Author: Karapetian Hovik

AZERBAIJANI FM SAYS NO COMPROMISE REGARDING TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF HIS COUNTRY

ARMENPRESS
May 10 2007

BAKU, MAY 10, ARMENPRESS: Before flying today to Strasbourg, France,
for a separate meeting with the cochairmen of the OSCE Minsk group,
Azerbaijani foreign affairs minister Elmar Mamedyarov said Baku will
never compromise in what is related to the territorial integrity of
the country.

"There can not be even a word about concessions because it is
Azerbaijani land,’ he was quoted as saying by Trend news agency.

Mamedyarov said the Armenian side’s statements that the conflict can
be solved only through a compromise option ‘are laughable and have
been designed for domestic consumption ahead of the parliamentary
elections.’ Azerbaijan’s foreign minister said also that the ‘secret
details’ of the talks, exposed earlier this week by Azerbaijani
president Ilham Aliyev are what is being negotiated by the conflicting
sides and will be negotiated today when Mamedyarov and his Armenian
counterpart Vartan Oskanian will be having separate meetings with
the OSCE Minsk Group cochairmen from Russia, France and USA.

In May 3 remarks Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev claimed that
Armenia has agreed to liberate all seven Azerbaijani districts
surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh as part of a peace agreement, discussed
currently by the conflicting parties.

He was quoted by Azerbaijani media as saying that the Armenian side
is ready to withdraw even from the Lachin district which provides
the shortest overland connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and
Armenia proper. Aliyev further claimed that under the terms of the
peace deal proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group short-term international
peace-keepers may be deployed to control the land corridor before it
is placed under Azerbaijani control.

Aliyev’ statements were promptly denied by Armenian officials. "I
don’t known what goals Azerbaijan president is pursuing, but it is
known to everyone that our basic principles concerning the conflict
resolution have not changed ," prime minister Serzh Sarkisian told
Armenian journalists "So take Aliyev’s statements easy."

He was echoed by deputy parliament chairman Vahan Hovhanesian from
the ARF who said, "The statements relating to territorial concessions
are untrue."

Aliyev also claimed on May 3 that Karabakh’s status would be determined
after the liberation of the Armenian-occupied districts "within the
framework of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity."

In a recent interview with the French-Armenian magazine "Nouvelles
d’Armenie," Armenian prime minister Serzh Sarkisian said the Karabakh
conflict can be resolved "only on the condition that Karabakh will
never be under Azerbaijani control."

RUSSIA SHOULD BE MORE ACTIVE FOR NORMALIZATION ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.05.2007 16:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Official Russian diplomacy should exert greater
efforts for the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations,
director of the Institute of CIS member states, Russian State Duma
deputy, member of United Russia party’s general council Konstantin
Zatulin told reporters in Yerevan.

"Russia’s contribution to the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation could be
more efficient. We should correctly understand reproaches in Russia’s
address and assist in building relations between Armenia and Turkey,"
Zatulin said.

The Armenian Genocide issue is absolutely principal in this context,
since the issues of the past are extremely important nowadays,
according to him.

"Russia has supported and ratified the statement condemning the
Armenian Genocide. But it’s not active in this direction, not counting
the efforts of the Armenian community," Zatulin said.

"Russia could support Armenia in urgent problems such as necessity of
normalization of trade relations and establishment of transit routes
through Turkey.

Turkey behaves like an offended country while others have more reasons
to feel offended. I suppose Russia could influence on Turkey with
tools like commodity turnover and transport issues," he resumed,
Novosti Armenia reports.

IN KARABAKH THEY ACCUSE ARMENIA OF REACTING TO AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT’S STATEMENTS

KarabakhOpen
09-05-2007 12:26:07

In Karabakh they have stopped commenting on the Azerbaijani
leadership’s statements. This behavior is quite logical. Neither
the government nor the society of Karabakh has anything to do with
the arrangements that the leaderships of Armenia and Azerbaijan
speak about.

By the way, President Aliyev has stated recently that Armenia allegedly
agreed to return five territories, whereas Azerbaijan claims to all the
seven regions plus the former autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Armenia should not negotiate with Azerbaijan. Apart from negotiating
it makes excuses that it returns 5 not 7 territories," said Arshak
Barseghyan, a pensioner.

"Armenia does not do anything, it only obeys and reacts to Azerbaijan’s
statements. Let Azerbaijan cheat its people as much as it wants,"
said Arshaluis, who works in one of the government agencies.

Some people we talked to said the new president of Karabakh should
commit to the participation of Karabakh in the negotiations.

DASHNAKS EYE KEY POSTS IN FUTURE GOVERNMENT
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
May 9 2007

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) appeared to
have publicly laid claim on Wednesday to the crucial post of defense
minister in Armenia’s new government to be formed as a result of
Saturday’s parliamentary elections.

Campaigning in Yerevan’s western Ajapnyak district, leaders of the
influential party also reiterated that they will quit the government
if the vote falls short of democratic standards or if the next National
Assembly is dominated by other political groups.

One of them, Armen Rustamian, made it clear that Dashnaktsutyun
can only be part of a "national government" in which the ministers
of education and defense represent political parties espousing a
"national ideology."

"Those are political posts, and it is only political forces that have
to assume political posts," he told more than two hundred supporters
attending the campaign rally. "Our greatest misfortune is that very
often political posts are assumed by those who do not represent a
political force or a party. We must put an end to this."

"The country must be governed by political parties," said another
Dashnaktsutyun leader, Social Security Minister Aghvan Hovsepian.

"The world doesn’t know of a better system of governance."

The party loyal to President Robert Kocharian is represented
in his current cabinet with four ministers that are in charge of
education, social programs, healthcare, and agriculture. It has long
been seeking to extend its government presence to the military or
security agencies. Its leaders have made no secret of their desire
to see Artur Aghabekian, who resigned as deputy defense minister to
run for parliament on the Dashnaktsutyun ticket earlier this year,
become Armenia’s next defense minister.

The post became vacant last month after its previous longtime holder,
Serzh Sarkisian, was appointed prime minister in place of the late
Andranik Markarian. Many expected it to be given to Aghabekian,
considering the fact that he is a figure close to Sarkisian.

Sources close to the Armenian leadership say the latter tried hard
to convince Kocharian to appoint Aghabekian as defense minister.

However, Kocharian chose to give the job to Colonel-General Mikael
Harutiunian, a career military officer who has previously headed the
Armenian army’s General Staff.

Speaking to RFE/RL after his speech, Rustamian did not deny
that Dashnaktsutyun is unhappy with the decision and thinks that
Harutiunian must be replaced after the elections. "There must be a
political leadership at the Defense Ministry," he said. "The defense
sphere must be reformed. Military service must be separated from the
political management of defense."

Vahan Hovannisian, another leading member of Dashnaktsutyun, also
exposed the party’s disaffection with the situation as he addressed
the small crowd. "Some say political posts must not be held by
representatives of political parties," he said. "But who should hold
them? He who pays a bigger bribe?"

Dashnaktsutyun controls only 11 of the 131 seats in the outgoing
Armenian parliament, and needs to have more seats in the next
legislature in order to play a larger role in the executive.

Vartanian sounded optimistic on that score, saying that his party
will have a "much weightier presence in the state system" after
the elections.

But Rustamian was more cautious, repeating his earlier remarks that
Dashnaktsutyun will not join a coalition government led by parties
enjoying a comfortable majority in parliament. He clearly referred to
the two election frontrunners: Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia
(HHK) and the Prosperous Armenia Party of pro-Kocharian businessman
Gagik Tsarukian.

"We will never be the fifth wheel of a coalition," Rustamian told
RFE/RL. "Secondly, we will never be part of a government formed by
a dubiously elected National Assembly."

Hovannisian issued a similar warning that may well have been primarily
addressed to the HHK. "Those who try to distort the vote of our
people in this election will deal with both laws of the Republic of
Armenia and with Dashnaktsutyun, and there won’t be any forgiveness,"
he said in his speech.

SECOND ARMENIAN ATHLETE QUALIFIES FOR BEIJING OLYMPIC GAMES

ARMENPRESS
May 07 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS: Judoist Hovhannes Davtian from the
second-largest town of Gyumri (60 kg) has become the second Armenian
athlete to qualify for 2008 Beijing Olympic Games after four successive
wins at Super Cup tournament in Moscow.

The first Armenian who has qualified for the Games is shooter Norayr
Bakhtamian.

Hovhannes Davtian upset first an English rival, then an Italian,
an Israeli and a Dutch. Armenian Judo Federation said Davtian has
outscored an Azeri and a Russian and is now the best in the world in
his weight category.

SHUSHA’S OCCUPATION CONDEMNED IN STRASBOURG

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 7 2007

A series of actions are held in Strasbourg on the 15th anniversary
of occupation of Azerbaijani town of Shusha (Karabakh) by Armenian
military forces, APA reports.

The World Azerbaijani Congress held a scientific-practical conference
on this issue on May 5. Azerbaijani permanent representation to
the Council of Europe yesterday held a commemorative event on the
anniversary of Shusha’s occupation. The event brought together
Azerbaijan students studying in Strasbourg, MPs Ganira Pashayeva,
Gular Ahmadova, deputy chairman of the World Congress of Azerbaijanis
Khazar Emin, playwright Amir Pahlavan, people’s artists Niyamaddin
Miusayev and Ilhama Guliyeva, as well as Turkish youth organizations
and local correspondents of Turkish media outlets.

Permanent representative Arif Mamadov, MPs Ganira Pashayeva and Gular
Ahmadova held a round table with Azerbaijani and Turkish students in
Strasbourg. Arif Mammadov addressing the round table, laid down the
plan of the next action together with students and called both students
to be active in propagating Azerbaijani history and its culture.

MP Ganira Pashayeva recommended the students to carry out these
works in coordination with Turkish students. The meeting proposed to
establish Coordination Board of Azerbaijani and Turkish students. The
next meeting is to be held in Strasbourg today on the 15th anniversary
of the occupation of Shusha. Azerbaijan House and local student
organizations will hold a rally in the Brogly square on the initiative
of World Azerbaijani Congress. The demonstration is to be attended
by the members of the Turkish and Azerbaijani societies from other
parts of Europe.

HAMLET ABRAHAMIAN: CEC IS ANXIOUS ABOUT PROBLEM OF ELECTORAL ROLLS

YEREVAN, MAY 4, NOYAN TAPAN. "We are anxious about the problem of
electoral rolls. In spite of the considerable work done by the Police,
we still receive many signals and complaints," Hamlet Abrahamian,
Secretary of Central Electoral Commission, stated at the May 4 press
conference. In his words, the signals mainly regard absence of names
of citizens on electoral rolls of various electoral districts, as well
as presence of voters not registered in the given place, unknown to
the apartment’s owner on the lists.

The CEC Secretary also said that on May 4 the Commission received a
notification from Yerevan Arabkir community’s electoral district N 4
that names, family names and patronymics of 911 voters are repeated in
different addresses and with different dates of birth. CEC informed
Police about this fact.

H. Abrahamian once more called voters, candidates for deputacy and
parties for checking electoral rolls again for the purpose of
revealing possible inaccuracies. "This is an important process, which
can finally correct electoral rolls and will reduce the number of
people applying to courts or police and can have a considerable impact
on the results of elections," CEC Secretary said.

OSCE: COMING ELECTION – DECISIVE STEP ON WAY OF ARMENIA’S DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.05.2007 13:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Yesterday Armenian President Robert Kocharian had
a meeting with the heads of OSCE member-states’ diplomatic missions,
which are accredited in Yerevan, Presidential Press Office reports. At
the meeting the coming parliamentarian elections and issues concerning
electoral processes were the key subject of discussions. As Robert
Kocharian stated, a rather responsible moment came in Armenia’s life,
the electoral process stepped up the final stage. One more time he
stressed determination of the government to hold the elections in
accordance with international standards. Underlining that electoral
campaign goes on rather calmly and in civilized manners, R. Kocharian
stressed the important role of Armenian authorities and main political
forces. In their part diplomats called the coming elections as a
decisive step on the way of Armenia’s democratic development. They
said the country has already fixed a serious progress in holding free
and fair elections, which is also reflected in reports of observation
missions.

RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT SPENDS 2.2 MILLION RUBLES ON OBSERVERS VISITING ARMENIA

Panorama.am
17:48 03/05/2007

The Russian government allocated 2.2 million rubles today to cover
expenses for sending observers to Armenia to watch May 12 elections,
Russian Finmarket reports. The source said prime minister, Michael
Fradkov, signed a respective decree today.

ATOM EGOYAN ET ARSINEE KHANJIAN : 23 ANS D’UN "REGARD CONSTANT" SUR L’AIME (ENTRETIEN)

Agence France Presse
2 mai 2007 mercredi 11:26 AM GMT

Comme Ingrid Bergman et Roberto Rossellini, Jean-Luc Godard et Anna
Karina, Federico Fellini et Giulietta Masina, le cineaste canadien
Atom Egoyan et l’actrice Arsinee Khanjian forment un couple de cinema
dont l’oeuvre se nourrit d’un "regard constant" sur l’etre aime.

Ne au Caire et d’origine armenienne, Atom Egoyan, qui vit au Canada
depuis l’enfance, a rencontre le succès international avec "Exotica"
en 1994, puis "De beaux lendemains", adapte d’un roman de l’ecrivain
Russell Banks, deux fois nomme aux Oscars, couronne du grand prix du
Festival de Cannes en 1997.

Sa compagne, Arsinee Khanjian, elle aussi d’origine armenienne,
apparaît dans les onze longs metrages tournes par ce cineaste en
23 ans, mais aussi dans ses films experimentaux, comme le montre
la première retrospective programmee au centre Pompidou du 3 mai au
4 juin.

Celle-ci propose une trentaine de films de divers formats et genres
(fictions, courts metrages, films de television etc) temoignant
de l’exigeante recherche formelle d’Egoyan, 47 ans. D’un projet a
l’autre, celui-ci mele cinema et video, pour mieux interroger les
images et leur rapport a la realite, confronter verite et apparences.

Comme le souligne l’affiche qui met le couple en scène, son
inspiratrice et complice de toujours nourrit son oeuvre.

"Arsinee a d’abord un rôle classique de muse, quelqu’un qui inspire et
me fascine depuis vingt-trois ans, un objet d’adoration et de desir,
qui stimule tous les aspects de mon imagination" explique Atom Egoyan
a l’AFP.

Ses films, de "Family viewing" (1987) a "Ararat" (2002), ou "La verite
nue" (2005) existeraient-ils sans elle ?

"Non, je ne pense pas", repond-t-il posement. "Mes films experimentaux,
que j’ai commence a filmer au debut de notre relation, et le film
projete en ouverture, Citadel" – etonnante oeuvre inedite qui se
presente comme un film de voyage – illustrent "ce regard constant
sur elle", dit-il.

De son côte Arsinee se dit heureuse d’"assister comme temoin" a la
celebration d’une "oeuvre qu’on a en partie creee ensemble dans notre
parcours de couple".

Tourne en video et monte sur ordinateur, "Citadel" (93 minutes)
montre "non seulement un dialogue, mais un commentaire continu" sur
les images d’Arsinee filmee par Atom qui eût "ete impossible avant
la technologie numerique".

Elle y revient au Liban, quitte a cause de la guerre civile, 28
ans auparavant.

"Ce que j’ai realise c’est que ces films documentent le passage de la
technologie analogique au numerique et la question, qui en decoule,
de la desacralisation de l’image animee", dit-il.

"Quand on tournait en pellicule, on etait très conscients de devoir
bien choisir ce qu’on allait filmer: le temps etait compte et souvent
je devais etre selectif, parce que je ne pouvais pas me payer davantage
de pellicule".

Mais aujourd’hui "on peut filmer pendant des heures et des heures,
et la question est: en quoi cela transforme-t-il notre manière
d’enregistrer notre experience, et de la transmettre?" se demande
Atom Egoyan.

"Ma reponse est qu’il est devenu totalement naturel d’abandonner notre
experience organique a une technologie, et l’echange est vraiment
intime; mais pour fonctionner, cette super-democratisation presuppose
un public eduque".

Car aujourd’hui sur internet et des sites communautaires tels que
YouTube, "il est facile de presenter quelque chose comme vrai, et de
le faire croire", et pouvoir "etre hyper informe sur tous les details
de la vie de quelqu’un sans l’avoir jamais rencontre, ne risque-t-il
pas de conduire a un totalitarisme emotionnel ?" s’interroge Egoyan.

–Boundary_(ID_reUnN83I4i13+v0HAZ8c6w)–