ARAM KARAPETIAN: POLICEMEN WHO BEAT PEOPLE HAVE BEEN AWARDED MEDALS FOR FEAT

Noyan Tapan
Dec 02 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The days of the ruling regime in
Armenia are numbered, and the main goal of the Anticriminal Movement is
to prevent a criminal coup from taking place in the country. Chairman
of the Homeland and Honor Party Garnik Margarian made this statemenmt
at the regular meeting of the Anticriminal Movement on December 1. In
his words, today the Movement also aims to hold representatives of the
power pyramid accountable for their criminal actions. For this reason,
according to G. Margarian, the subject discussed at the meeting was
related to illegal interference of the power structures in political
processes. Chairman of the New Times Party Aram Karapetian said that
he recently received some documnets about illegal activity of the
law-enforcement bodies from an anonymous source. According to these
documents, particularly many policemen who, in A. Karapetian’s words,
"beat people and threw eggs at them" during the mass rallies in April
2004, received letters of thanks, monetary prizes, weapons, some –
medals for feat a few days later by the order of the RA Police Chief
Hayk Harutyunian. In the decree, which A. Karapetian showed reporters,
the actions of these policemen were qualified as "keeping of the
public order". "And such actions are qualified as feats deserving
medals!" A. Karapetian said with resentment. He expressed confidence
that there is a group of people in the police too who realize the
inadmissibility of what happened than and maybe these people gave
him the above mentioned documents.

ARAM G. SARGSIAN: ARMENIA IS NOT OBLIGED TO GIVE ANYTHING TO AZERBAIJAN AGAINST KARABAKH’S INDEPENDENCE

Noyan Tapan
Dec 02 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. Instead of presenting its
actions during the Minsk negotiations on the Nagorno Karabakh
problem, the Armenian side comments on the statements of Azerbaijani
officials. Chairman of the Democratic Party of Armenia Aram G. Sargsian
stated this at the December 2 press conference. Addressing the
Armenian authorities, he said: "If you did not agree to return these
7 territories, say this directly. If you did not agree to deploy
peacekeeping forces in this region, say directly. If you raised
the issue of Armenian refugees’ return together with Azerbaijani
refugees, state this." In the opinion of A. Sargsian, all the above
mentioned principles are unacceptable for Armenia. He said that he
had asked the Armenian foreign minister: "If there had not been war
and Armenia had not liberated these territories, what would we had
conceded to Azerbaijan for Karabakh’s independence?" The speaker
stated that Armenia is not obliged to give anything to Azerbaijan
against Karabakh’s independence. According to him, if Armenia does
not take the issue of these territoriies’ return out of the framework
of negotiations, it is viewed as an aggressor. A. Sargsian noted that
today the West can impose its will on the Armenian authorities with
respect to the solution of the Karabakh problem, because it has facts
about the authorities’ being illegimate and can publish these facts
any time if the Armenian authorities refuse to obey it.

A TRIBUTE TO ANDREW GOLDBERG WITH ROBERT MORGENTHAU AND PETER BALAKIAN

tewithdamorgenthaubalakianhooshere_11162006.html
T uesday December 12th 2006

A Tribute to Andrew Goldberg with Robert Morgenthau and Peter Balakian
and his Eminence Archibishop Khajag Barsamian, hosted by the Diocese
of the Armenian Church of America

A thanks and tribute to Emmy Award winning Filmmaker Andrew Goldberg,
producer of the PBS Documentary, THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE. Featuring
NY District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, Peter Balakian, and other
prominent speakers.

Music by Hooshere. Special film clips not seen in the Documentary.

All are invited.

Where: Kavookjian Auditorium, Armenian Diocese, 630 Second Avenue,
NYC (between 34 and 35th Streets)

Misc: Free admission. Sponsored by the Krikor and Clara Zohrab
Information Center of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America.

Tel: 212 686 0710 Online Contact: [email protected]

DAVID BABAYAN: THE OPTIMISM OF THE AZERI PRESIDENT IS PREMATURE

ArmRadio.am
02.12.2006 13:49

The optimism of the Azeri President regarding the process of settlement
of the Karabakh issue can be considered premature, says political
scientist from Nagorno Karabakh David Babayan.

David Babayan told ArmInfo correspondent in Stepanakert that the
subjects involved in the Karabakh process can be divided into several
categories. These are policy implementers, policy makers and those
who form the public opinion.

The main emphasis is put on the people of the first and second
categories, while those forming the public opinion do not enjoy
proper attention.

Particularly the question refers to diverse public and non-governmental
organizations. "We anticipate that policy makers will manage to
form public opinion without immediate work with the society. If
such logic is more or less acceptable for Azerbaijan, considering
its authoritarian system and the fact that only 10 percent of the
country’s population is somehow involved in the Karabakh conflict,
then unlike Azerbaijan the whole population of Nagorno Karabakh has
to do with the conflict. And this fact speaks for itself. Besides, the
settlement of this conflict is simply impossible, unless Stepanakert is
presented at the process," the political scientist noted, underlining
that without immediate work with the public an effective mechanism
of settlement cannot be elaborated.

FRADKOV HOPES GAS DELIVERY THROUGH GEORGIA TO ARMENIA WON’T BE STOPPED

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.12.2006 16:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ I think that the delivery of the Russian gas to
Armenia will not be hampered or suspended, Russian Prime Minister
Mikhail Fradkov told a news conference upon completion of the
meeting with Armenian Premier Andranik Margaryan. In his words,
Russia is concerned about the Russian-Georgian relations but hopes
for the better. He also remarked that the Russian-Georgian problems
have a negative impact on relations with Armenia, which is being
isolated in a way. To improve the situation, in Fradkov’s opinion,
the efficiency of the existing transport flows and routes should be
raised. When asked whether Georgia may illegally take Russian gas,
Fradkov said the problem was not discussed at the meeting but the
Russian side hopes the situation will not deteriorate. "We hope for
the better," he resumed, reports Prime-TASS.

TURKEY HAS NO PLACE IN EUROPEAN UNION

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.12.2006 17:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey has no place in the European Union, said
French presidential contender, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. He
offers to fully stop Turkey’s EU membership talks. "This is not a
topic for discussion. Turkey has no place in the EU. It’s impossible,"
Sarkozy said.

The Minister also proposed privileged partnership instead of full
membership and called on Segolene Royal to express opinion on the
issue. " I would like Ms Royal to express opinion. I am convinced
that she has her own standpoint on the issue," he said, reports RFE/RL.

EAFJD: EU SHOULD FULLY SUSPEND TALKS WITH TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.12.2006 17:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The European Commission has fallen far short of its
obligations to enforce Turkey’s compliance or to punish its flagrant
violation of its own commitments across a broad range of issues.

Europeans expect the Commission to act in a more principled and
responsible manners on this core matter concerning the future of
the EU," said the Chairperson of the European Armenian Federation,
Mrs Hilda Tchoboian. In her words, the European Armenian Federation
considers these half-measures a clear retreat from the Council’s own
decision in December of 2004, which firmly established the terms of
the negotiation framework. This understanding stipulated that, in case
of serious and persistent violation of the principles on which the
Union is based, the Commission must fully suspend its negotiations
with Turkey, the EAFJD told PanARMENIAN.Net.

"European civil society does not understand why the Commission keeps
on acting as the hostage of Ankara’s demands for double standards
and special treatment.

Far from demanding Turkey’s compliance, the Commission is actively
ignoring the recent European Parliament resolution regarding
the conditions for the suspension of talks with Turkey," said
Tchoboian. "As such, we call on Member States to recognize the
Commissions moral failure and to enact measures of their own accord to
ensure that the values and the standards of the Union are respected,"
she said.

ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN TALKS UNDERWAY IN MOSCOW

Armenpress
Dec 01 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS: Armenian and Russian prime ministers
Andranik Margarian and Mikhail Fradkov respectively are chairing
Russian-Armenian talks that kicked off today in Moscow.

Before the start of the talks the Russian prime minister said, "I
am happy to have this chance to meet with our Armenian partners and
discuss cooperation issues. I hope this visit will promote further
strengthening of Russo-Armenian ties."

Armenian prime minister is heading an extensive delegation that flew
to Russia yesterday to attend the closing ceremony of the Year of
Armenia in Russia.

Armenian prime minister said, "We emphasize the successful
accomplishment of the Year of Armenia in Russia. We can say now that
all events proved success.

The Year of Armenia has promoted the intensification of the political
and economic dialogue and made it possible to expand bilateral
interaction."

ALL URGENT ISSUES BETWEEN ARMENIA AND RUSSIA DISCUSSED AT INTER-GOVERNMENTAL NEGOTIATIONS

Armenpress
Dec 01 2006

MOSCOW, DECEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS: During the Armenian-Russian
intergovernmental negotiations held today in Moscow all the urgent
issues existing between the two countries have been discussed, Armenian
and Russian prime ministers Andranik Margarian and Mikhail Fradkov said
at a press conference which followed after the extended negotiations.

"We discussed the majority of the issues and gave the members of the
Armenian and Russian delegations opportunity to speak up," Mikhail
Fradkov said.

According to him, Armenian-Russian trade-economic relations are
developing quite dynamically and the frequency and deepness of
bilateral contacts on political level witness it.

"We have discussed a set of projects as well as steps that must be
undertaken for developing our cooperation even more," the Russian
prime minister said. Referring to the conduction of Year of Armenia
in Russia Fradkov positively assessed the pace of conduction of the
events which, according to him, will give new impetus to bilateral
relations. As to being on the third place in respect of the volume
of investments in Armenia, Fradkov said that there exists a great
potential for increasing the number of investments in Armenia which
was discussed during the meeting of the prime ministers.

"We will use the existing potential and if today we are on the third
place after Germany and Greece we must try to go forward," Russian
prime minister said.

Referring to transport cooperation between Armenia and Russia Andranik
Margarian said that cooperation is going on with difficulty as all
the roads connecting Armenia and Russia pass through Georgia and the
Upper Lars road is closed until now.

"We were informed that the issues for which the border check-point
has been closed will be solved by spring," Andranik Margarian said,
adding that the issue is the reconstruction of the road.

Referring to the Russian-Georgian relations Mikhail Fradkov described
them as rather problematic and said that the created situation has
negative impact on Armenia in respect of blockade.

Today the delegation headed by the prime minister will visit
"Armenia" pavilion where "Legends of Ararat" concert program will
be presented. Tomorrow the Armenian delegation will leave for Saint
Ptersburg.

WAYNE MARY: ARMENIA HAS ARMY, AZERBAIJAN ONLY HAS ARMED FORCES
By Petros Keshishian

AZG Armenian Daily
02/12/2006

Nagorno Karabakh conflict can have no military settlement, US foreign
policy and military expert Wayne Mary stated in a speech delivered
at John Hopkins University in Washington. "The military option of
Nagorno Karabakh regulation has been openly discussed in Azerbaijan
recently. But in that case Azerbaijan cannot succeed. Nagorno Karabakh
is an impregnable fortress in itself that is even more reinforced
by the Armenian military detachments. Even the US army will face
difficulties in attacking it," Mary said. In expert’s words, this is
a dominating opinion in the Pentagon.

"The Armenian detachments leave the enemy behind in respect to their
battle-worthiness. It’s no secret that the Armenians have an army
whereas Azerbaijan has only armed forces. In case of a new war,
Azerbaijan will be forced to lean on its human resources whereas
Armenia can count on the superiority of its weaponry," Mary said adding
that in case of a new stage of hostilities it will suffice for Armenia
to only defend Karabakh but Azerbaijan will have to occupy its whole
territory, which is impossible in fact. She pointed out that by using
war rhetoric Baku poses danger to OSCE Minsk Group’s commitment not
allow another bloodshed.

"For the regulation of Karabakh issue the Armenian side has to get
Karabakh and control Lachin corridor.

The other territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh that serve as
buffer zone should be handed over to Azerbaijan," Wayne Mary stated.