PACE SITTING TAKES PLACE IN YEREVAN
AZG Armenian Daily
18/10/2006
The sitting of the PACE Monitoring Commission for Implementation of
Commitments to EU took place at RA National Assembly, yesterday. In
the course of the sitting the parliamentarians discussed issues of
Russian-Georgian relations, the implementation of Monaco’s commitments,
the issues of carrying out monitoring in Ukraine and in the Great
Britain. Tigran Torosian, Speaker of RA National Assembly, Head
of the Armenian delegation to PACE, informed “Noyan Tapan” about
this. The deputies didn’t discuss Armenia’s implementation of its
commitments. Most likely, this issue will be discussed at the December
12 sitting, in Paris.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CELEBRATION OF FOUNDERS’ DAY AT HAIGAZIAN UNIVERSITY
AZG Armenian Daily
18/10/2006
Monday, October 16, 2006
After the Lebanese anthem and an invocation by the Campus Minister
Rev. Nishan Bakalian, those participating in the celebration of
the Founders’ Day at Haigazian University received a call to find a
balanced life amidst the imbalance our country and the world at large
is experiencing these days.
The call came on Monday, October 16, 2006 at noon from the President
of Haigazian University, who addressed students, staff & faculty
who had gathered to remember the founders, who had the vision and
commitment to establish this unique institution of higher learning.
President Paul Haidostian’s message also stated that, other than
the Baccalaureate Service & Commencement exercises, the Founders’
Day was the most significant event during the whole academic year,
because it tells us all why we are here; it reminds us of who made
it possible for our university to exist and it allows us to move
forward. Talking about the need for a balanced leadership and finding
a balance, Dr. Haidostian said, “Education should help us find the
balance between the rebel and the conformist inside us, between the
egocentric part and the exocentric in each of us.”
“One does not need to be a prophet to know that the future of
Lebanon and of the whole world will be threatened by imbalance,
unbalanced perspectives, unbalanced power struggles, unbalanced views
of the other, unbalanced representations of religion, add to that an
increase in problems of emotional, physical, and ecological imbalance,”
he added.
After being introduced by Mr. Antranig Dakessian, the Student Life
Director, Michel Majdalani, Student of the Year 2006, addressed
the audience with a word, in which he acknowledged that Haigazian
University had enriched him with lifelong friends with whom “I spent
the most beautiful days of my university life” as he said. Calling
Student Life at Haigazian the “student door to experience and success”,
Majdalani urged his fellow-students to enjoy the opportunities at
Haigazian University and to transmit its culture to the society around
and the future generations.
An informative audio-visual presentation about the founders & the
founding of the University was presented by Mrs. Maria Bakalian.
The program of the celebration ended with the HU Alma Mater.
Public Relations Office, Haigazian University

COURT REJECTS PARTY’S CLAIM AGAINST POLICE
Panorama.am
15:07 17/10/06
District court of Yerevan rejected today the claim of New Times
Party Chairman Aram Karapetyan against the Armenian police. Karapetyan
claimed that the police have violated the Law on Freedom of Information
by refusing to supply with requested information.
Armenian police posted information in its web site on May 2, 2005
saying 8 out of 21 interviewed people close to New Times Party and its
chairman Aram Karapetyan have criminal records. The police interviewed
the mentioned people in relation to a clash during a demonstration
organized by New Times Party in Sevan.
Hayots Ashkhar (Armenian World) newspaper cited this information
in its September 8, 2006 issue saying the real criminals are around
Aram Karapetyan. The newspaper said that in relation to Karapetyan”s
recent statements as part of anti-criminal initiative.
So, Karapetyan applied to the Armenian police requiring to name the
persons who have criminal records and are in his close team. New Times
Party says that the police information posted in the mentioned site
is inaccurate as only 3 not 8 people involved in the demonstration
have criminal records.
The court rejected Aram Karapetyan’s claim based on point 2, item
1 of article 8 of the Freedom of Information Law which prohibits to
unveil information on somebody’s private life.
New Times Party says they will check the supporting argument and if
it is true each member of New Times Party will require information
about himself/herself.
The party also says they reacted to the police information so late
because their site has not affect on public opinion whereas the
newspaper does. The party also believes that the pro-government
newspaper, Hayots Ashkhar, deliberately discredits Aram Karapetyan
because of his affiliation to anti-criminal movement.

UWP VOICES SUPPORT TO HAKOB HAKOBYAN
Panorama.am
15:47 17/10/06
The leader of United Working Party (UWP), Gurgen Arsenyan, raised
his surprise that some representatives of pro-government and
opposition parties try to take up functions of prosecutor general by
saying half of the deputies sitting in the parliament hall may be
arrested. Arsenyan called his colleagues to support Hakob Hakobyan
and was happy that the latter said he has nothing to be afraid of.
He said life will show who will be arrested and who not. He blessed
god that the opposition is not in power. Otherwise, he said, they
would arrest everybody.

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL: ANTI-CORRUPTION FIGHT IN ARMENIA IS JUST AN IMITATION
Panorama.am
15:37 17/10/06
The fight against corruption in Armenia has just an imitation,
Transparency International Armenia said in relation to anti-corruption
policy of the government of Armenia. The office officials said USAID
and Counterpart International took party in anticorruption policy
report which Transparency International Armenia prepares. “Three
years ago there were only talks about corruption and the power
authorities launched an anticorruption policy. However, studies
of different international organizations show that nothing has been
changed since that time and the level of corruption remains the same,”
Amalia Kostanyan, head of Transparency International Armenia said. She
think there is no political will to punish the transgressors and also
believes the society will not support, either.

POLITICAL SCIENTIST: ARMENIA HAS BETTER CHANCES TO JOIN NATO
Panorama.am
18:24 17/10/06
Igor Muradyan, a political scientist, told a press conference today
that the problem of South Caucasus is monopolized and is dealt by
Havier Solana in Europe and Daniel Freed in USA. He said American and
European experts are also interested in Javakhk affairs but show no
open interest.
Muradyan said someone in Brussels has said Georgia will never comply
with NATO standards and there is no need to spend time on it. The
political scientist called that “cynical” saying that Romania and
Bulgaria which are part of NATO do not comply with the standards of
the alliance, either. Muradyan thinks Armenia has better chances to
join NATO.

ARMENIA MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN INTERESTS IN RUSSIA AND GEORGIA: KONSTANTIN ZATOULIN
Yerevan, October 17. ArmInfo. Armenia cannot constantly maneuver
maintaining friendly relations with all states. There are situations
when it should choose between the interests in Russia and Georgia,
especially as the interests of Armenia and Russia are incomparable
with those of Armenia and Georgia, said Konstantin Zatoulin, member
of the Russian State Duma, in an interview with ArmInfo.
The parliamentarian is dissatisfied with the passive position of
official Yerevan in the tense Russian-Georgian relations. “Has Armenia
tried to support its strategic partner at least once? Has it made
a single statement to Tbilisi calling on it for restraint? I cannot
remember such statement,” he said.
He said that Armenia tries to take into consideration the interests
of Georgia even in the Karabakh problem. “It is quite evident that
the approaches to Karabakh, South Ossetic and Abkhazian conflicts
must be identical. However, Armenia constantly tries to isolate
the Karabakh conflict from the above two conflicts in order not
to infringe the interests of Georgia. However, I think Armenia
should not be guided with the interests of Georgia and must not
isolate the Karabakh conflict from the South Ossetic and Abkhazian
ones. It should protect its own interests, first of all. After all,
I am simply surprised at such a position of Armenia with respect to
Georgia. Has Tbilisi ever taken into account the interests of Armenia
when building its relations with Azerbaijan? Never. While, Armenia
still supports the interests of Georgia. I just cannot understand
this,” the parliamentarian says with bewilderment. As regards the
ways of settling the Karabakh conflict, K. Zatoulin thinks they in
Russia are impressed with the last developments in Abkhazia, Ossetia
and Transdniestria. A new approach to the unrecognized states is being
formed. This approach must undoubtedly apply to Karabakh conflict as
well. “Russia and the world must define their impartial position in
the Karabakh issue taking into account the reality.
During the last 15 years new generations of unrecognized states have
originated. In case of further devotion to the term ‘unrecognized
states,’ we can not only torpedo the settlement of conflicts, but also
occur in rather an ambiguous situation when terms not reflecting the
reality are used,” he says. At the same time, regarding the Karabakh
conflict, Russia is in rather an uneasy situation when it should
maintain good relations with Azerbaijan, in addition.
“However, I’d repeat that Russia must display a similar approach to
the conflicts in Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Karabakh. It is quite
another case if Armenia does not want to draw parallels between these
conflicts,” K. Zatoulin said.

ARMENIAN POLITICAL SCIENTIST: IN ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN RELATIONS THERE IS DIRECT EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION WITH THIRD PARTY
Yerevan, October 17. ArmInfo. Today, at a press-conference at the
National press-club, Igor Mouradyan, a famous Armenian political
scientist, said that in the Armenian-Georgian relations there is
direct evidence of collusion, probably, with a third party
He noted that from 1997 till 2003 he actively took up the problems
of the Georgian region Samtskhe-Javakheti, participating in
three EU expert programs. Besides, he has lately returned from
Samtskhe-Javakheti, therefore he knows the situation in the region
from within. According to him, there was a period when public
organizations were actively established in the region and were
controlled by Armenia. They gave diverse information, but because of
the lack of bright leaders they gradually lost their topicality. At
the moment these are just offices with few people. Another thing is
the recently established which unifies about 20 organizations. Its
main body consists of 2-3 thousand of politically competent young men,
mostly from the Youth Center. They have 15-20 representatives in each
village of the region. Igor Mouradyan is convinced that the received no
more than 70% of votes at the recent municipal elections of Georgia,
however Tbilisi could not afford the defeat of the ruling party,
that’s why only 5 representatives remained in the organization in
the rural administrations.
In this connection, Mouradyan noted that the West considers
Samtskhe-Javakheti a kind of , allowing the Georgian authorities to do
anything they like, as the international community is very interested
in the region and considers that the USA-Turkey relations depend on
this region. It resulted in the acknowledgement, though with minor
reservations, of the recent regional municipal elections corresponding
to the European standards by the OSCE mission of observers. Mouradyan
said that the international community considers Georgia not capable
to maintain the security in the region, therefore some international
contingent will certainly be present in Georgia.
However, he emphasized that the recent Georgian-Russian crisis
postponed Georgia’s joining the NATO for several years at least.
As regards the Armenian-Georgian relations, Armenia is evidently
carrying out some obligation, most likely, to the West, in Mouradyan’s
opinion. This may explain Armenia’s non-intervention into the
Javakhk problem, and the recent arrest of Vahagn Chakhalyan,
a activist. Mouradyan said that there are not and cannot be any
documents about such collusion, but this is the most logic explanation
of official Yerevan’s actions. He thinks that, probably, at the
price of such policy of Armenia, the international community will
acknowledge the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH FM: WE ARE VERY MUCH AWARE OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THE EU
TREND, Azerbaijan
Oct 17 2006
(ZAMAN) – After the EU-Turkey Ministerial Troika meeting, Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and European Commissioner responsible
for enlargement Olli Rehn on Monday held a joint press conference
in Luxembourg. Two mentioned about what Turkey was doing in terms of
adopting the acquits, reports Trend.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul stating that they had talked
about what Turkey was doing in terms of adopting the acquits said, We
have explained into details some of our reforms. There are important
developments taking place in Turkey. We are on the other hand aware
of our shortcomings but what is important is that our government has
the will to overcome these shortcomings. This is what we are working
on. We are very much aware of the principles of the EU to which we
would like to accede. Therefore we are working very hard to carry
on with the reforms. We are aware that these political reforms are
also important for Turkish people. Democratization, transparency or
freedom of expression is things that our people want, irrespective
of EU’s accession.
European Commissioner responsible for enlargement Olli Rehn speaking
after Gul said, I highly appreciated the professionalism of the
Turkish negotiating team. The screening meetings were completed
last Friday. It took one year to complete the screening and I am
very glad that we could achieve this result. However, the accession
negotiations are not only a technical exercise but a political
process. Therefore progress in the negotiations depends first and
foremost on the reforms enhancing the rule of law and fundamental
freedom in Turkey. I welcome the fact that the Turkish Assembly is
currently discussing the so-called reform package which included a
number of important laws. I trust that there will be concrete results
before our regular report is published on 8 Nov.
Abdullah Gul mentioning about French bill related to Armenian
genocide said, I would like to express our regret at seeing the
French Parliament make that decision. This has affected negatively
the prestige of France as a country where all thoughts or opinions
can be freely expressed.
We hope that French State will take ht necessary measures and prevent
this legislation from being made into law, that it will not take this
mistake to the end, Gul added.

ARMENIA MADE A PLOT WITH THE WEST
Lragir.am
18 Oct 06
The Armenian government assumed an obligation before the West to
mitigate every manifestation of the problem of Javakheti. The expert
cannot mention the price of this commitment saying that it can be
different, especially that elections in Armenia are drawing nearer.
Igor Muradyan made this almost sensational statement October 17 at the
National Press Club. He said he is acquainted with the situation in
Javakheti, the developments, the international political approaches
towards this region, and he can draw such a conclusion. He says the
West instructs Armenia on this question even on lower levels, such
as the head of the political department of the embassy.
With regard to the problem, Igor Muradyan first presented the
pre-election situation in Javakheti, saying that it was a stage of
active formation of NGOs. According to Igor Muradyan, these NGOs
had close ties with the Armenian government. This guaranteed their
existence. On the other hand, they are turned into marionettes
and a mere source of information. In this context, Igor Muradyan
highlights the emergence of the United Javakheti Alliance, which
represents the young and educated youth of Javakheti, the expert says,
which has a clear idea of the problems of the region and rejects the
cunning proposals of the government. Therefore, Igor Muradyan says
this organization appeared in the focus of attention of the Georgian
government, and does not get support from Armenia. Igor Muradyan says
the Armenian ruling sets tried to talk to them but they were unable to
mislead the youth from their standpoint and their approach does not
fit into the government policy on mitigating the problems connected
with Javakheti conducted by official Yerevan.
“I think decisions are not based on the relation with Georgia but on
the relation with the West. At first this sounds fantastic because
a local issue for the international community is concerned. But in
reality it is not. The United States and NATO are interested in this
region. The state of things in this region determines the success of
the entire Eurasian policy,” says Igor Muradyan.
According to him, the international community’s official police is
to prevent this problem from becoming an international problem, and
mitigate possible tensions, “and create an impression that there is
no interest in reality.” Igor Muradyan says the Armenian government
fulfills this wish of the West, and when serious forces emerged in
Javakheti, which are capable of raising the issues of the region,
Armenia made efforts to stop them, dissolving these movements. Igor
Muradyan adduces the example that the Armenian government arrested
one of the leaders of United Javakheti Vahagn Chakhalyan on an
absurd charge.
“But I know what international policies are implemented and who are
involved in it. The problem of the South Caucasus has been monopolized,
maximum 6-7 people deal with it. In Europe it is Xavier Solana,
in the United States government it is Daniel Fried. The evaluations
of experts are put under the table. But a year ago it offended the
experts that they do not get public attention, and they published
their conclusions. And it is mentioned that the domestic policy of
Georgia contains elements of fascism. Since 1945 no other country was
described as such, whereas this country is the partner of the West,”
says Igor Muradyan.
According to him, the U.S.-Turkish relation depends on the fate of
Javakheti. According to the expert, Georgia is unable to solve the
problem of security, and he thinks it is possible that in the future
we will witness the U.S. military presence in Javakheti. “It should be
noted for the democratic community of Armenia, if it there is one, that
there is an Armenian-Georgian plot. But it is impossible to explain
the situation by this only. Our people should pursue the recognition
of existence of such a problem now,” says Igor Muradyan. He says the
impression that Russia is active in Javakheti is false. Muradyan even
says that unfortunately Russia is doomed to idleness.
“It seems that Russia is active. And what did it do? It did what is on
the surface. It took the steps that every Russian member of parliament
knew,” says Igor Muradyan. He is against the claims for administrative
independence of Javakheti. “The salary of state-financed workers
in Javakheti is 1.5 million dollars. The budget of Javakheti will
not be enough because it is about 250 thousand dollars, excluding
foreign transfers,” says the expert, mentioning that it is absurd
to put forward territorial claims because there is no possibility to
set down the rights.
“And these young people understand this very well,” says Igor Muradyan,
mentioning that it was explained to them through the materials
of European and American experts, which clarify the picture of the
prosect of Javakheti in the context of the international policy. Igor
Muradyan thinks the way out is to release the arrested young man from
United Javakheti, the return of the members of the organization to
the sakrebulo, in other words, the recognition of the outcome of the
local election in Javakheti, although Igor Muradyan thinks that in
reality this outcome was achieved through administrative levers. The
experts emphasizes the resumption of the political process in the
regional sacrebulo which should raise the local issues in turn,
including the issue of the Armenian issue. As to what Armenia should
do, Igor Muradyan says, “Armenia had better do nothing.”