Author: Karapetian Hovik

ARCHBISHOP MESROP MUTAFIAN TO MEET WITH HEAD OF GENERAL STAFF OF TURKISH ARMED FORCES TO DISCUSS SOME ISSUES RELATED TO MURDER OF HRANT DINK

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Jun 04 2007

ISTANBUL, JUNE 4, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Armenian Patriarch
of Constantinople Archbishop Mesrop Mutafian is going to meet with
the head of the general staff of the Turkish armed foces Yashar
Buyukand. Archbishop Mesrop Mutafian said this during an interview
to the magazin "Der Spigel".

According to "Hyurriyet", in his interview the Patriarch spoke about
the murder of Hrant Dink, threats made against Armenian schools in
Turkey, the 1915 tragic events in the Ottoman Empire and the current
political situation in Turkey.

As regards the murder of Hrant Dink, Archbishop Mesrop Mutafian noted
that after the assassination of the editor-in-chief many people took
to streets chanting the slogan "We all are Armenians, we all are
Hrant Dink". However, some time later the nationalists raised their
voice against them, as a result of which the ranks of those protesting
against this crime have gradually decreased: "There are some forces
behind the murder of Dink. I’m going to Ankara soon to meet with the
head of the general staff of Turkish armed forces Yashar Buyukand. It
is time to speak on this subject," the Patriarch said.

Speaking about letters with threats recenltly sent to Armenian schools,
the Patriarch noted that the number of those persecuting ethnic
minorities has increased in Turkey: "Particularly, for this reason
young Armenians leave Turkey and go to the US, France and Germany,"
he said.

Mesrop Mutafian stated that at the upcoming elections the Armenian
community of Turkey will give its vote for the ruling party "Justice
and Prosperity".

"We – Armenians prefer "Justice and Pros[erity" because it has adopted
a less nationalist attitude to minorities."

KOSOVO CANNOT BE A MODEL FOR RESOLUTION OF LINGERING CONFLICTS IN POST-SOVIET AREA

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
June 1 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend S.Ilhamgizi / Many MPs who participated
in the discussions over on Kosovo during the spring session of the
NATO Parliamentary are sure that Kosovo cannot be a model for the
resolution of lingering conflicts in the post-Soviet area, according
to Assembly held in Madeira, Portugal, according to Ziyafat Asgarov,
the Deputy Speaker of the Milli Majlis [Parliament] and also head of
the Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of Council
of Europe.

He noted that the Armenian media expediently raised this issue. "The
Armenians assert that in case of application of the Kosovo model the
Nagorno-Karabakh will be issued a status. However, it is absolutely
different situation, because Nagorno-Karabakh is the territory of
Azerbaijan. During the session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
MPs stated that the Kosovo model is unacceptable for other conflict,"
he emphasized.

The NATO PA session also discussed the illegal planting of drug in
the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh for further export to Europe.

Asgarov voiced his satisfaction with the text of a report on
Azerbaijan, excluding some milestones. "The report indicated the
poverty ration on Azerbaijan at the level of 40%, whereas this figure
is currently only 20%. The reporters themselves confessed that they
cited the last year figure. Moreover, the reports states on hindrance
in the activities of religions organizations active in the regions of
country. We reminded that there is law on Freedom of Religious Beliefs
in Azerbaijan and every religious section can function without any
hindrance. Our country can be a model for other countries from the
aspect of religious tolerance," deputy speaker stressed.

ELECTION WINNERS ACCUSED OF BREACHING CAMPAIGN SPENDING CAPS
By Hovannes Shoghikian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 31 2007

The Republican and Prosperous Armenia parties, the two main winners
of the May 12 parliamentary elections, spent more on their election
campaigns than is allowed by law, Armenia’s leading anti-corruption
watchdog said on Thursday.

The Armenian Election Code limits campaign spending by a single party
or bloc to 60 million drams ($170,000). The governing Republican
Party (HHK) and the pro-presidential Prosperous Armenia (BHK) have
been accused by their rivals of exceeding these ceilings. The latter
pointed to hundreds of expensive billboards and banners and many hours
of televised commercials that promoted the two parties in the run-up
to the elections.

The Center for Regional Development (CRD), the Armenian affiliate of
the global anti-corruption organization Transparency International,
gave weight to these allegations as it presented the results of its
campaign expenditure monitoring conducted in Armenia’s three largest
cities: Yerevan, Gyumri, and Vanadzor. The HHK and the BHK were found
to have spent 79 million drams and 129.6 million drams respectively in
those cities alone. They were followed by the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (50.7 million drams) and the opposition Orinats Yerkir
(33 million drams) and Zharangutyun (24 million) drams parties.

"These are only conservative estimates," said Amalia Kostanian, the
CRD chairwoman. "We did not take into account many other campaign
expenditures. Also, we used only official prices [of printing and
advertising services] and other information in cases where they
were available. In all other cases, we used minimum rates in our
calculations."

Kostanian said the CRD calculations are also based on the assumption
that the BHK and the HHK spent nothing on their several hundred
campaign offices across Armenia and pop music concerts that preceded
many of their campaign rallies. "We trusted those local singers that
said they are supporting one or another party free of charge," she
told a news conference.

Both parties, which will control the vast majority of seats in
parliament, denied the claims. "The Republican Party did not surpass
the 60 million-dram limit and conducted its campaign in accordance
with Armenian law," said Eduard Sharmazanov, the HHK spokesman.

The BHK spokesman Baghdasar Mherian claimed that the party led by
Gagik Tsarukian, the country’s reputedly wealthiest businessman,
spent only about 46 million drams on its election campaign. "I don’t
know what methodology that organized used," he said.

Under the Election Code, the HHK, the BHK and all other election
contenders have to submit detailed expenditure reports to a Central
Election Commission (CEC) division tasked with ensuring their
compliance with the campaign funding caps. The head of the division,
Ara Harutiunian, told RFE/RL that it has received and is now looking
into those reports. He refused to comment on the findings of the
anti-graft watchdog.

In a separate report, the CRD said it did not take into account vote
bribes allegedly handed out by the pro-establishment parties. "During
the project implementation, there were many people reporting instances
of vote bribes throughout the country to the monitoring team," it
said. "However, citizens were scared to be a witness of such crimes,
and it was not possible to record the reported bribery cases and
calculate how much was spent by parties for those ‘expenses."

EXPERTS ARRIVE AND LEAVE LIKE COLD WINTER DAYS
James Hakobyan

Lragir.am
31-05-2007 14:12:40

Those who watched the games of world cup 1998 must remember 19-year-old
Michael Owen. Although his team reached the 1/8 final, it was enough
to notice Owen’s top class and prospects. Later he had injuries which
did not let him display his abilities fully, but if man has talent,
ability, half time is enough to notice it.

It turns out that all Owens are distinguished at once, they display
their talent and abilities immediately, through one word or one
sentence at best. At least there is every reason to think so, and this
reason appeared on May 30 in Yerevan, when David Owen, an IMF senior
expert, stated that the flexible currency policy and tough tax and
budget policy helped keep inflation low and boosted economic growth.

The talent of economist is seen at once. David Owen need not utter
more words because what he said is enough for the Armenian people
to worship him. Why, let us worship, sacrifice a lamb in front of
the IMF office in Yerevan only let expert Owen not to speak any
more. He is certainly paid for speaking, but let all of us admit
that we will pay him more for not speaking about Armenia than he is
paid for speaking about the Near East and Central Asia. Let us pay,
otherwise he will continue to speak, and we will have to waste this
money to treat our damaged nervous system. Meanwhile, scientists say
if nervous cells die they are not restored.

But what is the problem, the reader may wonder? The man says Armenia
conducts a flexible currency policy and a tough tax and budget policy
thanks to which prices grow little and economy grows much. In fact,
what is wrong? The man said what other men occupying high-ranking
positions in Armenia are saying every day. The point is that these
high-ranking men have the right to say. They do not understand. Even if
Armenia were torn apart by a civil war, they would continue to state
that the flexible currency policy, tough tax and budget policy and
the civil war help keep inflation low and boost the economic growth.

Meanwhile, before speaking out the expert representing the IMF should
think if what he says has anything in common with the reality. And
in order to think he had to spend some money to rent a car or take a
taxi and go to the markets, shops, small and medium-sized businesses
in Armenia. He would have to spend some more to hire an interpreter
and have a small talk to citizens, consumers and owners of small or
medium-sized businesses of Armenia. He should ask what success they
would have if Armenia conducted a fair tax and budget policy instead
of a tough one. He should ask how many workers how many businessmen
had to make redundant due to the flexible currency policy and tough
tax policy, and subsequently by what percentage the potential of the
economic growth plunged, how many people lost their source of income,
and for how many people that 5 percent inflation doubled and tripled
because not only prices of goods went up but also the income of people
went down. Also the transfers they get from their relatives abroad.

It will take much effort from experts, of course. Meanwhile, for them
it is much easier to fly to Yerevan, especially that Yerevan already
has a new airport, walk in the center of Yerevan, admire the cafes,
elite houses and business centers, have some bourgeois-democratic
meetings with our officials bankers and pro-government experts at
lunch, then tell their authoritative opinion and consider their
mission complete. And why only did the injuries hinder Owen?

RUSSIA, FRANCE AND U.S. DO NOT HAVE DIFFERENCES IN KARABAKH CONFLICT AND THIS IS ITS UNIQUENESS

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.05.2007 14:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The uniqueness of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is
in the fact that there are no differences between superpowers in it,
President of the RAS (Russian Academy of Sciences) Russian Center for
Strategic Research and International Studies, head of World Politics
Chair in the Moscow State University Vitaly Naumkin stated to a press
conference in Baku.

He said the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is the only one in the world that
Russia, the United States and France do not have differences in it.

"All OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs think in a similar way. In this case
the OSCE MG is an example of how superpowers are trying to resolve
a conflict together.

But its is clear for all of us that a lot of things depend on regional
forces themselves," Naumkin said, Day.az reports.

120 CLAIMS RECEIVED BY THE ANTI-CORRUPTION PUBLIC RECEPTION CENTRE

Panorama.am
16:43 29/05/2007

About 120 claims are already received by the Anti-corruption public
reception centre. According to the Center experts, the claims mainly
regard corruption risks in the fields of civil and administrative
law. The claims issues differ, including family problems, benefit
and passport problems, State Cadastre and other issues. Many claims
concern army, drafting and public health.

The fewer claims touch education, small and middle-scale business,
as well as public services and consumer rights, roadway police and
driver rights. The Center administration states the growth of region
visitors’ number. Within the fifth working week of the Center the
regional claims make the quarter of the whole. The Anti-corruption
public reception centre was found in April as a result of cooperation
of OSCE Yerevan office and Anti-corruption coalition of NGOs.

No agreement will be reached in the visible future

26-05-2007 13:33:51 – KarabakhOpen

Interview of the KarabakhOpen with Karabakh parliament member Gagik
Petrosyan, Azat Hayrenik Party.

KO: Mr. Petrosyan, what are your thoughts about the talks between the
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministries and presidents over the
pullout of force from the territories surrounding the former
Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region?

The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents are not negotiating the
pullout of the Armenian force from the territories surrounding former
NKAR. They are discussing the proposals of the mediators on the basic
principles of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We
might as well have said they are discussing the return of
refugees. These are all components of the resolution of the
conflict. It is another thing that NKR does not take part in the
talks, which is due to the weakness of the mediators and the
stubbornness of Azerbaijan. However, Azerbaijan acknowledges that only
three-party talks including Armenia, Azerbaijan and NKR will lead to a
resolution. It is a matter of time, it is necessary to wait until
Azerbaijan becomes mature.

KO: In your opinion, is agreement on this issue realistic and how
should NKR react?

As I said, agreement without the leadership of NKR is impossible.
Azerbaijan’ s militaristic statements make think that no agreement
will be reached in the visible future. As to the stance of NKR on the
pullout of force from the liberated territories (which is the same as
to withdraw the given territories from under the control of NKR), if
the leaders of the three countries reach an agreement that will be
acceptable for all the parties, decision on this issue must be made by
popular voting. The people won the war at the price of lives of their
sons, and they have the right to handle these issues.

FOX Sports
May 27 2007

Welterweights: Karo Parisyan vs. Josh Burkman

May 26, 2007 | 8:53PM | report this I’m going into play-by-play mode
for the two main billed fights. Next up is the best pure judoka in
the UFC, Karo "The Heat" Parisyan, going up against Josh Burkman.

Parisyan, an Armenian from North Hollywood who teaches judo at Randy
Couture’s Legends Gym, is long established as one of the most
exciting fighters in the UFC, already a veteran in his mid-20s with a
24-4 record. He’s beaten Nick Diaz, Matt Serra, and Chris Lytle, and
has lost to Georges St. Pierre and Diego Sanchez. Burkman, a solid
wrestler from Salt Lake City, is 10-3 and looking to rebound to a
loss to tough Jon Fitch.

Burkman gets a healthy round of applause from the crowd, as does
Parisyan. Herb Dean is your referee. The combatants have an intense
eye-to-eye staredown during Dean’s instructions.

Round 1: They both come out trading haymakers. Parisyan goes for a
takedown, doesn’t get it, gets up and hits a right. Burkman goes
down, with Parisyan clutching at Burkman’s left foot, but he gets
right back up. Burkman just misses a big high kick and Parisyan pops
him with a sharp counterpunch. Burkman with a low kick. Burkman
walked into a big punch. Lots of darting and weaving. Parisyan mixing
up low leg kicks with combos. Parisyan goes for a kick, but Burkman
grabs a leg and scores a takedown. Parisyan gets back up, hits him
with a couple of punches, and scores one of his sensational judo
throws, which gets a rise out of the crowd. They get back up, 1:20
left. Burkman goes for a takedown, Parisyan sprawls backwards, but
Burkman won’t let go of Karo’s left leg as they work along the fence.
Parisyan avoids a slam in the final seconds. Big round of applause
for five minutes of solid action, round one to Parisyan.

Some in the crowd tried to start a "USA" chant. Burkman is from Salt
Lake City, Karo lives in N. Hollywood, Herbie lives in SoCal. OK
then.

Round 2: Parisyan with a quick jab, then a right to the stomach.
Burkman tried to get in close, but Karo pushes him off. Burkman
misses a wild uppercut. Burkman with some real haymakers, but then he
has to block a high kick from Parisyan. Burkman connects with a right
that registers, but Karo flashes "bring it" with his hands. Both
fighters trading big shots. Just over two minutes left, Karo hits a
knee to the head, but they continue to circle around the octagon.
Anyone’s round at this point. Karo pops Burkman with a low kick and a
high kick, but Burkman is able to defend with Karo tries to shoot in.
Some Greco grappling, with neither getting an advantage. Karo has
really popped Burkman several times but Burkman is real tough and
keeps on motoring. Round 2 also goes to Parisyan, as he was more
aggressive and controlled the tempo. Burkman is hanging with him, but
needs to take more chances.

Round 3: They stand and trade in the first minute, then Burkman
shoots in on Karo and pushes him back into the fence. Karo goes for a
throw, Burkman switches position, Karo tries to sink in a guillotine,
and Burkman picks him up for a slam. Karo gets up and scores a trip
on Burkman. They get up and clinch along the fence. Karo gets in
underhooks, but lets go and they come back out to the middle with two
minutes left. 1:30 left, both fighters looking to pick their spots.
Burkman’s either tired or thinks he has the match won, because he
isn’t really taking it to Karo. Burkman chases Karo backwards to
finish and the two fighters embrace at the end of the match. Close
third round, but I again have it going to Parisyan.

Parisyan wins on a unanimous decision, taking scores of 30-27, 30-27,
and 29-28. He says he wants a title shot in his post-fight interview.
It’s hard to argue with him. Parisyan was supposed to fight Matt
Hughes for the belt at UFC 56, but suffered a quad injury and had to
pull out. There’s a logjam ahead of him in the deep welterweight
division, with Serra holding the belt, Hughes looking for his
rematch, and St. Pierre in the picture, but Parisyan deserves his
shot.

This is the final fight before the main event. They will air one of
the preliminary matches, then the main event will hit the ring at
midnight Eastern/9 Pacific.

ARMS AND MILITARY EQUIPMENT ARE HEADED FOR ARMENIA
by Z. Radovanovic

Danas, Serbia
May 24 2007

Kragujevac: Yesterday the management of Zastava Arms renewed its
demands to the authorized government institutions to issue them a
second permit for exporting arms and equipment to Armenia, which the
Kragujevac factory should receive in about 10 days.

Danas has learned that the Serbian Defence Ministry informed
the management of Zastava Arms that all the necessary permits
had been authorized for the export of the second shipment of
Zastava-manufactured weapons and equipment to Armenia, after which,
because of the obsoleteness of the first request, a new one was sent
to the authorities asking for permission to go through with the export
transaction. The people in Zastava Arms said that the permit for arms
exports to Armenia (a 900,000-dollar shipment) should arrive by late
May or early June.

"We will get the second permit for exporting weapons to Armenia
thanks to changes in the defence ministry’s views and to the fact
that now they evaluate that our arms shipment to Armenia’s security
forces would in no way damage relations between Serbia and Russia,
in other words, that it would not have a negative impact on Moscow’s
well known official stand toward the final solution to the status
of Kosovo and Metohija," the people in the Kragujevac factory told
us, emphasizing that last week even the Russian officials gave the
"green light" once again for the export of Serbian arms to Armenia.

Let us remind our readers that the Zastava Arms Factory made a deal
with the Armenian Defence Ministry in the middle part of last year
calling for the export of two shipments of weapons for that country
with a total value of 2.6m dollars. The problem occurred in the fall of
2006, just before this business deal was supposed to go through, when
the Serbian government placed a ban on the arms exports to countries of
the former USSR, which were, allegedly in Russia’s sphere of interest
because of "higher state and national interests," in connection with
the resolving of the status of Kosovo and Metohija. At the end of
last year, Zastava’s arms makers managed to work out getting one of
the two requested permits. The first export arrangement, worth about
1.7m dollars, was implemented in several phases and was concluded
in late April. "In our stockpiles we already have 80 per cent of the
merchandise necessary for exporting to the Armenian Defence Ministry,"
the people in the Zastava Arms Factory said, adding that there were
indications that in addition to exports, through the services of
the SDPR [Federal Directorate of Supply and Procurement] Jugoimport,
the state would also buy stockpiled weapons from Zastava Arms worth
1m dollars.

[Box] New rifle for the US market

Recently Zastava Arms, in cooperation with US Remington, has mastered
the production of the 22 LR Rifle. It is expected that the new type
of low calibre rifle, whose possibilities are being researched in
Remington, will be on the US market at the beginning of the second
half of 2007. Zastava Arms and Remington are working on organizing
the manufacture of some other products, mainly new hunting carbines,
which should be offered to US buyers in the course of next year.

ARMENIA AND GEORGIA INTEND TO DEEPEN COOPERATION

ArmRadio.am
25.05.2007 16:04

On May 25 RA Minister of Defense Michael Harutyunyan received the
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to Armenia
Revaz Gachechiladze.

At the beginning of the meeting the Ambassador congratulated Michael
Harutyunyan on assuming the Defense Minister’s office.

For his part, Michael Harutyunyan congratulated the Ambassador on
the occasion of the Day of Independence of Georgia and stressed the
importance of cooperation in the spheres of defense and security,
assuring that the Armenian authorities intend to further develop the
friendly Armenian-Georgian relations.

During the meeting views were exchanged on issues of regional
security, emphasizing the policy of the two countries targeted at
regional stability.

The parties turned to the warm friendly nature of the Armenian-Georgian
relations, which provides broad opportunities for putting the military
cooperation on a practical ground.