Author: Kamalian Hagop

IF ARMENIA STILL STICKS TO ITS NON-CONSTRUCTIVE POSITION, EVEN WRITTEN SUGGESTIONS NOT TO AFFECT SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT – HEAD OF AZERBAIJANI COMMUNITY OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH

TREND Information
Nov 30 2007
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku / Òrend corr E. Huseynli / The head of the
Azerbaijani Community of Nagorno-Karabakh considers it possible to
divulge the details of new written suggestions made by the OSCE Minsk
Group. "Keeping in secret the set of written proposals on settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which was submitted by the OSCE Minsk
Group’s co-chairs in Madrid will negatively affect settlement of the
conflict," the head of the Azerbaijani Community of Nagorno-Karabakh
Nizami Bahmanov said to Trend on 29 November.

On 29 November, the OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairs submitted written
suggestions (10 suggestions) on settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict to Azerbaijan and Armenia. The document was submitted by
US Chair of the OSCE Minks Group Matthew Bryza, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov, and the US Assistant Secretary of State
for International Affairs Nicolas Bern at the meeting between the
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and the Armenian
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian in Madrid on 29 November.

According to Bahmanov, in case Armenia does not renounce its
non-constructive position, even written suggestions will not be able
to affect settlement of the conflict. If the written suggestions
indicate importance of settlement of the conflict within the framework
of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and on the basis of international
legal norms, so they may be only welcomed. If no requirements are made
for Armenia, the official Yerevan will not abandon its non-constructive
position.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding 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.

–Boundary_(ID_kZQru7VDvWn ukfJ2DK+iag)–

VARTAN OSKANIAN TO VISIT ESTONIA, RUSSIA, FRANCE, ITALY

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.12.2007 14:05 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ December 3, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
launched a working visit to Estonia. He is scheduled to meet with
Estonian parliament vice speaker Kristina Ojuland, FM Urmas Paet,
members of the Armenia-Estonia parliamentary friendship group and
representatives of the Armenian community.

December 5-6, Minister Oskanian will be in Moscow to meet his Russian
counterpart Sergei Lavrov, CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha
and Ambassadors to Armenia with Moscow residence. He will also give
a speech at the RF Diplomatic Academy.

December 7, Vartan Oskanian will pay a working visit to Strasbourg
where he is scheduled to meet with CoE Secretary General Terry Davis,
Ago monitoring group and President of the European Court of Human
Rights Jean Paul Costa.

December 9, the Minister will make for Italy where he will be honored
with an award for being an adherent to incessant dialogue within
international structures, the RA MFA press office reported.

Turkey’s foreign policy

An eminence grise

Nov 15th 2007 | ISTANBUL
The Economist

The visionary behind Turkey’s newly assertive foreign policy

SHIMON PERES became the first Israeli president to address the parliament of
a Muslim country when he spoke to Turkish deputies on November 13th. "We may
be saying different prayers, but our eyes are turned toward the same sky and
toward the same vision for the Middle East," he told an audience that
included both the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Turkish one,
Abdullah Gul.

For Turkey, this was an historic moment, a chance to reclaim the muscle of
its Ottoman forebears as a force in the Middle East. Until a few years ago,
Turkey, with its intimate ties with America and Israel, was scorned by its
Arab neighbours as a Western stooge. The suppression of public expressions
of Muslim piety decreed by Ataturk merely reinforced the canard that Turkey
was run by crypto-Jews.

But this image has faded since the mildly Islamist Justice and Development
(AK) party came to power five years ago. Even as it pursued the goal of
European Union membership, AK started to revive long-dormant ties with the
Muslim world. Driving this multi-pronged vision is Ahmet Davutoglu, the
self-effacing chief adviser on foreign policy to the prime minister, Recep
Tayyip Erdogan.

Disgruntled foreign-ministry officials discount Mr Davutoglu’s
behind-the-scenes influence, but it is unquestionably huge. Both Mr Erdogan
and Mr Gul call him Hodja, or teacher. The former academic drew their
attention in the mid-1980s with essays on Islam and the West. Ali Babacan,
Turkey’s young foreign minister, whom Mr Erdogan is rumoured to be grooming
as his successor, takes Mr Davutoglu with him wherever he goes.

Critics accuse Mr Davutoglu of pulling away from the West. Never more so
than when Turkey invited Hamas’s leader, Khaled Meshal, just as Condoleezza
Rice, America’s secretary of state, was flying to the Middle East to tell
Arab governments not to deal with Hamas after its Palestine election win in
January 2006. Many see this as the biggest foreign-policy blunder of the
Erdogan era. Sitting in his office in the Ottoman sultan’s last palace,
Dolmabahce, Mr Davutoglu disagrees. Was it not America that exhorted Hamas
to take part in the election, he asks. "So why refuse to recognise its
results?" Turkey’s aim was to persuade Hamas to recognise Israel. Yet the
affair had a toxic effect on Turkey’s relations with America and Israel.

Born into a merchant family in the conservative city of Konya, Mr Davutoglu
is unabashedly pious. He clawed his way into an elite Istanbul lycée, where
he was educated in German. Mr Davutoglu rankled at having to read Western
classics before touching Turkish ones. Why were Turkey’s ideas imported from
the West? Where was the great Turkish thinker?

Mr Davutoglu’s desire to transform Turkey into a pivotal country in the
region lies at the heart of his vision. Turkey was long perceived, he told a
conference, "as having strong muscles, a weak stomach, a troubled heart and
a mediocre brain." Getting away from this means creating strong economic
ties across Turkey’s borders. Even as the Turks threaten separatist PKK
rebels inside northern Iraq, business ties with the Iraqi Kurds flourish.
Hawks who called for the expulsion of Armenian migrants when an American
congressional committee passed a bill calling the mass slaughter of Ottoman
Armenians "genocide" were overruled. At the same time Mr Davutoglu is an
avid proponent of Turkey’s membership of the EU. "Turkey can be European in
Europe and eastern in the East, because we are both," he insists.

The chaos in Iraq and the escalation of PKK attacks remain Turkey’s biggest
headaches. Yet here too Turkey is taking the initiative. On November 5th it
hosted a conference of Iraq’s neighbours that was attended by Ms Rice. A day
later Mr Davutoglu flew to Washington with Mr Erdogan. He was one of a
handful of Turks present at Mr Erdogan’s talks with George Bush. Dealing
with Turkish foreign policy means dealing with Mr Davutoglu.

PETER SEMNEBY: ARMENIA IS LOYAL TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS

armradio.am
15.11.2007 10:47

EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby said
in an interview with Mediamax that "Armenia has not only assumed
political commitments, but has also taken serious steps for their
implementation."

"Certainly, there are issues that still need to be improved,
e.g. it’s necessary to establish a mechanism for better coordination
of accomplishment of the commitments. However, on the whole, Armenia
has demonstrated a serious approach to its commitments," Semneby said.

Commenting on the expectations from the forthcoming presidential
elections in Armenia, the EU Special Representative said: "We expect
that the presidential elections will correct the shortcomings of the
2007 parliamentary elections. In particular, problems were observed
in the activity of precinct electoral commissions and during ballot
counting.

"The fact that the national Assembly election in Armenia got a high
evaluation of the international observers was very important, since
this was the first poll in the region after the signing of the European
Neighborhood Policy Action Plan. These elections proved that Armenia
maintains its loyalty to the development of democratic institutions
and set the quality of our future cooperation," Peter Semeny said.

Boston Globe
Nov. 15, 2007
7/11/15/schools_outline_goals/

Schools outline goals
November 15, 2007
Needham
School officials have announced the district’s goals for this academic
year. The 16-page document lists three objectives: advancing
standards-based learning, developing students’ social and emotional
skills, and promoting active citizenship. The aim is to benchmark
academic progress and create a school culture that helps students to
find their voices and become leaders. The schools will also focus on
community service projects that connect back to curriculum
requirements, according to the announcement, which is posted on the
district’s website,

– Laura Colarusso
WALTHAM

TEACHER STUDIES IN ISRAEL – A Gann Academy physics teacher was one of
10 American educators selected to participate in the Schwartz
International Leading Science Teachers Seminar in Rehovot, Israel,
last summer. Amy Kumpel spent nine days at the Davidson Institute of
Science Education, part of the multidisciplinary Weizmann Institute of
Science. Kumpel’s 26 fellow participants were from Israel, Germany,
the United Kingdom, and Singapore as well as the U nited States. The
seminar aims to promote cooperation and the exchange of ideas among
science teachers and give them the chance to learn about cutting-edge
teaching methods and research in their discipline. – Stephanie V. Siek

WATERTOWN PROGRAM ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE – To help sort out the Armenian
genocide controversy that has been widely debated in recent months,
the World in Watertown, the town’s former No Place for Hate Committee,
the Wayside Youth Coalition, and the Armenian National Committee of
America will join to host a program for the public on Nov. 28. The
presentation and discussion will focus on the history of the mass
killings, in which up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman
Turks between 1915 and 1923, and its impact around the world, with
Turkey disputing the death toll and its characterization as
genocide. A short film featuring survivors will be shown. George
Aghjayan and Sharistan Melkonian, with the Armenian National
Committee, as well as professor Henry Theriault, director of the Human
Rights Center at Worcester State College, will speak. The free program
will be held in the Watertown High School auditorium from 7 to 9
p.m. – Christina Pazzanese

Wellesley
RACHEL CARSON OBSERVANCE – The Wellesley Natural Resources Commission
will celebrate the 100th birthday of pioneer conservationist Rachel
Carson with a ceremony on Saturday. A National Book Award winner and
contributor to the New Yorker magazine, Carson won acclaim for drawing
attention to the dangers of DDT and other chemical pesticides in the
1950s, when the federal government was endorsing their widespread
use. The commission’s celebration will include a short talk and
documentary film about Carson’s life, as well as a discussion of how
to reduce pesticide use on lawns today. The presentation will take
place Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Wellesley Free Library. Coffee and
refreshments will be served. – Lisa Keen

PLAN TO SETTLE SENIOR CENTER DEBATE – Some people thought a proposal
concerning a senior center in Wellesley might have become one of
Special Town Meeting’s most contentious issues. One group wanted to
consider building a new center, others wanted to renovate the
Wellesley Community Center to improve the space now used by
seniors. But a last-minute agreement took the issue off the table last
week and a step closer to resolution. Selectwoman Harriett Warshaw
announced during Town Meeting that her board and the trustees of a
bequest to provide $825,000 for a senior center agreed to work on a
plan to renovate the Community Center to meet the needs of the town’s
elder citizens. If the two boards can agree on a proposal, Warshaw and
trustee Gail Kingsley said, the selectmen will decline the bequest and
the trustees will contribute the money toward the renovation. If no
agreement is reached, the Board of Selectmen will accept the bequest
and return to Town Meeting next spring for permission to proceed with
a study for turning the American Legion post on Washington Street into
a new senior center. The bequest was made by a longtime Wellesley
resident, Mary Esther Tolles, who died in July 2005 at age 94.
– Lisa Keen

WESTON
EXAMINING FIELD SCHOOL – The School Committee is looking for one
community member and two parent volunteers to serve on the newly
formed Field School Facility Committee, charged with making a
recommendation about whether the grade 4-5 school should be renovated
or replaced. Chaired by School Committee member Edward Heller, the
Field panel will review information about town demographics, the
condition of the school building, its grade configuration, and the
findings of a recent feasibility study. Its work would begin next
month, with its final recommendation to be delivered to the School
Committee during the 2008-’09 school year. Residents can apply for a
seat on the facility board by sending a letter of interest to Maryanne
Rogers, chairwoman, Weston School Committee, c/o Weston Public
Schools, 89 Wellesley St., Weston, MA 02493. The committee prefers
that applicants send information by regular mail, and that it be
received by Monday.
– Stephanie V. Siek

around the region
Bellingham
GREEN SIDEWALKS – Planning Board members last Thursday discussed a
balance between environmental impact and safety as they considered
whether Cedar Hill Estates, a proposed cul-de-sac of four
single-family homes, needs a sidewalk. The town planner, Stacey
Wetstein, suggested that the subdivision could have a marked
pedestrian lane on the road, rather than a sidewalk, with the smaller
paved area allowing more rain to replenish the ground water. "We’re
trying to achieve a measure of green design. You kind of have to
start thinking about where you need additional pavement, and where you
don’t," Wetstein told Planning Board members. Most agreed that a
pedestrian lane would be sufficient, especially since the cul-de-sac
would be expected to have little traffic.
Board member Glenn Wojcik expressed the most concern, saying that
young children should have sidewalks on which to ride their bikes. The
discussion of Cedar Hill Estates is to be resumed on Jan. 10.
– Alexandra Perloe

berlin
SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH – The Berlin-Boylston Regional School Committee
last week appointed an 18-member panel to oversee the search process
for a new superintendent. During its meeting Wednesday, the panel
appointed local educators and School Committee members to the search
team, to be joined by Jackie Healy, representing Berlin Memorial
School parents; Grant McGimpsey, representing Boylston Elementary
School parents; Julia Hucknall, for Tahanto Regional Middle High
School parents; and Heidi Schwehr of Berlin and Heidi MacDonald of
Boylston as community representatives. School Committee chairwoman
Christine Keefe said she expects the search panel to have its first
meeting in the middle of next month, and the district to have a new
superintendent starting in July, she said. A retired superintendent,
Joseph Connelly, is serving as the interim schools chief this year. –
John Dyer

Dover
SUPERINTENDENT SOUGHT – The school committees for Dover, Sherborn, and
the Dover-Sherborn regional district are recruiting candidates for
their soon-to-be-vacated position of school superintendent. Perry
Davis will be retiring in December, and his position will become
available on July 1, with Robert Couture having been hired to fill the
gap as the interim superintendent. Applications for the position are
being accepted through Nov. 28. The search is being conducted through
a Beverly consulting firm, Future Management Systems.
– Nadia Salomon

Lincoln
POLICE CITE RASH OF BREAK-INS – Police are asking town residents to
keep their eyes open after a string of home break-ins recently. Late
last month, an unidentified suspect broke into a home on Morningside
Lane through an unlocked garage window and got away with jewelry and
electronics. Police believe it is connected to a string of burglaries
in the area. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at
781-259-8113. – John M. Guilfoil

MARLBOROUGH
BID TO BLOCK CASINOS – The City Council could vote as soon as its
meeting Monday to restrict any casino development in Marlborough. "I
haven’t heard any opposition to it at this point from any of the
councilors," said the council’s president, Arthur Vigeant, who
initiated the measure. "It’s basically allowing the city to make a
choice. It’s a little insurance policy for us. It gives us an option
if someone wants to bring a casino to the city." If the council
approves the ordinance, a developer with plans for a casino would
first have to request the ordinance be changed, since it would
prohibit any uses not explicitly allowed by law already. There is no
formal casino development proposal, but Marlborough is considered to
be among the potential locations if Governor Deval Patrick’s
recommendation to allow such gaming is approved by the state
Legislature. – Lisa Kocian

MILLIS
STUDENT-RISK STUDY RESULTS – Seventy percent of Millis High School students
said they have drunk alcohol and 36 percent said they have used marijuana,
according to a MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation study presented to
the School Committee last month. The study, which also looked at bullying,
eating habits, and tobacco use, is available online at _millis.k12.ma.usw_
() . – Calvin Hennick

Northborough
TRAIL INTERPRETED – The Sudbury Valley Trustees organization has
unveiled a new interpretative trail in the Crane Swamp, part of the
2,225-acre Cedar Hill and Sawink Farm Reservation in Northborough and
surrounding towns. A brochure that guides hikers through the trail and
identifies plant species and geologic formations may be downloaded
from the group’s website, _sudburyvalleytrustees.org_
(http://sudburyvalleyt rustees.org/) , or picked up at the Beeman Road
parking lot and other trailheads. – John Dyer

Sherborn
VERIZON DEAL IS A GO – The Board of Selectmen has approved an
agreement allowing Verizon to provide cable television service to the
town, competing against Comcast. Verizon already offers telephone and
Internet service. Verizon spokesman Philip Santoro said residents can
expect service to be available within a few weeks. The 15-year
contract calls for the town to receive $131,000 From Verizon to
support local public, educational, and government programming, with
$58,000 paid after 90 days, $58,000 paid on the first anniversary, and
$3,000 paid each of the last five years of the agreement. – Nadia
Salomon

Southborough
IN LINE FOR ATV FROM SETTLEMENT – The Fire Department is applying for
a Polaris Ranger, a two-man all-terrain vehicle that resembles a dune
buggy, through a grant from the US Smokeless Tobacco Co. Emergency
management director Neal Aspesi said the Ranger would help first-aid
responders gain access to the 17 miles of trails and railroad tracks
in town that are inaccessible to normal emergency vehicles. The
tobacco company offers the vehicles to municipalities as part of a
court settlement agreement, Aspesi said. He said he hopes to hear back
on the application in late spring. – John Dyer
( Things/dp/1583227776)

RA PRESIDENT: ARMENIA ASPIRES TO BECOME REGIONAL CENTER OF INTELLECTUAL SERVICES

arminfo
2007-11-14 14:46:00

ArmInfo. Armenia aspires to become a regional center of intellectual
services and intends to carry out the main investments in the human
resource, RA President Robert Kocharyan said during the meeting with
President of the Central Bank of the Netherlands Nout Wellink, being
in Yerevan with official visit.

As the presidential press-service told ArmInfo, during the meeting,
N. Wellink expressed satisfaction with close cooperation of the
structure he heads with Armenia’s Central Bank. By RA president’s
offer, Nout Wellink expressed his vision of the situation in the
financial sector of Armenia’s economy, having noted a sensible
progress. The Head of the Dutch CB emphasized that he held interesting
and efficient discussions within the frames of his visit. He added
that he is impressed by the degree of preparedness of the discussions’
participants, their perceptivity and knowledge. The president expressed
confidence that participation of Mr. Wellink in discussions will turn
out useful for the specialists of this sphere.

ARMENIAN LEADER SAYS FEW DIFFERENCES REMAIN ON KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

Mediamax
Nov 7 2007
Armenia

Yerevan, 7 November: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan thinks that
"the stage-by-stage solution can be applied only in the process of
implementation of the agreements reached in the settlement of the
Karabakh conflict".

Kocharyan, who is on an official visit in Finland, made the statement
at the Aleksanteri Institute in Helsinki on 6 November. Kocharyan said
there should not be pre-conditions and the discussion of Nagornyy
Karabakh status should not be linked to the return of territories
or refugees.

"We should speak about a package that has been completely agreed
upon. The implementation of the package components may be spread
over time due to various objective and subjective reasons. But the
territories – not all of them – are part of the package. Nagornyy
Karabakh should have a land link with Armenia. Nagornyy Karabakh
should not be an enclave," Kocharyan said.

Speaking of the settlement prospects, Kocharyan said that "not many
disagreements have been left, they concern some issues".

"The remaining issues are mainly of technical nature, for example,
to use the term of a ‘referendum’ or a ‘plebiscite’. An agreement can
be reached. However, if one follows what is happening in reality –
an arms race, belligerent statements, constant threats – then the
impression is that we are speaking about two different processes. It
is a movement in opposite directions. The document we are discussing
is directed towards a reasonable solution but what is happening in
reality is a completely different process. This is exactly why I
don’t have many reasons for optimism," he said.

ARMENIA HOPES FOR SWIFT RESOLUTION OF KARABAKH CONFLICT

Russia & CIS General Newswire
November 8, 2007 Thursday 5:15 PM MSK

Armenia expects the co-chairmen of the OSCE (Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe) Minsk Group to take new steps
toward resolving the Karabakh conflict, Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian has said.

"I think after another stage of talks Karabakh mediators will come up
with new ideas and find new approaches," Oskanian said at a meeting
with his Lithuanian counterpart Pjatras Vajtekunas on Thursday.

Vajtekunas said that Vilnius is only looking for a peaceful resolution
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and for non-interference in other
countries’ internal affairs, as well as for cooperation between the
Baltic States and South Caucasus countries in the three-plus-three
format.

Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno Karabakh region in the 1990s
during a bloody conflict with Armenia and is now trying to regain its
lost control. To help resolve the Karabakh conflict, the OSCE formed
a Minsk Group co-chaired by representatives from the United States,
Russia and France.

Panorama.am

14:17 10/11/2007

ARMENIAN CULTURAL CLUB STARTS WORK IN KRASNODAR

Armenian historical club held its first session yesterday at national
culture center of Krasnodar. Armenian `Yerkramas’ newspaper reports,
that the organizers are `Ararat’ Association of Armenian students in
Krasnodar and Russian Armenian `Yerkramas’ newspaper. It has been
supported by the town board of the Union of Armenians in Russia.

The session discussed the Armenian genocide in its first
session. Later the participants watched `I condemn,’ a film shot by
Yerkir-Media TV Channel.

The aim of the club session was to raise the awareness of those who
are interested in Armenia and the history of the Armenian nation.

Source: Panorama.am

AGHVAN HOVSEPYAN: THE FILE OF THE "KARABAKH" COMMITTEE FOUND WITH LEVON TER-PETROSYAN
Liana Sahakyan

Radiolur
09.11.2007 15:37

The Prosecutor General’s Office has found out that the disappeared file
of the "Karabakh" Committee was with Levon Ter-Petrosyan, RA Prosecutor
General Aghvan Hovsepyan declared today. The investigation revealed
that the file had disappeared from the archives of the Prosecutor
General’s Office still in 1996. It was also found out that the head
of the Investigative Department personally took the file from the
archive and handed it to Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

Presenting some details, the Prosecutor General noted that they
received an inquiry from "Iravunk" newspaper, asking to provide some
data about the case.

"I asked to bring the file form the archive. It came out that the file
was missing. Naturally, I instituted an inquiry, which revealed that
still on November 6, 1996 upon the order of the Prosecutor General of
the time the Head of the Investigative Department had taken the file
from the archive and handed it to first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan,"
Aghvan Hovsepyan clarified.

The Prosecutor General noted also that a note has been sent to
Levon Ter-Petrosyan today, asking the latter to send the file to the
Prosecutor General’s Office.

"I have to note that the law prohibits passing the criminal cases
from the investigating authority to another body. Even the President
of the republic has no right to demand and keep the criminal cases. In
1996 it occurred with a tough violation of law," RA Prosecutor General
Aghvan Hovsepyan noted.