Author: Vanyan Gary

NUCLEAR PLANT CEASED WORK
A1+
[01:24 pm] 02 October, 2006
The RA Nuclear power plant ceased work for 45 days yesterday for
taking preventive measures and loading the station with nuclear
fuel. According to the station administration, the necessary
consignment of nuclear fuel ha already arrived at the site.
A number of measures will be taken for raising the level of security of
the nuclear power plant. The CoE has allotted 1 million 300 thousand
euros for the realization of the program within the framework of the
program “TASIS”.

The Japan Times
September 29, 2006, Friday
Half a glass in Turkey
The case of Turkish novelist Elif Shafak makes it hard to decide
whether the glass that is Turkey is half-full or half-empty.
Ms. Shafak is the author of a best-selling novel titled “The Bastard
of Istanbul.” The book, set in the waning years of the Ottoman
Empire, features an Armenian character who uses the term “genocide”
to describe the Turkish deportations of 1915 in which almost a
million Armenians died. Turkey denies there was a genocide, and its
recently updated penal code makes use of that term, or others deemed
critical of the government, a criminal offense.
Earlier this year, Ms. Shafak was charged under the code with
“insulting Turkishness,” punishable by up to three years in prison.
The glass certainly looks half-empty when one considers that this was
even possible, particularly in a country that casts itself as a
modern, secular bastion of democracy with credible aspirations to
join the European Union. Nor was Ms. Shafak alone. Her case followed
a string of others, including the arrest last year, on the same
charge, of Turkey’s best-known writer, Orhan Pamuk.
The glass looks half full, however, since an Istanbul court acquitted
Ms. Shafak on Sept. 21, citing lack of evidence. It would have done
better to cite the simultaneous frivolity and menace of the charge –
and to remind prosecutors that censorship of fictional characters is
incompatible with freedom of speech – but the decision came as a
relief nonetheless. Its speed and clarity presumably makes it less
likely that the law will be used against other artists anytime soon.
Turkey’s problem is that it is under pressure from two directions:
the European Union, which is urging the government to improve human
rights, and nationalists at home who would like nothing better than
to scuttle the country’s chances of joining the bloc. Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hinted that the government might revise the
part of the code used to prosecute Ms. Shafak. Revising it isn’t
enough: If Turkey is serious about freedom of speech, not to mention
the EU, it ought to abolish it. That would make the glass far less
murky.

A1+
VARTAN OSKANIAN: `MILITARY VERSION IS BUT A FAILURE’
[01:12 pm] 26 September, 2006
Today RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian is to meet with the OSCE
Minsk group Co-chairs in New York. Reminder: Armenian Foreign
Minister is in New York to participate in the 61-th session of the
United Nations General Assembly.
Let me take a minute to reflect on Kosovo, as so many have done. We
follow the Kosovo self-determination process very closely. We
ourselves strongly support the process of self-determination for the
population of Nagorno Karabakh. Yet, we don’t draw parallels between
these two or with any other conflicts. We believe that conflicts are
all different and each must be decided on its own merits. While we do
not look at the outcome of Kosovo as a precedent, on the other hand, a
Kosovo decision cannot and should not result in the creation of
obstacles to self-determination for others in order to pre-empt the
accusation of precedence. Such a reverse reaction – to prevent or
pre-empt others from achieving well-earned self-determination – is
unacceptable.
Efforts to do just that – by elevating territorial integrity above all
other principles – are already underway, especially in this
chamber. But this contradicts the lessons of history. There is a
reason that the Helsinki Final Act enshrines self-determination as an
equal principle. In international relations, just as in human
relations, there are no absolute rights. There are also
responsibilities. A state must earn the right to lead and
govern. States have the responsibility to protect their citizens. A
people choose the government which represents them.
The people of Nagorno Karabakh chose long ago not to be represented by
the government of Azerbaijan. They were the victims of state violence,
they defended themselves, and succeeded against great odds, only to
hear the state cry foul and claim sovereignty and territorial
integrity.
The people of Nagorno Karabakh chose long ago not to be represented by
the government of Azerbaijan. They were the victims of state violence,
they defended themselves, and succeeded against great odds, only to
hear the state cry foul and claim sovereignty and territorial
integrity.
But the government of Azerbaijan has lost the moral right to even
suggest providing for their security and their future, let alone to
talk of custody of the people of Nagorno Karabakh.
Azerbaijan did not behave responsibly or morally with the people of
Nagorno Karabakh, who it considered to be its own citizens. They
sanctioned massacres in urban areas, far from Nagorno Karabakh; they
bombed and displaced more than 300,000 Armenians; they unleashed the
military; and after they lost the war and accepted a ceasefire, they
proceeded to destroy all traces of Armenians on their territories.
In the most cynical expression of such irresponsibility, this last
December, a decade after the fighting had stopped, they completed the
final destruction and removal of thousands of massive hand-sculpted
cross-stones – medieval Armenian tombstones elaborately carved and
decorated.
Such destruction, in an area with no Armenians, at a distance from
Nagorno Karabakh and any conflict areas, is a callous demonstration
that Azerbaijan’s attitude toward tolerance, human values, cultural
treasures, cooperation or even peace, has not changed.
One cannot blame us for thinking that Azerbaijan is not ready or
interested in a negotiated peace. Yet, having rejected the other two
compromise solutions that have been proposed over the last 8 years,
they do not want to be accused of rejecting the peace plan on the
table today. Therefore, they are using every means available – from
state violence to international maneuvers – to try to bring the
Armenians to do the rejecting.
But Armenia is on record: we have agreed to each of the basic
principles in the document that’s on the table today. Yet, in order to
give this or any document a chance, Azerbaijan can’t think, or pretend
to think, that there is still a military option. There isn’t. The
military option is a tried and failed option. Compromise and realism
are the only real options.
The path that Nagorno Karabakh has chosen for itself over these two
decades is irreversible. It succeeded in ensuring its self-defense, it
proceeded to set up self-governance mechanisms, and it controls its
borders and its economy. Formalizing this process is a necessary step
toward stability in our region. Dismissing, as Azerbaijan does, all
that’s happened in the last 20 years and petulantly insisting that
things must return to the way they were, is not just unrealistic, but
disingenuous.
Nagorno Karabakh is not a cause. It is a place, an ancient place, a
beautiful garden, with people who have earned the right to live in
peace and without fear. We ask for nothing more. We expect nothing
less.

KOCHARIAN: TERRORISTS CANNOT BE STOPPED ONLY WITH THE HELP OF ARMS AND FORCE
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. “Coordination of actions of
special services and law enforcement bodies of different states is
a necessary precondition for efficiency of fighting international
terrorism, various forms of extremism, illegal circulation of drugs
and arms, kidnapping and illegal migration posing danger to life and
rights of citizens.” RA President Robert Kocharian mentioned this in
his address to the participants of the Atom-Anti-terror 2006 joint
exercises being held in Yerevan.
“Terrorists cannot be stopped only with the help of arms and force.
Effective preventive measures of political, diplomatic,
financial-economic character are necessary to liquidate the reasons
giving birth to terrorism and to create insuperable obstacles for
development of terrorist actions,” RA President’s address said.
In his words, the international community makes active and consistent
efforts for forming a coordinated system of anti-terrorist security.
The confirmation of this is participation of representatives of CIS
special services, G8 countries, as well as influential international
organizations in the Atom-Anti-terror 2006 exercises.

ARMENIAN WOMEN DEMAND HIGHER QUOTA IN ELECTION CODE
Panorama.am
15:37 27/09/06
Armenian women have launched a movement trying to make amendments
in the Election Code. According to proposed changes, the women say
the quota should be 25% instead of present 5%. This means that every
fourth person in proportional list must be a woman.
Ruzan Khachatryan, member of People’s Party of Armenia, told a
press conference today this quota is made to please international
institutions, and European Parliament in particular, to show how
democratic Armenia is.
Twenty-two parties have joined this initiative.
Khachatryan, however, is pessimistic and thinks it will be knocked
down because Armenian Republican Party (HHK), the leading force in
the parliament, has not joined the effort. Khachatryan believes women
can compete with men without quota in case elections are free and
fair.

HUGE PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITY FOR CRITICAL EU TURKEY REPORT
By Lucia Kubosova
EUobserver.com, Belgium
Sept 27 2006
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Parliament has voted strongly
in favour of the critical report on Turkey’s EU accession progress,
in a Strasbourg plenary vote on Wednesday (27 September).
The 732-strong chamber supported the controversial report by the
Dutch centre-right MEP Camiel Eurlings with 429 votes in favour,
71 against and 125 abstentions.
The document criticises the human rights shortcomings of the EU
hopeful but refrains from calling for a historical recognition of
Armenian genocide as a pre-condition for Turkey’s accession.
The controversial idea of the genocide clause was originally introduced
to the draft report in the parliament’s foreign committee earlier
this month by Belgian socialist MEP Veronique de Keyser – but she
herself later signed the amendment scrapping the clause.
On the other hand, a number of centre-right deputies expressed
their disappointment after the genocide clause was dropped, with
German MEP Renate Sommer pointing out that nobody could imagine that
Germany would refer to the Holocaust “in quotation marks” or as the
“so-called Holocaust.”
Critics however argued that while a historical study into the World War
I mass killings of Armenians is needed – as suggested by a preserved
passage in the report – it should not become a new condition for
Turkey to join the EU.
Czech centre-right MEP Jan Zahradil for example pointed out “We can
no longer accept a manipulation with distant historical events and
their use as a political instrument in the current context.”
He added that the Czech Republic has its own negative experience with
the retroactive abuse of its past – referring to the so called Benes
decrees, post-World War II laws which led to the expulsion of Germans
and Hungarians.
MEPs did, however, back another last-minute amendment introduced to
the report only last week, on the forthcoming visit of Pope Benedict
XVI to Turkey.
The Pope clause expresses the hope that the visit will “contribute
to strengthening inter-religious and intercultural dialogue between
the Christian and Muslim world.”
Open-ended talks Speaking in Ankara on the day of the parliament’s
report, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government
is ready to keep up the reform process aimed at joining the EU but
would not agree to any extra conditions by the bloc.
“We’re not seeking anything exclusive from the EU in the process ahead,
in return, we naturally cannot accept bringing in new criteria,”
he told a press conference in Istanbul.
The MEPs’ report stressed that Turkey’s negotiations with the EU are
of an “open-ended” nature and would not “a priori and automatically”
lead to accession.
They pointed out that to achieve the country’s membership, both
Ankara and the EU need to make an effort, while noting that Europe
would consider the issue of its own capacity to “absorb Turkey while
maintaining the momentum of integration.”
The European Commission is expected this autumn to come up with a study
into the ability of the EU to take in new members, with the bloc’s
leaders set to discuss the issue at their December meeting in Brussels.
Turkey is set to be the hot topic of this autumn with Ankara unlikely
to change its view and lifts its embargo on Cypriot ships and aircrafts
by the EU’s end of 2006 deadline.
The parliamentarians pointed out in Wednesday’s report that a lack of
Turkish progress on the Cyprus issue “will have serious implications
for the negotiation process, and could even bring it to a halt.”

ARMENIAN MINISTER ACCUSES AZERBAIJAN OF REJECTING KARABAKH PEACE PLAN
Public Television of Armenia
Sept 26 2006
Armenian foreign minister has said that Yerevan has agreed to all
basic principles of a proposal on ending the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict. In an address to a UN General Assembly session, he also
accused Azerbaijan of rejecting peace plans and of seeking a return
to the past in the face of changes in the region. The following is the
text of a presenter-read report by Armenian Public TV on 26 September
The people of Nagornyy Karabakh have adopted a decision long ago not to
be represented by the Azerbaijani government. The Karabakh people were
the victims of state violence, they defended themselves, and succeeded
against all odds, only to hear the state cry foul and claim sovereignty
and territorial integrity, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan
said at the 61st session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Vardan Oskanyan outlined that the Azerbaijani government has lost
the moral right to make offers to ensure the Karabakh peoples’
security and future. Azerbaijan did not treat the Karabakh people,
who were Azerbaijan’s citizens, with responsibility. Azerbaijan allowed
pogroms in the cities, far from Nagornyy Karabakh and more than 300,000
Armenians were evicted. After signing an agreement on cease-fire in
the war which they have lost, the Azerbaijanis started destroying
all Armenian traces on their territories, Vardan Oskanyan said.
Ten years later after the end of hostilities, they destroyed thousands
of cross stones. This shows that Azerbaijan’s attitude to humanitarian
and cultural values and agreement, even to peace has not changed. One
cannot blame Armenia for thinking that Azerbaijan is not ready or
interested in the negotiations.
We have agreed to each of the basic principles in the document on
the settlement of the conflict that is on the table. Having rejected
the other two compromise solutions that have been put forward,
Azerbaijan does not want to be accused of rejecting the peace plan
on the table today. Therefore, they are using all means available,
from state violence to international manoeuvres, trying to prove that
it was Armenia who rejected it.
However, Armenia has agreed to each of the basic principles in the
document that is on the table today. Yet, in order to give this or
any document a chance, Azerbaijan cannot think or pretend to think
that there is still a military solution. There is no such option.
Compromise and realism are the only options, the Armenian foreign
minister said.
The road chosen by the Nagornyy Karabakh people 20 years ago is
irreversible. Thanks to it Nagornyy Karabakh succeeded in ensuring
self-defence, has established a mechanism of self-government and is
in charge of its borders and economy. An official recognition of this
process is an important condition for stability in the region.
Ignoring what has happened in the course of the past twenty years,
Azerbaijan is demanding with an offended look to restore everything as
it used to be. This is unfair and unrealistic, said Vardan Oskanyan,
and added that Nagornyy Karabakh is not a court of law [as heard],
but a place, a beautiful garden inhabited by people who deserve
the right to live in peace without fear. We are not demanding more,
but we are not expecting less either, Vardan Oskanyan said.

ASILE POLITIQUE: UNE FAMILLE ARMéNIENNE EXPULSéE DE CORRèZE VERS L’ALLEMAGNE
Agence France Presse
26 septembre 2006 mardi 6:20 PM GMT
Une famille d’Armeniens, installee a Tulle et qui avait demande
l’asile politique en France, va etre expulsee vers l’Allemagne où
elle avait entrepris une première demarche identique mais sous une
fausse identite, a-t-on appris mardi auprès d’une association locale.
Depuis juillet, Guennady et Nakhchoum Arakelov sejournaient a
Tulle avec leurs deux enfants, âges de 6 mois et 4 ans, soutenus par
l’association Le Roc. Il avaient fui la Russie avec une vieille tante
après avoir, selon eux, heberge quatre combattants tchetchènes a Volks,
leur ancienne cite de residence.
Dans un premier temps, les cinq Armeniens ont gagne l’Allemagne, où
ils ont rempli une demande d’asile sous de fausses identites, grâce
a des papiers delivres par le passeur qui les avait accompagnes. Sans
reponse, ils ont poursuivi leur periple jusqu’a Tulle.
La prefecture de la Corrèze a pris lundi un arrete d’expulsion pour les
renvoyer en Allemagne, au motif que la reglementation communautaire
impose aux demandeurs d’asile politique d’attendre sur place la
decision des autorites du pays qu’ils ont sollicite.
Apprehendes a l’issue d’une ultime demarche a la prefecture, les
Arakelov sont alles chercher leur fillette dans l’ecole où elle
venait d’effectuer sa première rentree. Ils ont ensuite ete conduits
au centre de retention de Toulouse, d’où ils devaient etre expulses
vers l’Allemagne.
L’association Le Roc craint que les autorites de Berlin les renvoie
en Russie pour defaut de papiers.
–Boundary_(ID_CHoC/Z3SC0ok5/wKKn+d2w)–

FOREIGN MINISTER OSKANIAN PARTICIPATES IN INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON EUROPE’S STRATEGIC RESPONSES
ARMINFO News Agency
September 23, 2006 Saturday
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian participated in the 10th Bertelsmann
Forum, held in Berlin, Germany, on September 22, 23, reports the
press service of the Armenian Foreign Minstry.
The one and a half day conference convened on Saturday afternoon with
opening remarks by Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, French Prime
Minister Dominique de Villepin, EU Commission President Jose Manuel
Barroso and Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. The audience of
100+ political leaders, which included former German Foreign Minister
Hans-Dietrich Genscher and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger,
heard perspectives on Europe’s Strategic Responses, as the conference
is entitled.
Following the opening session, Minister Oskanian participated in a
panel on The Balkans and the Black Sea – a Litmus Test for Europe.
The panel also included the presidents of Bulgaria, Romania and
Azerbaijan, and the Prime Minister of Montenegro.
Throughout the discussion, Oskanian affirmed that the region’s litmus
test for Europe would be an effective European Neighborhood Policy,
the functionality and integrity of the Black Sea region, and practical
approaches to conflicts.
During a lively discussion on Kosovo, Minister Oskanian cautioned
against denying peoples their right to self-determination, simply
out of political expediency. If the world were guided by a fear of
setting precedents, he said, half the countries in the world today
would not exist. But there has to be strict criteria, he said, and
the chief principle should be whether the state can claim the moral
authority to rule.
The Bertelsmann Foundation is sponsored by the Bertelsmann Group,
the world’s largest publishing company.

Railway in Armenia: The Railway will not bypass Armenia
Railway Market Magazine, Poland
Sept 22 2006
The Armenian Assembly today praised a key Senate committee for
affirming U.S policy in the South Caucasus by prohibiting funding
for a bypass rail link sponsored by the Turkish and Azerbaijani
governments and aimed at excluding Armenia from economic and regional
transportation opportunities.
“Armenia is a valued friend of the United States and our government
ought not to be supporting programs or initiatives in the South
Caucasus that exclude that country from participation,” said
Santorum. “The manager’s amendment adopted today by the Committee on
Banking will make sure such a scenario does not happen.”
“We cannot continue to stoke the embers of regional conflict by
supporting projects that deliberately exclude one of the region’s most
important members,” said Menendez. “Fundamentally, this amendment is
about fairness and about inclusion, rather than exclusion. With this
amendment, we are sending a simple message that we believe that the
United States should support an integrated and inclusive approach to
economic and regional development in the Caucasus region.”