Author: Nahapetian Samvel

RAUL KHAJIMBA DECLARES WAR TO ARMENIANS

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 19 2006

Anti-Armenian mood has increased in Abkhazia, APA reports quoting to
Georgian press. Local population worries about the case that Armenians
had appropriated the high positions in Abkhazia.

It should be noted that, the building of Armenian representatives
in Sukhumi was exploded last year, and the analogical explosion
occurred in Armenian schools later. After the explosion the paper
written on the slogans against Armenians were glued on the walls. At
that time Armenians demanded Sergey Bagapsh to give an explanation
about the recent events and these demands resulted in president
of false organization apologized to Armenian nation. The article
"Raul Khajimba calls for Abkhazia to clean from Armenians" published
in Georgia press stressed that the divergences of the idea between
Raul Khajimba and Sergey Bagapsh appeared after the explosion of the
building of Armenian Office in Sukhumi. According to the author’s
ideas, Raul Khajimba accused Sergey Bagapsh in pro-Armenianism.

"Bagapsh could not blame Khajimba for pro-Armenianism. Khajimba
removed hundreds of Armenian families from Gagra territory after
the war in Ardzinba period. The reason of the Khajimba’s losing
the support of Armenian electors was connected with this case. As
Armenians dissatisfied with Khajimba, they supported Sergey Bagapsh
in the elections."

Georgian press notes that after being elected as the president Sergey
Bagapsh supported and strengthened Armenians’ position in the country.

"Today though Abkhazian people fill the most important positions in the
country, Armenians governs the country. Armenians owned the properties
of Abkhazia being backed by Sergey Bagapsh. Abkhazia already became
Armenian. Armenians have big sum of money, and money is strong power."

The author of the article noted that Raul Khajimba is concerned over
the fact that Armenians took the control of everything.

"Khajimba loves Abkhaz nation, he hates Georgians. Bagapsh can not
be compared with Khajimba in this issue; the main task for Bagapsh
is his personal earning. Armenians plan to pay lots of money and to
take control over the coast of the Black Sea. They are in a step of
achieving their goal to get access to the black Sea. " The article
does not rule out armed confrontation of Armenians and Abkhazians.

"If Armenian-Abkhazia war breaks out, Abkhazians can not hope for
Russia’s support. Only the nations of North Caucasus can support
Abkhazians in this issue. " The article also states that Raul Khajimba
blames Premier Ankvab for protecting Armenians.

"According to the investigations, the removing process of Abkhazians
to the coasts of the Black Sea has already begun. At present, the
number of Abkhazians living in Abkhazia decreased to 25 000, but the
number of Armenians living in Abkhazia is over 100 000. Using their
majority Armenians try to bring their favorites to elective bodies.

Sergey Bagapsh supports Armenians, but Raul Khajimba does not let it
happen."

EU HOPES FOR MORE PROGRESS ON KARABAKH
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 18 2006

The European Union hopes that that Armenia and Azerbaijan will keep up
the fresh "momentum" in their efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict despite the upcoming Armenian parliamentary elections,
a senior EU diplomat said late Sunday.

"I hope, of course, that the momentum that we have seen building again
in the peace process over the last few weeks will be maintained,"
the EU’s special representative to the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby,
said before Monday’s talks with Armenian leaders in Yerevan.

Semneby was commenting on President Robert Kocharian’s Friday
statements that all but ended hopes for the signing of a
Armenian-Azerbaijani framework agreement in the coming months.

"Before the elections to the National Assembly, there will be no
active negotiating process," Kocharian said. He claimed that "even
the best" peace deal would be exploited by his political opponents
ahead of the polls due in May.

Azerbaijan seized upon the remarks to accuse Armenia of dragging out
the peace process. "It looks as though the Armenian side is stalling
for time," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev’s chief foreign policy
aide, Novruz Mamedov, said on Sunday. "The president of Armenia wants
to subordinate the negotiation process to his political interests
and is trying to score points ahead of the upcoming parliamentary
and presidential elections."

Another Azerbaijani official, Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov,
said: "Neither Yerevan, nor the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
have so far informed Baku about the Armenian side’s intention to
suspend negotiations due to the upcoming elections in Armenia."

The issue was on the agenda of Semneby’s meeting with Kocharian. A
statement by the latter’s press office said the two men discussed
the "latest developments" in the negotiating peace process but gave
no details.

Aliev and Kocharian reported further progress towards Karabakh peace
following their last face-to-face talks held in Belarusian capital
Minsk on November 28. The talks raised fresh hopes for a peaceful
solution to the conflict.

While in Yerevan, Semneby also met with Arkady Ghukasian, president
of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR). The envoy
indicated afterwards that the EU would like to step up direct contacts
with the Karabakh Armenians, saying that they are "very important." "I
regret that until now we have not had sufficient contacts of this
kind," he told reporters.

Semneby also sought to tone down EU criticism of the December
10 referendum in Karabakh on a constitution that declares the
disputed territory an independent state. The bloc as well as two
other pan-European organizations joined Azerbaijan in branding the
vote illegitimate.

Ghukasian on Monday rejected the criticism as "illogical." "I think
that the international community should on the contrary contribute
to the democratic processes that are taking place in Nagorno-Karabakh,"

"That [international] reaction should not be construed as a negative
attitude to democratic processes in Nagorno-Karabakh," Semneby said.

"We realize that there is a high degree of democratic culture in
Nagorno-Karabakh, which is a positive thing.

"As for the referendum, it has other key aspects with which we can
not agree. Namely, the fact that it predetermines issues, including
the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, that need to be resolved during
negotiations."

Eurovision Song Contest, Netherlands
Dec 16 2006

What’s going on in Armenia?

Earlier in the year, a representative of Armenian Television told
esctoday.com that Armenia would have a national final for Eurovision
2007, with semi finals held in December – however, now over halfway
through December, this seems unlikely to happen. So where does
Armenia go from now?
Last year ARMtv chose Andre internally, based on his receiving
several awards at the National Music Awards, the largest and most
important music awards ceremony in Armenia each year. This year Andre
got another award, a special award for being the first ever Armenian
singer at Eurovision.

Other major award winners were Hayko, who won ‘Best Singer Of The
Year’ (the award that led ARMtv to select Andre last year), Hasmik
Karapetayan and Emmi shared the ‘Best Female Singer Of The Year’
award, Tigran Petrosyan won Best Album, Hayer won Best Pop Group,
Empyray were the Best Rock Act, Arman Hovhannisan & Arminka won Best
Duo, and Hayk won Best Song for Kamin Pchi.

If ARMtv decide to once again follow the results of the National
Music Awards to select their 2007 singer, we could very well see one
of the aforementioned in Helsinki!

MANVEL SARGSYAN: THERE IS NO SMELL OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN SOUTH CAUCASUS YET

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.12.2006 14:48 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "There are separate activity lines in South Caucasus
region: it is the already mentioned EU program, that is the European
Neighborhood Policy.

Here I have to underline the fact of separate communication vectors
between the EU and regional states. The European Union also has been
lured by the predilections of individual initiatives of the regional
states," told Manvel Sargsyan, the head of ‘Kavkaz’ analytical center
during the interview to the PanARMENIAN.Net. In his words, there is no
smell of regional integration in South Caucasus, instead tendencies
of separate integration lines are observed between EU programs and
the regional countries. "In the current period of global changes
the civilized world goes to any experiments for the sake to preserve
universal stability and encourage the growth of political quality of
subjects in the whole world," he stressed.

On his opinion, the old principles of stability providing system work
worse and worse and it is necessary to find methods to transform global
order on the bases of less destructive processes not to allow to appear
different uncontrollable territories. "We notice, that these issues
occupy more and more place in the policies of Western countries. And
the South Caucasus, in this regard, is not the biggest problem.

We should not also forget about the chain of disruptiveness – Iraq,
Iran and Lebanon. The Caucasian problems are less local. Still there is
one more moment – the relationship of Caucasian states with Russia. For
example, Russia has already put a question in front of Armenia – make
your choice. And what it means is difficult to understand not only
for the people of our region but also for Russia herself. I do not
think that anybody fully understands what is right, what is not. The
work is going on as a habit, and the characters of reciprocal demands
do not display well-shaped logic: this is the specific character of
period of changes. From time to time we notice that the presidents of
regional countries just do not understand how to behave, what others
want from them. There is no iron logic – there are only amorphous
approaches and bad knowledge of own interests," Sargsyan underlined.

IS SEFILIAN ONE OF KARABAKH LIBERATORS OR FOREIGN CITIZEN?
By Marieta Khachatrian

AZG Armenian Daily
13/12/2006

The statement disseminated by RA Defense Ministry aroused certain
concerns yesterday. According to that statement, the U.S. sources have
definite proofs that Lebanese citizen Zhirayr Sefilian and his allies,
in particular, "The Union of Armenian Volunteers" organization, are
aimed to hinder the coming elections by committing extremist acts. It
was emphasized in the statement that the members of the abovementioned
organization called for taking certain steps sparing no forcible
methods for seizing the power in the republic. The statement is full of
various characterizations of Sefilian, who fought in the Karabakh war
in 1990s, is a commander who was awarded the Battle Cross medal. In
particular, in the statement he is called a foreign who is financed
by untrustworthy sources, a person who strives for having political
adventures. Besides, according to the statement, on December 10 the
relevant U.S. forces arrested Sefilian and instituted a criminal case
against Vardan Malkhasian, one of the leaders of the organization.

Yesterday, at "Armenia-Marriott" hotel, Aram Karapetian, leader of
"Nor Zhamanakner" opposition party and Samvel Haroutiunian, member
of "The Union of the Armenian Volunteers" initiative, as well as MP
Hmayak Hovhannisian, represented the details of the arrest. According
to them, Sefilian was arrested during the restaurant party organized by
"Vivacell."

In particular, on December 9, 15 members of the law enforcement bodies
in masks entered the hall, made everybody lay down on the floor, even
the pregnant wife of Sefilian, his friend and the wife of his friend
and arrested Sefilian. On the same day, about 40 members of initiative
were arrested, but were released few hours later. H. Hovhannisian
stated that on December 2, during the sitting nobody called for the
committing violence. He added that he will appeal to the Prosecutor’s
Office, and institute a criminal prosecution against 17 people
who held speeches at the sitting, including him. The opposition
representatives, present to the sitting, were mainly concerned that
all the abovementioned facts as well as the statement by the USA imply
deporting Mr. Sefilian in the same manner as Vahagn Chakhalian. The
opposition parliamentarians said that such state of things reminds
of the repressions of 1937 and may rouse the people’s hatred towards
the authorities.

Deputies Paruyr Hayrikian, Grigor Harutiunian, Michael Apresian,
Raphael Ghazarian and Garnik Margarian proposed to address the
Government a petition requesting to set the detainees free and grant
Armenian citizenship to Sefilian and thus prevent his deportation.

All these, considered in context with the possible suppression of
the Karabakh problem, the contradictory statements of the Armenian
and Azerbaijani sides, the adoption of the Constitution in Karabakh
(which delimitates the borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and
proclaims all its territories intangible), can make one think that
those events are linked somehow. Most probably Armenia’s firmness
in its intention not to yield its historical territories and the
constitutional definition of Karabakh’s borders force the international
structures and interested countries accept the present state of things
in Karabakh.

P.S. In the late evening we were informed by Sefilian’s lawyer that the
Government had made decision to deport Mr. Sefilian to Aleppo. "But
the authorities did not take two things into consideration," said
the lawyer, "first that Sefilian’s Lebanese passport is outdated
and that his wife is the assistant of the Lebanese Ambassador to
Armenia. Therefore Sefilian is subject to the articles of the Geneva
Convention".

MEETING OF PACE’S POLITICAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE COMMENCE IN BAKU

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Dec 12 2006

A meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s
Political Affairs Committee kicked off December 11 at the Park Inn
hotel in Baku.

Opening the event, chairman of the committee Abdulgadir Atesh
expressed gratitude for hospitality, saying that processes in
Azerbaijan, its economic development, integration into European and
Euroatlantic structures are in the center of attention. According
to him, Azerbaijan-CoE relations are strengthening with Azerbaijan
becoming a reliable partner for the organization. The fact that the
event is held in Baku is an evidence of it. PACE as well as Political
Affairs Committee is keen on developing democracy in Azerbaijan and
protecting human rights. He said Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh is a big impediment for the development of Azerbaijan,
and PACE supports peaceful resolution of the problem.

Chairman of the Committee expressed his opinion on the laws related
to the human rights and freedoms and other issues.

Then, Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov gave an insight
into the economic situation in Azerbaijan. Minister said economy of
Azerbaijan develops very rapidly; GDP grew by 36 per cent.

Commissioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and realization
of other large-scale projects boost the country’s economic potential.

Kazakhstan’s joining BTC project and interest of other countries is
very important for us, he said. Azerbaijan government pays a special
attention to the non-energy sector to achieve sustainable economic
development and avoid "Dutch syndrome". According to him, the share
of the non-energy sector is expected to drastically increase within
a couple of years.

On Azerbaijan’s relations with neighboring countries, the Head of
Foreign Office said that Azerbaijan maintains very good relations
with Russia. Trade turnover with Russia has doubled over a year.

Russian markets are very important for selling Azerbaijani agricultural
products.

E. Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan has 12-km border with Turkey. The
countries share the same language, religion and culture. Azerbaijan
and Turkey jointly work to implement large-scale projects.

Minister pointed out Azerbaijan maintains friendly relations with
Iran. Iran supplies Nakhchivan, which is blockaded by Armenia, with
gas and electricity.

Georgia is Azerbaijan’s strategic partner. We want this country to
develop and prosper as we do.

E. Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan as a peace-loving nation can
develop relations with Armenia. However, Armenia must first leave
occupied Azerbaijani lands, give up the policy of aggression.

E. Mammadyarov advanced his views on a number of issues concerning
Caspian Sea legal status, GUAM’s future activity, so-called referendum
in Nagorno-Karabakh, and situation in Kosovo.

He said the solution to the problems related to the Caspian Sea
status was found. There are no problems among Azerbaijan, Russia and
Kazakhstan as bilateral agreements were signed. However, Iran and
Turkmenistan continue to take non-constructive stand.

The GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development -has
already become an international organization. Member countries approved
the permanent secretariat and budget.

As to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan supports peaceful
resolution of the conflict, Minister said. He pointed out that
so-called referendum was not recognized by the international community.

The meeting was attended by Justice Minister Fikret Mammadov, Interior
Minister Ramil Usubov, Head of the Administration of the Milli Majlis
and other officials.

Then, the meeting was continued behind the closed doors.

The two-day meeting will focus on the human rights and democratic
situation in Europe, threat of using energy supplies as a method of
political pressure, situation in Kosovo and Cechnya and other issues.

The meeting will be continued on December 12.

ANN DERSE: US AGAINST 907TH AMENDMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.12.2006 16:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The United States of America is against the
existence of the 907 amendment to the Liberty Support Act," said US
Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ann Derse to a press conference in Baku. In
her opinion US position on the 907th amendment of Liberty Support Act
has not changed and official Washington is against the existence of
such amendment, reports Trend news agency.

It is worth reminding that the 907th amendment to Liberty Supporting
Act was adopted by the US Congress in 1992 in response to Azerbaijan’s
blockade of Armenia over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. It supposes
only humanitarian aid to Azerbaijan.

TURKEY TO OPEN AT LEAST ONE SEA PORT AND AIRPORT FOR CYPRUS
By Hakob Chakrian

AZG Armenian Daily
08/12/2006

Referrring to the European diplomates, the television of Finnland
informed about this without specifying which sea port and airport
will Tirkey open for the Republic of Cyprus. The source informed that
taking into account this factor, the European Union will reconsider
its position concerning the negotiations for Turkey’s membership.

Yesterday, "CNN-Turk" emphasized that no official statement was made
concerning the abovementioned information. While the Foreign Ministry
of Turkey neither denied that nor confirmed the information.

Its’ worth mentioning that taking into account Turkey’s negative
attitude to the issue of opening its sea-ports and airports to Cyprus,
the European Commission decided to freeze the membership negotiations
with Turkey on 8 points.

From: Mira Yardemian
Public Relations Director
Haigazian University
Mexique Street, Kantari
P.O. Box 11-1748
Riad El Solh 1107 2090
Beirut – Lebanon

Haigazian University Appreciates the International Committee of the
Red Cross Delegation to Lebanon

In spite of the gloom in the country over the recent national crisis,
a number of people could overcome the prevailing mood and attend the
cultural hour public lecture on Thursday, November 30, 2006, at
7:00p.m. in the Auditorium of Haigazian University.

The lecturer was Mr. Juan Koderque, in his first public appearance
after being appointed to head the International Committee of the Red
Cross Delegation to Lebanon, which will be commemorating its 40 years
of humanitarian service in Lebanon in 2007. The lecture was about the
legacy of Mr. Henry Dunant, the Swiss businessman, who was the key
figure in establishing the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC).

In her opening words, the Dean of Arts & Sciences, Dr. Arda Ekmekji,
talked about Mr. Dunant, who received the Nobel Prize for Peace in
1901. Then she introduced the Spanish speaker, Mr. Juan Koderque, who
had served in some of the ~Shot~T zones (Apkhazia, Georgia, Kongo,
the Sudan, Gaza and the Ivory Coast) of the world before being
appointed to his present post in Lebanon.

Mr. Koderque~Rs speech started with the history of the international
movement of humanitarian aid which included the ICRC, the Geneva
Conventions and the Federation of the Red Cross & the Red Crescent.

He said that their main task was to help the victims of wars and
natural disasters. But the ICRC, along with the national Red Cross
Societies, also visits war and political prisoners & detainees, helps
the latter to be in touch with their families, and is available at
the devastation zones to assist the people in infrastructural needs
(water, medical help and shelter) that may arise because of
hostilities and natural disasters. The lecturer also noted that in
times of peace the ICRC works to promote the International
Humanitarian Law (IHL) and tries to secure its recognition by all the
countries of the world.

It was noteworthy that Mr. Koderque highly praised the Lebanese
National Red Cross Society, who, along with the Lebanese Red Crescent
~Swere on the front lines to help the victims during the last war on
Lebanon in the summer of 2006,~T he said.

After the speech the audience present watched a film on the
humanitarian services of the ICRC and addressed any questions they
had.

The evening ended with Rev. Dr. Paul Haidostian, the President of
Haigazian University, presenting an appreciation token to the ICRC
Delegation in Lebanon for their outstanding and exceptional
humanitarian services to the Lebanese people.

Public Relations Office
Haigazian University

Dec. 1, 2006

Vartoug Balekjian
President’s Secretary
Haigazian University
P.O. Box 11-1748
Riad El Solh, 1107 2090
Beirut, Lebanon
Tel./fax: 00-961-1-739 412
E-mail: [email protected]

THE ARMENIAN

South China Morning Post, HongKong
December 5, 2006 Tuesday

Simon Birch explores his Armenian heritage through explosive paintings
of ballerinas in angst and frustration, and gangsters in tattoos and
grunge-style dress. Tue-Fri, 11am-7pm, Sat, 11.30am-6pm,

10 Chancery Lane Gallery, 10 Chancery Lane, Central. Inquiries:
2810 0065. Ends Feb 10.