Author: Kalashian Nyrie

OPPOSITION PLAYS INTO THE HAND OF ARMENIA’S ENEMIES WHEN OFFERING TO BRING EX-PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARYAN TO JUSTICE OF HAGUE TRIBUNAL

ArmInfo
2008-07-23 17:26:00

The opposition plays into the hands of Armenia’s enemies when offering
to bring ex-President Robert Kocharyan to justice of Hague tribunal,
representative of ARF Dashnaktsutyun’s Supreme Body Armen Rustamyan
said today. ‘One should not forget that our Azerbaijani neighbours will
approve this step of our oppositionist without fail’, A. Rustamyan
said. He thinks that such actions are inadmissible as they discredit
Armenia before the external world.

‘Have we forgotten that after March 1-2 events in Yerevan, the
Azerbaijani Army, availing of the internal instability in Armenia,
attacked the Karabakh Army’s positions, having taken part of our
territory under control for the first time? This should not recur’,
A. Rustamyan resumed.

On July 14, representative of the ‘National Movement’ Center,
supporting ex-President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, David
Shahnazaryan said that the Armenian opposition collects signatures for
commencement of action to Hague tribunal against the second President
of Armenia Robert Kocharyan.

This step of the opposition was caused by the recent interview of R.

Kocharyan which, in the opposition’s opinion, indicates that
R. Kocyharyan made a decision on the law machinery actions during
March 1 events personally.

WHAT HADRIAN CAN TEACH OBAMASENATOR, A TRIP TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM’S EXHIBITION WILL BE OF FAR MORE BENEFIT THAN HANGING OUT WITH GLOOMY GORDON BROWN

Martin Kettle
guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday July 23, 2008

As you know, senator, there are two main objects of your day in
London. One is to gladhand some of those big campaign donors who are
allowed to live in the UK tax-free and so still have serious money
in the bank to offer you.

The second, of course, is to be seen by Americans in a setting that
tells them you are already a leader on the world stage.

Unfortunately, no one Stateside can recognise this new gloomy Gordon
Brown guy or that preppy David Cameron fellow who is lining up to
succeed him.

That’s why we’ve fixed the session with Tony Blair, since most
Americans think he’s still the man in charge there anyway. And it’s
why we want you to do that press availability in front of the No
10 door as well. That should send all the right messages for the
weekend talkshows.

However, senator, we also now advise a late change to your London
schedule.

The truth is that you have a lot more to offer the UK politicians than
they have to offer you. So we propose cutting back your facetime with
Brown and the rest in favour of something much more photogenic that
we think would benefit you more. That something is a visit to the
British Museum’s brand new exhibition about the Emperor Hadrian. This
may seem a bit left-field but here’s the reason why it couldn’t be
more relevant to you today.

You see, senator, Hadrian’s predecessor Trajan had staked everything on
conquering Mesopotamia, which of course is the modern Iraq. At first
Trajan successfully persuaded Romans that the war was going well, but
in fact the mission was overstretched and gradually his campaign was
undermined by a widespread local insurgency. So when Hadrian became
emperor of Rome in 117 AD, just about the first thing he did after
his inauguration was to withdraw the Roman legions from Mesopotamia,
Assyria and Greater Armenia. All this came as a shock to the Roman
psyche, which had been nurtured on endless tales of triumph, but in
the end it made much better sense to bring the boys home. It meant
Hadrian was able to consolidate Rome’s boundaries and concentrate on
the military campaigns that truly threatened Rome’s security.

Senator, you should know that not everything about Hadrian was as
inspired and successful as the withdrawal from Mesopotamia. There
are some sections of the British Museum exhibition that you should
definitely avoid visiting until after election day. In particular
there is a searing section which describes how he was responsible for
killing hundreds of thousands of Jews during a revolt against Roman
rule starting in 132 AD. So be certain to say very publicly that
Hadrian offers eternal lessons both for good and for evil. Apart
from that, the Hadrian visit will be all gain. It will show you
understand the world better than President Bush. And in the end,
that’s what this campaign is all about anyway, senator.

IRANIAN INITIATIVE IN ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

AZG Armenian Daily
24/07/2008

Armenia-Turkey-Iran

Iranian Foreign Minister Mannucher Mottaki while being on an official
visit to Ankara July 18 had a telephone conversation with his Armenian
counterpart Edward Nalbandian, informed the Embassy of the Islamic
Republic of Iran to Turkey. Issues of regional developments and
bilateral relations were discussed during the conversation.

According to the IRNA agency, Mottacki spoke with gratification about
the favorable atmosphere that has recently formed between Armenia
and Turkey, and hoped that the atmosphere will contribute to the
friendship of neighboring countries and the peace in the region

Edward Nalbandian highly qualified the Iranian initiative to establish
a constructive dialogue between the neighboring countries.

The political observers consider the conversation of the Iranian
Foreign Minister from Ankara with his Armenian counterpart as profound.

IRNA assessed the conversation as an initiative in Armenian-Turkish
relations underlining that Iran being a reliable country in the region
can take the role of a mediator between Turkey and Armenia using the
warm relations with Yerevan.

"Hay tert" (Armenian newspaper) of Istanbul informed the
above-mentioned in its website on July 22.

ELMAR MAMEDYAROV: "AZERBAIJAN IS INTERESTED IN COOPERATION WITH NEIGHBOR COUNTRIES, WHICH ARE DEVELOPING STABLY, CONSISTENTLY AND RELIABLY"

Today.Az
July 18 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov today received Greek
ambassador to Azerbaijan Temistokls Dimidis due to the completion of
his diplomatic mission in our country, reports the press service for
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry.

During the meeting the sides stressed importance of expansion and
deepening of bilateral cooperation, especially, in the economic
sphere. At the same time, the sides underlined importance of the
Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline to pump Caspian gas to the world markets
and highly appreciated Azerbaijan-Greece cooperation in this sphere.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Minister noted that the country is leading in
the region and got interested in cooperation with neighbor countries
which are developing stably, consistently and reliably. As for the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, Mamedyarov said Armenia should build
peaceful relations with its neighbors.

In turn, the Greek ambassador noted that a country is not able to
choose its neighbors that is why it is necessary to maintain balanced
relations with one’s neighbors. He cited growing cooperation between
Turkey and Greece.

ARMENIA 1997-2008

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on July 17, 2008
Armenia

"Tigran Mets" printing house has published a book entitled "Armenia
1997-2008". The book presents a summary of the activities carried
out during the 10 years of Robert Kocharyan’s presidency.

"We are convinced that there will appear a lot of other books devoted
to Armenia’s political and economic life of the past 10 years,"
the authors of the book mentioned in the preface. They also added
that, "the second President may deem it necessary to introduce new,
comprehensive publications to society."

THREE PARTICIPANTS OF MASS RIOTS IN YEREVAN SENTENCED TO VARIOUS TERMS

Interfax News Agency
July 16 2008
Russia

The Yerevan Criminal Court sentenced Armenak Abraamian, a participant
in the March riots in Yerevan, to a three-year suspended sentence,
Armenian Court of Appeals spokeswoman Alina Yengoyan said.

He was charged under the Criminal Code’s article on "mass riots."

Yengoyan said that two other participants of the March riots,
Mikael Serobian and Suren Minasian were also sentenced to suspended
sentences. "They were charged with theft and sentenced to a two-year
and one-year suspended sentence respectively, she said.

In addition, the General Jurisdiction Court of the Nork-Marash and
Centre communities of Yerevan sentenced Aslan Avetisian to six months
in jail, she said.

He was also charged under the Criminal Code article on mass riots,
she said.

"Artak Nagapetian received a suspended two-year sentence. He has been
charged with theft," she said.

Following the presidential election on February 19, the Armenian
opposition headed by former president Levon Ter-Petrosian organized
large-scale protests. On March 1, these protests led to clashes with
police killing ten and wounding more than 250 people.

Currently 17 people are under preliminary arrest.

GEORGIAN, U.S. TROOPS HOLD IMMEDIATE RESPONSE EXERCISE AT VAZIANI BASE

Interfax News Agency
July 15 2008
Russia

Georgian-U.S. military drills began at a military base in Georgia
on Tuesday.

The official opening ceremony of the joint international exercise
Immediate Response 2008 will take place on July 15, the Georgian
Defense Ministry told Interfax.

The three-week joint Georgian-U.S. exercise will be held at the
military base in Vaziani, near Tbilisi. Staff officers from Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Ukraine will also participate.

The command post exercise will be held between land brigades. Apart
from theory and practice, the exercise plan also includes humanitarian
operations in extreme conditions.

The exercise will involve around 1,650 servicemen in all, including
450 from Georgia.

GEORGIA’S JOINING NATO TO CAUSE GEOPOLITICAL DIVISION

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.07.2008 16:13 GMT+04:00

Georgia’s joining NATO will cause geopolitical division, with further
split of Georgia and the entire region, a Russian expert said.

"It is well known that neither Abkhazia nor South Ossetia intends to
join NATO and, what is more, Mikheil Saakashvili is not going to seek
their consent," Mikhail Alexandrov, head of the Caucasus department
at Moscow’s Institute for Commonwealth of Independent States, told
a news conference in Yerevan.

"It’s premature to speak of Russia’s recognition of Abkhazia and
South Ossetia’s independence. As to the other unrecognized republics,
namely Nagorno Karabakh and Transnistria, I think Armenia should be
the first to recognize Karabakh. Although, reaction of Azerbaijan
and international community should be taken into account," he said.

The expert did not rule out that Georgia’s President can plunge
into a military adventure. Comparing Georgia to Germany in 1939,
Alexandrov said, "No one believed that Hitler will attack the Soviet
Union but it happened. Actually, subversive-terrorist war against
Russian peacekeepers is going on in South Ossetia and its consequences
are unpredictable."

CELL PHONE THIRD OPERATOR KNOWN IN 90 DAYS

Panorama.am
16:41 16/07/2008

Public Services Regulatory Commission of Armenia held a discussion
on affirming the package of providing license to the cell phone third
operator and radio frequency access. According to Gevorg Gevorgyan the
head of electronic communication department, the minimal sum to get
the license is 10mln euros. Those who can not meet the early stage
will get back the sum.

After discussing the questions marked by the agenda the committee has
affirmed the package to announce the tender of providing license to
the cell phone third operator and frequency access.

Note that the tender will be announced on July 17-18 in "The Wall
Street Journal" and "Financial Times" magazines. After 90 days the
winner of the tender will be announced.

JOURNALISTS MEET WITH CHINESE AND IRANIAN DIRECTORS WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF GOLDEN APRICOT

NOYAN TAPAN

JU LY 16

Within the framework of the Golden Apricot (Voske Tsiran) 5th
International Film Festival, on July 15, Armenian journalists met with
Chinese director S. Cai, the author of The Red Awn film, and Iranian
director Abolfazl Saffary taking part in the contest of fiction films.

According to Mikayel Stamboltsian, the director of festival’s programs,
a cinema critic, 25 years ago Iranian and Chinese cinematography
developed rapidly. He said that Armenian film spectators already
thanks to the previous festivals had a possibility to deal with
Iranian cinematography classics but had not dealt with the Chinese
ones yet. In his opinion, it will be especially interesting to see
films by new generation’s representatives, thanks to which "we will
receive the new word of those countries’ cinematography."

"Iranian cinematography classics spoke about simple truths and
the young people have started doubting these thruths. Saffary’s
film, for instance, shows that simple thruths are not so simple,"
M. Stamboltsian said.

The Iranian director has happily brought his film End of the Earth
to Armenia, as its showing had been prohibited in Iran for two years
and only this year it has received a right of showing. This is the
director’s first fiction film. Before that he shot documentary,
feature, and short films.

According to him, however, "in this case also documentary’s influence
is seen."

According to Chinese director S. Cai, The Rad Awn film is about people
who have lost their place and are between a city and a village. "1
million people move to Chinese cities every year. The reason is that
they have lost their lands or strive for a happy life, but they do
not become city dwellers, either, and lose their identity," the artist
said. The Red Awn’s hero, nevertheless, choses the city. The director
conditions this by the fact that the youth has no other way. "Maybe
it is cruel, but it is reality," he said.

According to S. Cai, he is very happy to visit Armenia: "I am here for
the first time, but I have the impression that I have known Armenia
for already a long time."