Author: Tadevosian Garnik

ARMENIAN FORCES WILL UNAMBIGUOUSLY WITHDRAW FROM LACHIN AND KALBAJAR

Today, Azerbaijan
April 26 2007

The occupied territories of Azerbaijan’ will be liberated by the
schedule to be worked out by Armenian Armed Forces, Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said when commenting on the negotiations
for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The Minister said that considerable principles, issues, momentums on
the basic principles of the settlement have already been specified, but
the parties still have different approach to some of the principles,
which create need for continuation of negotiations.

The Minister reminded that if they do not accept any principle,
all the principles will be considered as not agreed, APA reports.

~Z The Minister said that the Prague Process is process with stages. He
stressed that Azerbaijan’s position is that Armenian forces should
withdraw from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. He said that
Azerbaijan approves that the process is carried out in stages,
because withdrawal from the occupied territories at the same time is
a difficult process.

Azerbaijani FM said that if the basis principles are agreed, the
occupied regions will be liberated by one after another in accordance
with a special schedule to be drawn up by specialists.

~Z Mammadyarov replying to the questions on the removing of invaders
from Lachin and Kalbajar, said that these regions have been occupied
like other regions stressing that Armenian forces will also be
removed from there unambiguously. The minister said that the process
of restoration of infrastructure will start after the invaders
are removed, territories will be cleared from mines, peacekeeping
troops will be deployed, and internally displaced persons will be
brought back.

Azerbaijani FM touching to the status issue said that Nagorno Karabakh
will be given autonomy in the composition of Azerbaijan and not only
Armenian community, but also Azerbaijani community should participate
in this work.

"The IDPS should be brought back to their original places, together
living of the communities should be provided, and only after the
status should be defined," the Minister said.

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FRENCH MASONIC ORGANIZATION PRESSES TURKISH PEERS TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

ARMENPRESS
Apr 25 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS: Claude Gedan, who led an official
delegation of representatives of top " Grand Orient de France (French-
Masonic organization ) that has arrived in Yerevan for the first
time to share personally the pain of Armenians scattered all-over
the world and address their sympathy to the memory of 1.500.000
victims of the 1915 Genocide, said the Grand Orient de France not
only recognizes the Armenian genocide, but will also fight for its
international acknowledgment, with a focus on pressing Turkey to
acknowledge that crime.

He said the organization’s head met last February in Turkey with
Turkish organization’s top members demanding that they also recognize
the Armenian genocide, saying otherwise the French organization would
break all ties with them.

"We accept that some Masons were involved in plotting the Armenian
genocide, but none was from the Grand Orient of France. We condemn what
they did and we find that a Mason that chooses the path of violence
and nationalism is no longer a Mason. A glaring example of that was
Taleat Pasha," he said.

The Grand Orient de France is one of the biggest French Masonic
organizations with 50,000 members.

INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR OF WWF ARMENIA – MR. KAREN MANVELYAN

Panorama.am
17:38 25/04/2007

-Mr. Manvelyan, most of our readers are not well informed about what
WWF abbreviation stands for. Could you please briefly present what
WWF is, when and how it was established and what are the main goals
of the organization ?

-Established in 1961, WWF-World Wildlife Fund is one the largest
environmental conservation organization with an extensive experience
in carrying out field projects related to sustainable nature resources
management and protection of biodiversity. WWF currently runs about
700 field projects in close to 100 countries and employs over 5,000
people worldwide. WWF headquarters are located in Glend, Switzerland.

WWF’s overall mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s
natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in
harmony with nature by: ~U Conserving the world’s biological diversity
~U Ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable
~U Promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

-When did WWF start its activities in Armenia?

-The secretariat for WWF’s global conservation organization began its
activities in the Caucasus in 1992 and extended its conservation work
by establishing a local office in Yerevan, Armenia in 2001.

As of November 2006, WWF-Armenia has been registered as an official
branch of WWF and currently implements and coordinates more than 20
projects focused on environmental issues, and contributing to solution
of socio-economic problems in rural areas.

The vision of WWF-Armenia is to Keep Armenia Healthy and Beautiful
for now and for generations to come.

-Solving of regional ecological problems requires coordinated approach,
in this respect how does WWF manage to implement unified regional
environmental policy?

-WWF initiated and coordinated the development of an Ecoregional
Conservation Plan (ECP) for the Caucasus, a comprehensive strategy
for the region that was endorsed by the Environmental Ministers of
the South Caucasus countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) during
the Ministerial Conference (Berlin, 2006).

-At present, various parts of the World face different challenges in
the area of eco-systems preservation, what are the specific issues
that are urgent for Armenia and what are the conditions that caused
emergence of those problems.

-Armenia has a unique natural heritage, found in its rich biodiversity
and picturesque landscapes. Our country is our national treasure that
must be protected for present and coming generations. This is the
responsibility of all Armenians to keep Armenia healthy and beautiful.

The major threats to biodiversity in Armenia are tied to three broad
root causes – socio-economic, political and institutional. These
include mining, illegal logging, poaching and illegal wildlife trade,
overgrazing and over fishing, infrastructure development (pipelines,
road construction, etc.), and pollution of rivers and wetlands. These
threats lead to habitat degradation, decline of species populations,
and disruption of ecological processes – all contributing to an
overall loss of biodiversity.

WWF-Armenia strives to mitigate the impact of these threats in order
to conserve rich biodiversity of Armenia. It has been carrying out
projects such as promotion of sustainable resource use among local
communities, conservation of Caucasian Leopard, recovery of Bezoar
Goat in its natural range and others.

-You mentioned several problems that are related to various areas of
human life, which area is considered a priority for WWF Armenia?

-WWF Armenia carries out its work in several directions. One of
them is pure environmental protection, In this respect our Fund
carries works aimed at restoring degraded ecosystems, enhancing the
habitat of flora and fauna, conserving priority biomes (forests, high
mountains, wetlands), conserving threatened species (Caucasian Leopard,
Armenian Mouflon, Bezoar Goat, etc.); We carry out also institutional
development activities such as assisting the Government of Armenia to
establish new protected areas and develop a protected area network
(Econet) including reserves, national parks and others; Providing
support for institutional strengthening and capacity building via
consultancy and technical assistance to protected areas; Promoting
alternative livelihood through sustainable use of natural resources
and ecotourism development, thus contributing to income generation and
poverty reduction and mitigation of threats to biodiversity; Promoting
public awareness on environmental issues through environmental
education, mass media and communications among all Armenians.

Currently WWF-Armenia is also coordinating CEPF/WWF Grants Program
designed to ensure that civil society is engaged in efforts to conserve
biodiversity in the hotspots of the Caucasus region.

-What organizations and Government Bodies are WWF’s primary partners
here in Armenia, Could you call those partnerships efficient ?

-WWF-Armenia actively and efficiently collaborates with national
authorities (Ministry of Nature Protection and Ministry of
Agriculture), local administrations and communities, NGOs,
scientific institutions, the international donor community, and other
partners. Working from the grassroots to the governmental level
assures that collaborative projects will yield the best solutions
for nature conservation.

– How do you see a role of business in environment preservation ?

WWF believes that business, trade, and industry have a crucial role
to play in supporting conservation efforts and promoting greater
environmental responsibility for our planet. WWF strives to build
environmental awareness by working with businesses to help improve
their environmental performance, as well as boost their economic
bottom line. Governed by the principle Good for the Earth, Good for
Business, WWF-Armenia is committed to partnering with companies who
are willing to become a WWF Conservation Partner.

SHEIKH OF ALL CAUCASUS TO APPEAL FOR RELEASING ARMENIAN-CAPTURED AZERBAIJANI SOLDIER

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 24 2007

"I intend to appeal for releasing Azerbaijani soldier Samir Mammadov,
who has been captured by Armenians," Sheikhulislam Haji Allahshukur
Pashazadeh, chief of Caucasian Muslims Office said, APA reports.

Sheikh said that International Committee of the Red Cross is making
efforts to release the soldier.

"But I will also appeal for this," he said.

Pashazadeh also took a stance on arrest of a group of wahhabists by
law enforcement bodies. Sheikh said those who violate law on freedom
of conscience should be held accountable.

Israel’s Trump Card for the Treatment of Palestinians
The Holocaust as Political Asset
By AMIRA HASS

counterpunch.org
April 20, 2007

The cynicism inherent in the attitude of the institutions of the
Jewish state to Holocaust survivors is not a revelation to those
born and living among them. We grew up with the yawning gap between
the presentation of the State of Israel as the place of the Jewish
people’s rebirth and the void that exists for every Holocaust survivor
and his family. The personal "rehabilitation" was dependent on the
circumstances of each person: the stronger ones versus the others,
who did not find support from the institutions of the state.

During the 1950s and 1960s we saw the demeaning view of our parents as
having gone "like sheep to the slaughter," the shame of the new Jews,
the Sabras, over their misfortunate, Diaspora relatives.

It can be argued that during the first two decades, much of this
attitude could be attributed to the lack of information and the
very human lack of an ability to grasp the full meaning of the
industrialized genocide perpetrated by Germany. But the awareness
of the material aspects of the Holocaust started very early, with
Jewish and Zionist institutions starting in the early 1940s to discuss
the possibility of demanding reparations. In 1952, the reparations
agreement with Germany was signed, by which that country agreed to
pay hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel to cover the absorption
costs of the survivors and pay for their rehabilitation. The agreement
obligated Germany to compensate survivors individually as well,
but the German law differentiated between those who belonged to the
"circle of German culture" and others. Those who were able to prove
a connection to the superior circle received higher sums, even if
they emigrated in time from Germany. Concentration camp survivors
from outside the "circle" received the ridiculous sum of 5 marks per
day. The Israeli representatives swallowed this distortion.

This is part of the roots of financial cynicism that the media is
being exposed to today, due to several reasons: the advanced age
and declining health of survivors, the intentional weakening of the
welfare state, the presence of survivors from the former Soviet Union
who are not included in the reparations agreement, the media activism
of nongovernmental welfare organizations and the welcome enlistment
of social affairs journalists.

They are shocked by the gap between the official appropriation of the
Holocaust, which is perceived in Israel as understood and justified,
and the abandonment of survivors.

Turning the Holocaust into a political asset serves Israel primarily
in its fight against the Palestinians. When the Holocaust is on one
side of the scale, along with the guilty (and rightly so) conscience
of the West, the dispossession of the Palestinian people from their
homeland in 1948 is minimized and blurred.

The phrase "security for the Jews" has been consecrated as an exclusive
synonym for "the lessons of the Holocaust." It is what allows Israel to
systematically discriminate against its Arab citizens. For 40 years,
"security" has been justifying control of the West Bank and Gaza
and of subjects who have been dispossessed of their rights living
alongside Jewish residents, Israeli citizens laden with privileges.

Security serves the creation of a regime of separation and
discrimination on an ethnic basis, Israeli style, under the auspices of
"peace talks" that go on forever. Turning the Holocaust into an asset
allows Israel to present all the methods of the Palestinian struggle
(even the unarmed ones) as another link in the anti-Semitic chain whose
culmination is Auschwitz. Israel provides itself with the license to
come up with more kinds of fences, walls and military guard towers
around Palestinian enclaves.

Separating the genocide of the Jewish people from the historical
context of Nazism and from its aims of murder and subjugation,
and its separation from the series of genocides perpetrated by the
white man outside of Europe, has created a hierarchy of victims, at
whose head we stand. Holocaust and anti-Semitism researchers fumble
for words when in Hebron the state carries out ethnic cleansing via
its emissaries, the settlers, and ignore the enclaves and regime of
separation it is setting up. Whoever criticizes Israel’s policies
toward the Palestinians is denounced as an anti-Semite, if not a
Holocaust denier. Absurdly, the delegitimization of any criticism of
Israel only makes it harder to refute the futile equations that are
being made between the Nazi murder machine and the Israeli regime of
discrimination and occupation.

The institutional abandonment of the survivors is rightly denounced
across the board. The transformation of the Holocaust into a political
asset for use in the struggle against the Palestinians feed on those
same stores of official cynicism, but it is part of the consensus.

Amira Hass writes for Ha’aretz. She is the author of Drinking the
Sea at Gaza.

RWANDA BROUGHT AN ACTION AGAINST FRANCE

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.04.2007 19:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Rwanda brought an action against Franc in the UN
International Court, accusing France of violating the international
law, Associated Press agency reports. As a cause served judge Jean-Lui
Bruegger’s actions, who in 2006 issued warranties for arresting 9
Rwandan politicians close to President Pol Kagame. Judge Jean-Lui
Bruegger accused them of participating in country’s former President
Juvenal Habyarimana’s assassination.

Bruegger also turned to the UN International Court demanding to bring
an action against Pol Kagame himself and bring him under trial in
the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Rwandan officials think that by doing that the French side has
encroached on Rwandan sovereignty. In his application to the Court
Rwanda mentions that France has violated international commitments
on not interfering in domestic matters of other countries.

Earlier Rwanda has tensioned its diplomatic relations with France,
which had to recall his Ambassador to Rwanda in 2006. Besides,
President Kagame blamed French politicians, particularly Prime Minister
Dominique de Villepin, stating that they indulged the Rwandan genocide
themselves, trying to accuse of committing the genocide the current
Rwandan authorities.

Right after the assassination of Rwanda’s former President Juvenal
Habyarimana, on April 6, 1994 mass ethnic conflicts took place between
hutu and tutsi tribes.

Radical armed hutus killed more than 500 000 people, tutsi in
general. Totally 800 000 people died in ethnic cleansing. Juvenal
Habyarimana died in mysterious conditions, when his plane was
fired near Rwandan capital Kigali. France’s participation in the
investigation is explained by the fact that pilots of the plane were
French citizens.

KARABAKH: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT "REVISED" ITS MISTAKE IN ANNUAL REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Yerkir
20.04.2007 18:13

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – The U.S. Department of State has revised the
mistaken assertion, within the Armenia section of its recently released
annual human rights report, that, "Armenia continues to occupy the
Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno Karabakh and seven surrounding
Azerbaijani territories," the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA) reported.

The amended language, released this week, has been posted on
the Department’s website. It reads as follows: "Armenian forces
occupy large portions of Azerbaijan territory adjacent to Nagorno
Karabakh. Armenian officials maintain that they "do not occupy"
Nagorno Karabakh itself." The Azerbaijan section, which included
nearly identical language, has yet to be revised.

"We take note of the fact that the State Department has responded
to our concern that the report’s mischaracterization of Nagorno
Karabakh’s status would be detrimental to the U.S. government’s role
as an impartial mediator of the Minsk Group negotiations.

We remain concerned that the amended text continues to fall short
of accurately describing the situation, as well as by the fact that
the Azerbaijan section of the report continues to make incorrect
assertions, thus making its text inconsistent with the State
Department’s own revision of the Armenia section," ANCA Executive
Director Aram Hamparian said.

ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian, in an April 3, 2007 letter to Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice, expressed concerns that, "such statements
fundamentally misrepresent the well-documented reality in the region,
contradict the Department’s previous human rights reports, and
undermine the credibility of the United States as an impartial arbiter
destined to a leadership role in the OSCE Minsk Group peace process."

"These unprecedented assertions are both factually inaccurate and
counter-productive to our government’s aim of reaching a durable
resolution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. To say that Nagorno
Karabakh is an Azerbaijani territory and that Armenia occupies Nagorno
Karabakh and other territories is to ignore the very fundamentals of
this conflict. These statements only serve to send the wrong message
to the Azerbaijani side and further complicate the peace negotiations,"
Ken Hachikian said.

100 STUDENTS TO CONDUCT EXIT-POLLS ON MAY 12

ArmRadio.am
18.04.2007 15:31

About 100 students will conduct exit-polls on May 12. Head of
the Center for Effective Policy and Research Suren Hovnanyan told
"Armenpress" that the confidentiality of the survey is guaranteed. "We
hope the results will be maximally close to the real outcome of the
elections," he said.

The Center for Effective Policy and Research is still the only
organization in Armenia, which has already conducted exit-polls during
nationwide elections, namely the constitutional referendum.

On May 12 one hundred students will work at the entrances of precincts
in different marzes of the republic from 8 a.m. to 19.p.m. Later
the results will be summed up before the end of the elections, and
minutes after 20 p.m. the Center will publicize the outcome.

OSCE MISSION FIXED NO VIOLATIONS ON NKR AND AZERI ARMED FORCES’ CONTACT LINE

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 17 2007

Today OSCE mission held a planned monitoring of the Nagorno-Karabagh
and Azeri Armed Forces’ contact line to the east of the settlement
of Seysulan of the Nagorno-Karabagh Republic Martakert region.

According to the information DE FACTO got at the NKR MFA Press Office,
the monitoring had passed according to the schedule. No cease-fire
violations were fixed.

FOR USING OUT-PATIENT SERVICES FREE OF CHARGE CITIZENS SHOULD BE REGISTERED IN PRIMARY HEALTH PROTECTION SYSTEM BY END OF YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Apr 16 2007

TSAKHKADOZOR, APRIL 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Activities aimed at introduction
of system of population’s registration started in Armenian primary
health protection system from April 1. Thanks to this each citizen
will have a possibility to choose his primary health protection
doctor. Within the framework of the new system residents can be
registered at family doctors, therapeutists and under-aged people
at pediatricians.

As Gayane Gharagebakian, head of team of Health Reforming and
Population’s Registration of RA Ministry of Health, reported at the
April 13 seminar in Tsakhkadzor, unless the citizens are registered
by the end of the year, they will be deprived of the possibility of
receiving free out-patient services. In her words, the system will
be introduced stage by stage: from April 1 to October 1 a resident
will choose his primary health protection doctor from the medical
institution where he is served at present and from October 1 he can
change his doctor twice a year if he wishes.

Ruzanna Yuzbashian, Head of Primary Medical Assistance Department of
the Ministry, said that sums allocated from state budget to the primary
health protection system increase year by year. Thus, 9.3 bln drams
was allocated in 2005, while 16.726 bln drams (nearly 46.5 mln USD)
was allocated in 2007.