Author: Kanayan Tamar

WAR CASTS CLOUD OVER PIPELINE ROUTE

The Moscow Times
14 August 2008
Russia

Any plans to use Georgia as a bridge for more energy supplies to Europe
are likely set to gather dust now that the tiny country’s fierce
armed conflict with Russia has exposed the insecurity of the route,
analysts said.

Georgia has been a key conduit of oil and gas from Central Asia to
the West that bypasses Russia, and Europe has been hoping to build
another pipeline to bring more gas from the area.

That pipeline project, called Nabucco, has long been on the drawing
board, but potential investors had trouble contracting enough gas
for it from Azerbaijan or Turkmenistan.

Shipping the gas from Turkmenistan would require building a separate
pipeline across the Caspian Sea bed, which has yet to be divided
by the sea’s five littoral states, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,
Turkmenistan and Iran.

Now, Georgia’s vulnerability may have dealt a lethal blow to Nabucco
and plans for a trans-Caspian pipeline.

"A trans-Caspian gas pipeline can be considered a forever buried
chimera," said Pavel Baev, an energy expert at the International Peace
Research Institute in Oslo. "It became clear for all the participants
of these energy games that nothing will go through the Caspian Sea."

Europe was "shocked" by the instability and realized that "hardly
anyone would invest money in new projects" associated with Georgia,
said Konstantin Simonov, director of the Fund for National Energy
Security.

When asked about the impact of the war on Nabucco prospects, European
Commission energy spokesman, Martin Selmayr, said none of the pipelines
going through Georgia was affected. The commission was in regular
contact with energy companies in the region, he said.

Russian air strikes did not hit any of the three international oil and
gas pipelines crossing the country or any oil ports, but they forced
BP, which is an operator of Azerbaijan’s two biggest energy projects,
to stop oil and gas shipments through Georgia as a precautionary
measure Tuesday.

The BP-operated Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which carries oil from
Azerbaijan to the Turkish Mediterranean, was already out of commission
because of an explosion in Turkey last week that Kurdish separatists
claimed responsibility for.

Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov on Monday ordered KazMunaiGaz, the
national energy company, to study whether it could absorb domestically
the exports envisaged for transit via Georgia.

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet patrolled Georgia’s coast, potentially making
it harder to transport the crude from ports to international markets.

Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, said business was as usual
at its Georgian port terminal of Kulevi, with the latest tanker
leaving Tuesday.

In potential or existing new oil-related projects, Kazakhstan is
looking to invest in Georgian railways that serve the Black Sea port
of Batumi that it already controls. Azerbaijan is putting money into
the construction of a railway running through Georgia to the Turkish
border as an additional oil export route.

The war with Georgia could backfire on Russia by creating difficulties
for its own project to supply Europe with gas, South Stream. The
project’s partners, Gazprom and Italy’s Eni, have enlisted the support
of Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece as transit countries for their route.

The initial stretch of the pipeline would cross the Black Sea,
leaving Russia the task of winning approval from NATO member Turkey
or Western-leaning Ukraine.

These countries could deny permission for the pipeline to cross their
territory in an attempt to punish Russia for its military campaign in
Georgia, Baev said. "One could expect movements in that direction,"
he said.

Simonov warned that there was another potential source of instability
in the region in addition to Georgia’s separatist regions. Azerbaijan,
he pointed out, has a dormant conflict with Armenia that controls
the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

"I think it will flare up," he said.

HANDLING WHEAT PROBLEM THROUGH LAKE SEVAN WATER LEVEL

Panorama.am
20:42 07/08/2008

On 19 August the National Assembly of Armenia is to discuss in its
special session the question of releasing certain amount of water from
Lake Sevan for irrigation, said Andranik Andreasyan, the chairman of
Water Network State Committee of the Territorial Administration in
a briefing after the Government session.

Note that on 24 July the Government of Armenia made a decision to
in crease the number of released water of the Lake Sevan for the
irrigation in 2008.

According to Andreasyan, the amount of water released from the lake
is not sufficient for the irrigation, as the irrigation season in
2008 started earlier than in usual. Hence, the decision is made to
escape wheat problem.

PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR EU RISES AFTER CLOSURE CASE

Today’s Zaman
Aug 9 2008
Turkey

A clear majority of society supports Turkey’s bid to join the European
Union, a new opinion poll has found. Public support for Turkey’s EU
membership rose to 66.2 percent in this month, up from 55 percent in
June of last year, according to a survey conducted earlier this week.

The Social and Political Situation in Turkey survey, conducted by
the Ankara-based MetroPOLL Strategic & Social Research Center on
Aug. 4-5, surveyed 1,226 people across various provinces in Turkey to
find out people’s views on a closure case against the ruling Justice
and Development Party (AK Party), which concluded last month, and on
an ongoing trial of suspected members of the terrorist organization
Ergenekon, whose members are facing various charges over trying to
topple the government. Ergenekon is suspected of a number of political
murders, assassinations, attacks and other public incidents with
the ultimate aim of creating disorder so as to trigger a military
intervention against the government. The survey also sought to measure
the pulse of the people on everyday politics and their opinions on
the future course of the country.

In response to a question on whether they would vote for or against
Turkey’s EU membership if there were a referendum today, 66.2 percent
said they would vote ‘Yes,’ while only 28 percent said they would vote
against. In June of 2007 38.3 percent of those polled were against
EU membership while 55.5 percent supported it.

The poll supports the notion that the general tendency of the
Turkish public is to increase support for EU membership in the face
of processes perceived to be anti-democratic. The increase follows
the failed attempt of a state prosecutor to close the ruling AK Party.

The Constitutional Court announced on July 30 that it would not
close the AK Party, noting, however, that the party was guilty of
anti-secular activities, but that the activities weren’t serious
enough to warrant closure. The court ruled instead to impose financial
sanctions on the party.

A state prosecutor in March had filed the case for closure of the AK
Party, calling also for a ban on 71 of its high-level officials from
belonging to a political party for five years.

In response to how they saw the ruling of the Constitutional Court,
27.6 percent of those polled said they were not pleased with the
decision while 69.7 percent said they were happy with it. In response
to a question on whether they thought the AK Party indeed threatens
secularism in Turkey, 35 percent said yes while 60 percent said
no. However, an overwhelming majority of 73.4 percent said the AK
Party should change its policies in the future to avoid a similar
situation, while only 22.6 percent said the party should stick to
its past policies.

Some critics have claimed that the Ergenekon investigation is the
government’s response to the closure case, since all of those detained
are staunch secularists known for their criticism of the AK Party. In
response to a question on whether they saw a link between the closure
case and the Ergenekon investigation, 54.6 percent of those polled
said no while 36.3 percent said they believed there was a link.

Ergenekon is political

Of the respondents, 16.2 percent said they agreed with the statement
"Ergenekon is a patriotic organization established to protect Turkey’s
regime," while 71.4 said they did not agree. However, 43.3 percent said
they agreed with the statement that "Ergenekon is an organization
aiming to stage a coup to forcibly overthrow the government,"
while 45.5 percent said they disagreed. In regards to the statement
"Ergenekon is a terrorist organization," 48.7 percent said they did
not agree while 40.5 percent agreed. Asked whether they agreed with
the statement "Ergenekon is a crime organization aiming to acquire
special interests," 55 percent agreed while 35.1 percent said they
did not agree. A not insignificant 41.8 percent agreed that "There
is no such thing as Ergenekon and the investigation is a politically
motivated process," while 45.5 percent said they disagreed. The
rate of those who had no opinion on this statement was 12.6 percent,
higher than in the case of any of the rest of the statements about
Ergenekon. In response to what they thought of the case without asking
if they believed that Ergenekon really existed, 54 percent said they
believed the case was political, while 32.9 percent said they saw it
as a legal case. Here too, 12.8 percent said they had no opinion.

In response to the question "Are you satisfied with the Ergenekon
indictment?" 59 percent said no, while 22 percent said yes. Eighteen
percent said they had no idea. The 2,455 page indictment, made public
last month, indicates that Ergenekon was behind a series of political
assassinations over the past two decades. The group is also suspected
of being behind the murder of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist
killed by a teenager in 2007. Eighty-six suspects, 47 of whom are
currently under arrest, are accused of having suspicious links to the
gang. Suspects will start appearing before the court on Oct. 20 and
will face accusations that include "membership in an armed terrorist
group," "attempting to bring down the government," "inciting people
to rebel against the Republic of Turkey" and other similar crimes.

When asked their opinions about the possible outcome of the case,
a majority were pessimistic, with 53 percent saying they agreed with
the statement that the prosecutor’s claims will not be investigated and
no effective results will come out of the trial. However, 35.2 percent
said they agreed that the case will be the end to illegal formations
within the state and that it will enhance democracy in the end.

CHP support for Ergenekon suspects questioned

An overwhelming majority, 71.2 percent, said they thought the attitude
of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which has
accused the prosecution of conducting the operation in retaliation
for the closure case against the AK Party, was wrong. Only 19 percent
of the respondents said they agreed with the CHP, while nearly 10
percent said they did not have an opinion.

Pessimism about Turkey’s future

However, optimism about Turkey’s future was not high. In response
to the question "In which direction overall do you think Turkey is
headed?" 37.2 percent said Turkey will change for the better, while
58.2 percent said for the worse. The figures, however, mark a slight
improvement from those in June, when 28.6 percent had expressed hope
that things in Turkey would get better in the future and 66 percent
had said they believed things would get worse.

In response to a question on how the respondent would rate his or
her sense of trust on a scale of 1 to 10 for various individuals
and state agencies, the highest trust rating went to the military
(8.7), followed by the police (7.7) , President Abdullah Gul (7.1),
the judiciary (6.9), the Constitutional Court (6.7), Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan (6.4), Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader
Devlet Bahceli (4.0) and finally CHP leader Deniz Baykal (3.1).

Asked who they would vote for if there was an election today,
42 percent of respondents said they would vote for the AK Party,
followed by the CHP (13.9 percent), the MHP (8.4 percent) and the DTP
(1.8 percent). Of the remaining respondents, 12.5 percent said they
were undecided, while 7.2 percent said they would simply vote a blank
ballot; 3.8 percent said they wouldn’t go to the ballot box at all,
while 5.4 percent said they had no opinion.

The poll was conducted Aug. 4-5 by telephone among a random national
sampling of 1,226 adults residing in cities, towns and villages. The
margin of error for the full poll is 2.5 percentage points, at a 95
percent confidence level.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT ARRIVES IN BEIJING FOR OLYMPICS

Xinhua news agency
Aug 7 2008

Beijing, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) – Armenian President Serzh Sarkisyan arrived
at the Beijing Capital International Airport Thursday evening for
the Olympic Games.

ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF AMERICA
1711 N Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
Email: [email protected]
Website:

PRESS RELEASE
August 6, 2008
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Email: [email protected]

MEMPHIS CONGRESSMAN STEVEN COHEN SHOVES ARMENIAN AMERICAN JOURNALIST
OUT OF PRESS CONFERENCE

MEMPHIS, TN - Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) today forcibly
removed Armenian American journalist Peter Musurlian from a press
conference, apparently frustrated by repeated calls to explain his
Congressional opposition to legislation recognizing the Armenian
Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

"Apparently we need to send Congressman Cohen a copy of the first
amendment as well as the state penal code," stated ANCA Executive
Director Aram Hamparian. "Physically throwing out a reporter
committed to getting the facts on his opposition to genocide
legislation, is nothing more than a high school bully tactic and is
conduct ill-befitting a Member of Congress."

Musurlian, who works for a public access TV station in Burbank,
California, in addition to running his own production company,
Globalist Films, had traveled to Memphis to document the days leading
up to the contentious August 7th Democratic primary between first-term
incumbent Steve Cohen and challenger, former civil rights lawyer, Nikki
Tinker, for LA based Horizon Armenian Television.

Following a series of unanswered interview requests filed earlier this
week, Musurlian attended several Cohen public events on Tuesday
evening, documenting his campaign activities and looking for an
opportunity to speak with the Congressman. Musurlian’s efforts to
participate in a Wednesday press conference, hastily called by Cohen at
his own residence, were cut short when a volatile and clearly agitated
Cohen forcibly shoved Musurlian out the door, slamming it in
frustration. Throughout the process, Cohen made disparaging references
to Musurlian’s Armenian heritage, and proudly stated his opposition to
human rights legislation commemorating the Armenian Genocide. That
resolution, H.Res.106, has over 200 Congressional cosponsors and was
adopted by the House Foreign Affairs Committee last October. Following
Committee adoption of H.Res.106, Cohen was a leader amongst a handful
of Democratic legislators opposing full House passage of the
resolution, going so far as holding a Capitol Hill press conference
against the human rights measure.

"Genocide must be universally condemned – whenever and wherever it
occurs. Rep. Cohen’s opposition to Armenian Genocide recognition today,
begs the question: Which genocide will he oppose commemorating
tomorrow?" noted Hamparian.In the weeks leading up to tomorrow’s
primary, Armenian Americans in Memphis and across the U.S. joined
Emily’s List and the Congressional Black Caucus PAC in supporting
challenger Nikki Tinker. Tinker, in response to an ANCA Congressional
Questionnaire, pledged to support House passage of Armenian Genocide
legislation, as well as legislation to put an end to the ongoing
Genocide in Darfur. The ANCA has endorsed Tinker and encouraged
community support for the candidate, resulting in over $35,000 in
contributions, a large portion donated through
M/2266599201, organized by Memphis activist Dany Beylerian.

Rep. Cohen’s actions against Musurlian were the top news story
throughout Wednesday on Memphis television and radio stations. Links to
the raw footage from the Cohen shoving incident and local news coverage
are available on the ANCA website at .

Polls for the Congressional Democratic primary are set to open at
7:00am (Central Time) on August 7th.

#####

Additional Resources:

Watch the latest News coverage of Cohen’s volatile actions against
journalist Peter Musurlian.

Memphis NBC Affiliate:
N/2266599201

Memphis NBC Affiliate:

X/KCKHJBMFVO/2266599201
(2 videos, raw footage and story)
Memphis Fox Affiliate:
/EENQJBMFVP/2266599201
Online Print News Coverage and Blogs:

Memphis Fox Affiliate:

X/GOHXJBMFVQ/2266599201

r/1/MRVIJBMFPX/NOWLJBMFVR/2266599201
The Politico Blog – Scorecard
ANRRJBMFVS/2266599201/

SEVERAL POLICEMEN OF GYUMRI EXPOSED FOR BRIBE TAKING

Noyan Tapan

Au g 7, 2008

GYUMRI, AUGUST 7, NOYAN TAPAN. As a result of operative measures
taken by employees of the RA Police Main Department for Fight against
Organized Crime (MDFOC) and the National Security Service (NSS), chief
district inspector of the preventive unit of the police department of
the city of Gyumri, Major Seyran Petrosian was exposed based on the
fact of taking bribes. It was found out that S. Petrosian – through
the following persons: section commander of the patrol service of
the indicated police department Sargis Parsamian and policemen of
the patrol company Hovhannes Grigorian and Grigor Hayrapetian –
recurrently extorted bribes of large amounts from citizens selling
goods and conducting an illegal sale and purchase of foreign currency
in the central market of Gyumri.

After making a search in the small house that served as an office
for the above mentioned policemen in the market, the MDFOC and NSS
employees found written records about various persons, as well as three
copy-books, in which since 2007 the policemen have written data on
goods sellers, with a "plus" or "minus" sign being put against their
names by days, from which those who paid or not paid money can be seen.

At the same time Seyran Petrosian took out 412 thousand drams from
his pocket and presented it to law enforcers. It came to light that
Gevorg Hakobian, an expert of the Gyumri municipality’s trade and
service unit, was also extorting money from market sellers.

According to a press release of the RA Police PR and Information
Department, several Gyumri residents engaged in an illegal exchange
of foreign currency in the market: Ashot Antonian, Norayr Sahakian,
Rubik Khachatrian, Robert Poladian, Ara Grigorian, Vardan Yaghubian and
Ashot Khurshudian were revealed. They presented to the law enforcers
the money they had for conducting an exchange of currency: 3,967,000
drams, 3,807 USD, 1,995 euros and 183,050 rubles. Based on the
prepared materials, a criminal case was opened by the NSS Investigation
Department under Article 311 part 3 of the RA Criminal Code.

Policemen Seyran Petrosian, Sargis Parsamian and Hovhannes Grigorian
have been arrested.

CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION REGISTERS "OYP" MEMBER STEPAN ASLANIAN AS NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEPUTY BY PROPORTIONAL ELECTORAL SYSTEM

Noyan Tapan

Au g 5, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, NOYAN TAPAN. At the August 5 sitting, the RA Central
Electoral Commission (CEC) registered Stepan Aslanian – member of
"Orinats Yerkir" Party (OYP), chairman of "Armenian Union of Persons
Engaged in Small Business" NGO – as National Assembly deputy from
the electoral list of OYP by the proportional electoral system. The
grounds for making this decision was the July 29 protocol of the
NA on terminating the deputy powers of Artashes Avoyan who had been
appointed the Head of the Staff of the RA National Security Council. It
is noteworthy that this is the fourth change in the composition of
the 8-member "OY" parliamentary faction in the past three months,
which was conditioned by the fact that some members of the faction
were given jobs in other state structures.

The CEC also approved the schedule of major measures on preparation
and holding of elections to local self-government bodies in Armenian
marzes (regions) in October.

TITLE OF ACADEMICIAN CONFERRED ON DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF WAC AND UAR VLADIMIR AGHAYAN

Noyan Tapan

Au g 5, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The All-Armenian Academy of National
Security Problems has conferred the title of academician on the
deputy chairman of the World Armenian Congress (WAC) and the Union
of Armenians in Russia (UAR) Vladimir Aghayan. NT correspondent was
informed by spokeswoman for WAC Armenian branch Aghavni Harutyunian
that the Honorary President of the Academy Fadey Sargsian handed the
diploma with a signature of the Academy President Lavrenti Barseghian
to Vladimir Aghayan on July 30.

Besides, V. Aghayan was awarded a Fridtjof Nansen gold medal for
his activities on establishment of social-political, humanitarian
principles and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide.

PROGRESS SEEN IN RELATIONS BETWEEN ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN – BRYZA

Interfax News Agency
Aug 4 2008
Russia

Progress has lately been noticeable in bilateral relations between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, said U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Matthew Bryza.

Speaking to journalists following an hour-long meeting between the
Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers in Moscow, Bryza, who is the
U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group mediating in the talks for
settling the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, said there was a certain pause
in relations between Yerevan and Baku during the recent presidential
campaign and elections in Armenia.

The new Armenian government is willing to maintain constructive
dialogue, but it will take some time to perceive Azerbaijan’s position,
Bryza said.

The meeting in Moscow could be considered as groundwork for the
resumption of full-scale dialogue between Baku and Yerevan, he said.

The U.S. diplomat stressed the importance of an earlier meeting between
the Armenian and Azeri presidents in St. Petersburg, which, he said,
helped resume the OSCE Minsk Group’s work.

Bryza said the parties agreed to continue the talks in the spirit of
mutual understanding, but said they still needed to converge their
positions at least on four issues, which he did not specify.

The next OSCE Minsk Group meeting is likely to take place during the
UN General Assembly session in New York in September, Bryza said.

The two presidents are unlikely to meet before the presidential
elections in Azerbaijan slated for October 15, but a meeting between
the two foreign ministers is quite possible, he said.

KARABAKH TALKS SEEN AS POSITIVE

The Moscow Times
Aug 4 2008
Russia

The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan struck a positive
tone and pledged to keep talking about a possible peace deal for the
frozen conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh after they met for talks in Moscow
on Friday.

"If we feel we have found a common platform, then nothing is
impossible," Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov said afterward.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said Friday’s meeting
had proved useful and that consultations should be continued in a
similar format.

"There are sensitive issues. We are trying to create all the conditions
for the continuation of negotiations," he added.

The closed-door talks were facilitated by Russia and were attended
by U.S. and French diplomats. They mark a new attempt to end deadlock
over the conflict in the sensitive Caucasus region.

Karabakh, an Armenian-populated region of Azerbaijan, broke away
following a war soon after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The
region, backed by Armenia, claims full independence but is not
internationally recognized.

A cease-fire was agreed on in 1994, but Nagorno-Karabakh and a vast
surrounding area are under separatist control.