Author: Nahapetian Samvel

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KARABAKH CONFLICT TO BE CONSIDERED BEHIND THE CLOSED DOORS
[03:52 pm] 18 January, 2007

On January 23, the Armenian and Azeri delegations will consider the
implementation of Resolution 1416 behind the closed doors. Reminder,
the PACE passed the resolution on the regulation of Karabakh conflict
in 2005.

The Armenian side is concerned over a few interpretations of the
resolution, namely, «Many territories of Azerbaijan are still occupied
by the Armenian troops and the separatists still control the territory
of Nagorno Karabakh».

Reminder: the Assembly urges the sides to refrain from confrontations
and to take the troops from the occupied lands. PACE reminds that both
Armenia and Azerbaijan are bound to settle bilateral conflicts via
peaceful means without any threats against each other. At the same
time Armenia is to use its reputation in Nagorno Karabakh to
contribute to the conflict settlement.

Regardless of its promises made in 2001, the Azeri side seizes every
opportunity to make militaristic announcements in the PACE. The
Assembly calls on the Azeri Government to get in touch with the
political representatives of the two regional communities of Nagorno
Karabakh in connection with the future status of the region and
promises to assist Azerbaijan. The fact is that Azerbaijan hasn’t
initiated anything since the adoption of the resolution.

PRESS OFFICE
Department of Communications
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 160; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

January 19, 2007
___________________

DIOCESAN YOUTH MINISTRY PROGRAMS STRENGTHENED WITH NEW INTERN

Lydia Kurkjian, an active member of the St. Gregory the Enlightener Church
of White Plains, NY, has joined the Diocese of the Armenian Church of
America (Eastern), where she will serve as an intern in the Department of
Youth and Education.

Serving as office coordinator for St. Vartan Camp will be one of her more
significant roles in the department. She will also be leading one of the
Diocesan Alternative Spring Break trips this March during which
Armenian-American college students will build houses through Habitat for
Humanity. These and other projects spearheaded by the Diocese are designed
to encourage service in college students.

"Lydia is a committed and dedicated daughter of the Armenian Church, and I
am sure that her skills will help our youth ministry team reach our young
people with the light of Christ," said Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate
of the Eastern Diocese. "Our programs will be strengthened thanks to the
help and support she will be able to provide."

For many years, Kurkjian was a camper at St. Vartan Camp. In 2004, she
served as the camp’s assistant programming director.

Chairperson of the ACYOA Chapter at the St. Gregory the Enlightener Church,
Kurkjian is a graduate of Armenian and Sunday Schools. She also completed
the Diocese’s Khrimian Lyceum, a six-year program for Armenian School
graduates that aims to train the next generation of community leaders.

"I grew up in the Armenian Church, taking advantage of every opportunity it
provides for young people," she said on her first day at the Diocesan Center
in New York City, Tuesday, January 16, 2007. "I am really excited about
giving back to the same programs that nourished my own spiritual growth. I
feel lucky to be here and give credit to my parents and to the Armenians who
have been generous enough to make these programs available for young people
like myself."

Kurkjian graduated from Fordham University last May, where she double
majored in history and communication and minored in peace and justice
studies. She co-founded the school’s Armenian Club and served as its first
chairperson. Continuing at Fordham’s Graduate School of Education, she is
pursuing a master’s degree in adolescent social studies.

In addition to her academic work, she has professional experience working at
an international marketing firm and the news productions department at CBS.

She credits her family with encouraging her to accept the responsibility of
serving at the Diocese.

"The responsibility of both serving the church and keeping our Armenian
heritage alive has been ingrained in me by my family for as long as I can
remember," she said. "There is nothing else I can think of that would be
more rewarding or fulfilling than working at the Diocese."

— 1/19/07

E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable in the News and
Events section of the Eastern Diocese’s website,

PHOTO CAPTION (1): Lydia Kurkjian recently joined the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America (Eastern) as an intern in the Department of Youth
and Education.

Journalist shot dead in Istanbul

CNN
January 19, 2007

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) — A prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist
who spoke out against the killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire
early last century was shot to death Friday, according to CNN Turk.

Hrant Dink, 53, editor of the Armenian-Turkish language weekly Agos
newspaper, was shot dead in front of the Istanbul publication as he
was leaving.

Authorities are looking into a lead that he was shot four times by
a young man who appeared to be 18 or 19 years old.

Described as a "well-known commentator on Armenian affairs," Dink has
faced a number of cases in connection with "insulting" the Turkish
state for his writings.

"Some of the trial hearings have been marred by violent scenes
inside and outside the courtrooms, instigated by nationalist activists
calling for Dink to be punished," said a profile on the Web site of Pen
American Center — the writers’ group that promotes free expression.

Agos, an Armenian-Turkish language weekly, was established in 1996.

Pen’s profile said that in 2005, Dink "had been charged for an article
published in Agos in which he discussed the impact on present day
Armenian diaspora of the killings of hundreds of thousands of Armenians
by the Ottoman army in 1915-17."

This is a hot-button issue in the region, Pen notes.

Armenians and other countries regard the killings of Armenians in
the early 20th century as a a genocide, a claim rejected by the
Turkish government, which says Armenians and Turks were killed in
civil warfare.

Dink was one of the most prominent voices of Turkey’s shrinking
Armenian community.

A Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, he had received threats from
nationalists, who viewed him as a traitor.

In an earlier interview with The Associated Press, Dink had cried
as he talked about some of his fellow countrymen’s hatred for him,
saying he could not stay in a country where he was unwanted.

Private NTV television said police were searching for the suspected
murderer, believed to be a teenager wearing a white hat and a denim
jacket, but the identity and motivation of the shooter were unknown,
AP reported.

Dink’s body could be seen covered with a white sheet in front of the
newspaper’s entrance. NTV said four empty shell casings were found
on the ground and that he was killed by two bullets to the head.

Fehmi Koru, a columnist at the Yeni Safak newspaper, said the murder
was aimed at destabilizing Turkey.

"His loss is the loss of Turkey," Koru said.

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press
contributed to this report.

FREEDOM HOUSE TO WATCH FORTHCOMING PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION CAMPAIGN AND AUTHORITIES’ POLICY TOWARDS JOURNALISTS

Noyan Tapan
Jan 18 2007

NEW YORK, JANUARY 18, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia has appeared in the group of
"partly free" countries in the annual report of Freedom House human
rights organization published in New York. Chris Walker, Freedom
House Director on Studies, said in his interview to radio Liberty
that Armenia is one of the weakest states of this group.

"Armenia has come up closely to the border that divides "partly free"
and "not free" countries. This is reflection of weak indices in a
number of important spheres. Among these spheres are the situation in
press, or citizens’ possibility to take part in political processes,"
Chris Walker said.

According to Freedom House, in countries included in the group of
"partly free" states civil freedoms and political human rights are
not provided completely. Besides, in countries of this group there is
often atmosphere of corruption, one force dominates on the background
of formal pluralism, attributes peculiar of legal state are weak.

Among tendencies giving rise to anxiety, registered lately in
Armenia Chris Walker especially mentioned activization of oligarches:
"We notice a tendency on the threshold of 2007 elections that we can
characterize as oligarchization of politics, which cannot be estimated
as especially positive step."

In his words, Freedom House will attentively watch the forthcoming
parliamentary election campaign.

"In case of Armenia there were serious problems during all recent
votings, including the referendum held in 2005 November. Many observers
estimate the forthcoming elections as decisive and pivotal. Indeed,
this is a very important chance given to the authorities in the
respect of holding free, fair and transparent elections. And this
does not regard only the day of elections. It is very important that
during the months preceding the elections the authorities create
all necessary conditions for holding of free and fair elections,"
Chris Walker mentioned.

In his words, on the eve of the forthcoming elections Freedom House
will also watch the policy of authorities towards the journalists.

"In the recent period we register growth of attacks upon journalists,
which is a very serious development. I think it is very important that
in the coming months the journalists have a possibility to cover the
events taking place in the country without being afraid of physical
or other kind of retribution or intimidation. This is an issue we
will watch attentively in the coming months," Chris Walker said.

As regards Armenia’s neighbors, Georgia and Turkey were also recognized
"partly free" states by Freedom House. But in difference to Armenia,
these two countries, in the human rights activists’ words, have taken
a step ahead first of all in the respect of organization of electoral
processes. According to Freedom House, both Turkey and Georgia are
on the list of "electoral democracies" today.

The situation is much sadder in Azerbaijan, which is among "not free"
states. As Freedom House experts affirmed, Azerbaijan has regress in
the respect of freedom of media and President Ilham Aliyev’s pressures
upon media become stronger.

Iran and Russia were also numbered among "not free" states. And the
rearguards of the list published by Freedom House are the same –
North Korea, Cuba, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

EX-KARABAKH STRONGMAN RULES OUT ELECTION BLOCS
By Ruzanna Khachatrian

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Jan 18 2007

Samvel Babayan, the once powerful ex-commander of Nagorno-Karabakh’s
army, on Thursday dismissed reports that his Dashink (Alliance)
party is keen to form an electoral bloc with opposition forces.

"We will not join any alliances ahead of the elections to the National
Assembly," Babayan said. "We will contest them on our own."

He said Dashink is only prepared to include members of other parties
on its electoral slate.

Reports in the Armenian press have said that Babayan is interested in
teaming up with the Orinats Yerkir party of former parliament speaker
Artur Baghdasarian and another, smaller opposition party, the Union
for Constitutional Rights (SIM). The SIM leader, Hayk Babukhanian,
did not rule out such possibility last week.

In an interview with RFE/RL, Babayan said his party is aiming for a
strong showing in the upcoming elections and would not content itself
with a handful of parliament seats. "If we get, say, five percent
[of the vote] we will renounce parliament mandates," he said. "We
don’t want to enter the parliament with six deputies."

"We are joining the fray to effect change. The parliament must be
multi-polar," he added.

The 40-year-old retired general, who commanded the Karabakh army from
1993-1999 and was the territory’s post powerful figure during that
period, warned last June that he and his loyalists would not hesitate
to use force against those who would try to steal votes from Dashink.

But he was far more restrained on that score on Thursday, saying that
he "won’t blame anyone" if the elections are not free and fair. "That
would mean we haven’t done a good job," he said.

Babayan held the founding congress of his party in November 2005 just
over a year after his unexpected release from prison. He was serving
a 14-year prison sentence in Karabakh for allegedly masterminding
a botched March 2000 attempt on the life of the disputed region’s
president, Arkady Ghukasian. He never pleaded guilty to the charges.

Political observers suggested differing explanations for his
liberation. Some speculated that Babayan was set free in return for
agreeing to secretly cooperate with President Robert Kocharian and
his possible successor, Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian. Both men
are natives of Karabakh.

"I am inclined to believe that the Dashink party is a pro-government
party," Aram Sarkisian, the leader of the radical opposition
Hanrapetutyun (Republic), said on Wednesday.

Babayan has repeatedly rejected such speculation, insisting that his
party is in opposition to Armenia’s leadership.

ARMENIA IN THE 123RD PLACE

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[05:32 pm] 17 January, 2007

Today the FIFA made public the list of the football national
teams. Armenia continues in the 123rd place.

Although on January 14 our team tied with Panama, the results of that
game are not calculated yet.

This is the FIFA top ten: Brazil, Italy, Argentina, France, Germany,
England, the Netherlands, Portugal, Nigeria, the Czech Republic.

Channel 1, Tbilisi,
10 Jan 2007

GEORGIAN MINISTER SAYS RAILWAY WILL BE BUILT DESPITE US OPPOSITION

[Presenter] Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili has commented
on a statement by Matthew Bryza, the US deputy assistant secretary of
state [for European and Eurasian Affairs]. [Passage omitted] Bryza
had said that America was opposed to the construction of the
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railway because it would bypass Armenia. He
added, however, that it was up to investors to decide whether or not
to go ahead with the project. He said that if Georgia, Turkey and
Azerbaijan wanted to build a railway, no-one would be able to stop
them doing that, however America would not support the project.

The project is expected to be funded by Azerbaijani and Turkish
companies.

[Bezhuashvili] Congress has decided that American banks will not fund
this project. We are aware of that. Naturally, it is the United
States’ sovereign right to finance or not to finance a project. There
are other resources for this project. Therefore, the railway will be
built using other resources. That is it. This has always been known.
This project will be implemented. It is an important project for us.
It is also important for Turkey and Azerbaijan. Generally, it is
important for opening a corridor through which cargoes will be
transported from Central Asia and China to Europe.

ARMENIAN LOBBY OF USA INTENDS TO PRESSURIZE US PRESIDENT THROUGH CONGRESS

Yerevan, January 11. ArmInfo. By January 15, the Armenian lobby
in the USA intends to present a resolution to the US House of
Representatives appealing to President George Bush to use the word
"Genocide>, Kiro Manoyan, the head of the representative office in
Armenia and a member of the ARF Dashnaksutsyun Party, said at the
"Urbat> discussion club, Thursday.

To remind, at the latest elections to the US Congress, the Democratic
Party gained the majority of seats in the House of Representatives.

In K.Manoyan’s opinion, this allows to hope that the situation in
the American parliament will change in the Armenian lobby’s favour.

WHITE HOUSE REPEATEDLY OFFERED HOAGLAND’S CANDIDACY AS US AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.01.2007 13:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ US President George Bush again offered to nominate
Richard Hoagland as US ambassador to Armenia. The Associated Press
reports that on Monday the White House repeatedly declared about
Hoagland’s nomination on the post of US ambassador to Armenia,
despite the Democratic Party’s demand to withdraw his candidacy, since
Hoagland has refused to call ‘genocide’ the massacres of Armenians
during World War 1, RFE RL reports. It is worth mentioning, that
97% of Armenian Americans support opposition to the confirmation of
Richard Hoagland as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, according to a new
internet poll conducted by the Armenian National Committee of America
-Western Region (ANCA-WR) over the past two weeks in nineteen Western
U.S. states. 94% of the respondents said that they "strongly agreed"
with this opposition. An additional 3% noted that they "somewhat
agreed" with this opposition. One percent reported that they "somewhat
disagreed" with opposing Hoagland, and 2% indicated that they "strongly
disagreed" with the opposition to his confirmation. This viewpoint is
aligned with the policy position of the Armenian National Committee
of America (ANCA). It is worth reminding that on September 7, 2006
thanks to Senator Robert Menendez’s efforts Hoagland’s candidacy was
blocked in the Senate. On December 1st of last year the New Jersey
legislator joined with Majority Leader Harry Reid in calling on the
Administration to offer a new candidate for this post. The negative
attitude towards Richard Hoagland’s nomination is connected with his
outright denial of the Armenian Genocide in response to questions
posed during and after his June 2006 confirmation hearing before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

AZERI FM SET TO ATTEND NEXT ROUND OF TALKS ON BREAKAWAY KARABAKH

RIA Novosti, Russia
Jan 10 2006

BAKU, January 10 (RIA Novosti) – Azerbaijan’s foreign minister will
participate in the next round of negotiations with the Armenian
foreign minister on the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a
Foreign Ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies within Azerbaijan,
some 270 kilometers (170 miles) west of the capital Baku, first
erupted in 1988 when it declared its independence from Azerbaijan,
and moved to join Armenia.

Over 30,000 people were killed on both sides in fighting between 1988
and 1994, and over 100 died following a 1994 ceasefire.

Nagorno-Karabakh remains under Armenian military control, and tensions
between Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted as a result.

The meeting between Azerbaijan’s FM Elmar Mamedyarov and Armenia’s
Vardan Oskaryan is scheduled for January 23 in Moscow.

Residents of Nagorno-Karabakh overwhelmingly voted in a referendum on
the republic’s Constitution last month to reaffirm the predominantly
Armenian region’s independence from Azerbaijan.

More than 100 international observers and journalists from Russia,
France, the United States, Italy, Israel, Serbia and other countries
monitored the referendum.

Azerbaijan dismissed the referendum as a farce.

The United States, the European Union and other international
organizations, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE), said no country will recognize the referendum’s
results.

The Azerbaijani leadership is determined to restore its control over
the separatist region.