Author: Karapetian Hovik

Panorama.am

16:50 29/03/2008

INTERNET USERS HIGHLY EVALUATE SIRUSHO’S VICTORY IN EUROVISION

The Armenian representative in the Eurovision 2008 international song
competition Sirusho is highly evaluated and named in the best top five
by the internet users.

According to the official web site of the competition, on 28 March a
poll was held to find out `Who will win `Eurovision 2008” and 20% of
the voters named Sirusho.

The following participants are in the list of top five: Diana
Gurtskaia (Georgia) 24%, Azerbaijan singer 16%, Turkey 9%, Spain
7%. 22 thousands people participated in the voting process. To sum up
Sirusho is in the second horizontal according to the internet voting.

Remind that Sirusho will present `Kele-kele’ song in the
competition. The competition will be held by two semi-finals. This is
the third time Armenia presents its singer in the competition. The
first was Andre who occupied the 8th horizontal and the second was
Hayko who again occupied the 8th horizontal.

Source: Panorama.am

MEMBER OF LEVON TER-PETROSIAN’S KAPAN PREELECTION HEADQUARTERS SENTENCED TO ONE YEAR’S SUSPENDED IMPRISONMENT

Noyan Tapan
March 27, 2008

KAPAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. By the March 26 decision of the Syunik
court of general jurisdiction, 53-year-old Rafael Asrian was sentenced
to one year’s suspended imprisonment with one year’s probation period
and was released from the court hall. When making the decision the
court took into consideration the fact that the defendant admitted
his fault and repented, he is a participant of Artsakh liberation
struggle (he was the Commander of Kapan battalion), takes care of
his under-age child and has no previous convictions.

According to the materials of the case, 23 bullets were confiscated
during the February 26 search conducted in R. Asrian’s house and an
accusation on part 1, Article 235, RA Criminal Code, was brought to
him, getting and keeping of illegal ammunition.

It should be mentioned that R. Asrian is a member of former RA
presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian’s preelection headquarters,
he took part in the rallies organized by the latter. According to
Arshavir Khalapian, R. Asrian’s lawyer, indeed the cause of institution
of the criminal case was political.

NEW PAGE IN ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

AZG Armenian Daily
27/03/2008

Armenia-Turkey

In his interview to Russian "Politicheski journal" Turkish Ambassador
to Russia Kurtulush Tashkent touching upon Armenian-Turkish
relations said, "It’s a pity that we have no diplomatic relations
with Armenia. The reason is that the Independence Declaration and
Constitution of Armenia involve such articles that make territorial
demands on Turkey. The second reason is that Armenia tries to make
other counties’ parliaments recognize so called Armenian Genocide".

According to the Turkish Ambassador, the third reason that Turkey
doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Armenia is that "Part of
Azerbaijani territory is occupied by Armenia".

"We are neighbor countries and will remain such.

Consequently, development of normal relations entirely meets the
interests of our countries’ peoples.

We hope that Mr. Sarkisian will open a new page in Turkish-Armenian
relations", announced Kurtulush Tashkent.

NewsAhead Agency, UT –
March 24 2008

Azerbaijan marks 90th anniversary of 1918 conflict with Armenia as
"Day of Genocide."

A flashpoint?

In 2008 it will be 90 years since territorial disputes between
Armenia and Azerbaijan resulted in a 3-day round of bloodletting and
expulsions that Baku regards as genocide against Azerbaijan. And 10
years ago in 2008 the late president of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev,
declared Mar 31 the "Day of Genocide" to commemorate the event. If
there is still a deadlock in the negotiations between the two
countries over Nagorno Karabakh, a de facto independent republic
located in the South Caucasus, the anniversary could trigger renewed
conflict.

The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 provoked ethnic violence in the
area, and more erupted in 1918 when Armenia and Azerbaijan became
independent and each claimed Karabakh. Soviet domination of both
countries suppressed the worst of the hostilities between the two for
decades, but it exploded again in 1988 with the approaching breakup
of the Soviet Union and the return of independence to both countries.

The present deadlock coincides with the suspension of ceasefire
monitoring along the long line of trenches that divides Armenian and
Azerbaijani forces around Karabakh, and increased warnings that the
dispute – in which fighting was halted in 1994 – might once again
lead to open conflict.

The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on
Security and Cooperation in Europe, now Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe, to encourage a peaceful, negotiated
resolution to the conflict. At this stage in the negotiations
compromises are laid out in a document called "Basic Principles." It
is awaiting the signatures of the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan. According to a report by the Zurich-based International
Relations and Security network in December, the political climate in
both countries ahead of presidential elections in 2008 makes it
unlikely the document will be signed.

Azerbaijan is growing in confidence both economically and
diplomatically, according to the ISN report, and officials have said
frequently that their "patience is running out" and they are
considering the military option. On 30 Oct, the current president,
Ilham Aliev, said, "We should be ready to liberate the occupied
territories by military means at any moment." Aliev boasts that his
oil-rich country’s fast-growing defense budget, which now stands at
more than US $1 billion, should increase to a point where it exceeds
Armenia’s entire annual budget.

On 27 November, speaking at a meeting of defense chiefs from
post-Soviet states, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiev said,
"As long as Azerbaijani territory is occupied by Armenia, the chance
of war is close to 100 percent." Dec/07

aijan_genocide_Mar_08.htm

MOSCOW HOPES TO KEEP KARABAKH SETTLEMENT WITHIN OSCE FRAME – KARASIN

Interfax News Agency
March 20 2008
Russia

Russian State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin
has voiced hope for further Karabakh settlement negotiations between
Yerevan and Baku within the OSCE Minsk Group format.

"We hope that the OSCE Minsk Group will continue to assist the
settlement process. We also hope for the soonest possible meeting
between Armenian and Azeri representatives," he told the media
in Yerevan.

"Any change of format will cause uncertainty. I think this should
hardly happen in such sensitive areas as the peaceful settlement,"
he said.

Russia, the United States and France co-chair the OSCE Minsk Group.

"We want the South Caucasus to be a zone of stability. Russia wishes
friendly relations with all the South Caucasian states. We are ready
to work on that," Karasin said.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN HAS NO FEARS THAT AMENDMENTS TO LAW ON PUBLIC EVENTS MAY TURN ARMENIA INTO POLICE STATE

Noyan Tapan
March 21, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian president sees no danger
that as a result of the amendments in the law on mass events Armenia
may turn into a police state. Robert Kocharian stated this at the
March 21 press conference, adding that the amendments proceed from
the Constitution and are in line with the respective conventions.

To recap, by these amendments, a local government body may ban rallies,
processions and demonstrations based on a conclusion of the RA national
security body and the police.

According to the president, in the postelection period he did not
allow the police to intervene in 9-day unauthorized rallies not to
distort the processes of ballot recounting and appeal. "I am not sure
that it was correct. If there had been more drastic intervention on
the second day of anauthorized rallies, the consequences would not
probably have been so grave," R. Kocharian said, adding that rallies
and processions must not be organized for some period of time. "If
we are concerned about stability in the country, it is obvious that
such steps will not contribute to stability: everybody should show
restraint." Besides, according to R. Kocharian, some people, who
had used arms and explosives against policemen, are still wanted
by the police, and there is no guarantee that they will not again
resort to provocations "in order to mess up the situation and avoid
responsibility."

In response to the question "What have you succeeded in and what
have you failed to do during 10 years as president of the country?",
R. Kocharian promised to think over this question and answer it
until the end of his term of office – April 9. "I failed to prevent
the March 1 events but I managed to prevent, maybe by means of more
drastic measures, their scale from being larger and graver," he said.

RA PRESIDENT TREATS QUIETLY CIRCUMSTANCE THAT GEORGE BUSH HAS NOT CONGRATULATED SERGE SARGSIAN YET

Noyan Tapan
March 20, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 20, NOYAN TAPAN. We should treat very quietly the
circumstance that newly elected RA President Serge Sargsian has not
received a congratulation from U.S. President George Bush yet. Stating
this at the March 20 press conference, RA President Robert Kocharian
reminded the journalists that on the occasion of being elected RA
President in 1998 and 2003 he received congratulations from President
Bush only after assuming his post. "It did not hamper me to work
efficiently, did not hamper RA to have in average 13 percent economic
growth, did not hamper to cooperate very efficiently with the United
States, to implement very efficient programs," the RA President said
adding: "Maybe that is a good sign." He also noted that the elections
are not held in Armenia for receiving congratulations from some place,
one can congratulate a little early, the other a little late. "It also
depends on political calculations, on Ambassadors working there,
on the reports they write, on the circumstance which candidate
they sympathize, it depends on many other political calculations,"
Kocharian said.

NO RELATIONSHIP

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
March 20, 2008

"The unilateral and uncoordinated resolution submitted by Azerbaijan
is nothing more than the country’s desire which bears no relationship
with the document on the table. This is well-known to Azerbaijan and
the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group; the international community is
also well-aware of the fact, as shown by the voting of the UN General
Assembly," Tigran Balayan, Head of the Media Relations division
of the MFA Press and Information Department announced yesterday,
touching upon the statements made by the Azerbaijani MFA Spokesman
Khazar Ibrahim, with regard to the prospect of the NKR negotiation
process conducted in the frameworks of the Minsk Group.

"Perhaps, Azerbaijan expected to gain some dividends, which, however,
didn’t happen or, it was preparing a breeding ground for avoiding
the current negotiation process of the Minsk Group and hence – the
document on the table," T. Balayan mentioned.

BAKU THINKS PRESIDENTIAL MEETING SENSELESS

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.03.2008 17:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "A meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents
is possible if Armenia makes proposals that can interest us," said
Khazar Ibrahim, head of the Azeri MFA press office.

"Instead of making empty statements and accusing Baku, the Armenian
leadership should make exact proposals.

Now, it makes no sense to speak of a presidential meeting," Ibrahim
said, 1news.az.

Two days ago, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said Armenia
is ready for a presidential meeting during NATO summit in Bucharest
on April 3-4.

"Serzh Sargsyan has agreed to meet. The matter depends on the Azeri
President. At that the agenda will include the resolution on Karabakh
adopted by the UN General Assembly on March 14," he said.

"If Azerbaijan keeps on putting forth the principles of the resolution,
Serzh Sargsyan should announce senselessness of further talks. In
this case, Armenia will have to reconsider its approaches and focus on
ensuring NKR’s security. If Baku agrees to continue talks on the basis
of the OSCE MG proposals, we are ready to negotiate," the Minister said

WINTER WHEAT FIELDS WERE NOT DAMAGED BY FROST

KarabakhOpen
18-03-2008 11:04:36

The winter wheat fields were not damaged by frost. Moreover, abundant
precipitation was useful, and the frost was not so severe to damage
the crop. "18 degrees below zero is considered as critical, whereas
the temperature did not drop lower than 15 below zero. In this sense,
the effect of the frost was positive rather than negative, except for
crops sown later," said the deputy minister of agriculture Vladimir
Zakiyan in an interview with the Azat Artsakh.

Vladimir Zakiyan says the total area of wheat fields is 32 thousand
hectares compared with last year’s 47 thousand hectares. "Due to
one-crop farming the soil is impoverished and needs reanimation. It
is possible through fertilizers or crop rotation," says the minister
of agriculture.

Vladimir Zakiyan says assistance is provided to land owners who let
their land lie fallow. The best season for this is fall but because
of weather and some other circumstances, this season was prolonged.

The government has already allocated 149 million drams for assistance.

Assistance will be provided in two stages: 15 thousand drams per
hectare after tillage and 20 thousand drams after cultivation.

The frost damaged vineyards. "Some sprigs on vines froze, some were
not damaged," said Vladimir Zakiyan. According to the deputy minister
of agriculture, about 30 to 35 percent of vineyards were damaged by
frost. Part of fig and quinsy trees was also damaged.