HACOBYAN’S NEXT VICTORY
A1+
[12:15 pm] 28 September, 2006
Armenian Grand Master Vladimir Hakobyan beat Evgeny Postny in the fifth
round of the International Chess Tournament which is held in Great
Britain. At present Hakobayn is in the third place with four points.
Michael Krasenko and Mateos Bartel, representatives from Poland,
head the fixture table with 4.5 points.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI MINISTER, OSCE MEDIATORS DISCUSS KARABAKH IN NEW YORK
Azartac news agency, Baku,
27 Sep 06
27 September: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met the
co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group and the personal representative of
the OSCE chairman-in-office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, on the fringes of the
61st session of the UN General Assembly in New York on 26 September.
During the closed-door meeting that lasted two hours the sides
discussed further steps in the peace talks on the settlement of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh.
Mammadyarov told Azartac that the co-chairmen had expressed their
intention to visit the region shortly. They are currently working to
break the deadlock in the negotiations. The co-chairmen are expected
to visit Helsinki this weekend to inform the European Union leaders
of the current stage of the talks.
The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group and Ambassador Andrzej
Kasprzyk met Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan in New York
on the same day.

EURO MPS SLAM TURKEY ON HUMAN RIGHTS, DROP GENOCIDE CLAUSE
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
September 27, 2006 Wednesday 1:45 PM EST
DPA POLITICS EU Diplomacy Turkey ROUNDUP: Euro MPs slam Turkey on
human rights, drop genocide clause Adds quotes, details on Cyprus
issue Brussels/Strasbourg
European lawmakers on Wednesday approved a critical report on
Turkey’s progress towards European Union membership but dropped a
clause calling for Ankara to
recognize the Armenian genocide before Turkey can join the bloc.
However, Euro MPs said that although recognition of the genocide
was not a precondition for EU accession, “it is indispensable for a
country on the road to membership to come to terms with and recognize
its past.”
Freedom of expression, minority religion rights and the Cyprus issue
are the key areas where improvement is necessary, Euro lawmakers said
in the report. It was adopted by 429 votes in favour to 71 against
with 125 abstentions.
Leading EU lawmakers said that the Parliament missed its chance to
press Ankara for a solution to the thorny Cyprus issue.
The EU has often warned of a “train crash” in Turkey’s EU negotiations
if it continued to fully implement the Ankara Protocol under which
Turkey agreed to extend its customs union with the EU to Cyprus and
to open its ports to Greek Cypriot ships and planes.
“The European Parliament has taken two steps forward and one step
back in its approach towards the controversial issue of Turkish EU
membership,” British Liberal Euro MP Andrew Duff, vice president of
the EP delegation for relations with Turkey, said after the vote.
“The EU still needs to fulfil its commitment to ending the isolation
of the Turkish Cypriot community,” he added.
Euro MPs warned Turkey once again that current membership talks with
the bloc are “open-ended” and that Ankara’s entry into the 25-nation
club is by no means guaranteed.
The report, drawn up by Dutch conservative MEP Camiel Eurlings,
also slams Ankara on a deteriorating human rights record and a slow-
down in reforms.
“It is important that the reforms be given impetus from within the
country by the authorities themselves and are not merely the result
of pressure from outside Turkey,” EU lawmakers stressed.
Referring to growing public unease at the EU’s eastward expansion,
the report highlights that the bloc’s “capacity to absorb Turkey while
maintaining the momentum of integration is an important consideration.”
Euro MPs also urged Turkey to bring its penal code in line with
European standards for freedom of expression.
They said that Ankara must abolish clauses such as article 301 under
which insulting the state and its institutions is considered an
offence which could lead to a sentence of three years in prison.
In addition, Euro MPs criticised Turkey for not respecting women’s
rights and for the strong influence of the military in public life.
EU lawmakers in the past have never vetoed any accession bid.
However, the parliament’s biggest and most influential conservative
group favours a so-called “privileged partnership” with Turkey.
The bloc’s Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn on Tuesday pressed
Ankara for “a more resolute reform process”, adding that he was
getting tired of having to repeat himself on human rights issues.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso earlier this week
put a damper on the hopes of Croatia, Turkey and others of joining the
bloc, saying that the EU had to resolve the status of its embattled
constitution before it could accept any more new members.
The commission last week said it would release on November 8 a regular
assessment on whether Turkey had made progress in reforms to qualify
for EU membership.
The EU’s executive is also expected to suggest in its report what
the bloc should do if Ankara misses the EU’s December 2006 deadline
on Cyprus.
Turkey began negotiations aimed at EU membership last year. Talks
are expected to take up to 15 years.

TURKEY TO REJECT TOUGHER CONDITIONS FOR EU MEMBERSHIP – PM
AFX International Focus
September 27, 2006 Wednesday 12:17 PM GMT
ISTANBUL (AFX) – Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said any extra
conditions for Turkey’s European Union entry would be ‘unacceptable’
as he pledged that Ankara would stick to the path of democratic reform.
Erdogan was speaking after EU officials signalled that enlargement
may slow down after they opened the door for Bulgaria and Romania
in January.
‘We do not ask for privileges from the EU, but putting forward
new criteria is unacceptable for us,’ Erdogan told a conference
in Istanbul.
‘You cannot change the rules halfway through the match,’ he said.
‘The game has started and the rules are there.’
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said further
enlargement should be frozen until EU members decide on reforms to
streamline decision-making, referring to a gridlock over the bungled
EU constitution.
Turkey is also irked by attempts by some European Parliament members
to require Ankara to recognize as genocide the massacres of Armenians
under the Ottoman Empire as a condition for EU membership.
‘Our (accession) talks will be tough and will take long time. We are
determined to work closely with the EU… to ensure that they are
successfully completed,’ Erdogan said.
‘Turkey’s reform process is continuing and there will be no going
back on that,’ he added.
The European Commission will issue on November 8 a key report on
Turkey’s progress towards membership, which is widely expected to
be critical.
Turkey is under fire for failing to ensure freedom of speech and its
rejection to open its sea and air ports to EU member Cyprus, whose
internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government Ankara refuses
to endorse.
Its accession talks, which started last October, have already met with
serious European opposition amid concerns over its sizeable population,
relatively weak economy and predominantly Muslim faith.
Erdogan argued that Turkey’s accession would be of ‘vital importance’
to prove that different cultures and religions can co-habitat and
called on EU members to keep that in mind when making their decisions
about the country.
Turkey is not expected to be ready for membership until at least 2015.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MOSCOW CRIES FOUL AS GEORGIA ARRESTS FOUR RUSSIAN ‘SPIES’
Agence France Presse — English
September 27, 2006 Wednesday 7:46 PM GMT
Four Russian officers suspected of spying were arrested Wednesday
in Georgia, sparking furious demands in Moscow for their immediate
release.
“Four Russian officers from the military intelligence service (GRU)
and 12 citizens of Georgia who were spying in Tbilisi, Batumi and
all over Georgian territory were arrested in a special operation,”
Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili told a press briefing.
Merabishvili added that the Georgian authorities wanted to question a
fifth Russian officer, who the Georgian authorities fear may attempt
to flee the country via “diplomatic channels.”
Moscow reacted furiously to the news with the Russian foreign ministry
calling for the “immediate release” of the four and accusing Tblisi
of an “anti-Russian policy.”
The ministry said in a statement that it had called in Georgia’s
ambassador to Russia and “passed him a note demanding that the Georgian
authorities release the Russian officers immediately.”
The head of Russia’s armed forces, General Yuri Baluyevski, reacted
with equal anger, accusing Georgian Defence Minister, Iraki Okruachvili
of acting “arbitrarily,” interfax reported.
The foreign ministry statement added that the Georgian accusations
against the Russian soldiers were “baseless” and constituted a
“brutal act showing that Georgia’s leaders are carrying out an
anti-Russian policy.”
On Wednesday evening, several hundred police vehicles were seen
surrounding the Tbilisi headquarters for Russian military bases that
cover Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The Georgian authorities are understood to believe the fifth officer
they want to question may be hiding in the building.
Tblisi suspects the five officers of gathering information on Georgia’s
military capacity, its energy resources and on NATO-run programmes
in the country, Merabishvili told journalists.
Two of the arrested officers were lieutenant colonels, who were
apprehended in Tblisi.
The other two, the captain of a frigate and another lietenant colonel,
were arrested in Batumi, western Georgia, where Russia has a military
base.
The espionage activites had been going on for “a number of years,”
Merabishvili said.
The interior minister added that the 12 Georgians arrested with the
Russian “spies” were accused of “high treason”.
The officers are also accused of having been “implicated” in a bomb
attack in the town of Gori, 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Tblisi,
which killed three police officers and injured 23 other people.
Relations between Moscow and Tblisi have detriorated steadily since
the January 2004 election of pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Saakashvili wants his country to join NATO and also wants to bring
two pro-Russian breakaway regions of Georgia – Abkazia and Southern
Ossetia – under Tblisi’s control once more.
Georgia has also been demanding for several years that Russia dismantle
its two military bases in the country — aside from the complex in
Batumi it has another base in Akhalkalaki, southern Georgia.
The bases were set up in the 1990s to help put an end to fighting
between Tblisi and the two rebel provinces. Under the terms of a 2005
deal between Moscow and Tblisi they are supposed to be dismantled
in 2008.
Saakashvili was in the Kodori gorges region on Wednesday, an area
near to Abkazia. During his visit he promised “to begin the process
of returning Abkazia” to Georgia.
Georgia was formerly part of the Soviet Union.

TURKEY RISKS SCUPPERING EU MEMBERSHIP TALKS OVER CYPRUS STANCE
by Amelie Bottollier-Depois
Agence France Presse — English
September 27, 2006 Wednesday 4:53 PM GMT
Turkey’s talks on European Union membership could be frozen unless
Ankara fully opens its ports to Cypriot ships, the European Parliament
warned Wednesday.
In a 429 to 71 vote, with 125 abstentions, the euro-MPs voted that a
“lack of progress” in the matter would have “serious implications
concerning the negotiation process and could even stop it”.
The vote was merely consultative and has no legal strength.
The deputies were discussing a tough report on Turkey, prepared by
Dutch rapporteur Camiel Eurlings.
“It is important that this process should not be a game of accusing
each other. It should be a process where we advance until we reach a
solution,” Eurlings said, while praising the parliament’s stance as
“very strong but also fair”.
The euro deputies did however water down the declaration by deleting a
paragraph calling on Turkey to recognise the 1915-17 Armenian genocide
as a precondition for joining the European Union.
Ankara refuses to apply the term genocide to the events. Earlier
this month it rejected an EU report saying that it should do so as
a condition for membership.
In July 2005, Turkey signed a protocol extending its customs agreement
with the EU to the 10 new states that joined in 2004, including the
island of Cyprus which Ankara refuses to recognise.
But its parliament has yet to ratify the document and Ankara continues
to block Cypriot ships’ access to Turkish ports.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Ankara on Wednesday that
any extra conditions for Turkey’s European Union entry would be
“unacceptable”, while pledging that his government would stick to
the path of democratic reform.
“We do not ask for privileges from the EU but putting forward new
criteria is unacceptable for us,” he told a conference in Istanbul.
Erdogan was speaking after EU officials signalled that enlargement
may slow down after they opened the door for Bulgaria and Romania to
join in January.
Armenians estimate that up to 1.5 million of their forebears perished
in systematic killings orchestrated by the Ottoman Empire between
1915 to 1917.
Turkey rejects all accusations of genocide, estimating the number of
Armenian deaths at 300,000 and arguing they were not a consequence
of deliberate extermination but a combination of war, disease, famine
and ethnic conflict.
The European deputies also deplored the slow pace of Turkey’s
reform process over the past year and called on Ankara to “relaunch”
it immediately.
Their resolution put particular emphasis on freedom of expression
and religion and treatment of Turkish minorities.
The European Commission — the EU’s executive arm — is set to issue a
crucial report on Turkey’s progress towards EU membership on November
8 amid mounting criticism of Ankara within the bloc.
Several European officials have warned that the Cyprus question could
lead to a crisis between Ankara and the EU before the end of the year.
Last week, the EU criticised Ankara for failing to promote free speech
after best-selling novelist Elif Shafak went on trial for insulting
the Turkish nation in a book about the massacres of Armenians.
Even though the writer was swiftly acquitted, the Commission said “a
significant threat to freedom of expression” remains in Turkish law
and urged amendments to the penal code, including the infamous Article
301, which landed Shafak and a string of other intellectuals in court.
Philippe de Schoutheete, of the Belgian Royal Institute for
International Relations, said there was “reluctance over Turkey
entering (the EU) certainly in western Europe and in some parts of
central Europe”.
This was apart from the growing feeling of “enlargement fatigue”,
he told AFP, and more due to its relatively large size and political
issues including the Armenian question and human rights.

“HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH” INTERNATIONAL REMEDIAL ORGANIZATION IS DEEPLY ANXIOUS ABOUT STATEMENTS OF TORTURES AND INHUMAN TREATMENT ON CASE OF THREE ARMENIAN SERVICEMEN
ARMINFO News Agency
September 27, 2006 Wednesday
The “Human Rights Watch” International Remedial Organization expresses
its deep anxiety about the statements of tortures and inhuman
treatment on the case of three Armenian servicemen, Razmik Sargsyan,
Musa Serobyan, Araik Zalyan, condemned for the murder of their two
fellow-servicemen, it is said in the letter of the Executive Director
of Europe and Central Asia, Holly Cartner, addressed to Chairman of
RA Court of Appeal, Hovhannes Manukyan. To be reminded, R. Sargssyan,
M. Serobyan and A. Zalyan are condemned by the Court of Appeal to
life imprisonment, accused of the murder of their fellow-servicemen,
Hovsep Mkrtumyan and Roman Yeghiazaryan.
Earlier, the Trail Court of RA Syunik region had condemned them to 15
years of imprisonment. According to the case materials, H. Mkrtumyan
and R. Yeghiazaryan had disappeared from the Matagis military unit
of NKR Martakert region December 24, 2003. Only a fortnight later,
January 8, 2004, the Prosecutor’s Office has instituted criminal
proceedings on the fact of the servicemen disappearance. The next
day, January 9, the bodies of H. Mkrtumyan and R. Yeghiazaryan with
the traces of violence were found in the Matagis water channel. As
the advocates state, the testimonies of confession were obtained by
examination under pressure.
As it is noted in the letter, during his recent trip to Armenia, the
Human Rights Watch had gathered an information on this case. “Not
talking of the guilt and innocence of the clients, we are anxious
about the fact that the sentence of both courts was mainly based
upon the testimonies of confession of one of the accused, Razmik
Sargssyan. There are all reasons to suppose that these testimonies
of confession were given by him after tortures”.

ARMENIAN NPP TO BE STOPPED FROM OCTOBER 1, 2006, FOR PLANNED PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE AND REFUELING
ARMINFO News Agency
September 27, 2006 Wednesday
The Armenian NPP will be stopped for 45 days from October 1, 2006,
for planned preventive maintenance and refueling, the NPP Director
General, Gagik Markossyan, told ArmInfo correspondent.
According to him, it is scheduled to implement five NPP
safety-enhancement measures during this period. The most important
measure is upgrading of the reactor protection system, which is
financed by EU within the frames of the TACIS program with cost of 1,3
mln Euro. The means for NPP safety level increase are traditionally
allocated by the USA, IAEA, EU. The owns means of NPP are aimed
at assemblage and designing. G. Markossyan added the nuclear fuel
in a necessary quantity has been already delivered to NPP 10 days
ago. G. Markossyan hopes all the repair and refueling works will be
carried out at a stated time.
To be noted, the NPP was handed over under financial control of “INTER
RAO UES” CJSC, which is an affiliated structure of RAO “UES of Russia”
and which pays for the delivery of the new batch of nuclear fuel to
NPP. Two power units of Russian model VVR-440 with total capacity of
815 MW are installed at the Armenian NPP. The first unit had been
commissioned in 1976, the second one – in 1980. In the beginning,
1989, the NPP was abandoned for political reasons, and the second power
unit with capacity of 404 MW was restarted in the beginning, 1995.

ARMENIAN BEAUTY TO REPRESENT ARMENIA AT BEAUTY CONTEST “MISS EUROPE JUNIOR- 2006” FOR THE FIRST TIME
ARMINFO News Agency
September 27, 2006 Wednesday
A 19-years-old Mariam Melyan will represent Armenia for the first
time at the Beauty Contest “Miss Europe Junior-2006”, to be held
October 14, 2006, in a Czech town of Liberec, the President of the
International Organizational Committee of “Miss & Mister World”
Contest, Ashot Khachatryan, said at yesterday’s press-conference.
A. Khachatryan noted that M. Melyan has underwent a difficult
selection round in July, 2006, with participation of 40 girls. The
main requirements, besides good physical data , included knowledge of
English, computer and Internet. Today M. Melyan leaves for Prague to
actively prepare for the coming Contest. Moreover, she will take part
in the Contest “Miss Talent” to be held in Tunis on September 30 –
October 6, 2006. Besides M. Melyan, the girls at the age of 20 from
30 countries of the world, including Russia, will participate in the
Contest “Miss Europe Junior- 2006”. To be noted, M Melyan is the only
representative of the Caucasian region in this Contest.

ARMENIAN MPs AND INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS START DISCUSSING AMENDMENTS TO ARMENIA’S ELECTORAL CODE
ARMINFO News Agency
September 27, 2006 Wednesday
Today Armenian MPs and Venice Commission experts have started
discussing draft amendments to Armenia’s Electoral Code.
All parliamentary forces except Justice opposition bloc are taking
part in the discussions.
Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Tigran Torossyan says that the
discussions were constructive and specific. The sides discussed
6 points Armenia’s political forces have failed to agree on,
particularly, the procedure of appeal against election results and
voting. Tomorrow the sides will sum up the proposals made today and
will submit the document for the Armenian Parliament’s approval within
a month.
The member of the Venice Commission Gael Martin-Micallef (France)
says that the document has been substantially improved but there
are still many unacceptable and moot points. The Venice Commission
has made 13 recommendations, particularly, on the order of electoral
commission formation.
Concerning Justice bloc’s recalling its signature under the document
Martin-Micallef says that he was unaware of it, he has just learned
the news and deeply regrets at it.