Author: Nahapetian Boris

MOSCOW PUBLIC PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE TRACING KARAMJIAN’S MURDERERS

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.01.2008 15:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ January 24, Gevorg Minasyan, a spokesman for the
Armenian Embassy in Russia, met with an investigator of the Koptev
district of Moscow to get information on the death of Vladimir
Karamjian.

"The murder of Vladimir Karamjian, 20, was committed on Bolshaya
Academicheskaya street on January 23 at 8.57 p.m. At about 8.30
Karamjin approached 20-B building on Bolshaya Academicheskaya street
to meet a girlfriend. While he was waiting several unknown people came
up to him, stabbed a knife into his chest twice and escaped. Bleeding,
Karamjian ran to a watch box to ask for help. Later he was taken to
hospital and died after an operation at 1.10 a.m.," the Embassy’s
press office told PanARMENIAN.Net.

The investigators are tracing the criminals but the process in
complicated by absence of any witnesses.

The Armenian Embassy keeps in touch with the prosecutor’s office to
learn the details of the crime.

THEY DO NOT CONSIDER TIGRAN KARAPETYAN AND ARTASHES GEGHAMYAN AS OPPOSITION

Lragir
Jan 24 2008
Armenia

Recently the Heritage Party has stated to provide some of its seats
in the election commissions to the presidential candidates Levon
Ter-Petrosyan and Vazgen Manukyan. In this connection, another
presidential candidate Tigran Karapetyan accused the Heritage Party
of discrimination because the Heritage Party refused to provide seats
to Tigran Karapetyan.

On January 24 the spokesman for the Heritage Party Hovsep Khurshudyan
commented on this at the Hayeli Club. First he said the Heritage
Party has the right to provide its seats in the election commissions
to other political forces. The Heritage Party decided to provide
those seats to the parties which were not elected to parliament
and cannot have representatives to the commission. "We have stated
that we will provide our seats to the opposition parties. Meanwhile,
Tigran Karapetyan has stated for a number of times that he is neither
opposition nor government, he is a centrist force, and I think he
should turn to other centrists for seats," Hovsep Khurshudyan says.

As to Tigran Karapetyan’s statements that the Heritage Party provides
the seats for money, Hovsep Khurshudyan says they did not react to
these statements but it does not mean that they ignore them. The
Heritage Party will react to them, and if necessity arises, they will
go to court to protect the reputation of their party.

As to the number of representatives to 1900 election commissions which
will be provided to Vazgen Manukyan and Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Member of
Parliament Zaruhi Postanjyan, Heritage Party, says most seats will be
provided to those forces. And the reason is that the Heritage Party
does not have enough members who took the special training course
for members of election commissions and have qualification required
by the law. The members of the Heritage Party say the three courses
held by the Central Electoral Commission were not enough for them,
and they requested an additional course but were refused.

U.S. CONGRESSMEN HONORED THE MEMORY OF HRANT DINK

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.01.2008 15:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian Assembly of America commends Armenian
Caucus Co-Chair Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Caucus
Member Representative Ed Royce (R-CA) for calling on Turkey to honor
the memory of journalist and human rights activist Hrant Dink by
repealing Article 301 of the Turkish penal code.

In separate remarks on the House floor yesterday, both lawmakers
commemorated the first anniversary of Dink’s assassination on an
Istanbul street in broad daylight on January 19, 2007. Before his
murder, Dink was awaiting trial for allegedly violating Article
301 which outlaws "insulting Turkishness," for his writings on the
Armenian Genocide.

Pallone noted that Turkey continues to persecute and incarcerate
people for exercising their universal right of freedom of speech.

"Turkey uses intimidation to deny its citizens their right to freedom
of expression," Pallone stated. "It lobbies for its so-called rightful
role in the international community and a place in the European
Union. Yet it does not live up to democratic principles and standards."

"We appreciate the efforts of Congressmen Pallone and Royce in
bringing this important issue to the forefront of Congress," said
Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. "It is vital that America
demonstrates its commitment to human rights, and fundamental freedoms
to the rest of the world."

TURKEY: POLICE TARGET NATIONALIST GANGS AFTER FAILED COUP ATTEMPT

AKI
Security/?id=1.0.1806161685
Jan 24 2008
Italy

Istanbul, 24 Jan. (AKI) – Turkish police have arrested dozens of
people, including former army officers, lawyers, journalists and
religious leaders, allegedly involved in a planned coup d’etat against
the government.

According to Turkish media reports, the suspects come from a
nationalist organisation called Ergenekon and are alleged to have
planned political murders and bomb attacks in a bid to replace the
government in 2009.

Thirty-three suspects linked to the Ergenekon operation, including
retired general Veli Kucuk, were arrested on Tuesday. Controversial
nationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, who filed lawsuits against Turkish
writers and intellectuals, was also detained in the police swoop.

On Wednesday, the police conducted searches at the office of attorney
Kerincsiz and the office of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate as well
as at several other places related to the suspects.

The nationalist gang is suspected of involvement in several of violent
attacks in Turkey, including the murder of an Italian priest in 2006,
the assassination of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and the murder
of three Christians in the city of Malatya in 2007.

The group was also reported to have been planning the murder of Nobel
Prize winning author Orhan Pamuk who divides his time between the US
and Turkey.

Turkish media reports said the suspects had been taken to hospital
for a routine checkup but had not yet been formally charged.

Media reports said the 33 suspects had been accused of having "obtained
secret information, revealed state secrets, taken part in the creation
of a terrorist group".

According to the Turkish daily, Sabah, a lengthy investigation had
produced 460 telephone intercepts and 40 house searches in the cities
of Istanbul, Bursa and Smirne.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the police action showed
Turkey’s determination to bring an end to state and military-linked
gangs

Erdogan said his government had been successful in fighting gangs
and organised crime.

"This has been ongoing for four to five years. In addition to our
security forces there is also a process that the judiciary has been
conducting," he said.

"This is something we are happy about. This last incident concerning
such crimes has shown in the clearest way that the executive branch
and the judiciary are working in a wonderful solidarity."

Turkish media said the police had been observing the actions of
the suspects for at least eight months as part of an investigation
into a house full of explosives and ammunition found in Ýstanbul’s
Umraniye district.

Daily newspaper, Today’s Zaman, said documents obtained by the police
during the raid confirm that in the past two years the suspects
considered assassinating Osman Baydemir, a member of the pro-Kurdish
Democratic Society Party (DTP), the mayor of the mainly Kurdish
southeastern province Diyarbakýr.

–Boundary_(ID_q33RKSkVXPTeU7+Cz CwBAQ)–

DENNIS SUMMUT: "I DO HOPE THAT YEAR OF 2008 WILL CONTRIBUTE TO PEACE IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS"

Today
itics/42562.html
Jan 23 2008
Azerbaijan

"I do hope that year of 2008 will contribute to peace in the South
Caucasus", Dennis Summut, chief executive of British LINKS, said
commenting on the situation in the region.

He noted that there is nothing extraordinary with his visit and he is
going to meet with representatives of the parliament and with other
partners in Azerbaijan.

Asked for his opinion about the initiative of a group of Azerbaijani
and Armenian Parliamentarians to pay conjoint visit to Nagorno
Garabagh, he said there are a lot of initiatives in this field. He
considers all ideas bringing the peoples of the two countries to
cooperation, to be positive.

"Noting this, it is necessary to stress than any such initiative
must be elaborated, considering the delicacy of the issue. In other
words, if such initiative is developed in time, I can regard it only
as positive".

He also commented on criticism regarding Azerbaijan’s intensified
militarization and increased expenses for defense: "Each country
has a right to choose its own ways, necessary to ensure its safety
and security, in accordance with its rights and duties. Therefore,
no one is criticizing Azerbaijan for such actions. Each country
decides itself about how much it will allocate for defense and for
other needs. The opinion that the security of the country depends on
the number of available tanks and planes is old-fashioned. Provision
of security in the 21st century is a more complicated issue, which
requires a complex approach".

He said Azerbaijan’s long-term security depends on the capability to
establish relations with its neighbors and ensure duly integration
of all the layers of the population with the society, rather than on
the number of tanks and aircrafts.

He also touched upon the issue of forthcoming presidential elections in
Armenia and Azerbaijan and its possible influence on the negotiations
regarding Nagorno Garabagh. He said elections may suspend the process
or encourage it as candidates to presidents come out with good programs
on the conflict settlement and they may achieve success.

Anyway, he noted that he does not consider it necessary to stop
negotiations on Garabagh for the period of elections.

"Everyone in Baku and Yerevan states that the Garabagh problem unites
rather than causes clashed within the society. There aren’t much
differences in the positions of the leadership and opposition of
Azerbaijan and Armenia regarding Nagorno Garabagh problem".

He said all political leaders should assure their voters that they
speak about Garabagh feeling responsibility but not for the short-term
political games, which protract the process.

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email: [email protected]
Internet:

PRESS RELEASE
January 23, 2008
Contact: Serouj Aprahamian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

2008 ANCA LEO SARKISIAN SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM ACCEPTING
APPLICATIONS

— 24-Year Program Provides Hands-On Grassroots Advocacy Training
for Armenian American Student Leaders

WASHINGTON, DC — The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
announced this week that it is accepting applications for the 2008
ANCA Leo Sarkisian Summer Internship Program in Washington, DC.
Now in its 24th year, this competitive and prestigious program
provides student leaders the opportunity to explore the inner
workings of the U.S. political system. The application deadline is
set for March 1, 2008.

Named in honor and memory of longtime ANCA activist Leo Sarkisian,
the eight-week intensive public affairs internship brings together
students leaders and activists from across North America to give
them the tools necessary to become more effective Armenian American
advocates. "The Leo Sarkisian Internship continuously proves to be
an unparalleled experience for young activists seeking to engage
themselves in Hai Tahd and help advance the Armenian Cause," said
former intern and current ANCA Eastern Region Executive Director,
Karine Birazian.

Working just blocks away from the White House at the ANCA national
headquarters, participants receive a series of in-depth lectures
and interactive workshops from guest speakers, including U.S.
government officials, Armenian American leaders, and professionals
in the field of public policy. Interns are also assigned specially
tailored projects and attend various conferences and hearings
featuring national figures on issues of concern to the Armenian
American community.

"The ANCA Summer Internship was an invaluable investment for my
future as an individual and as an Armenian activist," said 2007 Leo
Sarkisian intern Paul Ternamian. "I can already see the time and
hard work spent during those summer months paying off as I take a
greater leadership role in the community." Paul’s fellow intern
>From 2007, Dzovak Kazandjian, added that, "I would recommend the
internship to anyone who wants to take part in the day-to-day
activities of the ANCA on a national level, as well as to those who
want to experience the exciting atmosphere that DC and Capitol Hill
have to offer."

The 2008 Leo Sarkisian Internship will begin on June 23 and run
through August 11. Applications for the internship are available
on the "Capital Gateway" section of the ANCA website at
Applicants must complete the forms corresponding to
their respective region and return them to the Eastern Region or
Western Region headquarters by March 1 to be considered for the
2008 program. Applications will be reviewed and those deemed
qualified will be invited for an interview before final selections
are made in May 2008.

Haig Hovsepian, Community Relations Director for Western Region
ANC, summed up the importance of the program by stating, "The
strength of our applicants is their activism in the local
communities from which they come and to which they will return
making the Leo Sarkisian Internship Program a prime example of
grassroots power in action."

For more information, or to request applications, please contact
your ANCA regional headquarters at (818) 500-1918 or
[email protected] for the Western Region and (917) 428-1918 or
[email protected] for the Eastern Region.

#####

Photo Caption: 2007 ANCA Leo Sarkisian Interns Explore the U.S.
Capitol

CIS OBSERVERS WILL WORK INDEPENDENTLY AND OBJECTIVELY

armradio.am
22.01.2008 15:46

The President of the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia Garegin
Azaryan received the Head of the Office of the CIS Observation
Mission Vladimir Garkun. Following the meeting Mr. Garkun responded
to journalists’ questions.

The Office of the CIS Observation Mission started the activity today.
According to Vladimir Garkun, 150-170 of the observers are from CIS
countries, from the Interparliamentary Assembly, the Parliaments of
Russia and Belarus, as well as from Central Electoral Commissions of
different countries.

The five long-term observers will start the work today. Another 17
observers will join them in the future.

"We want to organize our work so that to be able to attend different
polling stations, electoral commissions," Mr. Garkun said.

The work of the Office of the CIS Observation Mission is now focused
on the process of conducting monitoring in the pre-election period in
order to find out how the election campaign proceeds. Vladimir Garkun
informed also that they ill try to meet with heads of headquarters
of the presidential contenders.

"We have come here upon the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Armenia and we shall realize our work independently and
objectively guided by the evaluations of our observers," Vladimir
Garkun added. The mission ill come up with a final report after summing
up the results of the work of both short-term and long-term observers.

"After completing our work we shall hold a final sitting, and will
come forth with one or two interim reports during this month,"
MR. Garkun informed.

HOVANNISIAN OPTS FOR ELECTION NEUTRALITY
By Astghik Bedevian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Jan 21 2008

Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian indicated over the weekend that he
and his Zharangutyun (Heritage) party will not endorse any of Prime
Minister Serzh Sarkisian’s four main election challengers before the
first round of voting slated for February 19.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the party’s governing board said it
will decide whom to support "later on" if at least one of them fails
to drop out of the presidential race in favor of another opposition
candidate. It said none of the four candidates, among them former
President Levon Ter-Petrosian, stands a chance of defeating Sarkisian
on his own.

"If participation in the presidential race is an end in itself, rather
than a chance to win for those political forces, maybe we should
wait for the [run-up to the] second round and see who the public
supports the most," the Zharangutyun spokesman, Hovsep Khurshudian,
told RFE/RL. "We will naturally support that force."

"There has to be a consolidation of forces. The mistakes made during
the parliamentary elections must not be repeated," Khurshudian said,
referring to the Armenian opposition’s failure to set up major
alliances in the run-up to the May 2007 vote. The Zharangutyun
statement went further, saying that "appropriate lessons have not
been learned" by the opposition.

Hovannisian himself was accused by some opposition politicians
at the time of scuttling the formation of one such alliance that
would have comprised Zharangutyun, two pro-Ter-Petrosian parties
and the National Democratic Union (AZhM) of Vazgen Manukian, another
presidential candidate. Hovannisian and his allies insist, however,
that they were not to blame for the last-minute collapse of talks
between those opposition groups.

Zharangutyun is one of only two opposition parties represented in
Armenia’s parliament, putting its popular leader, who is not eligible
to run for president, in a position to influence the outcome of the
upcoming election. Ter-Petrosian and Vahan Hovannisian (no relation
to Raffi), the candidate of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun), have been particularly active in courting the
U.S.-born politician.

Hovannisian said last month that his choice will depend on candidates’
answers to his 22 written questions that challenged them to not only
elaborate on their campaign platforms but also to list their "main
merits and shortcomings" and disclose their assets. The presidential
hopefuls were also told to specify if they had ever jailed innocent
people, benefited from vote rigging or committed other "deeds
punishable by criminal law."

The Zharangutyun statement complained that "in essence" none of them
has filled out the highly unusual questionnaire. It said Hovannisian
only received a "letter of courtesy" from Ter-Petrosian and "general
reaction" from another opposition contender, Artur Baghdasarian.

Reports in the Armenian press have said that some members of the
Zharangutyun board have been pressing Hovannisian, who returned
to Yerevan last week after spending nearly a month in the United
States, to throw his weight behind Ter-Petrosian. At least three of
Zharangutyun’s seven parliament deputies are known to support the
ex-president’s candidacy.

"I wouldn’t say that those reports are wide of the mark," said
Khurshudian. "Some sections of the board and the party as a whole
do gravitate towards the candidate mentioned by you. But there are
also quite serious sections of the party who support other opposition
candidates."

As a parliamentary force, Zharangutyun is entitled to controlling one
of the eight seats in each of about 2,000 various-level commissions
that will be conducting the February 19 election. According to
Khurshudian, only about 1,000 party members and supporters are
available to sit on those commissions. He said Zharangutyun will
therefore ask other opposition parties to fill the remaining vacancies
with experienced activists.

Lragir, Armenia
Jan 18 2008

PROPOSALS IN HAND AND ISSUES UNDER FEET

We should thank the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs who continue to come
to the region with joy on their faces, cheerful and full of life, to
resolve the Karabakh issue, and keep their external freshness for the
sake of the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples for them not to have
even a crumb of doubt that no resolution of the issue can be
achieved. These people are tired of the airports of Yerevan and
Azerbaijan, Armenian and Azerbaijani reporters to whom the Karabakh
reporters sometimes join, they are tired of the Armenian and
Azerbaijani cuisines to which sometimes the Karabakh cuisine adds,
they are tired of leaving Yerevan and Baku, especially that sometimes
they also have to leave Karabakh. Perhaps this monotone is the reason
that this time the co-chairs visited the line of contact to
experience at least something new, appear in a little new
environment, otherwise airport, hotel or embassy, presidential
offices, restaurant, embassy, airport, home. Perhaps they feel
inconvenient before the Armenian and Azerbaijani societies, and when
they say they offer the best resolution they can, they mean that they
are not protracting the resolution to prolong their mission but the
conflict sides protract the resolution with their tough stance.

Nevertheless, we must be grateful to the presidents of the conflict
sides who consistently disagree with the good, the best and the
perfect proposals. The point is that the limit of human abilities is
unknown, and these abilities are usually discovered in extreme
situations when there is no way out and the human potential is used,
and such solutions are found which would remain asleep in man in
normal situations. And if now the co-chairs say they are proposing
the best option they can to help resolve the conflict through
compromise, there is no need to yield to their human despair. It is
necessary to discover the superman inside them, which Robert
Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev have probably done, and it is necessary to
continue to reject their proposals to push the co-chairs to conceive
new proposals and offer them. It is necessary to place them in
extremities all the time to have them give birth to the best
proposals until they achieve perfection. The perfection will be a
resolution without a compromise, meeting the interests of Armenia,
Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

Now it seems practically impossible to reach such a resolution.
However, there is no need to draw hasty conclusions. Do you remember
what the co-chairs stated a few years ago? They said they had run out
of imagination. However, if turned out that they had not. At least in
Madrid a new proposal was offered to the sides, which is already
considered as the best. What would happen if Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Karabakh felt desperate after the co-chairs had stated to run out of
imagination, and accepted the proposal. In that case, we would not
have the proposal which is considered as `the best that can be
offered’. No doubt, through the complicated and psychological game of
the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan the co-chairs, maybe
unintentionally, will offer a lot of best options. Even they are
unaware of their capabilities.

HAKOB BADALYAN

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Jan 19 2008

S.Caucasus Countries Suffer from Unsettled Conflicts: European
Parliament Rapporteur
19.01.08 11:27

France, Strasbourg 19 January / corr Trend A.Maharramli / The South
Caucasus countries suffer from the unsettled conflicts, Lydie
Polferm, an author of the European Parliament’s report on `The
European Union’s More Effective with respect to south Caucasus:
Transition from Promises to Actions’, sad in an exclusive interview
for Trend.

She said that the South Caucasus countries inherited the conflicts
from the Soviet period. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict particularly
complicates the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, poses
threats to security in the region.

With this respect Polferm offers to use rich experience of the EU. `I
hope the conflicting sides will soon resolve the problem. The
settlement of the conflict is important for both countries and
population of the region, particularly, refugees who have been living
in poor conditions for over 10 years,’ the diplomat said.

Polferm said that the attempts taken for use of force resolution of
the conflict would be the most terrible decision. The victory through
force will be never firm or establish political stability in the
region.

Polferm especially stressed the necessity of seeking compromises with
respect to solve conflicts. `We support the mediation efforts by the
OSCE Minsk Group, while the EU can render feasible assistance so that
the sides could go to proximity and dialogue. The EU has no intention
to dictate its initiatives, but simply offers its experience for use
in such situations,’ Polferm said.