Author: Nahapetian Samvel

TAHIR TAGIZADEH: PREPARATIONS FOR PRESIDENTS’ MEETING IS BEING CARRIED OUT

Azeri Press Agency
Nov 15 2006

A step forward was taken in the talks between Azerbaijani and Armenian
Foreign ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and Vardan Oskanian with the
participation of OSCE Minsk group co-chairs in the frame of Prague
Process held in Brussels yesterday, said Tahir Tagizadeh, the chief
Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry Press and Information policy Department,
APA reports.

The diplomat said that the talks were difficult but constructive.

"We always declared that the main is the continuation of talks and
to take a step forward. The sides achieved this step," he said.

Tagizadeh noted that the preparations are being carried out for the
presidents’ meeting in the frame of CIS Summit talks to be held on
November 21-23 in Minsk.

The diplomat did not say anything about the achievements.

"At present, we can not declare anything because of no complete
agreement on issues," he said.

PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN LEAVING FOR GERMANY

Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 15 2006

November 15 RA President Robert Kocharyan will leave for Berlin on a
two-day official visit. This is the President’s second visit to the
Federal Republic of Germany. The President will have meetings with
the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel,
Bundestag President Norbert Lamert and the Mayor of Berlin Klaus
Voverayt. Robert Kocharyan and the President of Bundestag will
attend the official ceremony of opening the new RA Embassy building
in Berlin. President Kocharyan will speak at the largest and most
influential political fund of German – the Bertelsmann.

The Armenian President’s visit falls in a very important period of
time. In the first half of 2007 Germany will undertake Presidency of
the European Union and the G8, and in fact it will be in the center
of attention of international politics.

SERJ TANKIAN OF SYSTEM OF A DOWN TALKS ABOUT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MOVIE

93X.COM, MN
Nov 15 2006

Screamers, the movie about Americas struggles to recognize the
Armenian Genocide, stars the members of System Of A Down, and its
finally hitting select silver screens. The movie started screening
on Wednesday night as part of the AFI Film Festival, and it will open
to the public for a limited showing on December 8 in Los Angeles.

Another showing is set for mid-January in New York City.

Serj Tankian, whose grandfather tells his tales of the atrocities he
suffered as part of the Armenian Genocide during World War 1 in the
film Screamers, explained why the film’s message is so important.

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ARMENIA JOINS THE INTERSTATE AGREEMENT ON TRANSIT RAILWAY NETWORK

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 15 2006

Armenia has joined an interstate agreement on ‘Transit Railway
Network’.

Ministry of Transport and Communication of RA reported to ArmInfo that
the agreement was studied at the Bussan (Korea) summit. 17 states,
including Armenia, are members of the agreement.

Hrant Beglaryan, 1st Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Trade and
Communication, represented Armenia at the summit. He pointed out the
importance of Armenian geographical location and noted that it has good
transit opportunities. H. Beglaryan pointed out that lots of money
is invested in reconstruction and development of Armenia’s transport
infrastructure which is a key aspect for regional integration.

WHY REPUBLICAN ASHOTYAN DOES NOT WATCH HAYLUR?

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 14 2006

The Republican Party does not consider the Orinats Yerkir Party as
one of it major opponents, stated Member of Parliament Armen Ashotyan,
young Republican, November 14 at the Pastark Club.

Nevertheless, he spared time and only an hour before the hard and
exhausting work at the National Assembly he devoted a whole news
conference to the Orinats Yerkir Party, namely the black PR carried
out against this party as the members of Orinats Yerkir state.

Armen Ashotyan reflected and concluded that the president
administration is not related to this black PR. According to Ashotyan,
the Republican Party is not related either. The member of parliament
thinks that simply it is not expedient for his political party to
implement black PR against the Orinats Yerkir Party, at least because
they do not consider it a major opponent. Of course, this means that
the Republican Party may, nevertheless, carry out black PR against
its major opponents. In answer to this question Armen Ashotyan only
says that the Republican does not use black technology against anyone,
meanwhile all the others do against the Republican Party.

Armen Ashotyan knows who carries out black PR against the Orinats
Yerkir Party and particularly Arthur Baghdasaryan. He thinks that the
supporters of the leader of the Orinats Yerkir do, who keep praising
Arthur Baghdasaryan from morning till evening and often exaggerate
and distort the truth. "What is black PR? It is distortion of the
truth?" says Armen Ashotyan. For instance, he refers to Arthur
Baghdasaryan’s supporters who stated about his interview with
authoritative British periodicals. Armen Ashotyan did not waste time
and opened the websites of these newspapers but did not find any
interviews with Arthur Baghdasaryan. Hence, he concludes that the
news about the interview is false and consequently black PR against
Arthur Baghdasaryan.

If we follow Armen Ashotyan’s logic, the news program of the Public
Television is carrying out the defense minister Serge Sargsyan’s
black PR, for several months ago Haylur reported about an article in
the British Economist, the author of which considered Serge Sargsyan
the favorite candidate of president of Armenia. Then it turned out
that there is no information on Serge Sargsyan on the website of
the Economist. Consequently, Armen Ashotyan’s logic prompts that the
Public Television does the black PR of the defense minister. However,
Armen Ashotyan did not have enough information and found it difficult
to evaluate the situation. It became clear that he has not watched
the news program of the Public Television for a long time and has
not visited the website of the Economist.

Press Release
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Father Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

HIS
HOLINESS ARAM I RECEIVES THE IRANIAN HEAD
ON THE INTER-ISLAMIC RELATIONS

His Holiness Aram I received Sheikh Mohammed Mehdi Najaf, a senior official
in the Iranian department of international inter-Islamic relations, on
November 13. Sheikh Najaf arrived in Antelias to participate in the
inter-religious conference organized by the Catholicosate of Cilicia.

Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian, Armenian Primate of Tehran and Archbishop Avak
Asadourian, Armenian Primate of Iraq, attended the meeting between
Catholicos Aram I and Sheikh Najaf. Discussions revolved mainly around
issues related to inter-religious and primarily Christian-Muslim dialogue.
Sheikh Najaf praised His Holiness Aram I for organizing a conference he
deemed important, stressing that such initiatives are essential for
deepening the mutual understanding, respect and trust between religions and
nations.

##
View photo here:

*****

The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

PRESS RELEASE
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia
Contact: Information Desk
Tel: (374-10) 52-35-31
Email: [email protected]
Web:

Foreign Minister Oskanian Signs Memorandum, European Neighborhood
Action Plan Enters into Force

The Seventh Armenia-EU Cooperation Council took place on the morning of
November 14 in Brussels. During this meeting, the European Neighborhood
Policy Action Plan was adopted and entered into force.

The Armenian delegation was headed by the Cooperation Council’s
Armenian Co-Chairman Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian. The European
side was represented by the Finnish Minister of Trade and Development,
representing the EU Presidency, Germany’s State Minister representing
the upcoming German Presidency of the EU, EU Special Representative in
the South Caucasus and high-level European Commission representatives.

The Finnish Trade Minister, Paula Lehtomaeki, opened the Council
session by welcoming the Armenian delegation, expressing appreciation
of the work done by the Armenian side in completing the Action Plan,
and stating their readiness to move to implementation.

Minister Oskanian thanked the Finnish Presidency and the Commission
for their persistence in completing the Action Plan process. He said
this is truly a different document, with five distinctive elements. He
said, "It elevates the level of the relationship to a new qualitative
level; it is not a document of intentions, but a document of action,
because it is project-oriented; it reinforces our reform processes,
and as we’ve always said, reforms are our only assets, because our
development depends not on natural resources but human resources, and
therefore we need to provide the necessary conditions to develop that
resource; further, it allows us to go beyond cooperation and towards
integration in certain areas; finally, it will be a bottom-up process,
and just as we involved NGOs and civil society in the preparation of
the document, so we will involve them now in the implementation phase,
since the nature of the document and projects compels us to make this
a bottom-up process."

The Council participants proceeded with the agenda items which included
political issues, internal reforms, human rights issues and energy
concerns. The Armenian side explained Armenia’s policy of energy
diversification and particularly, the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline.

The Council meeting was followed by the signing of a memorandum
recommending the adoption of the European Neighborhood Policy Action
Plan. Armenia’s Foreign Minister and the Finnish Trade Minister
participated in the signing.

The implementation process will provide an opportunity for deeper
integration, including in the EU internal markets. The Action Plan
proposes closer political, security, economic and cultural relations
with the EU. In the process of implementation, Armenia’s social,
political and economic systems will begin to resemble European
systems. The Action Plan assumes greater financial assistance,
a deepening of trade and economic relations, the harmonization of
economic legislation, continuing reduction of tariff limitations. To
provide aid and support in all these directions, a new European
Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument will provide, on the average,
25 million Euros annually during the five years of the agreement. This
support will also be directed at cross-border and regional cooperation.

TURKEY: MINISTER OF STATE POISED TO HOST POPE DURING HISTORIC VISIT

AKI, Italy
Nov 14 2006

Istanbul and Ankara, 14 Nov. (AKI) – Turkey’s minister of state
Besir Atalay is expected to host Pope Benedict XVI during his first
visit to a Muslim-majority country taking place from 28 November to 1
December. During the three-day visit, the pontiff will meet Turkey’s
president Ahmet Necdet Sezer, the Orthodox patriarch Bartholomew
I and other religious leaders, including the head of the religious
affairs directorate and Muslim grand mufti of Turkey, Ali Bardakoglu.

Upon his arrival on 28 November in the capital, Ankara, Benedict will
visit the shrine of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern, secular
Turkish state, the Vatican announced. He will then meet meet Sezer,
Bardakoglu, and Turkish diplomats, the Vatican said.

On 29 November, Benedict will celebrate mass in the coastal city
Ephesus, the site of the most important sanctuary to the Virgin Mary
in Anatolia. On 30 November – the Feast of Saint Andrew – he and
Bartholomew I will sign a joint declaration of ecumenical dialogue
between the Catholic and Orthodox churches before celebrating a
liturgy together.

While in Istanbul, Benedict will also meet Armenian, Syrian Orthodox
and Jewish leaders and will dine with members of the Turkish Conference
of Bishops. On the last day of his visit, on 1 December, he will
celebrate mass in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.

Atalay – who is responsible for Turkey’s public TV channel TRT and
the national statistics institute – has extensive previous experience
of accompanying high ranking officials during their visits to the
country and has signalled he is happy to act as the pontiff’s host.

There has been speculation that Islamist rooted Erdogan deliberately
avoided meeting Benedict in reaction to his recent controversial
statements linking Islam to violence and unreason during a speech in
September at the University of Regensburg in Germany.

This has been repeatedly denied by Erdogan and other government
officials, who have stated that the premier’s attendance at a NATO
summit in Latvia was a prior commitment the Vatican was aware of when
planning the pontiff’s visit. "I will be at the NATO Summit in Riga.

Am I supposed to cancel because of the pope’s visit? " Erdogan said
on Monday.

"I do not escape. The pope has two titles; that of religious leader
and head of state. As the religious leader he will meet Turkey’s
religious affairs directorate chairman, Ali Bardakoglu. As head of
state, he will meet president Ahmet Necdet Sezer. What is there to
read into this?" Erdogan added.

Gul will also be abroad during Benedict’s first official visit
to Turkey.

THE EU COMMISSION’S "SHAMEFUL" REPORT
Oktay Eksi (Hurriyet)

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Nov 15 2006

The EU Commission’s progress report on Turkey, which had been prepared
for months, delayed once, and whose contents everyone was curious
about, was finally released yesterday. What the report revealed was
nothing too surprising, in fact, it went over things which were already
known. Like that we need ot bring our military-civilian relations in
line with EU standards.

It’s true-but in order bring about these standards in that arena,
the current political administration must leave off its policies which
carve away at the foundation of the secular republic. Unfortunately,
these policies continue. The main opposition CHP, which should be
the first in line to protect secularity, is content instead to stand
back and just regard secularity with love and respect. Which is why
the military steps in, saying "secularity is not a political matter,
but a basic part of life."

Let’s hope the EU excuses us but…..in Turkey, with things the way
they are, there is no way military-civilian relations can be brought
to any level which is going to please the EU. And so, what will happen
if they don’t? Well, maybe Turkey won’t be able to get into the EU,
due to the role its military plays, but at least, and more importantly,
its secular order will stay in place.

Yesterday’s EU progress report on Turkey also issues a complaint about
the 301st article from the Turkish Penal Code, saying "it is being used
to limit expressions of thought which do not contain any violence."

Maybe the EU has a free pass to comment on every matter there is,
but it was the EU itself who ignored Turkish protests on this 301st
article when it was first accepted in its current form. And now the
EU is ignoring the fact that even some of its member countries have
similar laws on their books. Most EU countries, including Austria,
France, Germany, Holland, and Belgium all have laws calling for jail
sentences for people denying the Holocaust, or who publish anti-semitic
work. Add to this the new tilt towards making it a crime to deny the
Armenian genocide allegations. Don’t all these things also fit into
the category of "limiting expressions of thought which don’t contain
any violence"? Which is why I say, let the EU first clean up its own
house before it takes on Turkey in this arena.

By this, I do not mean that we should protect the mistakes we have in
our own legal system. Of course we need to straighten them out. All
I’m saying is that those who can’t see the speck in their own eyes
should really look in the mirror before criticizing us.

The EU progress report also contains an expression of the EU desire for
Turkey to open up its air and sea ports to Southern Cypriot airplanes
and ships.

This desire is understandable, since Turkey, in order for the EU
accession talks to start up in December 2004, gave its word to follow
the 1963 Ankara and 1996 Customs Union agreements as they pertain to
Southern Cyprus. It gave its word, true, although before that point,
there was a promise from the EU that isolationary measures against
Northern Cyprus would be lifted with a resounding "yes" to the Annan
Plan. And now the EU, which was not able to keep its previously
made promise, wants Turkey to keep its part of the promise, also
previously made.

Do these Europeans think they are the smartest people in the world?

A person can want demand certain things, but only if they are in the
right position…..

RA DELEGATION TO PARTICIPATE IN NATO PA SESSION IN QUEBEC

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.11.2006 18:18 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian delegation led by chairman of the standing
parliamentary commission on defense, home affairs and national security
Amarais Grigoryan will take part in the upcoming session of the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly in Quebec (Canada) November 13-17. According
to Grigoryan, among the other issues the session will debate on
British parliamentarian Frank Cook’s report on NATO’s role in the
South Caucasus. He also informed that the Armenian side has already
submitted a number of remarks and proposals that can bring the report
"closer to objective reality". "We support further strengthening of
ties between Armenia and NATO. Our cooperation can be described as
full and lasting," he said. He also added that the NATO Information
Center that opened in Yerevan not long ago is the evidence of Armenia’s
interest in expanding and deepening tires with NATO, reports Mediamax.