Author: Vardapetian Ophelia

Armenian defence minister rules out revolution

Arminfo
25 Jul 05

YEREVAN

A revolution is ruled out in Armenia because we encountered a similar
situation in the early 1990s, Armenian Defence Minister Serzh
Sarkisyan told a meeting with participants in the third Pan-Armenian
Youth Forum.

He said revolutions in post-Soviet republics were carried out in
places where power was in the hands of former Soviet leaders. The
minister also said colour revolutions, which in fact were coups d’etat
because they didn’t bring about a change of public structure,
succeeded in countries where power was too weak.

Sarkisyan added that if a third of the Armenian population (about one
million people) demanded that the authorities “resign”, he would
personally urge everyone [as published, presumably in the government]
to resign.

“Everyone who has 100,000-200,000 dollars can ask 20,000-30,000 people
to take to the streets,” Sarkisyan said, Armenian public radio said.

Press Statement at the Conclusion of the Visit of Mr. Agustín Carstens to Armenia

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

July 21 2005

/noticias.info/ Mr. Agustín Carstens, Deputy Managing Director of the
International Monetary Fund, issued the following statement today in
Yerevan at the conclusion of his visit to Armenia.

“I am pleased to be in Armenia for the first time. The purpose of
my visit was to meet with the Armenian authorities and review the
impressive progress they have achieved over the past several years.

“I have had the privilege to meet the Prime Minister and Deputy Speaker
of the National Assembly. I have also met the Finance and Economy
Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister, and Chairman of the Central
Bank of Armenia, as well as representatives of the international
community. We have had very productive discussions, and I would like
to thank the Armenian authorities for their warm welcome and the
excellent arrangements they made for my visit.

“Armenia is on a promising path toward sustained high growth and the
alleviation of poverty. The IMF has supported the government’s reform
efforts under successive concessional arrangements. Most recently,
in May 2005, the IMF’s Executive Board approved a new three-year
program under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility Arrangement
in support of the government’s economic program through 2008. Armenia
will be eligible to draw about US$34 million under this concessional
facility over the next three years.

“The immediate challenge faced by the authorities is how to cope with
the increase in remittances and capital inflows. The central bank
is to be commended for its handling of these inflows and preventing
inflation from being reignited. Its commitment to price stability
has alleviated poverty and protected the poor. I also support the
flexible exchange rate policy, which has served Armenia well. It
provides an important shock absorber for the economy.

“The flexible exchange rate policy needs to be complemented by
continued prudent fiscal policy to contain possible overheating of the
economy in response to strong capital inflows. This should be done in
a way that will ensure that social and infrastructure needs are met
in line with the authorities’ poverty reduction strategy objectives.

“A good deal of my discussions today focused on moving ahead
forcefully with reforms in tax and customs administrations intended
to raise revenues in a transparent and non-discretionary manner. I
very much welcome the tax and customs reforms already implemented,
which have resulted in a notable increase in revenue collection. We
agreed on the need to move forward with Government’s Tax Action Plan,
in particular the forthcoming review of customs operations aimed
at improving transparency and reducing discretion. More generally,
the main challenge facing the Armenian economy is the need to improve
the business climate, which is necessary to spur investment.

“Armenia has taken important steps to modernize its financial system.
I support the monetary authorities’ efforts to consolidate these gains,
especially by continuing to strengthen financial sector supervision,
fostering a competitive environment in the sector, and deepening
and broadening financial markets. I was pleased to hear about the
central bank’s proposal to improve corporate governance in the
financial sector. These initiatives will reduce borrowing rates (by
compressing the spread between borrowing and depositing), increase
financial intermediation, and encourage savings and investment.

“To conclude, I am encouraged by the meetings held yesterday and
today. I sensed strong ownership of reforms, which is good for
continued economic success. The IMF stands ready to continue to assist
Armenia with policy and technical advice, as well as financial support
in implementing its reform agenda, and I wish the authorities success
in this endeavor.”

–Boundary_(ID_hvOHN4hE16xUq37hqdVtnA)–

ATMOSPHERE IS FAVOURABLE

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
18 July 05

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs visited Artsakh in the framework of
the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. On June 13 NKR President
Arkady Ghukassian met with Youri Merzlyakov (Russia), Stephen Mann
(USA) and Bernard Fassier (France). Last time the co-chairs were in
Artsakh in February. After the meeting, which lasted for 2 hours,
the co-chairs gave a press conference. It should be noted that on
the whole the co-chairs were satisfied with the meetings in Baku and
Stepanakert. However, during the press conference they did not open
the brackets and did not give definite answers to such questions
as the expression of the nation’s right for self-determination
through a referendum; they neither agreed nor disagreed. Naturally,
as Youri Merzlyakov said regarding a question, it is typical of
diplomacy. In answer to the question what the reason for the optimism
of Goran Lennmarker about the golden chance to resolve the Karabakh
conflict is Merzlyakov said, “It is difficult to say what Mr.
Lennmarker relied on. You have, probably, read his report. We the
co-chairmen can tell that having a definite basis, because after the
top-level meetings (between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan,
as well as the meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries)
organized by the Minsk Group co-chairmen there are reassuring points,
positive tendencies in the statements of the both parties.” As to the
adoption of a document by the conflict sides, the three co-chairs
expressed their opinions, completing one another. According to Mr.
Merzlyakov, if a joint statement of the parties is meant, then they
have come quite close to that. And if the agreement on the resolution
of the Karabakh conflict is meant, the parties are very far from
that. “Drawing up an agreement requires months of hard work,” said
Youri Merzlyakov. According to the American co-chair Stephen Mann,
there are many complicated and unsettled points on which the parties
cannot reach an agreement. He said there is certain progress but
the parties did not agree to any of the viewpoints. For his part
Bernard Fassier pointed out the atmosphere of the talks. According
to the French co-chair, the positive aspects of the talks are the
new climate and spirit which enable to decide the principles of
the future agreement. In reference to the recent information in the
mass media that a referendum may become the key to the resolution
of the Karabakh issue Youri Merzlyakov said, “I have heard about a
publication on the referendum. The question, however, should not be
given to us. We the mediators keep to the arrangement of the parties
concerning the confidentiality of questions discussed and we stick to
this. If there was a leak of some statement through an unknown person,
try to trace to the party who did that.” In reference to the meeting
with the NKR president Youri Merzlyakov mentioned that the meeting was
interesting and effective and will have a continuation. “We hope to get
the answers to some questions which occurred to us during the process
of resolution from Arkady Ghukassian. We want to share our ideas, our
experience, since this is the first visit after nearly six months. At
that time we dealt with a question other than the resolution. We need
to see in retrospect how the cards were arranged. This is the aim of
our visit. And the talk with Arkady Ghukassian was rather effective
and interesting,” said the Russian co-chair. On June 14 the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairmen left for Yerevan.

LAURA GRIGORIAN. 18-07-2005

KARABAKH REFERENDUM NOT SUPPORTED IN BAKU

Pan ARMENIAN Network, Armenia
July 15 2005

Azeri political scientists find that the agreement to conduct
referendum is equivalent to recognizing the independent statehood
of Karabakh.

Mass media resources of Armenia and Azerbaijan are actively discussing
the information spread by “Svoboda” radio station. Referred to an
undisclosed diplomat, the source informed that both parties of Karabakh
conflict have come close to signing a peace treaty which can be signed
already within the coming few months. The plan of the unknown diplomat
met quite a number of opponents both in Baku and in Yerevan.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The source that has informed the radio station
about the content of negotiations with the condition of non-disclosure
of his name states that the scheme of conflict resolution is almost
agreed and its approval is only a matter of a few months. According
to the scheme the Armenian party agrees to return Armenian controlled
security zones to Azerbaijan and Baku agrees to recognize the right
of self-determination of Karabakh people. But according to the
mutual agreement Karabakh people will be able to enjoy the right of
self-determination not now, but after 10 or 15 years. According to the
source, Azerbaijan promises to recognize the legitimacy of Karabakh
status determined by the referendum which is to be conducted after
the return of refugees, opening of all regional communications and
restoration of an atmosphere of mutual trust. It is worth reminding
that a model like this was used not long ago with the case of Southern
Sudan where the North recognized the intermediate status of South
and its right to conduct a referendum after 5 years.

According to the source the political leadership of Azerbaijan
no longer insists on conducting a referendum on the territory of
Azerbaijan. If it is so, we should accept the considerable progress
in the position of Azerbaijan and their ability to take into account
established international norms. In cases like this referendums are
always conducted only in territories that strive to separation and
not on the territories that were once a part of a united state. This
was the case in Eastern Timor and twice in Quebec.

However the information leakage organized though “Svoboda” radio
station has provoked serious anxiety among many in Baku. Virtually all
the responds in the local press bore negative nature. The majority
of Azeri political scientists suppose that the agreement to conduct
referendum in Karabakh is equal to its loss because Azeris have no
doubt that after 15 years Karabakh will again speak out either for
joining to Armenia or for preservation of independent statehood. But
nevertheless the suggested formula can be quite attractive for Aliev
administration. The model in question will enable Aliev to comfortably
stay in power for two presidential periods leaving the solution of the
problem to the next president. It seems this is what the mediators
urge him to. There is no doubt that the speed up of the efforts of
Minsk group co-chairmen is connected with the upcoming parliamentary
elections. Baku political scientists suppose that the mediators demand
concessions from Aliev in return for shutting eyes to the atmosphere
of elections. The West is said to be ready to help the ruling clan to
retain power. However the political scientists think that the consent
of official Baku to sign the “losing agreement” will result in a burst
of public discontent and no one will save the regime in that case.

Aliev has also some other reasons that make him seriously consider
the idea of conducting a referendum in Karabakh. Postponing the
solution of Karabakh status issue, Baku gets though a trifling but
still a chance. The hopes for economic prosperity of Azerbaijan, for
the strengthening of military power and changes in the demographic
situation in the region allow Aliev to think that after 15 years the
situation will be more favorable for Azerbaijan. Then the outcome
of voting will not be that obvious. The mediators actually give a
chance to official Baku to convince the people of Karabakh that they
will feel more happy and protected being a part of Azerbaijan. Here
it is again appropriate to compare the situation with Sudan that is
also rich in oil. Northerners offered Southerners to equally share
the whole profit from oil sales though it is known that the North is
much richer in oil than the South. The Muslim majority actually bribes
southerners who practice Christianity and other national religions.
Mediators suggest Azeris to do the same.

Aliev will hardly create illusions for himself that he will manage to
“buy” the people of Karabakh with the promises for a prosperous life.
But he might have another plan. The variant of conducting a referendum
after 15 years is interesting in the view that within the period of 15
years it will be possible to try to change the demographic composition
of the population. This is why Baku emphatically propagandizes the idea
of starting the Aghdam-Stepanakert-Lachin-Goris-Nakhichevan highway. In
Baku they suppose that the highway which goes right through the center
of Karabakh will enable to start the process of settlement of Azeris
in the surrounding territories. Besides, Aliev may also be attracted
by another circumstance. As it is known in 1998 around 30 percents
of the population of Karabakh were Azeris. All the descendants of
Azeri refugees will claim to take part in the referendum. At the
same time thousands of Armenians, having leaved Karabakh for some
reasons, will not be included in the list of electors. If we take
into account that natality in Azeri families is much higher than in
Armenian families, we can observe a threat of parity in the number
of the real Armenian and virtual Azeri population of Karabakh. Maybe
Ilham Aliev seriously relies also on this factor seriously considering
the issue of conducting referendum in Karabakh.

Art Simonyan vs Agapito Sanchez on ESPN2 “Friday Night Fights” — January 22, 2005

EastSideBoxing.com
15.07.05

Promoters Art Pelullo/Banner Promotions and Bobby Hitz/Hitz Boxing
Promotions, will present a sensational championship fight card on
Friday, July 22, 2005, at the Allstate Arena, located at 6920 N.
Mannheim Road in Rosemont, Illinois. The featured fights will be
televised live on ESPN2~Rs ~SFriday Night Fights.~T

In the 12-round main event, Art Simonyan, 14-1-1, with 7 knockouts, a
native of Armenia based in Glendale, California, will defend the USBA
jr. featherweight title against former WBO jr. featherweight world
champion Agapito Sanchez, 36-9-2, with 21 knockouts, of Brooklyn, New York.

Now 29 years old, Simonyan is the IBF~Rs No. 9 ranked contender at 122
pounds. He challenged IBF jr. featherweight world champion Israel
Vazquez in his last fight on December 28, but was stopped in the fifth
round. He was undefeated in 15 previous fights, which included a win in
an elimination bout for the IBF~Rs No. 1 ranking in May, 2004.

Sanchez, 35 years old, is ranked No. 10 by the IBF. He is experienced at
the top levels of competition and has impressive wins to his credit
against Oscar Larios, who currently holds the WBC super bantamweight
world title, and former IBF lightweight world champion Javier Jauregui.

The co-featured bout will feature rising prospect ~SIrish~T John Duddy,
10-0, with 9 knockouts, of Queens, New York, in an eight-round round jr.
middleweight fight against veteran Pat ~SCat~T Coleman, 29-11, with 20
knockouts, of Rockford, Illinois

Four more fights are scheduled to complete the card. All fights are
subject to change without notice.

Doors open at 7:00 P.M., first fight at 8:00 P.M. (Central Time)

;more=1

For your health, officials prescribe a culture change at hospitals

TimesLeader.com (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
Monday, July 11, 2005

By JD MALONE, Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

WASHINGTON – (KRT) – Setting foot into a hospital ought to be a safe
thing for anyone requiring medical treatment, but the truth is that the
best-trained medical personnel surrounding a patient, from top-flight
surgeons to highly recruited nurses, may end up doing more harm than
good, according to comments made Monday at a health-care leadership
conference at Georgetown University.

The Institute of Medicine, an independent health and science institute,
reported in 1999 that deaths in the United States caused by preventable
adverse effects from care given to patients outnumber deaths caused by
motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer or AIDS.

Dr. James P. Bagian, a former NASA astronaut and currently the director
of the Veterans Administration National Center for Patient Safety, said,
“The problems stem from a combination of ignorance and arrogance. Either
you don’t know (what you are doing) or you think that you know best.”

Bagian added that health care has a cottage industry mentality – with
many different units working as individuals inside the same
organization. This has bred a culture of total reliance on individual
responsibility, individual perfection and has perpetuated a cycle of
“train and blame” philosophies that put patients at risk, he said.

“People do not typically understand the goal in health care,” Bagian
said. “What you should care about is prevention of harm instead of
prevention of errors.”

Bagian said that the aviation industry – unlike the medical industry –
seeks to fix a system so that when an individual isn’t perfect, there is
still a positive outcome. For instance, commercial airliners have one
more engine than they need to operate safely in case of a catastrophic
failure, but in surgery there is no backup or well-developed plan to
avert errors or to correct them. If something bad happens, it is likely
that something much worse will result, he said.

The costs of the errors that are made in hospitals do far more than
raise individual premiums. Complicated surgery (often a result of a
critical error) is far less profitable (3 percent on the average) than
noncomplicated surgery (34 percent), and as a result, hurts the bottom
line, Bagian said.

He added that one of the fundamental problems with health-care systems
is a “normalization of deviance, or people saying, `That’s the way the
world is.'”

Instead, Bagian called for sweeping changes in the way the health-care
industry organizes its internal systems. He wants to see hospitals move
to a learning system instead of one based on accountability or blame. He
said that the systems need to mirror that of the aviation industry –
non-punitive and de-identifying, so that individuals will not fear
reporting errors and close calls.

Hospital administrators agreed that the culture of their organizations
needs to change, but they said change also needs to occur at medical and
nursing schools so that medical professionals are ready to work as a
team to discuss and prevent mistakes and share the results so that
others learn through detailed reporting.

The American Medical Student Association agreed. AMSA’s president, Dr.
Brian Palmer, said in a news release that malpractice litigation reform
“should include a system to share the potentially life-saving
information learned through medical error reporting, and fostering
better communication between physicians and patients.”

Bernard Horak, a professor and director of Health Systems Administration
Programs at Georgetown University, said that health-care institutions
should have an immediate response to a crisis and a system in place to
report information so that others can learn from it.

He said that health care systems should get away from the mentality of
“first as an individual, do no harm” to a system of “first as a health
system, do no harm.”

“Successful change means looking below the waterline,” Horak said. “We
need to look at the underlying structure that allows for mistakes to occur.”

Horak said that coordinated communication is the most important factor
in quality patient care and that the traditional practice of separating
medical teams (nurses on one team, doctors on another) has created a
communication system that is fundamentally impaired.

To help fix the problem, Horak recommended that doctors, nurses and
others talk every day about “what did we do right? What do we need to do
differently? And what did we learn?” so that the systems change from an
individual- to a team-oriented approach that views every member as a
critical link – including the patients.

A1plus

| 19:29:09 | 08-07-2005 | Social |

CORRUPTION IS EVERYWHERE

«The local governing bodies of Armenia are very weak, that’s why everything
here is corrupted, starting from the elections», Amalya Kostanyan, head of
the Armenian branch of the non-governmental organization «Transparency
International».

On July 7-9 in the hotel Yerevan within the framework of the program «NO to
Corruption: Political Control of the Local Self-Governing Bodies» a seminar
has been organized titled «The Polish Experience in the Combat against
Corruption». During the seminar issues like the local self-governing system
in Poland and the perception of corruption in Poland and in Armenia have
been discussed.

According to Amalya Kostanyan, combat against corruption does not mean to
try people but to improve the governing system, to secure transparency and,
which is most important, the responsibility of official before people.

Why should we combat corruption? Amalya Kostanyan thinks. «Not because
everyone knows it is a bad thing, but because we feel its disastrous effect.
It makes the both the social, and the economic, and the political, and the
moral situation worse and worse, as people have no hope, no belief, and they
come to think that everything can be bought and sold in this country».

Why Poland? According to Amalya Kostanyan, they could bring the example of
New Zealand or Finland which are almost completely «deprived» of corruption,
but «Do you think our history and culture is closer to New Zealand o Poland?
».

By the way, as Amalya Kostanyan informs, the seminar is the initiative of
Poland. «The Polish non-governmental organization applied to us to organize
the event. The second part of it will take place in Poland where 10
representatives of Armenia will discuss the same issue with the Polish
experts», she mentioned.

Azerbaijan News Service
July 6 2005

AZERI MPs CALL RECENT OSCE PA RESOLUTION ON DAQLIQ QARABAQ GENERALY
ACCEPTABLE FOR AZERBAIJAN BUT WITH REMARKS
2005-07-06 10:44

Eldar Ibrahimov , member of the Azerbaijan Parliamentary delegation
to OSCE Parliamentary Assembly said in his interview with ANS TV that
recently adopted resolution on Daqliq Qarabaq conflict was agreeable
for Azerbaijan’s position. The document says numbers of Azerbaijani
citizens have become refugees and IDPs as a result of that conflict
however didn’t directly show who occupied the territories of
Azerbaijan. There is now a golden opportunity for a peaceful solution
of the Daqliq Qarabaq conflict, based on a win-win concept where both
Armenia and Azerbaijan come out better. Armenia and Azerbaijan must
intensify the negotiations on Nagorno Karabakh. Swedish MP Göran
Lennmarker, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative on the
Daqliq Qarabaq Conflict, today presented his report to Heads of
Delegations to the OSCE PA. The Report spells out his ideas on how to
promote a peaceful settlement of the Daqliq Qarabaq conflict within
the ongoing OSCE Minsk Peace-process.The conflict between the
Armenians and Azerbaijanis over the region of Daqliq Qarabaq broke
out more than a decade ago, leaving territories occupied and
resulting in displaced people living under miserable conditions on
both sides. Although a ceasefire was established in 1994, the
conflict remains unsolved. Mr. Lennmarker stresses that “the conflict
is not frozen. Several people are killed along the line-of-contact
every year”. He adds: “there is no alternative to a peaceful solution
– in fact there is an urgent need to solve the conflict in order to
end the personal, economic, and social suffering on both sides of
this conflict”. He suggests basing a solution on experiences from
Europe, where democracy and integration are fundamental components in
securing a lasting peace. Strong European and international
institutions stand ready to support Armenia and Azerbaijan. This is a
generous offer and must be seized.He also stresses the usefulness of
the work done by the Parliamentary Delegations of Armenia and
Azerbaijan: “Once a peace agreement has been finalized by the two
Governments, the parliamentary dimension becomes invaluable in
informing the public and in ensuring the implementation. It is of
utmost importance that networks of Members of Parliaments already
exist and stand ready to take on these tasks”. Mr. Lennmarker was
appointed in June 2002 and has since then visited Armenia and
Azerbaijan on numerous occasions, meeting with representatives of all
sections of society including refugees on both sides. He has also met
with international actors, including the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group. At the close of their meeting in Washington D.C. from 1-5
July, more than 260 parliamentarians from 51 OSCE participating
States adopted the Washington Declaration focusing on the political,
economic and human rights aspects of the central theme of the
Session: “30 Years since Helsinki: Challenges Ahead”. In addition,
several other documents were adopted. On the final day of the
Washington Session the Assembly re-elected US Congressman Alcee L.
Hastings as its President for another one year term.

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway

The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief

================================================
Thursday 7 July 2005
NAGORNO-KARABAKH: ILLEGALLY DEPORTED ARMENIAN JW CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR
JAILED, NO PROGRESS IN KARABAKH BAPTIST CASE

An Armenian citizen, Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector Armen
Grigoryan, who was illegally deported from Armenia to the unrecognised
republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, has been jailed in Karabakh for two years
and sent back to Armenia to serve the sentence, Forum 18 News Service has
learnt. Armen Grigoryan joins eleven other Jehovah’s Witness conscientious
objectors who are currently jailed in Armenia, despite the country’s broken
promise to the Council of Europe that it would free all these prisoners of
conscience and introduce civilian alternative service by January 2004. In
another Nagorno-Karabakh case, that of Baptist conscientious objector
Gagik Mirzoyan – a Karabakh native who has already spent 10 days in a
military prison – the Nagorno-Karabakh Foreign Ministry has told
Forum 18 that no case has yet been formally brought against him. His
congregation were expecting him to be tried in June.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH: ILLEGALLY DEPORTED ARMENIAN JW CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR
JAILED, NO PROGRESS IN KARABAKH BAPTIST CASE

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service

Jehovah’s Witness Armen Grigoryan – sentenced on 9 June in Stepanakert,
capital of the unrecognised republic of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South
Caucasus, to two years’ imprisonment for refusing military service – was
returned to his homeland of Armenia on 5 July to serve his sentence,
Albert Voskanyan of the Stepanakert-based Centre for Civilian Initiatives
told Forum 18 News Service on 7 July. Grigoryan, an Armenian citizen, was
forcibly deported to Nagorno-Karabakh against his will, after being seized
in the Armenian capital Yerevan in June 2004 (see F18News 6 January 2005
).

In the case of Baptist conscientious objector Gagik Mirzoyan – a Karabakh
native – Leonid Martirosyan, chief of staff of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Foreign
Ministry, said that no case against Mirzoyan has yet reached the
Nagorno-Karabakh prosecutor’s office in Stepanakert in readiness for a
trial. “This means either no case has yet been lodged against him or
that the investigation is still underway,” he told Forum 18 from
Stepanakert on 7 July.

Armen Grigoryan, who is from Yerevan, was sentenced under Articles 362
part 1 and 364 part 1 of the criminal code (Nagorno-Karabakh has adopted
Armenia’s criminal code). These respectively punish desertion with a
prison sentence of up to four years and “refusal to perform one’s
military duties” with detention of up to 3 months, disciplinary
battalion of up to 2 years or imprisonment of up to 2 years. Voskanyan, of
the Centre for Civilian Initiatives, said Grigoryan was returned to Armenia
under an agreement between the Armenian and Karabakh authorities that
Armenian citizens imprisoned in the enclave are to be returned to serve
their sentences in their homeland.

Armenia’s human rights ombudsperson Larisa Alaverdyan, denied to Forum 18
in May that Grigoryan had been illegally deported as “there’s no such
term,” but admitted that “it might have been illegal
removal.” She defended what she claimed was the right of the Armenian
Defence Ministry to send Armenian citizens to Nagorno-Karabakh, which
international law regards as part of Azerbaijan (see F18News 17 May 2005
). She has also
previously denied to Forum 18 that jailing Jehovah’s Witness conscientious
objectors breaks Armenia’s Council of Europe and OSCE commitments, blaming
the Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves for the problems they face at the hands
of the Armenian government (see F18News 3 August 2004
).

Another Jehovah’s Witness, Areg Hovhanesyan, a Karabakh native, was
sentenced to four years’ imprisonment on 16 February (see F18News 22
February 2005 ). He is
now being held in prison in the town of Shushi, Jehovah’s Witnesses told
Forum 18. Voskanyan reported that he visits Hovhanesyan in prison every
few weeks as part of a prison monitoring programme. “I was with him
two weeks ago,” he told Forum 18. “Areg seemed well.”
Voskanyan added that he also speaks regularly to the prison governor.

Baptist conscientious objector Gagik Mirzoyan, also a Karabakh native, was
called up last December and refused to serve with weapons or to swear the
military oath on grounds of religious conscience. Since being conscripted
he has been beaten up in two different military units and served 10 days
in military prison (see F18News 6 January 2005
and 15 April 2005
=544 ).

Ashot Yegonyan of the public prosecutor’s office of Hadrut region of
south-eastern Nagorno-Karabakh told Mirzoyan’s mother in May that charges
have been laid against her son under Article 364 part 1 of the criminal
code. His fellow Baptists reported in May that they were expecting a trial
in June, with the possibility of beuing sentenced to jail or forced labour
for two years (see F18News 20 May 2005
).

However, a member of the Council of Churches Baptists, to which Mirzoyan’s
congregation belongs, confirmed to Forum 18 on 7 July that no trial has yet
taken place, but said they are expecting one soon. The Council of Churches
Baptists refuse on principle to register with the state authorities in
post-Soviet countries, and Mirzoyan’s congregation has faced harassment
from the Karabakh authorities (see F18News 27 September 2004
).

Martirosyan of the Nagorno-Karabakh Foreign Ministry defended the
continuing imprisonment of conscientious objectors. “Karabakh law
requires all young men to serve, and refusing this duty represents
breaking the law,” he told Forum 18 from Stepanakert. He stressed
that the war with Azerbaijani forces has not yet finished and no peace
treaty has been signed. “We have to look at the specifics of our
situation. War could revive at any moment.” He told Forum 18 that the
government has recently considered the possibility of introducing an
alternative to compulsory military service. “But there was no
result.”

Voskanyan of the Centre for Civilian Initiatives admitted that
conscientious objection is a “thorny issue” in Nagorno-Karabakh,
which provokes “great arguments”. While stressing that freedom of
conscience is a right guaranteed by the constitution, he warned that
“society must be prepared carefully so that we can take this
step”. He told Forum 18 that his centre will soon hold a roundtable
to discuss alternative service, with politicians, officials, human rights
activists, local Jehovah’s Witnesses, Catholics and Baptists, members of
the Armenian Apostolic Church and representatives of international
organisations. “We want this roundtable to be well-prepared,” he
insisted.

Now back in Armenia, Grigoryan joins eleven other Jehovah’s Witness
conscientious objectors currently serving prison terms. The most recent
sentences were of Sarkis Karapetyan and Tatul Gogjanyan in April (see
F18News 17 May 2005 ).
Armenia has continued to unashamedly break its promise to the Council of
Europe that it would free all these prisoners of conscience and introduce
civilian alternative service by January 2004 (see F18News 19 October 2004
).

A printer-friendly map of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is
available at
;Rootma p=azerba
within the map titled ‘Azerbaijan’.

A printer-friendly map of Armenia is available at
;Rootmap=armeni
(END)

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RESIDENTS OF 2 ARMENIAN VILLAGES OF BORZHOM REGION HOLD REGULAR ACTION
OF PROTEST AGAINST “BRITISH PETROLEUM”

AKHALKALAK, JULY 1, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The residents of
Armenian villages of Tapatsghur and Molit of Borzhom region organized
a regular action of protest against the “British Petroleum” (BP)
company that ordered the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil
pipeline, stopping the pipeline’s construction on June 28. In the
villagers’ affirmation, those carrying out the pipeline’s construction
didn’t completely pay them the compensation in connection with
building the pipeline through the village territory. In particular,
it’s envisaged to use a territory with a width of 66 meters instead of
former 44 meters in the village of Molit at the full length of the oil
pipeline. Tapatsghur village residents consider that they need the
respective revenues from the village budget in order to use the
sand-pits in the village territory. Georgy Papuashvili, Georgian
Minister of Environmental Conservation, arrived in the region in
connection with the incident and promised to help the villagers in
getting the compensation. According to the A-Info agency, the
residents of the village of Ghado of Akhalkalak region also have such
a problem.