Author: Karabekian Emil

GEORGIA, CHINA, UKRAINE, ARMENIA CONGRATULATE RUSSIA

TLTnews.net, Russia
June 13 2007

Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili congratulated his Russian
counterpart Vladimir Putin on the occasion of Russia’s national day
on Tuesday.

"Russia is our closest neighbor, therefore further advance of
full-scale partnership relations with your country is Georgia’s
priority," Saakashvili said in his message to Putin.

The Georgian president expressed his "confidence that the development
of equal, mutually advantageous cooperation between Georgia and Russia
meets not only the interests and expectations of the two countries’
peoples, but those of the Caucasus as a whole", People’s Daily
Online informs.

Chinese president Hu Jintao also congratulated his Russian counterpart
Vladimir Putin. In his message, Hu said that under the leadership
of President Putin, Russia has achieved all-around development in
various social and economic fields and has significantly enhanced
its national strength.

"Russia is playing an increasingly important role in international
affairs and the Chinese people highly appreciate the progress that
the Russian people have made," the message said.

President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko was next to congratulato
president of Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on a national holiday –
the Day of Russia.

"On behalf of Ukrainian people and on my behalf I warmly congratulate
you on the national holiday of the Russian Federation – the Day of
Russia," cites president press service the greeting of Mr. Yushchenko.

"I am convinced that comprehensive development of Ukrainian-Russian
relations based on strong legal foundation, in particular on the
intergovernmental agreement on friendship, cooperation and partnership,
under the condition of exact fulfillment of bilateral and multilateral
obligations will fully correspond to the expectations of our nations,"
noted Mr. Yushchenko.

He wished Mr. Putin and friendly Russian nation happiness, peace,
harmony and further prosperity, Ukrainska Pravda reports.

Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan sent a congratulatory letter
to his Russian counterpart Mikhail Fradkov on the occasion of the
Day of Russia. Serzh Sargsyan’s message, in particular reads as
follows, "Dear Mikhail Fradkov, I congratulate you on my behalf and
of our government on the national holiday – the Day of Russia. In the
centuries-old Russian history, which is reach with memorable events,
this day may be considered as the birth of Russia, since it has a
special importance. This day became the start of realizing democratic
reform, building a leading country, which plays a significant role
in the international arena. Changes in economy, social sphere and
political life of Russia, which we’ve witnessed during recent years,
prove that development and progress of the country have irrevocable
character. Advocating the policy that your cabinet carries out, I
am sure that thanks to joint efforts, Armenian-Russian cooperation,
which has firm bases and good perspectives, will successfully develop
and in future."

Conflicts between the US and Russia erupted once again.

CO-CHAIRS OF OSCE MG ASK FOR TIME TO DEFINE CONTOURS FOR FUTURE TALKS ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

TREND News Agency, Azerbaijan
June 11 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend A.Ismaylova / The Foreign Minister
of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, said on 11 June in Baku that the
Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group asked for time to define the contours
for future talks regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

According to the Minister, Azerbaijan and Co-Chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group are going to continue the negotiations on the conflict
settlement. He voiced his hope that the Armenian side will also support
the continuing peaceful process. A meeting took place between the
Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia on 9 June in Saint-Petersburg
within informal summit of the CIS State Heads.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries appeared in 1988
due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenia has
occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani lands including the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and its seven surrounding districts. Since 1992 to the present
time, these territories have been under Armenian occupation. In 1994,
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a cease-fire agreement at which time
the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
(Russia, France and USA) are holding peaceful negotiations.

Khachik Manoukyan, a deputy from the 15th constituency, renounces his
mandate on principle

ArmInfo
2007-06-10 17:03:00

Khachik Manoukyan, a representative of the Republican Party of Armenia
and the owner of the Max Group company, who has been elected deputy of
the Armenian Parliament at the 15th constituency, renounced his mandate
of the deputy and tried to explain the reasons of his decision at a
press-conference, Saturday.

To note, right after the session of the Central Electoral Commission
when Kh.Manoukyan’s renunciation of his mandate was announced, he told
journalists over the phone that he had submitted no such an application
and he was unaware of the fact that the CEC was discussing the issue of
his renunciation of the mandate. However, today, on June 9,
Kh.Manoukyan said that he had to write an application for renunciation
of his mandate as there were rumors that the election at the 15th
constituency was held with violations. He noted that the violations at
the 15th constituency were made by other candidates. "I informed the
district electoral commission about these violations. However, voters
doubt of my victory and I decided to prove that the mandate of the
deputy is not an aim in itself for me. I want the election at the 15th
constituency to be held without any violations, and let the candidate
with a clear-cut victory be elected," he said.

He also noted that he could have entered the Parliament on the RPA’s
proportional list, too, however, the mandate under the
first-past-the-post system was a priority for him. "Therefore, I made
up my mind to renounce the mandate on the RPA’s proportional list and
try to run at the 15th constituency again," Kh.Manoukyan said. He
emphasized that this time he won’t admit any fraud. But Kh.Manoukyan
failed to properly explain why he told journalists that he had
submitted no application for renunciation of his mandate and that he
didn’t’ know the CEC was discussing that issue. The most interesting
thing is that the application was submitted not by Kh.Manoukyan
personally, but it was found in the CEC’s mail box.

To note, Kh.Manoukyan’s main rival at the 15th constituency is
Mnatsakan Mnatsakanyan, a representative of the Prosperous Armenia
party and the Mayor of the town of Talin. The CEC has not et fixed the
date of the reelection at the 15 constituency, but it is to be held
within 80 days after cancellation of the election returns at this
constituency.

Eurasia Daily Monitor

Friday, May 25, 2007 — Volume 4, Issue 103

MOSCOW CONFRONTS THE WEST OVER CFE TREATY AT OSCE

by Vladimir Socor

Russian officials are intensifying their warnings about scuttling the
Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE), unless the West brings the
adapted but unratified treaty into force while accepting the continued
presence of Russian troops in Georgia and Moldova. Apart from that goal,
Moscow aims to extend the treaty’s applicability to the three Baltic states,
so as to limit possible deployments of Western forces there in emergencies.
The Baltic states are not signatory to the unratified treaty, but would sign
it upon its coming into force.

Given multiple Russian violations of both the 1990 original and the
1999-adapted treaty, however, the latest threats to abandon the treaty
unless it is ratified do not sound credible, even if reiterated at higher
decibels. Thus far, only Russia and three other members of the Commonwealth
of Independent States (Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan) have ratified the
adapted treaty.

Following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s April 26 warning to that
effect, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov took the warning to the
OSCE — the CFE Treaty’s custodian organization — in Vienna on May 23,
concurrently with Putin’s bilateral visit to Austria, also on May 23, and
backed up by louder warnings from First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov
in Moscow that same day.

Addressing a special joint session of the OSCE’s Permanent Council and
its talk-shop Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC), Lavrov reiterated Putin’
s warnings and went on to propose the holding of a special international
conference of state-parties to the CFE Treaty. Putin and Lavrov had
coordinated this initiative with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
during her visit to Moscow the preceding week. Rice mentioned the possible
conference approvingly though cryptically in her remarks to Moscow media
during the visit. It is not yet clear how the Russians hope to shape the
agenda and composition of such a conference in order to obtain satisfaction
from it.

For his part, Ivanov warned on May 23 that Russia would suspend its
fulfillment of the treaty’s mutual obligations regarding onsite inspections
of forces by other state-parties and pre-notification of military movements.
Russia would comply with its side of such obligations only after the treaty
is ratified and brought into force, Ivanov declared for NATO and EU
countries to hear.

For a novel argument, Moscow is sharply questioning the establishment
of U.S. military installations in Romania and Bulgaria. Mostly located near
the Black Sea coast, the installations are designed for logistical support
to U.S. and allied forces en route to Asia for ongoing or contingency
operations. Putin rhetorically criticized the creation of those bases in his
April 26 Moscow speech and again in Vienna on May 23, as did Lavrov at the
OSCE that day and Ivanov in Moscow.

The Russians are not seriously attempting to argue that deployment of
those U.S. forces in Romania and Bulgaria violate any CFE quotas or
ceilings. Russian objections seem designed for political effect on two
counts: First, to suggest one element of a deal whereby Moscow would desist
from raising that issue if the West accepts a continuing Russian military
presence in Moldova and Georgia. And second, to demonstrate that Russia
wants to be consulted on basic issues of hard security affecting new member
countries of NATO (Romania and Bulgaria in this case).

In the OSCE’s special meeting, Western countries properly ignored
Moscow’s polemics regarding Romania and Bulgaria while responding firmly on
the CFE treaty-related issues. Statements by U.S. Ambassador Julie Finley,
the European Union collectively, and NATO member countries collectively as
state-parties to the CFE Treaty addressed Putin’s and Lavrov’s warnings. The
Western statements used similar wording reminding Russia that the remaining
Istanbul commitments relating to Georgia and Moldova must be fulfilled as a
precondition to ratification of the CFE treaty. At the same time, the
Western statements offered to overcome the differences through negotiation
and cooperation with Russia in the OSCE, the NATO-Russia Council, or the
newly envisaged special international conference.

Technically, Moscow insists that ratification of the 1999-adapted CFE
Treaty is not conditional on the withdrawal of Russian troops from bases in
Georgia and Moldova. In fact, the linkage between ratification and troop
withdrawal is explicit in the agreements on the treaty’s adaptation, signed
at the OSCE’s 1999 Istanbul summit (the Istanbul Commitments). Moscow does
not recognize those commitments as part of the CFE treaty, but is in fact
withdrawing from its Akhalkalaki and Batumi bases and is scheduled to close
them during 2007 and 2008, respectively, under bilateral agreements with
Georgia. However, Russia retains the Gudauta base (in the Abkhaz-controlled
territory of Georgia), which was to have been closed in 2001 in accordance
with the 1999 treaty-adaptation agreement. The latter does not apply to the
`peacekeeping’ troops as such, however.

Moscow apparently hopes that NATO and EU countries would tolerate the
arsenals of heavy weaponry in the possession of unlawful forces in
Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Karabakh. Designated as
`unaccounted-for treaty-limited equipment,’ it involves categories of
weapons subjected to CFE treaty quotas or bans, but hidden from the
state-parties to the treaty (other than Russia, which delivered those
weapons) in those enclaves. Ratification of the adapted treaty would be a
farcical exercise without resolving this problem.

(Interfax, Itar-Tass, May 23; OSCE Permanent Council session
documents, May 23)

–Vladimir Socor

Reporters without borders (press release), France
June 8 2007

Appeal court confirms 30-month jail term for detained newspaper
editor

Reporters Without Borders voiced alarm today at an appeal court’s
decision on 6 June to uphold a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence
for Eynulla Fatullayev, founder and editor of the daily newspapers
Realny Azerbaijan and Gundelik Azerbaijan, for defaming and insulting
Azerbaijanis under article 147.2 of the criminal code. He has been
held ever since the sentence was passed on 20 April.

`This decision confirms an exceptionally disproportionate sentence,’
the press freedom organisation said. `At the same time, Fatullayev
has been notified of new, terrorism-related charges against him,
without being given any details of these charges. The two newspapers
he edited have been closed illegally and his conditions of detention
are cause for concern about his health and safety.’

Reporters Without Borders added: `We support Fatullayev’s appeal to
the authorities to guarantee his safety and provide him with
acceptable conditions of detention.’

Fatullayev has reported that guards threatened him and pointed a gun
at his head when he was transferred on 29 May from Bail prison to the
national security ministry detention centre. Since the transfer, he
has been given hardly any food and water and has been forced to sleep
on his bed’s metal frame, with no mattress or blanket. He has written
several letters to national security minister Eldar Mahmudov to
demand normal conditions of detention, without getting a reply.

Fatullayev was convicted over online posts attributed to him that
said the Azerbaijani armed forces shared responsibility with their
Armenian counterparts for the deaths of hundreds of civilians during
an attack by Armenian troops in 1992 on the village of Khojali in the
disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

A respected journalist, Fatullayev used to work for the Monitor,
whose editor, Elmar Huseynov, was murdered in March 2005. With a
daily print run of 30,000 copies, Realny Azerbaijan is well-known for
criticising the government.

Serious fighting broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the
Nagorno-Karabakh region in 1992. A cease-fire has been in effect
since 1994 but no peace accord has ever been reached.

CRIMINAL CASE OPENED BASED ON FACT OF MURDER COMMITTED BY POLICEMEN
DURING ARREST OF CRIMINAL

YEREVAN, JUNE 9, NOYAN TAPAN. Yerevan prosecutor’s office opened a
criminal case based on the fact of the murder committed by policemen
during the arrest of a criminal. An investigation is underway, NT
correspondent was informed by Sona Truzian, spokeswoman for the RA
Prosecutor General. The chief of the RA Police ordered an internal
investigation in connection with the case.

According to a press relase of the RA Police PR and Information
Department, at about 00.05 am on June 7, several employees of Yerevan
criminal investigation department tried to stop a Mercedes car (license
plate 06 SO 587) in 1st street of Yerevan’s Noragavit district on
suspicion of transporting drugs but the driver "did not obey the order
of policemen, drove back his car, hitting another car, then he drove in
the policemen’s direction, endangering their lives and injuring a
policeman in the leg." According to the press release, after firing
warning shots in the air, the policemen starting firing in the car
tyres. One of the bullets wounded the driver who was immediately taken
to "Yerevan" medical center where he died.

The press release says that during the examination of the car and body,
30 grams of a substance looking like a narcotic drug in several packs,
as well as a syringe filled with unhydride were found. Besides, license
plates of another car and a driving license of another person were
found in the car. The police revealed that the killed driver was Armen
Melikian, 31, who lived at 45 Kilikia district (Yerevan), while the car
belonged to another person. A. Melikian was convicted twice: in 1995 –
for theft, in 2003 – for hooliganism and resisting arrest.

ARMENIA BANS IMPORT OF PORK FROM GEORGIA

Panorama.am
17:31 08/06/2007

Armenian veterinary state inspection has imposed a boycott on imported
pork from Georgia. Grisha Baghyan, inspection head, told Panorama.am
that pigs have massively died in Georgia recently. Baghyan said
International Epidemic Bureau sources say a virus has been detected
among pigs in Georgia. "All cars entering Armenia from Georgia
are disinfected," he said also saying pork and pork products are
confiscated and destroyed. Baghyan believes the price of pork will
not go up in Armenia since only little meat was imported from Georgia.

Russia has also banned import of pork from Georgia.

According to Russian sources, pigs in Georgia are infected by "African
plague" which has been proven in one of Great Britain laboratories.

ROCKUMENTARY RAGES AGAINST GENOCIDE
R.M. Vaughan

Globe and Mail, Canada
June 8 2007

Before I watched Screamers, a new documentary by the BBC’s Carla
Garapedian, I thought the film was just another concert documentary –
this time about the U.S. prog-punk band System Of A Down, who sound
a lot like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and look a lot like Rage Against
The Machine, two bands I cannot stand.

Screamers, however, is much more than a backstage-pass movie. The
members of SOAD are Armenian-American, and have dedicated themselves
to educating the world about the Armenian genocide and the Turkish
government’s continued denial of the crime.

Remember the good old days, when concert films were all about Jack
Daniels, bouncy groupies named Candy and the purple haze at the back
of the bus?

A rockumentary about the Armenian genocide must be a first.

One idea was definitely to reach a younger market, because who’s going
to want to go to the movies to see a genocide film? But what impressed
me when I first went to a SOAD concert, and I wasn’t a fan, was the
number of human-rights groups camped out around the concert area. The
young fans knew all about Armenia, Rwanda, Darfur – I was shocked by
this. I guess I was rather cynical about the next generation.

I’m not questioning the sincerity of the band, but isn’t there a
danger, especially when you’re talking about pop music and kids,
that the discussions about genocide will become just another part of
their PR package?

I would say yes, of course. But in the case of this band, if you look
at their record, they are very publicity-shy. They shy away from the
usual trappings of publicity that surround rock stars. Their message
is: We are our performance. They don’t really even talk publicly, and
they were very reluctant to do the film. The only reason they agreed
to do it was because they knew of my record with human-rights films –
but it took a lot of persuading. They were afraid the concert aspects
of the film would detract from the politics. They were worried about
exactly what you describe, so this was an act of faith on their part.

The other danger was that the film would end up being too serious and
po-faced, so I included some tour humour, and really needed to show
the kids at the concerts having a good time. Part of talking about
genocide for the band is also talking about survival, about enjoying
life and saying I’m here, I’m making noise, I am here because my
grandparents survived the horror.

The band comes across as fun-loving. They don’t seem to suffer from
Bono-itus.

They are. They don’t take themselves seriously. They never tell their
audiences that they should feel only sorrow or pity, but that they
should be passionate about life.

Are you in danger now if you visit Turkey?

Well, looking at the evidence – one of the contributors to our film,
the journalist Hrant Dink, was assassinated after he gave an interview
to us. I don’t attribute his death to our film, but I’ve been told,
unofficially, that all the people who are Turkish citizens in our
film are on a hit list, are considered traitors. I don’t know if
that’s true, because authoritarian states often create these rumours
to frighten people into censoring themselves, but there’s certainly a
climate of fear. To answer your question directly, I have not received
any threats, and I’m touching wood here. I would very much like to
go to Turkey to show the film, but I’d like that to happen without
the cinema owner being arrested.

Your film posits that all genocides are interrelated. I have to
admit, I get a bit queasy when the specificity of historical events
is diminished.

This is my answer: The semantics and linguistics of this phenomenon
are important to consider and are part of the problem. When we used
to say the word holocaust, it meant a specific event, but it also
meant the most horrific thing you can imagine. And I think that word
has become devalued. But the policy is always the same – it is the
policy of systemic extermination by a government. If one wants to
make a distinction with numbers or scale, that’s a fair argument,
but part of the problem is that the Jewish community, in general,
has not wanted to get involved with the Armenian genocide because
Israel is an ally of Turkey. In Los Angeles, where I live, however,
a group of rabbis have publicly supported the film and called for the
recognition of the Armenian genocide. So, the answer to your question
is, yes and no.

And who am I to argue with rabbis? So, you’ve made a film about
the Armenian genocide, and a film about Zahra Kazemi, the Canadian
journalist murdered in Iran – after all that, don’t you want to relax
and make a film about doll collecting or baby animals?

I was just at Cannes, and I kept asking myself, Why can’t I make a
gentle little film about wine, in the south of France?

ory/LAC.20070608.VAUGHAN08/TPStory/TPEntertainment /Music/

GUESTS WIN TENNIS INTERNATIONAL YOUTH TOURNAMENT DEDICATED TO MEMORY OF ARTUR SHILAJIAN

Noyan Tapan
Jun 06 2007

YEREVAN, JUNE 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The Tennis International Youth
Tournament perpetuating the memory of Artur Shilajian ended on June 5
in Yerevan. About 120 representatives from 13 countries competed by
two age groups. Margarita Gasparian (Russia) and Yahongir Jalalov
(Uzbekistan) were recognized the winners in the competition of
tennis players below 14. Diana Davitayan (Georgia) and Danil Proskura
(Estonia) won in the competition of sportsmen below 16.

In the pair games the pairs Jalalov-Lunkin (Russia), Amiraghian
(Armenia) – Gasparian (Russia), Davitaya-Robakidze (both from
Georgia) and Smirnov-Kostanov (both from Russia) won the first place,
respectively.

T.TOROSSYAN: THE OPPOSITION’S WEAKNESS AFFECTS THE AUTHORITIES AS WELL

ArmInfo
2007-06-05 20:04:00

The parliamentary election of 2007 showed that the amended Election
Code is a good legal basis for conduction of the democratic election in
case of a political will, and a premise for successful conduction of
the presidential election in 2008, Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, Head
of the OSCE Yerevan Office, said at a meeting with Tigran Torossyan,
Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, Tuesday. To note, V.Pryakhin is
completing his mission in Armenia.

The Armenian parliamentary press-service told ArmInfo that T.Torossyan
assured the Ambassador that the presidential election of 2008 will
also be held in compliance with democratic norms. For his part,
V.Pryakhin highly estimated the parliamentary election held in Armenia
and emphasized that different international structures’ estimations
coincide for the first time.

He qualified the election as unprecedented and complying with
democratic norms. V.Pryakhin stressed the role of parliament
and Speaker Torossyan who could find the right solution in any
situation. He expressed his content with the fact that the amended
Constitution vests the parliament with big authority, stressing that
the 44 months he spent in Armenia were months of fruitful work and
establishment of democratic institutions. V.Pryakhin also expressed
pity over the weakness of the Armenian opposition, and T.Torossyan
pointed out that the opposition’s weakness affects the authorities
as well.