TURKEY’S TERMS INADMISSIBLE

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.12.2006 17:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Any proposals on formation of a bilateral commission
of historians on investigation of events of 1915 are absolutely
inadmissible, said political scientist, director of the Caucasus
Media Institute Alexander Iskandaryan. The Armenian Genocide is a
crime that must be recognized. Armenians do not doubt the fact of
Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.

Telling an Armenian that there was no Genocide is the same as telling
a Jew that there was no Oswiecim and Dachau," he emphasized.

The Armenian political scientist remarked that the Armenian Genocide
issue cannot be a precondition for opening of the Armenian-Turkish
border. "If opening of the border and normalization of the
Armenian-Turkish relations depend on the issue the relations will
never be normalized," he said.

Turkey’s proposals are inadmissible. It especially refers to the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.

Turkey is a third state and has no right to interfere.

Armenia’s interference into the Cypriot issue would look the same way,"
he said.

DATE OF ARMENIAN AND AZERI FMS MEETING NOT DETERMINED YET

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.12.2006 17:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The RA Foreign Ministry holds consultations to
exact the date of the meeting of the Armenian and Azeri Foreign
Ministers late January, RA MFA Acting Spokesman Vladimir Karapetian
told PanARMENIAN.Net. "We cannot confirm the date, since it has not
been determined yet," he said.

Azerbaijani FM Elmar Mammadyarov stated that the recurrent ministerial
meeting will be held late January.

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IS RECOMMENDED TO SUPPORT DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES IN NKR

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.12.2006 18:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ While the NKR Election Code and the Law "On
Referendum" represented an improvement over previous legislation,
further progress is desirable in terms of the full correspondence to
the outstanding OSCE/ODIHR and CoE Venice Commission recommendations
concerning elections, says the report issued by international observers
on the results of the constitutional referendum in Karabakh, reports
the NKR MFA press office.

Efforts should be made to improve access to polling stations,
particularly to ensure that physically disabled voters are not
disenfranchised.

Measures should be taken to enhance the secrecy of vote. The
possibility for higher attendance of voters should be taken into
account and the number of ballot-booths increased.

The international community is recommended to support the democratic
processes in NKR, including the conduct of the referendum, the
document says.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ETYEN MAHCUPYAN: OFFICIAL LINE TO NORMALIZE ARMENIA-TURKEY RELATIONS FACED DEADLOCK

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.12.2006 18:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Cooperation between non-governmental organizations
and opposition forces will have a positive impact on the development
of the Armenia-Turkey bilateral relations, said Etyen Mahcupyan, head
of TESEV Democratization program and columnist at Zaman newspaper. In
his words, development of democracy in Armenia and Turkey may become
a stimulus for the development of bilateral relations.

He also underscored that the official line to normalize the
Armenian-Turkey relations has reached a deadlock and development
of relations between non-governmental organizations appears as
an alternative. Formation of a civic society is essential for the
development of Armenia and Turkey, he considers.

ARMENIAN TEEN WINS GLOBAL TALENT SEARCH

Armenpress
Dec 11 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS; A 17-year-girl from Armenia, Silva
Hakobian, has won a contest to find the hottest new musical talent
in the world.

Silva Hakobian won the BBC World Service’s Next Big Thing competition,
beating six other acts in a final in London.

Second place in the competition was split between a rapper called NiC
from Malawi and London duo Stefan and Mya. The judges said Silva’s
song I Like, which was written by her brother, was "fresh and new"
and described her performance as "second to none".

The seven finalists were selected by a panel of music journalists and
experts from a group of 20 acts, who all entered the competition on
the BBC’s website.

The Next Big Thing competition was part of a big BBC event called
Generation Next.

NGO HEAD ARRESTED ON CHARGES OF PLOTTING COUP

Armenpress
Dec 11 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS: Armenian authorities have arrested
Zhirair Sefilian, a veteran of the Nagorno-Karabakh war and a
coordinator of a public organization called For the Protection of
Liberated Territories on charges of plotting a coup to overthrow
the incumbent adminisration.. He was arrested on early Sunday by
officers of the Armenian National Security Service together with
Vartan Malkhasian, another key member of the organization.

A statement by the National Security Service said Sefilian, who is a
citizen of Lebanon, and some members of the group designed a plan to
intervene into upcoming political developments, use force and resort
to extreme actions to impact the outcome of the 2007 parliamentary
elections.

The statement said the National Security Service has undeniable
evidence to prove these accusations. It said during a December 2
meeting inside a dance school in Yerevan some members of the group
called for an open coup, saying that only an armed battle, a revolt
was the only way to get rid of the incumbent regime.

The statement said these people presented a concrete plan of actions
how to achieve this goal.

The statement said the majority of the organization’s members were
unaware of their leader’s plans who was funded from suspicious
sources abroad.

MINSK GROUP LABELS USELESS NK’S CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM AT THE MOMENT

AZG Armenian Daily
12/12/2006

"The vote organized by Nagorno Karabakh’s de facto authorities can
not have legal force, the world community will not recognize it and
as a result it will have no consequence", the content of CE Secretary
General Terry Davis’s statement is not much different from the other
statements of the international structures made hitherto about the
processes in self-declared states.

To remind, suchlike statements – more precisely statements of not
recognizing the votes – were made in regard to various elections
in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Transnistria. That the Azerbaijani
side would label the constitutional referendum an obstacle to the
negotiations came as no surprise. Interestingly, the Minsk Group
co-chairs stated that the December 10 constitutional referendum in
Nagorno Karabakh will not affect the process of peace talks.

KARABAKH APPROVES ITS FIRST EVER CONSTITUTION

Armenpress
Dec 11 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS: The overwhelming majority of voters
in Nagorno-Karabakh who went to the polls on Sunday to cast ballots
in the first-ever constitutional referendum, approved their first
constitution.

According to the preliminary returns of the Sunday plebiscite, released
on Monday, 98.6 percent of voters approved the constitution, which
describes Karabakh as a sovereign state. The turnout was 87.2 percent.

"According to preliminary results, the constitution is adopted and
December 10 from now can be declared as a Constitution Day," election
commission chief Sergey Nasibian told journalists in Nagorno-Karabakh
capital Stepanakert.

The vote was held on the 15th anniversary of a referendum in which
Nagorno-Karabakh split from Azerbaijan in 1990. Nagorno-Karabakh’s
leader Arkady Ghukasian hailed the vote as a landmark move that would
"determine the Nagorno-Karabakh’s people destiny."

At least one third of the region’s eligible voters were needed to
make the vote valid, and a simple majority of those who cast ballots
was necessary for the constitution’s approval.

Azerbaijan and the international community do not recognize
Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence.

Azerbaijan’s foreign minister Elmar Mamedyarov was quoted by Trend
news agency as saying his country will never recognize the validity
of the plebiscite.

The Council of Europe said also it will not recognize the outcome of
the December 10 constitutional referendum. A statement issued by its
secretary general, Terry Davis, said. ‘This Sunday’s vote organized by
the ‘de facto’ authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh cannot have any legal
validity. It will not be recognized by the international community
and is therefore of no consequence."

POSITIONS EU MEMBER STATES STILL TOO FAR APART

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.12.2006 18:25 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels to
decide how to penalise Turkey for barring Cypriot ships and planes
from its ports and airports.

The European Commission has proposed that parts of Turkey’s EU
membership negotiations should be frozen.

Some members want a hard line taken on Turkey, which does not recognise
the Cypriot government. But others are reluctant to open up a rift
over the Cyprus question, which has dogged Turkey’s EU accession
talks. Finland, the current holder of the EU’s rotating presidency,
has been trying to find ways of persuading Turkey to open its ports
to Cypriot traffic in a first step towards recognition. But Turkey
has refused to do so without steps to start direct trade between the
EU and the Turkish-controlled breakaway republic of northern Cyprus.

"I personally don’t expect that we will reach a conclusion today,"
said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier before Monday’s
meeting in Brussels. "The positions of the European member states –
some of them at least – are still too far apart for that."

Britain, Spain and Sweden are believed not to want Turkey penalised
too harshly, while Austria, France and Cyprus want to take a hard
line. Germany has been pushing the idea of a review clause, that
would fix a time for the EU to discuss again whether Turkey has met
its obligations. If the foreign ministers fail to reach agreement,
it will be up to heads of state to try to resolve the problem at
their summit on Thursday and Friday, reports the BBC.

RESULTS ARE BEING SUMMARIZED: 15 MORE STREETS ILLUMINATED
By Karine Danielian

AZG Armenian Daily
12/12/2006

Facing Cold Wintry Weather

Friday evening the street lamps will glitter along the Hrazdan
ravine from the Kievian Bridge till the Arabkir gardens notifying
that a part of the town will also get free from the darkness of night
and will get a good town appearance. Frunzik Basentsian, the head of
Construction Department at Yerevan Municipality, opened the traditional
feedback of the past year at yesterday’s briefing. According to the
last year’s preliminary and additional projects, it was planed to
accomplish construction works of 9 billion 700 million drams. The end
of the second stage of Hrazdan ravine’s improvement was an important
component. According to the common city program, 76 streets will be
thoroughly repaired, including illumination of the streets.

In 2006 powerful and modern lights were installed in 15 more
streets. According to the head of the Department, they are planning
to finish illumination of the rest of Yerevan streets next year. Last
year 250 million drams were spent for repairing irrigation network.

6 of the 8 breakdown buildings that were on the reconstruction list
last year, were already put into use and the strengthening of one of
them will be finished soon.

In 2007 there will be also 8 repair works costing 705 million drams
and 5 of them are again in Ajapniak borough.

Frunzik Basentsian informed that they have finished paving roads
on municipal and communal money. Taking into consideration last
year’s experience, the paving stopped before the weather has become
colder. Last year, new potholes appeared in many streets as soon
as the paving works finished. The issue looms large as the wintry
weather promises snow.