KARABAKH AHEAD OF MANY NEIGHBORING STATES ON DEMOCRATIC VALUES

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.12.2006 17:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The referendum on NKR draft Constitution will be held
positively and successfully, stated Armenian President’s Advisor on
National Security Garnik Isagulyan. In his words, after independence
Nagorno Karabakh has a policy of a fully established state. "It was
obviously confirmed at the parliamentary and presidential election
in Karabakh," he underscored. By that Nagorno Karabakh again proved
to the civilized world that it possesses all attributes of statehood,
Isagulyan noted. "Besides, Karabakh is ahead of many neighboring states
from the point of view of democratic and other values," he stressed.

December 10, 2006 the referendum on NKR draft Constitution will
be held. The draft specifically notes that the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic is a sovereign, democratic, jural, social state, reports
Novosti-Armenia.

ARMENIA AND TURKEY MISS CHANCE TO ESTABLISH RELATIONS EACH DAY

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.12.2006 17:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Each day Armenia and Turkey miss a chance to
establish bilateral relations, Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian stated in an
interview with the New Anatolian. In his words, Turkey unfortunately
does not want to establish diplomatic relations equally with all
three Caucasus nations and play a more constructive role. "So that
opportunity was missed.

The second opportunity has come out as closer cooperation with the
European Union. At the same time that Turkey is negotiating its
EU accession, today Turkey has the opportunity to play a role as a
bridge between the Caucasus and Europe. That opportunity is also is
being missed, but the biggest opportunity that we’re missing is the
interaction between our two peoples. Fifteen years have passed (since
Armenia declared its independence in 1991), and no interaction is seen
on the border. Our peoples do not know each other well and old memories
are being reinforced, our focus today is the wrong focus. We have
got to focus on new relations, open borders, establishing diplomatic
relations and that is what I mean by saying missed opportunities,"
Oskanian remarked.

Commenting on the Turkish Government’s intention to bring an action
and the International Court on the issue of the Armenian Genocide,
the Armenian FM said, "For us, there is no court case, we will never
talk about this, because we grew up with the real evidence, our
parents and our grandparents. That living evidence of this tragedy,
survival of Genocide, I am the son of one them. So for Armenians there
has never been an issue where we ourselves have to prove this by going
to court, that this Genocide happened. The question for us is to get a
political solution. Because the issue is neither historical nor legal,
it is political. And Turkey has politicized this by pursuing a policy
of denial at the state level."

RUSSIAN MIL EQUIPMENT TRANSPORTED FROM GEORGIA ACROSS AZERBAIJAN
Tengiz Pachkoria

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
December 1, 2006 Friday

A train carrying equipment from the Tbilisi-based Russian garrison
left Vaziani, Tbilisi’ suburbs, at 08:00 Moscow time on Friday for
Russia. It took the way across Azerbaijan, a source at the headquarters
of Russian troops in the Trans-Caucasian region said.

It is the second and last train to carry equipment of the garrison
to Russia. The first left on November 23.

Under the agreement, Georgia, together with Russia, ensures equipment
withdrawal safety.

On November 16, a train of the garrison left for Armenia, for the
Russian base in Gyumri.

The garrison property withdrawal from Georgia will be completed on
December 14 when one more train will leave for Gyumri.

The withdrawal is carried out ahead of schedule in accordance with
the Russian Defence Ministry’s decision. A total of 100 units of
machinery, 350 tonnes of equipment and ammunition and 387 servicemen
will be withdrawn. The garrison personnel will be carried by vehicles
from Georgia in the second half of December.

A small group of officers will remain in Georgia to continue their
service at the Russian base in Batumi to complete the withdrawal
of the bases from Akhalkalaki and Batumi. Under the agreements, the
first of them will be closed by October 1, 2007, and the second by
October 1, 2008.

OSKANIAN AND MAMMADYAROV NOT TO MEET IN BRUSSELS

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.12.2006 18:42 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ During the session of the Council of OSCE FMs that
opened in Brussels today no private meeting between Armenian and Azeri
FMs Vartan Oskanian and Elmar Mammadyarov will be held. As reported by
RFE/RL referring to a diplomatic source, Oskanian is scheduled to meet
with co-chairs of the OSCE MG for settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict today, while no separate meeting is planned with Mammadyarov.

NOVELIST ORHAN PAMUK RETURNS TO TURKEY FOR 1ST TIME SINCE WINNING NOBEL PRIZE

Associated Press Worldstream
December 1, 2006 Friday 1:21 PM GMT

Novelist Orhan Pamuk returned on Friday to Turkey for the first time
since winning the Nobel prize for literature, and he said the award
would not change his life.

"I am attached to my desk, to writing, to working and to my old
habits," Pamuk told journalists at the airport. "I will continue to
be the novelist Orhan that you all know."

Pamuk, a fellow at Columbia University in New York City, was in the
United States when he won the prize in October.

He said he would stay in Istanbul for three or four days before
traveling to Stockholm, Sweden with his daughter, to receive his prize.

Pamuk, author of novels such as "Snow" and "My Name is Red," was
tried earlier this year on charges of insulting his country.

He was tried after a group of ultra-nationalist lawyers accused Pamuk
of the crime of "insulting Turkishness" after the novelist told a
Swiss newspaper that "30,000 Kurds and one million Armenians were
killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares to talk about it."

The charges were dropped over a technicality.

The European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, is pressing the
country to change the law, which has been used to charge Pamuk and
dozens of other writers, academics and journalists.

OSKANIAN: GENOCIDE RECOGNITION NOT PRECONDITION TO ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.12.2006 18:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "I have always said and will continue to say
that Genocide recognition is not a precondition to Armenian-Turkish
relations," Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian stated in an interview with
the New Anatolian. In his words, "it is our moral obligation to
pursue recognition. But that should not impede the normalization
of our relations. As long as the Armenians do not say that unless
Turkey recognizes the genocide we will not normalize our relations,
Turkey should not say the reverse, that Armenia should drop the
complaint of the Armenian Genocide. Neither side should put any
preconditions. We pursue recognition; Turkey is pursuing policies
of denialism. I really cannot see the reason why the borders cannot
be opened, so that our people would interact. That certainly would
create more favorable conditions, so that we can address those issues
in a more constructive manner," the Armenian FM underscored.

ARMENIA WANTS TO SET UP CRISIS MANAGEMENT CENTER

Public TV, Armenia
Dec 4 2006

[Presenter] A NATO-Armenia working meeting on crisis management was
held today at the information centre of the Armenian Rescue Service.

Discussions were organized on three directions in Armenia’s Individual
Partnership Action Plan with NATO. NATO experts and Armenian rescue
specialists will discuss future steps towards the development of the
national system of crisis management during the two-day meeting.

[Director of Armenian Rescue Service Edik Barsegyan] I consider
it important to set up a crisis management centre in Armenia which
would meet international standards. This will be the main core in
managing crisis.

[NATO expert Evert Somer, in English with Armenian voice-over] The
main thing is cooperation during critical situations. Armenia is an
active participant in NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme. We are
confident that this partnership will be a great success.

LES ESCARPINS NOIRS DE COLETTE
Monique Cabourg

La Nouvelle Republique du Centre Ouest, France
Edition LOIR ET CHER
04 decembre 2006 lundi

Vos objets ont une histoire

Sur la commode de la chambre de Colette Lemaire, trône une ravissante
paire d’escarpins noirs. Dans son pavillon de la rue Arrachart,
elle nous conte avec beaucoup d’emotion leur histoire, liee a celle
de Nenesse, l’Armenien.

TEXTE-ARTICLE:

" Il s’appelait Joanesse Moudjoukian, il etait armenien. En 1917, il
a alors 11 ans, tous les habitants de son village sont massacres par
l’armee turque. Il a la vie sauve en se cachant dans une armoire. Il
est interne, comme tous les orphelins par les Americains, dans
un camp. En 1920, il debarque a Marseille, avec nombre de ses
compatriotes, pour servir de main-d’oeuvre, la France manquant de
bras. Il est mene a Blois pour une sorte de marche aux esclaves qui
se deroule place de la Republique. Mon grand-père maternel, Armand
Fesneau, agriculteur a Saint-Sulpice, le choisit, touche par sa
jeunesse, sa fragilite. " De ce jour, Joanesse devient Nenesse pour la
famille Fesneau et l’entourage. Très adroit, il travaille aux champs,
mais realise aussi toutes sortes d’objets pour ses patrons auxquels
il voue un amour devotion.

" Quand ma mère se marie, c’est mon père, Jacques Lemaire, qui dirige
l’exploitation. Il est plus dur a la tâche, alors les rapports avec
Nenesse sont parfois tendus. Nenesse s’en va, puis revient, toujours
fidèle a ma famille. Mobilise en 1939 par l’armee francaise, il rentre
chez nous a la fin de la guerre. " Colette a alors 13 ans. Elle
se souvient avec emotion de ce petit homme brun, rieur, hâbleur,
reveur et surtout, sans rancune. " Il part pour Paris retrouver la
communaute armenienne, et apprend le metier de cordonnier. Il nous
rend ensuite visite de temps en temps.

A chaque rencontre, nous le trouvons de plus en plus fatigue, sans
doute malade. En 1958, il nous offre a ma mère et a moi, chacune une
paire d’escarpins confectionnes de ses mains. Il revient encore une
fois un an après, très affaibli. Il nous confie alors qu’il n’est pas
sûr de revenir. Et voila. On ne l’a jamais revu. Il est sans doute
mort dans la misère, et enterre dans une fosse commune. " Nenesse
aurait eu cent ans cette annee. Il vit toujours dans le coeur de
Colette. Et a travers les ravissants escarpins noirs.

–Boundary_(ID_FzOWsdqIKUPs3TDfUDOJrg)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: HOPES ARE HIGH FOR DEAL ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH

Associated Press Worldstream
December 4, 2006 Monday 11:50 AM GMT

Armenia’s foreign minister said Monday hopes are high for a
lasting solution to the simmering conflict in Azerbaijan’s disputed
Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Vardan Oksanian told a meeting of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe that last week’s meeting of presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan "gives hope that agreement is possible even
on the most problematic issues on which we don’t see eye to eye."

NATO TO ASSIST ARMENIA TO OVERCOME CRISIS AND EMERGENCY SITUATIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.12.2006 14:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia is the most active participant of the NATO
Individual Partnership Action Plan, said Evert Sommer, the head of
the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center. "Armenia’s
activity within the IPAP processes helped to launch assistance in
crisis management," he remarked.

According to the expert, the Alliance is ready to render all possible
assistance to the republic in the implementations of programs targeted
at overcoming of crisis and emergency situations. "I am convinced that
our presence in Armenia will become the catalyst of the efficient
cooperation between the Alliance and the republic," he resumed. A
seminar dedicated to interaction of the Armenian Rescue Service and
NATO is being held in Yerevan December 4-5, reports newsarmenia.ru.