Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

INTERVIEW OF ARMENIAN PRESIDENT WITH AL-JAZEERA FAILURE OF COUNTRY’S
COMPLEMENTARY FOREIGN POLICY: LEADER OF ARMENIAN MARXIST PARTY
ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
October 20, 2006 Friday
The recent interview of Armenian President Robert Kocharyan with
Al-Jazeera is a full and scandalous failure of the country’s
complementary foreign policy, said David Hakobyan, Leader of the
Armenian Marxist Party, at the Discussion Club “Pakagits,” Friday.
He said it was for the first time in this interview that
Robert Kocharyan spoke of the possibility of transferring the 7
liberated regions to Azerbaijan and of the prospects of creating
a Confederation of Armenia and Nagorny Karabakh. “No returns –
everything or nothing!” As regards the Confederation, it is absurd
as a Confederation can be formed by two different ethnic people and
not by the one people and two states. “Confederation of Armenia and
NKR is a hallucination of Artsakh Vikings,” the Marxist said.

FIRST EVER POLISH-ARMENIAN AND ARMENIAN-POLISH DICTIONARY PUBLISHED
Armenpress
Oct 18 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 18, ARMENPRESS; A Polish publisher in Krakow has
published the first ever Polish-Armenian and Armenian-Polish dictionary
that contains about 15,000 entries in each section.
The dictionary was compiled by Polish and Armenian professors at
Jagellon University in Poland.
Rafael Hambardzumian, a Yerevan-based professor, who also was involved
in the work, said the dictionary is intended for those Poles who want
to learn Armenian and thousands of ethnic Armenians who have settled
in recent years in Poland.

POWER OF ARMENIAN WOMEN IN BUSINESS
By Gohar Gevorgian
AZG Armenian Daily
20/10/2006
The Program for Development of Armenian Average and Minor Enterprises,
in collaboration with US AID and “Logos Expo” Center initiated
“Armenian Women in Business 2006” Second National Trade Exhibition
at Arno Babajanian Concert Hall. Over 60 Armenian business women will
represent the production of their companies, including food, clothes,
textile production, perfume, publishing activities, applied arts,
hand crafts, souvenirs, carpet weaving and other spheres.
The exhibition is aimed to open new opportunities for businesswomen in
the home and foreign markets. It will also help to inform about their
activities and capacities. The exhibition will last till October 21.
It is expected that a press conference, meeting of business women,
round table and gala concert will be held within the framework of
the program.

ERDOGAN CALLS ON TURKS TO EMBRACE DISSIDENT NOBEL WINNER
Anatolian Times, Turkey
Oct 18 2006
ANKARA – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on his
compatriots to wholeheartedly embrace 2006 Nobel literature laureate
Orhan Pamuk and “put aside” the controversies he has stirred up in
the past, in remarks published Monday.
“Let’s put aside the polemics. The prize is a first for a son of Turkey
and it will be wrong for us to underestimate it,” Erdogan said in a
television interview to be aired late Monday, excerpts of which were
published in the best-selling newspaper Hurriyet.
“We must congratulate him,” he said. “It would be wrong to mix what
Pamuk has said in the past and the fact that he has won this award.”
The 54-year-old Pamuk, who has long had bad blood with the state,
landed himself in court on charges of “insulting Turkishness” and won
the reputation of a “traitor” among nationalist circles when he told
a Swiss magazine last year that “one million Armenians and 30,000
Kurds were killed in these lands.”
His remarks were widely seen as an acknowledgement that the Ottoman
Turks committed genocide against Armenians during World War I,
a label that Ankara fiercely rejects.
Ironically, Thursday’s announcement of his Nobel prize came shortly
after the lower house of the French parliament voted a bill that
would make it a crime to deny that the killings were genocide,
infuriating Ankara.
The celebration of Pamuk’s award at home was overshadowed by skeptics
who argued that the author won the favors of the West not for his
literary skills but for his vocal criticism of his country
The divisions plagued even the highest state echelons: while Erdogan
personally called Pamuk, currently in New York, to congratulate him,
President Ahmet Necdet has remained mum, contrary to his tradition
of issuing congratulations to international achievements by Turks.
On Friday, Pamuk joined the chorus of criticism of the French bill,
saying that it flouted France’s “tradition of liberal and critical
thinking.”
The court case against Pamuk, in which he risked up to three years
in jail, was dropped on a technicality in January.
The writer first drew the ire of the state in the mid-1990s when he
denounced heavy-handed policies against the Kurdish minority.
The state extended an olive branch in 1998, offering him the accolade
of “State Artist,” but Pamuk declined.

GUL COMPLAINS TO EU TROYKA ABOUT FRANCE
Sabah, Turkey
Oct 17 2006
In the EU-Turkey Troyka meeting, Gul reminded that France has approved
the bill of Armenian genocide denial and said: “EU members retreated
from the fundamental freedoms, which caused distress.”
In the EU-Turkey Troyka meeting held in Luxemburg, the representative
of Turkey, the minister of foreign affairs Abdullah Gul communicated
the disappointment and reactions in the Turkish public caused by the
Armenian genocide denial bill approved by the French parliament. The
minister of foreign affairs said that while Turkey is taking step
forward to the fundamental freedoms, EU members retreated from the
fundamental freedoms, which caused distress.”

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT GIVES HIGH MARK TO COOPERATION WITH WB
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Oct 18 2006
YEREVAN, October 18. /ARKA/. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
made a high appraisal of Armenia’s cooperation with the World Bank
in developing the country’s economy.
Many years of cooperation with the WB have produced good results in
the development of Armenia’s economy, President Kocharyan stated at
his meeting with Director of the WB Yerevan office Roger Robinson,
who is completing his mission in Armenia.
Kocharyan stressed structural reforms in the state government system,
infrastructure development, poverty reduction programs as important
factors in ensuring the country’s progress.
In his turn, Robinson pointed out positive changes in Armenia and
the WB’s contribution to this process.
During the meeting President Robert Kocharyan wished Rogert Robinson
success in his further activities, expressing the confidence that
they will be as effective as in Armenia.

NKR MFA PRESS SERVICE INFORMS
Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Oct 17 2006
In the morning of October 5 the OSCE mission including NKR experts
started the monitoring of the area adjacent to the front line
between the armed forces of Azerbaijan and NKR. They started the
monitoring on the Azerbaijani side. Earlier the NKR government had
insisted on postponing the monitoring to include representatives
of NKR in the mission, and sent a note to the OSCE. “We are sorry
that the OSCE did not provide necessary conditions to include NKR
representatives in the OSCE mission set up to study the environment in
the areas which suffered from fires. However, this does not exclude
the possibility of including Karabakh experts in the OSCE mission,
therefore the mission was postponed to include NKR representatives,”
stated NKR Foreign Minister Georgy Petrossian in answer to the
question of news reporters on the action of official Stepanakert
connected with the visit of the OSCE experts. Georgy Petrossian
also informed that the NKR foreign ministry sent a note to the OSCE
stating clearly the stance of the government of the republic on the
participation of experts from Karabakh. “Part of the territories to
be monitored is under the jurisdiction of NKR, which is sufficient
reason for our participation in the mentoring on the opposite side,”
emphasized the minister. According to the reliable information that
the NKR authorities possess, a dramatic situation has occurred in
the Karabakh territories occupied by Azerbaijan: the forests in the
region of Shahumian are destroyed, the ecological balance of the east
of Martakert was broken, where the structure of land and microflora
were damaged.

Press Release
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Father Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
DURI NG A MEETING IN ANTELIAS
BISHOP HUBERT EXPRESSES SUPPORT FOR THE ARMENIAN CAUSE AND ARAM I
DEMANDS MORE FROM GERMANY IN THIS RESPECT
The president of the EKD Council Bishop Wolfgang Hubert expressed his
support for the Armenian Cause following a meeting with the Catholicos of
Cilicia, His Holiness Aram I, in Antelias on October 14. The Bishop visited
Antelias with an official delegation representing the German Churches and
the Ambassador of Germany to Lebanon, Dr. Marius Haas.
His Holiness and the Bishop, two long-time friends, made the focus of their
discussions the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and in that context,
the issue of Turkey’s membership in the European Union.
The two spiritual leaders also discussed various issues including the
importance of Christian-Muslim dialogue in a new world situation as well as
the necessity of strengthening Christianity in the Middle East.
On the Lebanese front, Bishop Hubert talked about his impressions from his
meeting with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora the same day.
The Bishop considered his third visit to Antelias to be historical during a
luncheon organized after the meeting in his honor. Bishop Kegham
Khatcherian, Primate of the Diocese of Lebanon, members of the Cilician
Brotherhood, ministers and Members of Parliament, representatives of
Armenian political parties and organizations and members of ecumenical
committee attended the luncheon.
After welcoming his guests, the His Holiness Aram I commended the brave
position adopted by the German churches in recognizing the Armenian
Genocide. Addressing Bishop Hubert and the German Ambassador, however, His
Holiness stressed that the Armenian nation demands more from Germany as a
defender of human rights.
The Pontiff presented to the German Bishop a copy of “Voices from Germany”,
a German book grouping the statements of about 50 German theologians,
politicians, intellectuals, Genocide scholars and human rights activists.
The book was published in Antelias on the occasion of the 90th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide.
Speaking about the pursuit of the Armenian Cause, the German Spiritual
leader assured that he feels with the Armenians their pain and their
timeless pursuit of justice.
The Bishop also talked about the strong leadership and the great
contribution that His Holiness Aram I brought to the global ecumenical
movement and to the World Council of Churches in particular. “In the field
of ecumenical affairs, one should go thirty years back to trace the start of
our friendship. His Holiness Aram I’s seriousness towards the movement and
its mission is worthy of praise,” he said.
Following an exchange of gifts between the two spiritual leaders, the German
delegation visited the Memorial of the Armenian Genocide in the
Catholicosate, where Bishop Hubert prayed for the souls of the one and a
half million victims of the Armenian Genocide.
The meeting also provided an opportunity to look into new prospects for
cooperation between the Armenian and German nations, as well as with the
Armenian and German protestant churches.
##
View photos here:

*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

SOLDIER WOUNDED BY AZERI SNIPER DIED IN YEREVAN
PanARMENIAN.Net
18.10.2006 14:07 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian soldier Alexander Papakhchayan wounded by
an Azeri sniper died in the Erebuni medical center in Yerevan October
16. As RA Defense Minister’s Spokesman, colonel Seyran Shahsuvaryan
told PanARMENIAN.Net, 19-year-old Alexander Papakhchayan was wounded
in the chest.
Investigation is being carried out.

COURT REJECTS PARTY’S CLAIM AGAINST POLICE
Panorama.am
15:07 17/10/06
District court of Yerevan rejected today the claim of New Times
Party Chairman Aram Karapetyan against the Armenian police. Karapetyan
claimed that the police have violated the Law on Freedom of Information
by refusing to supply with requested information.
Armenian police posted information in its web site on May 2, 2005
saying 8 out of 21 interviewed people close to New Times Party and its
chairman Aram Karapetyan have criminal records. The police interviewed
the mentioned people in relation to a clash during a demonstration
organized by New Times Party in Sevan.
Hayots Ashkhar (Armenian World) newspaper cited this information
in its September 8, 2006 issue saying the real criminals are around
Aram Karapetyan. The newspaper said that in relation to Karapetyan”s
recent statements as part of anti-criminal initiative.
So, Karapetyan applied to the Armenian police requiring to name the
persons who have criminal records and are in his close team. New Times
Party says that the police information posted in the mentioned site
is inaccurate as only 3 not 8 people involved in the demonstration
have criminal records.
The court rejected Aram Karapetyan’s claim based on point 2, item
1 of article 8 of the Freedom of Information Law which prohibits to
unveil information on somebody’s private life.
New Times Party says they will check the supporting argument and if
it is true each member of New Times Party will require information
about himself/herself.
The party also says they reacted to the police information so late
because their site has not affect on public opinion whereas the
newspaper does. The party also believes that the pro-government
newspaper, Hayots Ashkhar, deliberately discredits Aram Karapetyan
because of his affiliation to anti-criminal movement.