Author: Kalantarian Kevo

ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA ANNOUNCES MASTERS OF CEREMONIES FOR THE 2009 NATIONAL ADVOCACY CONFERENCE & BANQUET

armradio.am
26.11.2008 16:18

Representatives Zack Space (D-OH) and Paul Ryan (R-WI) will serve
as the Masters of Ceremonies for the Banquet to be held during the
2009 National Advocacy Conference in Washington, DC, March 1-3,
the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) reported.

During his first term in office, Rep. Space clearly demonstrated his
support for issues of importance to the Armenian-American community. He
is a member of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, a cosponsor
of H. Res. 106, the Genocide affirmation bill, and a cosponsor of
H. Res. 102, condemning the assassination of Hrant Dink.

"As both a member of the Armenian Caucus and as a Greek-American,
I am honored by the Assembly’s decision to offer me the opportunity
to participate in the National Advocacy Conference in Washington,"
said Space.

"In the 111th Congress I will continue to, as I have in the past,
support the issues that are important to the Armenian-American
community and my constituency."

Rep. Ryan has signed every Armenian Genocide Resolution since
he was elected to Congress in 1998. In the 110th Congress, he
was an early cosponsor of both H. Res. 106 and H. Res. 102. He
has also worked toward the economic development of Armenia by
supporting the establishment of Permanent Normal Trade Relations with
Armenia. Additionally, he has cosigned numerous letters to President
Bush urging him to reaffirm the Armenian Genocide during his April
24th address..

"As a long time supporter of Armenian issues, I am honored to serve as
one of the Masters of Ceremonies for the Armenian Assembly’s Advocacy
Conference Banquet," said Ryan, "I look forward to continuing to
work with the Assembly on these important human rights issues in the
111th Congress."

Samuel Avakian, Assembly Activist and constituent of Rep. Ryan stated:
"Rep. Ryan always responds to the needs of the Armenian community
when called upon; I’m sure he’ll be a great master of ceremonies at
the Armenian Assembly’s 2009 National Conference & Banquet."

"We are pleased to have Representatives Space and Ryan as the Masters
of Ceremonies for our Advocacy Conference," stated Bryan Ardouny,
Executive Director of the Assembly. "This is a clear demonstration of
the bipartisan nature of the issues which concern the Armenian-American
community, including Genocide affirmation, a strong U.S.-Armenia
relationship and support for the people of Nagorno Karabakh."

TWO MURDERS COMMITTED YESTERDAY IN VANADZOR AND IJEVAN DISCLOSED

Noyan Tapan

Nov 25, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. According to information of the
website of the RA police, two murders committed in Vanadzor and
Ijevan on November 24 have been disclosed. It was revealed that with
the aim of taking revenge on the person who had beaten him before,
David K, 19, followed Vahan Topalkarajian, 23, in a VAZ-2106 car,
fired 4 times at him from his MO-133 12-calibre rifle near the shop
at 9/1 Usanoghakan Street and killed him.

Three bullet-cases from a 12-calibre hunting rifle were found at the
scene of the crime. Measures are being taken to find David K.

Aratak Ch, 31, who is suspected of killing Valery Aghinian, 44, near
the Marmar Restaurant in the city of Ijevan and stealing a large amount
of money from him, has been arrested. After the murder Artak Ch. put
the body of Valery Aghinian in a VAZ-2121 car belonging to Anush B,
51, and moved the body to an area called "White Water". Part of the
stolen money – 2 million drams was found and seized by the police. An
investigation is underway.

Upon the examination of the body, injuries caused by bullets from a
hunting rifle were found in the chest and abdomen of the body. The
police has revealed that V. Aghinian had 8-10 million drams with him,
and this money was stolen.

"HE STOPPED AND SHOT FOR NO REASON WHATEVER"

A1+
[02:29 pm] 21 November, 2008

Deterioration of Armenian-Azerjainai relations is well perceived in
Armenian frontier villages Aygedzor and Chinari. The Azeri side opens
machine gun-fire on Armenian settlements almost every day.

The villages of Aygedzor and Chinari are respectively 1700 and 800
metres away from Azeri posts.

Residents of Chinari don’t leave their homes for fear of the
worst. Even burials take place at night as people don’t want to die of
an enemy bullet. Local residents say Azeris have turned their village
into "a bomb-sight" and continue bombarding with massive shells.

"As soon as Azeri servicemen get blind drunk they become fearless
and open fire at Armenian posts and settlements. This mainly happens
in the evenings when they get used of the command’s absence," say
Armenian commanding officers.

"Everyone shoots there. Once I was looking through binoculars, and
saw a man with a knapsack passing by. All of a sudden he stоpped,
picked up a machine-gun and began shooting in our direction," said
Commander of N front-line unit Movses Sargsyan.

He says Azeris’ unruliness knows no limits. They violate ceasefire
even before the monitoring when representatives of the International
Committee of the Red Cross are deployed on the contact-line.

During intensive bombardments residents of Chinari hide in
the neighbouring village, Aygedzor, which lies in a gulf and is
inaccessibility for the enemy gun. Nevertheless, people don’t feel
secure in Aygedzor either.

I am afraid to till the land. Hectares of lands lie uncultivated. A few
days ago one of our fellow villagers lost 20 pigs but he didn’t dare to
look for the astray animals," said Aygedzor resident Hamlet Saghamyan.

–Boundary_(ID_lMcPR2wB+LqhWOifdXhQVw) —

REFERENDUM IN NAGORNY KARABAKH IS BLUFF: RUSSIAN EXPERT

ArmInfo
2008-11-21 17:48:00

ArmInfo. The possibility of conducting a referendum in Nagorny Karabakh
in 15- 20 years is a big bluff by Azerbaijan, Araik Sargsyan, a member
of the Presidium of the Russian Academy for Geopolitical Problems,
told media in Yerevan Friday.

Azerbaijan will never recognize independence of the NKR like Serbia
will never recognize Kosovo and Georgia will never recognize Abkhazia
and South Ossetia, but I don’t think it will change something
fundamentally’, he said.

The expert said today NKR is at least an object of the international
law if not a subject, no one casts doubts on this and frequent visits
of OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs to the NKR are evidence of that.

PASSPORT CRISIS SHOWS TURKEY, ARMENIA MUST BREAK MORE TABOOS

Today’s Zaman
Nov 21 2008
Turkey

President Abdullah Gul broke a taboo when he visited Armenia in
September to watch a soccer game between the national teams of the
two countries, but a Turkish professor and a former Turkish ambassador
were recently unable to go to Yerevan to attend a conference as part of
a Turkey-Armenia dialogue series because they carry special passports.

Mensur Akgun, director of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies
Foundation (TESEV), and former Ambassador Yalım Eralp were at
Ä°stanbul Ataturk Airport on Wednesday evening to take a flight
to Yerevan.

Akgun and Eralp, together with a group of about 10 people, were
to attend a conference on Friday in Yerevan called "Breaking the
Vicious Cycle," organized by TESEV and the Yerevan-based Caucasus
Institute. Atlas Jet personnel told them they cannot travel to
Armenia with the "green passports" issued to high-ranking public
servants because there are no diplomatic relations between the two
countries. Airline officials said the two passengers were free to
take the flight on their own initiative, but warned them that the
risk could cost them days at the Yerevan airport.

However, Akgun traveled to Armenia two years ago and Eralp in
2002 with the same passports. They said this must be a new rule —
"interestingly" in a period of rapprochement.

After a period of shock and panic at check-in and following thoughts
about canceling the whole trip, TESEV officials evaluated the
situation and decided that the rest of the delegation, who carry
ordinary passports, should go to Yerevan for the conference, organized
months ago as a contribution to civil society dialogue between the
two countries.

Akgun said bureaucracy usually does not follow developments occurring
in people-to-people contacts even though talks between officials
of the two countries, which have had no formal ties since 1993,
are under way to normalize relations.

"This is bureaucracy. However, it is a scandal that the issue has
not been solved for the academics who usually carry green passports,
especially when there is no political aim to their visit," he told
Today’s Zaman at the airport.

Eralp, visibly angry, was harsher: "Armenia wants rapprochement but at
the same time adopts measures to block it. There were no obstacles to
green passport holders before, but there are now. All Armenia wants
is to open the border — which it does not recognize — to relieve
its economic problems."

Turkey closed its border and severed its ties with Armenia in 1993
in protest of Armenia’s occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.

Foreign Ministry official: No discrimination against Turkey

In Yerevan yesterday, Levon Minasyan, undersecretary of the visa
section at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Armenia passed a
new law last year concerning the rules governing foreigners visiting
Armenia.

Under the new law "If people carry ordinary passports, their visa can
be issued at the airport. But any citizen from any country carrying
a special passport should obtain a visa from the Foreign Ministry,"
he told Today’s Zaman.

He added that following the change in law, they informed Turkish
officials through the Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi and airlines operating
between the countries.

Minasyan explained that special passport holders should contact the
Armenian Foreign Ministry to inform it about the purpose of their
visit, or institutions inviting them should do so three to four days
before the visit.

"We usually issue visas for special passport holders without a problem,
but in this case we never received a request," he said.

Asked about what would have happened if Professor Akgun and Ambassador
Eralp took the flight to Yerevan, Minasyan said: "In this case we
would issue a visa."

Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Caucasus Institute, said the
incident was "shameful" and this it had occurred because of a lack
of normal relations between the two countries.

"The incident demonstrates why the people of both countries need
normal relations. In the 21st century borders should be open, period."

Speaking with Foreign Ministry officials over the phone yesterday,
Iskandaryan found out that Turkey also has a similar requirement for
Armenian special passport holders.

‘Breaking the vicious cycle’

Iskandaryan will deliver the opening remarks at the conference today
without his counterpart, Akgun. Attendees will cover a range of issues,
from Armenian foreign policy to problems and prospects in relations.

Participants include Mete Hatay, working in Cyprus for the Oslo-based
PRIO Peace Institute; Ricardo Serri from the European Commission’s
Turkey team; Sabiha Å~^enyucel and Aybars Görgulu from TESEV’s
foreign policy program; Dorothée Schmid from the Institut Francais
des Relations Internationales; independent expert Masis Mayilyan;
Sergey Minasyan from the Caucasus Institute; and Karen Bekaryan from
the Armenia-based NGO European Integration.

Closing remarks will be made by Armenian Ambassador David Hovhannesyan
without Ambassador Eralp.

–Boundary_(ID_iS+qtF4LBK7GpqqMAliv7g)–

OBAMA’S ELECTION FORCES TURKEY TO RETHINK ITS DEMANDS FROM ARMENIA
By Harut Sassounian

Noyan Tapan

Nov 20, 2008

Turkey has blockaded Armenia for the last 15 years with the vain
hope that this would force Armenian leaders to make concessions to
Ankara on several fronts: Abandon the pursuit of genocide recognition,
acknowledge Turkey’s territorial integrity, and accept Azerbaijan’s
jurisdiction over Artsakh (Karabagh). In return, Turkey offered to
lift the blockade and establish diplomatic relations with Armenia.

Armenia steadfastly rejected these unacceptable Turkish demands,
despite the economic hardships its people endured as a result of the
joint blockades imposed by Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Frustrated with the growing number of countries acknowledging the
Armenian Genocide in recent years, the Turkish government embarked
on a new scheme to try and split Armenia from the Diaspora, hoping
to undermine their joint efforts for the international acknowledgment
of the Armenian Genocide.

In recent months, because of the convergence of several factors –
internal turmoil in Armenia following the presidential elections and
increasing pressure on Yerevan by Western countries and Russia to
reconcile with Turkey – Armenia’s newly elected President offered to
accept the Turkish proposal to establish a joint historical commission
on the Genocide, but only after Turkey would lift its blockade and
establish diplomatic relations with Yerevan.

Shortly after Pres. Serzh Sargsyan’s declaration, the Russian-Georgian
war briefly disrupted the transport of goods between Black Sea ports
and Armenia, making the Armenian government more eager to seek
opening of the Turkish border, which would serve as an alternate
supply route. Moreover, Armenia expressed an interest in joining the
‘Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform,’ which was proposed
by Pres. Abdullah Gul ostensibly to create a closer relationship
between Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey. Pres. Gul’s
initiative would indirectly help Armenia to counter Azerbaijan’s
attempts to isolate and exclude Yerevan from all regional projects.

Turkey enthusiastically welcomed Armenia’s cooperative gestures. As
a result, Pres. Gul accepted Pres. Sargsyan’s invitation to come
to Yerevan – the first such visit by a Turkish leader – to watch a
soccer match between the national teams of the two countries. The
visit brought worldwide accolades to the Turkish president and
raised Turkey’s international stature at a time when the country
was desperately seeking the votes of U.N. members to win a coveted
Security Council seat.

Soon however, the Turkish scheme hit a series of snags. Armenia and
Turkey could not agree on the details – subject matter, composition,
and timing – of the proposed joint historical commission. Turkey,
on the other hand, was in a rush to set up the commission before the
start=2 0 of Barack Obama’s presidency on January 20, 2009, in order
to discourage the incoming U.S. administration from considering the
acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide.

Meanwhile, Armenian officials were reluctant to take action on
the proposed commission, until Turkey opened the border first and
established diplomatic relations with Armenia. The Turkish government
apparently underestimated the resolve of Armenia’s leaders to stick by
these two preconditions and misjudged their determination to withstand
Western pressures on this issue.

After these misjudgments, the Turks made matters worse by insisting
that Armenia agree to return to Azerbaijan a portion of the territories
bordering Artsakh, before Ankara would agree to lift the blockade. This
unacceptable condition threw out of the window any possibility of
rapprochement between the two countries in the immediate future.

Complicating matters further, two new incidents last week proved
that Turkish attempts to drive a wedge between Armenia and the
Diaspora on the genocide issue had failed. Pres. Sargsyan, in an
interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,
agreed with Diaspora leaders that the joint historical commission was
‘absolutely unnecessary.’ He stated: "We do not think that anything can
be achieved by it. We want to establish diplomatic relations between
the two countries, open the borders without any preconditions, and
afterwards, through an intergovernmental process,=2 0we can discuss all
issues pertaining to the neighboring countries. We do not consider the
recognition of the Genocide by Turkey as a precondition to establishing
relations. We desire the latter, but not at any cost. In the past,
European countries too did not establish historical commissions in
order to develop normal relations. Such an initiative could also mean
an attempt to mislead the international public, especially when it
is a multi-year process."

In another setback, the Turkish newspaper Zaman alleged that Armenia’s
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had questioned the value of more
countries recognizing the Armenian Genocide, prompting him to issue
a statement refuting the Turkish report. "The recent news by the
Turkish press ascribed to Armenian officials about the international
recognition of the Armenian Genocide is distorted and presented
upside down. I have stated many times and I want to repeat again that
Armenian officials have never expressed and will never express an idea
in favor of suspension of the process of international recognition
of the Armenian genocide. Moreover, Armenia cannot tolerate any
expression of Armenian Genocide denial," Mr. Nalbandian stated.

Significantly, these setbacks occurred at a time when Turkey’s leaders
are expressing great anxiety over promises made by President-elect
Obama to recognize the Armenian Genocide. In fact, during his last
week’s trip to the United States, Prime Ministe r Recep Erdogan
repeatedly expressed his serious concern about Mr.

Obama’s announced intentions on the genocide. In fact, Turkish and
American officials have advised Mr. Erdogan that Pres. Obama would most
probably acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and the Congress could pass
a resolution on this issue, unless Turkey immediately takes the bold
step of lifting the blockade and establishing diplomatic relations
with Armenia.

Currently, the Turkish Prime Minister is in the process of gauging
the intentions of President-elect Obama on the Armenian Genocide by
communicating with his circle of close advisors. Should he determine
that Mr. Obama is intent on carrying out his campaign promises
on this issue, Mr. Erdogan could then quickly open the border and
establish diplomatic relations with Armenia, in order to preempt any
official action by the U.S. President and/or the Congress. However,
should Mr. Erdogan discover that Pres. Obama is hesitant on keeping
his campaign promises, the Turkish side would then continue making
stiff demands from Armenia.

Under these circumstances, Armenia’s leaders are in no particular
rush. They can patiently wait until they see what position the next
U.S. President would be taking on the Armenian Genocide. In any case,
the Armenian side has nothing to lose by waiting. On the contrary,
by biding its time, the Armenian government could well avoid making
concessions on Artsakh and refuse to establish=2 0the "unnecessary"
historical commission, while getting Turkey to lift the blockade.

NKR PRESIDENT’S MEETINGS IN BOSTON

Panorama.am
19:11 20/11/2008

On 19 November the President of Nagorno Karabakh had a meeting with
the representatives of Union of Armenian Aid, ARF Central Committee
of Eastern Branch of USA, ARF youth union, "Homentmen" union and
"Pan-national" cultural union in Boston. The meeting was organized
in the office of Union of Armenian Aid. During the meeting a wide
range of questions have been discussed, in particular various
projects implemented in NKR, social-economic development of NKR,
Artsakh-Diaspora relationship.

Bako Sahakyan mentioned that cooperation with various organizations
from Diaspora do have positive impact on the improvement of the
country’s life.

At the same day Bako Sahakyan had a meeting with the President of
Armenian Assembly of America Caroline Moogar, Vice President Anthony
Barsamyan, executive director Brian, etc. During the meeting the
ongoing stage of Artsakh-Assembly cooperation has been discussed.

On 19 November President Sahakyan met with a group of Armenian
businessmen of Massachusetts State.

OPPOSITION LEADER CONCERNED ABOUT "WEAKENING" OF ARMENIA’S POSITION IN KARABAKH TALKS

Mediamax
Nov 14 2008
Armenia

Yerevan, 14 November: The chairman of the opposition People’s Party
of Armenia (PPA), Stepan Demirchyan, today voiced concern "about
the weakening of Armenia’s positions" in the negotiations on the
Karabakh settlement.

The PPA leader said at a news conference in Yerevan today that he
believes the final settlement of the Karabakh issue was unlikely to
happen in the coming one or two months.

Demirchyan said that the settlement of the conflict without the
participation of the Karabakh side and on the basis of the "Madrid
principles" would have negative consequences.

He said that his position was based on well-known excerpts from the
proposals of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

CSTO DEFENSE MINISTERS TO MEET IN YEREVAN NOVEMBER 28

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.11.2008 13:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A regular meeting of Defense Ministers of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization will take place in Yerevan on
November 28. The Ministers are expected to consider force development
in the CSTO member states.

They will also discuss the list of joint events to be held in
2010-2014, the CSTO press office reports.

LEADER OF ARMENIAN OPPOSITION MEETS ACTIVISTS OF PARTIES ENTERING ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS

ArmInfo
2008-11-18 10:45:00

ArmInfo. The leader of the Armenian National Congress, the first
president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan met up activists of Liberal
Party of Armenia, Liberty Party and Conservative Party yesterday.

As Armenian National Congress [ANC] told ArmInfo, participants in the
meeting discussed the events around the Karabakh conflict settlement,
domestic political situation and future plans of the ANC.

At the same day Ter-Petrosyan met representatives of youth. They
touched on the same problems mentioned above as well as involvement
of young people in the political processes, in particular in the work
of the ANC.