Author: Karakhanian Suren

ARMENIA DOES NOT FULLY FULFILL OBLIGATIONS ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: COUNCIL OF EUROPE

Trend News Agency
July 8 2008
Azerbaijan

Armenia does not fully fulfill obligations to the Council of Europe on
freedom of expression in the country, Francisca Clopfer, coordinator
of the program of the secretariat on human rights and judicial issues
of the Council of Europe said, Novosti-Armenia reported.

"The neglect of Armenia is indicated in the resolutions of PACE
which first of all point to the regulation of the broadcasting system
because of the European Court on case of A+1 TV channel," Clopfer said
on 8 July in the international conference on Pluralism in Armenian
Mass Media.

On 17 June, the European Court on Human Rights satisfied the appeal of
Melteks company (founder of A+1 oppositional channel) and its director
Mesrop Movsesyan against Armenia. The Court said that the closure of
A+ 1 in 2002 contradicted Article 10 of the Human Rights Convention
(freedom of speech) and demanded the country to pay â~B¬30,000 as
compensation.

Clopfer added that the decision issued on this case shows that
the broadcasting legislation do no provide enough opportunities
for independence in the broadcasting sphere. "As a whole, PACE
Resolutions say that the freedom of should be promoted in Armenia
and the authorities should take immediate measures in this regard,"
she said. Clopfer pointed to the improvement of the Law on Television
and Radio Broadcasting and added that this is the best recommendation
by the Council of Europe.

The coordinator of the program noted that the conference aims at
determining future steps to insure pluralism in the Armenian media
together with the authorities, media and civil society.

Naira Zograbian, deputy chairman of the standing parliament commission
on science, education and culture and youth and sport said that the
Law on Television and Radio Broadcasting is being improved at present.

"We presented the draft bill on changes to this Law to the
international experts to consider it," she said.

The draft bill will be introduced to the public after the conclusion
of the experts in autumn, she said.

–Boundary_(ID_aGYgoPYkX6JzJoTIVIayZw)–

REGULAR TRIAL SESSION IN DINK MURDER CASE STARTS IN ISTANBUL

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.07.2008 15:40 GMT+04:00

On Monday, July 7, the sixth trial session in the Hrant Dink murder
case will be held in Istanbul.

The murder suspect in the Dink case, Ogun Samast, will be legally
18 years old on that day, so the trial will be open to the public
and press.

In this trial, several witnesses who were around the Agos weekly’s
building on the day of murder may possibly be called to testify,
the TDN reports.

24 people, including top retired generals and high-ranking officials
were arrested in Turkey last week over suspicion in links with
Ergenekon network supposed to have organized the murder of Hrank
Dink. Ergenekon is also suspected in plotting assassination of Orhan
Pamuk and a number of other Turkish authors and journalists.

MOCKERY, DISTURBING CONFESSIONS AT DINK TRIAL

Today’s Zaman
July 8 2008
Turkey

A defendant has said he informed gendarmerie officers at least four
times that Yasin Hayal, one of the key suspects in the plot leading
to the 2007 assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
had plans to have Dink killed.

The sixth hearing in the case, at the Ä°stanbul Criminal Court
yesterday, saw for the first time the testimony of CoÅ~_kun Igcı,
Hayal’s uncle, who says he tried to dissuade Hayal from his plans
to have Dink murdered but was unable to do so and thus informed
gendarmerie officers, who told him they were already monitoring
Hayal. Dink was shot dead outside the offices of the Agos newspaper
in Ä°stanbul in January 2007. Police arrested the suspected gunman,
Ogun Samast, and his alleged associate, Hayal.

Seventeen-year-old Samast was charged with murdering Dink and
membership in a criminal group. The first five hearings were closed
to the media because suspect Samast was a minor at the time. Hayal,
aged 26, was also detained for providing Samast with money and
a gun, and threatening Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, who, like
Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos’ editor-in-chief Dink, stood trial
under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). "It was my duty
as a citizen," said Igcı, referring to his informing the officers.

Igcı said he tried to dissuade Hayal from the murder plot for about
one-and-a-half months until October 2006, but never saw him again
after that. When asked how many times he spoke with gendarmerie
officers about the issue, Igcı said he has known the gendarmerie
officers since 2004 and saw them four or five times.

When he heard the news of Dink’s assassination, Igcı said he guessed
it was Hayal’s plot. He said he had known Hayal since childhood
and that it was not hard to believe that he could commit such a
murder. Igcı also said he did not know Dink but spoke to the officers
to protect Hayal. He added that he was relieved when he heard Samast
was the alleged perpetrator.

Murder trial or comedy scene

Erhan Tuncel, another suspect linked to the Dink murder, also appeared
in court. He was previously charged with being a member of an armed
criminal group formed to commit crime and inciting premeditated murder.

The suspects seemed relaxed during the trial, shocking the public
with their not-so-serious remarks. At one point Hayal’s lawyer,
Fuat Turgut, asked Tuncel if he knew a woman he met with often in
Eski?ehir was an Israeli and Tuncel, stunning the courtroom audience,
responded with a joke: "I’ve just found out that she was the daughter
of the Israeli president."

When Turgut wanted to ask Samast a question, Samast said, "Do not
make me talk to that crazy man." Turgut asked him if he called Hayal
on the day of the murder and asked if Samast would kill everybody at
Agos and if Hayal replied by saying, "Don’t do it, there are innocent
people." Samast replied by saying that he had neither asked such a
question nor had Hayal given such a reply.

Samast surprised spectators at another point during the hearing. When
asked if a person who called him in front of the Agos newspaper was
Turkish-Armenian writer Etyen Mahcupyan, he answered: "No, it wasn’t
him. Jennifer Lopez called me."

When Hayal took the stand he first greeted the members of the press
and the "leader of the Turkish nation Muhsin Yazıcıoglu," who is in
reality leader of the ultranationalist Grand Unity Party (BBP): "Dear
Muslims and dear Alperens [BBP ultranationalist youth organization],
be relaxed. We will have this situation continue until the BBP comes
to power."

At the hearing, Hakkı Bahadır Cihan, the founder of the Trabzon
Alperen Association, who was detained and released, also testified. He
said he had no ties to Dink’s murder and that Tuncel was not accepted
into his association because he had contact with civilian police
officers. As Cihan said these words, Tuncel asserted that how Cihan
headed the association with "his little brain" was questionable.

In addition to defendants Samast, Tuncel, Hayal, Zeynel Abidin Yavuz,
Ersin Yolcu, Ahmet Ä°skender, Mustafa Ozturk and Tuncay Uzundal, who
are all under arrest, other suspects who had been released pending
trial — Igcı, Erbil Susaman, Veysel Toprak and Salih Hacı Salihoglu
— were present at the hearing. Nineteen suspects, eight of whom are
in prison, are being tried in the case.

Hrant Dink’s wife, Rakel Dink, her daughter, Delal Dink, Hrant Dink’s
brother, Orhan Dink, and his attorneys were all in attendance at
yesterday’s hearing. Heavy security measures were in place around
the court.

European Parliament member Cem Ozdemir, Justice and Development Party
(AK Party) deputy, AyÅ~_enur Bahcekapılı, Republican People’s Party
(CHP) deputy Å~^ahin Mengu, writer Adalet Agaoglu, journalist-writer
Cengiz Candar, journalist Ece Temelkuran, writer Yavuz Baydar, director
Sırrı Sureyya Onder and several foreign media representatives were
also at the hearing.

Ozdemir said before the hearing that those working against racism
and discrimination were standing by each other’s sides, adding,
"The vision of a democratic, secular, bright and European Turkey,
backed by Hrant, has not yet materialized." The trial began in July
2007. Prosecutors have demanded a prison term of 18 to 24 years for
Dink’s suspected assassin and life sentences for two key suspects,
Hayal and Tuncel, for inciting to murder.

‘It’s been a year – what has happened?’

Dink’s friends sought the attention of the public before the sixth
hearing of the murder case started, with the call "To the court for
Hrant, for justice! It has been one year. What happened?"

They gathered at BeÅ~_iktaÅ~_ Square yesterday morning and brought
to mind that it had been 535 days since Dink was killed and 534 days
since his alleged killer was caught, but that nothing had really been
accomplished in the last five hearings.

They criticized the trial process and said, "We will be at the court
again for Hrant, for justice."

–Boundary_(ID_2TJf2tk2o7DKYu7XClP 2+Q)–

Caspian pipelines ease Russia’s grip
By Robert M Cutler

Asia Times Online Holdings
Jul 8, 2008

MONTREAL – New prospects for a Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP) from
Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan have been receiving deserved attention
in recent months. However, another project to pipe energy resources
from the western to the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea also demands
attention, with implications that loom as large as those of the TCGP.

This is an overland oil pipeline that Kazakhstan intends to build
from the Tengiz field, in the northwest of the country, to the port
of Aqtau in the southwest.

The country’s national oil and gas company, KazMunaiGaz, the Agip
KCO consortium developing the offshore Kashagan deposit and the
TengizChevrOil joint venture agreed after long discussions to a first
memorandum of understanding in January 2007. Before that, an earlier
variant would have seen the oil transshipped to

[lg.php?bannerid=67&campaignid=47&zone id=36&loc=http%3A%2F%2F
2Fatime s%2FCentral_Asia%2FJG08Ag01.html&referer=http% 3A%2F%2Fnews.google.com
%2Fnews%3Fhl%3Den%26tab%3D wn%26ned%3Dus%26ie%3DISO-8859-1%26q%3Dblack+sea&am p;cb
=831ceb5fd1] Mahachkala, Dagestan, in the Russian Federation, for
the pipeline ending at Novorossiisk on the Black Sea. This appears
to be no longer under consideration.

At present, about four-fifths of Kazakhstan’s oil has nowhere to go
but through Russia’s pipeline system. Half of the rest is exported
through the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi, the seaside capital
of the formerly rebellious Georgian province of Ajaria. The other
half of the rest goes to China, which wishes to quadruple its oil
imports from Kazakhstan from 100,000 to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd)
by the end of the decade, although Kazakhstan, perhaps because of
its experience with Russia, is hesitating at the prospect.

So Kazakhstan is now engaged in constructing a 730 kilometer, 500,000
bpd pipeline from Eskene, in the west, to the port of Kuryk, near
Aqtau. The volume is to be increased in subsequent stages to between
750,000 and 1.2 million bpd. This pipeline, provisionally estimated to
cost US$3 billion, will be the main section of a projected Kazakhstan
Caspian Transportation System (KCTS).

Kazakhstan intends by using the KCTS to decrease its dependence
upon the pipeline of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which
after crossing the border runs entirely within southern Russia to
Novorossiisk on the Black Sea. Original commitments by Russia to
expand CPC pipeline volume have not been realized, despite public
promises made in joint press conferences by Vladimir Putin, when
he was president, standing next to Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan
Nazarbaev in Astana.

A new export terminal was opened this May at Kulevi, on the Georgian
Black See coast near Poti, where the Baku-Supsa pipeline for "early
oil" from Azerbaijan ran in the 1990s up until last year, when it
closed for refurbishing. Kulevi, which can also receive oil delivered
by railcar, will begin by handling about 100,000 bpd of new oil from
Azerbaijan. That capacity can be doubled by the end of the decade,
and then conceivably doubled again as necessary to handle oil from
Kazakhstan.

Potential export terminals on Georgia’s Black Sea coast include
the now-refurbished port at Batumi. From any or all of these ports,
tankers may take Azerbaijani and/or Kazakhstani oil to Odessa over
the Black Sea for insertion into the Odessa-Brody pipeline (OBP). It
had originally been intended to run the OBP from east to west with
Kazakhstani oil, but Russia did not allow this: it now carries Russian
oil from west to east.

The Brody-Plock spur was not judged economically feasible earlier
in the decade. Price rises for petroleum products have since changed
that. From Brody Kazakhstan’s oil could continue through a pipeline
long under consideration but never yet built, to Plock, whence an
existing pipeline extends to the port of Gdansk.

It is not clear yet whether the oil itself will come from Tengiz or
from the offshore Kashagan deposit. First production from the latter
has now been pushed back to 2010-2011, about the time the new pipeline
should enter into service. Yet despite Kazakhstan’s consternation
over the delay, there are very real technical and geophysical issues
that make tapping the Kashagan deposit extremely sensitive.

Basically, there is a large dome of natural gas overlaying a huge
deposit of crude petroleum, all housed under extreme pressure under an
immense salt dome. Kazakhstani law does not permit the gas to be flared
or otherwise to escape; rather, it must be recaptured for domestic
use. The gas could also be exported southwards towards Turkmenistan,
where it could join gas from Ashgabat in an undersea trans-Caspian
link to Azerbaijan, eventually entering feeder pipelines to Europe
without having to pass through the Russian system. Discussions between
Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to realize the bilateral project are
reportedly well under way.

For many years, Russia used promises and cajoling to discourage
Kazakhstan from signing a trans-Caspian agreement. It was also planned
to more than double the volume of the CPC pipeline from 615,000 to
nearly 1.3 million bpd. The failure to accomplish this is due partly
to internal Russian bureaucratic and inter-regional squabbling and
partly to the inability or unwillingness of the Russian presidency
to overcome those disagreements. Regardless of the reason, the result
is the same for Kazakhstan.

Recently, Gazprom offered to buy natural gas from Azerbaijan at market
prices. Azerbaijan must feel the same way Kazakhstan does about Russia
in this respect, because the offer was refused. Events – and not least
the rise in the price of oil making more possibilities economically
feasible – have begun to accelerate the overtaking of Russia’s
near-monopoly on transport of Caspian Sea basin energy resources.

SPECTRUM OF BANK SERVICES TO BE ENLARGED IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH

DeFacto Agency
2008-07-07 15:20:00
Armenia

STEPANAKERT, 07.07.08. DE FACTO. A sitting of the Union of Banks of
Armenia was held in Nagorno-Karabakh. Arthur Javadian, the Chairman
of the RA Central Bank, and leaders of Armenia’s commercial banks
attended the meeting.

The issues referring to enlarging spectrum of bank services were
discussed in the course of the meeting. Bankers from Armenia displayed
interest in economic development programs being realized in the NKR and
business programs, in part, the issues relevant to hypothec crediting.

According to statistic data presented at the meeting, by the
quantity of banks calculated per capita Nagorno-Karabakh outstrips
Republic of Armenia, though there are a number of settlements in
Karabakh, where bank services are not or are partially accessible to
population. Artsakhbank has 10 branches in all regions of NKR. The
bankers, who attended the meeting, also presented the activity of
companies they headed, as well as the information on total capital,
credits, investments in NKR, etc.

Currently there are 22 commercial banks on the territory of
Republic of Armenia; the activity of only 7 of them applies to
Nagorno-Karabakh. Investments in NKR make about 11 milliard drams.

Obviously not only increase in number of bank branches, but also
involvement of new banks in the NKR economy will result in rising
competition and quality of bank service.

A1+

SIT-DOWN STRIKE
[09:58 pm] 04 July, 2008

Representative of the All Armenian Movement Levon Zurabian announced
that their Party is starting a 28-day-long sit-down strike in Northern
Avenue, considering that it will have a decisive role in their
struggle.

He is sure the authorities will set free all the detained people after
the sit-down strike.

Zurabian also noted that people usually assess the work of a
newly-elected President 100 days from the Inauguration Day. The 100th
day of Serzh Sargssian’s period in office expires in 10 days and in
Zurabian’s words `The All Armenian Movement will announce its
assessment then’.

Davit Shahnazarian, who followed Zurabian’s speech, noted that the
Party starts making resolute steps from today on and the society can
play an important role in this process.

WE ARE THE OWNERS BUT OTHERS OWN

Panorama.am
13:04 04/07/2008

Church doesn`t have a separate budget and the churches, being under
the protection of Holy Etchmiadzin, are decorated only with money
assigned by charity. The main architecture of Mother Cathedral,
Artavazd Nazaretyan said it to the journalist of Panorama.am. According
to Gayane Durgaryan, the head of society connection department of
ministry of Culture, 500mln AMD is assigned for redecoration of the
monuments. There are 150 churches under the protection of Mother
Cathedral.

‘Redecorations have started in Harich monastery complex since 2006
and in Haghpat monastery complex. The latter will be finished in 2009
‘, – said the architect.

Haghpat is being redecorated with the donation of Sharjai Emir
Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohamed Al Kasimii, member of United Arab Emirate`s
Council. ‘The church is being redecorated completely, but will keep
its former appearance. All the paths leading to the monastery will
be repaired as well as problems with water supply, electricity, gas,
communication nets’,- said Mery Danielyan, the head of the redecoration
of Haghpat project. In the frames of the project the whole territory
will be amended. About 1.713.000 US dollars will be spent.

"The redecorations of Mother Cathedral will have been finished till
28, September, 2008",- said A. Nazaretyan. 28 September is the day of
making chrism which is made once in 7 years and sent to all Armenian
churches.

During this year more than a dozen monuments will be redecorated. Some
of them are St. Hovhannes, Astvacynkal, St. Astvacactin, Dashtadem,
Catholic churches and Amberd`s citadel in Aragatsotn region,
Qobayravanq, Hnevanq, Odzun monastery in Lori region, Vahanavanq,
Halidzor fortress, Qarahunj (Stone Henge) in Syuniq , Erebuny and
many others.

Since 2004 money from budget is assigned for repair and redecoration
of historical monuments and each year 12-14 valuable monuments are
redecorated. Each year the sum of money assigned by the budget
increases but this year it decreased. In 2004 it was 50mln AMD,
in 2005- 530mln, in 2006-720mln, in 2007-660mln.Artyom Grigoryan,
the head of historical monuments Agency, said that besides the state
budget, they also receive money from social organizations, charity
funds and other sources.

In Armenia 24.200 monuments exist. 40% of them has republican and
60%-local significance.

WHAT ‘THAI’ FRUIT DO YOU LIKE- APRICOT OR GRAPES?

Panorama.am
14:48 04/07/2008

The delegation of Thai kingdom headed by the head of foreign department
of Foreign relations, has arrived Yerevan to study grapes and apricot
cultivation in Armenia and to grant Thai fruits` seedlings.

Vahagn Martirosyan informs Panorama.am that the visit is in the
frames of 3rd session of Thai-Armenian cooperation in the sphere
of agriculture.

The delegation met botanical, forest economic and plants protection`s
administration of Ministry of Agriculture. The delegations
had meetings with the assistant of minister, Tigran Petrosyan;
the head of botanical, forest economic and plants protection`s
administration, Garnik Petrosyan; the head of science, education
and advice administration, Levon Minasyan. During the meetings
Thai-Armenian cooperative problems have been discussed.

Thai delegation has visited ‘Science centre of grape-wine making’
POAK Nalbandyan`s experimental station, ‘Wine-depository’, ‘Tierras
de Armenia’, ‘Vayq Group’ and ‘Emgarya’ Ltd. and got acquainted with
vine growing, technology of trimming, dropping water supply system
in Armenia, farms of sun-drying and fridge rooms. The members of the
delegation last met with the minister of Agriculture.

‘UNION OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT’ PARTY LEADER: I THINK HRANT KHACHATRYAN’S RELATIONS WITH ‘UCR’ PARTY FINALLY ENDED

ArmInfo
2008-07-04 16:22:00

‘I think that Hrant Khachatryan’s relations with ‘Union
of Constitutional Right> party finally ended: he called himself
non-party and unemployed in his application for participation in the
additional parliamentary election in the 17th district’, "Union of
Constitutional Right" party leader Haik Babukhanyan said at today’s
press-conference in "Tesaket" club. To recall, a split occurred
in "UCR" party on September 16, 2006 at the regular congress. It
was caused by disagreements among supporters of the party leader
H. Khachatryan and his deputy H. Babukhanyan.

H. Khachatryan’s supporters, having turned out to be in minority,
left the congress and later, they appealed to the court protesting
against the election of the party’s Board. Part of the party headed
by H. Babukhanyan held a conference during which he was elected his
chairman again.

Responding to ArmInfo’s question, H. Babukhanyan replied that he
considers the situation with H. Khachatrayn exhausted. As for the fact
that a newspaper of H. Khachatryan’s supporters "Iravunk de facto"
is presently issued besides ‘Iravunk’, "UCR" leader said that him and
his associates have already appealed to the Commission on Economic
Competition and the latter has already launched investigation.

Today.Az, Azerbaijan
June 28 2008

Armenian Foreign Ministry: "Azerbaijan’s bellicose statements hinder
the progress of talks on Nagorno Karabakh"

28 June 2008 [12:01] – Today.Az

The bellicose statements, voiced by Azerbaijani leadership, hinder the
formation of the atmosphere of trust in the negotiation process on
Nagorno Karabakh and its progress, said Armenian Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandyan during the meeting with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs
Bernard Fassier (France), Matthew Bryza (US), Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia)
and personal representative of OSCE chairman-in-office Andzhey
Kaspshik.

The agency was informed by a source from the department of press and
information of the Foreign Ministry of the republic that at a previous
meeting in Yerevan Nalbandyan also informed about Armenia’s attitute
to proposals, presented by the co-chairs in Madrid in November of
2007.

The co-chairs told Nalbandyan about the results of the meetings with
the President and Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan in Baku, stressing
that only peaceful resolution of Nagorno Karabakh conflict is
possible.

International mediators also assured the Armenian Foreign Minister
that they will continue efforts on closing positions of the country on
the basis of Madrid proposals.

The Minsk Group co-chairs, arriving to Yerevan from Baku, assessed the
meetings with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Foreign
Minister Elmar Mamedyarov held on June 27 as possible.

According to Fassier, the co-chairs try to clarify some points of
Madrid proposals and improve and amend others at the present stage of
the negotiation process on the resolution of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict.

/Novosti-Armenia/

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