Author: Talalian Arpi

Armenia Fund USA, Inc.
80 Maiden Lane, S-301,
New York, NY 10038, U.S.A.
T/1-212-689-5307
F/1-212-689-5317
http://ww w.armeniafundusa.org
E-mail: [email protected]

Armenia Fund 1999-2000
1992-2007: Celebrating 15 years of nation-building in Armenia and Karabakh

NEW YORK, New York – The year 2007 marks the 15th Anniversary of Armenia
Fund, a pillar organization created after Armenia’s independence and
mandated with the vital task of uniting all Armenians around the world to
direct efforts toward development and revival of the nation. For 15 years,
the Fund, with its international affiliates across the globe, has touched
countless lives in Armenia and Karabakh. Combining aid, development and
direct investment, Armenia Fund has engaged Armenia’s leaders, its people
and the worldwide Diaspora to promote education, create jobs, improve public
health and develop infrastructure, among other critical humanitarian needs.
Today, Armenia Fund’s contributions to social and economic prosperity of
Armenia and Karabakh are unprecedented.
The 15th Anniversary of Armenia Fund is a celebration of the past, present
and future of the Armenian people. It is a celebration of overcoming
challenges by working together. Above all, it is a celebration of humanity,
courage and hope.

Armenia Fund 1999-2000

Armenia has come a long way since the economic and energy crisis that hit
the country after the Soviet Union’s collapse. Signs of a balanced, yet weak
economic recovery started to emerge in 1999. Following the immense
deterioration of the situation from 1991-1995, Armenia’s economy rebounded
and grew at 5.7 percent on average from 1996-2000. While the implementation
of economic and social reforms brought improvements, it had insignificant
initial impact on poverty eradication across the region. This is where funds
for reconstruction that came through grants invested by the Armenian
Diaspora worldwide played a crucial role.

Armenia Fund, having developed into one of the most trusted organizations
channeling development aid into Armenia and Artsakh, took on a strategic
task. The organization expanded its operations significantly from 1999-2000,
doubling the number of projects in education, public health and
infrastructure.

If any large-scale strategic initiative is to characterize Armenia Fund’s
achievements as a whole, the North-South Highway, started in Karabakh in
2000, will undoubtedly top the list. The $25 million highway that extends
about 100 miles, connecting 150 towns and villages throughout Artsakh, took
the name "backbone of Karabakh" and became a landmark undertaking. Embodying
the united efforts of the Diaspora, the road symbolized economic revival and
security.

The Vanadzor School, the oldest and most famous school in the Lori Marz in
Armenia, was adopted by Armenia Fund following the plea from Armenia’s
President Robert Kocharian that the rebuilding of the earthquake-ravaged
landmark institution be a priority. Established before the outbreak of World
War II, the school prided itself in having among its graduates Armenia’s
leading artists, politicians, scientists and writers. Although damaged and
in need of repairs following its use as a military hospital during the War,
it nevertheless taught up to 1,100 students before the devastating
earthquake that rendered the structure virtually unusable. Armenia, a
one-time country that boasted 100 percent literacy rate of its citizens,
suddenly faced a disruption of its educational system.

Armenia Fund’s $650,000 campaign not only restored the existing
infrastructure of the school, but also provided more classrooms,
laboratories, computer facilities, a new cafeteria, library and a sport
complex. More than 1,500 donors and supporters became part of this inspiring
project. Impressed not only with the experience, but also with Armenia
Fund’s "Beyond Bricks and Mortar" policy that required community
involvement, the World Bank approved an Institution Building Grant for the
Vanadzor School to establish standards of day-to-day management, principles
of accountability, and a local governance committee, in effect a
parent-teacher association, a novel concept for Armenia.

A pilot outreach program in 1999 was the Waterways Initiative in the
Aknaberd village of Martakert, Nagorno-Karabakh. The village, mostly
populated by refugees of war, had no functioning water infrastructure. Lack
of potable water undermined basic sanitation and put the entire village with
its surrounding neighborhoods under the risk of numerous diseases brought by
contaminated supplies. Armenia Fund led an aggressive campaign, not only
reconstructing water infrastructure but also cleaning the existing water
supplies. Similar, but bigger in scope, water projects were successfully
completed in other villages of Mardakert, Shushi, Askeran, Hadrut and
Kashatagh regions, as well as in Stepanakert.

Over the past 15 years, Armenia Fund has invested more than $170 million in
sustainable development in Armenia and Karabakh. This makes the Fund the
largest contributor to critical infrastructure projects in all aspects of
social and economic activity. Securing long-term development solutions, the
Fund has had an outstanding impact on the lives of countless citizens of
Armenia and Karabakh. Armenia Fund has evolved over the years into an
organization that has an unprecedented track record of affecting change. In
recognition to its development work, Armenia Fund was accredited to the
United Nations in spring of 2006, as one of the most credible international
organizations working in Armenia and Karabakh.

To recognize and thank the Diaspora for its 15 years of continuous support
to Armenia and Karabakh, Armenia Fund will hold a 15th Anniversary Gala
Banquet at the United Nations on October 6, 2007. Join Armenia Fund as it
celebrates the tenacity of the Armenian people and strength of the Armenian
Diaspora!

DTP DEPUTIES HOLD FIRST GROUP MEETING

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Aug 21 2007

DTP held its first parliamentary group meeting yesterday. Deputy
chairman of the DTP’s parliamentary group, Selahattin Demirtaþ,
stressed the importance of this meeting, saying:

"This is the first time since 1924 that we, as Kurdish citizens,
are making politics within the framework of Parliament, with our
own identities." Demirtaþ’s intentional neglect on participation by
the DEP after the 1991 elections is being seen as yet another sign
of their determination to break ties with unfortunate events of the
past. The DTP’s group meeting was also significant as party leader
Ahmet Turk hinted that the color of their vote in the presidential
election is "empty." Reiterating that they would join the vote, Turk
warned that their decision to cast empty votes should not be compared
to the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) decision to boycott the
election. Turk said their decision relates to presidential candidate
Abdullah Gul’s failure to promise a civilian solution to the Kurdish
problem. "Our priority is civil politics. Our preference is that
Parliament elect a civilian president. We want the elected president
to embrace the 72 million [people of the nation]. We had a meeting
with Mr. Gul about our expectations of a peaceful solution to the
Kurdish problem, but we didn’t receive an open message from him,"
Turk explained.

This first meeting of the parliamentary group echoed a recent critical
report by the DTP about its identity and policies. Turk said the
overwhelming number of votes won by the Justice and Development Party
(AK Party) is a clear message coming out of the ballot box that the
nation has closed its gates to chauvinist, nationalist and racist
understandings. "This message says the nation does not support those
touting war, that the people want a peaceful solution," said Turk.

Emphasizing that the DTP has taken this message, Turk promised that
his party will endeavor to prioritize democratic methods and develop
a peaceful and democratic process to solve the Kurdish problem.

Commenting on a controversial declaration by the president of the
Turkish Historical Society (TTK), Yusuf Halacoðlu, that Kurdish Alevis
in Turkey are actually Armenian converts, Turk called for his immediate
dismissal. Claiming that Halacoðlu is promoting a racist-separatist
polarization among the public, Turk said this understanding is bringing
"brotherly peoples" face to face.

In a recent newspaper interview Halacoðlu claimed that there are
no Kurds in Turkey, or in the ranks of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK). "Our research shows that the Kurds of Turkey are actually of
the Turkmen stock and the Kurdish Alevis are of Armenian origin,"
Halacoðlu claimed.

–Boundary_(ID_Ad+WPE+praZktJmn/RgKDg)–

BETWEEN ETERNAL HAVEN AND TEMPORARY ABODE
James Hakobyan

Lragir.am
20-08-2007 11:23:21

It would not be exactly true to say the report of the World Bank
experts on demography in Armenia gave us a surprise. But it was good
news that the population of our country will have decreased by 200
thousand by the year 2025. The rate and tendency of development that
is observed in the country now gives rise to worse forecasts. In
this context, it is great that the population of Armenia will have
gone down by only 200 thousand and not by 2 million. Moreover,
it is great that people will continue to live in Armenia at all by
the year 2025 and there will not be only say tourists. The point
is that in our country everything is done for tourists now. Hotels,
restaurants, night clubs, expensive resorts are being built. Even the
construction of elite neighborhoods, which is proceeding so fast,
although it is not clear where it is heading for, is for tourists,
in fact. Those elite high-rises are targeted at the Armenians living
abroad, who are expected to buy apartments looking to Ararat. Most of
them do buy. However, these buyers are not residents of Armenia. They
live in these apartments for one or two months, for the rest of the
months these apartments are havens for souls, sources of satisfaction
of the soul. In other words, the construction of elite apartments is
also part of the spiritual Armenia project. Meanwhile, the physical
Armenia is gradually disappearing. Or growing old, the World Bank
experts forecast. But since this time their forecasts are not on the
merits of the "tiger", the Armenian government did not bother to work
the propaganda machine.

Although it does not matter much. The government must be mindful of it
and make moves to avoid the situation that was forecast. Logically,
it is necessary to make efforts to improve the quality of life to
avoid this situation. It is necessary to build apartments for a bigger
class of people, provide people with more or less well-paid jobs,
launch flexible mortgage lending for people to be able to have two
or three children instead of one.

The government should encourage births by aiding financially. These
are the basic means of improving the demographic state which seem
obvious to every citizen.

In Armenia, however, it is very slow, and the situation changes at
a low rate. We may even say very few more young people can afford
to buy apartments in 2007 compared with 2006, and very few more
young people’s jobs became more steady and profitable. And it is
all but evident that very few will have improved their lives in 2008
compared with 2007. The picture will change only in case the government
launches the real "second generation" of reforms which are so often
discussed. In addition, these should be implemented as fast and
consistently as the first generation of reforms in the early 1990s. It
is clear that for the government the rate of the first generation of
reforms was desirable because it helped create a class of proprietors
comprising the government and the pro-government circles. Meanwhile,
the second generation of reforms supposes the emergence of a middle
class for which the government and the pro-government circles will
have to bother.

Meanwhile, the country has no other way. Either radical steps are
taken to change the situation in the country which make Armenia
attractive not only for Diasporan Armenians for 5 or 6 months but
also for the citizens of Armenia for the year round, or the country
becomes a temporary abode where people come for some time and the
residents wait until they save enough money for the ticket.

Boston Globe, MA
Aug 17 2007

Local chapter breaks with ADL position

Armenian genocide at issue

By Keith O’Brien, Globe Staff | August 17, 2007

The local chapter of the Anti-Defamation League broke ranks with its
national leadership yesterday amid growing outrage by area Jewish
leaders over the ADL’s refusal to acknowledge the World War I-era
mass killings of Armenians as genocide.

In an emergency meeting yesterday afternoon, the regional ADL board
adopted resolutions calling on the national organization, which has
refused to recognize the Armenian genocide, to change its policy,
according to a source familiar with the proposal.

Also, Andrew H. Tarsy, the ADL’s New England regional director who
had defended the ADL’s position as recently as Tuesday, reversed
course, saying the ADL should acknowledge the genocide.

"I strongly disagree with ADL’s national position," Tarsy said in an
interview with the Globe, declining to explain his change of stance.
"It’s my strong hope that we’ll be able to move forward in a
relationship with the Armenian community and the community in
general."

The developments were the latest turn in a national debate that began
weeks ago in Watertown, home to more than 8,000 Armenian-Americans.

ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: Response to New England Community

Some residents were upset to learn that the ADL was the sponsor of
the town’s antibigotry program "No Place For Hate." Many began
calling for Watertown to pull out because the ADL refused to
acknowledge the genocide.

On Tuesday, the Watertown Town Council voted unanimously to rescind
its relationship with No Place For Hate. And by yesterday, residents
in Newton, Belmont, Somerville, and Arlington were rethinking the
program, and local Jewish leaders were renouncing the ADL’s stand.

ADL leaders agree that Armenians were massacred by Ottomon Turks
during World War I. The ongoing debate focuses on the Armenian stance
that what happened was genocide and the ADL’s refusal to acknowledge
that.

A resolution pending in Congress would formally recognize the deaths
as genocide. The ADL’s national director, Abraham H. Foxman, has said
that the human rights organization has no position on the issue. But
he has also questioned whether what happened was genocide and said he
believes that Congress should not be considering the matter.

The board of the regional ADL refused to release the text of the
resolutions it adopted yesterday, in deference, one source said, to
the national organization. The board would not comment further. James
Rudolph, the regional board chairman, said he may be able to say more
today, when he expects to hear back from the national office. Foxman
did not return a call seeking comment.

But Tarsy’s remarks made clear that the regional arm of the ADL was
prepared to part ways with the national office on the issue of
Armenian genocide, a move welcomed by the leader of the Armenian
National Committee, based in Washington, D.C.

"It’s a positive move," said Aram Hamparian, executive director of
the Armenian National Committee. "It’s the New England ADL trying to
bring the national ADL over to the right side of the issue."

>From 1915 to 1923, Ottoman Turks massacred as many as 1.5 million
Armenians in what is now modern-day Turkey. Armenians, historians,
and some European nations have recognized the killings as genocide.
But the Turkish government has refused to accept the genocide label.
And some Middle East specialists suggest that the national ADL, a
group founded in 1913 to fight anti-Semitism, may be refusing to
acknowledge the Armenian genocide under pressure from Turkey, a rare
Muslim ally to Israel.

"Why are they taking this position? Because they’re being pressured
to," said James Russell, the Mashtots professor of Armenian studies
at Harvard University. "Because Israel is in a very dangerous
neighborhood and Turkey, at the moment, is a friend and military
ally."

Such politics, once international, became local this summer when
Watertown residents realized that the ADL sponsored the town’s "No
Place For Hate" program, which is dedicated to challenging bigotry.

The program was positive, most agreed. Under the program, communities
organize diversity days and other events focused on challenging
bigotry, and after a year they receive placards to be posted,
declaring the community as "No Place For Hate."

The debate quickly became about something bigger, hurting the
reputation of an organization that has spoken out against Holocaust
denial, ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, and genocide in Darfur.

ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: Response to New England Community

"I’m a longtime supporter of the ADL, and I think the work the
organization has done has often been stellar," said Rabbi Ronne
Friedman, senior rabbi of Boston’s largest synagogue, Temple Israel.
"But I’m really saddened that Abe Foxman, the national director, has
failed to affirm the historical fact of this genocide, and I really
think that failure represents a moral myopia."

Friedman said he spoke about this issue during services last week and
urged his congregation to reach out to Armenian-Americans and let
them know that many Jews stand with them.

Jews, being victims of Adolf Hitler’s genocide plan, should
understand the importance of this issue, Friedman said.

"Hitler referenced the Armenian genocide as proof that the Germans
could move forward with impunity in the defamation of the Polish
population, men, women and children," Friedman said. "So the idea
that we’d fail to recognize historical fact and fail to ensure that
the Armenian-American community is affirmed and supported in its
quest for justice and truth — I think that’s terribly unfortunate."

Officials in other "No Place For Hate" Massachusetts towns were
rethinking their involvement in the program. In Newton, officials
were drafting a letter demanding that the ADL change its position.

"We’re incredulous," Marianne Ferguson, chairwoman of Newton’s Human
Rights Commission, said of Foxman’s refusal to characterize the
Armenian massacre as genocide. "To try and come to understand how
they came to this conclusion . . . it’s mind-boggling."

ONLY ONE ANTI-HAIL SYSTEM CURRENTLY OPERATING IN ARMENIA

Panorama.am
19:46 16/08/2007

Those from the provinces of Lori and Aragadzotn who sustained damage
from recent hail storms are not included in the current session of the
leaders of the state agency dealing with these issues. The session’s
leader is assistant prime minister Hovik Aprahamyan, who has until now,
as is usual, not attended to the issue.

As reported, on August 14 wind and hail tore roofs off of buildings
and damaged agricultural crop areas.

Similar weather conditions are expected again, on the evenings of
August 17-18.

Agency reports state that only one anti-hail system is operating in
Armenia, in the region of Ashtarak, with plans for the placement
of another in Armavir. The system in Ashtarak protects an area of
12,000 hectares.

"The systems work by radar, detecting weather changes and acting
accordingly," an agency member stated, adding that in the event of
hail in coming days, the anti-hail system would disperse any dangerous
storm clouds.

CONVICTED HARDLINER CONDEMNS AUTHORITIES’ ‘VIOLENCE’
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug 13 2007

A prominent Karabakh war veteran convicted by a Yerevan court last
week has urged the authorities "to stop ruling over the country
with violence."

Zhirayr Sefilian, who was acquitted by the lower court of the charge
of calling for a violent overthrow of government but found guilty of a
lesser charge of illegal arms possession, said in an RFE/RL interview
on Monday that what happened to him and his two friends during the past
eight months was a case of flagrant violence used by the authorities.

"It is a violence to jail an innocent person who did not commit any
crime. I want to remind that violence begets violence. The sooner they
stop this violence, the better it will be for them," said Sefilian,
who was sentenced to 18-month imprisonment for possessing a gun
presented to him as a gift by Karabakh’s former defense minister
Samvel Babayan in 1998.

Sefilian’s lawyer has already appealed the verdict at a higher court.

Sefilian, who has already spent eight months in pre-trial detention,
believes the case will be solved in his favor. And even if the appeals
court upholds the verdict, Sefilian believes he has all grounds to
be released on parole having served a third of his sentence.

Sefilian, a Lebanese citizen, thinks that what happened to him and his
fellow combatants Vartan Malkhasian and Vahan Aroyan was a retribution
for their firm stand on the Karabakh issue opposing any territorial
concessions to Azerbaijan and also for their contacts with Armenia’s
opposition forces.

Vartan Malkhasian, a senior member of Sefilian’s hard-line pressure
group called the Alliance of Armenian Volunteers, was found guilty
on the sole charge of calling for a violent overthrow of government
and was sentenced to two years in prison.

The third defendant in the case, Vahan Aroyan, who had been charged
only with illegal arms possession, was found guilty and sentenced to
18-month imprisonment.

Prosecutors based the criminal case against Sefilian and Malkhasian
mainly on the two men’s speeches at the December 2, 2006 founding
congress of their organization. Sefilian and Malkhasian were arrested
soon after that. Aroyan was arrested later after National Security
Service (NSS) investigators found an arms cache hidden in his village
house in southern Armenia.

The NSS also claimed Sefilian and Malkhasian planned to mount an armed
uprising against the government ahead of the parliamentary elections
in May.

Both protested their innocence all along and denounced the case as
politically motivated.

Sefilian primarily addresses his critical remarks to President Robert
Kocharian whom he accuses of personally ordering their imprisonment.

He claims they have repeatedly received warnings in connection with
their activities.

"But they saw it was impossible and had to do something. But for
those speeches, they would have anyway made up something to have us
arrested in December," Sefilian told RFE/RL.

Sefilian, who refuses to accept the results of the 2003 presidential
election that reelected Robert Kocharian Armenia’s president, claims
the authorities had on many occasions tried to "bribe" him by offering
various privileges.

"But I said it’s impossible to achieve a positive result in this
system. Either my service will be pointless, or I will become corrupt
myself," Sefilian said.

Now Sefilian believes they will still remain a factor in the upcoming
presidential election despite the punishment imposed on them, which
many observers claim was used to eliminate the nationalist activists
from politics.

"For people like us it is not a punishment. It is a struggle. No one
can tell us to keep silent for five months," Sefilian said. "Do not
let the people have the impression that we are weak because we are
imprisoned. They [the authorities] have committed such crimes that
they don’t know how to get away with them now."

ROSTOV POLICE MOVE TO A NEW BEAT

Story from BBC NEWS:
/6944528.stm
Published: 2007/08/14 07:09:06 GMT

In the third of a series from southern Russia, the BBC’s Steven
Eke reports on the challenges facing police in Rostov, a city once
associated with gangland violence.

I joined a deputy divisional commander, Ilya Zaporozhtsev, and his
junior, squad commander Sergei Kubov, as they went out on weekend duty.

Both are members of the patrol service, a division of the Russian
police (militsiya) .

They drove at a leisurely speed, keeping a sharp eye out for anything
unusual.

Thriving, bustling Rostov-on-Don is a major city, the capital of
Russia’s southern federal region, with a population of more than one
million. It is attracting investors and its wide thoroughfares have
taken on a smart, modern look.

Rostov-on-Don’s authorities are running a "safe city programme"
aimed at curbing crime.

The policy includes a much tougher approach to the registration of
migrants and foreigners.

The police explained to me that, in essence, it means tracking people
from the moment they enter Russia to the moment they leave, or simply
move location.

Alert buttons

The other key element of this programme is making the police more
accessible.

The authorities have established "alert buttons" at key points in
the city.

By pressing a button installed on a special panel, the caller
immediately establishes a video link to police headquarters to report
a problem.

The officers stopped to carry out an ID check on two young men near
Rostov’s main train station.

It turned out that both were refugees from Abkhazia, a breakaway
region of Georgia.

While Division Commander Zaporozhtsev briskly interrogated the men
about their presence and movements, Commander Kubov radioed their
details through to police headquarters.

Everything was in order, and they were allowed to go after a few
minutes.

I pointed out that ethnic minorities in Russia are often specifically
targeted for such checks, and that they consider them racist.

Division Commander Zaporozhtsev rejected this. He insisted that
specific types of crime were overwhelmingly committed by particular
ethnic groups.

Georgians, he said, carried out robberies and burglaries. Azeris,
he added, were to blame for the high rates of crime at outdoor markets.

Both officers said they enjoyed their work, although they occasionally
saw things that were very difficult to deal with, and which they
would rather not discuss.

‘Father of the mafia’

Salaries have grown, but remain very low by comparison with Western
countries.

Rostov-on-Don has a reputation in Russia as a violent and dangerous
place.

Indeed, it is sometimes referred to popularly as the "father of
the mafia".

Neither officer I accompanied had lost colleagues to violent attacks
in recent times.

However, they said stabbings and shootings were constant dangers they
had to be ready for.

They were armed with pistols and carried body armour in the vehicle.

Human rights groups in Russia and abroad often accuse the police of
brutality towards detainees – indeed, of the widespread use of torture.

The Russian government acknowledges there is a problem, but insists
it is the exception, rather than the rule.

I asked Division Commander Zaporozhtsev how he responded to such
accusations.

Brutality allegations

He suggested human rights activists should put themselves in the
position of the police and Russia’s prosecutors, who work in a country
with high rates of violent and organised crime.

He had a tough line on the death penalty. Russia has observed a
moratorium on executions for many years.

But a majority of politicians and ordinary people would like to see
the "highest measure of punishment", as it is known, remain on the
statute books.

Division Commander Zaporozhtsev said he felt strongly that "murderers
and terrorists" should face the death penalty.

I found ordinary people extremely reluctant to talk to me about
the police.

Most waved me away when I brought the subject up. However, there was
one exception.

An ethnic Armenian taxi driver was scathing. In Soviet times, he said,
the police saw their role as patriotic defenders of the motherland.

Now, he asserted, people join the police for the power it gives them
over ordinary people, especially when it comes to extracting bribes.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Heirs of Armenian Genocide survivors to hold third conference
10.08.2007 16:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met Friday
with Karen Mikaelian, a member of the committee for organization of
congress of heirs of the Armenian Genocide survivors. Two previous
forums were held in Yerevan in 1917 and 1918.

Stressing the necessity of elaborating common demands, Mr Mikaelian
said the committee has already held several meetings and developed a
statement on appointment of plenipotentiaries.

`The Armenian Diaspora should get prepared for the forum. Religious
and public organizations should discuss the existing problems,’
Minister Oskanian said for his part, the RA MFA press office reported.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 10, 2007 Friday

DRAFT MILITARY DOCTRINE OF AZERBAIJAN;
… will be hopefully adopted in September

R. Orujev

MILITARY DOCTRINE OF AZERBAIJAN MAY BE ADOPTED THIS AUTUMN; The
parliament of Azerbaijan will discuss a draft military doctrine this
autumn.

Zakhid Oruj, member of the Commission for National Security and
Defense of the Milli Mejlis (parliament of Azerbaijan), told the APA
news agency a draft military doctrine was expected in the parliament
one of these days. The lawmaker expects the document to be adopted
this autumn. "Military doctrine will outline the priorities of
development of the Armed Forces and facilitate military reforms," he
said.

This newspaper approached Oruj for comment. "The news agency
misquoted me somewhat," the lawmaker said. "I said I have reasons to
believe the document is already in the Milli Mejlis. So far as I
know, work on it is over now, and the document was submitted to the
parliament. President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Ilham Aliyev,
signed the National Security Concept two months ago and pointed out
that the government had three months to come up with a draft military
doctrine. I do not doubt that the schedule of our autumn session will
include a discussion of the draft doctrine."

"The OSCE conference in Baku lasted two days. We spent them with
Oruj," independent military expert, Uzeir Jafarov, said. "I told him
I was concerned over delays with the military doctrine. The lawmaker
said he was stone-cold confident we will have our doctrine before the
year is over. What will the document be centered around? So far as I
know, it will outline the priorities of military activity of the
country in the nearest future. I also believe that Armenia will be
mentioned in the document as a country encroaching on the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan, and sisterly Turkey as a strategic military
partner. All in all, the document will be mostly composed of general
phrases on how security structures and state power structures should
go about ensuring the security of Azerbaijan and its territorial
integrity."

According to the expert, the document was actually drafted long ago.
"When I was with the Defense Ministry in 2003, my colleagues and I
participated in the work on the document," Jafarov said. "The
powers-that-be decided to have it discussed by the parliament only
now. If you ask me, the document bears a strong resemblance to the
military doctrine of the Russian Federation. Its authors did take a
great deal from the doctrines of Russia, Turkey, and the Ukraine."

"Foreign specialists from Turkey, United States, and Germany helped
us with the draft military doctrine. And so did NATO," Jashar
Jafarli, the head of the Union of Retired Officers, said.

Source: Ekho (Baku), August 4, 2007, EV

Translated by A. Ignatkin

EXPIRED AND FALSE FOODS IMPORTED IN ARMENIA FROM TURKEY

arminfo
2007-08-10 18:24:00

False foodstuffs are imported in Armenia mainly from Turkey, Head of
the Consumers’ Rights Protection public organization Abgar Yeghoyan
said at a Roundtable on the topic "Food safety problems and the main
ways to overcome them," Friday.

A. Yeghoyan said the monthly monitoring by the organization exposed
some violations in the Armenian food market. In particular, the
violations were connected with unmarked and expired products, false
foods and products having no certificates. The laboratory examinations
conducted by the organization revealed colibaccilus in 5 types of
imported products. Last year the Ministry of Agriculture amended the
Law on safety of foodstuffs. The parliament approved it in November
2006. Under the given law, the parliament approved an act providing
for confiscation and utilization of dangerous food and flavours from
the market.

The event organizer was the Consumers’ Right Protection public
organization jointly with the World Bank program of assistance to
state agricultural reforms.