Author: Tigranian Ani

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 29, 2008

Armenian foreign minister to pay first visit to Moscow

MOSCOW, May 29 (RIA Novosti) – Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian will arrive on his first official visit to Russia on
Thursday, a spokesman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.

During the three-day visit, Nalbandian is scheduled to meet with his
Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to discuss future cooperation in
"maintaining security and stability in the South Caucasus" and the
situation surrounding Nagorny Karabakh, Andrei Nesterenko said.

The ministers will also discuss joint approaches to improving
coordination in foreign policy between Moscow and Yerevan in line with
the CIS and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, as well as
the UN, the Council of Europe and the OSCE.

The Armenian foreign minister is also expected to meet with the head
of the State Duma committee on CIS affairs, Alexei Ostrovsky, and CSTO
General Secretary Nikolai Bordyuzha.

TEN YEARS AGO TODAY FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY RECOGNIZED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.05.2008 15:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Ten years ago, on May 29, 1998, the French National
Assembly adopted in first reading a bill recognizing the Armenian
Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.

"France recognizes publicly the Armenian Genocide of 1915," says the
bill signed by Laurent Fabius, President of French National Assembly.

On November 7, 2000 a similar bill was passed by the French Senate.

On October 12, 2006 the lower house of the French parliament adopted a
bill penalizing the Armenian Genocide denial. The document envisages a
year in prison and 45 thousand euro ($ 56,4 thousand) fine for denial
of the first genocide of the 20th century.

WHEN EVERYONE SPEAK ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE
Kima Yeghiazaryan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on May 28, 2008
Armenia

The 30th General Meeting of Armenian Revolutionary Dashnaktsutyun
party, launched on May 21, continued its work in Tsakhkadsor and was
over yesterday.

Representative of ARFD bureau, re-elected Hrant Margaryan convened a
press conference yesterday to introduce the results of the five-days
discussions, the announcements made during the General Meeting and
the new staff of ARFD bureau.

Estimating the results of the 30th General Meeting the representative
of ARFD bureau underscored: "The meeting stressed the importance of
the indispensability of a very strong organization, fair Armenia and
national unity."

As regards the new staff of the bureau, there is some change here –
firstly it has been reduced from 13 to 11 people and secondly Ministers
belonging to Dashnaktsutyun party – Aghvan Vardanyan, David Lokyan
and Levon Lazarian have become members of the bureau.

"It was a surprise for everyone to see Ministers as members of the
bureau," H. Margaryan said and added that during the coming week the
Ministers will resign and new members of Dashnaktsutyun party will
replace them.

He also said Vardanyan, Lokyan and Lazarian resigned of their
own accord.

"It was a personal decision. It is not the decision of the General
Meeting. They feel great responsibility towards their membership to
the bureau and for them it is more important than the position of
a Minister.

That is why they preferred to resign from their positions to be able
to fulfill their responsibilities as members of the bureau."

He also said it is up to ARFD Armenian Supreme Body to decide who will
hold the positions of the Ministers of employment and social issues,
agriculture, education and science. In the days to come they will
announce the names.

As we know the press belonging to Armenian Pan National Movement
responded aggressively to Hrant Margaryan’s speech during the opening
ceremony of the 30th General Meeting. The announcements made by the
members of ARFD bureau were so vulnerable for the activists and leaders
of Armenian Pan National Movement that they have started their attack
with different insulting expressions in Hrant Margaryan’s address.

Touching upon this fact H. Margaryan said: " What we said in our
opening speech is an indispensability, because we were feeling this
atmosphere of fear from the press belonging to Armenian Pan National
Movement and no one wanted to tell the truth. We said the truth –
logical and grounded in an analytical manner and we didn’t insult
anyone. And naturally we will never descend to the level of similar
publications and will never respond to them."

Reminding about the agreement reached during the meeting between
ARFD and Levon Ter-Petrosyan in the Autumn of 2007, he appealed
to the authors of the publications to hoist from that level:
"I appeal to Armenian Pan National Movement to keep the rivalry on
ideological-political level as we have already decided. Let’s fulfill
our agreement and continue to criticize one another barely on the
ideological-political plane."

To the question if there has been any discussions regarding March 1

developments and if ARFD accuses anyone else except Levon Ter-Petrosyan
and his supporters for those events, Hrant Margaryan said: "We have
never accused only one side. We have always said that the atmosphere
that was created during the campaign was leading to confrontation and
we appealed many times to everyone to avoid it. In my view everyone
is responsible for what happened but our conscience is clear because
at least we did our best to avert it."

Famous gymnast Albert Azaryan to carry flag of Armenian Olympic Team

2008-05-27 16:35:00

ArmInfo. Famous gymnast Albert Azaryan to carry flag of Armenian
Olympic Team at the opening of the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing,
Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Armen Grigoryan said at a press
conference Tuesday.

He said the National Olympic Committee of Armenia completed
organizational activities. ‘The uniform of our sportsmen has been
already ordered. A special attention will be paid also to the dress
cloths of the Armenian delegation’, the minister said.

‘Arevik Fashion Agency will provide the dress cloths for our sportsmen
for participation in the opening of Olympic Games’, he said.

He stressed that 3 Armenian sportsmen won participation in the Olympic
Games through the last qualifying tournament of Greco-Roman Wrestling.
Hence, a total of 23 Armenian sportsmen will participate in the Olympic
Games. Armenia has an opportunity to increase its participation through
the so-called white cards issued by international sport federation for
light athletics and swimming. ‘Of course we rely on our sportsmen but
it is untimely to speak of medals so far. Our sportsmen are ready to
fight’, he said. Grigoryan stressed that a specially set-up republican
headquarters is responsible for both physical training of sportsmen and
organizational issues.

PanARMENIAN.Net

South Caucasus security to be in focus of Moscow talks
with RA Foreign Minister
27.05.2008 18:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The rapid development of relations
between Moscow and Yerevan is conditioned by rich
political dialog which creates favorable atmosphere
for perfection of cooperation in various fields, said
a Russian Foreign Ministry official.

-The visit of Armenia’s Foreign Minister will take
place during a period when both Russia and Armenia
confirmed their determination to preserve the line
taken up previous leaders,- said Andrey Nesterenko.

-We are confident that the visit will help to cement
the Armenian-Russian cooperation on the world arena,-
he added, the RF MFA press office reported.

Commenting on the agenda of the talks, Mr Nesterenko
said, -We plan to coordinate Russia and Armenia’s
approaches to urgent international issues. We also
count for further close cooperation within the CIS,
CSTO, UN, CoE and OSCE,- he said.

Security and stability in the South Caucasus will also
be in focus. Moscow supposes that business contacts
facilitate to resolution of conflicts in the region,
according to him.

Touching upon the Karabakh problem, the diplomat said,
-Russia’s stance on the issue is unchangeable. We
intend to assist the sides in reaching a mutually
acceptable decision and stand as guarantor.-

FOREIGN MINISTER LEAVES FOR BRUSSELS AND MOSCOW

Panorama.am
21:20 26/05/2008

Tomorrow the Foreign Minister of Armenia Edvard Nalbandyan leaves
for Brussels and Moscow, reported the press service of the Foreign
Affairs Ministry.

According to the source on 28 May the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Edvard Nalbandyan and the Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan will
take part in 26+1 North Atlantic Council session in Brussels where
the officials will discuss Armenia-NATO cooperation activities,
the project implementation.

On 29 May Minister Edvard Nalbandyan leaves for Moscow for three-days
labor meeting. Minister Nalbandyan will have a meeting with Sergey
Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia, Aleksey Ostrovski, the chairman
of State Duma CIS countries affairs committee and Nikolay Borduzhay,
secretary in chief of Collective Security Contract organization. On
1 June Minister Nalbandyan will return back to Armenia.

NowLebanon, Lebanon
May 25 2008

Pakradounian is worried that Sleiman will suffer the same fate as Lahoud

May 25, 2008

MP Hagop Pakradounian stressed to Voice of Lebanon radio the
importance of representing the Armenian sect in the new cabinet with
two ministers, one of whom would be named by the opposition, and the
other named by the majority.

Pakradounian pointed out that the Tashnaq will be meeting soon to name
their representative in the cabinet. He said, `I prefer not to be a
minister myself in order not to mix parliamentary duties with the
ministerial ones.’

Pakradounian denied that the opposition had made the decision to
nominate MP Saad Harriri as prime minister, but said, `Personally I
don’t see anything that prevents him from taking that position since
he represents a big parliamentary bloc.’

Regarding electing PM Fouad Siniora, Pakradounian said, `If the man
doesn’t want to be a prime minister again, should we pressure him?’

Pakradounian said he believed that the new ministerial statement will
revolve around building a state and a country, and expressed his
confidence that the wisdom and courage of General Michel Sleiman will
help him be an arbiter among the different parties.

Pakradounian didn’t hide his worries regarding the new president,
saying, `I am afraid that in a year from now we will regret what
happened, similar to what happened with General Emile Lahoud.’

`The past experiences have taught us that whenever we get close to a
solution, a wave of assassinations and explosions take place,’
Pakaradounian said, recalling the assassination of President Rene
Mouawad after the Taif agreement.

-NOW Staff

s.aspx?ID=44529

"HOW MANY ARMENIAN MIGRANTS ARE THERE IN TURKEY?"
By H. Chaqrian

AZG Armenian Daily
23/05/2008

Armenia-Turkey

On May 18 the Turkish published an article with such a title. The
article was dedicated to Parliament member Hakan Zoskun’s speech, which
was in its turn a response to ex-Ambassador Sukru Elekdag’s October
2007 statement about 70 thousand citizens of Armenia working in Turkey.

Internal Affairs Minister Besir Atalay answered the following to the
aforementioned question, "According to the visa regime between Armenia
and Turkey, Armenian citizens are usually granted 30-day tourist visa,
and their entry on the territory of Turkey is not a matter of special
attention. In 2007 53 thousand 108 citizens of Armenia entered Turkey
and 53 thousand 359 left its territory. In January-February 2008 6211
Armenian citizens arrived in Turkey and 6085 departed.

In 2007 8 Armenian citizens were deported from Turkey for illegal
stay in the country, and only one citizen in 2008."

The Minister also noted that in case of detaining illegal Armenian
migrants in Turkey the law enforcement structures report it to the
Employment and Social Issues Ministry, which organizes the deportation.

THE LAW BANNING DEMONSTRATIONS TO HAVE EFFECT IN SUMMER

A1+
[08:08 pm] 22 May, 2008

The latest amendments to the "Law on conducting meetings, marches,
demonstrations and rallies" do not meet the requirements of the PACE
Resolution 1609. The latter required immediate nullification of 17
March changes.

"Here we evidently deal with a case of unjust manipulation", declares
Stepan Safarian, member of the "Heritage" Party.

He notices that NA Speaker Tigran Torossian proposed a bill "drafted
without a discussion and consultation".

He also reminds that Torossian had spoken for the 17 March changes
considering them necessary, important, and grounded.

"During the discussion we did not yet have the experimental conclusions
of the Venice Commission and the OSCE ODIHR. That is, Torossian
introduced a bill and without inner approval sent it to the Venice
Commission. Then it was put into circulation and discussed at the
commission without the experts’ conclusion. And on Monday we were
informed about the "experts’ conclusion", complains Safarian.

"There was only the conclusion of an Irishwoman expert."

Safarian also noticed some "exciting" details in the proposals of
implementation of the PACE Resolution terms and he is seriously
worried about them.

"It was enlightened in the documents that the law will take effect
after the second reading, i.e. in September. So, during all summer
we shall have to obey the 17 March changes banning rallies and
demonstrations", notices Stepan Safarian.

ARMENIA IS READY TO CONTINUE NEGOTIATIONS ON KARABAKH ISSUE ON BASIS OF SUGGESIONS MADE IN MADRID

Noyan Tapan

Ma y 22, 2008

YEREVAN, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia is ready to continue the
negotiations on the regulation of the Nagorno Karabakh problem on
the basis of the suggestions, which were made by the co-Chairmen of
the OSCE Minsk Group in Madrid.

This statement was made by Eduard Nalbandian, the RA Minister of
Foreign Affairs, in his interview with the "Right of Speech" program of
the Armenian second TV chanel. "We believe that those suggestions are a
serious basis and we can find a solution on the basis of the latters,
we will take that very way and try our best so as the negotiation
process continues and brings peace to the two countries and the two
peoples, as we are neighbour countries and should live in solidarity
and peace," the Minister said.

Eduard Nalbandian mentioned that it is impossible to settle any
conflict if the agitation against each other continues. As an agitation
expression hindering the negotiation process, he cited the results
of the polls of public opinion conducted recently in Azerbaijan: 82
percent of Azerbaijanis has a negative opinion about the activities of
the co-Chairmen of the Minsk Group and the 29 percent of the population
believes that a military solution of the problem is possible. "We
cannot invite negotiators on the one hand, ask them to support the
negotiation process and at the same time criticize them every day:
I do not speak about persons, the following countries are being
criticized: the United States of America, Russia, France," the RA
Minister of Foreign Affairs finds. And the 29 percent, which finds
that a military solution is possible, "is a rather dangerous index,
though there were commentaries made on why we are so pacifist, why
only 29 percent and not more, it is very difficult to imagine another
country, where 29 percent can be for a war." The RA MInister of Foreign
Affairs believes that it is a result of an every-day agitation: " The
agitation should be stopped in order to make it possible to create a
corresponding atmosphere to continue the negotiations in a right way,
to create an atmosphere of mutual confidence and keep away from any
steps that can hinder the process or create a situation where it will
be difficult to think of any results at all."

In response to the question of how often he will communicate with
mass media representatives, the Minister gave a brief answer:
"As often as I have time."