Author: Maghakian Mike

GEORGIAN ARMENIANS PROTEST AT ARREST OF ACTIVIST IN YEREVAN
Regnum, Russia
Oct 14 2006
The democratic alliance United Javakhk [Georgia’s Armenian-populated
Samtskhe-Javakheti region] reports that a member of the alliance’s
board, Vaagn Chakhalyan, who on 10 October was subjected to a brutal
attack when entering Yerevan and received serious body injuries, was
arrested the next day by employees of the Armenian National Security
Service (NSC).
A statement issued by the alliance says: “Introducing themselves
as members of the police department, they tricked Vaagn Chakhalyan
into coming to the police station as a victim, but then took him to a
National Security Service isolation cell and arrested him. Ridiculous
charges were levelled against him about illegally crossing the Armenian
state border. On 13 October, with the same ridiculous charge, the
court of the first instance of the Yerevan communities of Tsentr and
Nork-Marash gave permission to sentence Vaagn Chakhalyan to two-months’
preventive detention.”
“It is especially outrageous that instead of investigating the violence
meted out against Vaagn Chakhalyan, members of his family and a member
of the alliance, Gurgen Shirinyan, fabricated accusations are being
made against the victim. This incident is clear testimony to a direct
link between the violence committed against Vaagn Chakhalyan and his
subsequent arrest, as well as the fact that certain forces issued an
order. The people of Javakhk are extremely angry about the news from
Yerevan. The United Javakhk is concerned that subsequent events could
lead to dangerous and unpredictable developments.
“Vaagn’s absence and further consistent attempts to disband the
alliance by brutal methods are a severe blow to the present system
which is ensuring stability in Javakhk, in which the United Javakhk,
thanks to the universal support of the population, is playing a
decisive role. Well-known forces and criminal channels are striving
to ensure a monopoly on demonstrations on behalf of the Armenians
of Javakhk, and by their irresponsible and provocative actions are
creating a serious threat to stability in the region.
“The alliance hopes that all interested forces, and the Armenian
authorities in particular, will adopt a more sensible decision
in relation to these forces who can lead to a destabilization
of the region and cause serious damage to Armenian-Georgian
interstate relations,” a statement of the political force from the
Armenian-populated region of Georgia, Samtskhe-Javakheti, says.

NIZAMI BEHMANOV: I DO NOT BELIEVE OSCE EXPERTS’ MONITORING RESULTS
Azeri Press Agency
Oct 12 2006
“I do not believe that the OSCE experts’ monitoring of the arsons
in occupied Azerbaijan territories will have any result. All events
concerning Nagorno Garabagh happened under observation of OSCE
since 1992. I have not seen their decisive position yet,” Nizami
Behmenov, the chief of Azerbaijani Community of Nagorno Garabagh told
journalists, APA reports.
He said OSCE will not give any explanation even if the reports on
the arson results will be prepared and send to UNO.
“It will be ineffective. Azerbaijan has video materials about
happenings in occupied regions. Material concerning arson has
been presented to Minsk group. I do not think separatist Nagorno
Garabagh Republic will let OSCE experts enter those areas, because
the territories are under their control. There are terror bases in
occupied Azerbaijan territories,” he said.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT DECREES ROUTINE MILITARY CALL-UP
Mediamax News Agency, Armenia
11 Oct 06
Yerevan, 10 October: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has signed
a decree on the autumn call-up campaign.
Under the decree, young men who have reached the age of 18 will
be called up for military service in October-December 2006, the
presidential press service told Mediamax today. The call-up has also
worried people who have lost the right to the deferment of military
service.
Conscripts who have served two years in the Armenian armed forces
will be discharged in October-December in 2006.

2007 DRAFT BUDGET PROJECTS SIZEABLE GROWTH OF SUBSIDIES TO HEALTH SECTOR
Armenpress
Oct 11 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS: The draft government budget for 2007
unveiled late last month would substantially raise subsidies to health
sector from 39.5 billion drams this year to almost 47.6 billion drams.
Some 844 million drams of this sum are projected for management of
state-run health institutions and establishments and around 3 billion
would be released to hygienic and anti-epidemic services. Hospitals
and clinics will get next year 2 billion drams more, 16.8 billion
and 16.7 billion drams respectively.
The budget, if approved by parliament, will also lead to a sizable
rise in the monthly salaries of doctors and hospital personnel in
general. Thus a clinic doctor ‘s salary is projected to grow from
current 58,499 drams to 83,400 drams, a clinic nurse will get 53,400
drams instead of current 38,000.
By the way, the draft budget also plans to raise salaries of civil
servants by 20 percent to 105,000 drams ($276) in 2007. Fulltime
schoolteachers would earn the average of 74,000 drams, or 27 percent
more than they do now.

FRENCH GOVERNMENT DISTANCES ITSELF FROM ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
October 10, 2006 Tuesday 1:56 PM EST
DPA POLITICS France Diplomacy Turkey French government distances
itself from Armenian genocide bill Paris The French government on
Tuesday distanced itself from a bill, drawn up by the opposition
Socialist Party, that would make it a crime to deny that Turkey had
committed genocide against
the Armenian people more than 90 years ago.
The bill, which is to be examined Thursday in the National Assembly,
“does not involve the government” and “is not necessary,” foreign
ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei told journalists in Paris.
The proposed law has provoked rage in Turkey, which has threatened
to carry out economic boycotts against French companies. In 2001,
bilateral relations suffered a similar setback when France passed a
law in which the murder of thousands of Armenians in the declining
days of the Ottoman Empire was characterized as “genocide.”
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said the
proposed law was a blow against freedom of speech and that a “populist
and cheap game” was being played by French politicians.
“This wrong move will change nothing for Turkey but it will change
a lot for France … When did it become France’s duty to get involved
in a problem between Turkey and Armenia? The world is not a campus
for colonizers any more. That era is over,” Erdogan said.
It was not clear if the bill would receive enough votes to pass
through the National Assembly. On Thursday, the majority UMP party
said most of its deputies would not take part in the vote.
The dispute comes less than two weeks after French President Jacques
Chirac, on a visit to Armenia, said he wanted Turkey to admit
the Armenian genocide before it could join the European Union,
a condition no one else has ever set for Ankara.

BLOCKADE OF GEORGIA TO HAVE NO IMPACT ON ARMENIAN CARGO TRANSIT
PanARMENIAN.Net
11.10.2006 15:55 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The transport blockade imposed by Russia on Georgia
will have no impact in the transportation of Armenian cargo through
the Georgian territory, Vladimir Yakunin, the President of the Russian
Railways said at a briefing in Yerevan. In his words, the Armenian
cargo is being transported without any delay and problems. According
to Yakunin, Russia is interested in cargo volume increase and in
“delivering Armenia from extra difficulties in cargo transportation,”
reports Interfax. To note, the 44th sitting of the CIS and Baltic
Council of Railways under the presidency of Vladimir Yakunin started
in Yerevan today.

Armenian and Azeri FMs to Meet in Moscow Today
PanARMENIAN.Net
06.10.2006 13:19 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian and Azeri FMs V. Oskanian and
E. Mammadyarov will meet in Moscow. As Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE
MG for Nagorno Karabakh settlement Yuri Merzlyakov reported at a
news conference in Yerevan, later a meeting of Armenian and Azeri
Presidents is possible. “After the meeting of Armenian and Azeri FMs
speaking of a meeting of Armenian and Azeri Presidents is possible,”
OSCE MG French Co-Chair Bernard Fassier stated in his turn.

YOUTH TO PROVIDE FACTS ON ANTI-CRIMINAL
Panorama.am
17:52 05/10/06
Youth wings of several political parties discussed ways of combating
criminalism in Armenia. Narek Malyan, leader of youth wing of New Times
Party (Nor Jamanakner) said that education and military structures are
indirectly connected with criminalism and corruption. He suggested to
conduct a public opinion poll at the higher educational establishments
to decide the list of the most corrupt professors. Levon Lazarian,
minister of education and science, had said the ministry cannot ensure
the objectivity of the survey.
Naira Karapetyan, representative of People’s Party, suggested to take
actions. Another member of the same party suggested to establish a
youth analytical center that will unveil criminal cases and supply
information to Anti-criminal movement. /Panorama.am/

Baku for early settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
by Ksenia Kaminskaya
ITAR-TASS News Agency
October 5, 2006 Thursday
Azerbaijan hopes for an early settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, Elmar Mamedyarov, the Azerbaijani foreign minister,
told Itar-Tass on Thursday. He arrived in Moscow for talks on
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement with his Armenian counterpart Vartan
Oskanyan.
The Azerbaijani minister said, “Baku hopes the results in the
negotiating process will soon be achieved.” “We want changes and
specific arrangements,” he remarked. “The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh
is deteriorating.” “This should not be so,” Mamedyarov believes. “This
runs counter to the logic of international, regional and interstate
relations.”
At the same time, the minister believes “it is yet early to speak
about a meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh settlement at the summit level.”
“Much depends on the results of the talks in Moscow,” he noted.
“The presidents will be informed of the results, and it is for the
heads of state to decide when they should meet,” he said.

ACLU Sues DEA, Police Officers for Roughing Up Amtrak Passengers
THE TORCH, Fall 2006, Volume 41, Number 3
The Newsletter of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico
A drug enforcement agent and two police offices illegally searched
and roughed up an Armenian couple as the couple’s Amtrak train stopped
in Albuquerque on the afternoon of August 17, 2005.
During the search, one agent pulled bras and underwear from a
personal bag belonging to Diana Arutinova, smiling lasciviously as
the accompanying agents laughed and made coarse jokes. Arutinova and
her partner, Edgar Manukian, told the three agents they had nothing
illegal in their bags and to stop searching. The officers ignored
their wishes.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico sued the
officers on the couple’s behalf, claiming multiple violations of both
Arutinova’s and Manukian’s civil rights.
“This was a gross abuse of power,” said ACLU executive director
Peter Simonson. “The agents had Arutinova and Manukian at their
mercy and they used the opportunity to entertain themselves and to
terrorize the couple.”
Things went from bad to worse after the illegal search. Manukian
asked the officers for their names and badge numbers. Agent Jay
Perry pushed Manukian toward the train door and said, “You want my
name? What are you gonna do about it, —hole?”
Fearing for her husband’s safety, Arutinova stepped in between the
two men, but Perry grabbed her roughly by the arm and shook her so
hard that her head struck the wall. Perry then dragged Arutinova by
the arm back down the hallway toward the couple’s roomette, striking
her head against the wall two or three more times. He stopped only
when Arutinova began to scream.
Manukian took photos of the departing agents, but one officer noticed
the camera and the agents returned. Perry grabbed Manukian’s arm and
yelled, “What the hell are you doing taking pictures of us?
Give me that camera!” The agents seized the camera and walked away.
Simonson said, “Clearly the officers were trying to cover their tracks
by seizing the camera. The act was as cowardly as it was illegal.”
Zachary Ives and Martha Mulvaney of Freidman, Boyd, Daniel, Hollander
and Goldberg PA are litigating the case for the ACLU along with
ACLU staff attorney George Bach and ACLU Legal Director Phil Davis.
The case was filed in federal district court.
The counts against the officers include retaliation for protected
speech, excessive use of force, and unreasonable search and seizure.
The plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages.