Author: Nanijanian Alex

PanARMENIAN.Net

Kocharyan- Aliyev meeting in Saint Petersburg will be
the regular but never the last one

All the announcements about the `breakthrough’, `window of
opportunity’ and `progress’ carry simply diplomatic significance.
08.06.2007 GMT+04:00

The closer the date of the meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan is, the `more active’ the atmosphere around the resolution
of the Karabakh Conflict becomes. The Presidents are supposed to meet
on June 9 within the frames of CIS non-formal Summit. Over the last
week the outcomes of the meeting have been discussed a lot. Statements
about `the happy ending being close’ made by the OSCE Co-Chairs are
most probably meant for the public, rather than for the participants
of the negotiation process.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ If the statements offering Armenia to give back
territories including Lacin and Kelbadjar in exchange to the
inconceivable promise to recognize the status of Nagorno-Karabakh,
made by Azerbaijan and by the mediators somehow coincide with each
other, then no agreement in Saint Petersburg will ever be reached. No
Armenian President will ever agree with such conditions, in spite of
the strong pressure both from the Co-Chairs and all the interested
parties. However it should be mentioned that Azerbaijan has more key
factors displaying pressure on it, than Armenia. The pressure
displayed on Armenia may be expressed by the fear of blockade, war and
seizure of the humanitarian aid. Baku must not forget that there is
the issue of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which stretches
through very unstable regions of Turkey. And the matter is not in the
pipeline only. All the energy projects of Azerbaijan may be simply
stopped, because Baku has no money to spend on their realization. In
the country which as Aliyev assures `is simply swimming in oil’,
inflation level is 20% and it has tendencies to grow even more. And in
this matter Turkey can’t do anything either, for it has debts which
are more than $200 billion, though it should be mentioned that both
Baku, and Ankara are ready to spend any money to isolate Armenia.

Yet all these are just trifles. The resolution plan itself is much
more important, and its details are being revealed to the public by
the mediators, thus predetermining the outcomes. According to the
suggested plan, a kind of peace contract is to be signed, which would
ban any force implementation and would apply international sanctions
against any violation, the second stage presupposes that the defense
forces of Nagorno-Karabakh should leave the safe havens, i.e. 7
regions around Nagorno-Karabakh. Only the question of the status of
Lacin and Kelbadjar regions, directly connecting Karabakh with
Armenia, is discussed. It is supposed that after the demilitarization
of the buffer zone peace forces will be situated there, refugees will
be returned. After this in about 15-20 years a national referendum
will be held in former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Republic where the
future status of the Republic will be discussed. It is quite obvious
that neither Armenia nor Karabakh will ever agree with such
conditions. The mediators themselves, in spite of their optimism, are
perfectly aware that this plan is unrealistic. Yet, the trial balloon
has already been launched; the Co-Chairs have supposedly talked over
returning the territories and are obviously waiting for the reaction
from Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, which didn’t make them wait
long. Unlike Azerbaijan, here the public opinion in crucial issues
concerning the nation is always taken into account.

Another inhibitory factor in the resolution of this conflict is the
absence of the Nagorno-Karabakh representative in the negotiation
process. This question has been mentioned more that once, yet neither
the OSCE Minsk Group, nor the conflicting parties are going to have
Nagorno-Karabakh join the process. `The present format of the
negotiations will not bring the conflict to its resolution. The matter
which is of paramount importance now for the population of Karabakh is
deciding its status. Only after that it will be possible to talk about
the continuation of the negotiations’, announced the President of
Nagorno-Karabakh Arkadi Ghukasyan after the meeting with Miguel Angel
Moratinos, so all the announcements about the `breakthrough’, `window
of opportunity’ and `progress’ carry simply diplomatic significance.

«PanARMENIAN.Net» analytical department

ANCA COMMENDS CHILEAN SENATE FOR RECOGNIZING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

ArmRadio.am
08.06.2007 15:05

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) welcomed the
Chilean Senate’s unanimous passage of legislation recognizing the
Armenian Genocide and urging its government to support a key 1985
United Nations Subcommission report properly describing this crime
against humanity as a clear instance of genocide.

"We join with Armenians in Chile, throughout South America, and around
the world in welcoming Chilean Senate’s recognition of the Armenian
Genocide," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "The Chilean
government’s principled stand further isolates Turkey and shines the
spotlight of international public opinion on the remaining countries
– the United States sadly among them – that insist upon remaining
complicit in Ankara’s shameful campaign of genocide denial."

The resolution was introduced by Senator Ricardo Nunez (Socialist)
and cosponsored by Senators Guido Girardi, Jaime Naranjo, Jaime
Gazmuri, Mariano Ruiz-Esquide, Alejandro Navarro, Camilo Escalona,
Roberto Munoz Barra, Juan Pablo Letelier and Antonio Horvath. Citing
the United Nations Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and
Protection of Minorities report, the Senate noted the "ethical and
moral imperative that Chile makes a resolution along the lines of
that from 1985 which recognizes that the Ottoman Empire committed a
brutal genocide in Armenia against a defenseless people that now cry
out for moral reparations from part of the international community
and especially Turkey."

The Chilean Senate’s recognition was spearheaded by that country’s
small but vibrant Armenian community, working closely with the Armenian
National Committee of South America (ANC-SA). ANC of Argentina Chairman
and longtime South American activist Hagop Tabakian noted that:
"passage of the Armenian Genocide resolution in Chile is an important
step in our progress toward our goal of all of South America taking
a principled stand on this key human rights issue."

Chile joins its South American neighbors Uruguay, Argentina, and
Venezuela in properly characterizing Turkey’s systematic campaign to
annihilate its Armenian population between 1915-1923 as genocide. Other
countries worldwide that have also recognized the Armenian Genocide
include Bulgaria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy,
Lebanon, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland,
The Netherlands, and The Vatican, as well as the European Parliament
and various other European bodies.

ARMENTEL REFUTES STATEMENT OF PCR’S CHAIRMAN

Noyan Tapan
Jun 08 2007

YEREVAN, JUNE 8, NOYAN TAPAN. Those subscribers of ArmenTel company
providing fixed-line and mobile phone services, who have already
paid the debt accumulated on their accounts, will not get back 65%
of the paid sum – it will be kept on their accounts as prepayment
for fixed-line phone services.

In a press release submitted to NT, ArmenTel refutes the statement made
by chairman of "Protection of Consumer Rights" (PCR) NGO at the June
6 press conference that subscribers will get back 65% of the paid sum
as fixed-line communication prepayment for making international calls.

To recap, in the period of May 1, 2006 to May 23, 2007, 520
subscribers, to whom international call-related debts were attributed,
submitted complaints to ArmenTel. Previously ArmenTel cancelled the
debts attributed to 400 subscribers for international phone calls
thay had not made, whereas this time the company cancels only 65%
of such debts.

The total amount of debts registered on the accounts of 520 subscribers
who applied to ArmenTel makes 67 million drams.

WITHOUT KARABAKH ARMENIA’S PARTICIPATION IN NEGOTIATIONS BECOMES INADMISSIBLE, ARKADY GHOUKASSIAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Jun 07 2007

YEREVAN, JUNE 7, NOYAN TAPAN. "We all understand that compromises need
to be made, but today it is absurd to speak about compromises, as we do
not see that Azerbaijan is ready to make compromises today. And we will
not make any one-sided compromises," NKR President Arkady Ghoukassian
stated during his June 7 interview to journalists in Yerevan.

In his words, Azerbaijan uses negotiations format with Armenia
from point of view of propaganda and makes an attempt to prove to
the world that it has a conflict with Armenia and the latter is an
aggressor. "This prompts me one thing: Azerbaijan is not engaged in the
essence of conflict settlement and this means that without Karabakh
Armenia’s participation in the negotiations becomes inadmissible. I
mean that only NKR people can solve issues conneced with Nagorno
Karabakh and no one has the right to make this or that decision
instead of us," Arkady Ghoukassian stated.

In his words, Armenia makes an attempt to negotiate with
Azerbaijan taking into consideration the opinion of NKR people and
authorities. "But in any case, it’s up to the NKR people to make the
final decision."

As regards position of OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs in the issue of
negotiations format, he NKR President said: "The mediators have said
for several times that Armenia and Azerbaijan decide the issue of
Karabakh’s not taking part in the negotiations process. They say very
clearly that it is impossible to solve this problem without Nagorno
Karabakh’s participation.

Sometimes the Co-chairs ask Armenia to be more constructive."

TYCOON TO LEAD HIS PARTY’S FACTION IN PARLIAMENT
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
June 5 2007

Armenia’s wealthy businessman Gagik Tsarukian will head his Prosperous
Armenia party’s (BHK) 19-member parliamentary faction, the party’s
spokesman Baghdasar Mherian officially confirmed to RFE/RL on Monday.

Aram Safarian is likely to become the secretary of the faction to be
set up by the pro-presidential party that a came a distant second
in the May 12 parliamentary elections with less than 15 percent of
the vote, yielding more than twice as much to Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) that won an outright
majority in the new legislature.

According to the information reported by the BHK spokesperson, some
of the candidates that occupied high spots on the party’s slate
rejected parliamentary mandates. Among them are Yerevan State Arts
Academy Rector Aram Isabekian, director general of the Erebuni and
Nairi medical centers Harutiun Kushkian, Dean of the Yerevan State
University’s Department of Philology Artsrun Avakian, and some others.

Mherian declined to share any information on the ongoing talks over
the new government, in which the BHK is expected to be represented
by several members.

"We are not authorized to speak about it as long as the negotiations
are still in progress," he said.

KRASNOYARSK WINS 3 GOLDEN MEDALS IN TOURNAMENT FOR SAITIEV’S PRIZES

Siberian News Online, Russia
June 4 2007

Krasnoyarsk wrestlers have won three golden medals in the Third
All-Russian Freestyke Wrestling Tournament for the prizes of Buvaisar
Saitiev, two-time Olympic champion. Andrei Maltsev and Stepan Yeremeyev
took the first places in the weight categories of 100 and 58 kg. Vusal
Mustafaev of Azerbaijan and Tomur Oorzhak of the Republic of Tuva
were second respectively.

Artem Rogulin took gold in 69 kg by beating Kyrgyzstan’s Azat
Donbaev. In 42 kg category the gold was won by Nodirzhon Safarov of
Uzbekistan followed by Narmandor Lukhogormal (Mongolia). The first in
46 kg was Uzbekistan’s Maruf Nurillaev who beat Badbayar Boyarsaikhak
of Mongolia in the final fight. Krasnoyaresk Maxim Nadeyev was beaten
by Kazakhstan’s Berik Daulbaev in 50 kg category. Bair Renchinov
of the Aginsk Buryat Autonomous Area won gold in 54 kg followed by
Tajikistan’s Rouslan Islangiriiev.

Uzbekistan’s Alishokh Bokhitov beat Israikh Kasumov of Krasnoyarsk
in 63 kg competition. Chechen Salambek Kadymagamev won gold in 76 kg
category beating Krasnoyarsk Uslim Bogatyrev. Uzbekistan’s Akromzhon
Rakhimov was first in the category of 85 kg. His rival Aaron Melkonyan
of Armenia took the second place.

The winner of 120 kg category was Sayan Sonam of Tuva. He was ahead
of Krasnoyarsk Yelisei Kadetov.

AZERBAIJAN DEMANDS FROM ITS NEIGHBOR THE LAND THAT HAD NEVER BELONGED TO HIM
"PanARMENIAN.Net" analytical department

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.06.2007 GMT+04:00

The UNO Charter states that the principle of the territorial integrity
isn’t applicable for the countries which do not secure equal rights
for the nations and do not allow freedom of self-determination

The history of the modern Azerbaijan goes almost according to Orwell,
in spite of the historical facts and numerous confirmations about
this or that land’s belonging to various neighboring countries. To
the territorial claims against Armenia the story with the Georgian
monastery complex "Davit Garedji" is added now. Who Azerbaijan will
sort out its relationship with next is hard to predict. It could be
Dagestan, Iran, or Turkey. But before making any demands it is better
to try and learn the history of the own nation and not to search
any family tree where it doesn’t exist; among Albanians, Persians,
Turks etc.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In 1918 the Musafat party (Equality) first used
the term "Azerbaijan" for the area situated on the territory of two
Transcaucasian historical areas; Shirvana and Arrana. Before that the
place-name "Azerbaijan" only referred to the territories situated
to the south of the River Arax, in the area of Tebriz, Ardebil and
Lake Urmia. Later the land of Azerbaijan and Eastern Transcaucasia
(modern Azerbaijan) were populated with people of almost identical
ethnic origins. In 1936 Azerbaijan was integrated into USSR on the
bases of the Soviet Republic rights. The Azeri Turks were officially
called Azerbaijani; Azerbaijani was also the name of their official
language. It was then, when with the decision of the Soviet Government
the Azeri written language was translated from Latin to Cyrillic.

This is how the things had been before Heydar Aliyev came to power
in Azerbaijan. Taking the control of the country, he immediately
decided to "revise" the history of the country. It was then, when
Farida Mamedov’s notorious work "The Caucasian Albania" appeared,
Guliyev’s book about medieval architecture of Albania where all
the Armenian churches and khachkars were announced to be Albanian,
i.e. Azerbaijani. All this enabled Baku to "revise" the belonging
of the territories included in Az.USSR. The most interesting part
is that the Deputy Minister of the Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan
Khalaf Khalafov himself blurted out about the boarders. "In its time
the USSR authorities didn’t regard the issue of delimitation of the
administrative rights among the former Soviet countries, which led to
a number of problems in boarder delimitation. According to his words,
often different documents referring to the issue of territories of
this or that country contradict each other," says Day.az. Historian
Jamil Hasanly is sure that, "Many native Azeri territories have gone
to the neighboring countries. Today we don’t have to squander our
territories. We must try to save what has been left to us after giving
out Azeri lands, and today we cannot lose a single square meter".

The parties’ incapacity of finding a peaceful solution of the
controversies concerning the territorial integrity as well as the right
of nations’ self-determination leads to national conflicts growing
into military confrontation. The principle of territorial integrity
exclusively works for the protection of the country against external
aggression, and this is closely interconnected with its formula in UNO
Charter; "All the UN Members in their international relations refrain
from force or its implementation against the territorial inviolability
or political independence of any country, as well as any other method
incompatible with the objectives of the UNO". However the UNO Charter
states that the principle of the territorial integrity isn’t applicable
for the countries which do not secure equal rights for the nations and
do not allow freedom of self-determination, and this, perhaps, is the
most essential point in the resolution of the Karabakh Conflict. It
should be reminded that the nation’s right on self-determination
is considered to be one of the universally recognized principles
of international law. It gained recognition in the process of the
colonial system breakdown and was toughened in the Declaration of
Independence of the colonial countries and nations (by the Resolution
N 1514 XV of the UN General Assembly adopted on December 14, 1960)
and the consequent international pacts and declarations of UNO.

Creation of the multinational empires sooner or later brought to their
breakdown; the Roman Empire, the Golden Horde, the Ottoman Empire,
Austria-Hungary, USSR. Being one of the most significant features of
independence, territorial integrity became one of the weakest points
after the USSR breakdown. The main difficulty concerns the change of
the administrative bounds in the former Soviet Union into public ones.

But if Kosovo falls apart from Serbia why Nagorno-Karabakh can’t
be proclaimed an independent Republic? Maybe because Serbia is of
much less importance to the USA than Azerbaijan, yet for Russia
everything is just vise versa. Unfortunately once again Armenia
has found itself between two rocks, in spite of all international
principles and treaties.

CONGRESSMEN BERMAN AND PENCE PROPOSE A BILL ON GENOCIDE RESPONSIBILITY

Noyan Tapan
Jun 02 2007

WASHINGTON, JUNE 2, NOYAN TAPAN.- ARMENIANS TODAY. Last week
Congressmen Howard L. Berman and Mike Pence submitted a bill on
genocide Responsibility to the U.S. House of Representatives for
consideration, reports the Armenian Assembly of America. The bill
envisages punishment for committing genocide beyond the borders of
the U.S.

"This bill is too necessary for the U.S. to be able to inflict those
to legal liability who committed these awful crimes in the case when
they are not prosecuted anywhere else", declared Berman.

According to the U.S. law in force, genocide is only qualified as a
crime if it is committed only in the U.S. territory or by an American
citizen beyond the borders of the country. Though the U.S. Ministry of
Justice has found out the indentity of certain people, having committed
the genocides of Rwanda and Bosnia, who live in the U.S., it’s beyond
its jurisdiction to interrogate and charge them with a crime.

"The fact that we know who those people are and where, does not allow
us to subject them to legal liability. It is unjust towards all those
who have suffered from genocide. This bill should be endorsed as
soon as possible in order to become the necessary tool in the hands
of the Ministry of Justice", said Berman.

Bryan Ardouny, Executive Director of the Armenian Assembly of America,
expressed his gratitude to Congressmen Berman and Pence for proposing
such a bill which will give the U.S. an opportunity to fight against
genocide and bring an end to it.

To recap, a bill of this kind was submitted for consideration to
the Senate by Senators Richard Darbin, Tom Kobern, Patrick Lih,
John Kornin and Rass Feingold which was unanimously passed in March.

Russian Co-Chair of the Minsk Group to visit Baku and Yerevan

armradio.am
04.06.2007 14:52

In the framework of the recurrent visit to the region Russian Co-Chair
of the OSCE Minsk Group Yuri Merzlyakov will arrive in Baku Tuesday,
`Novosti-Azerbaijan was told from the Russian diplomat’s office.

June 6 the international mediator son the Karabakh conflict settlement
are due in Yerevan. The visit is mainly targeted at discussing the
issues of preparing the meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan in Saint Petersburg on June 9 in the framework of the CIS non

GROWTH IN PRICES OF SOME GOODS IN POST-ELECTION PERIOD IS CONDITIONED BY ASPIRATION TO RECOVER ELECTORAL EXPENSES, CHAIRMAN OF CONSUMER ASSOCIATION SAYS

Noyan Tapan
May 31 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 31, NOYAN TAPAN. The growth in prices of some mass
consumption goods, particularly bread products, meat, vegetables,
fruit, in Armenia in the post-election period is conditioned by the
aspiration to recover expenses on election headquarters, offices,
advertisement boards, etc. during elections. Armen Poghosian,
Chairman of the Association of Armenian Consumers, expressed this
opinion during the May 31 press conference in the Pastark Club.

In his words, this phenomenon is taking place in Armenia under
conditions of "unification of 70% of the executive and legislative
authorities and the business circles" and the absence of any control
by the competent state bodies.

A. Poghosian proposed that the RA National Statistical Service and
the Central Bank of Armenia base their analyses of inflation on the
calculation of inflation of goods and services used by most households
rather than on inflation of a great number of goods and services.