Author: Tvankchian Parkev

AZERBAIJAN WORKS FOR SHIFT IN KARABAKH TALKS FORMAT

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.03.2008 12:48 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan works for a shift in the format of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement talks, ARF Bureau’s Hay Dat and
Political Affairs Office Director Kiro Manoyan said.

"Adoption of the Azerbaijani resolution by the UN General Assembly
means that this country is planning to renounce the MG format and to
resolve the Karabakh problem by use of force. In my opinion, it’s a
disadvantageous scenario," Manoyan said.

For his part, political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan said
a format of ‘3+3+1’ can be applied. "This will be Armenia, NKR and
Azerbaijan plus three OSCE co-chair states plus Iran. Baku will hardly
agree, since it would like to have Turkey as a Minsk Group co-chair
However, being an interested party, Turkey has no right to join the
process," the Armenian expert said.

IN OPINION OF ARTUR BAGHDASARIAN, THE FACT THAT OPPOSITION DID NOT
RESPOND TO OYP’S CALLS FOR SOLIDARITY RESULTED IN MASS DISORDERS

YEREVAN, MARCH 22, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the chairman of Orinats
Yerkir party (OYP) Artur Baghdasarian, throughout the presidential
election campaign, their party behaved as the most decent political
force. As he stated at the March 22 forum of OYP Women’s Union, their
political team appealed to the other presidential candidates to display
decency, correctness and solidarity but there was no response to these
calls. In the words of A. Baghdasarian, the fact that the forces to
have "declared themselves radical opposition" did not respond to these
calls resulted in mass disorders and victims in the postelection period.

"Today we are again speaking about the necessity of solidarity and
cooperation," he stated.

Congratulating the Women’s Union on the occasion of March 8 and April 7
holidays, A. Baghdasarian said that women make up over 70% of the OYP
members, and the party’s achivements and success are also conditioned
by this fact.

PRESS RELEASE
MASHDOTS COLLEGE
411 E. Acacia Avenue
Glendale, CA 91205
Tel. (818) 548-9345
Fax: (818) 548-9342
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: mashdotscollege.org
Contact person: Sofi Boyle-Kambourian

DR. DER-YEGHIAYAN’S RECENTLY-PUBLISHED BOOK ON HISTORIC ARMENIA WILL
BE PRESENTED BY PROF. DEKMEJIAN ON APRIL 6TH

Dr. Garbis Der-Yeghiayan’s recently-published book (Eastgate Institute
Press, 2008) "The Presence of the Past – Embracing the Land of our
Ancestors" will be presented by Dr. R. Hrair Dekmejian, distinguished
Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institue of
Armenian Studies at the University of Southern California, on Sunday,
April 6, 2008 at 6:00 P.M. at the Glendale Armenian Church of the
Nazarene, 411 E. Acacia Avenue, Glendale, California.The event will be
emceed by Mr. Vatche Mankerian, Project Manager at the USC Institute
of Armenian Studies, and an internationally-renowned pianist andauthor
of several textbooks on Armenian culture.

Logistically, the book is a synopsis of diaries written by the author
as heventures through several cities in Cilicia, Cappadocia and
Western Armenia.Although the book gives practical instruction and
interesting descriptions of the cities for someone planning to visit
them, this fascinating publication is not a mere touristic guide. It
is rather a chronicle of recent pilgrimages of an Armenian scholar
from the Diaspora (California to be exact); visiting the ancestral
lands of his forefathers – remnants miraculously surviving the
Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Turks.

Roxanne Makasdjian, a well-known community activist in California and
a member of the 2006 pilgrimage organized by Mashdots College, wrote
the book’s introduction.

The event is open to the public. For further information, please
contact Mashdots College at (818) 548-9345.

SWEDISH BASED ASSYRIAN NEWS SITE HACKED BY TURKS

Assyrian International News Agency
March 19 2008

(AINA) — The website of the Eastern Star News Agency (ESNA), based
in Sweden, was hacked by Turks, according to a press release by ESNA.

The hack appears to be in retaliation for the publication of an
article by Rosie Malek-Yonan titled Genocide: Turkey’s Dark ‘Secret’
Resonating The Airwaves, which discusses the Turkish Genocide of
Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks in World War One.

Last January the website for The Crimson Field, a historical novel
by Rosie Malek-Yonan about the Turkish genocide of Assyrians in World
War One, in which 750,000 Assyrians (75%) were killed, was hacked by
a Turk, who left a message saying "Turk Defacer."

Assyrian websites have been the target of Turkish hackers. The
Assyrian Academic Society website was hacked on October 30, 2007 (AINA
10-30-2007); the "International Campaign to Support the Christians
of Iraq" website was hacked last November (AINA 11-20-2007).

PACE PROPOSES ARMENIAN POLITICAL FORCES TO HOLD DIALOGUE UNDER ITS AEGIS

Mediamax
March 19, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. The Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) expressed its "deep concern"
about the arrest of more than one hundred people in Armenia and
"the conditions in which such arrests took place".

Mediamax reports that the statement of the Monitoring Committee of
PACE, spread following the results of the session in Paris on March
18, reads this.

"In the opinion of the committee, the arrest of large numbers of
opposition leaders and of three Members of Parliament is inevitably
perceived as a crack-down on the opposition by the authorities and will
do nothing to ease the tensions in Armenia. The committee called on
all sides to refrain from any action that would increase the tensions
and to commit themselves to a genuine dialogue to resolve the current
crisis", the statement reads.

PACE Monitoring Committee called on all sides to accept the following
proposals of their rapporteur John Prescott, who had visited Yerevan
on March 7-8:

– the recognition by all sides of the authority of the Constitutional
Court and its ruling on the outcome of the Presidential elections; –
the lifting of the state of emergency and the restoring of individual
human rights and freedoms; – the release of all jailed activists
who have not committed violent crimes; – the establishment of an
independent inquiry into the circumstances that led to the events on 1
March 2008 and the monitoring of the on-going investigation process;
– the initiation of a dialogue between all political forces, in the
following areas: – reform of the electoral framework with a view to
regaining public trust in the conduct and outcome of elections; –
reform of the political system with a view to providing a proper place
for the opposition in the decision-making process and governance of
the country; – media reform, especially aimed at the creation of a
truly independent public broadcaster.

The Monitoring Committee noted that the dialogue between all political
forces could be initiated in the form of round tables under the aegis
of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.

JACK GEVORGIAN INTENDS TO PUT FORWARD HIS CANDIDATURE IN CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS OF MICHIGAN

Noyan Tapan
March 19
Los Angeles

American-Armenian doctor Jack Kevorkian needs just 3,000 signatures
to get himself on the ballot for Congress in Michigan this year.

Kevorkian’s (nickname "Dr. Death") felony conviction does not
preclude him from sitting in Congress. ("Doctor Death" has helped
about 130 people suffering from incurable diseases to die through
euthanasia.) As information sites mention, this circumstance is an
interesting political wrinkle for Michigan.

VIVACELL COMPANY (ARMENIA) OFFERS NEW TARIFF SCALE

ARKA
March 14, 2008

YEREVAN, March 17. /ARKA/. The Armenian mobile communication
operator, VivaCell Company, offers its clients using the prepaid
mobile communication services a new tariff scale "We".

The company reports that the tariff scale includes new, more affordable
tariffs for intranet calls as well as affords an opportunity to make
calls to "a special number".

Within the VivaCell network, one call will cost 36 AMD per minute (all
the prices include VAT), the cost of a call to a telephone served by
the ArmenTel Company being 63 AMD. One call to Nagorno-Karabakh will
cost 60 per minute.

In case of "special numbers", calls within the VivaCell network
will cost 26 AMD per minute, and calls to telephones served by other
operators 36 AMD per minute.

To get connected to the new tariff scale one should dial *131*404#,
or *240* plus telephone number #. The switching cost is 400 AMD.

In getting connecting to the new tariff scale, a subscriber has an
opportunity to install one "special number", which is in effect a year
after being installed. All other connections will cost 500 AMD each.

VivaCell is a leading mobile communication operator in Armenia,
providing a wide range of services throughout Armenia. The company
has licenses of the GSM 900/1800 standards effective until the end
of 2019. The company has over 1,000,000 clients.

The largest mobile communication operator in Russia and the CIS,
Mobile Telesystems Corporation, holds 80% of VivaCell shares, with 20%
held by the Fattouch Group (Lebanon).

NEXT "SURPRISE" FOR INHABITATION
Laura Grigorian

Azat Artsakh Daily
Published on March 17, 2008
NKR Republic

Today the price of flour has again increased in the republic.Answering
the excited question, why the price of flour has increased, the NKR
vice-minister of agriculture Vladimir Zakiyan has noted, that he hasn’t
an information about an increase of flour price. "I only know, that in
international market the price of wheat has increased". As he supposes,
an increase of flour price is conditioned by international market, by
which it may conclude, this time again steps won’t be taken against
rise in price and people will "digest" it too, as last times. Let’s
not forget, that when in international market or in Russia the price
of bread or flour has increased only by 4-5 per cent, in our republic
it has increased by 20-30 per cent. Last year in Russia, when bread
is cheap, why prices didn’t decrease in our republic. We think,
that it is wrong to put down everything only to international market.

RUSSIA WILL CONTINUE INTERCESSION IN NK REGULATION

Panorama.am
17:35 17/03/2008

Russia together with the USA and France will continue the active
intercession of the Minsk Group to contribute to the regulation of
the NKR question which finaly would make possible to recover the
peace and stability in the Southern Caucasus. The announcement is
made by the Foreign Affairs Minister of Russia.

It is mentioned in the announcement that on 14 March the UN head
assembly quoted for the initiative presented by Baku on "situation
of Azeri occupied territories" articel (39 for, 7 against and 100
abstaining). The member countries of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen
including Russia, USA and Frnace voted against the project.

In the project it is particularly stated the interest of Azerbaijan
without reminding about NR legal situation. The approach made it
impossible and unacceptable for the Armenian side and worthened
Armenia-Azeri relations and negotiations.

AMOUNT OF FOREIGN TRADE TURNOVER INCREASED BY 75% IN NKR

DeFacto Agency
March 17 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, 17.03.08. DE FACTO. In 2007 the amount of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic foreign trade turnover made 90 milliard drams /about $277,
5 million/, which is 75% more as compared with the same period of 2006.

According to the information DE FACTO received at the NKR National
Statistic Service, the amount of export had increased by 60%, import
by 81%.

In 2007 industrial production for 22 milliard 437, 4 million drams
was produced in the Republic. The amount of the realization made 23
milliard 77, 4 million drams, 13 milliard 318 millions of which were
realized in the CIS countries.