Author: Vardapetian Ophelia

NUMBER OF SUPPORTERS OF SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT BY MILITARY WAY INCREASES AMONG YOUNG AZERIS, AZERBAIJANI POLITICAL SCIENTIST STATES

Noyan Tapan
May 24 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. "The negotiations being held today
on settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict in essence are not
negotiations, but imitation." Political scientist Arif Yunusov,
Head of Department of Conflictology and Migration of Baku Institute
for Peace and Democracy, stated at the international conference
Caucasus-2006. In his words, until 2010 it is no use speaking about
the settlement at all, especially as year 2008 is year of elections.

A. Yunusov said that in the year 2006 the Azerbaijani public anxious
about possible unacceptable settlement of conflict with great tension
followed all stages of negotiations process. "When after Rambouillet
and Bucharest it became obvious that the problem will not be settled,
an impression was formed that in Azerbaijan they sighed with relief. I
think if someone thirsted after quick settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, these were Americans," he stated.

A. Yunusov said that according to studies conducted by the Institute
for Peace and Democracy, radicalization of Azerbaijani public
is noticed in the recent 3-4 years. In particular, the number
of supporters of settlement of conflict by military way grows:
currently this number is 58-65%. These moods are especially strong
among youth, and the majority of people of elder generation (45-50)
is for "freezing" the conflict.

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS REJECTS ARMED RESOLUTION TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

TREND News Agency, Azerbaijan
May 24 2007

French Ambassador Bernard Fassie, an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, stated
at a news conference in Yerevan that OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs rejects
the idea of an armed resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
Íîâîñò&#xE 8; reports.

No-one in Moscow and Washington regard war as a possible variant.

Fassie stressed that there is no other way but for peaceful talks
to resolve the conflict. "Therefore war is not a resolution to the
problem," he stated.

The OSCE Minsk Group Chairs from France and Russia have been visiting
Armenia from 23 May as part of a tour of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
region. During the visit they held meetings with the President of
Armenia, Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian and the
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian.

On 24 May the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will leave for Baku.

–Boundary_(ID_RMAma7ry17+ni7jRO2YM9Q)–

2007-2009 PROGRAM ON DEVELOPMENT OF RA TAX SYSTEM APPROVED

Noyan Tapan
May 24 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. At the May 24 sitting, the Armenian
government approved the three-year program on development of the tax
system of the RA in 2007-2009. The document was developed in line with
Armenia’s economuic development and the reforms being implemented by
the government in the tax system.

The program contains measures that ensure the fulfilment of obligations
assumed by the state tax service (under various programs and towards
international orgaizations) and have been developed taking into account
the best international experience of recent years. These measures
are aimed at improving the tax payer – tax body relations through
introduction of a comprehensive self-assessment system in the tax
field, updating information technologies, improving the legislation
on tax administration, insuring a growth of taxes/GDP ratio.

Deputy head of the State Tax Service Armen Alaverdian told reporters
after the sitting that the purpose of adopting this program is to
have a medium-term strategical program for developing the tax system
in line with the economic development of the country.

The program consists of five sections, the first one of which is
related to the strategy of developing the self-assessment system of
tax liabilities. Its objective is to introduce a comprehensive system
of self-assessment in the tax field, as well as to update and later
to automate the system of report development and presentation.

A. Alaverdian noted that the measures included in the section on
ensuring taxes/GDP ratio growth are aimed at improving the mechanisms
of taxation of profitable sectors, carrying out efficient work with
big tax payers, reducing the shadow sector, as well as at development
and introduction of mechanisms for VAT taxation of non-taxed sectors,
including agriculture, starting from 2009.

He said that agricultural companies with a turnover of less than 8
mln drams (22.9 thousand USD) will not have to pay taxes. Besides,
a differentiated approach will be shown to profitable branches,
including production of eggs, poultry and fish, which will be taxed
first of all. Only after this, in the words of A. Alaverdian, one
can speak about taxation of big farms.

300 NEW JOBS TO BE CREATED FOR ARMENIAN CONVICTS

ARMENPRESS
May 23 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 23, ARMENPRESS: Armenian justice ministry has designed
a program for opening new jobs for convicts. Ashot Martirosian, head
of a ministry’s department, which is in charge of prisons, said in
addition to 74 such jobs created last year they will open 300 more
within this year.

He said a woodshop will open soon in Sevan prison.

He said working convicts in Armenian prisons are engaged in
agricultural activity and work also as shepherds, at garment shops
and at semi-precious stones cutting shops.

The agricultural products grown by convicts are consumed by
themselves. They also make their uniforms and the cut stones are sold
to specialized enterprises.

At an open- air fair in Yerevan known as Vernisage there are two
pavilions called ‘Prison Art,’ which sell pieces of art created by
convicts and the raised money is transferred on their bank accounts.

Armenia’s overall prison population is 3,333 people.

REP. PALLONE COMMENDS ARMENIA ON FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS

armradio.am
23.05.2007 11:20

Speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives, Rep. Frank
Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian
Issues, commended Armenia for holding free and fair Parliamentary
elections on May 12, the Armenian Assembly of America reports.

"This is the first positive assessment of an election in the former
Soviet Republic since it gained independence in 1991," Pallone
said. "This encouraging outcome will most certainly enhance and
deepen US-Armenia relations, while also elevating Armenia’s reputation
regionally and internationally."

Pallone noted that Armenia’s achievements address concerns raised by
the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and urged the MCC to fully fund
its five-year $235 million Compact with Armenia.

He also renewed his call for $75 million in economic assistance
to Armenia in Fiscal Year 2008. "This assistance demonstrates our
commitment to Armenia, which is a friend and a supporter of US policies
for peace and security in that part of the world," he said.

Pallone also entered into the congressional record a letter he
sent with Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) to President
Robert Kocharyan and Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan, marking Armenia’s
achievement.

"These elections are an historic step towards a fully democratic
Armenia, a goal to which the nation has demonstrated its commitment
and leadership in the region through democratic reform. I congratulate
the people of Armenia for this remarkable accomplishment," Pallone
concluded.

MASIS MAYILYAN MET OXFORD UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

KarabakhOpen
22-05-2007 11:53:36

On May 21 the NKR deputy minister of foreign affairs Masis Mayilyan
met students and teachers of Oxford Brookes University visiting
Stepanakert. At the request of the guests, Masis Mayilyan presented
the public and political situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. In addition, he
said in the post-war years the country chose the track for democracy.

"The international community acknowledged that Karabakh state is being
built and developing even though it is unrecognized," said the deputy
minister of foreign affairs of NKR.

He also dwelled on the history of Artsakh, mentioning there are
a number of pre-Christian and Christian historical and cultural
monuments, which attract tourists from different countries of the
world.

With regard to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, Masis
Mayilyan emphasized that the main achievements of the talks is the
case-fire. In addition, he said if in the period between 1992 and
1997 three-party talks included Nagorno-Karabakh, from 1997 there
are only regular consultations of the official representatives of
Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"The problem today is Azerbaijan is not ready to acknowledge the right
of our people for self-determination and independent development,"
said Masis Mayilyan, underlining that the Karabakh side is interested
in the resolution of the conflict as soon as possible.

The issues of guarantee of security of NKR, refugees, investments
in the NKR economy, the development of the public sector were also
touched upon.

The delegation included citizens of France, the U.K., Japan, Austria
and other countries.

CLASH OF CIVILISATIONS: BELEAGUERED ARMENIANS IN TURKEY – AND A CLOSED BORDER WITH ARMENIA

Economist, UK
May 17 2007

FOR a seasoned diplomat, Hasan Sultanoglu Zeynalov, Azerbaijan’s
consul-general in Kars, eastern Turkey, is unusually indiscreet. He
openly complains about Naif Alibeyoglu, the mayor, who is promoting
dialogue between Turkey, Azerbaijan and their common enemy, Armenia,
just over the border. "I don’t believe in dialogue," Mr Zeynalov
snorts. He recently ordered his compatriots to boycott an arts
festival organised by the mayor after finding that "there were
Armenians too." Like his masters in Baku, Mr Zeynalov is unnerved at
the thought of his country’s biggest regional ally suddenly making
peace with Armenia.

He will have been cheered by the victory of Serzh Sarkisian, Armenia’s
nationalist prime minister, in a general election on May 12th. Mr
Sarkisian is said to have engineered a last-minute ban on Turkish
observers of the election. "I think it would be unnatural to receive
observing representatives from a country that does not even wish to
have a civilised official dialogue," he commented.

Mr Sarkisian’s hawkish views are echoed by Robert Kocharian, the
Armenian president, whom he is tipped to succeed in a presidential
election next year. Both men hail from Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous
enclave wrested by the Armenians from Azerbaijan in a vicious war in
the early 1990s. This prompted Turkey to seal its border (but not air
links) with Armenia in 1993. The effect on Kars’s economy has been
disastrous, which is why Mr Alibeyoglu is so keen to reopen the border.

Ethnic Azeris, who make up a third of his city’s 80,000 residents,
are less enthusiastic. They are likely to vote in droves for the
far-right MHP party in Turkey’s parliamentary election on July 22nd.

The party’s fortunes have risen on a tide of xenophobic nationalism
that has engulfed Turkey. Dismissing opinion polls that give Mr
Alibeyoglu’s AK party a big lead over its rivals, Oktay Aktas, the
local MHP boss, confidently predicts victory. He would like Turkey
to invade northern Iraq and to hang the Kurdish PKK rebel leader,
Abdullah Ocalan. He also says there is no question of easing the
blockade on Armenia-certainly not until it stops referring to his
region as western Armenia and calling the mass killings of Ottoman
Armenians in 1915 a genocide.

The sensitiveness of the genocide issue was reflected in January in the
killing of Hrant Dink, an ethnic-Armenian newspaper editor in Istanbul,
who had talked openly about it. The killer was a school dropout from
the port of Trabzon. Mr Dink’s lawyer, Ergin Cinmen, says there is
compelling evidence that the Istanbul police were given warning of a
planned attack at least a year ago, but they did nothing to protect
Mr Dink. This week Istanbul’s Armenians were shocked once again by a
letter sent from Trabzon warning them to defend Turkey against the
genocide claims or "face the consequences". It was delivered to an
Armenian primary school.

Such threats have dispelled the surge of goodwill that followed a
huge turnout at Mr Dink’s funeral and the reopening in March of an old
Armenian church restored by Turkey’s AK government. Etyen Mahcupyan,
who replaced Mr Dink at his newspaper, says some of his kin are now
talking of leaving Turkey for good. The border may stay closed for
many more years.

TIGRAN TOROSYAN CONDOLES WITH GOHAR GASPARYAN’S FAMILY

armradio.am
17.05.2007 16:06

Speaker of RA National assembly Tigran Torosyan extended condolences
for the death of Gohar Gasparyan’s death. The message says, in part:

"It was with great sorrow that I learned about the death of the
National Artist of the USSR, Hero of Socialist Labor, holder of Mesrop
Mashtots order, Professor of the Yerevan Conservatory Gohar Gasparyan.

Many achievements of Armenian music are connected with Gohar
Gasparyan’s name. With her work she proved the endlessness of
perfection of human voice, making the world of music accessible to
thousands of her admirers.

After leaving the big stage many years she worked at the Yerevan
Conservatory, passing the secreted of her unprecedented art to the
young, who continued the mission of presenting Armenian vocal art on
Armenian and international stages.

I extend my condolences to Gohar Gasparyan’s relatives and admirers
of her art. I’m sure that the grief of her death will be reimbursed
with the fact of eternity of her art."

ANC-ER ORGANIZED BRIEFING ON RECENT DEBACLE INVOLVING THE LOS ANGELES TIMES AND MISHANDLING OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 16 2007

Twenty Armenian community leaders, representing a dozen organizations,
gathered on May 9, as noted activist and commentator Harut Sassounian
briefed them on the recent debacle involving the Los Angeles Times
and its mishandling of the Armenian Genocide issue. The briefing was
organized by the Armenian National Committee of America-Eastern US
and hosted by Mr. Robert Setrakian.

Mr. Sassounian addressed the controversy created by The Times Managing
Editor Douglas Frantz, who blocked the publication of an article on
the Armenian Genocide by columnist Mark Arax last month.

Frantz alleged that Arax had a bias on this issue presumably due to
his ethnic background. The Armenian-American reporter is currently in
the process of filing a discrimination lawsuit against The Times. In
recent years, Frantz was stationed in Istanbul representing first
the New York Times and then the Los Angeles Times.

Sassounian reported he had already met with the publisher and
editor of the newspaper demanding Frantz’s dismissal. Sassounian
reminded the gathering that The Times was on record affirming the
veracity of the Genocide, and that Frantz’s actions contradicted the
newspaper’s own position on this issue. At this stage, Sassounian
stated, the community must accept nothing less than the firing of
Frantz for his complicity in Turkey’s denialist campaign – something
that Sassounian demonstrated by presenting abundant evidence. He then
encouraged attendees to push their respective organizations to show
more activism in pursuing this matter.

One of the most prominent political commentators in Armenian affairs,
Harut Sassounian is the long-time publisher of the California Courier,
President of the United Armenian Fund, and Senior Vice-President of
the Los Angeles-based Lincy Foundation. "We’re delighted to make use
of Harut Sassounian’s presence in New York to highlight the importance
of this issue," said Karine Birazian, ANC-ER Executive Director.

"In the coming months, the ANC will continue to hold such briefings
periodically, in order to better inform and mobilize our community
leadership on the issues they need to be aware of," Birazian said.

YEREVAN TO HOST ‘ARMENIAN APRICOT’ BUSINESS FORUM

ARMENPRESS
May 16 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 16, ARMENPRESS: Armenian agricultural ministry in
cooperation with the National Academy of Sciences will convene an
international conference and business forum on July 6-7, an official
of the ministry said to Armenpress.

The official said the event will be titled ‘Armenian Apricot" and
will feature the famous fruit.

Participants of the conference will tour several regions in the
country where farmers grow apricot and visit several canneries
producing apricot jams, juices and so on.

Representatives of Armenian Diaspora, businessmen dealing with
agricultural products production are expected to attend the event. An
exhibition displaying apricot products will be on the conference’s
fringes.