Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

IRAVUNK NEWSPAPER’S NEXT ISSUE TO BE PUBLISHED IN TIME, HRANT KHACHATRIAN PROMISES

Noyan Tapan
Feb 21 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. "By the direct instruction of the
oligarch-criminal system, on the pretext of giving a judicial solution
to allegedly disputable issues connected with the founder of Iravunk
newspaper, Constitutional Law Union (CLU) Party, through obvious
judicial retribution, the Iravunk newspaper’s activity was actually
liquidated." This was mentioned in the statement of CLU Iravunk
official newspaper’s editorial staff signed by Hayk Babukhanian, as
well as Hovhannes Galajian and some other employees of the newspaper.

According to the statement, Iravunk’s editorial office was seized
through a brigand attack, "on behalf of the law," criminal elements
broke into the rooms of newspaper’s editorial staff and seized the
newspaper’s entire property."

The newspaper’s editorial staff mentioned that they had to stop
publishing Iravunk.

However, as CLU founder Hrant Khachatrian declared in his interview to
Noyan Tapan correspondent, these false accusations secure the agitation
of intra-party coup. In his words, the coup was being carried out
for liquidating party’s control over its official newspaper and for
making it serve for personal or group purposes.

"The self-promoting leaders of editorial staff and party left
the office on February 20 taking almost the whole property and
documents with them. Now the office is ruined, but the activities
have been already organized," H. Khachatrian said. In his words,
Iravunk’s editorial staff has partly changed and Piruza Meliksetian
was appointed as the new editor-in-chief. It was also mentioned that
Iravunk’s next issue will be published on coming Friday.

THE WASHINGTON TIMES: CONGRESS SHOULD HAVE MORE IMPORTANT PRIORITIES THAN THE EVENTS OF 80 YEARS AGO

ArmRadio.am
20.02.2007 16:30

"Mrs. Pelosi has scheduled a vote in April on a resolution
(H. Res. 106) that accuses Turkey’s Ottoman Empire of perpetrating
genocide resulting in the death or displacement of nearly 2 million
Armenians between 1915 and 1923.

With the United States currently fighting a war for its very survival
against radical Islamists, Congress should have much more important
priorities than revisiting events that occurred more than 80 years ago
– particularly when doing so has the potential to do serious damage
to US relations with Turkey, whose cooperation will be critical to
US efforts to stabilize Iraq," the Washington Times wrote in today’s
periodical.

At the same time the author states: "Armenian and Greek lobbying
organizations hostile to Turkey command far more power in Washington
than do pro-Turkish groups. And in their effort to settle old scores
dating back to World War I, they have the potential to damage our
current ability to maintain Turkey’s cooperation in stabilizing Iraq."

LACK OF HOPE
By Hikmet Bila

Anatolian Times, Turkey
Turkish Press
Feb 19 2007

(CUMHURIYET)- Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit’s remarks
in the US weren’t new. He pointed to the same issues when he first
rose to the helm of the Turkish military. Back then, he said that the
Turkish Republic has never faced so many and varied risks and threats
since 1923, that is, when it was founded. If he’s saying the same thing
six months later, it means that same threats are there. If the person
who heads the army of a country which is surrounded with threats —
from Cyprus to northern Iraq, and the Caucasus to Iran — says this,
it means that there’s a serious situation. Turkey has been trying
to join the European Union for many years, and look at what Europe
is doing now. Cooperation between members of a terrorist group and
the secret services of European countries is being exposed, but still
they are indifferent. They are leaving the Copenhagen criteria aside,
making strategic calculations using 19th century logic, and pursuing
territory and influence on Cyprus. A group of hawks who seized the
US are floundering, but now they are opening a front in northern Iraq
with America’s army, weapons and tanks. If this isn’t risk and threat,
then what is?

Maybe the most interesting and dangerous side of the so-called Armenian
resolution set to be debated by the US House of Representatives is that
it claims that half a million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were
subjected to a genocide in 1915-1923. Just this sneaky calculation
suffices to show how great the risk is. Why 1923? Because, if you
include 1923 in the claims of genocide, you can get the opportunity to
accuse not only the Ottomans, but also the republic and Ataturk. It
seems that our friends and allies make such fine calculations
this way. These friends and allies either don’t know how to make
calculations, or they’re ready to write off 70 million people.

Gen. Buyukanit made another important remark in the US. Maybe this
is something new. He urged us not to lose hope in spite of all the
risks and threats. Let’s remember what he said. He said that the
direst situation in a country is a lack of hope and that someone who
has lost hope has lost everything. Buyukanit stated that when the
Turkish Republic and the people who make it up are hopeless, they lose
everything. He added that the situation of the Turkish people isn’t
like this now and that we should have confidence in ourselves. I think
the most important aspect of his speech in the US lies in these words.

SERGEY SHAMBA: WE SPEAK FOR RUSSIA’S PRESENCE IN CAUCASUS, WE DON’T WANT TO NATO

Regnum, Russia
Feb 19 2007

"The statement that the Kosovo precedent is unique and it cannot
be spread to our republics is at least naïve. It is a part of the
process occurring after the collapse of the USSR and the Warsaw Treaty
Organization, when many countries were granted independence.

Now, another stage is taking place: big autonomies start becoming
independent," Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba announced at a
news conference in Moscow on Friday, a REGNUM correspondent informs.

"Opinions differ among Russian experts whether Abkhazia’s independence
is worth recognizing. Some people say it is dangerous, and it must
not be done. We can answer to it like this: Georgia will soon become
a NATO member, what Armenia will do after that? And Azerbaijan? And
what should Abkhazia and South Ossetia do in this case? And how will
peoples of North Caucasus behave after that? The question is here,
whether Russia needs Caucasus and Transcaucasus? If not, independence
of Abkhazia and South Ossetia does not need to be recognized and then
the region will enter NATO," Shamba believes.

"From our side, we speak for Russia’s presence in the area. We don’t
want to go to NATO!" the minister said.

–Boundary_(ID_rL5VOAnPNEUI84nQ+6N53A)–

FIBER-OPTIC COMMUNICATION CABLE YEREVAN-POTI TO BE ALSO USED TO IMPROVE INTERNET-COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

Arminfo
2007-02-19 13:21:00

In the beginning of March, 2007, the "ArmenTel" Company intends to
actuate the Yerevan-Poti fiber-optic communication cable, used in
the railway system, to improve the quality of Armenia’s Internet
communication.

As the Head of the Department of Foreign Relations of RA Ministry
of Transport and Communication, Gagik Grigoryan, told ArmInfo, it
is a question of using the present cable from Yerevan to Poti for
telecommunication purposes as well. Until recently, he said, this
cable had been used only for safe functioning of the railway. However,
a high carrying capacity of the cable allows to use it for another
purposes as well, in particular, for providing the country with more
qualitative Internet communication.

The currently functioning cable had been out into operation in 2000
and was intended to enhance the safety and reliability of railways
of he region’s states. The European Union allocated about 17 mln Euro
to implement this Project, which have been equally distributed among
the South Caucasian countries.

According to ArmInfo data, the cable is tested at present for the
purpose of Internet communication.

Old Jonah from New Julfa

Friday, February 16, 2007

It’s officially the Year of Armenia in France, and in a
celebrationthat is not without sadness, members of Paris’s large and
influential Armenian community have organised an exhibition at the
Maison des Arts in the town of Antony, near Orly Airport, to mark 400
years of the Armenian presence in New Julfa,the Armenian quarter of
the central Persian city of Esfahan, which was founded early in the
17th century by Shah Abbas the Great for the more than 150,000
Armenians moved there by force from Julfa in Nakhichevan.

Although primarily a nostalgic look at the history of New Julfa, and
resting very heavily on late 19th and early 2oth century photographs
of sites such as the Armenian School and Vank Cathedral, as well as of
the families of members of the community, there were also a number of
artefacts displayed, including items of costume and textiles, that
relate directly to Armenian culture in Iran. Included among the latter
was this 17th century northwest Persian/Caucasian embroidery,
depicting the Biblical story of Jonah and the Whale, which was loaned
for the exhibition by Artemis Achdjian. In addition to the Armenian
crosses formed by the reciprocal space between the sixteen-sided star
panels of the field, an Armenian Christian source is indicated by the
drawing of the whale, shown as a giant scaly fish, which which in the
embroidery appears beneath a stylised four-legged creature (with more
crosses on its flanks), but which can also be seen beneath Jonah’s
boat in an early 10th century bas relief in the Church of the Holy
Cross in Aghtamar.

Until 29 April 2007

Panorama.am

18:43 17/02/2007

ORHAN PAMUK LEAVES TURKEY BECAUSE OF FEAR FOR LIFE

Orhan Pamuk, Turkish writer and Nobel Prize winner,
left Turkey because he was afraid for his life. Pamuk
receive threats from the person suspected in the
murder of Hrant Dink, editor-in-chief of Akos
newspaper. Pamuk left for the United State to deliver
lectures in American universities.

Newru.com writes citing from `Sabah’ newspaper that
Pamuk took out $400,000 from his bank account and said
that he would never return Turkey. Moreover, he
refused to visit Germany upon the invitation. That
country is known for its large Turkish community.

Pamuk does not hide his civic disposition connected
with the Armenian genocide and discrimination against
Kurds in Turkey. A criminal prosecution was instituted
against him for insulting the dignity of Turks.
Istanbul court demanded from 6 to 36 months of
imprisonment. However, the court ruled in favor of
Pamuk last summer.

Source: Panorama.am

RESULTS OF SECOND RESEARCH ON ARMENIAN DEMOGRAPHY AND HEALTH ISSUES
SUMMARIZED

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA National Statistical Service
(NSS) jointly with the RA Ministry of Health conducted the 2005
research on Armenian demography and health issues. It was done with
USAID financing and technical assistance of the UNICEF and the UN
Population Fund. 6,566 women aged 15-49 and 1,447 men from all marzes
were surveyed.

At the presentation of the book summarizing the research results, the
NSS Chairman Stepan Mnatsakanian said that this research was second
one in Armenia, the first was conducted in 2000. In his words, the
purpose of the research is to inform the public about issues related
to the Armenian population and its health. The 2005 report contains
information about birth rate, contraceptives, health of mother and
child, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

According to the research results, during 5 years before the survey,
93% of women, who gave birth to babies, received prenatal care from
medical personnel at least once. 97% of childbirths in Armenia occur
in medical institutions.

The research shows that almost all babies are breast fed in Armenia
but only one third of them are fed only with breast milk. 27% of
Armenian women were overweight and 16% – fat in 2006 against 27% and
14% respectively in 2000. Only 2% of women aged 15-19 are fat, while
among women aged 40-49 this index makes 33%.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Feb 16 2007

Georgian Azerbaijanis detained in Armenia not released yet

[ 16 Feb 2007 14:00 ]

Azerbaijani residents of Tezekend village, Georgia, Mehman Asgerov,
Kamandar Mustafayev, who were detained on February 7 and Sadakhli
village resident Huseyn Mammedov detained on February 10 by Armenian
frontier guards, haven’t been released yet, officer of Azerbaijani
embassy in Georgia Elkhan Polukhov told APA’s bureau.

He stated that Tezekend village residents are being detained in
Yerevan. Yerevan Court will decide whether to release them or not.
The destiny of Huseyn Mammedov, who has detained in the disputed zone
in Georgian-Armenian border, hasn’t been cleared out yet. Because
Armenian frontier guards claim the territory belong to Armenia. As
for release of two Azerbaijanis, the officer said that they are
Sadakhli village residents.
`Armenian frontier guards tried to detain two Azerbaijanis gathering
brushwood in the disputed zone three-four days ago. They are husband
and wife. They were lucky to have mobile phone about them and they
contacted the village immediately. Marneuli region leadership and
police chief interfered with the case and didn’t let Armenians arrest
the couple’, he said.
Mehman Asgerov and Kamandar Mustafayev were detained in Armenian
region of Noyemberian while cutting tree. Huseyn Mammedov was
detained in the disputed zone between Armenia and Georgia in the
border of Noyemberyan and Marneuli six days ago. The commission
members for delimitation of Georgian-Armenian borders are
investigating the territory. Detained Azerbaijanis had contacted
their families and said they are well. /APA/

NEXT MONITORING OF OSCE MISSION HELD ACCORDING TO ENVISAGED SCHEDULE

Noyan Tapan
Feb 15 2007

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the agreement
reached beforehand with the authorities of the Republic of Nagorno
Karabakh, the OSCE mission held the planned monitoring of the cotact
line of the NKR and Azerbaijani Armed Forces on February 14, in the
south-eatern part of the Kuropatkino settlement, the region of Martuni,
Nagorno Karabakh. OSCE Office Coordinator, Lieutenant-Colonel Imre
Palatinus (Hungary) and Field Assistant of the Personal Representative
of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Zhaslan Nurtazin (Kazakhstan)
implemented the monitoring from the NKR Defence Army’s positions. As
Noyan Tapan was informed by the NKR Foreign Ministry’s Press Service,
the monitoring was held according to the envisaged schedule, no
breaches of the cease-fire regime were fixed. Representatives of the
NKR Defence Ministry and Ministry of Foreign Affairs accompanied the
monitoring mission from the Karabakh side.