Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

DID ARFD AND LEVON TER-PETROSYAN CONCLUDE A BARGAIN?

A1+
[06:32 pm] 01 October, 2007

The Orinats Yerkir Party (OYP) has been suggested meeting with Levon
Ter-Petrosyan.

"In case the Republican Party (HHK) gets such a proposal, the party
board will first consider it and then make a corresponding decision"
HHK Chairman Karen Karapetyan said.

"In case we are invited to a meeting with the RA former President,
the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) will consider the proposal with
its Coalition partners," BHK member Naira Zohrabyan said.

"The meeting does not imply that the BHK, HHK or ARF Dashnaktsutyun
will ally with the All-Armenian Party (HHSh)," she added.

It is due to mention that the BHK leader Gagik Tsarukyan takes
Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s nomination at the presidential election quite
naturally.

In answer to our question whether the BHK is bound by the memorandum
commitments, Naira Zohrabyan said, "Gagik Tsarukyan has stated many
times that the BHK will stick to the memorandum commitments. The BHK
and HHK will second a joint candidate at the presidential election –
be it Serge Sargsyan or someone else."

The meeting of the ARFD and Levon Ter-Petrosyan at the "Simon
Vratsyan" Centre was organised by the HHSh, NA Deputy Chairman and
ARF Dashnaktsutyun Bureau member Vahan Hovhannisyan said.

"The meeting was noteworthy as we hadn’t met for 13-14 years,"
Hovhannisyan noted.

PanARMENIAN.Net

CSTO Defense Ministers stand against U.S. anti-missile defense shield
in Europe
28.09.2007 16:10 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was held in Bishkek
September 28. `CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha and Russian
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov as well as Defense Ministers of
Kirghizia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Belarus and Armenia attended the
meeting. The participants discussed the U.S. plans to mount
anti-missile assets in Eastern Europe,’ reads a statement issued by
United Russia party.

`Deployment of any forces represents a menace. Violation of balance
of forces in the region can have unforeseeable consequences. The
states where the assets are mounted will assume the greatest
risk. That is why decisions should be taken in compliance with the
international agreements and opinion of neighbor states, including the
CSTO,’ said Leonid Maltsev, the Belarusian Minister of Defense.

Upon completion of the meeting CSTO Sec. Gen. handed jubilee orders
`CSTO is 15 years old’ to the Defense Ministers.

NKR DEFENCE MINISTER

Azat Artsakh Tert, Nagorno Karabakh Republic
Sept 27 2007

Movses Hakobian Movses Hakobian was born in 1965, February 4th, in
Chartar village of Martouni region. In 1982 he finished Chartar’s
school and the same year entered the high equipollent commanding
technical school. In 2002 he graduated from Military College of Armed
Forces Headquarters of RF. In 1986-1987 he served in the ranks of
the Soviet Army and in 1987-1988 – in Afghanistan. In 1988-1992 he
served in 366th motor-rifle regiment placed in Stepanakert, holding
commanding posts. In 2002 he was appointed the adviser of DM of RA
and in 2003-2007 he was the first assistant of commander of Defence
Army – the chief of the headquarters. From 2007 he holds a post of
the NKR Defence Army. He has a military title of general-lieutenant.

He was rewarded with a number of NKR and RA orders and medals. He is
a hero of Artsakh- bearer of the order "Golden Eagle". He is married
and has 3 daughters.

NKR MINISTER OF FINANCE

Azat Artsakh Tert, Nagorno Karabakh Republic
Sept 27 2007

Spartak Tevossian Spartak Tevossian was born in 1949, in Martouni
region of Nagorno-Karabakh. In 1964 he finished the eight-year school
of Khnoushinak. In 1967 he graduated from agricultural technical
college. In 1976 he graduated from Erevan State University, faculty of
"finances and credit". In 1970-1979 he worked at provincial financial
department. In 1979-1986 he held the posts of an assistant of the main
manager of agricultural complex of Nagorno-Karabakh, and in 1986-1987
– first assistant of the chairman of Agroproduct. In 1987-1989 he
was a manager of Agrobank and in 1989-1991 – the chief of financial
department of NK provincial executive committee. In 1992-1998 he
workwd at the post of the chairman of Economics and Finances of NKR,
In 1995-1998 he officiated as the first NKR vice-prime minister
and the minister of Economics and Finances. In 1998-1999 he was a
manager of Agrobank. In 1999 he was appointed again a minister of
Finances. From 2002 he holds a post of the NKR Minister of Economics
and Finances. He is married and has 3 children.

INTERNATIONAL RIGHT TO KNOW DAY TO BE MARKED IN ARMENIA

ArmRadio – Public Radio, Armenia
Sept 27 2007

The Freedom of Information Annual Award Ceremony, co-organized by
the Freedom of Information Centre and the OSCE Office in Yerevan,
to be held on 28 September, marks the International Right to Know
Day in Armenia. The event aims to encourage state institutions,
journalists, NGOs and citizens to better implement the freedom of
information legislation in Armenia.

The positive and negative awards (golden keys and locks) will be
presented to the winners among state institutions, local NGOs,
journalists and ordinary citizens with the best or worst records in
providing information to the public and exercising the right to know.

AZERBAIJAN MAKES PREPARATIONS FOR "LIBERATION MISSION"
by Victor Myasnikov
Translated by A. Ignatkin

Agency WPS
Defense And Security (Russia)
Source: Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye, No 32, September 21 – 27, 2007, p. 2
September 26, 2007 Wednesday

It hopes to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem before the 2016
Olympic Games

WILL THERE BE A WAR BETWEEN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN?; Azerbaijan makes
threatening statements. Armenian specialists dismiss them as a bluff
and point out that neither Europe nor the United States wants a war
in the region they are getting oil and gas from.

"I’ve said on more than one occasion already that our patience is not
limitless," President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, told Lithuanian
correspondents on September 13. "There must be some framework,
including time limits, to the negotiations. Once we are convinced
that they are pointless, we may resort to restoring territorial
integrity by all means available, including the military, and we
admit it openly. We should be ready for it and we will be ready."

Aliyev emphasized that the Azerbaijani military budget equalled all of
the Armenian state budget. Baku applies for hosting the 2016 Olympic
Games, and Aliyev is convinced that the conflict over Karabakh will
be settled by then – "by peaceful means or otherwise."

"Otherwise" stands for war, of course.

The parliament of Azerbaijan is about to discuss and adopt the new
military doctrine. Experts say that the document will identify Armenia
as an enemy and one of the worst threats to security of Azerbaijan.

"Azerbaijan does not want to go to war but Armenia seized 20% of our
lands and would not give them back. The situation being what it is,
we retain the right to liberate them by sheer strength of arms and no
foreign state or international organization will condemn us for it,"
Eldar Sabiroglu of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry Press Service said.

The annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia may provide Baku with
a casus belli. Political observer Vugar Siedov, living in Hungary
nowadays, claims that this step on Armenia’s part will untie the hands
of Azerbaijan and give it a legitimate cause to launch an offensive.

As an oil exporter to Europe and a transit country, Azerbaijan is
better off financially and enjoys certain support from the West. Baku
does not hesitate to flex its newly obtained muscles or remind the
rest of the world of the leverage it has.

The situation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border meanwhile deteriorated
over the last several months. According to the Azerbaijani Defense
Ministry, Armenian troops violated the truce on 256 occasions between
January and August this year. Eleven servicemen of the Azerbaijani
regular army were killed in these skirmishes, ten wounded. 2006 was
marginally more tranquil: 220 violations of the truce and deaths of
fourteen Azerbaijanis.

Border skirmishes occur on a daily bases, usually at several locations
at once. Two Azerbaijani servicemen were killed in early September. The
military claims that fire was returned and that several Armenians
were killed.

The Armenians claim in their turn that the provocations are engineered
by the Azerbaijanis and that skirmishes are actually fewer than Baku
lets on. Yerevan and Stepanakert (the capital of the self-proclaimed
Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh) never release any information on
their losses.

The Azerbaijan Armed Forces are 75,000 men strong, the Armenian nearly
45,000 men. The Azerbaijani command claims that the regular army is
properly trained and equipped with sophisticated military hardware. The
military budget of Azerbaijan reached $1.1 billion in 2007. In 2006,
Azerbaijan bought 17 tanks and armored personnel carriers, 17 aircraft,
and 13 artillery pieces from the Ukraine alone.

Baku counts on support from the West and on its understanding.

Yerevan in its turn recently found an ally nearby – Iran. Tehran has
been keeping an eye on contacts between Azerbaijan and the United
States and, more broadly, with NATO. It is upset that Baku may use
the territory of Azerbaijan available as a bridgehead for an attack
on the Iranian nuclear sites. Hence its rapprochement with Yerevan.

On the other hand, Iran is not exactly helpless because the road
to the Nakhichevan runs across Iranian territory. Close the route,
and Nakhichevan will succumb to an economic crisis.

Claiming all the time that the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict does not
concern it, Iran signed an accord with Armenia on the construction
of a hydroelectric power plant on the Araks River. The catch is,
Azerbaijan regards this territory as belonging to it, illegally seized
by Armenia. The energy minister of Iran said the other day that
unless the problem of the occupied lands is solved soon (the lands
that belonged to Azerbaijan, not Karabakh as such), construction of
the hydroelectric power plant will begin no matter what.

Baku in the meantime is advancing contacts and cooperation
with Washington. The US Department of State actively supports
Azerbaijani leaders’ demands for the immediate release of the occupied
territories. The Armenian lobby was quite strong in Washington once,
but Armenia is friends with Iran now and that put it on the other
side of the fence. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, built first
and foremost in the interests of the United States, is playing its
part too.

Armenian experts in the meantime are convinced that there will be no
war. "Neither Europe nor the United States need a war in this region,"
political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazarjan said.

"Azerbaijan knows that the decision to launch an offensive on
its part will result in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and the
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipelines going up in flames." The West needs
oil and gas delivered to it on schedule. It does not want their prices
to spiral.

Melik-Shahnazarjan suspects that the Caspian oil fields will
be depleted by 2025 and that this is precisely when some radical
solutions to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem may be embarked on. In any
event, no war in the region will remain local for long. "The situation
being what it is, I’m not even sure that Azerbaijan will survive as
a sovereign state," Melik-Shahnazarjan said.

The situation seems to be improving some, assisted by the visit
of chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group to Baku. Yuri Merzlyakov of
Russia reiterated that Moscow regards Nagorno-Karabakh as a part of
Azerbaijan. Baku is so elated that it does not even rule out the
possibility of a meeting between presidents. The war seems a less
immediate prospect.

AZG Armenian Daily #172, 21/09/2007

Local Politics

ARF NOMINATES CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS TO OPEN DISPUTE IN
SOCIETY

Armen Rustamian, member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(ARF), gave quite a positive evaluation to the possible political
comeback of ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosian and his nomination as a
presidential contender. He said this during the press conference at
"Friday" club, adding that his party’s reaction to it would be normal.

Armen Rustamian, a chairman of a parliament committee on foreign
relations and one of two top ARF members (the second is deputy
parliament speaker Vahan Hovhanesian) short-listed by ARF recent
congress as a possible ARF presidential candidate, said
Ter-Petrosian’s re-injection into politics would make political
struggle ideology-based.

Rustamian said he could not predict what policy Ter-Petrosian may
have."It has been a decade since we stopped hearing Ter-Petrosian’s
opinions. I do not know whether they have changed, but I know that
when the ARF was in opposition to his administration, there were two
major ideologies in Armenia’s society, one was the national ideology
(of the ARF) and the other was denying everything that was national,
being actually a cosmopolitan ideology," he said.

Rustamian further said Ter-Petrosian’s potential nomination would
bring about a huge subject for debates which he said may help many
swinging voters to made their final choice before going to the polls
next year.

By Marieta Khachatrian, Translated by K.A

NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT DEPENDS NOT ON ARMENIAN HEAD BUT ON ARMENIAN POLICY: AZERBAIJANI POLITICIAN

Trend News Agency
19.09.2007 18:15:27

Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend S.Agayeva / Azerbaijan’s independent
politician Rasim Musabeyov considers it inaccurate to expect a
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict before and even after
the presidential elections in Armenia.

"The settlement of the conflict depends not on the replacement of
the Head of Armenia, but on change in Armenia’s policy," Musabeyov
said in an interview with Trend.

Highlighting the immense work of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group, who testify that the peaceful agreement is almost ready,
Musabeyov stressed that such a case has already taken place in
history. In 1996-1997 the conflicting sides not only devised a
peaceful agreement but also the former Presidents of Azerbaijan,
Heydar Aliyev, and of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, even announced
their agreement on the gradual plan. But nothing was achieved as a
result, the politician said.

"I have little hope that currently the work of the co-chairs will
bring concrete results. If after the elections the Armenians continue
their previous ambitious plans with regards to Azerbaijan, the conflict
will not be resolved," Musabeyov said.

Commenting on the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group, Matthew Bryza said
that the peaceful agreement is almost ready and several issues remain
unsettled. The politician said that if these issues will be dealing
with the existence or non-existence of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of
Azerbaijan, it will prevent the implementation of all previously
reached agreements.

Under the current situation Azerbaijan does not expect large-scale
changes in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, said the Deputy
Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Araz Azimov, commenting on the results
of the recent visit of the OSCE Minsk Group to Azerbaijan.

"I do not believe we can obtain any progress in the conflict settlement
from the current government of Armenia," he said.

The Deputy Minister once again confirmed the position of Baku on the
peaceful settlement saying that Azerbaijan is ready to support the
efforts of the mediators of the Minsk Group and intends to continue the
settlement talks within the Prague process. "It would be unfortunate
to lose the results achieved within the Prague process," he said.

The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988
due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Since 1992,
Armenia has occupied 20% of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and its seven surrounding districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan
and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active
hostilities ended. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia,
France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.

DASHNAKTSUTYUN SAY THEIR ACTION IS SERIOUS AND WILL ENHANCE THEIR IMPORTANCE

Lragir.am
19-09-2007 14:53:29

Armen Rustamyan, representative of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun’s Supreme
Body, stated the party’s stance on the upcoming presidential election
in a news conference on September 19 at the Friday Club. A few days ago
the ARF Dashnaktsutyun’s General Meeting decided to name president,
and nominated two: Armen Rustamyan and Vahan Hovanisyan, member of
the ARF Bureau . The ARF Dashnaktsutyun has to make a choice, and
the extraordinary General Meeting in November will decide which of
them will be Serge Sargsyan’s opponent.

Armen Rustamyan says the ARF Dashnaktsutyun is against the approach
that there is a candidate who has no alternative and whose victory
is predetermined. "The presidential election is going to be crucial
to shaping a truly balanced government in Armenia. And there is
a point of view which unfortunately is held by many to keep the
society in a climate that the outcome of the presidential election
is predetermined. This is the worst track which will paralyze the
political sphere and lead political developments into stagnation in
Armenia," Armen Rustamyan says. He says Dashnaktsutyun is against
this approach. According to him, the election must be real, and in
order to be real there must be a debate in the country on where the
country will be headed for in the upcoming 5 years.

The representative of the ARF Supreme Body says the present
stance of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun will shape a new role of the
party in the political sphere of Armenia, raising the importance
of the party considerably. Armen Rustamyan says since 1991 the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun has never named president. "I think this behavior of
the ARF Dashnaktsutyun was highly logical, but now we must become
involved in this debate as a full-right party," Armen Rustamyan says.

According to him, the activists who wonder how Dashnaktsutyun, which
is government, nominates a candidate apart from the government’s
candidate cannot understand what happened after May 12. "We have
explained that there were discussions in May when the format was
set that Dashnaktsutyun signed a collaboration agreement with the
coalition. It has already been discussed. Why are they surprised now?

It means they did not take it seriously when Dashnaktsutyun said it did
not join the coalition to nominate a candidate to the presidential
election," says the representative of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun’s
Supreme Body.

He says it is dangerous to shape a government with one pole, with
only one political force, when the president, the prime minister and
the parliament majority belong to the same political party. "Our
alternative we have stated, the difference of our approaches, is
crucial to a real election process," Armen Rustamyan says. He says
their participation is not a false alternative but a serious intention.

SEFILYAN REFUSES TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS OF THE COURT

AZG Armenian Daily #170
19/09/2007

Sefilian Trial

The Republic of Armenia Court of Appeals on Criminal and Military
Cases dismissed practically all the petitions of Jirayr Sefilyan’s and
Vardan Malkhasyan’s barristers during the trial, which continued today.

Jirayr Sefilian’s barrister Ara Zakarian emphasized in his statement
that the court’s decision to monitor the defendant’s telephone calls
was illegal, because such actions are only possible under the law
"On operational-investigation actions". There is no such law in
our country, yet. The National Assembly hasn’t still considered the
relevant draft-law. Based on this, the barrister petitioned not to
consider the decoding of telephone talks, since the monitoring of the
calls was done illegally. However, the court deliberated on the site
and decided that the monitoring was carried out with no violation of
the law, since Article 284 of the Code of Criminal Procedure defines
the order of carrying out investigative actions.

V. Malkhasyan’s barrister Mushegh Shushanyan recalled that in the
decoding of the defendant’s speech it is written "it is necessary
to fight against the authorities only with weapons" instead of the
words "it is necessary to fight against the authority with their
own weapons". This, according to him, was deliberately done by the
investigation agency to create false grounds for the accusation. Taking
into consideration the fact that the prosecuting party admitted
the fact of incorrect decoding of the above-mentioned fragment and
that the first judgment was based on the right variant, the judges
called the barrister not to insist on his petition of re-listening
to the speech recording. However, when M. Shushanyan insisted on his
petition, it was decided to postpone the consideration of the petition
till the stage of termination of court case.

Sefilyan’s barrister also petitioned not to consider the protocol on
search at the defendant’s work place as prosecution evidence. "Only
a criminal investigator on a concrete case may carry out search,
but Hakobyan is not a criminal investigator on a concrete case.

Consequently, he didn’t have the right to carry out investigative
action", A. Zakarian said. However, the court agreed to the
investigation agency’s fact on the necessity to search several
places simultaneously and didn’t satisfy the petition. Today the
public prosecutor Artur Lazarian asked to attach the xerocopy from
the "Explanatory dictionary of contemporary Armenian language" to
the case. In the dictionary, according to his confidence, barrister
Mushegh Shushanyan’s statement that only the imperative verbal form
(which was not used in Vardan Malkhasyan’s speech) can be understood
as an appeal, is disproved. M. Shushanyan said that the rendered
interpretation of the word "appeal" doesn’t disprove their case and
promised to speak on this in more detail later.

"The fact that my defendant didn’t take any actions after Vahan
Aroyan’s warning call proves that he didn’t intend to go into hiding,"
Ara Zakaryan, the counsel of Zhirayr Sefilyan.

According to him, one shouldn’t rule out that the leakage of
information about the planned detention of Zh.Sefilyan was organized
by special services to incite him to escape and then detain him. To
recall, several hours before Sefilyan was detained, Vahan Aroyan,
another participant in the Karabakh war, had rung up Zh.Sefilyan
and told him about the forthcoming arrest, referring to his friends’
information.

Today the Court of Appeals on Criminal and Military Cases finished the
trial phase. To note, tens of supporters of the opposition Heritage
Party and the Union of Armenian Volunteers held an extempore meeting
before the hearing. During the meeting, they demanded that Jirayr
Sefilian, Vardan Malkhasyan and Vahan Aroyan no more be prosecuted. The
prosecution, in their judgment is exceptionally a political command.

The next court session scheduled for September 25 will start with
the closing speeches of prosecution, defence, and the defendants.