Author: Kalantarian Kevo

OFFICIAL BAKU CALLS ON OSCE MINSK GROUP’S CO-CHAIRS TO INFER FROM AZERBAIJAN’S RECENT MESSAGE

Trend News Agency
April 1 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 1 April /TrendNews corr K. Ramazanova/ The official
Baku calls on the co-chairs of OSCE Minsk Group engaged in settling
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to infer from the Azerbaijan’s
recent message.

"The co-chairs monopolize the negotiations and direct them into that
course which is good for them," the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister
Araz Azimov said to the journalists on 1 April.

The official Baku sent an inquiry to the OSCE to get informed about
the replacement of the co-chairing countries or the co-chairs of the
OSCE Minsk Group. The official Baku has taken such rough measures
because on 14 March the Minsk Group’s co-chairing countries did not
support the Resolution on the Situation in the Occupied Territory of
Azerbaijan at the UN General Assembly’s meeting.

Azimov said that Azerbaijan did not state its intention to replace
the co-chairs. "The letter which Azerbaijan sent to the Minsk Group
was a tactical step. The strategic step is that Azerbaijan observes
not full use of the Minsk Group’s potential," Azimov said.

Azimov said that Azerbaijan is ready to continue the negotiations
to remove the gap in the main principles of settling the conflict,
which were presented by the Minsk Group to Azerbaijan and Armenia in
autumn 2007. "The territorial integrity is non-alternative issue for
negotiations and Azerbaijan is ready to continue the negotiations
only if the issue is provided," he said.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to the Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, the Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven neighboring
districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire
agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently
holding peaceful negotiations.

AZERBAIJAN’S POLITICAL PARTIES AND NGOS CALL ON MINSK GROUP TO ACT IN LINE WITH NORMS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

Today
.html
April 1 2008
Azerbaijan

The political parties of Azerbaijan have adopted a statement against
the position of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries, which
they expressed during the voting in the UN General Assembly on the
resolution on Nagorno Karabakh, Day.Az reports with reference to the
press service for Yeni Azerbaijan party.

The ruling elite initiated a round table which involved Ana Veten
party, Party of Public Welfare, Party of Great Creation, Party of
Single Popular Front of Azerbaijan, Adalyat party, Party of Civil
Unification, Party of Civil Solidarity, Alliance for Unification and
National Forum of Azerbaijani NGOs.

"The OSCE Minsk Group should deal with the resolution of Nagorno
Karabakh conflict seriously, as it bears the whole responsibility
for it.

It is necessary to demonstrate a differing approach to this issue, as
sometimes the mediators make statements, covering up the aggressive
actions of Armenia, which does not comply with the principle of the
peaceful resolution of the problem", the statement reads.

The political parties and NGOS called on the Minsk Group to act in
line with the norms of international law.

The said statement has been sent to the embassies of the United States,
Russia and France.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION ADOPTION IN SOFIA CITY COUNCIL DELAYED

PanARMENIAN.Net
31.03.2008 15:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution in
Sofia’s city council was delayed on initiative of the Bulgarian
government.

A joint press conference of Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev
and his Turkish counterpart was nearly disrupted owing to extreme-right
Attack (ATAKA) Party, whose leader Volen Siderov said he will ask the
Turkish PM questions about the Armenian Genocide at the hands of the
Ottoman Empire in 1915.

The press conference took place anyway. Bulgaria’s Prime Minister
made his apologies for the incident to his Turkish counterpart,
Zaman reports.

AZERBAIJAN ACCUSES MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS OF INFLAMING NEW WAR

ARMENPRESS
March 31, 2008

BAKU, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS: Azerbaijani defense ministry accused
Russia, USA and France of stirring up a new war between Armenia and
his country.

The three countries are the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group that
has been handling since 1992 efforts to help Armenia and Azerbaijan
end their dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan has stepped up its never-ending criticism of the Minsk
Group after representatives of the three countries in the UN voted
against an Azerbaijani resolution demanding that Armenian troops be
pulled out from regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Unfortunately, the co-chairs who have failed over these 15 years to
find a conflict settlement option questioned the resolution passed
by the UN by voting against it," said Eldar Sabirogly, a spokesman
for Azerbaijani defense ministry.

He was quoted by Trend news agency as saying that the resolution,
endorsed by 39 UN members, mostly by countries form the organization
of Islamic Conference (OIC) is a document that has a program for
ending the conflict.

"The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs should not have behaved like that
(to vote against the resolution).

Instead of trying to stave off a new bloodshed they have taken sides
with one of the conflicting parties and therefore their activity is
aimed actually at inflaming a new war,’ he was quoted as saying.

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN MEETS GREEK PRIME MINISTER, PACE PRESIDENT

arminfo
2008-03-31 15:46:00

ArmInfo. Raffi K. Hovannisian, the Heritage Party’s parliamentary
leader and member of Armenia’s delegation to the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), met over the weekend with
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and privately exchanged views
on matters of mutual concern, Heritage Party told ArmInfo.

Hovannisian was in Greece to take part in a policy conference,
entitled "Anti-terrorist Measures and Human Rights," organized by
PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights together with its
Sub-Committee on Crime Problems and the Fight against Terrorism.

In the framework of the conference, Raffi Hovannisian conferred on
the global challenges of security and civil liberties, unfolding
regional developments, and deepening domestic crises with renowned
human rights experts and MPs from several European nations. He
discussed these issues separately with newly-elected PACE President
Lluis Maria de Puig.

Accompanied by Aristotelis Pavlidis, Greece’s former minister of
finance and current head of the Hellenic Republic’s delegation to
PACE, Raffi Hovannisian attended a special session of the Greek
Parliament. There he met, for the second time in the past couple of
years, with his long-time colleague Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

CONSUELLO VIDAL VISITED AZTAG DAILY HEADQUATERS

Aztag Daily
March 28 2008
Lebanon

Yesterday, March 27, Consuello Vidal, UN Resident Coordinator and UN
Development Programme Resident Representative in Armenia, visited
"Aztag" and met with Shahan Kandaharian, the editor-in-chief. She
was accompanied by Sona Hamalian, the head of the public relations
department and Narineh Sahagian, head of ARR Programme. The guests
presented the purpose and the progress of their visit to Lebanon
as well as the main fields of their mission in Armenia. Then, they
toured Aztag and got acquainted with the work processes of "Aztag".

It was agreed that the above mentioned UN office will send all the
news and bulletins concerning their activities directly to "Aztag".

Soon the readers of "Aztag" will have the opportunity to read about
the different activities of UN offices in Armenia.

U.S. IS FOR CONTINUING MCA IN ARMENIA: DIPLOMAT

ARMENPRESS
March 28, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS; Joseph Pennington, U.S. charge
d’affaires in Armenia, said today at a news conference that
president-elect Serzh Sarkisian’s statements show that he is ready
to take steps to put Armenia back on democracy track.

He said the implementation of these steps is the main reason why the
U.S. government has not frozen Armenia’s eligibility for the Millennium
Challenges Account program under which Armenia is to receive a hefty
$236 million extra aid from Washington.

U.S. officials have repeatedly said that the sum’s disbursement is
conditional on democratic reform and improved governance in Armenia.

"We believe it will be just to give Armenia’s new leadership a chance
to fix the situation. If we see positive steps with all negative
trends being e eliminated that will certainly have a positive effect
on Armenia’s eligibility,’ he said.

Pennington said the goal is not to slap sanctions on Armenia, but to
encourage the government in Yerevan to take action to overcome the
aftereffects of the latest developments. He added the government of
the USA does not seek to stop funding of projects in Armenia because
the beneficiaries are those segments of population who need them.

He said if the government does not take genuine steps to improve the
situation the MCC program will be cancelled.

Pennington reminded that in a letter to president Robert Kocharian, the
head of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), John Danilovich,
warned that the U.S. government agency managing the program could
"suspend or terminate" the five-year aid package because of dramatic
post-election developments in Armenia.

"MCC is reviewing operational aspects of its ongoing work in Armenia
in light of these events, including the suspension of media freedoms
and the imposition of a state of emergency, and is closely monitoring
the situation with U.S. Government and donor colleagues," Danilovich
wrote. He said MCC needs to be certain that "our programs operate in
a democratic environment."

Nevertheless, Pennington said today no decision was made to freeze
the program. He added the U.S. government is for continuation of
the program.

ARMENIAN POLITICAL LIFE AND NATO EXPANSION
By A. Haroutiunian

AZG Armenian Daily
28/03/2008

Regional

Armenia not Concerned with Georgia’s NATO Membership?

The Armenian Center for National And Strategic Research (ACNSR)
organized a discussion on NATO expansion in Caucasus. About 50 people
were invited to the discussion, but only a minor part of them was
present to the event.

The participants of the discussion rather spoke about the inner
political situation in Armenia rather than the issues connected with
the North-Atlantic alliance.

However, the first Rapporteur, former Vice Defence Minister Vahan
Shirkhanian, pointed out three possible ways of development of the
NATO activities in Georgia.

According to Mr. Shirkhanian, Georgia may soon become a full NATO
member by the localized Balkan scenario, and restore its territorial
and administrative integrity with the aid of NATO forces. In this
circumstances the Russia-Georgia relations would worsen even more,
Armenia would face serious troubles with its vital communications with
abroad and the military actions in Georgia would encourage Azerbaijan
to recommence the armed conflict in Karabakh.

According to the second scenario, observed by Shirkhanian, Georgia
would be given the green light on the coming NATO Summit in Bucharest
and Georgia-NATO negotiations on membership would be started. This
would encourage Azerbaijan to start in its turn similar negotiations
with NATO. Thus, Armenia would remain alone amidst three NATO-oriented
states.

Shirkhanian said that most probably NATO will decide not to decide
to start membershiop negotiations with Georgia yet and will beware
of provoking armed clashes in the region.

The idea of ACNSR expert Hovsep Khurshudian’s speech was rather
vague. With a few words, it may be said that Kurshudian tried to
convince the listeners that the situation inside Armenia is so bad
that the issue of Georgia’s NATO membership is of little importance
compared with that.

Independent expert Manvel Sargsian, instead of speaking on the topic
of his report, which was also the possible membership of Georgia in
NATO, was deliberating vaguely on "some forces" in our region, which
were suggestedly "the West" and Russia. it came out from his words
that there is no power in the world which could match "the West",
and even Russia’s chances to oppose it are close to zero.

ARMENIAN OMBUDSMAN: DUAL SITUATION IN THE COUNTRY TODAY

arminfo
2008-03-27 17:48:00

ArmInfo. According to the data of Armenian Ombudsman, participants in
the silent walk of the opposition activists, detained yesterday, have
been set free. To recall, about 50 people were detained on 26 March,
including Pavel Martirosyan, father of the opposition Heritage party
member Armen Martirosyan.

As Armenian Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan told ArmInfo correspondent,
he has already had a contact with the Police because yesterday they
broke maximally allowed time of staying of the detained people in the
police station – 3 hours. He also added that today a dual situation
has been created in the country when the police and the oppositionists
differently assess what is taking place at the North Avenue. One can
make the following conclusion: the letter of the law for the political
purposes is used irrationally. ‘For its part, office of the ombudsman
is trying to preserve a neutral position’, – Harutyunyan said.

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

PRESS RELEASE
March 27, 2008

Contact: Ani Garabedian

ANC-WR Meets Governor Dukakis at AHC Banquet

Los Angeles, CA – On March 22, 2008, the Armenian National Committee –
Western Region (ANC-WR) joined the Greek American community at the
American Hellenic Council’s (AHC) 33rd Annual Honors Dinner Dance held
at the OMNI Hotel in Los Angeles. ANC-WR Chairman Vicken
Sonentz-Papazian, ANC-WR Executive Director Andrew Kzirian and ANC-WR
Community Relations Director Haig Hovsepian attended the event along
with ANC activist Boghos Patatian and ANC-WR volunteers Theodora
Giallouri and Elli Menounou, both graduate students studying political
science.

"The American Hellenic Council is to be strongly commended for its
work in representing the interests of the Greek American community",
said Kzirian. "Like our organization, the AHC is committed to raising
awareness of human rights concerns while helping to develop leaders
and advocates in the community – we look forward to continuing our
strong relationship with the Greek American community and the AHC," he
added.

This annual event, hosted by the American Hellenic Council (AHC), a
Greek American, grassroots advocacy organization, honors dedicated
individuals who have demonstrated leadership in and continue to make a
difference for the Hellenic Cause. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren
(D-CA-16), Dr. Chrysostomos L. Max Nikias (Provost and Senior Vice
President of Academic Affairs, USC) and Peter Demopoulos (President of
the Hellenic University Club) were among those honored during the
evening’s program. The evening also featured the radio voice of the
Los Angeles Lakers, Spero Dedes and Glendale City Clerk Ardashes
Kassakhian as co-masters of ceremonies.

The ANC-WR enjoys an amicable relationship with the AHC and Greek
American community. The ANC-WR stood in solidarity with the AHC when
it raised concerns regarding a joint educational program between San
Diego State University and Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus.
In addition, Greek Americans consistently join Armenian Americans in
Congressional meetings and government affairs work.

The Armenian National Committee – Western Region is the largest and
most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in
the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of
offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States
and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANC-WR advances
the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of
issues.

###

Photo Caption: Former Presidential Nominee, Governor Michael Dukakis
(center), joined by (from left to right) Andrew Kzirian, Angineh
Kzirian and Haig Hovsepian.