Author: Kanayan Tamar

"WITHIN THE INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL CONTEXT, THE REGIME SATISFIES
PERSONAL SELF-INTERESTS," "ZHARANGUTYUN" PARTY FIXES

YEREVAN, AUGUST 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The "Zharangutyun" (Heritage) party
is sure that healthy forces stood for a justice struggle for the
good future of Armenia, with the society’s active assistance, will
come out of the difficult ordeal of withstanding all the inner and
outer challenges with honour. It is said in the resolution accepted
at the 4th congress of the party on August 1. At the same time the
regular quick fall of the inner and foreign policy, social-economic,
spiritual-cultural and other spheres is fixed. According to the
"Zharangutyun" estimation, the gathered negative phenomena threaten the
sovereignty, democratization, national security and stable development
of Armenia.

In the resolution an anxiety is particularly expressed relating
to just, democratic relations’ being in danger what fraughts with
threat of reproduction of the illegal authorities. "Castration of the
electoral system brought to the one that formation of the authorities
in Armenia remains depending on outer forces being accountable to
which, the regime is inhibited while making decisions and leading a
policy arising of national and sovereign interests of the country,"
is said in the resolution adopted by the congress. It is mentioned that
the people’s belief towards elections as a just and effective institute
of expressing the public opinion has seriously been shaken: "In the RA
elections in no way become a mean of expressing the majority’s will,
solution of political contradictions and formation of the political
elite, no legitimate authorities are formed." Such elections, according
to the resolution, not only do not secure the political stability,
but, the opposite. become ground for straining of inner-political
confrontations. "Castration of the electoral system brought to the
one that formation of the authorities in Armenia remains depening
on outer forces being accountable to which, the regime is inhibited
while making decisions and leading a policy arising of national and
sovereign interests of the country. It, in its turn stimulated the
yet unfinished process of endowing the country’s riches to foreigns,
turning the public property into trade," is said in the resolution.

According to authors of the document, only interests of the regime,
to the detriment of Artsakh, are on the international stage. It is
mentioned that the world of protection of the rights of Armenia and
Nagorno Karabakh will not lend an ear while within the international
and regional context, the regime satisfies its personal, group
self-interests. And "our possibility to confront dangers depends just
on Azerbaijan’s making mistakes, but never on Armenian diplomatic
steps," is said in the resolution of the 4th congress of the
"Zharangutyun" party.

According to the estimation of the "Zharangutyun" party, "all
those defective phenomena hour by hour threaten the sovereignty,
democratization, security and stable development of Armenia."

Elections are not an obstacle to the conversations on
Nagorno-Karabakh – US co-chairman of OSCE Minsk Group

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
July 31, 2006

"I see the parties sow a political will to solve the problems and
the philosophy forming our basis is acceptable", Liberty Station
reports quoting Matthew Bryza, US co-chairman of OSCE Minsk group,
following his meeting with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan on
settling Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Trend reports with reference to REGNUM information agency, Mr Bryza,
talking on proposals details, said there are some unsolved questions
linked to Kelbajar and Lachin, as well as the referendum. Mr Bryza
confirmed OSCE MG co-chairmen opinion of Nagorno-Karbakh people sole
entitlement to define Karabakh’s status. However, Bryza said, the
question is whom to consider people of Karabakh as some lived there
till 1988 and are also willing to take part in the referendum. Such
issues are just offers and suggestions and therefore the agreement
is inevitable.

Answering the question whether it is possible to reach the agreement
this year or only in 2009, Bryza said the chance always exists as it
would be beneficial for the two countries presidents to take part at
the elections with the problem already solved. However, he added,
the problems are much easier to solve without the tension in big
politics. Alongside, American diplomat said OSCE Minsk group was
ready to act as long as the parties take these problems seriously.

Touching upon democracy in Armenia, Bryza said US links to Armenia
would be as strong as the democracy in this country, especially
Armenia’s participation in "Challenge of Millennium" program

Malefactors Attempted to Set Fire to Museum of Russia-Armenian Friendship

PanARMENIAN.Net
31.07.2006 18:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On July 31 night malefactors damaged the Museum
of Russian-Armenian Friendship located in the Surb Khach Church. As
reported by the Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia,
when coming to work the museum employees saw outraging inscriptions
of the museum walls. The vandals could not enter the museum but broke
the windows. Experts suspect skinheads; law enforces have not issued
any versions so far.

Who Edited My Cheese?
Five subjects that get Wiki-maniacs fighting mad

GQ, USA
July 31, 2006

July 31, 2006-In the contentious alternate universe of Wikipedia,
the back-and-forth over even the most obscure of topics can get pretty
vitriolic. As the online encyclopedia’s most avid contributors prepare
to descend upon Boston for the second annual "Wikimania" get-together
later this week, we asked the company’s spokesperson Wayne Saewyc to
name a few topics likely to start a Wiki-brawl.

MySpace: "People are advertising their MySpace accounts in the MySpace
article. It gets removed but it happens a lot. The most common form of
vandalism is to say, ‘So-and-so is gay.’ People go through and put in
‘gay’ after any construction that includes ‘MySpace is.’ "

2006 World Cup: "Zidane’s head butt caused a big flurry of activity.
The French supporters were very disappointed and upset but they
supported their man, and the opposite is true as well. People were
watching the match and live editing on Wikipedia at the same time."

Scientology: "This has been a hot war in the past. There are arguments
over word choices, like quiet birth versus silent birth. Right now
it’s fairly neutral, so Wikipedia is winning. We want things to
be neutral!"

Cheese: "This one gets vandalized regularly. One anonymous IP said
that cheese was made out of the ‘pubic hair of migratory elephants.’ "

Nagorno-Karabakh: "It’s a portion of the South Caucasus which
should be part of Azerbaijan but is effectively unruled or de facto
independent. The arguments are about stuff like whether the Azerbaijani
coat of arms should be included on the page or not. They’re trying
to work towards a compromise."

– Staff

Agence France Presse
28 juillet 2006 vendredi 2:01 PM GMT

Un nouvel écrivain turc poursuivi pour des écrits sur la question arménienne

ISTANBUL 28 juil 2006

Un procureur d’Istanbul a requis jusqu’à trois ans de prison contre
la romancière turque Elif Shafak pour avoir "insulté l’identité
nationale" dans un de ses livres, consacré aux massacres d’Arméniens
sous l’empire ottoman, a rapporté vendredi l’agence de presse
Anatolie.

Les propos incriminés sont ceux de personnages Arméniens du roman
"Baba ve Pic" ("Le Père et le Btard"), initialement écrit en anglais
-Mme Shafak poursuit une carrière universitaire aux Etats-Unis- puis
traduit en turc en mars 2006, a précisé Anatolie.

Le roman suit les pérégrinations de quatre générations de femmes
entre les Etats-Unis et la Turquie pour raconter l’histoire d’une
famille arménienne et des descendants d’un de ses enfants, abandonné
en Turquie lors des massacres d’Arméniens de 1915-1917, qui s’est
converti à l’islam et a vécu comme un Turc.

Elif Shafak, 35 ans, est poursuivie au titre de l’article 301 du code
pénal, qui a déjà servi de base à plusieurs autres procès contre des
journalistes et des intellectuels et dont l’Union européenne, avec
laquelle la Turquie a entamé des négociations d’adhésion en octobre,
réclame l’abrogation.

Parmi eux figurent le directeur de la rédaction du quotidien bilingue
turc-arménien Hrant Dink, condamné à six mois de prison avec sursis,
et l’un des écrivains les plus connus de Turquie, Orhan Pamuk, contre
qui les charges ont été abandonnées.

Comme dans ces deux affaires, la procédure contre Mme Shafak a été
engagée sur la base d’une plainte de Kemal Kerinçsiz, un avocat
nationaliste qui s’est acquis une certaine notoriété pour sa "traque"
infatigable des intellectuels questionnant la position officielle sur
les massacres d’Arméniens.

La question des massacres d’Arméniens commis à la fin de l’empire
ottoman est très sensible en Turquie, qui juge inapproprié le terme
-adopté par plusieurs pays dans le monde- de génocide pour les
qualifier.

Les Arméniens estiment que jusqu’à 1,5 million des leurs ont péri
dans un génocide, Ankara affirme que des massacres ont été commis de
part et d’autre.

Une première demande d’enquête contre Mme Shafak avait été rejetée,
mais cette décision a été cassée en appel. La date du procès n’était
pas immédiatement connue.

su-nc/jlb

"TRIPS IN ARMENIA" YOUTH PROGRAM TO LAUNCH ON JULY 29

Yerevan, July 28. ArmInfo. "Trips in Armenia" youth program initiated
by the youth branch of ARF ‘Dashnaktsiutiun" will launch on July 5.

Hasmik Sargsian, one of the program’s initiators, informed that 115
young people from South and North America, Europe, Near East, Artsakh,
Javakhk and Armenia will participate in the expeditions. She stated
that their initiative is aimed to represent the historical
sigthseenings of Armenia to the young people from Diaspora. She added
that the program includes trips to Echmiadzin, Tsakhkadzor, Sevan,
Sardarapat, Vayots Dzor and Aghavnadzor. She emphasized that this
program will be held annually.

Robert Kocharyan meets OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Matthew Bryza

ArmRadio.am
29.07.2006 15:40

RA President Robert Kocharyan received today US Co-Chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group Matthew Bryza.

The interlocutors discussed the latest developments in the Karabakh
conflict settlement process, President’s Press Office informs.

ARKADY GHUKASIAN AND HASMIK POGHOSIAN DISCUSS ISSUES OF EXTENSION OF
RA-NKR COOPERATION IN SPHERE OF CULTURE

STEPANAKERT, JULY 28, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Issues relating
to cooperation in the sphere of culture between two Armenian republics
were discussed at the July 26 meeting of RA Minister of Culture and
Youth Affairs Hasmik Poghosian and NKR President Arkady Ghukasian.

During the conversation with participation of NKR Minister of
Education, Culture and Sport Kamo Atayan, Hasmik Poghosian said that
closely cooperating with Artsakh partners, the ministry headed by her
studies issues of founding branches of Armenian higher education
institutions of cultural sphere in NKR and supporting libraries and
music schools, as well as a number of large programs regarding Artsakh
youth.

As NT was informed by NKR President’s Acting Spokesperson, among the
problems of the sphere Arkady Ghukasian singled out those regarding
improvement of the building conditions of Stepanakert theater and
issues of restoration of Shoushi centers having historic-cultural
values. The President also attached importance to the role of culture
in NKR and expressed gratitude to the guests for their readiness to
support Artsakh.

NATO Turkish Representative Complained of Armenian Speaker Again

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.07.2006 16:47 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ First Vice-President of the NATO Parliamentary
Assembly (PA), Chairman of NATO Group of the Grand National Assembly
of Turkey, MP representing Justice and Development ruling party Vahid
Erdem has send a second letter to the Assembly, complaining of Armenian
NA Speaker Tirgran Torosyan.

As Tirgran Torosyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, he did not receive
the second complaint. "I consider the accusations of the Turkish
deputy unfounded. Turks complain of Armenians, Azeri media reprint it,
everyone is content. I can reaffirm that I did not say that V. Erdem
does not have the right to speak as a Turkish MP. I only underscored
that the NATO floor should not be used for propaganda," Torosyan said.

We noted that in mid-June a 20-member NATO PA delegation, led by
V. Erdem, was in Yerevan on a visit. At a meeting at the Parliament
of Armenia Erdem denied statements on the Armenian Genocide.

TIGRAN TOROSIAN MEETS WITH UNDP COORDINATOR

AZG Armenian Daily #141, 28/07/2006

Meeting

Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Tigran Torosian today met with the
UNDP Coordinator Consuela Vidal. RA National Assembly’s Press Service
informed that that Ms. Vidal expressed readiness to conduce the UNDP
programs towards preparing fair and democratic elections. Mr. Torosian
answered that the reforms of the Electoral Code are aiming to
provide transparent and legitimate elections and are assisting the
establishment of tolerance among the political powers of Armenia.

The Speaker also represented the elaboration process of a legislation
bill on lobbyism. In which the UN Armenian office also takes
part. Issues of international assistance to legislation reforms in
Armenia were discussed.