Author: Nargizian David

ARMENIA TO INVITE WESTERN VOTE MONITORS
By Ruzanna Khachatrian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 11 2007

Armenia will ask the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe to monitor its upcoming presidential election despite misgivings
about the work of Western-led observer missions, officials in Yerevan
said on Tuesday.

"We have long cooperated with the OSCE’s Office of Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights and maintain contacts with its
representatives with regard to election monitoring," Vladimir
Karapetian, the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman, told RFE/RL.

"We will extend an invitation to observe the presidential elections
in due course," he said.

Armenia joined Russia, Belarus and four Central Asian states last
October in demanding serious restrictions on the activities of mainly
Western observers acting under the aegis of the OSCE/ODIHR. Under their
Russian-drafted proposals submitted to the OSCE, observer missions
deployed in OSCE member states would comprise no more than 50 people
and would be barred from assessing the conduct of a particular election
before the announcement of its official results.

Although the OSCE has criticized as deeply flawed virtually all
elections held in Armenia until now, Yerevan’s decision to back the
Russian proposals was somewhat unexpected given Western observers
largely positive assessment of last May’s Armenian parliamentary
polls. The ODIHR said it is bewildered by the move.

Under Armenian law, international observer missions can be invited by
the president of the republic, the government, the Foreign Ministry,
the National Assembly and the Central Election Commission (CEC). The
CEC chairman, Garegin Azarian, said on Tuesday that the electoral
authority will only ask the OSCE to dispatch short-term observers,
who only watch polling and the vote count. It is the Foreign Ministry
that will invite long-term observers, he said.

The presidential election slated for February 19 is also expected to
monitored by parliamentarians from the OSCE, the Council of Europe
and the European Union. The leadership of the Armenian parliament
will extend formal invitations to them soon, a spokeswoman for the
National Assembly said.

The ODIHR, meanwhile, said it is already making preparations
for Armenian vote monitoring. A spokeswoman for the Warsaw-based
watchdog, Urdur Gunnarsdottir, told RFE/RL that an ODIHR has sent a
"needs assessment" team to Yerevan and is awaiting its report on how
to organize the process. She could not say when the observer mission
will likely kick off its work in Armenia.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE CALLS ON RIVALS TO RESPECT RULES OF GAME

ARMENPRESS
Dec 11, 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS: A university professor of
mathematics, who has joined the presidential race, accused today some
of presidential contenders of ignoring ‘the rules of the game.

Aram Harutunian, chairman of a minor National Accord party, convened
today a news conference to say that the election struggle should be
ideology-based, that it should be a competition of platforms through
political debates and not a reciprocal smearing.

Aram Harutunian had contested the previous presidential election in
2003 but failed to receive any meaningful amount of votes. Asked today
to explain why he wanted to contest the February 19 ballot as well,
he said his ultimate goal is to mitigate the confrontation between
major contenders.

"My desire is that Armenia comes out of the election by showing the
world that it is a civilized nation,’ he said.

Aram Harutunian slammed some opposition leaders who branded Vazgen
Manukian, another presidential candidate, as a ‘traitor’ after he
refused to endorse ex-presidnet Levon Ter-Petrosian.

"We, politicians, should have courage to first of all admit our own
mistakes,’ he said.

Aram Harutunian spoke then against attempts to capitalize on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict saying the issue must not be exploited by
the candidates.

Meantime, an outspoken leader of the Marxist party, David Hakobian,
said he will stand by Levon Ter-Petrosian’s side to help him win
the election.

He urged all ‘true’ opposition groups to consolidate around Armenia’s
former president ‘to help him form a new state machinery, a new
economic policy and a new national concept."

Asked why he did not run for presidency he said he had ideas while
Ter-Petrosian an army of supporters

SARGSYAN: TURKEY NOT RESPECTING ITS TRADE COMMITMENTS WITH EU

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.12.2007 17:32 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Turkey is not respecting its trade commitments
with the EU, including establishment of relations with Armenia,"
RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan said in an interview with European
Voice ahead of his trip to Brussels on 11 December.

As to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, Mr Sargsyan said, "I’m
certain that there is still a good chance for us to settle the Nagorno
Karabakh issue diplomatically. We are and always will be neighbors.

We cannot remain enemies forever."

Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge that the Ottoman Empire committed
genocide against its Armenian citizens during the First World War
has prevented normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia,
and their border remains closed, the European Voice reminded.

The International Crisis Group mentioned in its latest report Nagorno
Karabakh Risking War that Azerbaijan may use its oil income for
resuming hostilities.

EVENING DEDICATED TO 110th ANNIVERSARY OF YEGHISHE CHARENTS ORGANIZED IN CAUCASIAN HOUSE OF TBILISI

Noyan Tapan
Dec 7, 2007

TBILISI, DECEMBER 7, NOYAN TAPAN. An evening dedicated to the 110th
birth and 70th death anniversary of Yeghishe Charents was held in
the Caucasian House of Tbilisi on December 4. The event concluded
the creative competition announced by the Embassy of the Republic
of Armenia a few months ago, in which 30 intellectuals of different
nationalities of Georgia, Charentsologists and admirers of the art
of the poet had expressed desire to take part.

According to the information provided to Noyan Tapan by the Press and
Information Department of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hrach
Silvanian, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the
Republic of Armenia to Georgia, handed diplomas and souvenirs to the
winners of the competition: Artyush Gevorgian (first prize winner),
Murad Mtvarelidze (second prize winner) and Lyudmila Oragvelidze
(third prize winner). Lilit Hakobian, the Head of the Yeghishe Charents
house-museum, handed letters of acknowledgement of the RA Ministry
of Culture and museum souvenirs to the participants of the competition.

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Dec 7 2007

New order of setting prices for universal postal services approved in
Armenia

YEREVAN, December 7. /ARKA/. The RA Public Services Regulatory
Commission has approved the order of submitting financial reporting
and the order of setting and revising prices for universal postal
services rendered by the Haypost (Armpost) CJSC. Head of the Pricing
Policy Department Armen Arshakyan said that the main idea of the new
order is the division of services and prices into universal and other
types.

He pointed out that universal services include delivery of letters
and parcels up to 20 kg., periodicals to rural regions, as well as
the delivery of documents.

Commission Chairman Robert Nazaryan pointed out that he expects the
company’s efficient cooperation with the Commission in the
population’s interests.

`We hope that the decisions will produce positive results, and the
population will feel considerable changes in the services rendered by
Haypost in a year,’ Nazaryan said.

Haypost Director General Hans Boon pointed out that the company has
to do substantial work, and the documents approved by the Commission
will find their proper application in the Commission’s cooperation
with the company. The Commission’s decision is to take effect from
January 1, 2008.

A contract for the transfer of the Haypost company to the management
of to the Dutch Haypost Trust Management was signed in Yerevan on
November 30, 2006. Under the contract Haypost was transferred to
5-year trust management with the right to prolongation for the next
five years.

Haypost Trust Management (Amsterdam, Holland) was founded to
implement a trust management program and is cooperating with the Post
Finance International Company, which specializes in reforming and
modernizing postal services in developing countries.

The Dutch manager plans to invest a total of $12mln in the
modernization of Armenia’s postal service. Among the priorities is
the improvement of quality, foundation of a special bank, Post Bank,
in Armenia, which is to be opened in the near future.-0–

Regnum, Russia
Dec 5 2007

Romanian Patriarchate’s activity aimed at Moldova’s absorption by
Romania: Konstantin Zatulin

`Obviously, the Romanian Orthodox Church headed by Patriarch Daniel
is today paving way for Romania by trying to lay claims to Christian
Orthodox believers in the region that has traditionally been an
object of rivalry between Russia and Soviet Union, on the one hand,
and Romania, on the other,’ stated director of the Institute of CIS
Countries, member of the State Duma committee for the CIS affairs and
relations with compatriots Konstantin Zatulin in an interview to
REGNUM on Dec 4 2007. Mr. Zatulin has commented on the situation
related to the installing new parishes of the non-canonical
`Bessarabian Archdiocese’ in the jurisdiction of the Romanian
Patriarchate, on the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox
Church in Moldova and Transdniester.

`The decision to create dioceses the Romanian Orthodox Church in
Moldova, Transdniester, and Odessa Region is known to be breaking all
the Church canons. Bishops have not yet been appointed there,
however, which prevents Russian Orthodox Church from taking harsh
measures. It is clear that expanding the Romanian Orthodox Church to
the East is in the interests of those forces in Moldova who regard
the current independent status of their state as temporary. Those are
the politicians who initiated conflict with Transdniester following
the collapse of the USSR. Those are the political forces that have
for a long time already been fighting for abolishment of all Moldovan
uniqueness in order to justify the need of merger with Romania.
Obviously, this tendency in political life of Moldova is absolutely
contrary to the official course of its authorities, including
president Voronin,’ Mr. Zatulin says.

`There have been different periods in Voronin’s relations with
Russia. The fact that Moldovan-Russian relations are now improving is
the result of Vorinin’s facing a much greater danger: danger of
eroding of Moldova’s sovereignty from within by the pro-Romanian
political forces and dismantling Moldovan statehood in favor of
Romania.’

`Such action in the ecclesiastical domain are accompanied exactly by
these initiatives of the Romanian patriarch who is, in fact, trying
to proselytize, i.e., solicit believers on the territories that have
never been object of his affairs. This is the background of the
present conflict.’

`Obviously, the unyielding negative reaction of Voronin is, firstly,
motivated by his own situation: he does not lose the country of which
he is a president. Secondly, his reaction objectively coincides with
the standpoint of the Moscow Patriarchate who also is not intending
to give in and allow breaching Church canons. The third aspect of the
conflict is the Transdniester Tiraspol and Dubossary diocese of the
Russian Orthodox Church that has not so far said its word. It is
clearly interested that no Romanian Church exists on its territory.
But the diocese has traditionally thorny relations with the
Transdniester leadership,’ Zatulin said.

`I believe that the events will not end at this point. It is quite
hard to believe that the Romanian Orthodox Church will back up
without struggle. It is more likely that the it will persist, finding
support not only among the Romanian political elite but also the
nationalists within Moldova who consider themselves Romanians and who
want to be integrated into Romania as soon as possible,’ the expert
believes.

`Clearly, the issue of the dioceses for the Romanian Orthodox Church
is a touchstone in its activities. It is raised now in order to test
how decisive are not only Voronin but also Moldovan political elite
in defending their independence. Moldova in the former times so much
strived to display its independence from the old Soviet times that it
failed to notice another danger, the danger of being completely taken
in by Romania.’

`Such absorption, that is projected by many today, has become one of
the reasons of the Moldovan-Transdniester conflict. Language
controversy, the desire to enforce not even Moldovan but the Romanian
language in Moldova, including Transdniester – all this ultimately
led to the events of 20 years ago. Today they are trying it another
way, under the slogan of restoration of territorial integrity of
Moldova, only in the form of expanding the Romanian Orthodoxy on the
territories belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate,’ Zatulin stressed.

`The economic situation in the region is such that living standards
in Romania who has become an object of EU investments are higher than
in Moldova. This creates a certain attraction, which, along with the
clerical proselytism and nationalist propaganda, pushes Voronin to
Moscow in an attempt to unite with the Transdniester, in order to try
to preserve Moldova’s independence based on the Transdniestrian votes
and insure that the country is not absorbed by Romania,’ Mr. Zatulin
maintains.

`On the other hand, if he fails to achieve that, and Moldova becomes
a Romanian province, the polarization along the Dniester River will
persist. Transdniester will become an enclave state. At the same
time, it is hardly possible to predict that it would be able to
survive on its own. It could only survive with the help of two
factors: sufficient help from Moscow and at least consent of Ukraine,
Ukraine under Yushchenko’s presidency demonstrates uninterestedness
in Transdniester. However, not everybody in Ukraine, including
nationalists, is ready to give up a land that they consider their
own.’

`Therefore, we should not rule out that, if Moldova will continue to
further the merge with Romania, then, sooner or later, Ukraine will
lay claims to Transdniester, which, in its turn, will create such an
interesting phenomenon as emerging in the South Black Sea region of
territories with a pretty large proportion of Russian ethnic
population.’

Commenting to REGNUM on the issue of qualification of the events of
1990 in Gagauzia as genocide of the Gagauz people that is now being
discussed in Moldova, Zatulin stated: `I would not misapply the term
`genocide.’ I believe that genocide is what happened in the Ottoman
Turkey against Armenians and in Germany against Jews. I believe that
the conduct of Hitlerites on the occupied Slavic territories can also
be regarded as genocide. What about the narrow-minded Romanian
nationalism that became the reason of the Transdniester conflict and
aggravation between Romania/Moldova and Gagauzia, I think that,
however harsh we condemn the phenomenon, we cannot attribute to it
the scale of genocide. For, after all, we have international legal
acts that classify genocide, and from this point of view, events of
the turbulent times related to the collapse of the Soviet Union fail
to match the level of genocide. Of course, there is a reverse side of
nationalism, and it was so repulsive that caused the Transdniester
conflict and aggravation of relations in Gagauzia.’

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Dec 6 2007

TESEV: religious minority rights a democracy issue

A bill on the property rights of religious foundations is about
democratization and the state of freedom of religion, said a speaker
at a conference organized by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies
Foundation (TESEV) on Wednesday.

Participants at the conference on the law on foundations, currently
pending in Parliament, discussed the shortcomings of the law which
has been debated in Parliament for years now. Under Turkey’s current
legislation regulating the property rights of religious minorities,
only some non-Muslim religious groups can own property. The new bill,
presented in 2002 under pressure from the EU will allow non-Muslim
religious communities to keep what they already own and recover
property taken from them over the past 70 years.
Ankara dragged its feet on the new legislation despite the fact that
it is a condition for EU accession. It was passed in Parliament in
November last year, but was vetoed by then-president Ahmet Necdet
Sezer. It is likely to pass in the next few weeks in Parliament since
the European Commission has been calling on Turkey to pass the
property law without further delay. However, the draft is far from
able to solve some of the most fundamental and urgent property
related problems of Turkey’s religious minorities, stated Dilek
Kurban, who heads the democratization program of TESEV.

Not only will the law fail to solve all of the problems stemming from
the current property regime, but it would also legitimize some of the
violations of the rights of religious minorities, Kurban said. She
also noted that Sezer’s veto clearly showed that religious minorities
are seen as `foreigners’ in Turkey as he had made mention of
`reciprocity’ in regulations concerning religious community
foundations. `Reciprocity is something that applies to citizens of
another country,’ Kurban explained. She argued that certain new
arrangements in the bill could exacerbate some of the problems of
non-Muslim foundations.

Kezban Hatemi, an experienced lawyer in minority rights who also
spoke at the conference, said, `The problem of religious community
foundations is one of democratization, fundamental rights and
freedoms and the freedom of religion.’ She also criticized the
Turkish media for uninformed coverage of the foundations law, calling
on media professionals to educate them about the legislation. `The
existence of these foundations is crucial to the existence of our
minorities,’ she said.

Erol Dora, a lawyer representing the Syriac Christian community of
Turkey, said the media often conveys an image of the legal status of
religious minorities granted by the Lausanne Treaty as `privileges.’
`Everybody is equal under the law. Minority rights have a special
status — affirmative action,’ he said.

Sebu Aslangil, a lawyer representing the Armenian community, appealed
to press members to communicate with minority groups’ lawyers before
reporting any stories on the property rights law. Diran Bakar, a
lawyer who also represents Turkey’s Armenians, said the bill is most
likely to be passed in its current form. `When that happens, we will
appeal to the European Court of Human Rights,’ he said.

Turkey has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of euros to
minority foundations in accordance with European court rulings. More
lawsuits are expected to come when the legislation is passed, the
speakers noted.

06.12.2007

BARIÞ ALTINTAÞ ÝSTANBUL

ZEYNALOV DENIES WARNING OVER PKK-ARMENIA CONNECTION

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Dec 4 2007

Azerbaijan’s consul general has denied suggestions that his government
supplied Turkish and Azerbaijani officials with information linking
the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA)
terrorist group to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Azeri Consul General in Kars Hasan Sultanoðlu Zeynalov made a statement
about a news article published on Nov. 30 by Today’s Zaman which stated
that the PKK, faced with increasing pressure to end its activities
in northern Iraq, may be seeking to re-establish its camps in the
Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

Zeynalov emphasized that he had never said, "We informed both the
Azerbaijani and Turkish governments of the situation."

In his statement Zeynalov said: "Many press and media organs have
revealed the connections that exist between the PKK and ASALA. We
also read in the newspapers that some PKK militants seized by Turkish
security forces both dead and alive were actually Armenians. These
connections between the PKK and ASALA were revealed by independent
press and media organs, not by us. However, it is out of the question
that we have warned either the Azerbaijani or the Turkish government
about PKK efforts to buy land in Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh. We
don’t have a duty to warn governments, and we have done no such thing."

–Boundary_(ID_438gQfLXZ8Txf0QckGq8V w)–

EU is satisfied with achievement of consent for approval of Ministerial
statement on Nagorno Karabakh conflict

2007-12-01 12:51:00

ArmInfo. The European Union expresses satisfaction with achievement of
consent for approval of the Ministerial statement on Nagorno Karabakh
conflict, the final statement of the Council of EU, where Portugal is
presently presiding, says, ArmInfo’s correspondent reports from Madrid.
The document emphasizes that they repeat their call to the Armenian and
Azerbaijani leaders to go on making efforts in the negotiation process
based on a number of basic principles on peaceful settlement of the
conflict, developed by OSCE MG co-chairs.

Russia & CIS General Newswire
November 29, 2007 Thursday 9:59 PM MSK

U.S. hopes for peaceful resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict –
diplomat

MADRID Nov 29

U.S. Under Secretary of State Daniel Nicholas Burns has said he is
confident that the Armenian-Azeri conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh will
be resolved peacefully.

The United States has been actively assisting in the settlement of
the conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-
Karabakh, Burns told reporters on Thursday.

The Minsk Group’s co-chairmen met with the Armenian and Azeri foreign
ministers on Thursday, Burns said, adding that "this was a very
important meeting".

The American side laid out its proposals on key issues, he said.

The Minsk Group is a successful example of how Russia, the United
States and France can cooperate in conflict prevention, Burns said.