Author: Kajoyan Gevork

CERTAIN TERRITORIES OF KARABAKH UNDER AZERBAIJANI OCCUPATION – ARMENIAN FM

news.am
Sept 19 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Certain territories of Karabakh are under occupation of
Azerbaijan, said Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandyan at
Armenia-Diaspora Forum, representing the process of settlement of
the Karabakh conflict since 2001.

“What Baku states today is a delusion. They say that during 2010-2011
the OSCE Minsk Group made suggestions that have changed the essence of
the negotiation process and basic principles. During the current year
Azerbaijan has repeatedly demonstrated its non-constructive approach
to the settlement process, in particular, after the meeting of three
presidents in Sochi and Kazan,” said Nalbandyan.

Referring to the Madrid principles, Nalbandian noted that Armenia will
continue its policy on the Karabakh issue, which has been a priority
for the past 20 years.

“Armenia is open for negotiations, contrary to Baku, which accepts
only two of the basic principles and only in its own interpretation.

Baku accepts the principles of territorial integrity and in this
context we should stress that some of Karabakh territories are under
Azerbaijani occupation.”

TURKEY: PROSECUTOR WANTS 7 SUSPECTS TO GET LIFE TERMS IN ARMENIAN JOURNALIST’S KILLING

Washington Post
Sept 19 2011

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey’s state-run news agency says a prosecutor is
demanding life imprisonment for seven men accused of involvement in
the killing of an ethnic Armenian journalist.

Hrant Dink was shot outside his office in 2007, a killing allegedly
motivated by ethnic tensions.

.In July, a juvenile court sentenced a now 21-year-old Turkish
nationalist hardliner to nearly 23 years in prison for killing Dink.

Nineteen other people are on trial separately, accused of instigating
the killing.

The Anatolia agency says the prosecutor on Monday recommended seven
suspects serve a life term, arguing the murder was based on “ideology”
and amounted to an act against “the Turkish state and its order.”

He said five suspects should serve three years in prison, while seven
others should be acquitted.

AUSTRIA LAUNCHES CONFERENCE TO PROMOTES PEACE IN SOUTH CAUCASUS

Shanghai Daily
Sept 19 2011

VIENNA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) — A conference, initiated by the Austrian
foreign Ministry to promote the role of religious communities and
civil society in resolving conflicts in South Caucasus, opened Monday
in Vienna.

The meeting aimed to strengthen Austria’s bilateral and regional
connections to the South Caucasus.

Austria has in recent years built diverse links in political,
economical, and cultural exchanges with the South Caucasus.

It has established an Austrian honorary consulate in Azerbaijan,
Armenia, Georgia and other important countries to promote cooperation
with the region.

South Caucasus is a crossroads between Europe, the Middle East and
Central Asia, which is still dominated by a lot of conflicts.

Austria’s long standing experience in cultural and religious dialogue
with the region could provide a viable platform for discussion on
constructive solutions.

Representatives from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are expected
to agree on concrete projects and initiatives, such as an open and
sustained dialogue on conflict prevention and resolution, under the
promotion of the Austrian side.

ARMENIA UNDERESTIMATES ITS IMPORTANCE FOR RUSSIA – ARMENIAN EXPERT

news.am
Sept 19 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Armenia underestimates its importance for Russia and
overestimates Russia’s significance for itself, the head of Center
for Regional Studies Richard Giragosian said at a press conference
on Monday.

He stressed that Russian military base in Armenia is the only example
of a base in a foreign state, where local authorities pay for its
maintenance.

“Russia is paying huge sums for placing its base in Kyrgyzstan, for
operating the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan, but the utility
costs of Russian base in Armenia are covered by local authorities,”
said the expert.

Asked which security system Armenia should adopt to protect its
borders, Giragosian said that the Armenian people were faced with
gravest misfortunes when they began to believe in promises of foreign
countries, be it Russia, France or the United States.

“We need to increase self-confidence, only then we can achieve
success,” he said, reminding that victory in Karabakh war was achieved
not because of Russia, but contrary to Russia.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION BLOC LASHES OUT AT PACE MONITORING COMMITTEE

Tert.am
23:18 19.09.11

Armenia’s main opposition alliance has slammed at the Monitoring
Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,
accusing it of contributing to the atmosphere of forgeries, violence
and impunity.

In a statement issued late on Monday the Armenian National Congress,
or HAK, said that PACE MC’s recent resolution on Armenia, if confirmed
at the October plenary session, will be a “blow to the PACE itself”
and will undermine its credibility.

“[It will show] that the PACE and its relevant agencies are engaged
not in Armenia’s implementation of its obligations in the sphere of
democracy and establishment of democratic institutes, but are rather
contributing to the deepening of the atmosphere of violence, forgery
and impunity,” read the statement.

Further, it said the resolution has some provisions that are
unacceptable for the HAK and devaluate the work done so far.

One of the unacceptable provisions, according to the HAK, is that
the PACE MC considers the chapter of the 2008 post-election unrest in
Armenia closed, whereas the perpetrators of the ten killings have so
far not been held accountable and plus the authorities have spared
no effort to hide those crimes and created obstacles for justice
to prevail.

“With such a conduct the PACE counters its previously adopted
resolutions, statements made by various CoE officials, including one
made by the Secretary General”, is in fact encouraging the repetition
of such crimes,” read the statement.

The HAK also said that the PACE MC ignores the fact that the dialogue
initiated between the representatives of the HAK and the ruling
coalition was suspended because the arrest of youth HAK activists
Tigran Arakelyan is politically motivated.

HAYK DEMOYAN: EVENTS DEDICATED TO 100TH YEAR OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO OPEN A NEW PAGE

ARMENPRESS
19:25, 19 September, 2011

The 100th year of Armenian Genocide and the events organized on that
occasion will open a new page for international awareness on the
genocide and new revelations of its still unstudied pages. During
today’s all-Armenian conference of heads and representatives of
Diaspora organizations Hayk Demoyan, director of RA NAS Armenian
Genocide Museum-Institute, said that Armenia-Diaspora cooperation
must also become an important impetus for distinct formulations on
concept groundings concerning elimination of consequences of the
Armenian Genocide.

Hayk Demoyan attached high importance to conduction of events on the
occasion of 100th year of the genocide, which will have both local
and international significance. According to him, it is important that
the theme of the genocide, its lessons and consequences are presented
and commented in the context of the world and local history and memory.

According to the Director of the Genocide Museum, the initiatives of
the Armenian party must promote that the topic of the Armenian Genocide
is not perceived only as an Armenian-Turkish issue. “Instead, giving
them an international resonance, one of the most important goals of
the Armenian party must be international recognition of the Armenian
Genocide and promotion to condemnation process,” Hayk Demoyan said,
adding that we have well-consolidated structures in Diaspora, which
have played huge role in condemnation of the genocide and increase
of international competence, so the combination of efforts is very
important in this issue.

Reconciliation with Turkey will start by the time that country
recognizes the genocide it has committed, Hayk Demoyan stressed.

In international recognition of the genocide in Armenia-Diaspora
cooperation Hayk Demoyan attached importance to division of work:
RA diplomatic missions must work wherever Armenia has its deed as
an international legal subject, and Diaspora structures must work
wherever they can have a role.

SCPEC PENALIZES MOKONAT IN THE AMOUNT OF 20 MILLION DRAMS FOR ABUSE OF DOMINATING POSITIONS

ARKA
Sep 19, 2011

YEREVAN, September 19. / ARKA /. Armenia’s State Commission for
Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) ruled today to penalize
Mokonat company in the amount of 20 million drams for abuse of its
dominating positions at the market.

A study commissioned by SCPEC found that for a long time this company
sold instant coffee at different prices, using actually a dumping
in a bid to oust its rivals from the market. As a result it took a
dominant position in terms of instant coffee imports.

The Commission’s experts made an interesting discovery. Particularly,
according to the submitted documents, the company paid 820 drams
per one box of coffee but sold it at 620 drams, but after reaching
the leading position in the market, the company dramatically raised
the price four times for the same coffee to 3,3000 drams. The study
showed that this company acted with apparent violations of law and
received super profits.

The Commission also found that purchase and sale prices obviously did
not correspond to actual market prices. This in view the Commission
sent the files to the State Revenue Committee. Mokonat has also shares
in imports of frozen fish, frozen meat and rice. ($ 1 – 375.3 drams).

TRACKER-7 SYSTEM MAY BE INTRODUCED IN ARMENIA

ARKA
Sep 19, 2011

YEREVAN, September 19. / ARKA /. Armenia’s foreign affairs ministry
said today Armenian and foreign diplomats as well as experts from the
Nonproliferation Research Center met last week in Yerevan to discuss.

The possibility of introducing tracker-7 electronic system in Armenia,
used for licensing imports and exports of dual-use technologies
and products.

The meeting was held to exchange also technical expertise in the
field of control of export of goods of dual and military use.

The meeting also discussed the progress and trends in reforms of
the legal framework in the area of export control in Armenia, the
compliance of Armenian lists of controlled items with the lists
in EU, also the problems associated with the legal regulation of
the issuance of final use certificates and prospects for Internal
Compliance Program.

The meeting was attended by experts from the United States, Germany,
representatives of the Vienna headquarters of Wassenaar Arrangement.

The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms
and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies is a multilateral export control
regime with 40 participating states including many former Warsaw Pact
countries.

48% OF TURKS SAY EU MEMBERSHIP IS A “A GOOD THING”

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 19, 2011 – 13:11 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – According to the 2011 Transatlantic Trends public
opinion survey released by the German Marshall Fund of the United
States (GMF), Turkish and European public opinion has started to warm
up to each other and the foundations of relations are strong at the
public opinion level.

Today’s Zaman reports that when asked if Turkey is likely to join the
European Union, 33 percent of the Turkish public welcomed the idea,
as opposed to 26 percent last year. In 2007 and 2008, 26 percent of
Turks surveyed said Turkey was likely to join the EU. That figure
was 28 percent in 2009.

Moreover, 48 percent of the Turkish respondents of the survey –
compared to 38 percent last year – said that Turkish membership in
the EU is “a good thing.”

Public opinion in the EU was not totally against Turkey’s EU accession,
but most people were divided or pessimistic about the benefits of
Turkish membership. On average, 48 percent of EU respondents agreed
that Turkey’s membership in the EU would help promote peace and
stability in the Middle East. However, this was not shared in all
countries; majorities in France (59 percent) and the Netherlands
(51 percent) as well as a plurality in Slovakia (46 percent) disagreed.

The survey also pointed out that half of those polled in 12 EU
countries disagreed that Turkey’s EU membership would be good in
economic terms for the EU, while 39 percent agreed that it would be
economically beneficial. The French (63 percent), Swedes (62 percent),
Germans (58 percent), Spanish (55 percent) and Dutch (54 percent) were
the most likely to see Turkey’s EU membership as negatively affecting
the EU economy. The majority of Turks (55 percent), on the other hand,
thought that EU membership would be good for the Turkish economy.

The majority of those living in the EU countries surveyed (56 percent),
including relatively strong majorities in Sweden (66 percent), the UK
(65 percent), Spain (64 percent) and Germany (62 percent), did not
believe that Turkey’s predominantly Muslim population was a reason
to keep Turkey out of the EU. A majority of Bulgarians (58 percent)
and many people from Poland (46 percent) and Slovakia (48 percent)
believed that EU membership for a predominantly Muslim population
might be a problem.

The annual Transatlantic Trends series aim to explore how Americans,
Europeans and Turks view the transatlantic relationship and challenges
facing the world specific to the year of the survey, according to
the project’s website. The 2011 survey marks the 10th study the
project has conducted to analyze global trends, as well as threats,
from the point of view of thousands of people from 12 EU countries,
the US and Turkey. The 2011 survey, conducted between May 25 and June
20, includes roughly 1,000 respondents from each, and the margin of
error is acknowledged to be plus or minus three points.

ARMENIAN PEOPLE MUST RISE IN PROTEST, ANC MEMBER SAYS

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 19, 2011 – 14:53 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The opposition-coalition dialogue has been moved
to the background to never be used as a way to resolve current issues
in Armenia, according to Armenian National Congress (ANC) opposition
bloc coordinator.

As Levon Zurabyan told a news conference in Yerevan, the authorities’
attitude proves no further concessions will be made, nor is the
release of ANC supporter Tigran Arakelyan to be expected.

“There’s nothing left for people but to rise in protest, forcing the
authorities into concessions. No time’s left to wait for the dialogue
to solve the problems,” Zurabyan stressed.

Representatives of the ruling coalition have held meetings since
July 18, the two main issues on the agenda being conduction of
extraordinary election (on ANC demand) and development of canons of
political competition (as suggested by the authorities).

Problems emerged when police detained 7 young ANC activists. According
to the ANC, on August 9 police officers used violence against ANC
activists Tigran Arakelyan and Artak Karapetyan. Upon arrival to the
site, activists Areg Gevorgyan, Sahak Muradyan, Vahagn Gevorgyan,
Sargis Gevorgyan and David Kirimajyan tried to settle the dispute but
were beaten as well, the ANC said. All above-mentioned were taken to
a police station.

Currently, Tigran Arakelyan is kept in custody. The others were
released.

On August 26, the Congress announced that it suspends the dialogue
and believes Arakelyan to be a political prisoner.

As ANC leader stated at recent rally in Yerevan, refusal to release
Arakelyan within the next few days will prove the incident between
the police and opposition supporter to be a put-up job. According to
Levon Ter-Petrossian, unless the detainee is released, ANC is ready
to mobilize its supporters to force ruling authorities into conducting
to snap elections.