Author: Nanijanian Alex

AZG Armenian Daily #089, 10/05/2008

Middle East

STREET FIGHTING IN BEIRUT

Yesterday a quarrel occurred between the Government of
Lebanon and the "Hzbollah" organization. The quarrel
was caused by the Government’s decision to disable the
video monitoring cameras in the Beirut Airport, which
were controlled by "Hzbollah". For over three days the
situation was hot in Lebanon and yesterday street
fighting started in Beirut. BBC reports that 11 people
were killed and over 20 were wounded.

The "Hzbollah" militants succeeded to take control
over the greater part of Beirut, the capital of
Lebanon, informs InterFax relying upon information
supplied by Lebanese special services.

Hasan Nasrallah, head of the Shiite "Hzbollah"
organization, added fuel to the fire saying that the
pro-American Government’s decision to close the
organization’s telecommunication system was something
equal to declaring war. Nasrallah is sure that the
Government’s decision is only in the interests of the
USA and Israel.

BBC also informs that the Governmental forces are
supported by Sunnite and Drouz militant formations.

Children and women suffered from the armed clashes.
One women with her son died from an explosion, and
another women was killed with a random bullet.

The civil life in Beirut is completely messed up.
There are barricades in the streets and the Shiite
part of the city is divided from the Sunnite part with
military posts.

This is the hardest political crisis in Lebanon since
the times of the civil war. The chair of the President
of Lebanon has been vacant for 5 months due to inner
political struggle.

Interfax News Agency, Russia
May 7 2008

Armenian, Azeri foreign ministers discuss Karabakh settlement in Strasbourg

YEREVAN May 7

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Azeri Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov discussed the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict at a meeting in Strasbourg, the Armenian Foreign Ministry
told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.

Nalbandian told journalists following the talks that the meeting was
designed to help the two foreign ministers know each other better.

"We exchanged opinions about the Karabakh process, presented our
approaches, and agreed to continue the negotiations," Nalbandian said.

The ministers will brief their presidents on the results of the talks,
after which the presidents are supposed to make decisions on further
steps.

The meeting between Nalbandian and Mammadyarov took place during the
118th session of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers in
Strasbourg on May 6. The bilateral meeting was followed by discussions
in an expanded format, which were attended by the co-chairmen of the
OSCE Minsk Group mediating in the settlement of the conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh, i.e. Bernard Fassier (France), Matthew Bryza (the
U.S.), and Yury Merzlyakov (Russia), plus Personal Representative of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.

PRESS RELEASE
EUROPEAN ARMENIAN FEDERATIONfor Justice and Democracy
Avenue de la Renaissance 10
B-1000 Bruxelles
Tel/ Fax: +32 2 732 70 27/26
Website :Eafjd

TOP LEVEL CONFIRMATION OF THE CHURCH COMMITMENT FOR THE UNIVERSAL
CONDEMNATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

7 May ` Karekin II the Catholicos of All Armenians called « the
whole nations » to `universally condemn the Armenian Genocide’
during an official visit to Pope Benedict XVI in Vatican. This call
was made on Piazza San Pietro in front of a public audience
exceptionally chaired by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in the
presence of more than 20 000 faithful.

In his welcome speech, Benedict XVI addressed this issue in recalling
that `at the beginning of XXth century, Christian Armenians suffered
cruel persecutions’ saying that `Armenia’s many martyrs are a sign of
the power of the Holy Spirit working in times of darkness, and a
pledge of hope for Christians everywhere’

Catholicos Karekin II then replied in asserting that Armenians `are a
people who have survived genocide’ and which thus knows well `the
value of love, brotherhood, friendship and a secure life’. His
Holiness Karekin II continued stating that `today, many countries of
the world recognize and condemn the genocide committed against the
Armenian people by Ottoman Turkey’ and that `the denial of these
crimes is an injustice similar to their perpetration’. He ended by
calling `all the nations to universally condemn the Armenian Genocide
so that who has power and authority can detect the accountability of
these crimes’

The European Armenian Federation recalls that Vatican already
recognized the Armenian Genocide through a joint declaration of John
Paul II and Karekin II in 2000.

« We commend the courage and the determination of both the
Apostolic Armenian and Catholic Roman Churches about this deep moral
failure represented by the Armenian Genocide and its denial. We call
upon the Heads of the States and of Governments to pay attention to
these Voices of Wisdom and Lucidity in recognizing, if not yet, the
Armenian Genocide’ stated Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson of the
European Armenian Federation.

`We call especially the European authorities to uphold the European
values in adopting provisions to prevent and to repress the crime of
denial as the 1948 Covenant represses the crime of genocide’ concluded
Tchoboian.

ARMENPRESS

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER DELIVERS SPEECH AT 118th
MEETING OF COUNCIL OF EUROPE’S COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS

YEREVAN, MAY 8, ARMENPRESS: The 118-th meeting of
the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers took
place today in Strasbourg where the Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian delivered a speech.
Armenian Foreign Ministry press service told
Armenpress that noting that Armenia is facing the
issue of consolidating democracy, which is the
conscientious choice of the people, and that the
Armenian government is ready to undertake necessary
steps in that direction, the minister thanked the
Council of Europe, Committee of Ministers, PACE and
Human Rights Commissioner for the displayed support.
`We have passed a certain way but we realize that
there is still a lot to be done and believe that by
exerting necessary efforts we will overcome all the
difficulties and will continue the reforms more firmly
not only because we have assumed commitments but
because it is the conscientious choice of the Armenian
leadership and the people,’ Nalbandian stated.
`With that aim, the newly elected president has
clearly expressed readiness to involve the public in
the process of political and economic reforms,
inviting all the political forces and public to unite
their efforts,’ he said.
In his speech he also referred to the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict regulation and reconfirmed readiness
of Armenia to continue the negotiation process with
the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen.

Interfax News Agency, Russia
May 4 2008

BAKU CRITICIZES U.S. FOR ATTEMPTING INTERFERENCE IN ELECTIONS

U.S. funds put into presidential election programs in Azerbaijan could
be qualified as interference in the country’s internal affairs,
presidential chief of staff Remiz Mekhtiyev said.

"I, as a citizen of Azerbaijan, see this as interference in
Azerbaijan’s internal affairs. Has Azerbaijan or any other country the
right to fund or control elections, say, in the United States, or in
Britain? No, it hasn’t. Then why should this take place in Azerbaijan?
I don’t think this is normal," Mekhtiyev told journalists.

Earlier reports said that, the U.S. government had announced it was
ready to make more than $2 million available to support Azerbaijan’s
efforts to hold "free and fair presidential elections" in October.

The aid declared implies support in strengthening political parties
and the electoral system, election monitoring, work to perfect the
procedure of processing complaints, the monitoring of the election
returns, parallel vote counts as a measure to make elections
transparent, broadcasting political debates in Azerbaijan and the
United States, and training programs for law enforcement personnel in
order to assert the freedom of assembly principle.

Mekhtiyev described as baseless claims that bread was in short supply
in the regions. "These claims are absurd and baseless. Some opposition
newspapers write that, bread shortages instigated protests in some
places. All this is an empty lie which aims to deceive people and to
upset stability. Azerbaijan has a sufficient supply of food, he said.

Mekhtiyev criticized U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s
assessment of Azerbaijan’s democracy record.

"Rice’s statement is based on unreliable information and is not
serious, in my opinion," Mekhtiyev said.

What the U.S. secretary of state said suggests that while the
political situation and other problems have been resolved brilliantly
in Georgia and in Armenia, Azerbaijan remains a backward regional
country, he said.

"By Rice’s logic, if our country is to win any appraisal from her, the
situation in Armenia in February-March must repeat itself in
Azerbaijan," Mekhtiyev said.

Interfax News Agency, Russia
May 4 2008

Azeri defense minister stresses importance of military relations with
Turkey

BAKU May 4

Azeri Defense Minister Safar Abiyev has praised the successful
development of the Azeri-Turkish relations at the meeting with Turkish
Air Force Commander Aydogan Babaoglu, the Defense Ministry said in a
statement released in Baku.

While noting the presence of the successful military cooperation
between the two countries, Abiyev stressed the need to develop these
relations in the future.

The minister spoke of developing Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces and
modernizing the training and education process. The defense minister
emphasized Turkey’s important role in improving the national army. One
of the issues that unite Azerbaijan and Turkey is to free Azerbaijan’s
territories from the occupying Armenian Armed Forces, the minister
said.

For his part, Turkish Air Force Commander Babaoglu also praised the
high level of the relations between the two countries and said Turkey
is ready to support Azerbaijan.

RA PRESIDENT RATIFIES NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COMPOSITION

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.05.2008 13:25 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On May 4, Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan signed
a decree on appointment of Artur Baghdassaryan as Secretary of the
National Security Council, the presidential press office reported.

By another decree, the RA President ratified the composition of the
National Security Council and instructed Secretary Baghdassaryan to
produce the Council’s regulations within a month.

The National Security Council includes:

President of Armenia

Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia

Prime Minister of Armenia

Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Armenia

Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia

Secretary of the National Security Council of Armenia

Minister of Defense of Armenia

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia

Head of presidential administration

Prosecutor General of Armenia

Chief of National Security Service

Head of external relations parliamentary committee

TALENT NAMED ARAM KHACHATRYAN

Panorama.am
16:58 01/05/200

30 years ago on 1 May famous Armenian composer, bright representative
of Armenian classical music died. Aram Khachatryan was an Armenian
composer who was internationally recognized as a classical music
composer.

Aram Khachatryan was born in 6 June 1903, in Kojori near Tbilisi. He
learned to play on wind instruments and in 1912 entered Gnesini brass
band. Later he entered Moscow Conservatory.

In 1939 Aram Khachatryan wrote his first ballet which he called
"Merriment" but later on it was revised and recalled "Gayane". The
famous composer is buried in Pantheon.

United Press International
April 30 2008

Outside View: Nuke power future — Part 1

Published: April 30, 2008 at 7:31 PM

By SERGEI GOLUBCHIKOV
UPI Outside View Commentator

MOSCOW, April 30 (UPI) — On April 22 in Yerevan, Russia and the
former Soviet republic of Armenia signed a treaty to set up a joint
venture for the exploration and mining of uranium and other minerals
in Armenia.

The company is being established on parity lines and will be
registered within the next three months.

It was signed by Vadim Zhivov, general director of the
Atomredmetzoloto uranium holding, and Armenia’s Environmental
Protection Minister Aram Arutyunyan.

ARMZ manages all of Russia’s uranium assets and runs some projects in
Kazakhstan.

Today, AMRZ ranks second in the world for uranium reserves. This is
the result of the nuclear industry’s restructuring, and in particular
the pooling of its core plants under one umbrella.

With the focus on nuclear power, Russia is now planning its uranium
future carefully to warrant the successful development of its nuclear
industry.

The collapse of the Soviet Union has left Russia high and dry, with
many well-researched fields outside its boundaries, mainly in Central
Asia in the former Soviet Republics of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia.

For now, Russia has only one uranium-containing deposit, in the Chita
Region, with its Streltsovsky mining and chemical plant. Its total
reserves are estimated at 150,000 metric tons of ore. Other fields in
Eastern Siberia have a further 70,000 metric tons of explored raw
materials. Altogether, the proven reserves amount to 615,000 metric
tons. This figure also includes 344,000 metric tons from Elkon, the
largest recently explored Russian field located in the north of
Yakutia-Sakha.

Russia’s uranium-bearing provinces present a challenge for
developers. The largest of them — the Aldanskoye deposit — can be
developed only by sinking. The ore occurs at a depth of 300 meters —
nearly 1,000 feet — and mining is unprofitable.

During authoritarian times that problem did not exist: northern
uranium was obtained by the free labor of prisoners, including
political ones. In Chukotka, for example, they supplied the material
for the first atomic bombs. As prison camps closed down, uranium
mining in the northern latitudes stopped.

Now a search is on for an economically feasible way of opening up the
mothballed mines. This has become economically feasible as global
energy prices have soared since the 2003 Gulf War.

Uranium prices are increasing throughout the world; over the past
three years they have doubled, and not surprisingly. One cubic
centimeter of uranium is equivalent to 60,000 liters of gasoline, 110
to 160 metric tons of coal, or 60,000 cubic meters of natural gas.

—

Next: The future uses and demand for uranium

(Sergei Golubchikov is an associate professor at Russian State Social
University. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA
Novosti. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and
do not necessarily reflect the views of RIA Novosti.)

(United Press International’s "Outside View" commentaries are written
by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important
issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United
Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum,
original submissions are invited.)

RASIM MUSABEKOV: "ARMENIANS ARE HINTED THAT THEY SHOULD MODERATE THEIR APPETITES AND BECOME MORE COMPLIANT AT THE TALKS CONDUCTED IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE MINSK GROUP"

Today.Az, Azerbaijan
April 30 2008

Day.Az interview with famous political scientist Rasim Musabeyov.

-How would you comment on the information that the All-Armenian
pilgrimage to Nagorno Karabakh "Forward Armenia, forward to God"
starts on May 1 from Saint Echmiadzin?

-I think this event does not deserve any political analysis. Tens of
such events are held every year and they do not cause any significant
reaction. That is they have local, internal-Armenian context. The
present one is held by initiative of the church leadership, which
thus attempts to overcome the deep split in the Armenian society
following the disgraceful elections.

Karabakh clan has rudely falsified them and set their successor
Serzh Sarkissyan to presidency. The protest of the supporters of
ex-president Levon Sarkissyan and greater part of the population was
brutally supressed. I do not think that such an action will have to
improve the state. I would remind that the anniversary of the so called
"genocide" had been marked recently and they did not manage to create
illusion of Armenian unity on this day. The powers and opposition
came to the memorial in different rows, while the latter could not
help anti-governmental scansions.

-As we know, the 20th anniversary of Artsakh liberation is to be
marked in the Vilsher Ebell theater of Los Angeles on May 2. Is it
proposed that the Karabakh clan, which usurped powers in Armenia,
will try to legitimate itself by speculating with the Karabakh issue
and trying to draw attention of the Armenian diaspora in the United
States, which was actively supporting Levon Ter-Petrosyan during the
presidential elections in Armenia?

-The Karabakh clan and Serzh Sarkissyan personally strive to use
foreign diaspora for neutralization of the negative image of Armenia
and its own government following falsification of elections and
violence against opposition. Yet Armenia’s foreign diaspora has been
deeply split. The old Diaspora, which lives in comfort and security
in the West, is ready to support the extremist "Karabakh clan" to
revenge to Turks, even via occupation of Azerbaijani lands.

But the part of diaspora, which left Armenia not long ago and
maintains closer ties with it, having idea of the situation, which
the Kocharyan-Sarkissyan tandem has led the country to, arranges
numerous protest actions. Its representatives also urge to impose
sanctions on Yerevan if the authorities do not release the prisoners
and punish those responsible for the bloodshed, committed against
opposition. Thus, diaspora would hardly help Sarkissyan to consolidate
the regime and the society.

-And what is the reason of Armenians’ decision to speculate actively
on Karabakh in early may, committing real provocation?

-And what is left to them? Armenian society has split and Azerbaijan
is gradually developing its economic and geopolitical potential,
strengthening the diplomatic and information pressure. The proof is
the recent resolution of the UN General Assembly on the situation
in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan. Soon this superiority will be
strengthened by the undoubted military supremacy of Azerbaijan.

Soon Armenian powers will have to think not on the consolidation
of results of the Phyrric victory in the war of 1992-1993, when
Armenians, making use of the temporary weakness of the state powers
in Azerbaijan, occupied 7 of our regions, but about ways out of the
situation with not completely empty hands. The Karabakh clan intends
to consolidate its regime, by straining the situation and on the
other hand provoke renewal of military actions before the military
superiority of Azerbaijan becomes too evident.

-How should the world community react to such actions of Armenians,
considering the fact that none of the world countries have recognized
independence of Nagorno Karabakh and influential international
organization Human Rights Watch called the Khojali genocide of 1992
the most terrible tragedy among those committed by Armenians during
the war?

-Armenians has many supporters including among superstates. Yet, they,
as well as international structures, realize that if they failed to
make Azerbaijan surrender Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia in the 1990s,
when we were much weaker, than now, it would be unreal to attain this
goal in the current situation.

Armenians are given hints that they should moderate their appetites
and become for compliant in the talks held within the Minsk Group. The
recently adopted resolution of the UN General Assembly should be
perceived in this sense. Certainly, the matter is not the sanctions,
or possible military reprisals, but I consider that pressure on
Yerevan by the world society will grow.

-And the last question: which steps should official Baku undertake
in current conditions?

-In fact. the program of actions results from the opportunities,
Azerbaijan has, owing to favorable oil, financial and geopolitical
conjuncture. It is only necessary to use these objective advantages
rationally, transform them into a sound basis for country’s
modernization, strengthening of its military potential, strategic
partnership with the West.

It is also important to avoid actions, which may affect Azerbaijan
negatively, in the sense of observance of human rights and democratic
liberties. Undoubtedly, it is necessary not only to continue but
also to grow the economic, diplomatic and information pressure on
Armenians and prove Azerbaijan’s right in the leading capitals of
the world and international structures and compliance of its position
with the norms of law and justice.