Author: Jilavian Emma

RA DEFENSE MINISTER, GREEK AMBASSADOR DISCUSS BILATERAL MILITARY COOPERATION

armradio.am
11.07.2007 17:26

July 11 RA Defense Minister Michael Harutyunyan received the Ambassador
Extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Greece to Armenia, Mrs. Panayota
Mavriomikhali.

The Ambassador first congratulated Michael Harutyunyan on assuming
the Defense Minister’s office.

Turning to the current state of military, military-technical and
military-educational cooperation in the framework of bilateral
relations, the parties stressed the necessity of deepening
cooperation. Progress is apparent in the sphere of military
education. Up until now 100 Officers have been trained and retrained
in military educational establishments of Greece.

The Ambassador expressed appreciation for the high level of
preparedness of the Armenian peacekeepers carrying out mission in
Kosovo within the Greek regiment.

For his part, the Minister highly appreciated the assistance of
the Greek side in the peacekeeping mission and presented the future
programs envisaged in the sphere.

Speaking about the resolution of the Karabakh conflict, the Ambassador
stressed the importance of settling the issue in a peaceful way. Issues
of regional security and stability were also discussed.

At the end of the meeting the parties exchanged views on the reforms
underway in the armed forces of our country.

Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918 Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Contact: Haig Hovsepian

Tel: (818) 500-1918

ANCA-WR Continues To Reach Out To Tomorrow’s Leaders

Los Angeles, CA – In its ongoing effort to prepare and educate Armenian
American leaders of tomorrow, the Armenian National Committee of America –
Western Region (ANCA-WR) recently conducted community outreach presentations
to members of the Pasadena "Nigol Douman" Armenian Youth Federation (AYF)
chapter and to youngsters at AYF Camp Big Pines. As the largest Armenian
American public policy organization in the Western United States, the
ANCA-WR is constantly reaching out to communities across the region to raise
awareness regarding issues of concern to Armenian Americans.

"The ANCA-WR always welcomes the opportunity to engage our community’s most
valuable asset – our youth," commented Kzirian. "Meeting with AYF chapters
and visiting the AYF Camp to discuss contemporary issues, such as dual
citizenship in Armenia and how our youth can contribute to the Armenian
Cause, is a hallmark of our organization’s purpose – which is to make sure
that tomorrow’s leaders are prepared today," he added.

ANCA-WR Executive Director Andrew Kzirian presented a talk to the Pasadena
AYF on Armenia’s new law concerning dual citizenship. He described to the
AYF members how this newly enacted law can potentially impact Diasporan
Armenians. Kzirian, who is also a fellow with the Armenian International
Policy Research Group (AIPRG), has published and presented his work on dual
citizenship in conferences in Armenia and the United States.

The ANCA-WR Executive Director also recently visited AYF Camp Big Pines in
Wrightwood, California. In a talk to over 100 Badenagan and AYF members,
Kzirian discussed the current Armenian Genocide resolution in Congress and
ways in which they, as leaders in our community, can take a strong
leadership role in furthering the Armenian Cause.

The Armenian National Committee of America is the largest and most
influential Armenian American grassroots political organization. Working in
coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout
the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA
actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad
range of issues.

GORAN LENMARKER: NEW WAR BETWEEN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN IS UNTHINKABLE

armradio.am
06.07.2007 10:53

"New war as an alternative to resolving the conflict between Armenia
and Azerbaijan is unthinkable," Goran Lennmarker, the President of
the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, stated in an interview on the eve
of its 16th Annual Session that begins in Kiev on July 5.

"The advantages of a peace accord for the two countries, Armenia and
Azerbaijan, are huge," he assured.

He said a good framework agreement that addresses the main concerns
of all parties has been presented by the Minsk Group, co-chaired by
France, Russia and the United States. It is ready to be signed by
the leaders of the two countries, if the political will is there.

The Assembly’s increased focus East of Vienna is in the interest
of the OSCE as well as of the region itself, he said. Intensified
dialogue about common problems and the sharing of experiences can be
of great benefit to all.

Lennmarker expanded on his own active involvement in seeking a
peaceful solution to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
about Nagorno-Karabakh – first as the Special Representative on
Nagorno-Karabakh of the Parliamentary Assembly and now as its President
"For some time now, I have talked about ‘a golden opportunity’ for
an agreement and now, after another visit to the Caucasus, I believe
more than ever in that opportunity," said the President.

6 THOUSAND HECTARES OF APRICOT ORCHARDS WERE RESTORED

Lragir.am
06-07-2007 16:07:21

The minister of agriculture Davit Lokyan said in his address to
the Armenian Apricot International Conference in Yerevan 6 thousand
hectares of apricot orchards were restored in 2002-2007. He said it is
possible to produce 200 thousand tons of apricots, and the government
is making efforts to use new technologies for processing the harvest.

A1+

`THE BILL FAILURE WAS RESULTED BY A FEW FACTORS’
[03:08 pm] 04 July, 2007

`The closure of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was
well-planned by the RA authorities. The authorities
made a political decision to ban RFE/RL’s transmission
throughout Armenia,’ freelance deputy Victor Dallakyan
said on July 4.

According to the deputy the failure of the bills is
determined by a few factors. It got a backlash, there
is an obvious competition inside the government and
lack of organization of the parliamentarian majority.

Victor Dallakyan ruled out further endeavors to close
down RFE/RL by September.

They will do their utmost to silence RFE/RL before the
presidential election. The Council of the Public
Television and Radio wants to silence the radio
station through the National Assembly as they fear the
consequences, said Victor Dallakyan.

In answer to the question what the NA deputies
concerned over the freedom of expression intend to do
in connection with A1+, Victor Dallakyan said, ` I
always raise the issue in the National Assembly. I am
afraid that most of our newly-appointed deputies take
A1+ for Pashinayan’s 1+1. I think the opposition
should raise the question on the international level.
The authorities attempt to subject RFE/RL to A1+’s
fate.’

The deputy voiced hope that A1+ will be back on the
air one day. `Never say never,’ the deputy said.

SLAIN JOURNALIST’S LAWYERS WELCOME COURT’S HANDLING OF CASE

Agence France Presse — English
July 3, 2007 Tuesday 1:05 PM GMT

Lawyers of the family of slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink
voiced hope Tuesday that the court handling the case would dig deeper
into the murder and uncover the alleged role of security officials.

The legal team has been pushing for months — so far without success
— for the indictment of security officials on the grounds that the
police knew as early as 2006 of plans to kill Dink, but failed to
act in what it says was "almost an intentional negligence."

The 52-year-old Dink, a prominent member of Turkey’s tiny Armenian
minority, was gunned down on January 19 in a busy Istanbul street.

"We asked the court to expand the investigation… and collect evidence
in various fields," attorney Fethiye Cetin said of the first hearing
in the trial of 18 suspects, which began behind closed doors Monday.

"The court accepted our demands," she said. "We think this is a
positive attitude."

The three key defendants, all from the northern city of Trabzon, are
the self-confessed hitman, 17-year-old Ogun Samast, and the alleged
ultra-nationalist masterminds of the assassination, Yasin Hayal and
Erhan Tuncel, both 26.

The indictment says Tuncel was a police informer who twice told
officials last year that Hayal was plotting to kill Dink, but
deliberately concealed the fact that someone else would pull the
trigger because Tuncel himself was part of the plot.

Hayal was no stranger to the police either: he had served 11 months for
the 2004 bombing in Trabzon of a McDonald’s restaurant, in which six
people were injured, to protest against the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Cetin maintained that Hayal and Tuncel’s testimonies before the court
Monday "confirmed that the state is responsible for this murder."

The trial is held behind closed doors because the alleged gunman is
a minor.

Although Dink campaigned for reconciliation, nationalists hated him
for calling the massacres of Armenians under Ottoman rule during
World War I genocide, a label that Turkey fiercely rejects.

He had written in his bilingual weekly Agos about receiving death
threats, but the authorities failed to take measures to grant him
special protection.

Trabzon’s governor and police chief were removed from office after the
murder. Several policemen were suspended after a leaked video showed
them posing with Samast for "souvenir pictures" following his capture.

But no official has faced judicial action so far.

TWO EUROPEAN STATES TO GIVE SHELTER TO AZERI JOURNALISTS
By Aghavni Harountiunian

AZG Armenian Daily
04/07/2007

Two European states agreed to give shelter to the journalists who want
to leave Azerbaijan. "Azeri" press informed that these countries didn’t
want to announce about their responsibility and remained unknown.

It’s worth mentioning that over 20 Azeri journalists decided to leave
Azerbaijan, urging political shelter from the diplomatic offices of
European states, after some of the Azeri newspapers were closed. In
the beginning, it was announced that the Embassies of the Russian
federation and the United States of America didn’t respond the request
of the journalists.

NKR PRESIDENT: POLICY PURSUED BY AZERI AUTHORITIES HAMPERS INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY’S EFFORTS ON KARABAGH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
July 3 2007

Policy pursued by Azeri authorities hampers international
community’s efforts on Karabagh conflict settlement, NKR President
Arkady Ghoukassian stated in Yerevan on Tuesday in his report
"Nagorno-Karabagh: Perspectives of Settlement", speaking at the
Summer school acting under the aegis of Russian-Armenian (Slavonic)
University July 1-8.

"Year by year the Azerbaijani leadership has been increasing
expenditure on the army’s technical equipment and accession of
professional mercenaries, without ceasing anti Armenian propaganda
via official mass media", he stated.

According to Ghoukassian, international practice is quite flexible
in searching for the options of the settlement of the situation
characterized by acuteness of territorial problems.

"Unfortunately, Azerbaijani authorities have not done anything to form
the state’s positive image before the NKR people", he said adding it
could result in the establishment of confidential relations.

The President noted because of official Baku’s counteraction OSCE
could not bring the talks’ format in line with its own configuration
of the conflict fixed in the basic documents of the organization’s
Budapest summit, Novosti-Armenia reports.

GENOCIDE CONTROVERSY LEADS LA TIMES MANAGING EDITOR TO RESIGN

armradio.am
29.06.2007 12:35

After escalating criticism from the Armenian American community for his
role in obstructing an article on the Armenian Genocide this April and
his discriminatory behavior against Armenian American reporters, Los
Angeles Times Managing Editor Douglas Frantz has resigned effective
July 6th and will be returning to Istanbul, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America-Western Region (ANCA-WR).

This past April Frantz "killed" a story on the Armenian Genocide that
was written by Armenian American Los Angeles Times reporter Mark Arax.

Frantz had erroneously accused Arax (who recently left the paper) of
having a "conflict of interest" regarding reporting on the Armenian
Genocide and had also circumvented the standard editorial process
for reviewing articles. A subsequent internal investigation by the
Times deemed Frantz’s accusations to be completely baseless.

This past April, the ANCA led a grassroots campaign to raise awareness
regarding Frantz’s actions. Over 5,000 activists responded to an
ANCA action alert and sent emails and letters calling for Frantz’s
resignation. In addition, the ANCA-WR, California Courier Publisher
Harut Sassounian and other community representatives met with
the publisher and senior Los Angeles Times management on multiple
occasions during the last several months to convey the community’s
outrage regarding Frantz’s discriminatory actions.

"Doug Frantz’s resignation from the Los Angeles Times is an appropriate
answer to his unprofessional behavior and anti-Armenian posture in
the newsroom," remarked ANCA-WR Board member Zanku Armenian. "The Los
Angeles Times is a fine newspaper and deserves better than to have a
genocide denier as a member of its senior staff. The fact that Frantz
is returning to Istanbul tells the full story of where he stands,"
he added.

Frantz’s activities and pro-Turkish positions have been monitored over
the course of his many assignments at different newspapers and most
recently in May when he moderated a panel in Istanbul that featured
a well-known genocide denier. The Armenian National Committee of
America-Western Region (ANCA-WR) worked with a coalition of individuals
to bring to light the situation that had developed at the Los Angeles
Times after Frantz more overtly revealed his anti-Armenian position
with his actions against Mark Arax. Sassounian had highlighted the
Frantz controversy in several columns that appeared in the California
Courier and a host of other news websites.

Sassounian was also instrumental in bringing to light Frantz’s
involvement in the May conference held in Istanbul.

COURT DECIDES TO RESTART TRIAL ON CASE AGAINST ROYAL-ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Jun 28, 2007

YEREVAN, JUNE 28, NOYAN TAPAN. The court of first instance of the
Yerevan Kentron and Nork-Marash communities presided by judge Pargev
Ohanian, on June 28 decided to restart the trial on criminal case
against the management of Royal-Armenia joint venture LTD. It should
be mentioned that the pronouncing of the judgement was envisaged on
that day.

The court explained its unexpected decision by the fact that
the conclusions of judicial-accountancy, judicial-economic and
judicial-criminological examinations must be additionally examined
with participation of the corresponding specialists. The first sitting
was fixed for June 29.

The case was instituted on March 10, 2005. In the 7th month of
the preliminary investigation Gagik Hakobian, the co-owner of the
company, and Aram Ghazarian, the Deputy Director, were arrested. The
representatives of the company’s management staff are accused of
smuggling, not paying taxes, forging documents, legalizing financial
means through obviously illegal way, and G. Hakobian also of fraud.