Author: Karapetian Hovik

STATEMENT BY USA PRESIDENT ON ARMENIAN REMEMBRANCE DAY

arminfo
2008-04-25 11:03:00

ArmInfo. President of the USA George Bush made a statement on the
occasion of the Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide victims
in Ottoman Turkey.

As the White House’s official site reports, the statement reads:
"On this day of remembrance, we honor the memory of the victims of one
of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century, the mass killings and
forced exile of as many as 1.5 million Armenians at the end of the
Ottoman Empire. I join the Armenian community in America and around
the world in commemorating this tragedy and mourning the loss of so
many innocent lives.

As we reflect on this epic human tragedy, we must resolve to redouble
our efforts to promote peace, tolerance, and respect for the dignity
of human life. The Armenian people’s unalterable determination to
triumph over tragedy and flourish is a testament to their strength
of character and spirit. We are grateful for the many contributions
Americans of Armenian heritage have made to our Nation.

We welcome the efforts by individuals in Armenia and Turkey to
foster reconciliation and peace, and support joint efforts for an
open examination of the past in search of a shared understanding of
these tragic events. We look forward to the realization of a fully
normalized Armenia-Turkey relationship.

The United States is committed to a strong relationship with Armenia
based on shared values. We call on the Government of Armenia to
take decisive steps to promote democracy, and will continue our
support for Armenia to this end. We remain committed to serving as
an honest broker in pursuit of a lasting and peaceful settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

On this solemn day of remembrance, Laura (G. Bush’s wife) and I
express our deepest condolences to Armenian people around the world".

Cannes Unveils Lineup

Variety
April 23, 2008
By John Hopewell

PARIS – Steven Soderbergh’s two pic Che bio and Clint Eastwood’s "The
Changeling" look like potential standouts at a 61st Cannes Film Festival
that may be a touch lighter on Yank Palme d’Or contenders but is heavy on
Hollywood glam, thanks to multiple U.S. pics, both studio and indie, packing
out many out-of-competition slots.

Soderbergh’s inclusion – he competes with "The Argentine" and "Guerrilla" –
looks like a last-minute decision. For much of this week, there seemed
genuine uncertainty as to whether he would be able to finish the two films
by the time Cannes rolls.

Three Stateside out-of-competition players, all with major star quotients,
thanks to largely choral casts, look set to keep Palais flashguns popping at
least every other day.

As predicted, Steven Spielberg’s "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the
Crystal Skull" world preems down on the Croisette, possibly on Sunday May
18. It promises this fest’s must-attend, highest-glam event.

Out-of-competition, DreamWorks Animation’s "Kung Fu Panda," an adventure,
comedic chop-soc tooner, promises another Hollywood red-carpet cavalcade.

Also non-competing, as is Woody Allen’s custom, is the Spain-shot "Vicky
Cristina Barcelona."

Two U.S. productions, down from five in 2007, make a slimmed-down 20-title
Competition: Clint Eastwood’s "The Changeling," a 1920s-set kidnap thriller,
with Angelina Jolie; and "Synechdoche, New York," screenwriter Charlie
Kaufman’s directorial debut.

Cannes competition will roll out some Riviera regulars this year.

Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne vie for their third Palme d’Or
with young woman drama "The Silence of Lorna."

Arnaud Desplechin returns with "A Christmas Tale," a family solidarity tale,
with a star-studded French cast led by Catherine Deneuve and Mathieu
Amalric.

>From Latin America, Walter Salles returns to Cannes and Brazilian social
issues with "Linha de passe," an urban road movie, mostly set in Sao Paulo’s
high-rise hell, about four soccer star wannabe brothers.

Atom Egoyan returns with "Adoration."

Jia Zhangke’s "24 City" may well be the only major Chinese film at Cannes.
That has a lot to do with a current bottleneck in the Chinese censorship
process, which includes authorizing overseas travel.

Wim Wenders competes with romantic thriller, "The Palermo Shooting," with
Milla Jovovich, Dennis Hopper and Giovanna Mezzogiorno.

Another Cannes favorite, Turkish vanguard auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan, famed
for his aesthetic, contemplative dramas, incorporates a detective story into
"Daydreams."

France has three films in competition: the second is "La Frontiere de l’aube,"
>From indefatigable Nouvelle Vague auteur Philippe Garrel. A third, Fremaux
said, has still to be announced.

What’s really eye-catching about Cannes’ 2008 Official Selection, however,
is how the Competition throws the spotlight on a clutch of helmers who are
hardly brand auteurs, however much their films are being talked up in their
home countries.

Eight helmers are new to Competition, Fremaux announced, detailing the whole
of Cannes Official Selection.

The Israeli industry’s been buzzing for months, for instance, about Ari
Folman’s Competish entry, "Waltz With Bashir," an animated feature about
Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

Other Palme d’Or contenders who are hardly household names are Hungary’s
Kornel Mundruczo, with "Delta," an incest-themed village drama, Italian
helmer Matteo Garrone’s bestseller-based Mafia drama "Gomorra";
Tamil-language, father-son and body piercing drama "My Magic," from
Singapore’s top-ranking auteur, Eric Khoo, his first film in Competition.

Prolific, but still relatively new to the scene, Philippine director
Brillante Mendoza also sees a promotion, with his latest, "Serbis," in
Competition, after "Foster Child" played Directors’ Fortnight last year.

Other directors new to Competition are two Argentinians: Lucrecia Martel
with the politically tinged woman’s drama "La Mujer sin cabeza," and Pablo
Trapero with "Leonera," which is generating good buzz.

Patrick Frater and Ali Jaafar contributed to this report.

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

IN COMPETITION
"24 City," China, Jia Zhangke
"Adoration," Canada, Atom Egoyan
"Changeling," U.S., Clint Eastwood
"Che" ("The Argentine," "Guerrilla,") Spain, Steven Soderbergh
"Un Conte de noel," France, Arnaud Desplechin
"Daydreams," Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan
"Delta," Germany-Hungary, Kornel Mundruczo
"Il Divo," Paolo Sorrentino, Italy
"Gomorra," Italy, Matteo Garrone
"La Frontiere de l’aube," France, Philippe Garrel
"Leonera," Argentina-South Korea, Pablo Trapero
"Linha de Passe," Brazil, Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas
"La Mujer sin cabeza," Argentina, Lucrecia Martel
"My Magic," Singapore, Eric Khoo
"The Palermo Shooting," Germany, Wim Wenders
"Serbis," Philippines, Brillante Mendoza
"The Silence of Lorna," U.K.-France, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
"Synecdoche, New York," U.S., Charlie Kaufman
"Waltz With Bashir," Israel, Ari Folman

OUT OF COMPETITION
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," U.S., Steven Spielberg
"Kung Fu Panda," U.S., Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
"The Good, the Bad, the Weird," South Korea, Kim Jee-woon
"Vicky Cristina Barcelona," U.S.-Spain, Woody Allen

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
"Maradona," Spain-France, Emir Kusturica
"Surveillance," U.S., Jennifer Lynch
"The Chaser," South Korea, Na Hong-jin

SPECIAL SCREENNGS
"Ashes of Time Redux," China, Wong Kar Wai
"Of Time and the City," U.K., Terence Davies
"Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," U.S.-U.K., Marina Zenovich
"Sangue Pazzo" (Crazy Blood), Italy-France, Marco Tullio Giordana

SCREENING OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE JURY
"The Third Wave," U.S., Alison Thompson

UN CERTAIN REGARD
"A festa da menina morta," Brazil, Matheus Nachtergaele
"Afterschool," U.S., Antonio Campos
"De Ofrivilliga," Sweden, Ruben Ostlund
"Je veux voir," France, Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige
"Johnny Mad Dog," France, Jean-Stephane Sauvaire
"La vie moderne (profiles paysans)", France, Raymond Depardon
"Los Bastardos," Mexico, Amat Escalante
"Milh handha al-bahr," (Salt of This Sea), Palestine, Annemarie Jacir
"O’ Horten," Norway-Germany, Bent Hamer
"Soi Cowboy," U.K., Thomas Clay
"Tin Che," (Parking), Taiwan, Chung Mong-Hong
"Tokyo!," France-Japan, Bong Joon-ho, Michel Gondry, Leos Carax
"Tokyo Sonata," Japan, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
"Tulpan," Germany, Sergey Dvortsevoy
"Tyson," U.S., James Toback
"Versailles," France, Pierre Schoeller
"Wendy and Lucy," U.S., Kelly Reichardt
"Wolke 9" (Cloud Nine), Germany, Andreas Dresen
"Yi ban haishui, yi ban huoyan," China, Fendou Liu

CINEFONDATION
"Ba Yue Shi Wu," U.S., Jiang Xuan
"Blind Spot," France, Johanna Bessiere, Cecile Dubois Herry, Simon Rouby,
Nicolas Chauvelot, Olivier Clert, Yvon Jardel
"Et dans mon coeur, j’emporterai…," Belgium, Yoon Sung-A
"Forbach," France, Claire Burger
"Gata," Russia, Diana Lazarian
"Gestern in Eden," Germany, Jan Speckenbach
"Himnon" (Anthem), Israel, Elad Keidan
"Illusion Dwellers," U.K., Rob Ellender
"Interior. Scara de bloc," Romania, Ciprian Alexandrescu
"Kestomerkitsijat," Finland, Juho Kuosmanen
"The Maid," U.S., Heidi Saman
"Naus," Czech Republic, Lukas Glaser
"O Som E O Resto," Brazil, Andre Lavaquial
"El Reloj," Argentina, Marco Berger
"Shtika" (Silence), Israel, Hadar Morag
"Stop," South Korea, Park Jae-ok
"This Is a Story About Ted and Alice," U.S., Teressa Tunney

SHORTS IN COMPETITION
"411-Z," Hungary, Daniel Erdelyi
"Buen Viaje" (Bon Voyage), Javier Palleiro, Guillermo Rocamora
"De Moins en Moins," France, Melanie Laurent
"El Deseo" (The Desire), Mexico, Marie Benito
"Jerrycan," Australia, Julius Avery
"Love You More," U.K., Sam Taylor Wood
"Megatron," Romania, Marian Crisan
"My Rabbit Hoppy," Australia, Anthony Lucas
"Smafuglar," Iceland, Runar Runarsson

Eurasianet.org
Rovshan Ismayilov 4/23/08
DESPITE POTHOLES, A RELATIVELY SMOOTH ROAD FOR US-AZERBAIJAN MILITARY
COOPERATION

Military cooperation between the United States and Azerbaijan appears to be
developing at a strong pace. A recent US delegation, though, expressed
concerns about the country’s sluggish realization of agreements with the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as well as on Baku’s relatively high
level of military spending.
At an April 17 press conference in Baku, Maj. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt, III, a
member of the US delegation led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
Daniel Fata, confirmed those concerns. "The issue is not only that the
Azerbaijani army meets NATO standards," Gen. Wyatt said. "It is necessary
that [the] military equipment and military education would also meet [NATO]
standards."
Azerbaijan has yet to finalize a military doctrine, one of the requirements
for its NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan, a cornerstone of the
alliance’s cooperation with post-Soviet states.
The American mission, in Baku from April 14-17 for routine military
consultations, also expressed unease with Azerbaijan’s plans to increase
defense spending in 2008 from $1.3 billion to $2 billion. The total gives
the country the largest military budget in the South Caucasus by a wide
margin — a development that has sparked jitters in Armenia, which sees the
buildup as a sign that Azerbaijan may be pondering an attempt to retake the
Nagorno-Karabakh territory by force.
Commenting on the issue, Gen. Wyatt noted that while the budget increase
"probably [is] connected with economic growth and increased revenues,"
Azerbaijan "itself should answer whether the country’s defense area needs $2
billion, while there are other areas like education, healthcare, and social
policy which also need" support.
Baku experts believe the government is using the increased military spending
to put pressure on Armenia over the stalled Karabakh peace process. [For
details, see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Some aspects of Azerbaijan’s military buildup are attracting considerable
interest from the US military. One such project involves Zeynalabdin
Taghiyev airport — a military facility 40 kilometers to the north of
Baku — that is being modernized as part of Azerbaijan’s IPAP program. A
well-informed Defense Ministry source told EurasiaNet that the Pentagon has
implemented some upgrades there already, and has now expressed interest in
using the airdrome for NATO operations in Afghanistan. "[P]articularly for
re-fueling and the technical maintenance of aircraft," the source said.
No official comments were released about plans for the Gabala radar
station — proposed by Russia as part of a jointly operated missile defense
system with the United States — though the topic was discussed. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. American officials reportedly
passed on proposals made by Russian President Vladimir Putin to US President
George W. Bush during their recent meeting in Sochi.
Cooperation in other strategic locations has made faster progress. As part
of a Caspian Sea surveillance program with the United States, two radar
stations have been set up on the Absheron Peninsula (in the villages of
Gobustan and Turkan), one on the border with Russia (Yalama village) and one
in Azerbaijan’s Neftchala region, near the Iranian border. A mobile radar
system has also been set up by the Pentagon and NATO in the region of Xizi,
roughly 80 kilometers from Baku.
According to the Defense Ministry source, the stations now have full
coverage of Azerbaijan’s sector of the Caspian Sea, as well as of
radio-electronic signals in southern Russia and northern Iran.
The unsettled legal status of territorial claims to the Caspian Sea was
another topic for discussion, the source added.
Azerbaijani officials, for their part, prefer to stick to the big picture.
"[Azerbaijan’s] cooperation with NATO is at its highest level," Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told journalists on April 15. "We are already at
the second stage of IPAP, which is important for us in order to implement
deeper reforms and build closer ties with NATO." The second phase of
Azerbaijan’s IPAP program began on March 15.
Azerbaijan will receive about $21 million from NATO for reforms connected
with the second stage of IPAP. The US State Department will allocate
$900,000 for short-term military training and courses in US military
academies. Azerbaijan will receive $3 million in US foreign military
assistance in 2009.
Diplomats will join the next round of US-Azerbaijani military talks,
scheduled to take place in Washington, DC, in July.
Despite the development of military ties with the US and NATO, Baku
underlines that it has a go-slow approach to integration with the alliance.
In a March 21 interview with the Russian news agency Interfax, President
Ilham Aliyev stressed that the question of membership is not on the agenda.
"The present standard of our cooperation with NATO suits us," Aliyev said.
"It is hard to tell what is going to happen later, how international
developments are going to unfold, what processes are going to take place in
our region."
But that judgment does not appear to dilute the US commitment to military
support for Azerbaijan. The assistance, said Gen. Wyatt, will go on.
"Transformation," he said, "is a long process."

KHAZAR IBRAHIM: "AZERBAIJAN SEES THE STATUS OF NAGORNO KARABAKH ONLY WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF ITS TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY"

Azeri Press Agency
April 21 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku. Lachin Sultanova-APA. "Azerbaijan sees the status of Nagorno
Karabakh only within the framework of its territorial integrity and
this will be so. There is no other variant or way", Spokesman for
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Khazar Ibrahim said, APA reports.

Taking a stance on US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s statement
"If the sides settle for a compromise, the conflict can be solved
soon", the diplomat mentioned that the US as the co-chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group actively participated in the process of negotiations.

"But we await more proper messages from the US to Armenia. Both the
US and other co-chairing countries are aware of Azerbaijan’s principle
position", he said.

NO DIFFERENCE IN APPROACHES TOWARD RESOLUTION?

KarabakhOpen
19-04-2008 16:53:05

There is no essential difference in the approaches of the Armenian
sides regarding the settlement of the Karabakh issue, stated the
speakers of the Armenian and Karabakh parliaments Tigran Torosyan
and Ashot Ghulyan in a news conference after the session of the joint
commission of parliaments.

The parliament of Armenia has launched discussion of the draft
statement on the settlement of Karabakh which includes several
principal approaches. In particular, the parliament urges the
government to conduct a proactive policy on the talks. We need
to formulate and coordinate the legal, scientific stances on the
Karabakh issue, said Tigran Torosyan, underlining that soon working
groups will be set up.

The second important point of the statement is the urge to shape
legal basis for Armenia to guarantee the security of the people of
Karabakh in case of a military aggression.

The third is the worldwide support for Karabakh to return to the
table of talks.

And the fourth is the consolidation of the resource of Armenians
worldwide for the international recognition of NKR.

"We have postponed the discussion of the statement until consultation
with our Karabakh colleagues. As a result we heard a number of new
and useful proposals, but there is no essential difference in our
approaches," said Tigran Torosyan.

"The parliamentarians of Karabakh stated that they reject the
principles of Madrid proposed by the mediators. However, the
new Armenian government has already stated likely to continue the
talks. Will they be based on the principles of Madrid?" In answer to
this question of Karabakh-Open.com Tigran Torosyan said he has read
about some principles in the media although there is no distinct
document on the principles. "There are two recognized principles,
also by the mediators – the territorial integrity and the right for
self-determination. It is evident that the conflict must be solved
on the basis of those principles," said the speaker of the Armenian
parliament.

With regard to the possibility of the recognition of NKR by Armenia,
the speaker of the National Assembly Ashot Ghulyan said a more
effective way has been chosen for "the improvement of interstate
relations" – an agreement.

KARABAKH PRECEDENT FOR SMALL SOVEREIGN STATES

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.04.2008 19:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Long before Kosovo was on the international agenda,
it was mountainous Karabakh that challenged Stalin’s legacy and offered
a constitutional, juridical and legal reversal of that legacy through
a referendum, member of Armenian delegation to PACE, Heritage party
leader Raffi K. Hovannisian said in his address to PACE spring session.

"It was the first step in the decolonisation of the Soviet Union and
it is in this forum that one day an Azerbaijani colleague will stand
up and say that responsibility is collective. When we talk about
refugees and internally displaced persons and about territorial and
security issues and suffering, the issues belong to all of us and not
to any of us separately. Maybe they will say that we, too, erred in
launching a war of aggression against Karabakh’s liberty instead of
talking to its leaders and its people. Maybe that day will come to
pass, beginning here, in this Chamber," he said.

"Despite the war of aggression unleashed upon mountainous Karabakh
by Azerbaijan – a conflict that has cast untold loss, suffering and
destinies of displacement upon hundreds of thousands of human beings
on both sides – neither Karabakh nor any Armenian delegates have
ever abused that pain for the repeated assertion of polemical and
devious arguments relating to refugees, internally displaced persons,
"occupied" territories and a variety of other familiar talking
points. Its manifest, therefore, that the true precedent for small
contemporary sovereignties is indeed mountainous Karabakh."

"The case in point is mountainous Karabakh or Artsakh which, on the eve
of the Berlin Wall’s fall into history and long before Kosovo became
current, heralded a new era of liberty, legality and democracy for the
republics and other administrative entities of the Soviet Union. The
citizens of Karabakh spearheaded the decolonisation of the Union
of Soviet Socialists Republics by declaring their independence in a
referendum held in strict compliance with international and controlling
Soviet laws. In determining to master their future they triggered the
long-overdue process of democratic correction of Stalin’s legacy,
which continues to haunt many freedom-loving people to this day,"
he said, PACE communication unit reported.

According to Heritage party’s press office, Mr Hovannisian will
leave Strasbourg for Serbia and Kosovo to participate in the NATO PA
regional mission.

EARTHQUAKE IN GARNI

A1+
18 April, 2008

A 3.3-magnitude earthquake was reported 14 km east of Garni village
at 08.13, April 18. The earthquake was perceived in Nor-Nork district,
RA Yerevan, National Seismic Center reports.

17 BIG COMPANIES PRIVATIZED IN ARMENIA LAST YEAR

Noyan Tapan
April 17, 2008

YEREVAN, APRIL 17, NOYAN TAPAN. At the April 17 sitting, the
Armenian government approved the bill on approval of the 2007 annual
report on execution of the 2006-2007 program on privatization of
state property. The deputy head of the RA State Property Management
Department Ashot Markosian said after the sitting that 17 big companies
were privatized last year, 12 of which were sold by direct sale, 3 –
by tender and two companies were auctioned. 151 mln 718.8 thousand
drams (about 489 thousand USD) was transferred to the state budget
from the privatization of 4 small facilities. A total of 18 bln 758
mln drams was received from privatization of state property.

A. Markosian announced that no facility of incompleted construction
included in the privatization program was privatized in 2007. 88
commercial organizations were in the process of liquidation last year:
the liquidation of 9 organizations was completed, while another 9
were recognized as bankrupt based on decisions of the economic court.

The State Property Management Department kept under control the
fulfilment of privatization agreements’ obligations by 79 buyers,
64 of whom fulfilled these obligations: they invested 573 mln 891.8
thousand drams and 3 mln 741.9 thousand dollars and created 3,822 jobs.

According to A. Markosian, it is envisaged privatizing 125 companies
this year.

ARGENTINEAN-ARMENIAN BUSINESSMAN EURNEKIAN TO SUPPORT ARMENIA’S GOVERNMENT PROGRAM

ARKA
April 17, 2008

YEREVAN, April 17. /ARKA/. Armenian-Argentinean businessman Eduardo
Eurnekian plans to support the RA Government’s economic program.

Congratulating Tigran Sargsian on his appointment as RA Prime Minster,
the entrepreneur expressed a hope that the new Government contribute
to the country’s economic growth. He offered his support to the Prime
Minister in giving a boost to Armenia’s economy.

Eurnekian owns the Corporacion America Company, concession
manager of Zvartnots Airport. He has also initiated large-scale
agricultural projects in Armenia. Eurnekian holds the Converse Bank,
Armenia.

CHAIRMAN OF POLLING STATION COMMISSION N 13/10 SENTENCED TO 2 YEARS’ IMPRISONMENT

Noyan Tapan
April 17, 2008

YEREVAN, APRIL 17, NOYAN TAPAN. By the sentence of the general
jurisdiction court of Yerevan’s Erebuni and Nubarashen communities,
Seyran Mkrtumian, the Chairman of polling station commission N 13/10
of Erebuni community, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. As
Noyan Tapan was informed by Alina Yengoyan, the Spokesperson of
the RA Cassation Court, by court’s decision the commission Chairman
was found guilty for committing a crime envisaged by Article 150,
RA Criminal Code, Rigging Results of Elections or Voting.