations Committee considered
President Bush’s Millennium Challenge Account, Chairman Hyde
championed the new foreign assistance program saying, "we should
embrace the idea of increasing U.S. economic assistance but only to
those countries that demonstrate a commitment to human rights,
democratic ideals and practices, and investment in people." That same
year, he spearheaded legislation establishing the
government-to-government assistance program. Armenia became one of the
first of 16 countries to qualify and later receive a five-year, $235
million grant from the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

In response to the acute shortage of food, medical supplies and fuel
in Armenia in the early 1990s, Congressman Hyde joined his
congressional colleagues in urging Secretary of State Warren
Christopher to take the necessary steps to address the grave
situation. The congressional appeal urged the Administration to
increase U.S. assistance, press the government of Turkey to provide
reliable transit route for humanitarian supplies to Armenia and
increase U.S. efforts to end the Azeri blockade so that vital
humanitarian assistance and energy can flow unimpeded to the Armenian
people.

Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest
Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public
understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. It is a 501 (c) (3)
tax-exempt membership organization.

NR#2007-137

Photograph:

leadmin/aaainc/images/PRESS_RELEASES_2007/PR_2007_ November/Henry_Hyde.jpg

Caption: Congressman Henry Hyde (R-IL)

ADVISER TO NKR PRESIDENT TO RUN IN ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

KarabakhOpen
29-11-2007 10:53:51

Arman Melikyan, adviser to NKR president, stated in a news conference
in Yerevan on November 28 that he has resigned from the post
of adviser and is likely to run in the presidential election in
Armenia. Arman Melikyan explains this decision by his worry that
the escalating confrontation between the Armenian government and
Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s team threatens the independence of Karabakh
and loss of Karabakh. According to him, two poles have formed with
Levon Ter-Petrosyan and his team on one side, and the Republican
Party with its candidate on the other side. Arman Melikyan says it
is not necessary to return Karabakh to eradicate corruption and it
is not necessary to tolerate corruption to keep Karabakh.

Arman Melikyan also revealed his approach toward the settlement of
the Karabakh issue. According to him, it is necessary to repeal the
December 1, 1989 decision on unification of Armenia and Karabakh,
Armenia should start active negotiations for the international
recognition of Karabakh, and the liberated territories should become
the compensation for the Armenian refugees.