Author: Karagyozian Lena

PRESIDENT OF IRAN MEETS WITH DEPUTIES OF COUNTRY’S RELIGIOUS MINORITIES

Noyan Tapan

Oc t 8, 2008

TEHRAN, OCTOBER 8, ARMENIANS TODAY – NOYAN TAPAN. On October 2,
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
received deputies of religious minorities in the Islamic parliament,
including Robert Beglarian, a deputy of Armenians of Ispahan and South
Iran. Gevorg Vardan, a deputy of Armenians of Tehran and North Iran,
was absent due to taking part in an event proceeding in Rasht.

According to the report of the Iranahayer site, during the meeting,
the President emphasized that religious minorities are integral parts
of the large family of the Iranian people, and splitting words of
enemies cannot have an impact on interrelations in this large family.

Deputies-representatives of religious minorities, in their turn,
presented the difficulties and problems of their communities.

ISSUES ON DEEPENING OF ARMENIAN-CHINESE COOPERATION DISCUSSED

ARMENPRESS
Oct 9, 2008

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS: Speaker of Armenian parliament Hovik
Abrahamian received October 9 the Ambassador of People’s Republic of
China Khun Tsziu.

Public relations department of Armenian Parliament told Armenpress that
the ambassador conveyed to the Armenian NA speaker the congratulations
of the head of permanent committee of Chinese People’s House of
Representatives U. Bango and invitation to visit China.

Assuring that Armenian-Chinese parliamentary relations and cooperation
are the part of friendly relations between the two countries U. Bango
expressed readiness to enhance the cooperation and have a positive
contribution to the development of all spheres of inter-state
cooperation. The ambassador noted that U. Bango’s official visit
to Armenia was planned, but it has been postponed as a result of
disastrous earthquake in China.

Speaker of Armenian Parliament thanked for the invitation and
re-confirmed the invitation of Chinese speaker’s official visit. During
the meeting the sides underscored the importance of inter-parliamentary
cooperation. H. Abrahamian also noted that the Chinese experience
is very teaching and important for Armenia, therefore it has been
suggested that a joint business forums be conducted during which
prospects of development of economic relations will be discussed.

The sides also referred to other issues during the meeting.

MYSTERIOUS MURDER IN VARDENIS

A1+
[08:07 pm] 07 October, 2008

After three days of searching, family and friends finally found the
body of criminal investigation department officer of the Vardenis
police headquarters Samvel Khachatryan right where they had begun
the search.

On September 12, Samvel Khachatryan had left for work at 10 a.m.,
but late in the evening family and relatives began to worry and
started looking for him. According to the relatives, the Vardenis
police couldn’t help them and even one of the police officers told
them that they would join the relatives if they knew where to search.

According to the police, on September 15 at 2 p.m. farmers had found
Khachatryan’s body a meter away from his car parked in the forest
located 500 meters away from Sevan Lake. After autopsy, it became
clear that Khachatryan had died instantly from a gunshot.

Samvel Khachatryan’s family and relatives had gathered today in
front of the presidential residence to receive the response to their
protest-letter. As Khachatryan’s relatives told A1+, the police
persistently tried to dodge the information that Khachatryan had
committed suicide. However, his friends assure that Samvel couldn’t
have committed suicide because he had no reason to do that.

Relatives only suspect former chief police officer of Vardenis Valodya
Torosyan because he was the one who had avoided rumors that Samvel
had committed suicide.

There are also rumors in Vardenis that Khachatryan was at the
police department on the day of his death and that is where he was
kept. According to relatives, Samvel had received eight calls on his
cellular phone on the night of September 12 at 12 a.m. "The Viva Cell
operator gave us the list of calls made on the night of September 11,
but not the list of calls made on the night of September 12. But that
is the only way to know where our friend could be," says Samvel’s
friend.

While at the presidential residence, Samvel’s relatives assured that
they would get the response to their protest-letter in the next couple
of days.

AMERICAN EXPERTS SHARE WITH THEIR EXPERIENCE

Panorama.am
20:00 06/10/2008

Today the AD Hoc Committee on March 1 events of the National Assembly
held a session and two American experts who have been engaged in the
expertise of September 11 case were also invited to participate in
the session. Christopher Koim, the vice president of the committee
said that their Government was not much interested in discovering the
details of the accident, they were much interested in the struggle
against corruption; the relatives of the victims were insisting on
the reveal of the details and the committee was created based on
those objectives.

According to him, the mission of "September 11" committee was not to
assess or to accuse this or that official. "To keep far from comments
we decided to investigate the facts, as the latter are unchangeable,"
said Mr. Koim.

Another member to the committee Michael Harly who has been an officer
of special service of the US said that during 18-20 months they have
talked to 1200 people, read 2 million documents and found no problems
in the implementation of the work.

"All the documents, records will be opened to the public and people
will assess how balanced and accurate the investigation has been,"
he said.

THE SO-CALLED ‘GENOCIDE OF MOUNTAIN JEWS’ ALLEGEDLY COMMITTED BY ARMENIANS IS FICTION

AZG Armenian Daily
07/10/2008

National Interests

Despite the negative lessons of cultivating enmity around the South
Ossetian and Abkhazian conflicts and deliberations about Turkey’s
Platform of Stability and Security, the Azerbaijani special propaganda
continues poisoning the public conscience with misinformation",
Head of the Institute of National Strategic Studies of the Armenian
Defense Ministry, Major-General, Doctor of Political Sciences Hayk
Kotanjian said when commenting allegations in Azeri mass media that
the Knesseth has made decision to investigate the "genocide" against
Mountain Jews in the north of present Azerbaijan at the beginning of
the 20th century perpetrated by Armenians.

According to Kotanjian, the so-called "genocide against Mountain
Jews" is pure fiction imposed on the public conscience of Israel and
Jewish Diaspora by Azeri special propagandists and their foreign
partners. "These actions aim to undermine the friendship between
Jewish and Armenian peoples having very much in common in their
centuries-old history. Besides the gift to support their century-old
cultural and historical identity and develop the intellectual potential
of hundreds of generations, our people are united by the disastrous
hardship of Genocide and Holocaust, as well as by the experience of
heroic surviving and rebirth of statehood as the Republic of Armenia
and the State of Israel", he said.

One thing is clear: the falsifiers’ fuss is immoral, actually, it is
sneering at the memory of Armenians exterminated by gangs of Caucasian
Tatars in places of century-old friendly co-existence of Armenians
and Mountain Jews. Experts of invention of "genocide" are trying to
pass off the remains of these Armenians, victims of the massacre, as
the remains of Jews allegedly killed by Armenians. The matter concerns
the crimes of the gangs which at that time exterminated in the north
of Azerbaijan several thousands of Russian officers and soldiers who
were returning home from the Caucasian frontline, Kotanjian said.

U.S. NGO TO OPEN OFFICE IN IRAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.10.2008 15:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The United States has granted permission for a
U.S. non-governmental organization to open an office in Iran, the
U.S. State Department said on Thursday, but said Washington’s Tehran
policy remained unchanged.

In a rare move, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset
Control (OFAC) granted a license to the Princeton, New Jersey-based
American-Iranian Council (AIC) to operate in Iran.

A U.S. official said the decision to allow the NGO to go to Iran was
"carefully reviewed" within the U.S. government.

"We want to encourage this kind of cultural exchange and mutual
understanding" between the U.S. and Iranian people "while trying
to isolate the regime," said the official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, Reuters reports.

The United States is at loggerheads with Tehran on a range of issues,
including Iran’s nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed
at building an atomic bomb. Tehran argues it is for peaceful power
purposes.

The two nations have been antagonists since the Islamic Revolution in
Iran in 1979 and the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Switzerland
handles U.S. interests in Iran as Washington has no diplomatic ties
with Tehran.

IF ARMENIA WANTS BORDERS OPEN, IT MUST LEARN TO PROPERLY SPEAK TO ITS NEIGHBORS: TURKISH DELEGATION TO PACE

Trend News Agency
04.10.08 16:31
Azerbaijan

France, Strasburg, 4 October /Trend News corr. A.Maharramli/ Exclusive
interview of Trend News with Ozlem Turkone, the member of Turkey’s
delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE), deputy chairman of the Foreign Relations Department of the
Turkish Justice & Development Party:

Question: Will the Caucasus Security & Stability Platform be able to
stand as alternative to the OSCE Minsk Group?

Answer: The platform is in no way an alternative or an obstacle to
the current systems, rules and relations. Tension is escalating in
Caucasus and the war that raged between Russia and Georgia can at
any moment cover other countries. If there is a possibility for
such war to break out, so Azerbaijan, Turkey and Armenia may top
the list of most damaged countries. We want the history to be given
a proper estimate. Europe has a plenty of values, such as unity,
justice, democracy and independence. Has Europe reached this all in
a single day? When did this take place? All this must be properly
estimated. The European Union is a pass leading from the end of
wars to reconciliation. If there are energy issues or other issues
standing in the basis of confrontation in Caucasus, so we will be able
to determine the common values and to find a way to bring them to a
high level, leaving aside many conflicts. Our task is to establish
a safer and more peaceful Caucasus in favor of the citizens of our
countries. The Caucasus Cooperation Platform suggested by Turkey at
the end of 90s of the last century was the result of the idea. We
must learn a lesson from the newest history. Then we will be able
like Europe to do without victims counted in millions and to create
a safer atmosphere in the region.

Question: What must the countries in the region do to implement the
Caucasus Security & Stability Platform?

Answer: Naturally, the platform will not interfere into the state
specificity of countries in the region. Our objective is not to
establish organization like the European Union. Only one thing is known
that we can solve these problems without military confrontation. At
least, we want to establish such a format. We speak about our
problems at the Council of Europe, the United Nations, whilst we –
border countries do not have such a format amongst ourselves. We have
problems. If anything like confrontation between Russia and Georgia
takes place again in South Caucasus, our nations will suffer, but
not Europe. We should make progress in this cooperation together and
achieve the purpose, because it is necessary for our citizens’ future.

Question: What is your appraisal of the chances to implement the
Platform?

Answer: Naturally, there are some problems, which includes the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Armenian
‘genocide’ between Armenia and Turkey, Russia’s attitude to Azerbaijan,
which is difficult to name as positive, as well as problem between
Georgia and Russia. On the other hand, we witness Russia’s support to
Armenia in the issue of the Armenian ‘genocide’. One factor should
be stressed that Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline is an important
beginning. Each of us has common contiguities in the region. BTC did
not pass via the Armenian territory because of two reasons. First,
it would be injustice for fraternal Azerbaijan and the second reason
is incorrect position basing on claims, which are connected with
false Armenian ‘genocide’. Therefore, it was decided to lengthen
the route of the pipeline. Armenia could not take advantage of the
project. Everybody should display reasonable approach in the Caucasus
Security & Stability Platform, forgetting feelings. Armenia should
leave Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan. If
Armenia wants borders open for its nation, it must learn to properly
speak and cooperate with its neighbors. We can begin this process
and realize it on the base of dialogue. Perhaps, most of people may
approach to my speech as a dream, whilst everybody should remember
that dreams will come true, when we believe in them. If we look
over history of Europe from 1918 to 1945, we will not see anything,
but tears, bitterness and regret. However, Europeans could overcome
over all of them through dialogue and achieve the current level. I
want all countries, which have borders with Caucasus, to support
the Platform. I believe, if we hold dialogue now, we will be at a
different level in ten years.

PRESS RELEASE
United Nations Development Programme / Armenia
14 Petros Adamyan St., Yerevan 0010
Contact: Mr. Hovhannes Sarajyan, Communications Associate
Tel: +37410 566 073
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site:

Partnership between the United Nations Development Program and the
Ministry of Diaspora Has Been Formalized

United Nations, Yerevan – Today Ms. Consuelo Vidal, UN Resident
Coordinator/ UNDP Resident Representative and Ms. Hranush Hakobyan,
Minister of Diaspora have signed a Memorandum of Understanding – a
framework document that envisages collaboration in development of
conceptual outline of Armenia-Diaspora relations and its implementation.

In line with the provisions of the document, UNDP in Armenia will
support the Ministry of Diaspora in development of the Ministry’
website, implementation of specially designed for Diaspora TOKTEN
(Transfer of Knowledge Through Expatriate Nationals) program, raising
awareness on the activities of the Ministry, establishment of Civic
Educational Center and Summer Camp for local and Diaspora youth, and
coordination of and information sharing on activities with and for Diaspora.

Underscoring the vital importance of institutionalization of relations
with the Diaspora, Ms. Consuelo Vidal said, `My personal interaction
with Diaspora representatives, aimed at facilitating their engagement in
Armenia’s development projects and partnering with them as UN has
testified the necessity to considerably intensify the volume of
cooperation with engagement of innovative mechanisms.’

Although the MoU is being formalized only now, she stressed that the
United Nations in Armenia has already shaped a successful cooperation
with former MFA State Committee on Diaspora Affairs. At the beginning of
this week the United Nations in Armenia has launched in the framework of
its `Global Armenia’ initiative a website (
<;) and TOKTEN program, enabling Diaspora
Armenians through the UN methodology to apply their skills and knowledge
for the benefit of Armenia. As part of that scheme, Diaspora experts can
bring their valuable input also into the Ministry of Diaspora’s work.

PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
31 Moscovian Street
Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 53.69.13
Fax: (+374 – 10) 53.26.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:

25 September 2008

Heritage MP Takes Part in Meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation

Alexandroupolis, Greece–Secretary Stepan Safarian of the Heritage
Party’s parliamentary faction attended, from September 24 to 25, in
the 32nd session of the Cultural, Social, and Healthcare Committee of
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of the Black Sea
Economic Cooperation (PABSEC). To note, Safarian is a member in this
committee since 2007. The event, which was held in the Greek town of
Alexandroupolis, was called to discuss and vote on the report,
entitled "The Impact of Globalization on the Social Policy of the
Countries Members in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSCE)," in
order to approve it for examination during the general assembly to be
convened in Chiºinãu, Moldova, in November.

During the exchange of views, Stepan Safarian delivered an
intervention on globalization’s positive and adverse effects on the
social situation in Armenia. Since unrestricted movement–as a result
of globalization–has increased the emigration of manpower, the
speaker emphasized the aspect of migration. "Today, hundreds of
thousands of Armenian citizens are emigrating to BSEC-member
countries–and specifically to Russia, Ukraine and Turkey–for
employment. Some of them move abroad legally, whereas others,
illegally and therefore they are less protected in those countries."
Safarian noted. In his view, the BSEC is the very platform where these
issues need to be raised and resolved. "Many of our countries are the
donors, whereas the others are the recipients of labor force. Sadly,
Armenia does not even have diplomatic relations with Turkey, which is
one of those recipient countries, and thus it is impossible to give an
accurate account of the work migrants there. And under such conditions
it is out of the question to speak about the protection of the rights
of those citizens of Armenia." Stepan Safarian also maintained that
solely the people themselves can neutralize or reduce the adverse
consequences of globalization and that a mere criticism of
globalization will be unjustified because globalization provides great
and positive opportunities as well.

In addition, Stepan Safarian and numerous other speakers also
underscored the need, within the globalization process, to preserve
and enrich the national and civilizational identities.

Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land.
Its central office is located at 31 Moscovian Street, Yerevan 0002,
Armenia, with telephone contact at (374-10) 536.913, fax at (374-10)
532.697, email at [email protected] or [email protected], and website
at

BAKU DECIDING ON WAYS TO CONTINUE KARABAKH TALKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.09.2008 14:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Official Baku is analyzing the outcomes of New York
ministerial talks on Nagorno Karabakh.

"The form and level of talks will be known soon," said Araz Azimov,
deputy Foreign Minister and Azerbaijani President’s special
representative for Nagorno Karabakh.

"Azerbaijan is preparing for the upcoming presidential election,"
he reminded, Azeri Trend news agency reports.

Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian of Armenia, Ali Babacan of Turkey
and Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan met Sept. 26 in New York in
presence of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs and OSCE CiO’s special
representative Andrzej Kasprzyk to discuss the Madrid proposals on
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. The officials confirmed
the necessity to resolve the conflict peacefully and considered a
possibility of a new presidential meeting.