Author: Kanayan Tamar

Foster’s Daily Democrat, NH

UNESCO adds 19 cultural sites and 8 natural sites to World Heritage
List

Article Date: Sunday, September 21, 2008

QUEBEC CITY, Canada (AP) ‘ Baha’i holy places in Israel, the Monarch
butterfly biosphere reserve of Mexico, and the historic center of
Camaguey, a Spanish colonial town in Cuba first settled in 1528, are
among the new sites added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee met in July in Quebec City to add
the 19 cultural sites and eight natural sites to the list, which now
numbers 878 sites in 145 countries. Detailed information about each
site is available at

In Mexico, in addition to the butterfly reserve, the fortified town of
San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesus Nazareno de Atotonilco, cited
for their architecture, were added to the list.

In Europe, new UNESCO World Heritage sites are the ancient stone
walls, shelters and landscape of Stari Grad on the Adriatic island of
Hvar in Croatia; 17th century fortifications along the borders of
France; innovatively designed Modernist housing in Berlin, dating from
1910-1933; the Italian towns of Mantua and Sabbioneta, cited for
architecture and their role in Renaissance culture; eight wooden
churches dating to the 16th through 18th centuries in Slovakia; the
Rhaetian Railway, which includes two historic railway lines in Italy
and Switzerland that cross the Alps; and Mount Titano and the historic
center of San Marino, which dates to the 13th century.

In Asia and the South Pacific, new sites added to the World Heritage
list are Cambodia’s Temple of Preah Vihear; the "tulou" of China’s
Fujian province, which are circular communal earthen houses; Melaka
and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca in
Malaysia, cited for their unique multicultural heritage as trading
sites between Asia and Europe; the Kuk swamps in New Guinea, which
contain archaeological evidence of thousands of years of farming, and
three sites on islands in Vanuatu associated with a 17th century
chief, Roi Mata.

In the Middle East, the World Heritage list now includes, in Iran, the
Armenian monasteries of St. Thaddeus and St. Stepanos and the Chapel
of Dzordzor; Al-Hijr, Saudi Arabia’s first World Heritage property, an
archaeological site preserving Nabataean civilization dating to the
1st century B.C., and the Socotra islands in Yemen, cited for their
biodiversity.

In Africa, Kenya’s Mijikenda Kaya Forests were recognized for the
remains of fortified villages dating back centuries that are now
considered sacred sites, and Le Morne, a mountain on the coast of
Mauritius, included for its history as a shelter for runaway slaves.

Natural properties added to the UNESCO list, in addition to the Mexico
butterfly reserve, are Canada’s Joggins Fossil Cliffs, a fossil-rich
area of Nova Scotia; China’s Mount Sanqingshan National Park, noted
for its scenic landscape and "fantastically shaped" granite peaks and
pillars; the coral reefs and lagoons of New Caledonia; Surtsey, an
island in Iceland formed by volcanic eruptions in the 1960s that is a
pristine laboratory for plant and animal life; two nature reserves in
the steppe and lakes of Northern Kazakhstan; and a geologically
significant mountainous area of Switzerland known as the Glarus
Overthrust.

PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN ADDRESSES ARMENIANS ON THE OCCASION OF THE
17TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDEPENDENCE

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS: Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan addressed the Armenian people on the occasion of the 17th
anniversary of the Armenia’s Independence. Presidential press service
told Armenpress that in his address the president said;
`Dear Compatriots, I congratulate all of us on the occasion of the
17th Anniversary of our independence. Today is conceivably our main
state holiday. Seventeen years ago our collective will turned the
dream of the generations of our nation into the irreversible reality.
Restoration of the Armenian statehood was a historic
imperative. Our people had never come to terms with losing
independence. We couldn’t come to terms because our historians and
writers said centuries ago that captivity and rule of invaders were
unlawful.
Seventeen years ago, the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, who
gave their votes for independence, created the history of contemporary
and future Armenia. Not incidentally on this festive day each of us
poses same questions:
¢What the independence has been for me?
¢What have been Armenia’s achievements on this road?
¢What should be our country’s course of development?
¢What state traditions we will leave to our children born in
freedom?
I ask myself the same question. Independence is the materialization
of our dream, it is our biography, with ups and downs, strives and
fights, opportunity and possibility to defend our national dignity,
sacrifice, national achievements obtained through that sacrifice, and
the right for all of us to share the pride of these
achievements. Independence is the right to shape our history by our
will, and that independence is indispensable and indisputable. In
seventeen years we have been able to protect our country, to establish
state structure, to lay foundations for growing economy, and to give a
new breath to our culture, education, and health care.
Today our country is moving forward, and if there is a progress it
means that there is a force behind that progress. That force is our
compatriots, their work, devotion and sacrifice. That force belongs to
each of us. All this makes September 21 a proud national holiday. This
pride is not haughtiness at all. Our pride is not inspired by our
glorious history only, or by the achievements and victories of our
predecessors, it is also inspired by our state traditions which are
being formed today.
Since independence we have been creating new traditions of the
Armenian statehood. Along with excellent traditions there are
unfortunately some which are unacceptable. Henceforth, we are a mature
state and must be able to uproot negative trends which hamper our
progress, simultaneously fostering the good, values for which the
generations have fought, values we cherish: freedom, democracy, and
equally before the law. We will stand by those values.
Dear Compatriots,
>From year to year for us freedom and independence acquire new meaning
and substance. We were able to overcome difficulties and didn’t
tumble. It became clear for us that only independence can give us the
ability to protect the interests of Armenia and the Armenian
people. We will continue to protect those values by all possible
means.
Once again I congratulate all of us on the occasion of the
Independence Day and wish you all the best.
Long live the free and independent Republic of Armenia!’

CONCESSIONARY MANAGER OF ARMENIAN RAILWAY GUARANTEES COMPLETE
FULFILMEMT OF ITS OBLIGATIONS

7601

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 20, NOYAN TAPAN. The current state of the Armenian
raliway and its development prospects were discussed at the September
19 meeting of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Valdimir Yakunin,
the CEO of Russian Railways company – the concessionary manager of the
Armenian railway system. Noting that Armenia has great expectations
that the country’s railway will become a modernised and efficiently
functioning infrastructure under the management of the Russian company,
S. Sargsyan at the same time attached importance to the transparency of
its operation and the proper control of the investment program’s
implementation.

V. Yakunin said that the Russian side now makes an inventory of the
whole system and analyses the situation with the aim of increasing the
efficiency of management. He guaranteed a timely and complete
fulfilment of the obligations assumed by their company.

According to the RA presidential press service, the problem of
alternative communication routes was also discussed at the meeting.

TIGRAN SARGSYAN: IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE THE COUNTRY’S FUTURE WITHOUT DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE

armradio.am
19.09.2008 16:48

RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan today received the representatives
of the sphere of astrophysics, who arrived in Armenia from different
countries to participate in the celebration of 100th anniversary of
Viktor Hambartsumyan.

Thanking the guests for accepting the invitation and for their
participation in the celebration of the great scholar’s birthday,
the Prime Minister noted that Armenia attaches great importance to
Viktor Hambartsumyan’s jubilee, since it will be hard to imagine
the future of the country without the development of science. He
underlined that the jubilee of a world famous scientist like Viktor
Hambarsumyan is a good occasion for waking love and interest towards
science among the society, especially the youth.

The scientists from the United States, Russia, france, Belarus
and other countries noted that Viktor Hambatsumyan is one of the
exceptional individualities not only in the former Soviet Union,
but also world science.

NEW APPOINTMENTS AT RA GOVERNMENT

armradio.am
17.09.2008 15:10

According to RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan’s decision, Khachatur
Avalyan was appointed Assistant to the Prime Minister of the Republic
of Armenia.

According to another decision of the Prime Minister, Ashot Martirosyan
was appointed President of the State Committee on Nuclear Security
adjunct to the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

NEW U.S. AMBASSADOR TO TAKE UP POST IN ARMENIA

Hurriyet
Sept 17 2008
Turkey

The U.S. will once again have an ambassador in Armenia, more than
two years after the previous one had his tour of duty cut short.

The U.S. Embassy in Yerevan said Marie Yovanovitch is to arrive
Wednesday night to take up her new post, the AP reported.

A career diplomat, she had previously served as the U.S. ambassador
in Kyrgyzstan.

The last ambassador was withdrawn in 2006 after he referred to the
1915 incidents as "genocide". This was in defiance of U.S. policy.

Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million
of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915. Turkey
rejects the claims, saying that 300,000 Armenians along with at least
as many Turks died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took
up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia.

In 2005, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan took a first step
towards resolving the issue by proposing a joint commission of
historians launch an investigation and publish their conclusions,
but the proposal was rejected by Yerevan.

At her confirmation hearings, Yovanovitch explained U.S. policy but
would not comment on whether she believed "genocide" had occurred.

THE RUDE AWAKENING: EU LEADERS BELIEVED RUSSIA’S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WOULD MAKE IT MORE EUROPEAN. NOT ANYMORE.
By Stefan Theil

Newsweek
September 15, 2008
International Edition

The criticism of the European Union’s weakly worded resolution on
the Russian-Georgian conflict–warning Russia to withdraw its troops
from Georgia without naming specific consequences should Moscow fail
to comply–was as predictable as it was seething. "Europe can keep
sucking our oil and gas," mocked the Moscow tabloid Tvoi Dyen. Western
commentators likened Europe’s message to Robin Williams’s spoof of
unarmed British cops: "Stop! Or we’ll say ‘stop’ again!"

Once again, the limitations of Europe acting as one on foreign policy
were painfully obvious. The one measure the 27 leaders could agree on
at their emergency summit in Brussels was to suspend talks on a planned
EU-Russia agreement regulating such things as trade and visas–a
largely symbolic act considering the talks have been stalled for more
than a year. But the more interesting news was how closely aligned EU
members were compared to the last emergency summit in 2003, when the
continent’s split over the Iraq War led to the worst foreign-policy
crisis in the EU’s history. This time, they unanimously agreed that
there had been a red line, and that Russia had crossed it by invading
Georgia and unilaterally declaring two of its provinces independent.

What’s more, the lack of tough action was more a reflection of
coolheaded realism than of disunity. "Europe’s short-term options
are close to zero," says Jan Techau, an analyst at the German
Council on Foreign Relations. Fighting a nuclear-armed Russia over
Georgia? Forget it. Trade sanctions would hit Europe with a painful
backlash–its citizens depend on Russian deliveries for 25 percent of
their oil and gas consumption, and its companies are heavily invested
in Russia. Given Russia’s phobias about Western conspiracies and
encirclement, threats would likely harden Russian policies. Even
if it wanted to take a tougher line, says Techau, the EU hasn’t
even begun to develop strategic options for a more bellicose Russia,
instead choosing to live comfortably with the narrative that Russia’s
economic integration would align it with a soft-power, multilateral,
postconflict Europe.

The Russian-Georgian war has shot down this illusion. "Georgia shows
that a military conflict in Europe is not as unlikely as it seemed
just a short time ago," says Klaus Reinhardt, a retired Bundeswehr
general and former NATO commander. The real test of Europe’s resolve
is how it intends to deal with these threats in the future. That would
start with uncomfortable questions of how the bloc would react if
one of its members were threatened. Several EU countries (including
Estonia and Latvia) have sizable Russian minorities, which Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev said two weeks ago Moscow has the right to
"protect." It would include turning rhetoric into action on cutting
Europe’s growing energy dependence on Russia–finding new suppliers,
building new pipelines, boosting alternative energy and nuclear
power–and getting serious about a European energy market that would
make it harder for Russia to play off one country against another. And
it would include finally getting serious about resolving exploitable
frozen conflicts from Moldova to Armenia.

That assumes that the EU can find the will. The weakest link may
be Germany, despite Chancellor Angela Merkel’s shuttle diplomacy
that kept the bloc unified last week. Germany has traditionally
nurtured a special relationship with Russia, and there is a strong
undercurrent in public opinion blaming the United States (and its
Trojan-horse allies like Georgia and Poland) for any trouble with
Russia. In recent weeks, Russian diplomats and lobbyists, including
former chancellor Gerhard Schrider, seem to have been on a propaganda
offensive to boost public opposition to any robust EU reaction. The
emerging divide between the pro-Russian Social Democrats and Merkel’s
more hawkish Christian Democrats also threatens to draw Russia policy
into next year’s national-election campaign.

So far, though, the biggest effect on Europe of Russia’s actions is
a tenuous unity. Europe’s leaders seem desperate to avoid the fracas
that divided them over Iraq–or, for that matter, over the former
Yugoslavia in the 1990s, another conflict that battered Europe’s
illusion of itself as a soft-power superpower. Now there seems to be
growing agreement that Russia will be a more uncomfortable neighbor
in the future. Whether that is the catalyst for the EU to develop a
common strategy and effective foreign policy remains to be seen.

ARMENIA WELCOMES REGIONAL COOPERATION INITIATIVES

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.09.2008 14:13 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met
Saturday with OSCE Minsk Group U.S. Co-chair Matt Bryza to discuss
the ways to resolve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, recent regional
developments and the Armenian-Turkish relations, the RA MFA press
office told PanARMENIAN.Net.

The Armenian Minister said that Abdullah Gul’s visit to Yerevan can
help the dialogue between the two states.

As to Turkey’s Caucasus Stability & Cooperation Pact, Minister
Nalbandian said, "Yerevan welcomes the initiatives meant to ensure
development of cooperation in the region."

At the guest’s request, the Minister briefed on the outcomes of his
Georgian visit.

The two also touched upon some international and regional problems.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Sept 15 2008

Court ruling on 301 case stresses criticism benefits public

An Ä°stanbul court has ruled that penal code Article 301 —
which prohibits insulting Turkishness and state institutions — must
be evaluated in its entirety when deciding whether a crime has been
committed or not.

Istanbul’s Bakırköy Court of 2nd Instance, which
acquitted two defendants in April of this year over charges of
insulting the Gendarmerie General Command (JGK) under Article 301 of
the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), recently released its justification and
reasoning for the verdict.

The court ruled that the article, when evaluated in its entirety,
falls within the limits of freedom of expression. The article has been
harshly and aggressively criticized.

The court further reasoned that it is important to set a precedent for
other cases. It emphasized that criticism leveled against some members
of the JGK was made to help reform state institutions and that this
did not violate Article 301.

The Bakırköy Court of 2nd Instance acquitted journalists
Lale SarıibrahimoÄ?lu and Ahmet Å?ık in its
second court hearing on April 3 of this year, but only recently
released its detailed reasoning behind the decision.

SarıibrahimoÄ?lu is a columnist for both Today’s Zaman
and the Taraf daily as well as the Turkey correspondent for the
UK-based Jane’s Defence Weekly.

The Turkish courts’ practice of releasing detailed reasons for their
verdicts weeks or months after the verdict is rendered is also
problematic. A Western diplomat told Today’s Zaman that courts should
release justifications for their decisions the moment that they make
their ruling.

Nevertheless, the case hinges on remarks made by
SarıibrahimoÄ?lu to the now-closed Nokta newsweekly
political magazine during an interview with journalist
Å?ık that were published in the Feb. 8, 2007 edition
under the heading `The military should withdraw its hand from internal
security.’

SarıibrahimoÄ ?lu criticized images used by the media in
which both gendarmerie and police officers posed with the alleged
murderer of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, who was
assassinated in January of last year.

`While police officers were suspended, military personnel were only
transferred to other posts. When you examine this picture, you see a
concern for protecting not only the personnel, but an institution —
moreover, a mentality. … We saw it once again with the Dink
investigation; there are sordid and rotten ones in each of the three
institutions that should be removed,’ SarıibrahimoÄ?lu
said.

The prosecutor at the time accepted the complaint filed by the JGK on
grounds that she allegedly insulted one of the country’s security
organizations. The court case against her was then opened, based on
the infamous Article 301 of the TCK, which penalizes the denigration
of `Turkishness’ and state institutions, including the Turkish Armed
Forces (TSK).

When a complaint is filed by the TSK, prosecutors — out of
psychological fear — act immediately against those critical of their
country’s institutions, Lawyer Ã`mit KardaÅ?, a retired
military judge, told Today’s Zaman.

Appearing in court with her lawyer, KardaÅ?,
SarıibrahimoÄ?lu rejected accusations leveled against
her. `I don’t accept the accusations. I’ve been a journalist for 30
years. During the interview I indicated to Å?ık that some
parts of our interview were off the record and I had a friendly chat
with him, but he published off-the-record parts as well. However, I
was critical of some institutions in the interview, and when it is
taken into consideration as a whole, it aims to give suggestions for
the improvement in these institutions. Nevertheless, only a paragraph
has been picked out to wrongly accuse me. I had no intention of
denigrating any institution, and the accusation is based on that
premise. I don’t accept it. I’m not guilty,’ she said.

The prosecutor demanded a sentence of up to three years in prison.

In the meantime, KardaÅ? noted that over 30 pending 301 cases
have been approved by the Justice Ministry and will be heard by courts
even though an amendment with some improvements was made to the
article several months ago.

`This proves that the amended version of Article 301 is window
dressing and that it did not improve Turkey’s image on human
rights. Article 301 should have been eliminated altogether,’
KardaÅ? said.

As part of attempts to meet the democratic criteria of the European
Union, Parliament passed a law amending Article 301, necessitating
that permission be given by the Justice Ministry before any cases
based on Article 301 can be opened.

15 September 2008, Monday
TODAY’S ZAMAN ANKARA

USA continue humanitarian assistance to Nagorno Karabakh

2008-09-13 11:54:00

ArmInfo. The USA keep on rendering humanitarian assistance to Nagorno
Karabakh at a governmental level, OSCE MG American Cochairman on
Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement Matthew Bryza said in Stepanakert
when asked by ArmInfo correspondent whether the USA will continue the
humanitarian assistance to the NKR.

He said that it is important for us together to determine how to use
this assistance. He added that these are the money of our tax payers,
our ordinary citizens and they should be used as intelligently as
possible. However, the American cochairman said he is unaware of the
assistance specific amount.