Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

A woman may become Turkey’s next president

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.04.2007 14:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Most likely Prime Minister Recep Erdogan will not
nominate his candidature. These assumptions are based on Erdogan’s own
statement that his Justice and Development party (AKP) will initiate a
quite unexpected candidature, which will surprise everyone. The Turkish
media, which offers different versions for that candidate, most often
mentions the name of Nimet Cubukcu, State Minister Responsible for
Women’s and Family Issues. Among factors that increase her chances
are her views on modern Turkish women and her problems, as well as
the secular state system.

Nimet Cubukcu is lawyer by profession and was born in 1965, APA
reports.

MOSCOW FOREIGN STUDENTS TOLD TO STAY IN AS RACIST ATTACKS RISE OVER HITLER’S BIRTHDAY

Buzzle, CA
April 20 2007

Russia’s most prestigious medical institute has told its foreign
students to stay indoors for three days because of fears they may be
attacked by skinheads celebrating Adolf Hitler’s birthday.

The IM Sechenov Medical Academy in Moscow yesterday advised its 2,000
non-Russian students to remain in their dormitories until tomorrow.

The institute’s deputy dean said the extraordinary measures were
necessary because of the risk of attack by ultra-nationalist thugs,
who are traditionally more active around Hitler’s birthday – which
falls on April 20.

"We believe that the best form of medicine is prevention," Sergei
Baronov, deputy dean in the faculty of foreign students, told
the Guardian. "I don’t think the problem in Russia is worse than
anywhere else. But there are a small group of people who are bent
on provocation."

Foreign students are also being taught self-defence and lectures have
been cancelled as security has increased. Officially the shutdown is
described as a fire drill.

"I was shocked when I first heard it," Vijay Ganason, 23, a medical
student from Malaysia, said. "Basically we are staying in. If you
want you can go out. But it’s at your own risk. We’ve filled our
drawers with dried food."

Other students, however, said they welcomed the move.

"We are finally getting a rest and some sleep," said Vishnu Ravee,
21, also from Malaysia. "We’ve been revising very hard and have exams
in a few weeks."

Next door the smell of Indian cooking came from the communal kitchen;
in an adjacent room another medical student slept on a sofa.

The students come from 82 countries – including Britain but mostly
from Malaysia and India – and they live in a renovated 19th century
block not far from campus.

In recent years there has been a steep rise in the number of racist
and xenophobic attacks across Russia. The victims are often migrant
workers from former Soviet Union countries.

Yesterday police said they had detained five suspects in connection
with the latest race stabbings in Moscow, one of which was recorded
on a video camera.

Khairullo Sadykov, 26, a street cleaner from Tajikistan, was stabbed
35 times on Monday evening outside an apartment building near a metro
station in eastern Moscow, a prosecutor, Sergei Vasilovsky, said. He
died at the scene.

According to Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, two teenagers, thought to
be skinheads wearing "high, laced-up army style boots", were captured
on video allegedly carrying out the murder. They were later arrested,
the paper said.

In another attack an Armenian businessman, Karen Abramyan, 46,
was brutally stabbed 20 times also on Monday evening, in south-west
Moscow. He died of his injuries in hospital. Three young men were
arrested.

"After he was taken to hospital the victim said he was attacked because
of his ethnicity, saying the young men were shouting racial epithets,"
a police source told Interfax news agency.

Last year 53 people were killed and 460 injured in racially motivated
attacks, according to the human rights centre Sova. Activists say
that the authorities are in denial about the problem and regularly
classify race attacks as the lesser crime of hooliganism. Courts also
impose lenient sentences, they say.

"It is nice that the university is taking care of us, but on the
other hand it’s absurd that our freedom is being limited because
of some militant groups," said Liah Ganeline, a second-year medical
student from Israel. "In a normal democratic country the authorities
don’t obey the interests of these groups, but on the contrary, law
enforcement forces protect people from them."

She said that students were aware of the real reason for the lockdown –
which has happened over the past two or three years – and that someone
had scrawled the word "skinheads" over the announcement of the measure
posted in a dormitory.

Founded in 1758, Moscow’s medical academy is famous in Russia for
its talented students and rigorous teaching. The institute has 8,000
students studying medicine, dentistry and pharmacology.

Backstory

Russia has been gripped in recent years by a series of brutal racist
attacks on foreigners, with at least 53 people murdered last year
alone. The victims are typically migrant workers in low-paid jobs from
the former Soviet Union. But there are also regular attacks on students
and on Jews. The violence appears to spike around Hitler’s birthday,
on April 20, when foreign embassies receive anonymous emails demanding
that all "non Russians" leave or face death. The attacks occur in all
of Russia’s big cities where immigration and nationalism are on the
rise. The situation is especially bad in St Petersburg and in Voronesh,
a city south of Moscow with a large student population. Critics say
the Kremlin is too lenient towards far-right groups.

ILLOGICAL GAMES

KarabakhOpen
19-04-2007 13:09:50

The pre-election period in Karabakh is interesting, somewhat
controversial and illogical. The parliament forces are still
negotiating over the principles of agreement on naming a single
candidate, all the parties believe that the negotiations are not over
and there is no final decision yet.

At the same time, the Azat Hayrenik Party, which has the second
faction in the parliament by the number of its members, announced some
days ago that they had decided to support Bako Sahakyan. It allows
concluding that the Azat Hayrenik Party has made a decision and does
not need negotiations, because they say nothing can influence their
decision. Moreover, the initiative group to name Bako Sahakyan is
already being formed.

The logical question that occurs is what the point of negotiations
on a single candidate is.

Arthur Mosiyan, the representative of the Central Committee of the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun Artsakh, stated on April 18 that Dashnaktsutyun has not
made a final decision because the negotiations among the parties over
the main principles are not over. It is also illogical that the Azat
Hayrenik Party, which has already endorsed Bako Sahakyan (of course,
if the latter is named), is also one of the negotiating forces. If it
is so, ostensibly the political forces are most probably negotiating
over the likely candidate Bako Sahakyan.

If it is so, it is possible that another candidate is also under
consideration, who logically will not be supported by the Azat Hayrenik
Party. And if there is no other candidate, the other three forces will
have to support the candidate preferred by the Azat Hayrenik Party. It
appears that this party sets the rules of the game in Karabakh.

We only need to understand what these illogical games are for and
who wants to avoid remorse through agreement on the principles.

RA AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE PARTICIPATES IN COUNCIL SITTING OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF FRANCOPHONIE

Noyan Tapan
Apr 19 2007

PARIS, APRIL 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Eduard Nalbandian, the RA President’s
Personal Representative to the International Organization of
Francophonie (IOF), Ambassador of Armenia to France participated and
made a speech at the 63rd sitting of the IOF Permanent Council taken
place in Paris on April 16.

The sitting was dedicated to the organization activity of during
the period of time after the Bucharest summit in September, 2006,
to its current programs, political issues, particularly, the state of
conflicts settlement, human rights and liberties in the territory of
Francophone countries as well as to the cultural variety within the
framework of functioning of the Convention with the same name.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and
Information Department, 68 members of the International Organization
of Francophonie and personal representatives of heads of the observor
countries to that organization participated in the Francophonie
Permanent Council sitting.

COE IS NOT SATISFIED BY AZERBAIJAN’S FULFILLMENT OF ITS COMMITMENTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.04.2007 17:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In Strasbourg the session of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) accepted Monitoring
Committee’s report on Azerbaijan’s fulfillment of its commitments
in front of EU. Efforts of the Azeri delegation to soften the most
critical points addressed to the Azeri authorities were not crowned
with success, Turan reports. During discussions of the report member
of Azeri delegation Samed Seidov distinguished, who said there is a
lot of progress in Azerbaijan and even politicians and human rights
activists who have arrived in Strasbourg, confess it and express
their support. However Seidov’s words were ironically ignored by
Andres Herkel, who expressed his disagreement with, as he said,
Azeri delegation head’s "magnificent" speech. Number of political
prisoners has decreased in Azerbaijan, but it does not mean solution
of problem. Corruption prospers in the country, and there is anarchy
in the judicial system. Courts are not independent. Freedom of assembly
is not provided. The parliament does not have enough powers. Elections
are falsified.

Representatives of opposition are not included in parliamentarian
delegation. Touching upon the problem of political prisoners, Tony
Lloyd said it is the result of "absence of justice in courts". Leo
Platvoet drew attention to the fact that the growth of economy that
the Azeri authorities like to talk much about, has resulted in the
growth of corruption, and not in improvement of welfare of population.

The report particularly mentions the importance of PACE control over
the commitments that Azerbaijan promised to fulfill in connection with
the coming presidential elections of 2008, which "must be the first
elections in country’s history meeting international standards." It
is necessary to urgently solve the issue of electoral commissions,
which must enjoy the trust of both electorate and all political forces.

"Corruption remains the main problem in Azerbaijan that touches
all layers of society and threatens economic, social and political
development of the country. Criminal prosecution for slander leads
to intimidation and self-censorship in media," the report says.

CIS IPA MONITORING GROUP TO ARRIVE

A1+
[01:35 pm] 17 April, 2007

On April 19, CIS IPA of RF delegation headed by Anatoly Torshin,
vice-chairman of FC ( Council of Federation) as well as Michael Krotov,
General Secretary of CIS IPA is due to come.

According to RA NA PR information, meetings with Garegin Azaryan, CEC
chairman as well as with members of Republican Party, Dashnakcutyun
Party, United Labor Party, ‘ Prosperous Armenia’ and those of
‘Justice’, ‘Country of Law’ factions are expected on the very day of
their arrival.

On April 20, meetings are also expected with RA Attorney General Aghvan
Hovsepyan, NA chairman Tigran Torosyan, RA president Robert Kocharyan.

The delegation will hold a debriefing at NA press conference.

THE TOPOL IS BETTER THAN THE PIONEER: HOW RUSSIA WILL RESPOND TO THE AMERICAN ANTI-MISSILE UMBRELLA
By Nikolai Khorunzhii
Translated by Elena Leonova

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
April 16, 2007 Monday

RUSSIA’S INTERMEDIATE-RANGE MISSILE OPTIONS; Following the announcement
of US plans for deploying missile defense system elements in Poland
and the Czech Republic, Russian experts have started discussing
reponse measures. These measures include the possibility of Russia’s
withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Following the announcement of US plans for deploying missile defense
system elements in Poland and the Czech Republic, Russian experts
have started discussing reponse measures. These measures include
the possibility of Russia’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range
Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed in 1987.

"Russia has reasons for returning intermediate- and short-range
missiles to its arsenals." This statement from Chief of the General
Staff Yuri Baluyevsky launched the debate about whether we should
withdraw from the INF Treaty.

To be more precise, withdrawal from the INF Treaty has become a
substantial argument for the Russian military in other situations as
well. In August 2006, for example, when former US Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld invited former Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov to
join the American initiative to replace nuclear warheads on ICBMs
with conventional warheads, Ivanov responded by advising his American
counterpart to think about withdrawing from the INF Treaty.

Even earlier – back in 2001, when we were discussing our "asymmetric
response" to America’s withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile
(ABM) Treaty in 2002 – Lieutenant-General Vyacheslav Romanov, head
of the National Nuclear Threat Reduction Center, said that if the
Americans deployed a national missile defense system, Russia would
respond by rebuilding its intermediate- and short-range missile group.

More flexible projects are being proposed now. For example, we could
pull out of the INF Treaty, but confine ourselves to equipping
the missiles in question with conventional warheads, not nuclear
warheads: so they would not pose a threat to Europe or China. And
if the USA refuses to update the treaty, leaving Russia with the
option of complete withdrawal (that is, possessing intermediate-
and short-range missiles with nuclear warheads), Europe and even
China would perceive this as Washington ignoring their interests.

All this sounds very elegant. But while strategic missiles may be
regarded as all-purpose, suitable for use across all directions and
distances, intermediate-range missiles are more specific in their
targets: any country within 5,500 kilometers of the launching point.

That includes China and Europe. And is there any fundamental difference
between replacing nuclear warheads with conventional warheads on
ICBMs, as Rumsfeld proposed, and doing the same with intermediate-
and short-range missiles? Either way, the threshold of use is lowered.

Another equally artful option is being discussed: asking all countries
that possess intermediate- or short-range missiles to sign the INF
Treaty. That means China, North Korea, India, Pakistan, Iran, and
some Middle East countries. If any of them refuse, we can announce
that Russia is withdrawing from the INF Treaty, while agreeing with
the United States that these missiles will be deployed only on the
territory of the countries that own them (so there shouldn’t be any
American missiles in Europe). And what if the Americans refuse? After
all, Russia doesn’t have any intermediate-range missiles – not even at
the design stage – but the United States is making rapid progress on
developing an intermediate-range missile for its submarines. And the
intimidated Europe would appeal to the United States for help. Then
the deployment of American intermediate-range missiles in Eastern
Europe would cause more problems for our country’s strategic nuclear
forces than it did in the 1980s, since NATO has now moved closer
to our borders. Those American missiles would be able to reach our
missile launch bases in minutes.

Moscow is capable of resuming production of missiles with a range
between 500 and 5,000 kilometers, within a relatively short time.

These could be Soviet-era designs like the RSD-10 Pioneer, destroyed
in compliance with the INF Treaty, or modern Iskander systems.

The Pioneer was indeed a good missile. The Soviet military greatly
regretted having to destroy its Pioneers after the INF Treaty came
into effect. However, unlike the Topol ICBM that followed it, the
Pioneer did not have the technology required to penetrate missile
defense systems. Russia plans to produce 17 Topol-M missiles this
year, compared to three in 2006. Then again, Strategic Missile Forces
Commander Nikolai Solovtsov said at a recent press conference that
his subordinates will take delivery of seven Topol-M systems this
year. There are also some problems with the new Bulava naval missile;
plans to equip a whole series of new Project Borei submarines with
Bulava missiles may be disrupted. And on top of all this, Russia
may now face the unanticipated costs of producing intermediate-range
missiles.

Mikhail Barabanov, science editor at "Eksport Vooruzhenii"
(Arms Exports) magazine, has calculated that producing 50-100
intermediate-range missiles would cost the same as producing several
dozen Topol-M ICBMs. Thus, it would be better to have more of the
all-purpose Topol missiles, rather than upgraded Pioneers which would
be limited in application.

As for short-range missiles, there are proposals to increase the range
of Iskander tactical missile systems from 280 to 500 kilometers. Russia
plans to acquire only 60 of these systems over the next nine years;
but 500 kilometers does not mean "from 500 to 1,000 kilometers,"
even with the help of wishful thinking. So it’s a stretch to count
the Iskander as part of the short-range missile class.

It has also been suggested that Russia should withdraw from the
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty. But we wouldn’t
scare anyone by doing that, since we lag behind NATO across all
conventional arms indicators. Equating NATO with the CIS Collective
Security Treaty Organization (Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan) is unlikely to succeed; their scale simply
isn’t comparable, and there is hardly any contact between the two
organizations.

These days, the tasks of the politically frightening intermediate-range
ballistic missiles could be performed by far less costly air-launched
cruise missiles. According to the Rosbalt agancy, Russia conducted
successful tests two years ago of the Kh-555 cruise missile, with
a range of up to 5,000 kilometers, accurate to 18-26 meters, flight
speed up to 936 kilometers per hour at altitudes between 40 and 110
meters. All these qualities enable the Kh-555 to penetrate missile
defense systems. The ARMS-TASS agency reported recently that India and
Russia have launched joint efforts to develop a promising supersonic
cruise missile. Such a missile might be an appropriate "asymmetric"
response to US plans for deploying missile defense elements in Poland
and the Czech Republic.

YEGHEGNADZOR AND ARABKIR LEFT OUT OF FUTURE COMPETITION IN ARMENIAN
MEN VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

YEREVAN, APRIL 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The first tour of Armenian men
volleyball championship finished on April 15 on the Kilikia training
ground. FIMA is at the top of the tournament table with 10 points
after 5-day competition. Kilikia has 9 points and PPV Dinamo 8
points. Vanadzor takes 4th place with 7 points. The next two places
are taken by Yeghegnadzor and Arabkir teams, which were left out of
the future competition.

The second tour of the tournament will be held on May 17-22.

TALAT PASHA MOVEMENT TO PROTEST AGAINST ARMENIAN LIES IN PARIS

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 13 2007

Rally and conference exposing Armenian lies on so called "Armenian
genocide" are to be held in Paris, APA’s Eastern Europe bureau
reports. Turkish Worker’s Party and Talat Pasha Movement will hold a
rally and conference in protest against the French National Assembly
(Lower House of Parliament) law making it a crime to deny that
Armenians suffered Turkish savageries and Armenian historical crimes.

Azerbaijani and Turkish community representatives from Europe and
Turkey will arrive in the French capital on this occasion. The
conference is to be held in "Eurosites Plaine Saint Denis" Centre
in Paris. After presidential elections in France, the Talat Pasha
Movement chaired by Rauf Denktas, former president of the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus will hold a rally to Bastille in the
centre of Paris.

WILL ARMENIA TURN ORANGE?

RIA Novosti, Russia
April 11 2007

MOSCOW. (Political analyst Nikolai Vavilkin for RIA Novosti) – This
year will be one of the most important in Armenia’s post-Soviet
independent history.

With the parliamentary election set for May 2007 and the presidential
election for March 2008, this South Caucasian republic is in for 12
months of intense election battles.

The winner of the presidential race could be determined by the
parliamentary election. Under the 2005 constitution, the party that
wins control of parliament will nominate the prime minister and the
speaker, and will have an opportunity to fight for the presidency
in 2008.

Presidential elections in all former Soviet republics carry the
risk of political upheavals. There has not been a change of power
at all in some of them, including Kazakhstan and other Central Asian
republics. But elections in Ukraine and Georgia were accompanied by
upheavals later called "orange" or "color" revolutions, with public
clashes, turbulent demonstrations, and a transfer of power to a new,
less legitimate government.

When election results are contested in a former Soviet republic, the
West, represented by state and supra-national democratic institutions,
usually denounces the excessive use of administrative resources by the
ruling party. Partly with that as a justification, the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European Union, the
administrations of the United States and EU countries, and other
Western agencies invariably take the side of the force that contests
the election results.

The pro-government political parties in Armenia appear to have the
strongest positions now. Many believe that they will share victory in
the parliamentary elections and therefore posts in the government and
the leadership of the new parliament. This is quite likely because the
current Armenian opposition parties are dependent on their leaders,
and the general public knows very little, if anything, about their
programs.

The forces that rely on Western political and social values and
development paths stand apart from the other opposition parties. One
of them is the party of the former speaker of parliament, Artur
Bagdasaryan. Another is the movement led by Raffi Ovannisyan, former
minister of foreign affairs and a U.S. national who has become an
Armenian citizen.

Inspired by the example of neighboring countries, the new pro-Western
forces in Armenia attend all meetings of international organizations,
tirelessly proclaim their commitment to European values, and complain
that Armenia is so far not up to the European mark.

European organizations give such figures a pat on the back and try
to involve them in their activities. Some of these figures have
earned quite a reputation, while others are staying in the shadows,
and their involvement in the work of foreign organizations has so
far remained unnoticed by the Armenian, let alone Russian, public.

Shavarsh Kocharyan, a deputy in the Armenian parliament, was on
the Armenian delegation to PACE for several years and was removed
in 2006. This, however, has not stopped him from maintaining, and
possibly strengthening, his ties with that influential European body.

Since leaving, Kocharyan has been invited to Strasbourg three times,
attending PACE meetings on trips paid for by the organization.

The heads of the Council of Europe’s observer missions at elections
are traditionally appointed by one of the CE parties on a rotating
basis. When the head of a mission for the Armenian elections was
selected, it was the turn of the European Democrats, a party dominated
by ethnic Russians. Many expected that the post would be given to a
Russian, but the PACE Bureau changed the rules of the game, and the
post was given to Leo Platvoet of the Netherlands.

A change in Armenia’s policy, or a political destabilization of the
republic, could undermine Russia’s influence in the region, which
largely depends on its alliance with Armenia. Therefore, Russia needs
Armenia to remain stable and stick to the same policies after the
parliamentary and presidential elections. It will also benefit if
the forces wishing to strengthen the alliance with Russia remain at
the country’s helm.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not
necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.