Author: Zargarian Hambik

THE COURT ACQUITS THE AGOS JOURNALISTS

Bianet
04 July 2009, Saturday

The new prosecutor in the Agos case says that the court verdicts can
be critiqued as well and both Agos journalists, Aris Nalcý and Sarkis
Seropyan, are acquitted.

Haziran 2008, Perþembe Today the Þiþli 2nd Court of First Instance
acquitted Sarkis Seropyan, the license holder for the Agos newspaper,
an Armenian/Turkish weekly, and Aris Nalcý, the editor of the same
newspaper, of the charge of "attempting to influence the judiciary."

Kemal Aytac, one of the defense lawyers, told the journalists in
front of Þiþli Justice Hall that "Actually, there should have not
been a case like this. How do we know this? The verdict says so. I
hope people will not have to go to the courts because of their ideas
and be acquitted. In past people died because of this."

The lawyers did not go in since they were protesting the court The
lawyers did not take part in today’s hearing since they were protesting
Metin Aydýn and Hakký Yalcýnkaya for being biased.

Only some observers, Haluk Aðabeyoðlu, the human rights and labor
activists, among them, and the journalists were present at the final
hearing, as the accused journalists did not show up, either. The Human
Rights Watch Organization (HRW) representative Emma Sinclair-Webb
observed the hearing, too.

The court was in a more relaxed mood, the new prosecutor asked for
acquittal In the verdict hearing, the court was not as tense as it was
previously. Prosecutor Mucahit Ercan changed prosecutor Ýsa Dalgýc’s
previous opinion demanding that the accused journalists be sentenced
under article 288 of the Penal Code.

Prosecutor Ercan pointed out that the accused journalist critiqued
in their editorial "Akýllý Tahta", written on November 9, 2007, the
law article under which they were sentenced, namely, article 301, by
the way of implication, that they were not trying to influence the
judiciary process, that considering the factors of the accusation,
the verdict of the court itself could be critiqued within the legal
framework as well, that the article, in its entirety, stayed within
the limits of the freedom of expression and critique. At the end,
he asked for the acquittal of the accused.

"The article was written for our Armenian citizens" Judge Yalcýnkaya,
whose withdrawal from the trial process the defense lawyers had
demanded, decided, "The article should be defined as an editorial
piece written for our Armenian citizens rather than to influence the
judiciary process, since it could not have been written to influence
the judiciary, when viewed in its entirety, the accused should be
acquitted separately."

"They were tried, when the punishment was connected with the
"psychology of the people" They were sued for their article titled
"Akýllý Tahta" (The Smart Board), published on the November 9, 2007
issue of Agos, in which they critiqued the decision that was reached
regarding Hrant Dink’s Article 301 case.

The indictment had stated that the article itself was not criminal, but
it had become criminal because of the psychology of the Turkish people.

The lawyers had claimed that the judges Metin Aydýn and Hakký
Yalcýnkaya could not be objective and brought a request of recusation
against them.

IGNATIUS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, SPEAKS TO THE ST. JAMES’ ARMENIAN CHURCH MEN’S CLUB

Watertown TAB & Press
GateHouse News Service
Jul 01, 2009 @ 09:59 AM

WATERTOWN – .Adi Ignatius, the new editor-in-chief of the Harvard
Business Review, spoke to the St. James’ Armenian Church Men’s Club
dinner meeting on June 1, to a crowd of more than 200.

Formerly the deputy managing editor of Time Magazine, Ignatius became
editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Review in January. During his
12 years at Time, Ignatius covered business and international issues,
served as editor of Time Asia and managed Time’s special editions,
including the Person of the Year and Time 100 franchises.

Paul Ignatius, Adi Ignatius’ father, was secretary of the U.S. Navy
during the Johnson administration and as such was the highest-ranking
Armenian ever in a White House appointed position. As was the case
with his father, the nontraditional Armenian name of Ignatius led
most people, including Time’s readers, to be unaware of Ignatius’
Armenian roots.

"I am half-Armenian and have always been conscious of my Armenian
roots, although I have never been professionally involved with Armenian
activities or organizations. It was a personal thrill for me, and
certainly a highlight of my life, to accompany my 89-year-old dad to
eastern Anatolia," he said. "My visit in ’06 to Yerevan was certainly
a life-changing event in a wonderful way."

As a student at Haverford College, Ignatius received his bachelor
of arts degree in history in 1981, and then received the Zuckerman
Fellowship to attend Columbia University’s School of International
Public Affairs in 1990.

Commenting on his early career, Ignatius said he studied Chinese while
in college, and during the Carter years, he had the opportunity to
travel and spend time in China. During those days, China had not been
discovered by the tourists and it was difficult getting around.

Turning to the focus of his talk on the future of media, Ignatius
said all of print media is experiencing rapid and consistent decline,
with audiences simply dying away. He said some national publications
will survive, like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.

"It is local papers like the Boston Globe that are in desperate
straits, and they haven’t been able to figure out how to monetize
their online information," he said.

During the question-and-answer session, Ignatius was asked about
Obama’s failure to use the word "genocide" in the annual presidential
statement on the events of 1915 that the president issues every year.

"I was surprised and disappointed, as I think most of us were,
particularly when you consider that Samantha Powers is his close
foreign policy adviser, and there is no one who knows more about
genocide than she does and is thoroughly familiar with Armenian issues
and the details of the Armenian Genocide. I don’t think he will ever
acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. The best chance for him to do so
was this year."

IRAN STANDS FOR NORMALIZATION OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
01.07.2009 14:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iran welcomes any initiative aimed at maintaining
peace and stability in the region, Ambassador of Iran to Armenia
Seyed Ali Saghaeyan told a press conference in Yerevan, said Iranian
Ambassador to Armenia. According to him, Iran has always favored good
relations between all countries in the region, and normalization of
Armenian-Turkish relation is welcome," Iranian diplomat emphasized.

HAYKAZUN ALVRTSIAN: AWARDING SAAKASHVILI ORDER OF HONOR PURSUES ABSOLUTELY ANOTHER PURPOSE

NOYAN TAPAN
JUNE 30, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 30, NOYAN TAPAN. No official statements were made in
Russia on Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s visit to Armenia
and the response of Russian political circles was not harsh. Haykazun
Alvrtsian, the Director of the Center for Study of Western Armenian
Affairs research fund, reporting this at the June 30 press conference,
supposed that RF will not make an official statement on that issue
in the future, either.

According to him, awarding Saakashvili the highest state award, Order
of Honor pursues absolutely another purpose: "Certainly, it was not
done for Saakashvili’s merit. It pursued a political purpose. It was
rather done for expectations. It was a clear hint that they move to
a new partner quality," H. Alvrtsian said.

According to him, observing Armenian-Georgian relations in the years
of M. Saakashvili’s tenure, we only see an anti-Armenian position by
him in almost all issues regarding Armenia.

NEW YEREVAN-ROME FLIGHT TO BE IMPLEMENTED FROM JULY 15

ARMENPRESS
JUNE 30, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS: Armenian national air-transporter
"Armavia" Airlines will from July 15 implement Yerevan-Rome direct
flight. Press secretary of the company Nana Avetisian told Armenpress
that Rome is the third European city after Zurich and Berlin with which
"Armavia" implements a new flight during this year. The flight will
yet be implemented once a week on Wednesdays.

N. Avetisian informed that during the summer season "Armavia"
restarts the Yerevan-Marseilles flight. From July 7 Yerevan-Batumi
direct flight will also be conducted.

UNESCO INSCRIBES MTSKHETA HISTORICAL MONUMENTS ON LIST OF WORLD HERITAGE IN DANGER

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
30.06.2009 13:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The World Heritage Committee, chaired by Maria Jesus
San Segundo, the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Spain to UNESCO,
inscribed the Historical Monuments of Mtskheta (Georgia) on the List of
World Heritage in Danger because of concerns over their preservation.

The Committee asked Georgia to adopt an integrated management plan for
the site and address problems related to the serious deterioration of
the stonework and frescoes at the site. Other issues of concern include
the management of land near the churches, and loss of authenticity
due to work carried out in the buildings, inscribed on UNESCO’s World
Heritage List in 1994.

The site comprises the historic churches of Mtskheta, former
capital of Georgia which represent outstanding examples of the high
accomplishments of medieval religious architecture in the Caucasus.

The property is the third to be placed on the List of World Heritage
in Danger during this session, which aims to raise international
support for the conservation of World Heritage properties. The state
of conservation of sites on the World Heritage List will resume
on Tuesday.

Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System (Belize) and Los Katios National
Park (Colombia) were also placed on the List of World Heritage in
Danger while progress in the preservation of Walled City of Baku with
the Shirvanshah’s Palace and Maiden Tower (Azerbaijan) allowed for
its removal from that List, UNESCO news center said.

GEOLOGICAL PROSPECTING WORK OF ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN ORE MINING COMPANY IN ARMENIA IN 2009 TO COST ABOUT $3 MLN

ArmInfo
2009-06-29 10:34:00

ArmInfo. Geological prospecting work of the "Armenian-Russian Ore
Mining Company" in Armenia in 2009 will cost about $3 mln, Minister of
Energy and Natural Resources of Armenia Armen Movsisyan told ArmInfo.

He said the work has been already started, and the Company schedules
to complete the field geophysical and geochemical work till late,
2009. "The Company also schedules to start the drilling operations
in 2009", the minister said. To recall, "Armenian-Russian Ore Mining
Company" Armenian-Russian JV got a 5-year permission in April, 2009,
for geologic exploration of the uranium ore in Armenia. The uranium,
extracted in Armenia, will be processed in the International Uranium
Enrichment Center in Angarsk, Russia. According to the forecasts of
specialists, the uranium reserves in Armenia vary from 30, 000 to 60,
000 tons.

"Armenian-Russian Ore Mining Company" Armenian-Russian JV has been
registered in Armenia on July 16, 2008. The Russian party allocated
$3 mln for geologic exploration of uranium. The authorized capital
of JV consists of 300 ordinary registered shares, each party having
150 shares with a nominal authorized capital of 92,241 mln drams (abo

TURKEY SAID TALKS ARE UNDERWAY ON SEVERAL KEY ISSUES OF NABUCCO PROJECT

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
27.06.2009 01:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A European Union official said on Friday that an
imminent breakthrough looms on the draft of the text that will lay the
legal framework for the Nabucco pipeline project, however Turkey said
talks are underway on several key issues, Hurriyet DailyNews reports.

Consensus was reached Monday on the draft of the inter-government
agreement for the Nabucco pipeline planned to carry Caspian natural
gas to Europe via Turkey. "If no government party to the agreement
raises an objection by Friday night, then this will mean that there
is a complete consensus on the document which will be signed in July,"
the EU official told a group of journalists.

However, later on Friday a Turkish official denied the report of an
agreement, saying the EU had sent the document but Ankara rejected any
time pressures imposed to accept the draft. "We responded saying such
attempts will be non-efficient and will not bear any results. This
response was sent to everybody related to the issue in the European
Union," the official Reuters news agency.

There have been thorny negotiations over the document regarding
taxing issues, as well as Turkey’s request to have 15 percent of
the gas passing through the pipeline allocated to meet local energy
needs. Reuters quoted the officials as saying that an agreement was
reached on the taxation issues but talks continue on Turkey’s request.

"Reaching an agreement on the tax regime was very difficult, since
there is one entity, which is the consortium of the pipeline, but
operating in different countries," the official said.

The pipeline, which will pass through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania,
Hungary and Austria, is made up of a consortium of Austria’s OMV,
Germany’s RWE, and the gas companies of Turkey, Hungary, Romania
and Bulgaria.

"It was very difficult to reach a consensus on the tax regime, but
they did find a formula," said the EU official who did not want to
elaborate on the details of the formula.

A formula seems to have been found on Turkey’s request for a 15 percent
lift off, but the official did not share the details. During last
month’s Prague summit, bringing the EU together with gas producing
countries, it was announced that Turkey had dropped its 15 percent
lift off request and the intergovernmental agreement would be signed
in June. "But Turkey was not happy," said the official, without going
into detail how the disagreement on the issue was solved.

It appears that Turkey and the other consumer countries in the European
Union will hold joint negotiations with the producer countries,
instead of pushing for separate deals.

"Turkey and the EU have the same problem of energy supply and energy
diversification. We are together on this. The bargaining with Caspian
suppliers will be done as a group," the official said.

Reaching a deal on the intergovernmental agreement represents an
important turning point in the realization of the project according to
the official. It not only shows the political will of the countries
party to the project, but it also enables the consortium to go ahead
with negotiations with producer countries, taking the project to
another phase.

ARARATBANK REALIZED COUPON PAYMENT ON ITS CORPORATE BONDS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
27.06.2009 11:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On June 24, ARARATBANK realized coupon payment on
the second issue of corporate bonds, the bank’s press office reported.

The payment was done on the settlement accounts in accordance with
the bondholders list in "Central Depositary of Armenia" as of 18:00
June 23th.

USA REGARDS THE DECLARED AMNESTY AS A POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Noyan Tapan
June 24, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 24, ARMENPRESS: The United States views the June 19
amnesty declaration as a positive development. With the request
of Armenpress assessing the fact of the amnesty declaration by
the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan through the application of
his constitutional right and with the approval of the Armenian
Parliament the Head of the Public relations department of the USA
Embassy to Armenia Tom Mittnacht noted: "We welcome the amnesty and
the subsequent release of ex-Foreign Minister Arzumanian, two members
of the National Assembly, and 12 other opposition supporters. We look
forward to additional releases as implementation of the amnesty goes
forward, and encourage further steps to ease political tension and
open the way for constructive dialogue."