Author: Varosian Antranik

ONE MORE AZERBAIJANI CITIZEN CAPTURED BY ARMENIANS

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Nov 13 2007

One more Azerbaijani citizen was captured by Armenians, press service
of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Representation in
Azerbaijan told the APA.

Captured Azerbaijani is civilian.

Officials of ICRC Representation in Armenia have already visited
civil captive, monitored his detention condition, psychological and
physical state, and established condition for the exchange of the
letter with his family. ICRC is said to negotiate with Azerbaijan
State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons
on the fact. Commission told the APA ICRC informed the organization
about it and the investigations are carried out.

Personality of the captive and condition how he was captured has not
yet been publicized.

PROBLEMS REQUIRING SOLUTION
Zarine Mayilian

Azat Artsakh Tert, Nagorno Karabakh Republic
Nov 13 2007

On October 24th, the NKR President B.Sahakian accompanied by some
officials, visiting Infant Infection Hospital, getting acquainted with
the situation existing there, gave concrete assignments, assuring
in his turn, that the state would render its assistance towards the
above-mentioned medical institution. After the visit, the management
has solved some problems. The entrance and exit of the hospital,
which before that were double-sided, have become one-sided.

The dump is in the neighbourhood with the entrance: the management
many times warned the competents, asked for solving the problem. but
vain. "For resolving such and other problems, we expect the assistance
of newly elected mayor",- the head physician of the hospital added
at the end.

BRITAIN – PROTESTS GREET GENOCIDE MEMORIAL

Morning Star, UK
November 5, 2007 Monday

Members of the Welsh Turkish community protested at the unveiling of
a plaque to the 1915 Armenian genocide in Cardiff on Saturday.

The genocide is a source of deep division between Turkish and Armenian
communities. Armenians say that 1.5 million died due to massacres
or starvation.

The Welsh Assembly’s Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas said that the memorial
"reflects the vibrant Welsh interest in the history of Armenia."

But protester Levent Hassan said: "If such a genocide took place,
then let’s prove it and let all concerned commemorate those horrible
events."

ARMENIAN ARMY REMANNED WITH CONTRACTUAL SEVICEMEN IN CONNECTION WITH DECLINE IN NUMBER OF DRAFTEES IN NEAR FUTURE

Noyan Tapan
Nov 12 2007

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 12, NOYAN TAPAN. As every year, the recruitment plan
will be fulfilled and even overfulfilled this year. The head of the
RA Armed Forces General Staff, the first deputy minister of defence
Seyran Ohanian expressed this opinion at the Charbakh assembly place
on November 12. In his words, during this recruitment, they will
pay special attention to issues of fair call up, as well as health
and medical examination of draftees. In particular, the number of
vaccinations against the most widespread diseases have been increased.

In response to the question about whether it will be possible to man
the Armenian army with the necessary number of servicemen for a fixed
period of military service in the future too, S. Ohanian said that
a decline in the number of young men liable for military service is
expected in 2010-2012 in connection with the fall in birth rate in
Armenia in 1992-1994. For this reason, in addition to servicemen for
a fixed period, those on a contract basis will be recruited into the
army. There are already military units and subunits fully composed
of servicemen an a contract basis.

According to S. Ohanian, cases of desertion are few in the Armenian
army: about 15 cases happen at present. The head of the General Staff
said that the number of emergency cases has also declined as compared
with last year.

Not giving the exact number, he only stated that each loss is
regrettable for the army.

WHEREABOUTS OF KARABAKH COMMITTEE CASE TRACED

ARMENPRESS
Nov 9, 2007

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS: Armenian law-enforcers said today
they have traced the whereabouts of a 50-volume 1988 criminal case
against members of the Karabakh Committee that was reported missing
from the archives of the prosecutor-general’s office earlier this week.

The disappearance came to surface after a search for the case could
not locate it. Prosecutor-general Aghvan Hovsepian was said to
order an immediate internal inquiry on October 31 to clarify all the
circumstances of the high-profile loss.

Speaking today to reporters, the prosecutor-general said his
subordinates found that the case had been handed to ex-president
Levon Ter-Petrosian back in 1996 at the instruction of then chief of
the investigative department of the procuracy.

He said the current chief of staff of the prosecutor-general’s
office, who is in charge of the archives, has sent a letter today to
ex-president asking him to return the case.

Aghvan Hovsepian said handing the case to ex-president was a gross
violation of the procedure ‘ because materials on any criminal can
not be handed to other bodies or individuals, even to the presidnet
of the country who can not ask for any such material or keep them."

"I think Levon Ter-Petrosian is a reasonable man and will return the
case to where it belongs," he said.

The case was launched in December 1988 against leaders of the
Karabakh Committee who spearheaded the movement for unification
of Nagorno-Karabakh, then part of Soviet Azerbaijan, with Soviet
Armenia. It was dropped and sent to archives a year later following
"changed circumstances."

TURKEY OPTS FOR 2ND HIGHEST BID FOR PETKIM

Agence France Presse
09 Nov 07

ANKARA: Turkey’s Competition Board has approved the sale of state-run
petrochemicals company Petkim to the second highest bidder in a July
tender, the Anatolia news agency reported Friday.

A consortium of the Azerbaijani oil company Socar, Turkey’s Turcas
and Saudi-based Injaz Projects had made the second highest bid of
2.04 billion dollars (1.39 billion euros) for a 51-percent stake in
the company.

The board did not give a reason as to why the tender was not awarded
to the highest bidder, a consortium of the Kazakh Caspi Neft and
Eurasia companies, the Russian bank Troika Dialogue and a number of
Kazakh investors, which offered 2.05 billion dollars.

Turkish newspapers reported after the tender that 65 percent of
Troika Dialogue’s shares belonged to a major Russian-Armenian investor
described as a chief financer of the Armenian diaspora.

Armenians have for years been pushing for the recognition as genocide
of the mass killings of their kinsmen during World War I under the
Ottoman Empire, modern Turkey’s predecessor. Ankara categorically
rejects the genocide label.

The Competition Board’s decision is subject to approval by the
Privatisation Board for the takeover to be finalized.

Turkey held a first tender for 88.86 percent of Petkim in June 2003,
which the controversial business family Uzan won with a bid of 605
million dollars.

But the deal was cancelled two months later when the
financially-strapped Uzans failed to fulfill required conditions.

A second tender in August 2003 failed for lack of investor interest. In
April 2005, 34.5 percent of the company’s shares were sold to Turkish
and foreign investors in a public offering worth 267 million dollars.

About 39 percent of Petkim shares are currently traded on the Istanbul
stock exchange.

Petkim controls one-third of the petrochemical market in Turkey and
employs about 4,000 people.

It posted a net profit of 41 million dollars in 2006.

Privatisation is a key element in Turkey’s economic programme, backed
by a 10-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund,
as it recovers from two severe financial crises in 1999 and 2001.

LARGE SCALE EXCAVATIONS UNDER WAY

Panorama.am
16:14 08/11/2007

"After long years of break, this is the third year now that the
archeology institute has started excavations of old monuments on
the funds released by the state budget," Pavel Avetisyan, director
of Archeology and Ethnography Institute, told Panorama.am. This year
the state released 96 million drams to the archeology institute. "Most
funds are used for archeological digging. Field studies and excavations
have been conducted in the area of 28 monuments in the course of this
year," Avetisyan said.

In his words, rare samples are discovered from old Armenian capitals
of Armavir, Artashat and Dvin.

"Remains of a temple complex, inlayed bathroom have been discovered
in the area of Artashat. The constructions dating back to 1st and
2nd BC are vivid in terms of their monumental walls," he said. Small
statues, clay pots, beads, stamps, also included imported items,
were found during diggings.

The archeology institute is implementing joint programs with archeology
centers throughout European countries. "Thanks to these projects,
many items discovered by us are being laboratory tested in those
countries, which, unlike us, are equipped with new technology and
equipment. So far, we are using old technology and tools during our
field work," Avetisyan mentioned. However, the level of science and
research complies with the European standards, he said.

MEMORIAL DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’S VICTIMS UNVEILED IN PARK NAMED REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA IN ARGENTINA

Noyan Tapan
Nov 7, 2007

NEUQUEN, NOVEMBER 7, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A park named
Republic of Armenia was opened on November 2 in one of the central
districts of Argentine Patagonia’s city of Neuquen. The opening
ceremony was done by Vladimir Karmirshalian, the RA Ambassador to
Argentina, and Neuquen Mayor Horasio Kiroga. Nearly 30 Armenians
residing in various places of Patagonia, representatives of provincial
and town authorities, NGOs were present at the event. The solemn
ceremony was concluded by a concert of Armenian dance ensemble from
Cordoba in the newly opened park.

The details of the park’s opening ceremony and the meeting held between
RA Ambassador Vladimir Karmirshalian and Neuquen Governor Jorge Omar
Sobich, which preceded the ceremony, were widely presented by the
local television and other media.

The same day, RA Ambassador V. Karmirshalian and Alberto Veretelnik,
the Mayor of Chipoletti, unveiled a memorial to the victims of
Armenian Genocide in the park of the city of Chipoletti of Rio Negro
province near the Neuquen province, named Republic of Armenia since
April 24 this year. Few Armenians residing in Chipoletti and in its
neighboring regions, representatives of town authorities and NGOs,
journalists were present at the ceremony.

Vladimir Karmirshalian, the RA Ambassador to Argentina, and Mayor A.

Veretelnik made speeches at the ceremony. This event was also concluded
by a concert of the Armenian ensemble, which had arrived from Cordoba.

AGBU Press Office
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New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
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PRESS RELEASE

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Nobel Laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel Discusses Human Rights with AGBU
Buenos Aires

Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel lectured on the
importance of human rights to a crowd of over 200 young professionals
and students on August 22, 2007 at a program organized by the AGBU
"Liga de Jóvenes" Youth Group of Buenos Aires.

Esquivel is a strong supporter of Armenian Genocide recognition and an
advocate for human rights education. He spoke about the importance of
memory and how knowledge of the past should be the foundation for a
solid future regarding human rights issues.

"The people who have forgotten their past are the people who
disappear," he reiterated. "Cultures are shared. A culture that buries
itself is dead."

This is certainly not the case for Armenians, who have indeed
survived. Esquivel further discussed the importance of educating
others about our past.

This discussion was part of an ongoing two-year conference series put
on by this active AGBU Youth Group. At the event’s conclusion, youth
group President Carolos Khatchikian and Vice President Eva Akopian
presented Esquivel with a bronze Armenian alphabet piece made by
artist Manual Gheridian to show their appreciation for the visit of
such an honorable scholar and human rights activist.

Esquivel has born in Buenos Aires in 1931 and is currently the leader
of the Service for Peace and Justice, an organization which brings
together three regions of Latin America to seek non-violent actions to
promote human rights issues. In the past, Esquivel has also worked as
an architect and sculptor. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his
humanitarian work in 1980.

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City with
an annual budget of $36 million, AGBU preserves and promotes the
Armenian identity and heritage through educational, cultural and
humanitarian programs, annually serving some 400,000 Armenians in 35
countries.

EU THREAT TO ANKARA OVER PENAL CODE
By Tony Barber in Brussels

FT
November 6 2007 02:00

Turkey should be blocked from joining the European Union unless it
revises a much-criticised article of its penal code that makes it a
crime to insult Turkish national identity, the European Commission
will recommend today.

Under the proposal, the EU would refuse to open accession talks
with Turkey on the crucial policy area covering the judiciary and
human rights until Ankara changed Article 301 of its penal code,
which nationalist prosecutors have used as a weapon against Turkish
authors, scholars and journalists.

The proposal has already been communicated to EU governments and
needs their approval to take effect, but it will be made public for
the first time today by Olli Rehn, the EU’s enlargement commissioner.

It will coincide with the publication of the Commission’s annual
progress report on Turkey, whose membership talks started in October
2005 but have since run into serious trouble.

European governments froze negotiations with Turkey last December in
eight of the 35 policy areas, known as chapters, on which -agreement
is necessary before a country can join the EU.

This decision stemmed from Turkey’s refusal to open its ports and
airports to vessels and aircraft from Cyprus, but it also reflected
a more profound opposition, especially in France, to the very idea
of Turkish membership of the EU.

The Commission intends to balance its hard line on Article 301 with
a promise to open talks as soon as possible on two other chapters
that deal with consumer and health protection, and trans-European
transport networks.

"We have to be fair in order to be firm," one -Commission official
said. "We have to show that we are honouring our commitments to Turkey
by opening some chapters soon in the -accession negotiations. But we
also need to see reforms, especially as regards freedom of expression."

The Commission is not demanding that Turkey should abolish Article 301,
but rather that its provisions should be brought into line with the
European Convention on Human Rights and the case law of the European
Court of Human Rights, the benchmarks for the protection of human
rights in Europe.

The essential requirement is that there should be no basis for
prosecutions of the type that put Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prizewinning
author, on trial two years ago for referring to the mass killings of
Armenians in the first world war.

Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s president, said last month that no one had been
imprisoned under Article 301, but he still wanted to see amendments
because the provision was damaging Turkey’s image.

Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, is delaying the launch of Turkey’s
accession talks on consumer protection and transport until he secures
approval from other governments for the creation of a "wise men’s
committee" to study the EU’s long-term future.

He and his fellow leaders are expected to set up the panel at a summit
in December, even though some countries suspect that Mr Sarkozy wants
to extract a recommendation from the "wise men" that Turkey should
never be allowed to join the EU.