Author: Kajoyan Gevork

OSKANIAN TO TURKEY: OPEN BORDERS

The New Anatolian, Turkey
June 27 2007

Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian currently in Istanbul
participating in the BSEC summit, called on Turkey to open the
Armenian border, which is closed since 1993, the PanArmenian.net
reported on Tuesday.

"If you really treat the dialogue between Yerevan and Ankara
seriously, would you be so kind as to first open the border. If the
Armenian-Turkish border is open, the Armenian side will be ready
to form any commission on the governmental level to discuss those
issues, which currently hamper normalization of relations between
our countries," Vartan Oskanian stressed.

Turkey says Armenian claims that Ottoman Turks committed genocide
at the turn of the 20th century hamper prospects for normalization
of ties.

Commenting on his meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah
Gul on Monday, the Armenian Foreign Minister said, "unfortunately
no changes are observed in Turkey’s policy and it continues to put
forward preconditions for normalizing relations with Armenia. In his
words, as democratic countries, Armenia and Turkey must be able to
settle existing problems in a civilized way."

Oskanian also noted during his meeting with Gul he familiarized
him with the latest developments of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement process and Armenia’s stance on the issue. "After the
meeting between Armenian and Azeri presidents in St. Petersburg various
comments were made. Baku is trying to find those who it considers
guilty, making various comments. And consequently, Turkey must listen
to our position in order to make a just conclusion," Oskanian said.

Armenia has occupied Nagorno Karabakh and parts of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan wants the Armenians to withdraw from the occupied lands.

ON JUNE 27 AT 11.AM. SPECIAL SESSION OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TO BE CONVENED

National Assembly of RA, Armenia
June 26 2007

Mr. Tigran Torosyan, President of the National Assembly of the
Republic of Armenia signed a decree, which says that according to
Article 70 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, on the
initiative of the President of the Republic of Armenia, on June 27,
2007 at 11a.m. a special session of the National Assembly of the
Republic of Armenia will be convened by the defined agenda of the
President of the Republic of Armenia.

NEGOTIATIONS OF ARMENIAN AND TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTERS BRING NO PROGRESS TO THE COUNTRIES’ RELATIONS

ArmInfo
2007-06-26 16:17:00

Foreign Minister of Turkey Abdullah Gul said Armenia should work
to resolve its territorial disputes with neighboring Azerbaijan,
suggesting that this would help the landlocked country to resolve
its problems with Turkey, too.

Zaman reports that Gul made the suggestion at a rare meeting with
Vartan Oskanian, the Armenian foreign minister, on the sidelines
of a meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) in
Istanbul. Neighbors Turkey and Armenia have no formal ties due to
disputes over Yerevan’s support for Armenian diaspora efforts worldwide
to win international recognition for the genocide of Armenians at
the hands of the Ottoman Empire as well as due to the "continuing
occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan,
by Armenian forces." Turkey also refuses to open its border gate with
Armenia, closed "following Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh in
the past decade, unless there is an improvement in Armenia’s stance."

Oskanian said at the closed-door meeting with Gul that Armenia wanted
to improve ties with Turkey and stressed that the reopening of the
border would help mend fences, a Turkish diplomat close to the talks
said. Gul, however, responded that Armenia should work to resolve
the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.

"We also expect some gestures from you," the diplomat quoted Gul
as saying, in reference to a Turkish proposal to set up a joint
committee of Turkish and Armenian academics to study the genocide
allegations. At a press conference following his talks with Gul,
Oskanian expressed disappointment at the lack of progress. He
said unlike leaders of the rest of other member countries of BSEC,
Armenian President Robert Kocharian declined to come to Istanbul to
attend the 12-nation organization’s 15th anniversary summit because
there were no diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia.

He noted that Kocharian had come to Turkey when he first came to
power in 1998, to attend a meeting of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) because he then had high hopes for
peace and progress.

"Unfortunately there has been no change since then," he told the
conference.

Oskanian reiterated that Armenia had no precondition for improvement of
relations with Turkey but complained that Turkey had clear conditions
to take any step in this direction. The Armenian foreign minister
criticized Turkish conditions to open the border gate and claimed
that they were not "justifiable."

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MISSES BSECO SUMMIT

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 25 2007

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has not attended the 15th jubilee
sumit fo the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSECO)
hosted in Istanbul, APA Turkey reports.

Official Yerevan did not publicize reasons for Mr.Kocharyan’s missing
the summit. Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian is representing
Armenia in BSECO summit. BSECO Presidents and Foreign Ministers
attended the summit except Armenia.

Oskanian will hold a press conference for media representatives in
Chiragan palace after the meeting of BSECO Foreign Ministers’ Council.

COMMEMORATIVE PLAGUE OF FAMOUS MICROBIOLOGISTS LEVON YERZNKIAN AND
PARANDZEM SARUKHANIAN OPENS IN YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 22, NOYAN TAPAN. A commemorative plaque of the founders
of technical microbiology in Armenia – Professor Levon Yerznkian,
author of the "Narine" healing milk product, honored inventor of the
USSR, and his wife Parandzem Sarukhanian, honored scientist, was opened
on June 21 on the house at 50 Terian Street (Yerevan) where the famous
scientists lived in 1938-1991.

In the words of Academician Evrik Afrikian, Levon Yerznkian was a
unique scientist and great patriot. "His contribution to development of
the Armenian microbiology is invaluable: thanks to him, "Narine" has
become a visiting card of Armenia in many countrieis where this healing
product is widely used," the academician said.

L. Yerznkian and P. Sarukhanian worked for decades at the Institute of
Microbiology of the RA National Academy of Sciences. L. Yerznkian was
the author of more than 200 scientific works, 4 monographies, he
recieved 18 author licenses.

FORMER EMPLOYEES OF ARMENIAN AIRWAYS DEMAND BEING PAID THEIR SALARY ARREARS

YEREVAN, JUNE 23, NOYAN TAPAN. More than 500 employees of Armenian
Airways airline, which was declared bankrupt in 2004, demand that the
government pay their salary and benefit arrears of the total amount of
340 thousand dollars. Vladimir Poghosian, former pilot of Armenian
Airways, told reporters at the June 22 press conference that the head
of the governmental staff – minister Manuk Topuzian on June 21 received
them and proposed creating a commission composed of Armenian Airways’
former employees and representatives of the justice ministry and the
ministry of finance and economy in order to solve this problem.

In the opinion of V. Poghosian, the government, which was 100%
shareholder of the airline, has to pay its debts. He said that out of
the 611 mln drams received from the sale of Armenian Airways’ property,
314 mln drams was paid as pension to deaf pilots, while the remaining
sum "disappeared".

V. Poghosian said that the problem of salary arrears can be solved by
selling Armenian Airways’ 26-ha landplot in Sevan region. He underlined
that the airline had never operated at a loss: it was declared bankrupt
artificially – the annual profit of Armenian Airways made 5 million
dollars.

ATOMIC CHIEF TO VISIT URANIUM ENRICHMENT CENTER

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
June 21, 2007 Thursday 09:06 PM EST

Head of the Russian Atomic Power Agency (Rosatom) Sergey Kiriyenko
will visit on Friday the chemical enterprise in the city of Angarsk in
Irkutsk region, which is to become an international uranium enrichment
center for other countries under IAEA auspices.

Head of the enterprise Viktor Shopen said the plant has been
dealing with uranium enrichment for 50 years and has enough skilled
specialists, as well as free capacities.

Kiriyenko earlier said "the center will allow new countries receive
low-enriched uranium for nuclear power engineering".

The idea of such a center was voiced by President Vladimir Putin in
2006 to lift international concerns over possible A-bomb creation by
countries developing nuclear power engineering.

Kazakhstan and Ukraine are to be the first to join the creation of
the international center.

Earlier this month Kiriyenko said Russia and Kazakhstan will sign the
founding documents on the creation of the international center in June.

"In June we shall complete the legal formalities of the project. We
are in contact with the IAEA to design control mechanisms for the
project," he said.

He added a third party was necessary for the center to operate in
full swing. Kiriyenko suggested Armenia or Ukraine.

"Five or seven countries are displaying interest, if two or three
agree, we shall consider the mechanism as operating," Kiriyenko said.

In the meantime, Rosatom plans increasing uranium production in Chita
region on the border with China and Kiriyenko said 15 billion rubles of
investments were necessary to develop and modernize the Priargun mining
and chemical enterprise in the town of Krasnokamensk. Such investments
will help increase uranium production from three to five thousand tons.

ELEVEN CANDIDATES TO RUN IN REPEAT ELECTION IN ARMENIAN CONSTITUENCY

Arminfo
18 Jun 07

Yerevan, 18 June: "Eleven candidates will be running for parliament
in repeat parliamentary election in single-seat constituency No
15," Tsovinar Khachatryan, the press secretary of Armenia’s Central
Electoral Commission, has told Arminfo.

She said that the following individuals have been nominated to run
in the repeat election: Khachik Vaghinaki [Vaghinakovich] Manukyan
from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia; Mnatsakan Mnatsakanyan,
who is not a member of a party but is supported by the ruling
Prosperous Armenia party; Raffi Hovhannisyan, the leader of the
opposition Heritage party; Gurgen Shahinyan nominated by the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun which is cooperating with
the ruling coalition; and seven other individuals, who are not members
of political parties and were nominated by initiative groups.

Among them, Mekhak Mkhitaryan, Emin Karapetyan, Vahagn Petrosyan, Arsen
Vardanyan, Tigran Manukyan, and two namesakes of the RPA nominee –
Khachik Mkrtichi [Mkrtichevich] Manukyan and another Khachik Manukyan,
whose patronymic will not be mentioned in ballot papers because he
has an old Armenia passport.

Thus, a technology of nominating people with same names has been
used against the winner of the 12 May parliamentary election, Khachik
Manukyan, apparently to confuse people who are going to vote for him.

The repeat election will be conducted in constituency No 15 in
Aragatsotn Region on 26 August. The nominees are supposed to submit
their documents to the regional electoral commission by 1800 local
time on 12 July. The registration process will be held on 17-22 July,
campaigning will be held on 23 July – 24 August.

FRENCH FOREIGN POLICY’S IMPASSE
View By Beril Dedeoglu

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
June 18 2007

A country’s domestic policies may sometimes appear reformist, and
this is often attributed to its leader’s personal choices. However
the reforms introduced in any country are never free from regional
and global developments. In this context a government’s foreign
policy position tends to determine its liberty of movement in the
domestic sphere.

As we all know, French president Nicolas Sarkozy is pro-American,
even though it remains to be seen just how this attitude will affect
the relationship between France and the US. Sarkozy has been presented
as the figure successful in convincing the US to become more active
in dealing with global warming. The US opposes any compulsory
regulations, saying that China (who is the worst culprit in this
arena) doesn’t cooperate. In fact what Sarkozy truly obtained is a
goodwill declaration indicating a 50 percent reduction of greenhouse
gas emissions during the next 20-25 years. France actually doesn’t
even seem to be disturbed by the absence of China in the G8 Summits.

France supports US positions regarding the independence of Kosovo
and is therefore in conflict with Russia about the issue. However
it does support Russia’s views on the US missile project and is
opposed to the US presence in Iraq. Additionally France pursues good
relations with Iran, a country declared as an enemy of the US. When
it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, France has always
supported Palestinian groups over US-favored Israel. Meanwhile
France also assists the Maronites in Lebanon. In the Caucasus the
US supports Georgia, a country that may even join NATO one day,
while France prefers cooperation with Russia and Armenia. France has
not yet decided whether to come back to the military wing of NATO,
and tends to place emphasis on the EU, contrary to US requests
for a US-EU rapprochement. Furthermore its views on the future of
European integration seem to be damaging the traditional constructive
cooperation between France and Germany, while strengthening the usual
anti-British stance. Ultimately each country’s conservatives have
a different kind of conservatism. France continues to say Turkey is
an Asiatic country, forgetting that Europe’s biggest problem is an
absence in Asia and that the US supports Turkish accession to the EU.

If Sarkozy’s new government hopes to make France a global power once
again, a primary focus must be relations with the US. Given this,
France, like Turkey, has no choice but to determine quickly its
position vis-a-vis Russia. After having done that, it should make
clear a position on Europe’s future, because its insistence on several
issues has the potential to deepen divisions within the EU.

Apparently France’s European project doesn’t include cooperation with
the US. However if a rapprochement does appear in US-EU relations,
France will have to modify its anti-American policy in the Middle
East. This change of attitude will demonstrate just how much France
is willing to support the US in Iraq and how it will heal relations
with Turkey. France has declared that its priority is Africa, without
taking into consideration all of these paradoxes. Even the African
choice involves difficult judgments as France cannot strengthen
its position on the African continent simply by increasing food aid
(as it tried before in Iraq). As long as France doesn’t make clear a
position regarding the great powers, it will have limited liberty of
action in Africa. It’s easy to say that your country is going to the
African continent, but the resolution of problems created by other
powers and historical responsibilities is not an easy task.

If France is really in a "new" period, then it has to adopt a new
foreign policy path. For this reason France needs to be more careful
when it comes to Turkey.

ARMENIAN RADIO STATIONS DISPUTING GOVERNMENT’S DECISION ON PAYING ANNUAL FEES

Arminfo
15 Jun 07

Yerevan, 15 June: Armenian radio stations Vem, Impuls, City FM,
Ardzagank, Radio Hay, and FM 105.5 are disputing in the Court of
Cassations the government’s decision that radio and television
companies have to pay annually to the Ministry of Transport and
Communications for service, an attorney for the radio stations has
told a news conference.

Olga Safaryan, the legal council of the Internews, a non-government
organization, said that after studying the legal basis of the
ministry’s decision, she has concluded that it was passed with
violations of Articles 42 and 45 of the Armenian Constitution. She
also said that the radio stations had filed a claim with the Economic
Court of Armenia in February 2007 with a demand to void the ministry’s
decision of annual fees of 900,000 drams [about 2,600 dollars]. On
11 May 2007, the Economic Court dismissed the claim.

Safaryan said that the court’s ruling is a violation of the law. She
said they had appealed to the Court of Cassations on 25 May to overrule
the verdict of the Economic Court.

The radio stations have not yet received a reply regarding their
appeal.