Author: Vasilian Manouk

NEW WEAPONS TRAFFICKING TRIAL SCHEDULED FOR ARMENIAN IMMIGRANT IN NEW YORK AFTER KEY WITNESS PLACED ON SUICIDE WATCH
Larry Neumeister

AP Worldstream
Published: Mar 13, 2007

A new trial for an Armenian immigrant accused of plotting to sell
military weapons to an FBI informant posing as a middleman for
terrorists has been scheduled after the government’s key witness was
put on suicide watch and admitted to a psychiatric facility.

Opening statements in the trial of Artur Solomonyan and six others
were supposed to begin Monday, but a mistrial was declared and a new
trial was scheduled for June after prosecutors revealed the twist in
the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Conniff told Judge Richard
J. Holwell on Thursday that the witness, Kelly Davis, had been
hospitalized with stomach and chest pains and put on a suicide watch
the previous weekend, according to a transcript of the proceeding.

Last Wednesday, Conniff said, Davis entered himself into an inpatient
psychiatric facility for evaluation.

Conniff offered to continue the trial without him, but defense lawyers
insisted on a mistrial, saying they would want to call Davis as a
witness if the government did not.

A week ago, Conniff had told the judge that the case began when
one of seven defendants approached Davis to ask about the sale of
machine guns.

The prosecutor said Davis reported the offer to law enforcement, which
initiated an investigation as Davis began making consensual recordings,
generating hundreds of pages of reports. Conniff said the FBI paid
Davis $55,000 during the probe, including some money for expenses.

Defense lawyers complained that they had been given very little
information about Davis, prompting Conniff to reveal that Davis came
to the United States in the late 1990s, that he is a U.S. permanent
resident and that he has a South African driver’s license.

A Solomonyan lawyer, Seth Ginsberg, complained to the judge that the
prosecutors’ description of their dealings with Davis was difficult
to believe.

"I don’t think there is an attorney in this room who is familiar with
an informant in a case that came forward out of an altruistic sense
of civic duty," he said.

Ginsberg said in an interview Monday that the defendants were looking
forward to the new trial.

"We anticipate going forward in June with that witness, who we believe
will be critical to the defense of our case," he said. "We’re confident
we’ll prevail under any circumstances, but we would prefer to have
a live witness to cross- examine."

Solomonyan was charged with arms trafficking conspiracy, firearms
trafficking conspiracy, interstate firearms trafficking and illegal
transfer and possession of a machine gun in March 2005. Prosecutors
say he was recorded on wiretaps talking with associates in the United
States and the former Soviet Union about obtaining the military
weapons.

An indictment accused Solomonyan and others of conspiring between
December 2003 and March 2005 to import shoulder-fired surface-to-air
missiles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, anti-tank guided missiles
and machine guns without a license.

Some of the defendants could face up to life in prison if convicted
of the most serious charges.

53% PROMISE NOT TO TAKE BRIBES

A1+
[10:22 pm] 12 March, 2007

"A1+" held polling and suggested its readers answering the question,
"What will you do if you are offered bribes during the pre-election
period? " Over 465 people participated in the polling. The answers
were distributed as follows;

We shall refuse the bribe categorically – 53%

We shall take the bribe but vote for the candidate we want – 30%

We shall take the bribe and obey the order – 4%

We shall inform the corresponding bodies about the bribe – 9%

5% of those surveyed couldn’t give a definite answer.

This week we suggest you answering the question, "What does a candidate
nominated under the majority ticket need?

We expect your active participation.

Turkish Daily News
March 9 2007

Bryza in Turkey over Caspian gas race
Friday, March 9, 2007

TOMASSO NELLI
ISTANBUL – Turkish Daily News

The U.S. drive towards enrolling Turkey on Europe’s side for energy
security has strong geo-political overtones, and focuses on ensuring
a steady supply of natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe through
Turkey. The U.S. government "is passionate about a new strategic
era," said U.S. Undersecretary of State for the Economy Matt Bryza at
an energy conference in Istanbul yesterday. Turkish Energy Minister
Hilmi Güler also spoke. The two will discuss ways of fighting the PKK
in northern Iraq tomorrow in Ankara, issues relating to the new Iraqi
hydro-carbon law, which forces Turkey to deal with the Kurdish-led
Northern Province for many energy issues which Ankara would rather
discuss with Baghdad.

Bryza was here only last month, and went on to visit president
Alyev of Azerbaijan in a drive to ensure ironclad economic conditions
for the transit of natural gas through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceylan
pipeline, a project which was endorsed by the U.S. during the times
of Turkish president Demirel, and which has successfully been brought
to completion. Bryza said that he visited Khazakstan two weeks ago,
and that the government there has serious intentions to link to the
BTC. "We do not want to isolate Russia in the Caspian. We can’t," he
said. He was outspoken in his criticism of Russian state giant
Gazprom, which supplies 60 percent of Turkey’s gas. The conference
addressed the issue of energy diversification.

Against monopolies:

Bryza argued that a "deep disfunctionality" affects European gas
market, and that the U.S. intends to see competitive conditions in
the natural gas market, and that Russia, which buys Central Asian gas
for around $100 per billion cubic meters (bcm) to sell it in Europe
for up to $300 per bcm, was running a monopoly. While oil can be
transported by tankers, gas (unless liquefied) is always delivered by
pipeline. "We will never consume one molecule of Central Asian gas,"
said Bryza, and added that no U.S. companies were operating in
Azerbaijan.

Bryza argued that the $200 profit that Russia earned from
transporting gas to Europe was used to "fuel corruption and in some
cases organized crime."

He also said the United States hoped to nudge Gazprom to "turn
inwards" and build its own fields, and apply to Western companies to
develop them. "We don’t want another Cold War with Russia," he said.
"We want to work with Turkey and Azerbaijan to increase competitively
for the EU market."

Bryza said that Turkey had to assure Azerbaijan it would not
interrupt transport of gas through the BTC no matter how much gas it
took from Russia, and that Azerbaijan had to make sure supply was
constant. He said that rumors that Baku fields were insufficient were
Russian disinformation, and that 20 billion bcm per year could be
expected by 2012-13. This is quarter of Russian gas export to Europe,
and is enough for supplying gas through the planned
Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline and for the first part of the un-built
Nabucco pipeline, linking Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.

Russia politicizes energy:

"In Moscow people want to politicize relations with governments and
officials," said Bryza.

Despite its aut-aut treatment of Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus,
Russia has in the past proved reliable with its supply of oil and gas
to its western clients (who pay in hard cash and were never part of
the communist subsidies and barter system). In terms of international
law, degree of intervention – smashing a monopoly within a sovereign
country – is controversial.

Bryza stated that Russia was using international law and the
ecology in suspicious ways. "Russians cite Soviet agreements and say
they remain valid," he said. The 1921 treaty between the Soviet Union
and Iran, which describes the Caspian as a lake, is a focus of
disagreement because it would empower these two Caspian nations to
veto the construction of pipelines can invoke it. Caspian nations
have proliferated since the break-up of the U.S.S.R.

BTC is the favorite pipeline Bryza said that the U.S. had thrown
its full diplomatic weight behind the TBC, but was not doing the same
for the Samsun-Ceylan pipeline because, while the TBC was the sole
possible route to bring gas westwards past political and geographic
bottlenecks, the Samsun-Ceylan has many other competitor routes
(through Macedonia and Albania, Ukraine, as well as the
Burgas-Alexandropolis and the Costanza-Trieste). It is noteworthy,
however, that the TBC is the only one of these routes that could not
move Russian energy westwards. "If you are NABUCCO you could be
looking towards Russia or Iran. The U.S. would not be able to support
it if it moved gas from Iran," he added.

Iran:

Commenting on the proposed natural gas cartel between Iran and
Russia, Bryza pointed out that the idea had been brought to the
international stage by Russian President Vladimir Putin, not by Iran.
Asked whether the United States would ever allow the Iranian market
to find its way to global markets and turn to China and India, Bryza
said that if "Iran will become more responsible, we hope to see large
amounts of Iranian gas going through Turkey…" he paused, blushed,
and looked to the panel. "..President Güler is laughing at me!"

Rapidly developing India and China are expected to become
increasingly energy-hungry, which raises the question whether there
is another Cold War in the making behind the apparent Cold War that
is being resurrected over Caspian gas.

Bryza reassured the panel that the Bush government was against a
political solution to the Armenian question, and preferred historians
and common people to get involved. He also said that new developments
from Washington from the past two-days would be discussed in Ankara
with minister Güler, but stated that the 2007 referendum over the
fate of Kirkuk was set to take place because written into the Iraqi
constitution.

MCC MANAGEMENT TO FOLLOW CLOSELY ALL PROCESS OF PARLIAMENTARY
ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, NOYAN TAPAN. Vice Chairman of the Millennium
Challenge Corporation (MCC) John Huko was present at the March 9
sitting of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) – Armenia’s board
. He attached importance to holding the upcoming parliamentary
elections in Armenia in line with international standards from the
viewpoint of the program’s efficient implementation, noting that along
with international observers the MCC management will also follow
closely the process of elections. The RA prime minister Andranik
Margarian said that Armenia is intrested in rapid solution of
socioeconomic problems and efficient organization of political
processes so that the government will be able to fully implement its
goals, including MCA-Armenia program, under conditions of the people’s
vote of confidence. According to the RA Government Information and PR
Department, results of the tender on purchase of advisory services
"Initial Environmental and Hydrologic Studies of Hyperhumid Lands in
Ararat Valley" were approved at the sitting: MWH (US)/Institute of
Water Problems and Hydraulic Technology (Armenia) and the
Environmental Conservation and Research Center of the American
University of Armenia were announced the winners of this
tender. Armwaterproject Institute CJSC (Armenia) was announced the
winner by assesment results of technical proposals on purchase of
advisory services "Feasibility Study for Construction of New
Irrigation Reservoirs".

Getting ready for the South Caucasian film festival

06-03-2007 16:19:39 – KarabakhOpen

The Heinrich Boll Foundation and the South Caucasian offices of the
Open Society Fund in Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Nagorno
Karabakh and South Ossetia will hold a film festival of peace and
human rights entitled ` Nationality: human’. According to the
coordinator of the project Kerstin Niking, the festival of documentary
films starts in April and will last till October 2007. Over this
period mini festivals will be held throughout the South Caucasus. It
is the first festival in the region, and the purpose of the organizers
is to show real documentary films to the South Caucasian viewer. Since
the world is one, and the language of cinema is clear to everyone, the
Caucasian viewers will identify themselves with people from different
countries of the world, mentally go through and support their struggle
for peace and justice.

The judges of the festival (young film makers and representatives of
NGOs of the South Caucasus, Germany and Czech) have chosen six
documentary films of world level (from Israel, former Yugoslavia,
France and the United States) and made a three-day program. Local
competitions for co-organizers of the festival were announced. Two
festivals will be held in Karabakh, in Stepanakert and in Shushi. A
few days ago a workshop was held in Shushi for the organizers of the
festival in Karabakh, Harmony NGO and the Civic Action Center.
According to the participants of the meeting, two days of workshop
were highly useful and important.

Karineh Ohanyan, journalist, who is one of the judges of the festival,
told KarabakhOpen.com that the festival will arrive in Karabakh in
October. Everyone is welcome to watch and discuss films about peace
and human rights for three days in Stepanakert and for another three
days in Shushi.

The New Anatolian, Turkey
March 8 2007

Tuzmen seeks Israeli support

Oznur Cevik – The New Anatolian / Jerusalem
08 March 2007

State Minister Kursad Tuzmen, who went to Israel for the
Turkey-Israel third Joint Economic Committee (JEC) meeting and to
boost bilateral trade and economic relations, yesterday visited the
Dome of the Rock and Al-Aksa.

Tuzmen, accompanied by Turkish businessmen, was welcomed by Abdulazim
El Azim Selhab, who complained about the restrictions on mosque
visits for Palestinians and Muslims saying, "You can visit the mosque
coming from Turkey but those who live out of Jerusalem face
difficulties."

Selhab thanked the Turkish government for their efforts regarding the
mosque and praised Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s attitude
towards the excavations during Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s
visit last month.

Some 40 Turkish companies are taking part in the business delegation.
Sectors represented include food, furniture, logistics, jewelry,
software, packaging, building materials, giftware, leather, textiles
and clothing.

Tuzmen praised the efforts of Turkish businessmen working in Israel,
describing them as "envoys that have built a bridge between two
countries."

On the current claims about anti-Jewish sentiment in Turkey, Tuzmen
said, "There might be some shallow anti-Semitic ideas, but there are
180 Israeli firms working in Turkey. There hasn’t been any attitude
change against Jewish people in Turkey. We are the grandsons of
Ottomans and 48 countries were born from the Ottomans. We have lived
in peace for hundreds of years."

Armenian genocide resolution

On his request from Israeli businessmen for support against the
Armenian genocide resolution, Tuzmen said, "The Jewish lobby in the
U.S. is strong and we sought their support. They promised to support
our case." Tuzmen said, "We are doing our best to prevent the world
from accepting a lie which has been repeated over and over again."

TURKISH MINISTER CALLS FOR ISRAELI SUPPORT AGAINST US ARMENIAN RESOLUTION

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
March 6 2007

Tel Aviv, 6 March: "We wait for the support of Israeli businessmen
against the Armenian resolution submitted to the US Congress,"
Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said on Tuesday [6 March].

Tuzmen delivered a keynote speech in a seminar titled "Turkey-Israel
economic and commercial cooperation" in Tel Aviv, where he is on his
first formal visit to Israel.

Kursad Tuzmen noted that the "peoples of Turkey and Israel have lived
together in harmony and friendship. We now expect your support for
Turkey on the Armenian matter."

Minister Tuzmen stressed that relations between Turkey and Israel do
not merely stem from historical ones. "Turkey comes second as the
country that receives most Israeli tourists. Only the USA receives
more Israeli tourists than Turkey," told Tuzmen.

Tuzmen underlined that, with the realization of an energy pipeline
between the Black Sea and Red Sea, the region will become more
prominent globally.

On the other hand, Israel’s minister of tourism, Yitzhak Herzog,
hosted a lunch in honour of Tuzmen today.

Speaking to the press corps, Herzog indicated that they "consider
Turkey a strategic partner. Tourism between Turkey and Israel
contributes to bilateral relations."

TURKISH SHOOTING SUSPECT SAYS HIS TARGET WAS ARMENIAN PATRIARCH

Agence France Presse — English
March 7, 2007 Wednesday 5:24 PM GMT

A Turkish man accused of firing in the air outside an Armenian church
claimed Wednesday his real target had been Patriarch Mesrob II, the
spiritual leader of the tiny Armenian community, the Anatolia news
agency reported.

"I had prepared it for (Mesrob) Mutafyan II," Volkan Karova shouted
to reporters here as he and fellow suspect Yilmaz Can Ozalp were
being escorted to the prosecutor’s office to give their testimony,
the agency reported.

It was not clear whether he had intended to physically attack the
patriarch or scare him.

Later Wednesday, a court charged the two men with "threatening by
firing shots" and "carrying an unlicensed gun" and sent them to jail
pending trial, the agency said.

The pair had been arrested late Sunday just hours after two men fired
a shot in the air outside a church in the city’s Kumkapi district.

At the time, a ceremony was being held there for slain ethnic Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink.

The ceremony at the church, on the European side of Istanbul, was to
mark the 40th day since Dink, the 52-year-old ethnic Armenian editor
of the bilingual Agos weekly, was shot dead outside his office.

It was led by Patriarch Mesrob II, who represents the 80,000 Armenians
in Turkey.

Anxiety has engulfed the Armenian community and intellectuals since
Dink’s murder on Januray 19, and in recent interviews Mesrob II has
said that his office had been receiving threats.

Dink had angered nationalist circles and the courts for describing
the World War I massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as
genocide, a label that Ankara fiercely rejects.

Nine people have so far been charged over his murder, which prosecutors
believe was the work of ultra-nationalists.

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY: IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE TO BE PUT INTO OPERATION IN NEAR FUTURE

Arminfo
2007-03-05 19:38:00

The Iran-Armenia gas pipeline will be put into operation in the
near future, Armenian Defense Ministry Serzh Sargsyan, the Armenian
co-chair of the Armenian-Russian committee on economic cooperation,
told Radio Liberty.

According to him, the gas pipeline can’t be used as a transit one
due to its capacity. At any rate, the pipeline is extremely important
for Armenia, S.Sargsyan emphasized.

To remind, the Iranian government granted a credit for the construction
of the first section of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline which is to be
completed by March 17. The client of the construction is the "High
Voltage Power Transmission Lines" CJSC, and the contractor is the
Iranian "Sanir" company.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Russia’s susceptibility to Western interests in Caucasus irritates,
Markedonov says
03.03.2007 14:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia should demonstrate a sober approach to the
possible installation of American anti-missile defense system in the
Caucasus, said Sergey Markedonov, the head of the department of
international relations at the institute of political and military
studies. `There is a lack of pragmatic talk among competent people and
military experts. What kind of consequences may it have?’ he said.

Meanwhile, yesterday Lt Gen Henry A. Obering, the Director of the
U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) told a news conference in Brussels
that the U.S. is going to consider the possibility of installation of
anti-missile defense radar somewhere in the Caucasus.

The outlook of an American radar near Russia should become a signal
for a thorough debate on relations with the West, Markedonov said.

`I see that the big number of challenges, including the Islamic
extremism, terrorism, and unpredictable regime throughout the
post-soviet space, unite Russia and the West. Under such circumstances
we must not engage into collision with the West,’ the expert said.
`Certainly, the West has its own interests in the Caucasus but
Russia’s susceptibility to these interests irritates. Who forced us to
lay down terms to Azerbaijan in an effort to make it join Georgia’s
blockade? Who forced us to transform Armenia into a state suffering
from the Russia-Georgian relations and thus push it towards the West?
I am not speaking of the Abkhazian and South Ossetian problems
now. These are priority issues for Russia and a compromise with
Georgia will hardly be found. Nevertheless, there are plenty of issues
that demand western presence, first of all the Caucasian formations
themselves,’ Markedonov said, reports the Caucasian Knot.