Author: Nahapetian Samvel

ARMENIA-ITALY FRIENDSHIP DAYS TO BE HELD IN ARMENIA IN OCTOBER
Pan Armenian News
19.09.2005 05:07
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ September 15 Armenian Ambassador to Italy Ruben
Shugarian met with Italian Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs
Margherita Boniver to discuss Armenia’s integration into the European
structures within the Wider Europe: New Neighbors EU program. The
parties also touched upon the Armenia-Italy Friendship Days to
be held in Armenia in October under the aegis of the Italian and
Armenian Presidents. Ruben Shugarian informed that delegations of a
number of Italian provinces will arrive in Armenia to take part in
the events. Completing the meeting Ms. Boniver voiced satisfaction
with the activation of the Armenian-Italian relations.

A1+
| 19:22:56 | 15-09-2005 | Politics |
THERE IS DIFFERENCE
What the difference between the present model of the Karabakh conflict
settlement and the one of 1997? When responding to this question Justice
faction member Shavarsh Kocharyan said, `The new model provides for stepwise
settlement, however it recognizes the right of Nagorno Karabakh for
self-determination.’
To remind, in 1997 it was proposed to return the territories, settle the
refugee issue and then open negotiations on the status of Karabakh.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT DISCUSSES DRAFT DECISION ON PERMISSION TO SELL ENA

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 15, NOYAN TAPAN. At the September 15 sitting, the
Armenian government discussed the draft decision in connection with
the bid submitted to the RA government by the Midland Resources
Holding Limited company regarding the alienation of 100% of the shares
of the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) CJSC.
To recap, Midland Resources – the owner of ENA – applied to the
Armenian government and the RA Public Services Regulatory Commission
in order to get their consent for selling 100% of ENA shares to the
Inter Energo company (Russia). ENA was recently given to Inter Energo
for trust management for 90 years.
According to the RA Government Information and PR Department, the RA
Ministry of Energy must, within a three-day period, negotiate with the
concerned parties the issues related to the obligations that the draft
decision contains in order to calrify these issues and stipulate them
in the draft, and in case of failing to reach an agreement it must
consider the draft decision as not adopted.

International Crisis Group’s proposals “unacceptable” – foreign minister
of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR], Arman Melikyan said
Arminfo
14 Sep 05
YEREVAN
The proposals of the International Crisis Group (ICG) contain some
elements that are unacceptable to the Karabakh side, the foreign
minister of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic [NKR], Arman Melikyan, told
the NKR parliament today.
Melikyan said this while commenting on the ICG’s proposals at the
request of Gegam Bagdasaryan, MP from the bloc of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun and Movement 88. The ICG
suggested that the Armenian side should pull out of the [Azerbaijani]
territories under its control, allow the internally displaced people
to return home, resolve Nagornyy Karabakh’s status in 10-15 years,
etc.
Specifically, the ICG describes the Karabakh conflict as a
confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan. However, the minister
said the report contains some positive points as well. Specifically,
the ICG shows understanding of the sovereignty of the NKR and of the
international recognition of its independence, Melikyan said. He added
that the NKR foreign ministry will express its view on the report
soon.

PORTUGUESE AMBASSADOR HANDED CREDENTIALS TO RA PRESIDENT
Pan Armenian News
14.09.2005 03:03
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Yesterday Portuguese Ambassador to Armenia
Manuel Marcelo Monteiro Curto (residence in Moscow) handed
his credentials to RA President Robert Kocharian, President’s
press office reported. Robert Kocharian stressed the necessity of
developing bilateral relations with Portugal within the framework of
the European policy. The RA leader pointed out to the historical ties
between Armenia and Portugal, the activities of the Gulbekian Fund
that implements numerous scientific programs. Noting the importance
of the Armenian-Portuguese ties the parties outlined the improvement
of legal basis as a priority for the cooperation.

REHN SUGGESTS DATE OF PAMUK COURT CASE A PROVOCATION
NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Sept 13 2005
Rehn said that recognition of the Greek Cypriot administration is
not a pre-condition to start negotiation talks.
Guncelleme: 18:19 TSI 13 Eylul 2005 SalýBRUSSELS – Having the first
hearing of a court case against a well known Turkish author on the
same day as European Union leaders were to meet for their six monthly
summit may not be a coincidence, a senior EU official said Tuesday.
Prominent Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk is scheduled to go on trial
on December 16 to face charges he insulted the Turkish state after
saying in an interview with a Swiss magazine that up to one million
of the Ottoman Empire’s Armenian citizens were killed during the time
of the First World War.
Ollie Rehn, the EU’s the Commissioner responsible for the bloc’s
expansion process, said that: “December 16 could not be a just a
coincidence. This could be a provocation.”
Speaking in Brussels, Rehn said that Pamuk’s court case raised
serious question marks over the implementation of the new Turkish
Penal Code. He claimed that the case was in breach of the European
Human Rights Convention.
However, he went on to say that despite objections over Ankara’s
refusal to recognise the Greek Cypriot state that accession
negotiations with Turkey would start on October 3 as scheduled.
However, Turkey would only be able to complete the EU accession process
10 to 15 years, Rehn said, adding that the speed of the negotiation
process would rely on Ankara’s recognition of the Greek Cypriot side.
Rehn said that Ankara’s issuing a declaration saying its signing of
an extension of its customs unions with the EU to cover the ten new
members did not signify recognition of the Greek Cypriot state was
sad and that the EU would issue a counter declaration.
–Boundary_(ID_6xAi0ugBLOajpuXpFmMDqg)–

Noyan Tapan Highlights” N37
September, 2005
September 12, 2005
PAPLAVOK’S REVOLUTIONARY SITTING
By Garin K. Hovannisian
Yerevan–I’d like to think that it used to be just cigarettes, coffee, and
jazz. But our own time is a bit more complicated than this. The tables
unfurled at Paplavok are now stacked with pyramidal fruit platters, French
pastries, and glamorous cocktails. Instead of Vahagn Hayrapetian’s classic
quartet, we are more likely to hear Aramo’s doo-bop improvisations. And the
characters that nightly enliven Yerevan’s famous café have kindled there a
colorful and brave revolutionary culture.
At the table to your left, for instance, you might find a couple of
university students prodding the case of Yektan Turkyilmaz, the Turkish
historian who was locked up for two months in a National Security cell
without trial. Or maybe it’s a group of tourists who’ve come to see with
their own eyes that mythic bathroom where the president’s bodyguards beat
and killed an impious citizen. “Privet, Rob,” he’d said. It could be a
circle of brute-businessmen with appetites as big as their villas or it
could be a group of unsuspicious girls lavished in the latest Louis Vuitton.
But they talk about the same things: October 27, Armen Sargsyan, rigged
elections, and Northern Avenue.
Unlike the musings of the past, however, today’s sizzling political
discussions are not mere laments and longings anymore. In the people’s
sarcasm and metaphor, you hear clearly (for they are no longer in whispers)
the sure notes of revolution.
Democracy. Freedom. Human rights. The Apricot Revolution. These are the
roots of Paplavok’s intellectual lexicon–the trendiest echoes from the
lakeside. With the excited company, the far-fetched music, the lush cuisine,
and the romantic possibilities of night, the fiery exchanges convince us
that a movement is being born.
But it’s already four in the morning, and even the most passionate
provocateurs must go home now. As Paplavok’s revolutionaries disperse and
fall asleep, the new day’s first minibuses begin their rounds. As the sun
casts its first rays onto reality, the people who need the revolution most
prepare for the day ahead. After all, they cannot afford nocturnal
fantasies. They have families to feed and jobs to fight for.
And that’s precisely Paplavok’s revolutionary paradox. On the one end, the
fly-by-night café is perfect for revolutionary beginnings. It’s where the
endless discussion of corruption and redemption has become an art, fashion,
and profession. It’s where the corruption itself has turned up. In
character, Paplavok is the ultimate spark of political change. On the other
end, it’s so far removed from and so incapable of solving Armenia’s
problems. For Paplavok’s post-midnight personalities don’t really need and
so will not join the revolution at all. They’ll design it. They’ll sell it.
They’ll claim it their own. But when in that final push their commitment is
tested, they will back down. The break between the dreamers and the doers is
simply too wide.
Yet revolutions are not built and achieved in one night. In regard to
America’s epic defiance in 1776, John Adams observed that “the Revolution
was in the minds and hearts of the people.” In this important sense, Armenia
‘s own revolution is well on its way. Which doctor or school teacher is not
ready for a complete recognition of his own freedom and citizenry? Who now
is unprepared to accept a tolerant, liberal democracy? Even Arsen, an old
Soviet-friendly cabbie who drives drunken tourists to their hotels on summer
nights, agrees that if a sincere liberal democracy were set up, it would
beat the communist regime he felt so comfortable in. This seems obvious to
him.
The tougher question is: When will the collective wish become a popular
ultimatum? When will the revolution in the mind and heart of people mean a
revolution in their government? One more time. One more instance of mass
corruption; one more serious scandal; one more catastrophe. Something big.
Or, failing that, iconic. Then, then the people will snap! This is what the
Paplavok intellectuals always have claimed. Just one more time, and mark my
words. But this time, it looks more serious. This time, the present
leadership is informed of the pressure. Hence, we have ongoing deliberations
of constitutional reform to which we are all urged to contribute so that we
might feel counted and proud. Hence, we have the release of Turkyilmaz.
Hence, in one day, the 30-dram increase in mini-bus prices is quashed.
But where the government can hold seminars, issue clean verdicts, and manage
its own unworkable fee hikes, it cannot lose elections. If the government
makes the right moves in public–as it seems to be doing–it will survive
for another couple of years. But by the next elections, Armenia’s spiritual
revolution will be far too developed. The authorities will decide on the
means. But the end will not be theirs to negotiate. A revolution will have
taken place, one way or the other.
Much to the distress of its nightly romantics, Paplavok will have had little
to do with it.
Garin K. Hovannisian is a student at the University of California, Los
Angeles and the founder and editor-in-chief of The Bruin Standard.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Foreign Ministry works to free hostage in Iraq
Jekerjian pleads to employer to comply with kidnappers’ demands
By Nada Bakri
Special to The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Foreign Ministry said yesterday that it was doing
everything possible to free the kidnapped Lebanese citizen in Iraq who is
being held by a previously unheard of group called ” Propagation of Virtue
and Prohibition of Vice.” The name of the group comes from a line in the
Koran, the Islamic holy book, and is used as the title of the religious
police in Saudi Arabia.
According to a statement released by the ministry, the Lebanese charge
d’affaires in Iraq has been asked to conduct “urgent contacts with the
relevant Iraqi authorities” to secure the release of Garabed Jekerjian.
The statement also confirmed that Jekerjian works for a liquor distribution
company in Iraq.
Sources close to the Lebanese Embassy in Iraq told The Daily Star that the
company is now considering announcing its withdrawal from Iraq. The sources
added “such an announcement can help release the hostage, but again nothing
can be predicted in these situations.”
Earlier the group said it had “captured an importer of food and liquor in
Baghdad who works for a company that deals directly with the Crusader
occupiers of Iraq,” and it demanded the company’s “withdrawal from Iraq as
soon as possible in order to free the Lebanese hostage – otherwise woe on
him and you.”
On Sunday, Jekerjian appeared in a video posted on an Islamic Web site,
sitting on the floor in front of a gray wall with chains around his wrists
and ankles. A masked man points a rifle at his head. It was not possible to
authenticate the video in which he was pleading his company – named Jetco –
to leave Iraq to save his life. He also asked President Emile Lahoud and the
Lebanese Embassy to pressure the company to leave the country.
Referring to Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and his apparent boss, Jubran,
he says:
“Emile Lahoud, Jubran, colleagues and friends, please press the company and
the embassy. … Please, I have no one else. I am alone. I have a daughter.
Please, I beg you to leave [Iraq].”
He added: “I hold dual Lebanese and Cypriot nationality and I work with the
branches of the ‘Jetco Trading’ company in Lebanon, Cyprus and Iraq. The
company supplies foodstuffs and alcoholic beverages to the occupation forces
and the Iraqi Army.”
Sources told The Daily Star that the kidnappers have asked for a ransom of
$2 million.
More than two weeks had passed since the kidnapping of Jekerjian and another
Lebanese man who remains unheard of, with no news of their fate. The second
hostage Elie Nassif, and Jekerjian were kidnapped from Jekerjian’s house in
the upscale Mansour neighborhood in Baghdad some two weeks ago. According to
sources in Iraq, the kidnappers were disguised in police uniforms.
As the string of abductions against Lebanese nationals continues, Iraqi
authorities stand helpless in the face of the street gangs causing
widespread terror.
The Lebanese authorities have issued more than one notice warning Lebanese
citizens against traveling to Iraq. – With agencies.

FACTBOX-Main divisive issues before world U.N. summit
Sept. 11 (Reuters) – The largest gathering of world leaders in history
begins on Sept. 14 with 191 U.N. member nations still divided on the
issues. The summit is to map out new approaches to poverty, global
security and human rights in the 21st century.
— DEVELOPMENT – The draft document sets timetables to halve poverty
for the poorest of the poor, provide elementary education to all, cut
maternal deaths and halve the spread of AIDS by 2015, among
others. The United States objects to a provision urging nations to
meet the U.N. goal of giving 0.7 percent of a nation’s gross national
product in foreign aid.
— HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL – A smaller group of nations to sit year-round
on human rights to replace the current Human Rights Commission, a key
demand by Western nations. The new members would be elected by the
191-member General Assembly rather than regional groups. Human Rights
Watch and Amnesty International say opponents include Cuba, Russia,
Venezuela, Pakistan, Belarus, Vietnam and others.
— NON-PROLIFERATION – The draft says proliferation and risk that
terrorists might obtain unconventional weapons are the greatest
threats to peace. Washington and others want to remove references to
nuclear disarmament for big powers.
— TERRORISM – The draft says attacks on civilians and noncombatants
“cannot be justified.” Islamic nations want a mention of liberation
groups and the right to resist foreign occupation.
— PEACE-BUILDING COMMISSION – This is aimed at helping nations
emerging from conflict. Key Western nations want Security Council
control. Developing countries want the commission to report to the
General Assembly, where they have a majority, arguing they need a
voice in deciding priorities.
— RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT – The concept, promoted by Canada, other
Western nations and human rights groups, calls for various kinds of
intervention in case of genocide and war crimes. African nations such
as South Africa support the concept but other developing states say it
would provide an excuse for big powers to intervene.
— U.N. MANAGEMENT REFORM – Western nations, including the United
States, want to give the U.N. secretary-general more power to manage,
expand monitoring bodies and hire more independent auditors. Some
developing nations fear they will lose control in General Assembly,
which manages and budget and rules on U.N. posts.
(Writing by Evelyn Leopold, United Nations)
09/11/05 22:47 ET

Czech Republic 4- Armenia 1
Wednesday, 7 September 2005
by Ladislav Josef
The Czech Republic returned to winning ways as four
second-half goals helped Karel Brückner’s side to a
victory against Armenia which sees them regain second
place in 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying Group 1.
Polák double
The home side suffered a demoralising 2-0 defeat by
Romania on Saturday and needed to bounce back this
evening in Olomouc but struggled to make headway
against a tenacious Armenia team. Marek Heinz finally
broke the deadlock two minutes after the restart and
further goals from Milan Baroš and Jan Polák (2)
helped them establish a 4-0 lead before Ara Hakobjan’s
late consolation.
Blažek intervention
An injury to Petr Cech saw Jaromír Blažek make his
debut in goal and the custodian did not take long to
make an impact, sprinting from his line to deny
Hokobjan as the striker threatened to give the
visitors a shock lead. Until then the Czech Republic
had dominated, something they continued to do in the
opening period without capitalising on a host of
chances.
Deflected shots
Not afraid to shuffle his side, Brückner brought on
Vladimír Šmicer at the interval and the midfielder
almost made an immediate impression, only to hit a
shot straight at Roman Berezovskij when well placed.
But the disappointment did not last long and within a
minute Heinz finally broke the deadlock, albeit with
the aid of a crucial deflection.
Baroš strike
There was also an element of luck with the second goal
five minutes later when Polák’s long-range shot was
also deflected beyond Berezovskij. Baroš made it three
just before the hour mark, tapping in after Jan
Koller’s effort was only half cleared, and the Aston
Villa FC striker turned provider on 76 minutes, teeing
the ball up for Polák to stroke home.
Late consolation
Hakobjan reduced the deficit late on but it was too
little, too late for Armenia who remain rooted to the
bottom of Group 1 – and will go to Andorra on 12
October needing a victory to escape last place.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic are second, a point
behind the Netherlands ahead of their meeting on 8
October – when victory will see them go top and clinch
at least a play-off place.
©uefa.com 1998-2005.