Author: Nargizian David

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
March 7 2008

AZERBAIJANI SIDE ONCE MORE VIOLATED THE CEASEFIRE REGIME

YEREVAN, 07.03.08. DE FACTO. On the night of 6-7 March, the Azeri
armed units once more violated the ceasefire regime on Nagorno
Karabakh and Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces contact-line in the direction
of Hadrut.
According to the NKR Defense Ministry’s on-line data, NKR Defense
Army’s positions were heavily fired on using different kinds of
weapon – submachine guns and sniper rifles.
Being adherent to the ceasefire regime, the NKR Defense Army subunits
did not open a return fire.

OSCE/ODIHR COMPLETED ARMENIA MISSION

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2008 18:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian received
Ambassador Geert-Hinrich Ahrens, head of the OSCE/ODIHR observation
mission, which has wrapped up activity in Armenia.

The Minister thanked Ambassador Ahrens for the work the mission
carried out.

Fo his part, the Ambassador thanked the RA leadership for the
invitation to observe the February 19 presidential election and
expressed concerns over the post-election events.

"LEVON TER-PETROSIAN SHOULD ANSWER TO BOTH THE PEOPLE AND THE POLICE FOR IT"
By Aghavni Harutyunian

AZG Armenian Daily
07/03/2008

Post-election Crisis

President Kocharian details the last developments

"Unfortunately, we couldn’t avoid clashes. And we suffer losses",
started his press conference Armenian president Robert Kocharian
presenting his condolences to the families of the victims. "The
latest developments showed that imposing of the state of emergency
was necessary and I am sure that if we didn’t declare it the number
of victims would be more and the consequences would be more serious
for Armenia", mentioned Mr. Kocharian.

The whole picture of the incidents will be recovered minute by
minute. And it will give an opportunity to assess the incidents
precisely.

According to President Kocharian, the participants of the
events can be divided into three groups. The first group is the
organizers. Mr. Kocharian divided them into two parts – the aggressive
people that provoked collisions, i.e. Nikol Pashinian, and the people
that understanding that the situation was getting out of control
tried to calm down the demonstrators, i.e. Davit Shahnazarian.

The second group of the participants involves those who organized
attacks on the police and used arms and explosives. "This group is
mainly to blame for the victims", said the President.

"The third group is those who didn’t participate in the attacks
but actively took part in the robbery. "It will be unjust leaving
aside the organizers and instigators to punish only these people,
who became the victims of those rallies, too", added Mr. Kocharian.

"The rating of the country is seriously damaged", mentioned
Mr. Kocharian and reminded that a month ago Armenia was considered
as the most stable and developing country in the region. "We should
take the liberty of taking a sober view of what happened and work
together to recover both the country’s rating and the attitude of
the world towards our people", said the President.

Mr. Kocharian said that they should be sure that similar disorders
would not be repeated before lifting the state of emergency.

What about authorities-Levon Ter-Petrosian dialogue the opposition
rejected it. Almost all the political forces besides Levon
Ter-Petrosian responded the statement of the newly elected president
about the readiness for dialogue, and active negotiations are conducted
for the future coalition government.

What about the fact that Levon Ter-Petrosian rejected to receive the
Catholicos is surprising to Mr. Kocharian as with not meeting the
Catholicos Levon Ter-Petrosian lost his chance to find a way out.

What about the probable restart of the rallies after lifting the state
of emergency Robert Kocharian mentioned that the available disgrace
is a result of Levon Ter-Petrosian’s activity. "Levon Ter-Petrosian
should answer to both the people and the police for it".

NATO APPRAISAL MISSION TO VISIT AZERBAIJAN

Trend News Agency
March 6 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 6 March /TrendNews corr K. Ramazanova/ The NATO
appraisal mission will visit Azerbaijan in mid-April, the NATO
coordinating officer for the South Caucasus Zbignev Ribatski said to
journalists in Baku on 6 March.

According to Ribatski, the purpose of his visit is to appraise the
fulfilment of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP).

Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia are cooperating with NATO on IPAP.

The foundation for cooperation between Azerbaijan and NATO was
laid through signing a program-document within the framework of the
Partnership for Peace on 4 May 1994. Azerbaijan was the first amongst
the 27 OSCE member countries to join the program. In April 1996, an
official document envisaging concrete directions in the cooperation
was signed within the framework of the Partnership for Peace. Now,
by the program Azerbaijan is fulfilling about 50 tasks.

In August 2005, the Azerbaijani President signed the Decree on Approval
of the Working Plan on Individual Partnership between Azerbaijan and
NATO. Presently, the two sides are cooperating within the framework
of the second stage of the Working Plan.

NATO PA: NO COMMONNESS BETWEEN KOSOVO AND KARABAKH

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.03.2008 18:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Kosovo and Nagorno Karabakh conflicts have
nothing in common and appliance of same principles is ruled out,
NATO PA President Jose Lello said in Baku.

"Kosovo can’t be a precedent for the Karabakh problem, which should
be resolved in the framework of international legal norms," he said,
Trend Azeri news agency reports.

FIGHTING ERUPTS IN ARMENIA-AZERI BORDER
Preciosa Dumlao

All Headline News
March 5 2008

Yerevan, Armenia (AHN) – Fighting has erupted at the Armenia-Azeri
border over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh Tuesday, after
Azerbaijani troops accused Armenian forces of violating a truce
agreement to divert attention from domestic problems.

Reports said two Azeris and one Armenian were killed during the
fighting.

Both sides accuse each other of initiating the breach in the ceasefire
agreement reached in 1994 With Azeri accusing Armenia of taking
advantage of internal strife in Yerevan over the latest elections,
to launch an attack. For its part, Armenia demands that Azerbaijan
immediately halt its latest aggression into the Markaderk area in
the Nagorno-Karabak region, a disputed Armenian-controlled enclave
inside Azerbaijan.

Armenia took control over the territory in a full-scale war which
ended in a ceasefire in 1994. But Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev
has said his country is ready to re-take the regioin anytime.

Azerbaijan has been stock piling on military hardware and ammunition
in anticipation of renewed war with Armenia.

Reports said a positional battle between the two countries were on
going with the Armenian troops retreating in the initial confrontation
but later on regained lost grounds.

"We condemn this aggression and demand that the Azeri side stop the
armed hostilities and resume a ceasefire," Oskanian said.

As fighting rages on in the north, the Armenian police on Tuesday
arrested 30 oppositionists who were accused of starting the clashes
with the police on Saturday. The opposition has accused the government
of rigging the results of the February presidential elections.

The election was officially won by Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian,
defeating top opposition bet Levon Ter-Petrosian. Sarkisian garnered
53 percent of the votes cast in the February 19 elections, with
Ter-Petrosian getting 21.5 percent.

Oskanian accuse Azerbaijan of taking advantage of the internal strife
inside Armenia to launch an attack.

ROBERT SIMMONS: "NATO IS CONCERNED OVER THE SITUATION IN ARMENIA"

Today
tics/43558.html
March 5 2008
Azerbaijan

"NATO is concerned over the internal situation in Armenia".

The due announcement was made by Robert Simmons, special representative
of NATO secretary general on the South Caucasus and Middle Asia,
at a press conference in Moscow.

"Armenia is NATO’s partner country. It executes the Individual Plan
of Partnership with the alliance. We are highly appreciating the
progress, it achieved on the way of reforms and improvement of the
institutes of democratic society. On the other side, the recent events,
in particular, unrest and violence actions in Yerevan, arise concern
and we will raise these issues in our joint discussions", Simmons said.

He noted speaking about prospects of Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict
resolution that NATO is not involved directly in the said problem
resolution.

"On the other hand, we are observing the Minsk process attentively.

We see that there is a certain progress in the resolution issue,
however, as we see the acts of violence are still observed in the
region. We hope that the sides will come to the solution of the said
conflict", the NATO representative said.

Commenting on Azerbaijan parliament’s decision to withdraw national
contingent from Kosovo, Simmons noted that the said resolution is
Azerbaijan’s right.

"However, it is possible to say that Azerbaijan’s contribution to
the peacekeeping operation in Kosovo was not too great, but we hope
for Azerbaijan’s cooperation in other issues, including in Afghan
problem", Robert Simmons announced.

RANK OF MAJOR POSTHUMOUSLY GIVEN TO HOVHANNES TADEVOSIAN

Noyan Tapan
March 3, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 3, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian president Robert Kocharian
on March 3 attended the funeral of Captain Hamlet Tadevosian,
commander of the police troops battalion who died while performing
duty of service during the March 1 disorders instigated by the
opposition. According to the RA president’s press service, Hovhannes
Tadevosian was posthumously given the rank of major.

SOLANA EXPRESSED HIS SUPPORT

AZG Armenian Daily
04/03/2008

Post-election

RA President Robert Kocharian had a phone conversation with the
Secretary General of the Council of the European Union and the EU
High Commissioner for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana.

Mr. Solana was interested in the situation in the country after
declaration of a state of emergency.

Mr. Solana expressed his support to RA President and people of Armenia
and noted that his special representative will soon visit Armenia to
familiarize with the situation.

MORE TER-PETROSIAN ALLIES ARRESTED

Radio Liberty
March 3 2008
Czech Republic

At least five more prominent allies of former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian, among them two parliament deputies, have been arrested
on charges stemming from their active participation in Saturday’s
opposition demonstration marred by deadly violence, opposition lawyers
said on Monday.

The reported arrests raised to at least 30 the number of Ter-Petrosian
supporters jailed in the aftermath of Armenia’s disputed presidential
election.

Only one of them was officially confirmed by law-enforcement
authorities. Police said parliament deputy Miasnik Malkhasian was
detained while fleeing the scene of the protest early Sunday. A
police statement said he is facing prosecution under Article 300 of
the Armenian Criminal Code dealing with attempts to "usurp power."

It was not clear if state prosecutors have already asked the National
Assembly to lift Malkhasian’s immunity from prosecution. Under
Armenian law, they have to formally charge or free the lawmaker by
Wednesday. Malkhasian’s lawyer, Melanya Arustamian, told RFE/RL that
prosecutors allowed here to meet her client in custody and be present
at his first interrogation by on Sunday.

According to opposition sources, law-enforcement authorities also
detained another pro-Ter-Petrosian deputy, Hakob Hakobian, was part
of the same criminal investigation into what the Armenian authorities
call an opposition attempt at coup d’etat.

Malkhasian and Hakobian are leaders of Armenia’s two largest
organizations of veterans of the Nagorno-Karabakh war that supported,
both officially and unofficially, Ter-Petrosian’s candidacy in the
February 19 presidential election. The two men as well as Sasun
Mikaelian, another war hero, were affiliated with the parliament
faction of the governing Republican Party (HHK) before pledging
allegiance to Ter-Petrosian.

Also reportedly arrested were at least three other opposition
politicians who had held senior government and parliament positions
during Ter-Petrosian’s rule. According to opposition lawyers, those
are former deputy parliament speaker Karapet Rubinian, the former
chief of the Armenian customs, Yerjanik Abgarian, and the former
deputy head of the National Security Service, Gurgen Yeghiazarian.

"My client considers himself a political prisoner and has begun a
hunger strike," Rubinian’s lawyer, Hovik Arsenian, told RFE/RL.

Several other top Ter-Petrosian allies, including former Deputy
Prosecutor-General Gagik Jahangirian, were arrested before the bloody
crackdown on the opposition on a string of charges ranging from illegal
arms possession to assault. All of them reject the accusations as
baseless and politically motivated.

As part of the ongoing crackdown, investigators searched on Monday
the Yerevan home of Ter-Petrosian’s brother Petros. The latter said
they spent two and a half hours looking for weapons, ammunition and
incriminating documents. "During the search they did not find anything
of interest to the investigators," said Petros Ter-Petrosian.

The Office of the Prosecutor-General said on Monday that a total of
30 oppositionists have been arrested since the start of post-election
demonstrations in Yerevan.

Meanwhile, Armenia’s Human Rights Ombudsman Armen Harutiunian
expressed concern about reports of mass arrests and ill-treatment
of opposition supporters which he said his office is receiving
from citizens. Harutiunian said that he conveyed his concerns to
Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian and that the latter promised to
release the list of all detainees.

In a written statement, Harutiunian also said Saturday’s bloody clashes
between security forces and Ter-Petrosian supporters were made possible
by the break-up earlier in the day of the 11-day opposition sit-in
in Yerevan’s Liberty. Square. He questioned the official explanation
for the use of force against peaceful demonstrators camped there.