Author: Tadevosian Garnik

ROBERT KOCHARYAN: ARMENIA’S RETALIATORY STEP TO AZERBAIJAN’S ACTIONS MAY BECOME RECOGNITION OF NAGORNO- KARABAKH

arminfo
2008-03-20 15:51:00

ArmInfo. Armenia’s retaliatory step to Azerbaijan’s actions may
become recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian President Robert
Kocharyan said at a press-conference, Thursday, commenting upon the
aggravation of the situation on the contact line of Armenian-Azeri
and Karabakh- Azeri armed forces, as well as the recent UN resolution
on Nagorno-Karabakh and Baku’s statement on the OSCE Minsk Group.

According to him, if Baku continues its present policy, Yerevan’s
retaliatory step will be recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
and conclusion of agreements with this republic, particularly, in
the military sphere. Azerbaijan’s current activity in international
structures, particularly, in the UN is connected with Kosovo’s
problem. In particular, Azerbaijan is trying to create a counterbalance
to the Kosovo precedent and demonstrate that Kosovo can’t be a
precedent for Karabakh. But they played a wrong card, as the majority
of the countries abstained from supporting the resolution. "The NKR
has more rights to independence than Kosovo. Karabakh proclaimed its
independence in 1991, it has state structures, protects its borders
itself, it started the process of gaining independence earlier",
the president said.

Kocharyan also noted that there is no better format than the OSCE
Minsk Group. "If the format is not good enough for Azerbaijan, this
doesn’t mean that we should break the format. If they do not want to
negotiate, they can refuse to do it", Kocharyan said. He added that
Baku should think about the future and who will be responsible for
further developments in this case.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY INDEX 65.6 IN ARMENIA IN 1Q 2008

ARKA
March 19, 2008

YEREVAN, March 19. /ARKA/. Economic activity index in Armenia reduced
7.9% down to 65.6 in Armenia in 1st quarter of 2008, which is a 20.6%
increase as compared with the 4th quarter of 2007, the Central Bank
of Armenia (CBA) reported.

Composite index of consumer confidence has been 53.5 for the period
under review, which is a 0.9% reduction against the same period
of last year and a 10.3% increase as compared with 4th quarter of
2007previous period.

According to the CBA, business environment index increased 7.8%
up to 50.5 (on 100-point scale) as compared with the 4th quarter of
2007. Against the same period of last year, the indicator reduced
12.6%.

According to the CBA, economic activity index is calculated based on
averaging estimates and expectations of respondents on production
output, production orders and expected changes in production
reserves. At the same time, consumer confidence index is the
arithmetical mean of responses of households on their expectations
on income, expenditures and employment level, as well as on their
attitude toward the current economic situation.

Business environment index is determined through averaging estimates
of organizations on changes in general economic condition and risks.

Since the beginning of 2005 the CBA has been conducting quarterly
polls of non-financial, financial organizations and households to
assess change in the current economic situation as compared with the
previous period, to assess economic expectations of the entities and
households and to calculate and publish composite economic indices.

Random 845 industry, construction and service organizations and
1,789 households were studied in Yerevan and all 10 regions of
Armenia. The polls were conducted through the Internet, telephone,
mail and fax. Indices of economic activity and consumer confidence were
calculated on a 100-point scale (over 50 – high activity, below 50 –
poor activity, 50points – unchanged status) based on the results of
the polls.

IN OPINION OF EDUARD SHARMAZANOV, ELECTION WAS JUST OCCASION FOR OPPOSITION TO CARRY OUT COUP D’ETAT

Noyan Tapan
March 19, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The presidential election was just
an occasion for the opposition to carry out a coup d’etat, member
of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) faction Eduard Sharmazanov
stated in the parliament on March 18.

In his words, official Baku quickly made use of the situation. The
deputy said that the recent straining of the situation on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani contact line has been directly related to the
internal political situation in Armenia.

E. Sharmazanov expressed an opinion that Levon Ter-Petrosian’s plans to
reduce the number of Armenian troops and to introduce a contract-based
military service are aimed at weakening the bases of the state.

"Those making demagogic attemps should bear in mind that this country
belongs to all of us. We are in the same boat, and if some people try
to wreck this boat at any price, then all the passengers of the boat
will drown," the deputy said.

TRIAL FOR "INSULTING TURKISHNESS" STILL HOUNDING CONVERTS
by Barbara G. Baker

ChristianNewsToday.com
March 17 2008

In spite of EU pressure, revision of Article 301 appears at a
standstill.

SILIVRI, Turkey, In an effort to prolong the trial of two Turkish
converts to Christianity accused of "denigrating Islam and
Turkishness," three gendarme soldiers on Thursday (March 13) were
summoned to testify before the Silivri Criminal Court in northwestern
Turkey as witnesses for the prosecution – which has yet to provide
any evidence for its case.

Turan Topal and Hakan Tastan, who were searched, detained and then
charged in October 2006 under Turkey’s controversial Article 301
restricting freedom of speech, have been on trial for 18 months. The
case was further delayed Thursday when two witnesses summoned to
testify failed to show up, although at least one of them had been in
the corridor of the courthouse just before the session started.

Accordingly, the judge ordered that prosecution witnesses Kemal
Kalyoncu and Emin Demirci be brought "forcibly" to the next hearing,
set for June 24. Testimony is also expected at the June hearing from
an additional three gendarme soldiers in Silivri, as well as three
from the Istanbul Gendarme Headquarters.

"From our side, we can say that the outcome of the hearing was
positive," defense lawyer Haydar Polat told Compass. "The witnesses
simply confirmed what happened in their investigation, without
producing any evidence whatever of the charges against my clients."

But on the negative side, Polat said, "All these new witnesses are
unnecessary."

The state prosecutor had called for the Christians’ acquittal last
July, noting that the youthful plaintiffs in the case had given
contradictory testimonies and no credible evidence had been produced
to prove the charges.

But the new judge assigned to the case in November accepted prosecution
lawyer demands to call another dozen witnesses to testify.

"Of course our clients are distressed by this," Polat told Compass,
noting that the two Christians are being required to attend and hear
the new prosecution witnesses, some of whom deliberately fail to
appear in court. "All these extra witnesses are being called simply
for the purpose of prolonging the case. There is no other purpose."

The three soldiers from the Silivri Gendarme Headquarters testified
separately to their involvement in searching the defendants’ homes
and office on October 11, 2006, when they said they found a large
number of Bibles and Christian documents, as well as several computers.

One of the soldiers said that at the time of their court-ordered
investigation, military intelligence officers had shown them
an organizational chart, listing names of alleged leaders of the
detained Christians’ group, which is accused of conducting illegal
religious activities.

Although the Christians’ trial in Silivri is officially held in
"open" court, the current judge has refused to admit any Turkish or
international press to observe the last two hearings.

Divine Delay

Defendant Topal told Compass that as he drank tea with several police
officers on duty at the courthouse during the hour-long delay for
yesterday’s hearing to begin, they asked him why he had left Islam
and become a Christian.

"They insisted that I was being ‘used’ by Christian missionaries,
that they were paying me lots of money to do this," Topal said. "I
explained that I came to faith 17 years ago all by myself, reading
the New Testament, without knowing any other Christian in Turkey."

Topal told them that he was not getting rich, and that if they believed
otherwise they could visit him in his one-room flat in Istanbul.

"Of course, they think I have somehow broken the law," Topal said.

"So I just told them that I am not doing anything that is illegal,
because under the democratic laws of Turkey, everyone is free to
practice and witness about his personal faith."

Prosecution Lawyer Jailed

Although six local attorneys for the prosecution were present at
the March 13 hearing, the ultranationalist lawyer leading their team
since the case opened in November 2006 was notably absent.

Prosecution attorney Kemal Kerincsiz has been jailed since mid-January
on charges of direct involvement in the criminal "Ergenekon" gang
suspected of instigating a string of unsolved murders over the past
two decades.

Another jailed Ergenekon suspect, Sevgi Erenerol, had accompanied
Kerincsiz to all the previous Silivri hearings against Topal and
Tastan. Erenerol was the spokesperson for the so-called Turkish
Orthodox Church, a bogus institution which reportedly became a front
for laundering the cash for assassination hits engineered by Ergenekon.

According to Turkish media reports, the Ergenekon gang had a direct
hand in the murder of three Christians in Malatya last April, as well
as the assassinations of an Italian priest in Trabzon in February
2006 and an Armenian editor in January 2007.

Kerincsiz had gained national notoriety since May 2005, when he began
to open cases against well-known Turkish academics, journalists and
intellectuals under Article 301 provisions.

301 Changes ‘Shelved Indefinitely’

A senior member of the European Parliament declared last month that
the European Union was losing patience with Turkey’s ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP) over its failure to change the restrictive
Article 301.

"We’re preparing a report for the European Parliament which will be
voted on in April," Joost Lagendijk told the British Broadcasting
Corporation on February 11. "If nothing has moved by then on freedom
of expression, the report will be negative."

Turkey’s prime minister, justice minister and president have declared
repeatedly over the past two years that amending the law was both
needful and "high on their agenda."

But last week AKP deputy Nihat Ergun admitted that although a revised
draft of Article 301 was completed, it had been shelved indefinitely.

"I don’t know exactly when it will be brought up [in Parliament],"
Ergun told Today’s Zaman newspaper last Tuesday (March 11).

Reportedly this reflects accommodations to the opposition Nationalist
Movement Party , which supported the AKP’s recent constitutional
amendment to allow headscarves on university campuses but opposes
making any changes to Article 301.

Nevertheless, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan claimed on Channel 7
television yesterday that "in a very short time" the AKP government’s
proposed amendments to Article 301 would be brought before the
Turkish Parliament.

Babacan said that after the Foundations Law, Article 301 was the second
most important package of political reforms now pending in Turkey.

Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek and other senior AKP members have
insisted that there is nothing wrong with the current law. Instead,
they say, the state simply needs to educate its prosecutors and judges
regarding free speech issues.

Angered by ongoing criticism of his stance, Cicek claimed in a January
10 interview, "Article 301 is not my personal issue. And 301 is not
a problem for anyone in Turkey."

"Tell that to Rakel’s face!" shouted a banner headline in Taraf
newspaper the next morning. Rakel Dink’s husband, Armenian Christian
journalist Hrant Dink, was assassinated in January 2007 while under
trial for several alleged violations of Article 301.

Proposed AKP changes in Article 301, such as reducing the maximum
sentence from three to two years in prison and requiring prosecutors
to get the Justice Minister’s permission to file charges, have been
labeled "cosmetic" by their critics, who demand the law be abolished
completely.

"What the AKP is proposing as ‘reform’ in that contentious article
is not reform at all, but an attempt to deceive," Turkish Daily News
editor Yusuf Kanli wrote in a January 9 editorial.

"Hrant was killed and scores of other Turkish intellectuals were
harassed and made targets under that Penal Code clause," Kanli said.

"We would prefer to see this contentious article erased…all
together."

AZERI ARMY SWITCHES TO NATO STANDARDS – AZERI DEFENSE MINISTER

Interfax News Agency
March 17 2008
Russia

The ground troops, Air Force and Navy – have been fully transferred to
NATO standards, Azeri Defense Minister Safar Abiyev told deputy chief
of NATO’s International Military Staff George Lebel in Baku on Monday.

Personnel training and all military exercises are also being switched
to NATO standards, the Azeri Defense Ministry reports.

Commenting on the conflict with Armenia over the disputed enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh, Abiyev noted that the on-going Armenian occupation
of part of Azeri territory might escalate tensions in the region,
the ministry said.

"Azerbaijan will never put up with the occupation of its land. We
will drive the occupants from our land territory, even if we have to
use force," Abiyev was quoted as saying.

Lebel, for his part, said he remained satisfied with the work aimed
at fostering Azerbaijan-NATO cooperation.

NOVRUZ MAMMADOV: "MAYBE, SERZH SARKISIAN OFFERS MEETING WITH AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT IN ORDER TO WIN LEGITIMACY"

Azeri Press Agency
March 17 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku. Lachin Sultanova-APA. Azerbaijani side has not made a decision
on the meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents within the
framework of NATO summit in Bucharest, Novruz Mammadov, chief of the
President’s Office international affairs department told APA.

"Maybe, Serzh Sarkisian offers this meeting in order to win
legitimacy. That’s why, no concrete decision in connection with the
meeting has been made yet," he said.

ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION INTRODUCED BY AZERBAIJAN IN UN WAS NOT SURPRISE FOR ARMENIA, RA PRESIDENT’S SPOKESPERSON SAYS

Noyan Tapan
March 17, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, NOYAN TAPAN. "We are filled with enthusiasm as
civilized countries abstained from expressing this or that attitude
to the resolution The Situation in the Occupied Territories adopted
by the UN General Assembly lately at Azerbaijan’s suggestion,
as they understand that with it they will do no good to the
negotiations process and to the problem settlement in general,"
Viktor Soghomonian, the RA President’s Spokesperson, stated at the
March 17 press conference.

In his words, the resolution’s adoption was not a surprise for Armenia:
just like in other cases when documents not having a legal force
are adopted by UN, in this case also Armenia has nothing special to
worry about.

V. Soghomonian said that if the attitude of the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-chair countries and Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement on
the UN resolution are taken into account, the representatives
of these countries consider that the negotiations process can be
endangered. According to him, a question emerges currently: how much
seriously does Azerbaijan treat the negotiations process?

V. Soghomonian did not touch upon the issue of Armenia’s remaining or
not in the Minsk Group negotiations format. Stating that Armenia’s
approach to that problem depends on the further development of
events, he at the same time said that "steps of the kind can in no
way contribute to the settlement of the problem."

Touching upon a journalist’s observation that Uzbekistan, a member
of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has also voted
for the resolution (Armenia is also a member of that structure,
but Azerbaijan is not), V. Soghomonian expressed confidence that the
voting results will always be "in the focus of our attention."

NKR AND ARMENIA SHOULD LAUNCH EFFORT TO BLOCK SIMILAR PROJECTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.03.2008 16:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The passage of Azerbaijan’s resolution on Karabakh
by the UN General Assembly cannot be helpful to the talks. Although
all resolutions on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict passed earlier by the
UN were recommendations, appearance of such a document gives certain
advantage to our opponents in the information war," NKR former deputy
foreign minister Masis Mayilyan said.

The diplomat says the stance of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair states,
which unanimously voted against the Azerbaijani draft, is a positive
momentum.

"Since the Azerbaijani side is likely to carry on a policy of pushing
through similar decisions in different international structures, NKR
and Armenia should launch efforts to effectively block such projects,"
Mr Mayilyan emphasized, Karabakh-Open.com reports.

On March 14, with 39 votes in favor, 7 against and 100 abstentions,
the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution "On the situation on
the occupied territories of Azerbaijan."

SERZH SARKISIAN CONSIDERS THE SPECULATIONS ON THE TOPIC OF THE TERRORIST ACT IN ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT IMMORAL

Mediamax
March 14, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Armenian Prime Minister, President-Elect Serzh
Sarkisian considers immoral the speculations during the pre-election
campaign on the topic of the terrorist act of October 27 of 1999 in
the Armenian parliament.

Mediamax reports that Serzh Sarkisian said this in a TV interview,
answering the questions, sent to him through internet.

The President-Elect stated that the speculation on this topic was
done skillfully and its author knew who exactly it was addressed to
and what pain it will cause me, but "he forgot that we are used to
clench our teeth from pain and move forward".

Serzh Sarkisian noted that during the terrorist act he lost his
battle companion – Vazgen Sarkisian, due to whom the Armenian people
managed to realize many of its plans. The Prime Minister stated that
"the authors of those speculations are the people, who were rejoicing
on October 27 of 2007".

A MONTH OF WORKS ON TREE PALNTING, SANITARY CLEARING AND IMPROVEMENT

Azat Artsakh Daily
Published on March 13, 2008
NKR Republic

By the decision of the NKR Prime Minister A.Harutyunian, from April
1 till April 30 ,2008 a month of works on tree palnting, sanitary
clearing and aprovement will be carried out in the republic. NKR
ministries , state bodies of NKR Government, departments, municipality
of Stepanakert, leaders of board of administrations and communities
were assigned to work out and realize concrete actions in the direction
of decision of spheres and volumes of forthcoming works, solution of
their technical, material and organizational questions, maintenance of
participation in a month of all educational institutions, organizations
and establishments of city and rural communities. NKR ministries ,
state bodies of the NKR government , departments, territorial and
local self-governing bodies of executive authority will represent
a statement on results of a month to the NKR National Statistical
Service till May 15, 2008. NKR "Public TVradio company" CJSC, editing
house of "Azat Artsakh" newspaper and other mass media are suggested to
elucidate widely a course and results of carrying out and organization
of a month.