Author: Vardanian Garo

ARMENIAN FREE-STYLE WRESTLING NATIONAL TEAM FORMED BY RESULTS OF CHAMPIONSHIP

Noyan Tapan
Feb 06 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenian free-style wrestling
national championship finished on February 4 in Yerevan. 83 sportsmen
took part in it.

Mihran Jaburian (55 kg, Yerevan), Artyom Nalbandian (60 kg, Gyumri),
Zhirayr Hovhannisian (66 kg, Vanadzor), Ruslan Kokayev (74 kg,
Yerevan), Vadim Laliyev (84 kg, Yerevan), Edgar Yenokian (96 kg,
Yerevan) and Georgy Galstian (120 kg, Yerevan) became champions.

RA national team was formed by championship results. On February 17-27,
the team will hold a teaching and training gathering in Yerevan,
after which seven wrestlers will leave for Tashkent and three of them
for Kiev to take part in big tournaments. Then the national team will
leave for Sofia where Europe championship will be held on April 16-22.

INVESTIGATION ON HRANT DINK ASSASINATION

Anatolian Times, Turkey
Turkish Press
Feb 6 2007

ISTANBUL – Tuncay Uzundal, a univertity student, indicted within the
scope of the investigation regarding the assassination of Hrant Dink,
Turkish journalist of Armenian descent, was detained .

With the detention of Uzundal number of people detained related to
Hrant Dink assassination reached eight.

It was reported that three more individuals were being interrogated
by the Counter Terrorism Unit detectives in Istanbul.

Panorama.am

18:06 03/02/2007

ALTERNATIVE HAS IDEOLOGICAL RESOURCE

Asked if Alternative has enough resources to become a real alternative
in the country, Nikol Pashinyan, initiative member said, `Alternative
is not a fact but process. We are starting that process and in case of
positive result we will have those resources. At the moment we have
ideological resource.’

In his words, it is important to attract young and fresh figures in
the process `who can take the responsibility with their knowledge and
intellect for the situation in the country.’

Source: Panorama.am

PanARMENIAN.Net

Dink’s murderer treated like hero?
02.02.2007 15:58 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey launched an inquiry into footage showing a
teenager charged with the murder of Agos editor Hrant Dink posing with
the Turkish flag and security officials after his arrest, police said
on Friday. A 17-year-old unemployed youth, Ogun Samast, has confessed
to the murder of Turkey’s leading television channels showed video
footage of Samast posing in front of a Turkish flag, and holding
another flag next to security officials dressed in paramilitary police
uniforms shortly after his arrest on January 21. Media said the images
suggested Samast was treated like a hero. "The pictures were shown on
television in the evening (of Thursday) and inspectors will clarify
who took the pictures and why. We in the police will do everything
necessary," national police spokesman Ismail Caliskan told a news
conference. "Whoever is responsible will be given the appropriate
punishment." Liberal newspaper Radikal editor-in-chief Ismet Berkan
said the video images were worse than the murder itself. He said it
showed extreme nationalism in Turkey was again on the rise. Pressure
is mounting on the government to crack down on ultra-nationalist
groups, a tricky task in a year of presidential and parliamentary
elections, reports Reuters.

Today, Azerbaijan
Feb 2 2007

Russian Ambassador says Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement in
difficult stage

02 February 2007 [14:09] – Today.Az

The settlement process of Nagorno Karabakh conflict is in a very
difficult stage now, stated Russian Ambassador Vasili Istratov.

He said the settlement not only depends on the mediators, but also
the sides. Commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attitude
to the settlement of the conflict at the press conference on
Thursday, the ambassador mentioned that president called on the sides
to the cooperation, APA reports.

"As other co-chairs, Russia also tries to operate maximum
constructively and fair in the settlement process of the conflict,"
he noted.

Touching upon Putin’s statement concerning the increase of Russian
military base in Armenia, Vasili Istratov noted that president
expressed concrete and positive opinions on the issue.

"President expressed very accurately that Russian military base in
Armenia has never been against any country of the region, as well as
Azerbaijan. Russian militants’ being in the conflict region doesn’t
mean their participation in the conflict," he said.

URL:

PanARMENIAN.Net

Karabakh: Imposing a solution Russia can spoil its
relations with Armenians or Azeris
01.02.2007 17:13 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `We cannot impose any variants to move out from the
current situation on either parties. Since, if we try to do that, if
we try to impose some solution, we could spoil our relations with
Armenians or Azeris for centuries. Don’t put the problem on us,’
stated Vladimir Putin during his annual press conference in Moscow
answering the question if `Moscow is going to take more effective
steps’ in Karabakh issue. "You should find an acceptable way out from
the current situation independently. And if we abstract from very
serious problems, of course we are saddened by the events we watch in
Aghdam district. And since we are discussing the problem of alcoholic
goods of poor quality, as you know, port from Aghdam always was one of
inexpensive and quite popular light alcoholic drinks in the territory
of former Soviet Union.

Someone will restore it, either Armenians or Azeris. Let them do that
together. Let it be a joint project,’ stated Vladimir Putin.

BosNewsLife, Hungary
Feb 1 2007

Turkey’s Pro-Armenian Nobel Prize Writer Cancels German Trip Amid
Security Fears

Wednesday, 31 January 2007 (12 hours ago)
By BosNewsLife News Center

Nobel prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk (l) cancels trip to Germany
amid security fears. Via Euronews TV ISTANBUL, TURKEY
(BosNewsLife)– Nobel prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk who
criticized the "genocide" of predominantly Christian Armenians
cancelled a trip to Germany Wednesday, January 31, citing "security
fears," after two Christians were tried for "insulting Turkishness."

Wednesday’s developments came amid rising religious tensions in
Turkey, linked to the murder this month of prominent Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul. Like Pamuk, he had been critical
of Turkey’s treatment of its Armenian and Kurdish minorities.

Both men were tried on a charge of "insulting Turkishness" by using
the term "genocide" to describe the killings of up to 1.5 million
Armenian as well as Assyrian and Hellenic Christians carried out by
Turkish Ottoman forces in the 1915-1917 period.

Turkey’s government has denied the figure or the involvement of
Turkish forces in mass killings and rejects the term "genocide" and
no more than 300,000 Armenians perished at the time.

WARNING SHOUTS

As the men accused of involvement in Dink’s murder were taken into
court, one reportedly shouted a warning that Pamuk was next on their
hit list. German police say they are unaware of any specific threat,
but the international persecuted writer’s group PEN says the death
threat against Pamuk should be taken seriously.

The cancellation of Pamu’s German trip also came two days after two
Christians, who converted from Islam, appeared in front of a court in
Silivri, 72 kilometers (45 miles) west of Istanbul for allegedly
insulting the Turkish identity.

They also are reportedly accused under less-known penal statutes of
reviling Islam and secretly compiling private data on Turkish
citizens for a Bible correspondence course.

Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal who reportedly arrived from Istanbul
with their lawyer for the trial amid tight security on Monday,
January 29, have denied the charges.

"ILLEGAL" STATEMENTS

Fatih Kose, 23, reportedly took the witness stand and contradicted
himself several times as to where and when he had heard specific
"illegal" statements, and from which of the two defendants.

"This was exactly a plot, a conspiracy. The youths asked for Bibles,
for brochures, they go of their own accord to church – and then they
come and complain," Defense lawyer Haydar Polat was quoted as saying
by Compass Direct News agency.

Of Turkey’s 72 million people, Armenians, Greeks, Syriacs, Catholics
and Protestants who are mostly converted from Islam, as well as Jews
– make up less than one percent of the country, according to some
estimates. (With reports from Turkey).

Azeris complain of the pro-Armenian position of the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairs

ArmRadio.am
01.02.2007 16:54

‘The recent statement of RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
reaffirmed that the Minsk Group Co-Chairs have a pro-Armenian
position,’ says the statement disseminated today by the so-called
Liberation of Karabakh Organization, Trend reports.

It is noted in the statement that the principles of the `framework
agreement’ proposed by the Co-Chairs `fully correspond to Armenia’s
interests, the negotiations held on the basis of these principles have
the purpose of making Azerbaijan agree to a yielding agreement.’ The
Liberation of Karabakh Organization has demanded from the Azeri
leadership to immediately suspend the negotiations `contradicting the
interests of Azerbaijan’ and refuse from the mediation of the OSCE
Minsk Group Co-Chairs, who force our country to go for a yielding
agreement.’ `The unfair stance of international organizations, the
pro-Armenian activity of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs reiterated
that the people of Azerbaijan can liberate its lands only in a
military way,’ the statement says.

ARABKIR No10 KINDERGARTEN NAMED AFTER FRENCH CITY OF PLESSIS-ROBINSON

YEREVAN, JANUARY 31, NOYAN TAPAN. No10 kindergarten of the Yerevan
Arabkir community was named after the French city of
Plessis-Robinson. "We are proud that the institution is named after
our city and hope that the cooperation will strengthen year by year,"
Plessis-Robinson Deputy Mayor Corinne Duguer said during the solemn
naming ceremony taken place on January 30. He mentioned that one of
the Plessis-Robinson squares where Andranik Zoravar’s bust is placed,
will be named in future "Square of Armenia."

In the words of Liana Mkrtchian, the Chief of the Education, Culture
and Information Department of the Arabkir district head’s office, the
French language will be studied at No10 kindergarten.

The basis for the "Arabkir" community and Plessis-Robinson cooperation
was put in 2004, when representatives of the Plessis-Robinson Mayor’s
Office visited Armenia for the first time. And a friendly cooperation
contract was singed between them on April 26, 2006.

Turks of Kars against opening the border with Armenia

ArmRadio.am
30.01.2007 17:32

`Unless Armenia liberates the occupied Azerbaijani lands, we are not
about to launch a dialogue with it,’ President of Kars Municipality
Naif Alibeyoghlu told leading mass media representatives. He noted
that `there is an incorrect impression in Azerbaijan that those in
Kars wish to open the border with Armenia.’

Alibeyoghlu said that both Kars dwellers oppose the opening of the
border unless Armenia withdraws from the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan, recognizes Turkey’s border and refuses from the issue of
recognition of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire.’ `We do
not see Armenia as an attractive market for Turkey,’ said the
President of Kars Municipality.