Author: Kalashian Nyrie

A1plus
| 14:14:56 | 15-04-2005 | Social |
4 NUMBERS THAT SHOCKED LIZ GRANDE
The statistical brochure «Men and Women in Armenia» has been published
devoted to the 3rd of the 10 aims of the UN: to contribute to gender
equality and enhance women’s rights.
Liz Grande, UA Armenian office coordinator, was surprised by the fact that
in Armenia there are no woman region governors, no woman mayors, and there
are only several woman governing villages, while 75% of the people working
in the regions are women.
Stepan Mnatsakanyan head of the RA statistics service who was representing
the brochure mentioned the fields in which no analysis of gender statistics
is done, and the fields in the statistics investigations are not done at
all. Absence of gender analysis is mainly accounted for by the absence of
information and the non-transparency of the corresponding systems.

RUSSIAN CINEMATOGRAPHY FIGURES CONDUCT SKILL LESSONS FOR CINEMA AND
THEATRE STATE INSTITUTE STUDENTS
YEREVAN, APRIL 12, NOYAN TAPAN. On April 11, Daniel Spivakovski and
Mikhail Yevlanov, actors playing the main parts in the films “My
Step-brother Frankenstein” and “Ours,” as well as Sergei Lazaruk,
Chief of RF Cinematography Department, conducted skill lessons in
Yerevan Cinema and Theatre State Institute in connection with the week
of Russian films. S.Lazaruk said that 80 films were released last year
in Russia, 17 out of which were debutes. The same day actors of
Russian Art Theatre after Chekhov also conducted skill lessons at the
Institute.

Der Tagesspiegel, Deutschland
13 April 2005
Turkey against resolutions on Armenians
Türkei gegen Resolutionen zu Armeniern
Ankara – Die Türkei hat den deutschen Bundestag und andere westliche
Parlamente aufgefordert, auf geplante Resolutionen zur Armenier-Frage
zu verzichten. Parlamente könnten keine Urteile über historische
Ereignisse fällen, sagte Außenminister Abdullah Gül am Mittwoch in
einer Regierungserklärung in der Nationalversammlung von Ankara. Er
wies darauf hin, dass im Bundestag ein Beschluss zur Armenier-Frage
diskutiert werden solle; in den Parlamenten Frankreichs und der USA
gebe es ähnliche Bestrebungen. Gül wies erneut den Vorwurf eines
Völkermords der Türken an den Armeniern 1915 zurück. Die Türkei sei
aber bereit, den Völkermord-Vorwurf gemeinsam mit Armenien zu
untersuchen.
Gül betonte, das Osmanische Reich habe sich 1915 gegen armenische
„Terroristen` wehren und die Umsiedlungen einleiten müssen. Die
Türkei habe nichts zu verbergen. Nach den Worten Güls habe der
türkische Ministerpräsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan in einem Brief dem
armenischen Präsidenten Robert Kotscharian die Bildung einer
gemeinsamen Expertenkommission zur Untersuchung des
Völkermord-Vorwurfes vorgeschlagen. sei

IS LASTING PEACE BASED ON JUSTICE POSSIBLE?
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
13 April 05
In the process of resolution of any conflict, including ours, the
notion of justice is used very often. In this context a number of
questions occur: isit possible to reach peace or conflict resolution
without justice; which is more important, peace or justice? Naturally,
each of the conflict sides considers its claims more fair and
sometimes the only fair ones. In addition, the sides may put forward
various arguments which are often fair. And in this case controversial
arguments on justice come forward, which may seem absurd, for
everybody accepts that there is one justice. In this case, how is it
possible to find justice and what is the fundament of justice? In
order to answer this question it is necessary to analyse briefly the
notion of justice. What do we understand when we say `justice’ and
what is `peace’? We think it would be right to analyse also the
aspects of justice each of which represents justice itself and without
which it is not easy to understand justice, especially in such a
controversial and intricate issue as the resolution of conflicts.
Several general types of justice can be singled out. The most delicate
one is historical justice. It is the kind of justice which is the most
easily accepted by people. For instance, Azerbaijan considers Nagorno
Karabakh the historical land of Azerbaijan, the cradle of Azerbaijani
culture. On the other hand, we do nothave doubts about the historical
and national belonging of Karabakh. The memory of the policy of
discrimination carried out by the Baku authorities against the
Autonomous Region of Nagorno Karabakh is still living with us. What is
more, both the conflict sides consider their standpoints and arguments
historically just, and those of the opposite side unjust and falsified.
If we try to express this idea in a more simple way, we will say that
they do not judge winners.In our case this means that after the war
imposed on us by Azerbaijan, heavy losses of life and destruction the
victory of NKR in the war with all the consequences resulting from it
must be recognized; this will the triumph ofjustice. Compromise can
be regarded as the third form of justice. This is the most intricate
mechanism of achieving justice, which first of all takes into
consideration the actuality and the history and it may result in a
lasting solution of a conflict. Nevertheless, this kind of justice
does not always end in lasting peace. This happens in the case when
the compromise is not reached by the direct sides of the conflict but
the great powers behind them which divide their spheres of influence.
In the light of the above mentioned it becomes clear that for fair
peace it is necessary that the peace and justice should correspond. In
this context I would like to single out two types of peace. The one is
the victory in the confrontation which corresponds to the second type
of justice. The other type of peace is the peace through compromise
which corresponds to the respective type of justice. Fair and lasting
peace may be reached only in the case when the corresponding types of
peace and justice meet. If one of the sides demands historical
justice, it is impossible to achieve peace through compromise. By the
way, historical justice does not have time restrictions,and as it was
mentioned above, it does not always correspond to the facts. The
important thing is that the side claiming for historical justice
should be sure of having reason. The standpoint of Baku in reference
to unacceptability of changes of borders of the former Soviet
Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan isa manifestation of this type of
historical justice. On the other hand, it is difficult to achieve
justice through compromise if one of the conflict sides has achieved
peace through victory in confrontation. By the way, peace and justice
through compromise can be more easily achieved by the winner than the
loser. It is not difficult to guess from the above-mentioned
descriptions of justice and peace that the pivotal component of
conflict resolution is justice. Even if peace was achieved through
forcible means, but the conflict sides and especially the losing side,
recognize the justice of peace (for example, the post-war situation in
Germany and Europe), peace itself becomes fair and lasting. Asto
justice, the first two types mentioned are, actually, unilateral, that
is to say, they are acceptable for only one of the sides. Justice
through compromise may be acceptable for all the conflict sides but in
this case the components of compromise need to be agreed on, which
sometimes renders it impossible. In this case, may there be a
mechanism of conflict resolution when justice and peace mean quite the
opposite things to the sides of the conflict? Which is the standard of
justice accepted by the international community? Certainly, the
Karabakh conflict cannot be solved on the basis of historical justice.
Arguments mainly based on historical justice are strange and
unacceptable for the international community. The absolute circulation
of the post-war actualities is also unacceptable for the international
community. However, it does not mean that the international community
will overlook the historical justice and the post-war reality; in some
cases these will be taken into account by all means. At present human
rights and democracy underlie the system of world political values,
and the international community will take into consideration the
historical aspect and the post-conflict situation, evaluating the
process of building a democratic state on the basis of social justice
in the countries involved in the conflict. In this context the claims
of the side firmly standing on the way of democratization and social
justice will seem more fair to the international community, and
neglecting the historical justice and the reality will seem to them
unfair not only toward the conflict side but, in general, the
principles of democracy. In this respect the Republic of Nagorno
Karabakh has advantages over Azerbaijan. In building a democratic
society we are much ahead of Azerbaijan where building a democratic
society is excluded in the near future because of a number of
objective reasons. First of all, the formation of the Azerbaijani
nation is not over yet. It is still young and disunited. The
Azerbaijani nation, actually, consists of Muslim peoples living in
this republic. Besides Turks, the Talish, Lezgi, Tat people and others
are also referred to as Azerbaijanis. If genuine democracy is
established in Azerbaijan, Baku will have to recognize the right of
self-determination of not only Nagorno Karabakh but also the other
nationalities, for example the Lezgis and the Talish. And this will
threaten the existence of Azerbaijan as an independent
state. Therefore, in the foreseeable future democracy is not possible
there. Consequently, only by keeping to the process of building a
democratic society will we manage to reach peace on the basis of
historical justice. Not playing down the role of the talks between the
presidents and foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, it can be
stated that the future of Nagorno Karabakh depends on the home
political development in NKR, strengthening of democratic institutions
and democratic values in the country.
DAVIT BABAYAN.
13-04-2005

Azeri Defence Ministry denies Armenian report of truce violation
Bilik Dunyasi news agency
13 Apr 05
BAKU
The report carried by certain Armenian media that the Azerbaijani side
violated the cease-fire during the OSCE monitoring of the front line
in Tartar District on 11 April is wide of the mark, the press
spokesman for the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry, Ramiz Malikov, has
said.
Malikov said that the monitoring passed off without incidents. The
planned monitoring was carried out on the Azerbaijani side by the
personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office, Andrzej
Kasprzyk, and his field assistants.
On the Armenian side, the monitoring was carried out by the field
assistants of the personal representative of the OSCE
chairman-in-office, Miroslav Vymetal (Czech Republic) and Olexandr
Samarski (Ukraine).

A1plus
| 15:00:39 | 12-04-2005 | Politics |
IS AZERBAIJAN GOING TO EXERT PRESSURE ON ARMENIA?
US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is arriving in Baku this Tuesday.
Well known sources of information report that the head of Pentagon is
arriving to discuss the deployment US military bases in Azerbaijan. Thus,
Assistant News cites US Professor of International Relations Hakim Kaufman:
«To date the US spreads out troops in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Iraq
preparing for the war against Iran.
Sunday Times weekly adheres to the same opinion.
As for the military bases in Azerbaijan, they will perform several more
functions such as guard of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, for
example. And last but not least, Azerbaijan is going to use the presence US
military bases as an instrument for exerting pressure on Armenia in Karabakh
issue.

Armenian deputy defence minister names principles of military reform
Mediamax news agency
12 Apr 05
YEREVAN
The leadership of the Armenian armed forces is planning to set up by
2015 an army “that will meet the requirements of the 21st century,
confront new challenges and wholly ensure the military security of the
state”, Armenian Deputy Defence Minister Lt-Gen Artur Agabekyan said
in his address to a seminar dedicated to work on the Individual
Partnership Action Plan [IPAP] between Armenia and NATO in Yerevan
today.
Agabekyan said that Armenia’s military leadership intends to study and
analyse foreign experience in the sphere of military reforms, their
results and consequences.
The Armenian deputy defence minister named the four main principles
that the Defence Ministry will use as a guide in the process of
reforms:
– The realistic nature of the reform;
– The gradual character of the reform;
– Flexibility and deep analysis;
– Democracy.

OSCE
April 2 2005
OSCE Chairman calls on all sides to focus on ways to resolve
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

BAKU, 2 April 2005 – In talks today with Azerbaijani officials, the
OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel,
continued to pursue ways of reaching a lasting solution to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, following similar meetings in Armenia on
Wednesday.
Minister Rupel reaffirmed his conviction that every existing avenue
to accelerate this peace process should be explored to the full: “I
encourage all parties to seek the resolution of this issue through
political dialogue. Any means other than those of a peaceful nature
are not part of the OSCE’s vocabulary”, he said.
He called for the stabilization of the situation along the
frontlines. “To defuse the present tension and start developing
confidence between the sides, ceasefire violations must stop.”
After meeting President Ilham Aliyev, the Chairman-in-Office added:
“I would like to see the year 2005 as a turning-point in the process
of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The personal engagement
of the two Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia is an important
milestone on the path to this objective.
“We hope that the peaceful resolution of the conflict will have the
full support of the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh”, he
stressed.
The Minister also said the OSCE welcomed the President’s recent
decree pardoning 115 persons, including the majority of those
imprisoned in the aftermath of the 2003 Presidential Election: “We
hope that this step, and the establishment of the Expert Group to
look at ways of implementing the trial monitoring report, will
promote civil reconciliation.”
Minister Rupel drew attention to the Post-Election Report by the OSCE
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights: “I hope its
recommendations will be implemented prior to the parliamentary
elections due later this year.”
The OSCE Chairman-in-Office also met the Prime Minister of
Azerbaijan, Arthur Rasizade, Parliamentary Chairman Murtuz Alaskarov,
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and the Representative of the
Azerbaijani Population of Nagorno-Karabakh, Nizami Bahmanov, as well
as representatives of political parties and local non-governmental
organizations.
He emphasized the readiness of the OSCE to continue assisting
Azerbaijan in implementing various reforms, particularly in the
fields of anti-corruption and money-laundering, diversification of
the economy, human rights promotion and protection programmes.
“We hope that the reform process will get a new impetus. Together
with increased efforts to promote freedom of assembly and freedom of
the media, political pluralism in the country can be further
strengthened.”
Minister Rupel added that the OSCE would continue to offer its
assistance in the area of judicial reform and underlined the
significance of the principle of a fair trial: “Adoption of the
relevant legislative framework should be followed up by its
implementation”, he said.

For further information, please contact:

Keith Jinks
Deputy Head
Press and Public Information Section
OSCE Secretariat
Kaerntner Ring 5-7
1010, Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43 664 544 62 07 (mobile)
+43 1 514 36 180
+43 676 939 62 22 (mobile)

Fax: +43 1 514 36 105

E-mail: [email protected]
[email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
April 11, 2005
American University of Armenia Corporation
300 Lakeside Drive, 4th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 987-9452
Fax: (510) 208-3576
Contact: Gohar Momjian
E-mail: [email protected]
Armenian Parliamentarians Discuss Constitutional Reforms
YEREVAN — The American University of Armenia (AUA) held a law conference on
March 31 on Armenia’s pending constitutional reforms. Sponsored by the AUA
Law Department and Legal Research Center, the event featured two speakers
from the National Assembly who discussed some of the proposed constitutional
changes and who engaged the audience in a debate of the merits of several
proposed changes.
Lusine Abovian, constitutional law specialist of Armenia’s Legislative
Strengthening Program, & Members of Parliament Arshak Sadoyan and Grigor
Ghonjeyan, agreed that the amendments to the Constitution are based on the
need to harmonize Armenia’s fundamental laws with the democratic principles
accepted throughout the world. The focus of the discussion was to raise
public awareness of Armenia’s constitutional reforms, to examine suggested
draft laws of amendments, to review interpretations of proposed changes to
the constitution, and to clarify the authors’ positions on certain
provisions of the suggested amendments.
According to Arshak Sadoyan, constitutional amendments are necessary `to
reflect the state, historical and modern developments of the Armenian nation
and to foster the best structures and procedures for the consolidation of
the state, to eliminate the deficiencies in the government’s structure, and
to respond to the universal achievements and modern developments of the
Armenian nation.’
`Contemporary constitutional practice, the current problems of social
relations and democracy, the need to further improve the governing system,
the legal commitments assumed by joining the Council of Europe, problems of
fostering the human rights’ protection guarantees, call for constitutional
amendments’ stated Mr. Grigor Ghonjeyan. `It is necessary to streamline the
functional authority of various state power institutes, ensure the
counterbalance of checks and balances as well as balance the relations
between the President, the National Assembly and the Judiciary’.
The Conference was free and open to the public. Students, professors from
several local universities, representatives from international and local
NGOs, and the news media participated in the discussion.
The American University of Armenia offers a Master’s Degree in Law and in
Comparative Legal Studies. The programs feature a strong focus on business
and international law, with special emphasis on legal and institutional
reforms in the former Soviet republics.
———————————————————————–
AUA is registered as a non-profit educational organization in both Armenia
and the United States and is affiliated with the Regents of the University
of California. The University receives major support from the AGBU and
offers instruction leading to the Masters Degree in eight graduate programs.
For more information about AUA, visit
Picture: Arshak Sadoyan, Member of Armenia’s Parliament, calls for
constitutional reforms during AUA conference.

“Garabagh conflict is like dispute between husband and wife” Belgian MP
Baku, April 7, AssA-Irada
A 10-member delegation led by chairman of the Belgian parliament’s
House of Representatives Herman De Croo arrived in Baku on Thursday.
Croo told journalists at the Bina Airport of Baku upon arrival that
prior to visiting Azerbaijan he discussed the Upper Garabagh conflict
with the Armenian President and government officials in Yerevan.
Croo said that the Upper Garabagh conflict “is like a dispute between
husband and wife”. “We have become familiar with Armenia’s position
and will study that of official Baku before expressing our attitude
towards the conflict,” Croo said, voicing a hope that his meetings
in Baku would be fruitful.
The Belgian delegates, who started their visit by paying tribute to
the late Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev, met with opposition
MPs and members of the Azerbaijani delegation at the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the same day.
The Belgian parliament recognized the fake “Armenian genocide”
in 1998.*
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress