Author: Maghakian Mike

NAGORNYY KARABAKH DENIES MERCENARIES SERVE IN ITS ARMED FORCES

Arminfo
5 Sep 07

Yerevan, 5 September: The Nagornyy Karabakh defence army is capable
of ensuring its people’s security on its own, Lt-Col Senor Hasratyan,
the defence minister of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic [NKR], has
told Arminfo.

The Azerbaijani press – APA news agency and Day.az – have reported
that the Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan, Naser Hamidi-Zare’ had
said that he had no information about Iranian citizens serving in
the armed force of Nagornyy Karabakh.

Hasratyan categorically denied reports that foreigners, including
Iranians, may be serving in the NKR armed forces. "Only young
Armenian men serve in the Nagornyy Karabakh armed forces. No foreign
mercenaries serve in the armed forces," Hasratyan said. "We do not
need mercenaries. There have never been mercenaries in the NKR defence
army either during the war or now, unlike our adversary’s army where
hundreds of mojahedin and Turkish instructors have been serving. The
NKR defence army is capable of ensuring its people’s security on
its own."

THREE KILLED IN CEASE-FIRE VIOLATION – AZERI DEFENCE MINISTRY

ANS TV
5 Sep 07
Baku

The Azerbaijani army has lost another soldier in the front line
zone. Muxtar Osmanov, 19, was wounded in his head when the Armenian
side was firing on Namirli village in Agdam District. The soldier
was taken to hospital, but it was impossible to save his life. He
died last night. Muxtarov was from Xacmaz District’s Canaxir village
and conscripted into the army by the district’s military enlistment
office in 2006. The soldier’s dead body has already been taken to his
village where he will be buried today. The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry
press service confirmed the report. The ministry added that two people
[presumably Armenian soldiers] were killed by retaliatory fire.

ZANGEZUR COPPER-MOLYBDENUM INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX PLANS TO OBTAIN UP TO 35 MLN TONS OF ORE PER ANNUM

arminfo
2007-09-03 19:17:00

ArmInfo. Zangezur (Kajaran) Copper-Molybdenum Industrial Complex
(ZCMIC) plans to increase the capacity of ore processing at
Kajaran deposit to 35 mln tons per annum. As Mayor of Kajaran Vardan
Gevorkyan told ArmInfo, the industrial complex has already undergone an
ecological expertise and got permission for extension of the Artsvanik
tailings storage of the plant’s toxic wastes.

The annual payments of ZCMIC to the state budget on subsoil use make up
800 mln drams and 10 mln drams more are allocated for environmental
measures in Kajaran. The industrial complex intends to obtain to
12,5 mln tons of ore from the Kajaran deposit till the end, 2007,
instead of 8 mln tons in 2006.

With such volume of exploitation of the open mine, the wastes from
flotation will be also increased, which will speed-up the process of
overfill of the Artsvanik tailings storage. In view of this, it was
resolved to extend the volumes of the tailings storage. With quick
rates of molybdenum and copper price rise, the Kajaran industrial
complex also undertakes to invest 95 mln drams in ecological measures.

Moreover, the industrial complex plans to carry out thorough
investigations in 2008 on the ecological situation of Kajaran’s
territory. The main part on investigations has already been carried
out by employees of the Center of Ecological-Noosphere Researches
of RA NAS, however, the Mayor of Kajaran refrained from giving data
on investigation results, having promised to provide them in the
near future.

TURKEY’S CHRISTIANS FACE NEW HARDSHIPS, WCC SAYS

BosNewsLife
Sept 4 2007
Hungary

Arsonist Semih Sahin shooting into the air. Via Compass Direct
News ISTANBUL, TURKEY (BosNewsLife)– There were fresh concerns
Tuesday, September 4, about hardships faced by Orthodox believers and
other minority Christians in mainly Muslim Turkey amid pressure by
authorities on the Greek Orthodox Patriarch and reports of an arson
attack against a church.

In a letter, obtained by BosNewsLife, the World Council of Churches
(WCC) said it was concerned about the situation of Christians in
Turkey. "The Greek Orthodox are not the only religious minority
facing hardships in Turkey," said the WCC, which links Protestant,
Orthodox and other churches representing some 560 million Christians
in 110 countries.

It came as news emerged that police in Turkey’s western city of
Izmit arrested a man who set a fire early Monday, September 3, at the
entrance of the local Protestant church and then shot off his pistol
several times.

The church’s pastor is the brother-in-law of one of the converts
to Christianity murdered in the town of Malatya in April and has
been targeted by Islamic extremists, claimed Compass Direct News,
a Christian news agency investigating reports of persecution.

The suspect, identified as Semih Sahin, set fire to the church
entrance, allegedly to protest against the Izmit Protestant Church
activities. Although no one was injured and the fire did not damage
the church’s construction, the latest incident underscored anxiety
expressed by WCC members and human rights groups.

GROWING HARDSHIPS

WCC said that even key leaders such as the Greek Orthodox Patriarch
is "facing growing hardships imposed by the decisions of the
Turkish judiciary" whose Court of Appeals ruled in June that use
of the title "ecumenical", or "universal" was illegal. The WCC said
however it strongly backs the Istanbul-based Greek Orthodox Patriarch
Bartholomew in a legal battle with Turkish courts over the right to
the 14 centuries-old title.

"The title ‘Ecumenical’ is given only to the Patriarchate of
Constantinople as ‘first among equals’ among world Orthodox leaders.

In consequence and over many centuries, it has become the name by
which the Patriarchate is known throughout the world," the WCC said.

"Although the number of Greek Orthodox Christians in Turkey is
relatively small, the faithful under the Patriarch’s direct ecclesial
authority are about five million worldwide. Additionally, albeit in a
non jurisdictional sense, he is widely recognized as spiritual leader
of the world’s 300 million Orthodox" Christians, the group added.

WCC Secretary General Samuel Kobia said it was crucial that the
Council expresses its "whole-hearted appreciation of the authenticity
and importance of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as an institution and
the Ecumenical Patriarch as an office within the wider church world".

CHURCH GROUPS

The pressure on Orthodox and Protestant Christians from authorities
and militants come at a time of concern among church groups and other
organizations about the future direction of Turkey following the
election last week of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, a devout Muslim,
as the country’s new president.

Islamic extremism has been on the rise, church groups say. The
Legal Committee of the Alliance of Protestant Churches of Turkey has
reportedly said that the past year saw "scores of threats or attacks
on congregations and church buildings."

In one of the most serious incidents this year in April a German man
and two Turks, all former Muslims, were found with their hands and
legs tied and their throats slit at the Zirve publishing house in
the town of Malatya.

GERMAN INTERPRETER

45-year old German interpreter Tilman Ekkehart Geske, had been
living in Malatya since 2003 and worked closely with two other
Turkish Christians, Necati Aydin, 35, and Ugur Yuksel 32. In January,
journalist Hrant Dink, one of the most prominent voices of Turkey’s
shrinking Armenian community, was killed by a an Islamic militant
gunman entrance to his newspaper’s offices.

Dink, a 53-year-old Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, had gone
on trial numerous times for speaking out about the mass killings of
Armenians by Turks at the beginning of the 20th century. He had also
received threats from nationalists, who viewed him as a traitor.

Last year Catholic Priest Andrea Santano was shot in the back at his
church in the town Trabzon, by a Muslim militant. The World Council of
Churches (WCC) has urged Turkish authorities to improve protection
of Turkey’s Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic Christians. (With
BosNewsLife Research and reporting from Turkey).

A TRAGIC SUMMER
By Eliyahu Salpeter

Ha’aretz
Sept 4 2007
Israel

It was a bad summer for Holocaust commemoration. In Berlin, poor
construction has led to the disintegration of the huge memorial to
the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis. In Russia, a neo-Nazi
film was distributed on the Internet documenting the murder of two
minority members at the foot of a swastika flag. Dozens of Jewish
tombstones in cemeteries throughout the world have been desecrated.

Budapest has not prohibited the activities of the neo-Nazi Hungarian
Guard, which sees itself as the successor to the Arrow Cross that aided
and abetted the Germans in hunting down Jews to send to Auschwitz. The
government of Poland continues to allow the Catholic broadcast
"Radio Mary" that incites anti-Semitism, and Pope Benedict XVI has
even received the priest who heads the station for a photographed
interview at the Vatican.

And in Israel this summer, the memory of the Holocaust was recalled
again and again in vain. Sixty years after the liberation of the
concentration camps, the government determined that the suffering of
those who were saved from the Nazis was worth about NIS 84 a month.

Following public outcry, however, it reversed its decision – but this
was only one of its disgraceful actions, and perhaps not the worst.

Money, however disgraceful the amount, can be negotiated; the gap
between the offer and what’s needed disgraces the maker of the offer
more than the victim.

Advertisement

The greatest disgrace of all was the attempt to turn orphans,
refugees and partisans who fought the Germans into voters for the
ruling party by declaring them survivors of the extermination camps,
in which their families were killed.

Is the fate of an Auschwitz survivor the same as the fate of the many
thousands who remained alive thanks to righteous gentiles who risked
their lives to hide them? Or the same as the fate of the hundreds
of thousands of Jews who survived thanks to the Soviet government,
who sent them to distant Asian regions out of the German army’s reach?

Is it not a disgrace that the Israeli government, which encouraged
a million Jews from the CIS to come to Israel, now pins the local
social service crisis on the Holocaust, which took place more than 60
years ago? Where are the boundaries of suffering? At the ghetto walls,
the electrified barbed wire or in a convent in occupied France?

And from this subject, we move to Sudan. Jewish organizations
throughout the world, especially in the United States, are at
the forefront of the political and public relations struggle for
the survivors of the genocide in Darfur. Israel, in contrast, is
incarcerating Darfur refugees who have managed to come in through
Sinai. Have Israel’s ministers not heard how the Jews of Europe
desperately tried to enter Western countries from occupied Europe?

Have they forgotten that after the Holocaust we all said "never again"?

Proper treatment of Darfur refugees will not lead to an influx of
tens of thousands of African refugees to Israel. With good will and
moral sensitivity, transit shelters can be established while working
to have the Sudanese refugees accepted by countries that are part
of the wave of censure of Khartoum. Thus, the victims of attempted
genocide can be cared for.

It may be assumed that no one in Israel doubts the importance of good
relations with Ankara, and that Israel must take the Jewish community
of Turkey into consideration. There is also no comparing the murder
of more than half a million Armenians during World War I and the
murder of six million Jews in World War II. However, it seems to be no
coincidence that one of the most moving descriptions of the Armenian
disaster was written between the two world wars by the Jewish author
Franz Werfel. Jewish sensitivity existed before the Holocaust as well;
the State of Israel and Jewish organizations cannot now cling to the
difference between "Holocaust" and "genocide." It certainly makes no
difference to Holocaust deniers.

Dragging the memory of Anne Frank into the (justified) debate in
Israel about benefits for Holocaust survivors has also not added
dignity to it, even if the intentions of MK Ophir Pines-Paz were
good. But much more humiliating was the use MK Yitzhak Cohen made of
the memory of the six million victims in his war against the cremation
of Israelis who have chosen this custom before they passed away. His
statements recalled the sermon of his rabbi and leader, Rabbi Ovadia
Yosef declaring those murdered in the Holocaust as the reincarnation
of the souls of sinners.

And differently, but not by much: On the eve of the new school year
we learned that schools in Petah Tikva refused to accept 80 Ethiopian
children. This, too, is plain racism, in the name of which Jews were
sent to the firing squads and the gas chambers.

"THE PRESENT HRAK IS QUITE DIFFERENT"

A1+
[06:19 pm] 03 September, 2007

"The Alliance Party (DK) has already made a decision and it cannot
be overturned," DK board member Gnel Ghlechyan told A1+ in connection
with their possible alliance with the Armenian Ramkavar Azatakan Party
(HRAK).

The DK will convene a session at the end of September to decide the
party’s final dissolution.

The DK and the National Revival Party (AVK) are no longer
negotiating. According to Gnel Ghlechyan the reasons are merely
technical: the party’s central office is moving, therefore they don’t
have any ties with others.

HRAK representative Harutyun Arakelyan informed A1+ that they have
some preliminary arrangements which remain unchanged. "The process
will have its logical outcome by the turn of the year."

In reply to the question whether the HRAK members have normal attitude
to an alliance with Samvel Babayan, Harutyun Arakelyan said, "Well,
we meet and have talks. Why should the party members react negatively?

Our members triple and we unite our efforts."

To the question whether AVK’s conservative ideas go in line
with HRAK’s liberal ideology, Harutyun Arakelyan said, "Being a
traditional party, the HRAK has conservative elements as well but
as there are conservative parties in Armenia let me stay refrain
from assessments. The press should leave us alone. We have openly
announced about our alliance."

The DK has already decided to ally with the HRAK whereas the AVK
faces serious problems in this view.

A1+ asked Harutyun Arakelyan whether they still continue negotiations
with Albert Bazeyan who resigned from the AVK chairman’s post.

"I won’t tell you anything definite. Let’s not go into details. I am
only speaking about the phenomenon.

There are people who expressed readiness to ally with the
HRAK. Everything will be all right in case the press does not
interfere," he said.

Ruben Mirzakhanyan, the former HRAK representative, is indifferent to
the process. This is a positive step to strengthen parties. 70-80
parties are a little more for our small country. And yet it is
still too early to make predictions. I can share my opinion after
the alliance. Being a party member for a long time I can state one
thing for sure, the present HRAK greatly differs from the former
one. I wouldn’t say it is better or worse than the former one but it
is different."

SHAVARSH KOCHARIAN: TO ATTAIN PRODUCTIVITY IN THE OPPOSITION’S CONSULTATIONS, IT IS NECESSARY TO MAKE A DETAILED SITUATION ANALYSIS

arminfo
2007-09-03 18:59:00

ArmInfo. "To attain productivity in the opposition’s consultations,
it is necessary to make a detailed situation analysis, to reveal
the reasons the opposition’s rating sharply falls and to come to a
conclusion", the Leader of the National-Democratic Party Shavarsh
Kocharian said. According to him, it is necessary to do real role
assessment and real assessment of the place of the president’s post
in conditions when the real power is in the hands of the majority in
the parliament. It is for understanding one’s position concerning the
above-mentioned problems, the politician participated in the meeting
of the leaders a number of opposition forces in Hotel Congress on 28
August. Asked if the consultations coordinated by Paruyr Hayrikyan
can be the authority’s next project aimed at splitting the opposition,
he noted "I don’t want to guess why these meetings are initiated and
to give evaluation.

I must only regretfully state that there is no opposition leader in
Armenia, who wasn’t in due course accused of being connected with
the authority. So, in this context the whole political field is in
equal conditions". Speaking about his party’s plans on the threshold
of the presidential election campaign, Shavarsh Kocharian emphasized
that the National Democratic Party doesn’t intend to nominate its
candidature. "If it is necessary to support the nomination of a unitary
candidate from the opposition, there will be no pretendant from our
side. Among the participants in the latest meeting, the National
Democratic Party was the only one that openly declared about it",
Sh. Kocharian said.

PARUIR HAIRIKYAN READY TO SUPPORT SERGE SARGSYAN

Lragir, Armenia
Aug 30 2007

If a meeting is to meet a person and know them better, it is already
justified, said the leader of the National Self-Determination Union
Paruir Hairikyan in commenting on the meeting of the opposition
leaders on August 28 at the Congress Hotel in a news conference at
the Hayatsk Club. First he told the reporters from the meeting he
would tell only what refers to his statements and proposals, as to
the others’ participation, he asked to turn to them. The leaders of
seven parties participated in the meeting: National Self-Determination
Union, National Solidarity, the People’s Party of Armenia, the Orinats
Yerkir Party, the Social Democratic Hnchak Party, the Democratic Way
Party and the National Democratic Party.

The formal leader of the Heritage Party Vardan Khachatryan was
denied participation because the real leader of the party is Raffi
Hovannisian. "They should have informed beforehand that Vardan
Khachatryan is in charge of these issues. We are telling Raffi
Hovannisian if he wants to participate, he is welcome, if not, it
is his problem," Paruir Hairikyan says. According to him, he does
not know why the head of the All-Armenian Movement’s board Ararat
Zurabyan missed the meeting, although Hairikyan says Zurabyan told
one of the newspapers he was going away and had to miss the meeting.

Aram Gaspar Sargsyan did not take part either because he has gone
away too and will return on August 31. As to Aram Zaven Sargsyan who
was said by the media to be against these meetings, Paruir Hairikyan
said freaky is the word for the approach of a politician who refuses
to meet with his colleagues. However, Paruir Hairikyan says he does
not think Aram Zaven Sargsyan holds such an approach. Paruir Hairikyan
thinks reporters distorted Aram Zaven Sargsyan’s words.

The leader of the National Self-Determination Union stated he would not
like the meetings he initiated to be referred to as meetings of the
opposition. Hairikyan thinks those are meetings of democratic forces
and are not confidential, and reporters are not invited because some
participants fear distorted reporting. According to Paruir Hairikyan,
their fears are justified. However, when Paruir Hairikyan said the
meetings are not confidential, he declined to say who had proposed
inviting pro-government parties to the next meetings, considering
that the meeting is that of democratic forces.

The efforts of the reporters to get the name of the author of the
proposal were in vain. Hairikyan declined to mention the name. He
advised the reporters to ask each of the other participants
separately. As to information that concerns him only, he said he
proposed the core project of making Armenia the most democratic
country of the world. If the political forces come together around
this axis, Paruir Hairikyan will think it is not pointless to run in
the presidential election, even if he does not run in the election,
he can support another leader. Otherwise, the leader of the National
Self-Determination Union says he will not participate in a "brawl".

"We can raise the importance of Armenia in the world by several levels
if my colleagues agree, together or separately, that the presidential
candidates run in the presidential election and pursue the goal of
making Armenia the most democratic country of the world.

This is my goal," Paruir Hairikyan says. In answer to the question
if he may support Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Paruir Hairikyan says he is
not interested in persons, and if Serge Sargsyan accepts his program,
he is ready to endorse him.

V. ATANESYAN: LOCAL ELECTIONS SHOULD NOT BE POLITICIZED

KarabakhOpen
30-08-2007 14:26:26

"We think the local elections should not be politicized," said the
leader of the Democratic faction Vahram Atanesyan in an interview
with Karabakh-Open.com. "After all, we are going to elect heads of
communities. And I think it does not matter much which party they
belong to."

With regard to the statement of the acting mayor of Stepanakert Edward
Aghabekyan, chair of the Movement 88 Party, on possible alliance with
the ARF Dashnaktsutyun in the election to the mayor of the capital,
the member of parliament said it does not match the current political
conjuncture, especially that all the four parliament parties supported
the common candidate in the presidential election. Vahram Atanesyan
thinks the idea of a "common candidate" should be pursued further
into the local elections.

It would be logical if the parties held consultations on this issue,
the leader of the faction thinks. The Democratic Party of Artsakh
is against politicization of the local elections and will be trying
to reach agreement with the other parties. "If our colleagues are
likely to politicize the local election, the Democratic Party will
have to meet the challenge and run in the election separately. We
have sufficient potential for that. We can nominate candidates in
most communities and be sure of their victory," Mr. Atanesyan said.

WHEN WE ARE LUCKY THAT WE STILL EXIST
Hakob Badalyan

Largir, Armenia
Aug 29 2007

Of course, it is too worrisome for Armenia that day by day the
projects, the regional programs of infrastructures are becoming more
and more tangible and definitively enclose our country and make the
isolation of our country irretrievable. It would be ingenuous, even
erroneous to think it is due to the anti-Armenian wish of Turkey and
Azerbaijan. Not only Turkey or Azerbaijan isolate Armenia but also
Russia which is believed to be our strategic partner. For instance,
Russia ignores its partner Armenia and considers Azerbaijan for the
North-South transport axis, connecting with Iran via this country. At
least there is such an intention, and it was considered during the
top-level meeting of Azerbaijan and Iran when on August 21 and 22
the Iranian president visited Azerbaijan. It is also clear that for
Russia Azerbaijan is a more expedient partner. First the Russians
thereby interest this country to face West less and rely on not only
the United States and NATO but also Russia. Moreover, by building
the North-South with its partner’s foe Russia also makes it clear
to Azerbaijan that it can rely on Russia regarding the settlement
of the Karabakh conflict, disregarding that the Kremlin upholds an
absolutely pro-Armenian settlement.

The other circumstance which makes it expedient for Russia to choose
Azerbaijan instead of Armenia for communication is determined by an
objective reality. The problem is the Russian and Georgian relation
which would not improve and seems to be unlikely. Meanwhile, if the
North-South involved Armenia, Georgia would inevitably be involved as
well, which is impossible considering the unstable relation between
Russia and Georgia. Moscow would not agree to involve Georgia unless
Tbilisi pledges loyalty to Moscow but Tbilisi will never pledge
loyalty to Moscow because in that case it would lose its regional
importance for the West. Meanwhile, when you pledge loyalty to Russia
and lose your importance for the West, you become five minutes to
Armenia. Meanwhile, now Georgia is several minutes past Armenia,
although our propaganda would fail to notice it because it is not
politically expedient. Apart from all, the North-South does not have
the importance for Georgia which would make this country revise its
foreign policies.

In the meantime, there is need for revision perhaps only of the
foreign policies of Armenia among the other countries of the region.

And though we state that Armenia is isolated due to the efforts or
policy of one country or another, it is clear that the primary cause
of the isolation of Armenia is the foreign policy of Yerevan. The fact
that no sanctions were applied against our country, that the world
has always recognized the results of our national elections, that we
were not made to return Karabakh and the liberated territories does
not mean that we conduct an effective foreign policy. The increasing
various pan-Armenian gatherings which provide more and more Diasporan
customers for our hotels, restaurants and cafes are not an indication
of an effective policy either. Even the fact that some of our rich
Diasporans agreed to sponsor the remote villages cannot be evidence to
an effective foreign policy. Perhaps there is only one measurement of
an effective foreign policy – the country’s importance and significance
in the region where it is located. It should be noted that Armenia is
gradually losing its importance, even for such a country as Iran which
seemed likely to launch major projects with Armenia. The visit of the
Iranian president to Azerbaijan and the strategic projects discussed
there showed that for Tehran, Baku is important, at least now.

The problem is not that the United States voiced concern regarding
the developing relations of Iran and Armenia. The problem is
that Iran launched a major energy project with Armenia but after
giving the Armenian section of the pipeline to the Russians Iran
realized that it had better discuss those projects with Moscow
rather than Armenia. Other evidence to the diminishing importance
of Armenia is that after statements against the construction of
the Kars-Akhalkalaki railroad bypassing Armenia the United States
and the EU suddenly stated they cannot impede the implementation of
these projects. And the reason is that Armenia failed to act to make
these projects unacceptable in the world through diplomatic methods,
and its efforts were confined to statements about the immorality of
Kars-Akhalkalaki. Generally, the foreign policies of Armenia seem to
be mediated. In other words, to solve our important issues we choose
the third country. For instance, we urge Turkey to recognize the
genocide and open the border with Armenia by asking the third country
to pressure on Turkey, or regarding Kars-Akhalkalaki we expected
Russia or the West to prevent its construction, in our relation with
Georgia we expect Russian coercion at the right moment. We build up
relations with Iran with a headphone connected to the Kremlin on the
other ear. All this produces the impression of a country which is not
capable of independent diplomacy, which is lucky that it still exists.