Author: Varosian Antranik

Day.Az, Azerbaijan
March 5 2008

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADER’ "MAIN BATTLE TO COME"

interview with political expert Zardust Alizada

[Correspondent] Zardust muallim [mode of address], what is behind
surprise intensification on the front lines inTartar and Kalbacar
districts? Why does Armenia need it?

[Alizada] I deeply regret for our soldiers who are dying there.
Nevertheless, I do not see far-reaching consequences of the
skirmishes. The Karabakh clique ruling over Armenia is completely
dependent on the USA, Russia and Europe, andthey, in their turn, are
pursuing only a sole aim – to freeze the conflict. Here is the gang
of Kocharyan-Sargsyan, who has usurped power and is just making time!
They are happy about this – they view Armenia as their sinecure.

[Correspondent] What is your attitude towards [former Armenian
president] Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s appeal to waittill the state of
emergency is over? Is this step correct?

[Alizada] The matter is that Ter-Petrosyan is a decent, pragmatic and
clever man with his ethical norms and morals.He does not want to send
Armenian people under bullets of the Karabakh swines – who do not
eight or 80 of their owncitizens are killed. At the same time, the
state of emergency will not continue eternally, so Levon
Ter-Petrosyan’smain battle is to come.

[Correspondent] What is his trump-card?

[Alizada] Apart from his doubtless personal qualities, it is a fact
that the Armenian society has split and the abyssis growing. The
cultural layer of the Armenians has been tired of supremacy of those
from Karabakh, thosepseudo-patriots-roarers! What have those babblers
done for them?

At the same time, we should admit that the Armenian public is now
reaping fruits of its own mistakes. When in theearly 1990s Kocharyan,
Sargsyan and others were killing Azerbaijanis many people in Armenia
were bashfully justifyingthem, saying it was necessary for national
interests. And now they started killing Armenians and this is a
clearmanifestation of the existing bloody regime in Armenia.

[Correspondent] Has the regime been allocated historically much time?

[Alizada] No, similar regimes are unproductive, ineffective and
unstable. If the Armenian diaspora and the USA stopgiving money to
Armenia, these authorities will burst like a soap-bubble. The
Karabakh clique exists at the expense ofthis money. As soon as
geopolitical realities change – they will be ousted.

Kocharyan himself admitted that he delivered 15,000 Karabakh
residents and appointed them to senior posts. This meansthere are
maximum 70,000 residents in Karabakh, plus 40,000-45,000 people leave
Armenia annually. How do you call it?You are right – a catastrophe!

ANS TV, Azerbaijan
March 7 2008

NATO ENVOY CONCERNED ABOUT TRUCE VIOLATIONS IN KARABAKH

[Presenter] The NATO secretary-general’s Special Representative for
the South Caucasus and Central Asia RobertSimmons has commented on
the recent intensive cease-fire violation in Nagornyy Karabakh. He
expressed his concern about such development of events. NATO hopes
that the developments will not hinder the process [peace talks]
conducted within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group and the talks
will continue.

[Simmons speaking to journalists in English with Azeri voice-over] I
am certainly disturbed by the escalation of the conflict. Escalation
has been observed between the sides recently. We do not want this
escalation to take place between the sides. Because we do not want
such developments to hinder the talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk
Group and we want thetalks to continue in this format.

TWO AZERI SOLDIERS KILLED IN TRUCE VIOLATION

Azeri Press Agency
March 4 2008
Azerbaijan

Two soldiers of the Azerbaijani army were killed as the Armenian armed
forces this morning opened fire at theAzerbaijani positions from the
occupied village of Cilabirt in Tartar District, the Azerbaijani news
agency APA reportedon 4 March.

The soldiers were not named.

The shoot-out is currently under way, the agency said.

ARMENIA’S FARMERS TO RECEIVE 7,000 TONS OF FERTILIZERS

ARKA
March 6, 2008

YEREVAN, March 6. /ARKA/. Armenia’s farmers will receive 7,000 tons
of fertilizers under a 1.6bln AMD subsidizing program. RA Minister
of Agriculture David Lokyan reported that the RA Government made a
relevant decision at its sitting today.

The Minister pointed out that the fertilizers will be provided to the
farms that did not receive them under the program before December 31.

The prices will remain unchanged, 3,100 AMD for one sack.

The Minister reported that the delivered will be paid either by
communities or by farmers themselves.

On October 4, 2007, the RA Government decided to allocate 200mln
AMD provide farms with 200,000 tons of nitrogen fertilizers under a
government program of assistance to landowners in 2008. One ton of
fertilizers will be provided at 74,000 AMD, with 10,000 AMD to be
subsidized.

PARTIONING THE WORLD FOR ISLAM

Israel e News

M arch 6 2008

Yugoslavia and Israel, two of the current flashpoints of the conflict,
are demonstrations of the degree and extent to which the world will
go to destroy other countries in order to accommodate Muslims.

Why exactly have the KLA and the PLO earned what the Basque of Spain,
the Kurds of Iraq, the Armenians and a host of other nationalities
been denied? It isn’t by any special merit or suffering. It is because
they were Muslims who wanted a piece of a non-Muslim country.

Muslims are not getting their way in the Philippines and Thailand,
in Kosovo and Israel and in the cities of Europe and America because
the governments of these countries love Muslims. It is because they
fear upsetting them.

For the first half of the 20th century Western soldiers rode roughshod
across the savages and for the latter half of the 20th century Western
diplomats did everything they could to sway their chieftains, emirs,
dictators, mullahs and tyrants to their side.

Those same diplomats would have you believe that the latter is an
admission of fault for the former, but the truth is that it is an
extension of the former.

Yugoslavia and Israel are not being carved up in the name of morality
or liberal democracy or because Muslims have become beloved in Brussels
and D.C. No more so than the Nazi Germany was allowed to carve up
Czechoslovakia because Western Europeans loved Hitler. They were
afraid of him. Not afraid enough to really believe he was a threat,
yet too afraid to believe he could be casually stamped out.

It is this kind of lukewarm fear that drives the politics of the West
toward Muslims.

A little sacrifice here and there and those savages will calm down
and stop making trouble, Western politicians think. The enforced
partitions are not because they take Islamism seriously but because
they do not. If they did, they would be drawing up the barricades.

Instead to them Islamism is a fad, a way for Muslims to vent some
spleen and protest the lack of jobs and foreign aid. To them the
Jihad is a tantrum, a deadly tantrum but a tantrum nonetheless.

As England and France did for Nazism, the First World is preparing the
way for a Caliphate through a combination of apathy and pressuring
smaller countries to submit in the hopes of sating the appetite of
the beast. The contempt in which they hold Muslims, viewing them as
little more than cheap labor and cheap oil held in trust by savages,
leads them to throw other nations to the beast, little realizing that
they are tossing chum into the ocean and spreading blood on the water
to attract the real predators.

As Arafat’s Palestinian state was the chum that brought the Muslim
Brotherhood’s Hamas to power, each concession to Muslim terrorism only
encourages it to spread and the "moderate" forms are only succeeded
by more monstrous incarnations of Islamic totalitarianism and rage.

When Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland, they had orders to retreat
if they were confronted. Three years later German troops were advancing
into Eastern Europe and then across Western Europe. By partitioning
Czechoslovakia, the countries responsible had in fact partitioned
themselves. Today’s attempts at partitioning Yugoslavia and Israel
will end the same way, with war on the soil of those nations so eager
to wield the knife across someone else’s land. While the diplomats
delude themselves into thinking that they are only cutting a slice
here and there, in fact they are partitioning the world for Islam.

ARMENIAN PEOPLE OPPOSE ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT – ZEYNO BARAN

Trend News Agency
March 5 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 4 March /Trend News corr A. Gasimova, Z. Novosvitski/
There is no outside influence of destabilization of the situation in
Armenia after the presidential elections. "The way I see it, it is
the Armenian people against the Armenian government. I do not believe
there is any outside influence," the American expert Zeyno Baran said.

On the morning of 2 March, President Robert Kocheryan declared an
emergency situation in Armenia until 20 March. This was caused by
continuous demonstrations by supporters of the presidential candidate
Levon Ter-Petrosian, who accused the authorities of gerrymandering
during the elections. The dispersal of the demonstration by the police
resulted in confrontation. According to the Armenian Health Ministry,
the number of the victims of the riots which took place in Yerevan
on 1 March totalled 131, and eight of them died from gunshot wounds.

"The majority of Armenian people seem to be fed up with Armenia being
isolated; they want to join the community of democratic countries,
have good relations with Russia, but also the West," Ms Maran,
Director of the Eurasian Research Centre at the Washington-based
Hudson Institute, told Trend News via e-mail.

According to Ms Baran, if Sargsyan takes office as President without
reaching a satisfactory compromise with the opposition, fears of his
legitimacy will be in question and he will not be able to resolve any
of the tough issues, including Karabakh. "Some say this is similar
to what happened recently in Georgia, but there is a huge difference
and that is the upcoming parliamentary elections in Georgia, which
will give the opposition another chance, whereas there are no such
elections planned in Armenia," she said.

"I am not sure if we can call what is going on there the beginning
of a colour revolution because the Armenian government has already
shown it will use force against the people," Ms Baran said.

The destabilization of the situation in Armenia is attributed to the
fact that the people more concerned about the social situation in the
country rather than the achievement of foreign policy goals. "It is
predetermined by the absence of resources for foreign mobilization,
that is Armenia lacks mobilization because of foreign challenges and
there too many big social problems concerning the Armenian population,"
Aleksandr Paliy, the expert of the Foreign Policy Institute of the
Diplomatic Academy at the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine said.

According to the expert, now it is difficult to convince that the
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and relations with Turkey
should be priorities in the presence of unsolved social problems. The
expert said that there are conditions in Armenia for ‘social explosion’
that can lead the ongoing process of the formation of a contra-elite.

According to Paliy, the government can solve the situation. "The
government will have to make very serous concessions. Sooner or later,
a similar ‘explosion’ will end up with the victory and government
structures supporting it. The development of events in this manner
is not ruled out either," he said.

Since 20 February, Yerevan has been facing demonstrations,
rally-marches, as well as student sit down protests organized by
the opposition. The organizers and participants are protesting
against the results of the elections. After violent suppression of
the demonstration, many oppositionists were arrested, and their fate
is still unknown. After the emergency situation was announced in the
country, the mass media was put under censorship control.

On 19 February, Armenia held presidential elections. According to
the final results by the Armenian Central Election Commission, Serzh
Sargsyan, the head of the Republican Party, won the elections with
52.82% of votes (862,369). The ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosian took
second place (21.5%).

HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEEPLY TROUBLED ABOUT DEATHS DURING POST-ELECTION PROTESTS IN ARMENIA

States News Service
March 3, 2008 Monday

The following information was released by the United Nations Office
at Geneva (UNOG):

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour
said in a statement on Sunday, 2 March that she was deeply troubled
following reports of eight deaths and numerous injuries on Saturday
during demonstrations in the Armenian capital Yerevan, where a state
of emergency has been declared.

The High Commissioner was particularly concerned by reports that force
had been used against peaceful demonstrators and that opposition
protestors had been detained. She called upon the authorities to
exercise the utmost restraint and to ensure that due process is
followed in the case of any detentions.

The High Commissioner recalled that Armenia is party to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which stipulates
that, even during states of emergency, fundamental rights — such as
the right to life and the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhumane
and degrading treatment — cannot be suspended. Any restrictions of
rights must be proportionate and may only be applied to the extent
and duration strictly warranted by the circumstances.

For use of the information media; not an official record

WITH NEWS MEDIA PARALYSED AND WEBSITES INACCESSIBLE, GOVERNMENT IS URGED TO LIFT STATE OF EMERGENCY

Reporters Without Borders
March 5 2008
France

A 20-day state of emergency which President Robert Kocharyan proclaimed
in the capital Yerevan on 1 March is having a serious impact on the
activity of the news media, Reporters Without Borders said today. The
emergency was declared after clashes between security forces and
opposition protesters who say last month’s presidential election
was rigged.

"This authoritarian decision to liable to reinforce part of the
population’s resentment of the lack of real free expression in
Armenia," the press freedom organisation said. "We urge the authorities
to lift the state of emergency so that the media can resume working
normally and report on the circumstances in which force was used in
clashes leaving a toll of eight dead and more than 130 wounded."

Under the state of emergency, all news media are required to use only
official information in their domestic coverage. Reporters Without
Borders has learned that access to several online news publications –
including the news agency A1+ (), the opposition newspaper
Haykakan Jamanak () and website of the daily Aravot
() – has been blocked by their hosting service provider,
Arminco Ltd, on the orders of the security services.

The programmes of Radio Free Europe, the only foreign radio station to
broadcast in Armenian, have been replaced by music, and the station’s
website is also inaccessible.

Three pro-government dailies – Azg, Hayastani Hanrapetutyun and
Hayots Ashxar – continue to be published but one of the most popular
newspapers, Aravot, did not appear yesterday. The issue was banned
by the security services after it was sent to the printer’s. The
newspaper’s staff then decided to publish blank pages in protest but
they were prevented from doing this as well. Other newspapers such
as Haykakan Jamanak and 168 Zham were not published either.

A complaint has been brought against Levon Barseghyan, the president
of the "Asparez" journalists club in Gyumri, the second largest
city (125 km north of Yerevan), accusing him of organising illegal
gatherings. He has denied this, and his denial has been supported by
several witnesses, but his trial is due to start within a few days.

At least three journalists have had run-ins with the police in
Gyumri. Radio Free Europe correspondent Satenik Vantsyan was hit by
police officers. Nune Arevshatyan of Aravot was manhandled by policemen
who took her camera. And Armine Vardanyan of local television station
Gala TV was arrested while doing her a report and her equipment was
confiscated, including the video she had filmed just before her arrest.

Many journalists have criticised the vagueness of the directive
banning the use of unofficial information as it complicates their
work. When they interview members of the government, for example,
they often do not know whether they can publish the information.

The TV stations are under especially close surveillance. The national
news reports and information they are providing are in fact being
broadcast by police press officers. Not only is the video footage
the same but also the analyses and comments.

TBILISI’S REACTION TO ARMENIAN CRISIS

The Georgian Times

March 3 2008
Georgia

Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said on March
3 she hoped the current crisis in Armenia would be resolved in the
shortest possible period of time.

"It was very hard to watch developments [in Yerevan]. Only the Lord and
concrete steps undertaken in Georgia saved us from something similar
[last November]," Burjanadze said. "I hope the Armenian people and
the authorities overcome the crisis as soon as possible."

President Saakashvili spoke to his Armenian counterpart, Robert
Kocharian, on March 2 by telephone. "The Georgian leader expressed
his support for the Armenian people and the Armenian authorities,"
the Armenian president’s press office said.

Meanwhile, the Georgian opposition Republican Party issued a statement
condemning, what it called, violence against peaceful protesters. "The
Armenian authorities have chosen to suppress protests without
exhausting dialogue with part of the population, which questioned
the official results of the presidential election," it said.

Opposition Conservative Party said in a statement that it was
condemning use of force against peaceful protesters. "The Conservative
Party calls on the international community to prevent establishment of
authoritarian regimes in Georgia and Armenia and to foster development
of democracy," it said.

On March 2 a small group of civil society activists and ethnic
Armenians living in Georgia held a protest rally outside the Armenian
embassy in Tbilisi, condemning the break-up of a demonstration
in Yerevan.

Official Armenian reports say eight people were killed and
dozens injured as a result of clashes on March 1 between police
and demonstrators protesting against the February 19 presidential
election results.

FIVE KILLED IN YEREVAN MELEE IDENTIFIED

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.03.2008 14:45 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Five of those killed in yesterday’s melee have been
identified, the RA prosecutor general’s office reports. They are Gor
Kloyan, Hamlet Tadevosyan, David Petrosyan, Zakar Hovhannisyan and
Ruben Torosyan.

The names of other five persons are not known yet.

The RA Public Health Ministry reports 131 injured and 8 dead.

Yesterday morning the police dispersed the opposition rally held
in support of Armenia’s first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan. In the
afternoon the demonstrators took the streets toward the French Embassy
basing near the Yerevan mayor’s office. The protest action resulted
in clashes with police.

Numerous shops were looted.

On March 1 evening President Robert Kocharian declared state of
emergency for 20 days.