Author: Zaminian Bedik

OSCE SPECIAL COORDINATOR TONE TINGSGAARD ARRIVES IN ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.05.2007 16:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The OSCE Special Coordinator for the elections in
Armenia, Swedish parliamentarian and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Vice
President Tone Tingsgaard, has arrived in Armenia to prepare for the
observation of Saturday’s parliamentary elections.

As PanARMENIAN.Net came to know from the OSCE PA press office,
Ms.Tingsgaard, an experienced election observer and a frequent
visitor to Armenia, was appointed Special Co-ordinator by the
OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spain’s Foreign Minister Miguel Angel
Moratinos. As such, she leads all international short-term election
observers deployed by the OSCE.

The 50 OSCE PA members on hand are part of a larger group of
international election observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe and the European Parliament as well as from
OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

In total, almost 100 parliamentarians and 300 other short-term
observers will be observing the parliamentary elections in all parts
of Armenia.

"I am delighted to be in Armenia in these important and exciting
times," said Ms.Tingsgaard upon arrival today. "All the international
observers have an important role to play as the elections are crucial
for Armenia and its continued democratic development.

I wish the country and all its citizens success on Saturday."

The OSCE PA has a long experience in election monitoring. Since 1993,
over 2,000 OSCE PA members have participated as election observers
in over 75 elections over the entire OSCE region.

A formal statement about the elections will be issued on Sunday,
13 May, the day after the elections.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION CONDEMNS EX-MINISTER’S ARREST
By Astghik Bedevian

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
May 8 2007

Armenia’s leading opposition groups condemned on Tuesday the overnight
arrest of one of the two prominent government critics accused of being
illegally financed by a Russian businessman allegedly plotting regime
change in the country.

Former Foreign Minister Aleksandr Arzumanian was taken into custody
late Monday two days after officers of the National Security Service
(NSS) found and confiscated $55,400 in his Yerevan apartment. The
NSS says the cash was part of a $180,000 payment allegedly wired to
Arzumanian and another former government minister, Vahan Shirkhanian,
by Levon Markos, a Russian citizen of Armenian descent who is at odds
with the authorities in Yerevan.

NSS investigators on Tuesday again interrogated Shirkhanian but
refrained from detaining him. Shirkhanian, who was Armenia’ de facto
deputy prime minister in 1999-2000, told RFE/RL afterwards the he
refused to answer any questions from them. "The interrogation was
very short," he said. "I went there as a witness [in the case] and
came away as a witness."

The NSS searched Shirkhanian’s apartment and confiscated $28,000 on
Saturday. In a statement on Monday, the Armenian successor to the
Soviet KGB said he and Arzumanian received the sums after meeting
Markos in Moscow late last month. Neither men has been formally charged
yet under an article of the Armenian Criminal Code that deals with
attempts to "legalize revenues obtained by criminal means."

Both oppositionists have admitted visiting the Russian capital recently
but denied meeting Markos or receiving any cash from him.

Arzumanian insists that the confiscated cash was earned by himself,
while Shirkhanian claims to have received $80,000 from Moscow-based
"friends" to organize his daughter’s wedding party and rent office
space for a non-governmental organization headed by him.

Markos fled Armenia in 2005 to avoid prosecution on what he and his
friends consider trumped-up fraud charges. The NSS statement said he is
"pursuing some goals in the pre-election period" but did not specify
whether that has any connection with a "civil resistance movement"
launched by Arzumanian and Shirkhanian late last year.

According to Karapet Rubinian, another movement leader and prominent
representative of Armenia’s former leadership, the NSS told
Arzumanian that he is arrested because of refusing to show up for
fresh questioning on Monday and for talking to the media. Rubinian
claimed that the arrest is illegal and unjustified.

"This political persecution has nothing to do with the [May
12 parliamentary] elections," Rubinian told journalists. "The
authorities have already distributed parliament seats. Their main
worry is post-election processes."

He was speaking after an emergency meeting of top representatives of
the country’s main opposition forces, including the Orinats Yerkir,
Zharangutyun, Hanrapetutyun, and People’s parties. They are expected
to issue a joint statement demanding that the authorities immediately
release Arzumanian and punish those who have initiated the "illegal
actions" against the former foreign minister.

"The society must not let them do what they want," said Vazgen Manukian
of the National Democratic Union (AZhM). "Today they caught Alik
[Arzumanian,] tomorrow they will catch others."

"Such actions will happen as long as power in Armenia can not
be changed by means of elections," agreed Raffi Hovannisian, the
Zharangutyun leader and another former foreign minister. "Aleksandr
Arzumanian’s case is not a separate incident. It’s a challenge. The
action taken against him mirrors the pettiness of Armenia’s rulers."

OSCE CHAIRMAN-IN-OFFICE TO CONFIDENTIALLY DISCUSS KARABAKH ISSUE WITH MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRMEN

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
May 8 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend , corr. E. Husseynov; A. Ismayilova/ Muguel
Angel Moratinos, the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE Minsk Group, is
expected to meet all three Minsk Group Co-Chairmen for a resolution of
the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Madrid on May 10,
a representative of the press service of the Spanish Foreign Ministry
has said by telephone. However, referring to the full confidentiality
of the forthcoming meeting, he refused to inform of the details of
the topics to be discussed during the meeting.

Yuriy Merzlyakov, the Russian Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group,
previously said that the forthcoming meeting to be held in Madrid
at the initiative of the OSCE Minsk Group Chairman-in-Office, Miguel
Angel Moratinos, would be dedicated to peaceful negotiations on the
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

The conflict between the two South Caucasian countries goes as far
back as 1988 due to Armenia’s territorial claims to Azerbaijan. Since
1992 and to date, 20% of the territory of Azerbaijan, including
Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 Districts adjacent to it, have been under the
occupation of Armenian Forces. In May 1994, the disputing parties
reached a cease-fire that put an end to battles for Karabakh. Since
then, when the cease-fire was announced, the OSCE Minsk Group under
the chairmanship of Russia, France and USA have led fruitless peaceful
negotiations to resolve this issue.

The Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ are responsible for making efforts on
guaranteeing peace and stability in the region. They frequently visit
the region, meeting with the disputing parties to achieve a peaceful
resolution of the conflict, as well as take required measures to
restore and reinforce trust between the conflict parties. They
periodically prepare reports and give an account to the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office, Miguel Angel Moratinos, and Spain’s Foreign
Minister, who took up post this year, on what they have done. Between
4 and 5 June, Mr Moratinos is expected to pay a visit to Azerbaijan
and Armenia to discuss ways of resolution of the conflict between
the two countries.

The Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ are responsible for making efforts on
guaranteeing peace and stability in the region. They frequently visit
the region, meeting with the disputing parties to achieve a peaceful
resolution of the conflict, as well as take required measures to
restore and reinforce trust between the conflict parties. They
periodically prepare reports and give an account to the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office, Miguel Angel Moratinos, and Spain’s Foreign
Minister, who took up post this year, on what they have done. Between
4 and 5 June, Mr Moratinos is expected to pay a visit to Azerbaijan
and Armenia to discuss ways of resolution of the conflict between
the two countries.

AZAY GULIYEV: "UNLESS WAR IS OVER, COOPERATION WITH ARMENIA IS OUT OF QUESTION"

Ïðaâî Âûaîða, Azerbaijan
Democratic Azerbaijan
May 8 2007

"It is necessary to pass draft law prohibiting Azerbaijani NGOs to
establish contacts with Armenia"

Recent Milli Mejlis meeting was started with discussions of existing
problems. Deputies expressed their views concerning number of issues
they take interest in.

Milli Mejlis deputy, Panakh Husein, informed about violations of
human rights of workers at construction objects. Accordingly to him,
parliament should pay special attention to this problem. At the same
time he proposed to restore 1 May holiday.

Deputy, Azay Guliyev, told participants that recently contacts
between Azerbaijani NGOs and Armenian ones have become extremely
intensive. Accordingly to him, in near future new visit of the group
of Azerbaijan NGOs to Armenia is expected. Head of national forum of
NGOs informed that Armenian leadership uses visits of representatives
of Azerbaijani NGOs for their own interests. He holds that with
establishing contacts between NGOs of both countries Armenia attempts
to prove that Nagorni Garabagh problem doesn’t create problems for
mutual contacts of both nations. A. Guliyev stressed that despite
everything in Azerbaijan there is no law that impedes contacts of
Azerbaijani and Armenian NGOs. For this reason it is impossible to
stop visits of our NGOs representatives to Armenia. Chairman of NGOs
forum proposed to pass draft law which will prohibit representatives
of Azerbaijani NGOs to visit neighboring country. Accordingly to
him, only contacts between Azerbaijani NGOs and Armenians living in
Nagorni Garabagh as they are citizens of Azerbaijan may be considered
to be expedient.

Chairman of People’s Front Party of Azerbaijan, Milli Mejlis deputy,
Gudret Hasanguliyev, touched upon processes going on in Association of
Football Federation of Azerbaijan. He accused leadership of association
of wrong policy. As parliament member said, leadership of AFFA takes
wrong decision connected with football facing no objections. "I think
that leadership of country should express attitude to activity of
the above said association. It is necessary to clarify this issue".

Milli Mejlis member, Igbal Agazade, touched upon the issue of
systematic moving of representative of different ethnic groups from
different countries to Azerbaijan. He underlined that such practice
is scheduled and causes concern among population. Parliament member
declared that there is information concerning moving of Kurds from
Turkey to some regions of our country. I. Agazade stressed that the
event took place some days ago on the border with Georgia should serve
as a signal. He proposed standing parliamentary commission on legal
policy and state structure to investigate this issue with assistance
of relevant state structures.

In his turn, deputy, Vahid Ahmadov, proposed his colleagues to present
their views relating to discovered burial places in Guba, as it is
very important. Accordingly to parliament member, in connection
with the mentioned issue "round table" meeting was organized by
"Yeni Azerbaijan" party. The same party visited the place.

Milli Mejlis deputy, Zahid Oruj, expressed his view concerning the
fact that recently state of mass media in Azerbaijan hasn’t changed
for better. Accordingly to him, these problems are being caused by
mass media itself as personal qualities of some press organs are
not on desirable level. As Z. Oruj holds that another such kind of
problem relating to mass media is financing from unknown sources. The
fact that some mass media serve as barricade on the way of fight of
political parties for power is referred by deputy as third problem.

At the same time, accordingly to Z. Oruj, opposition press organs of
Azerbaijan are involved with moral terror.

Then deputies started discussing issues of the agenda, having
started from amendments to Administrative Code. Chairman of standing
commission on legal policy and state structure, Ali Huseinov, informed
that envisaged amendments are of technical nature. Thus, the item
connected with fines for violation taking place during payment making
with population will be removed from the mentioned document, as this
item is enshrined in Tax Code.

Discussion of the law "On Azerbaijani Society of Red Crescent" was held
during second reading. Information concerning mentioned document was
presented by chairman of standing parliamentary commission on human
rights, Rabiyat Aslanoav. After discussions document was adopted at
the second reading.

Amendments to "Regulation on working for state tax structures" were
made during meeting. Accordingly to new version financing of tax
structures from state budget is envisaged.

–Boundary_(ID_f6vNhclf8nzyh9xE+8jaQw) —

SENIOR OFFICIAL DEMANDED EARLY RETURN OF EVANS LEADING TO VACANCY IN KEY AMBASSADORIAL POST

Arminfo Agency News
2007-05-09 14:59:00

Internal State Department documents, released this week to the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) [Ho. He. Dashnaktsutyan
Washington-ee Hai Tahd-ee Krasenyag] under the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA), reveal that a senior State Department official forced
the return to the U.S. of former Ambassador to Armenia, John Marshall
Evans, prior to U.S. Senate’s approval of his replacement, effectively
ensuring that this key foreign post would remain vacant.

The key document released by the Department was an August 8, 2006
"Sensitive-Eyes Only for Amb. Evans" memo from Assistant Secretary of
State Daniel Fried to Ambassador Evans. In the note, the Assistant
Secretary acknowledged Ambassador Evans’ willingness to remain in
Yerevan until the Senate had confirmed Richard Hoagland, the career
Foreign Service officer who had been nominated by President Bush to
fill the Yerevan ambassadorial post after the Evans firing.

The relevant section of the cable reads as follows:

"John [Evans], Thank you for your offer to remain in Yerevan in light
of the SFRC (Senate Foreign Relations Committee) postponement of its
consideration of Dick’s [Richard Hoagland’s] nomination. I appreciate
that you are willing to serve the President as needed. However,
I think it is best to continue with your previous plan, and for you
to depart post by the end of the first week in September."

Early return of John Evans is connected with his February 2005
public comments to Armenian American audiences in which he properly
characterized Ottoman Turkey’s campaign to exterminate its Armenian
population as a genocide.

NOBODY, AND EVEN ALIYEV BELIEVES THAT YEREVAN GAVE ITS AGREEMENT FOR THE STEP-BY-STEP RESOLUTION OF THE KARABAKH ISSUE

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.05.2007 GMT+04:00

Hardly does Ilham Aliyev want to win the laurels of the ex-president
Ayaz Mutallibov, who lost Khodjalu, or Heydar Aliyev, during whose
days Azerbaijan lost four regions.

Most probably Azerbaijan is getting ready for a war, or it pretends
so. The speech Ilham Aliyev made at the opening of the village Ramana,
may be qualified as a recurrent act of protest against the OSCE Minsk
Group suggestion about the probability of granting independence to
Nagorno-Karabakh.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ However, some information disseminated by the Azeri
press clearly speaks of Baku’s active preparations for solving the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by use of force. According to the political
scientist Ali Massimov, "There is the need of not only having a strong
and efficient army, but also making some food storehouses, which
would be needed during the military actions taken for liberating
Nagorno-Karabakh." The information appeared to the public right
after Ilham Aliyev’s speech made to the refugees. In his speech
Azerbaijan’s president blamed Armenia for "breaking the agreement
about the confidentiality of the process of the ongoing negotiations
on peaceful way of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict regulation." One only has
to guess what the president meant to say, for it is the official Baku
that from time to time speaks about "the reached agreement", which,
according to its version, assumes the return of seven Azeri regions,
after which the issue of returning the refugees will be immediately
considered. Meanwhile Aliyev confirms that these suggestions were
made both by Armenia and the mediators. Aliyev also announced that
the status of Nagorno-Karabakh "may be discussed only within the
frames of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. At the same time
Azerbaijan isn’t against to shelter peacekeeping forces, which has
been Armenia’s initiative." It’s strange that Aliyev again speaks
about the step-by-step resolution of the Karabakh issue, which was
rejected by the Armenian side already in 1997, and which became the
reason of the resignation of Armenia’s first president. Nobody,
and even Aliyev believes that Yerevan gave its agreement for the
step-by-step resolution of the Karabakh issue.

Yet, how great is the possibility of the renewal of the military
actions in the conflict zone? Hardly does Ilham Aliyev want to win
the laurels of the ex-president Ayaz Mutallibov, who lost Khodjalu,
or Heydar Aliyev, during whose days Azerbaijan lost four regions and
could have lost some more if the immediate armistice wasn’t declared
by Azerbaijan’s initiative.

Aliyev knows well what Azerbaijan may expect in case of war. Rattling
one’s saber is easy, especially with a one-billion military budget and
oil, as Ilham Aliyev likes to repeat very often. Moreover, president
of Azerbaijan announced, that "Azerbaijan possesses more armament
than Armenia," which by itself is a violation of the international
responsibilities of the CFE Treaty. Does he really believe that the
Azeri Army can indeed win the war without any assistance from Turkish
advisors and militants, or from different Islamic groups? The other
time they had both, however they lost.

Most likely Aliyev decided to take advantage of the election campaign
in Armenia and "support" the Armenian opposition. But the question
is whether or not the Armenian opposition needs "this support". If
the Armenian opposition really decides to accept any support from any
other country, it will be worse for it, if doesn’t, then once again
Baku hurried to make its plans.

According to the RA Prime-Minister Serge Sargsyan, many a time
Armenia has announced its position. "Let them say whatever they want,
we already stated our positions," said the Prime-Minister. The RA
Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed a similar viewpoint.

"This is not the first time the president of Azerbaijan has tried
to promulgate the content of negotiations, however nothing new
was mentioned in his speech. As before, I may confirm our approach
towards the negotiations, which is based on the self-determination
of Nagorno-Karabakh. The other issues of negotiations will proceed
from the main point. As for the Azeri president’s threats regarding
the conflict resolution with the help of military actions, repeating
it all the time, Azerbaijan only shows its disrespect towards the
international liabilities and weakness," said acting press-secretary
of RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Karapetyan.

LEONARD BARDEN ON CHESS

The Guardian
Saturday May 5, 2007

Grandmasters really like rapid chess at around one hour for the
complete game. It is slow enough for spectators to follow and for
testing new ideas, but it does not risk a player’s precious Fide
international ranking.

The world champion, Vladimir Kramnik, is embracing the new culture
enthusiatically this spring. He has just beaten Hungary’s Peter Leko
4.5-3.5 in Miskolc and this weekend takes on Armenia’s Levon Aronian
in Erevan.

Ordinary players, reading how a GM has sprung an innovation at move
20, will often wonder how the expert’s memory was so reliable. Well,
GMs can lapse like the rest of us. At move 29 Leko simply forgot
his prepared a7-a5 and his inferior Rf8-e8? enabled Kramnik to
consolidate his extra pawn. There were later inaccuracies (32 Rc2! and
33 … Qe1+!) before Kramnik wrapped up the point with a temporary
rook sac to ensure the c7 pawn would promote.

Vlad Kramnik v Peter Leko 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 g3 Ba6 5 b3 Bb4+
6 Bd2 Be7 7 Bg2 c6 8 Bc3 d5 9 Ne5 Nfd7 10 Nxd7 Nxd7 11 Nd2 O-O 12 O-O
Rc8 13 e4 c5 14 exd5 exd5 15 dxc5 dxc4 16 c6 cxb3 17 Re1 b2 18 Bxb2
Nc5 19 Nc4 Bxc4 20 Qg4 Bg5 21 Qxc4 Nd3 22 Be5 Nxe1 23 Rxe1 Bf6 24 Bxf6
Qxf6 25 c7 Qd6 26 Rc1 b5 27 Qc2 b4 28 Bb7 g6 29 h4 Rfe8 30 Qa4 Qd2 31
Qc6 a5 32 Bxc8 Rxc8 33 Kg2 Kg7 34 Rc2 Qd3 35 Rc5 a4 36 Qxa4 Qe4+ 37 Kh2
Qd4 38 Qc2 h5 39 Kg2 Qd6 40 Qb2+ f6 41 Qc2 Kf7 42 Qc4+ Kg7 43 Rc6 Qd7
44 Qc5 Kf7 45 Kh2 Kg7 46 Qb6 Qf5 47 Qd4 Kf7 48 Rxf6+! Qxf6 49 Qd7+ 1-0

"AGOS" ONLINE
By H. Tsulikian

AZG Armenian Daily
05/05/2007

After two years’ preparations the website of the "Agos" newspaper
was finally opened and now is available at and

A message received from the "Agos" editors office, Turkey, says that
the functioning of the website is aimed at keeping aware Armenians
in the farthermost parts of the world of the most important events
of the Armenian community and Turkey in general.

The website will preserve the humanistic peaceful principles of the
newspaper. The archive of "Agos’s" publications is also available
online. 6 month subscription for full access to the Turkish part of
the website is 40 Euro and one-year subscription – 50 Euro. English
subscription is 60 Euro for 6 months and 100 Euro for a year.

WATER PIPELINE BUILT IN VILLAGE OF SATKHA

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 04 2007

NINOTSMINDA, MAY 4, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Water pipeline was
built in the village of Satkha, Ninotsminda region. Water pipeline’s
building was initiated and financed by Aram Sanosian born in Satkha,
currently residing in Russia, founder of Barekamutiun organization,
member of Martik fund. By the way, the Surb Metsn Nerses Church of
the village was also repaired with the latter’s assistance.

As Noyan Tapan was informed from Javakhk-Info, Armenian churches,
schools and kindergartens were built on Aram Sanosian’s initiative
in the RF town of Tyumen.

Residents of Satkha in token of gratitude are going to build a spring
named after Aram Sanosian in the Glory and Immortality memorial park.

WE CANNOT SPEAK ABOUT GENOCIDES WITHOUT MENTIONING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.05.2007 17:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone
castigated the United Nations for first postponing and then rewording
a Rwandan genocide exhibit under the pressure from Turkey, Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA) reported.

"We thank Congressman Pallone for speaking to his Congressional
colleagues – and the American public – about Turkey’s pressure
on the United Nations to water down the reference to the Armenian
Genocide in the recently opened Rwanda Genocide exhibit. We value
Frank Pallone’s leadership and share his principled view that the
international community’s efforts to prevent and punish genocide should
be not reduced to the level acceptable to a Turkish government that
is actively pursuing a campaign of the Armenian Genocide denial –
both here in the United States and around the world," ANCA Executive
Director Aram Hamparian said.

"How, exactly, are you educating the public about genocide when
you refuse to call the first genocide of the 20th century by its
name? The word "genocide" was actually created as a way to describe
the barbaric crimes inflicted against the Armenians between 1915 and
1923, but now the word cannot be used in an exhibit at the UN. This
is utterly ridiculous . . .

Would you ever have an exhibit on Christianity without mentioning
the birth of Christ?" Frank Pallone stated in his speech.