EDITOR OF IRAVUNK WAS ATTACKED
Lragir.am
06 Sept 06
On September 6 the editor of the Iravunk newspaper Hovik Galajyan
was attacked on leaving his house in the morning. He was attacked
and beaten by two skinheads. Fortunately, our colleague did not get
grave injuries. The readers know Hivik for his sharp and bold reports,
and recently he has been making excellent analyses of the political
life in Armenia, namely the criminal corps and is activities. Most
probably, this was an attempt to scare or warn Hovik.

WE ARE REDUNDANT IN IRAQ, AND NECESSARY IN LEBANON
Lragir.am
06 Sept 06
The question of participation in the UN peacemaking mission in the
south of Lebanon sparked heated debates among the political sets and
experts of almost every country. It is interesting, however, that
the Armenian politicians and the Diasporan lobby are interested in
the participation of Turkey in the peacemaking mission rather than
Armenia. Meanwhile, Armenia’s participation is also an important
problem, which surprisingly did not become a subject of debates, it
rather got an unambiguous answer of the government. The decision of
Armenia is wrong, thinks Vahan Shirkhanyan, who answered the questions
of the Lragir on this topic.
Lragir: Mr. Shirkhanyan, another question added to the foreign
political affairs of Armenia, namely our participation in the UN
peacemaking mission in the south of Lebanon. The question is important
since there is a large Armenian community in Lebanon.
Hence, the question occurs whether Armenia should participate in
the peacemaking mission for the sake of the community or refuse to
participate for the sake of the community. Official Yerevan thinks
it should not participate.
Vahan Shirkhanyan: Kocharyan stated through his speaker that the
mandate is not definite, besides, the participation of Armenia may
be harmful for the Armenians of Lebanon. None of the reasons is
political. First, there were fundamental discussions on the mandate,
and the military units of some countries are already in Lebanon. In
addition, the multi-nation force in Iraq does not have a mandate
and Armenia willingly takes part in the worst disgrace of the modern
history, when a sovereign state is being destroyed, the population
is being slaughtered, the law of nations is being neglected. What is
Armenia doing there? Apparently, the Bush-Blair campaign failed, and
sooner or later they will have to account. Their operation against
Iraq fully “complies” with the definition of aggression in the UN
Resolution 3314.
Lragir: What should Armenia do then?
Vahan Shirkhanyan: Armenia should immediately withdraw from Iraq and
take part in the legal peacemaking effort in Lebanon under the auspices
of the United Nations. Armenia has national interests here – the
large-scale war in the Near East is a direct threat for Armenia. The
Lebanese-Armenian relations were set up and developed in an atmosphere
of friendship, confidence, mutual assistance. Besides, the Armenian
community in Lebanon had a great role in the entire continent bridging
the Armenian communities. Today, like the rest of the country,
the Armenians of Lebanon need protection, and Armenia must take
part in the peacemaking mission with 1000-2000 soldiers. It is true
that unlike Iraq this mission does not enable Kocharyan to “settle”
relations with Bush, but it will be absolutely justified in terms of
political and national questions, regional peace. Hopefully, the UN
will not start fulfilling the will of one of the conflict parties, and
the peacemakers will not be tasked to disarm Hezbollah and close the
Syrian-Lebanese border, otherwise the people of Lebanon, including the
Armenians will be having serious problems with security. Disarmament
and borders are the internal affairs of the Lebanese state, and it
applied to the UN asking to defend it from the Israeli aggression.
Lragir: Mr. Shirkhanyan, most experts connect the Israeli military
action against Hezbollah with the possible U.S. campaign against
Iran. Do you think the U.S. campaign against Iran is possible?
Vahan Shirkhanyan: It is always the strong party that aspired to settle
a political dispute by military means. However, this war will mark
the end of the epoch of the world rule of the United States. At least.
Lragir: And how will the U.S. – Iran clash affect Armenia?
Vahan Shirkhanyan: It will be destructive. Today it is increasingly
becoming apparent that the South Caucasus is repeating the Balcans.
In case sanctions are applied against Iran the fundamental presence
of NATO will be necessary in the South Caucasus. Immediately after
Bryza the secretary general of NATO announces that NATO is ready
to assume the implementation of the resolutions of the UN Security
Council on the settlement of the problem of Karabakh. And it implies
destruction of a defense system, which has been sustaining balance
for over 12 years, great moves of Armenians and Azerbaijanis by a
Yugoslavian scenario. Hence, Armenia remains in the sphere of dangerous
developments, and people who are supposed to attend to the problems
of national security are fighting for the throne, announcing on the
run that the return of the liberated areas would not be harmful for
the security of Karabakh. If this goes on, soon we will be able to
see the crash of the Armenian diplomacy.

ARMENIA IS THE FIRST AMONG CIS COUNTRIES
Lragir.am
06 Sept 06
Armenia is the first among the CIS countries in the final report
of the World Bank and the International Financial Corporation Doing
Business 2007 on simplicity of doing business in 2005 and 2006, reports
ARKA. According to the press release of the International Financial
Corporation, among 175 countries Armenia is 34, Georgia is 37 and
Kazakhstan is 62. Compared with the previous ratings, Armenia went
up by 3 positions, and Georgia “bounced” from the 112 to the 37 place.
The worst indicators are Tajikistan’s and Uzbekistan’s, 133 and 147
respectively.

ARMENIAN LEADER AWARDS OUTGOING US ENVOY FOR EFFORTS TO EXPAND TIES
Mediamax news agency, Yerevan
6 Sep 06
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has awarded the outgoing US
ambassador to Armenia, John Evans, the Mkhitar Gosh Medal, Mediamax
news agency reported on 6 September.
The ambassador was awarded for his “significant contribution to
the deepening and development of friendly Armenian-US relations”,
the agency quoted a presidential decree as saying.
Presenting the medal to the ambassador at a farewell meeting in
Yerevan, Kocharyan said that “serious progress” had been made in
Armenian-US relations during Evans’ two-year tenure.
In turn, Ambassador Evans said that Armenia’s admittance to the
Millennium Challenge programme was the most significant achievement
in relations between the two countries, the agency said.

OFFICIAL RELEASE OF OFFICE OF ATTORNEY GENERAL
Lragir.am
06 Sept 06
The Office of the Attorney General made an official release on with
the assassination of Shahen Hovasapyan, the head of the Department
of Investigations of the Tax Agency in the morning of September 6
in Yerevan.
“On September 3, around 9.15 in Byron Street in Yerevan an unknown
person (persons) killed Shahen Hovasapyan, the head of the Department
of Investigations of the Tax Agency who was in his GAZ 3102 car with
the number 005 LL 03,” runs the statement of the procuracy.
The procuracy states that car was blown up, endangering the life of
many people, through a bomb, which detonated by remote control. When
the car went off, besides Shahen Hovasapyan, his son Grigor Hovasapyan
and the driver Andranik Charchyan were in the car. The son and the
driver are alive.
The press secretary of the Attorney General informed that the
Department of Investigations of the Office of the Attorney General
instituted legal proceedings under Article 104 Part 2 of the Crime
Code of Armenia – intentional murder, no extenuating conditions.
Investigation is underway.

SENIOR ARMENIAN TAX OFFICIAL KILLED IN BOMBING IN YEREVAN
AP Worldstream
Sep 06, 2006
A senior Armenian tax official was killed Wednesday by a bomb that
detonated as he was getting into a car, city police said.
Shagen Ovasepian, head of the operations department of the State Tax
Service, died of blood loss after the blast, which occurred around
9:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) as he sat down in his car, Yerevan city police
said in a statement. His driver suffered light shrapnel wounds.
In a separate incident, the editor of an opposition newspaper said he
was attacked and beaten by unknown assailants near his home Wednesday
morning.
Ovannes Galadzhyan, of the newspaper Iravunk, said he received a
phone call a few days earlier from people warning that they would
break his legs.
“Since I have no personal enemies, I can communicate that this attack
was connected with my professional duties,” he said.
Organized crime is widespread in this poor, former Soviet republic,
and gang-related killings are common. As well, Armenian politics are
tense and occasionally violent.
In 1999, gunmen burst into parliament and killed the prime minister,
parliament speaker and six other officials and lawmakers.

CATALAN DEPUTIES CALL FOR RECOGNITION OF ALLEGED GENOCIDE
Turkish Daily News
Sep 06, 2006
Having received a letter from an Armenian group, two Catalan deputies
have come up with a proposal calling for debates in the Spanish
Parliament on the so-called Armenian genocide at the hands of the
Ottoman Empire in the last century.
Rosa M. Bonas and Joan Puigcercos submitted the proposal in June to
the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Spanish Parliament, urging the
recognition of the so-called genocide on the grounds that it was a
crime against humanity.
“We’ll make changes in the proposal by taking out an article pressing
Ankara to recognize the [alleged] Armenian genocide,” Bonas told the
Anatolia news agency.
She stressed that they do not want to oppose Turkey.
Bonas said she has always been sympathetic to tiny and victimized
communities — she herself is Catalan — but noted she learned about
the so-called genocide only after the Armenian committee’s letter.
The Catalan deputy also expressed hope that she would not be
misunderstood by the Turkish public and said, “I’ve always defended
Turkey’s European Union membership in the European Parliament and
I’ll continue to do so.”
The Turkish ambassador in Madrid, Volkan Vural, said Turkey has taken
action at the level of the Spanish Foreign Ministry and the Spanish
Parliament as soon as they heard about the proposal and sent letters
to the two deputies and the head of the Spanish Parliament’s Foreign
Affairs Commission, saying that the proposal would harm Turkish-Spanish
relations.
“In Ankara, the Foreign Minister reacted [to the proposal],” Vural
told Anatolia.
He said the possibility of the proposal’s approval was very weak and
added: “It is clear that it will have no legal meaning even if it is
adopted. It will become clear how wrong and unfortunate an approach
it is to intermingle past events with politics.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA 0 – BELGIUM 1
Sportinglife.com, UK
Sept 6 2006
A Daniel van Buyten goal ensured Belgium returned to winning ways
with a hard-fought victory over Armenia on Wednesday.
Rene Vandereycken’s team could only draw 0-0 with Kazakhstan on August
16 in the Group A curtain-raiser, but managed three points in Yerevan
despite not having it all their own way.
The early exchanges failed to produce any clear-cut chances of
interest.
Armenia midfielder Hamlet Mkhitaryan hit a left-footed shot over the
bar, while at the other end Luigi Pieroni and Karel Geraerts fired
wide of Gevorg Kasparov’s goal.
The Armenians, playing their opening game after having been given
the day off on Saturday, held their own in the first half-hour.
Samvel Melkonyan’s right-footed effort flew wide of Stijn Stijnen’s
goal, and Koen Daerden became the first player to be cautioned after
fouling Melkonyan.
Pieroni forced the first save of note in the 30th minute, Kasparov
catching his left-footed strike from outside the box.
The Armenia stopper was called into action by the same player five
minutes later, this time denying Pieroni with his feet.
Standard Liege midfielder Geraerts then volleyed wide as the visitors
continued to pepper the hosts’ goal.
The Belgians reaped the reward for their pressure four minutes before
half-time when Van Buyten’s header from Jelle van Damme’s cross found
the top corner.
Stijnen opted to punch crosses from Mkhitaryan and Aghvan Lazarian
to safety as the Armenians pushed for a leveller after the break.
Feyenoord defender Pieter Collen was forced off through injury just
before the hour mark, with Anderlecht’s Anthony Vanden Borre coming on.
Van Damme was the second Belgian to have his name taken midway through
the second period for a foul on Mkhitaryan.
Vanden Borre and Pieroni were also booked as the Belgians’ frustrations
at failing to extend their lead grew.
But Club Brugge goalkeeper Stijnen coped comfortably with any efforts
Armenia could muster as Belgium stood firm to secure three valuable
points.
Teams
Armenia Kasparov, Hovsepyan, Arzumanyan, Dokhoyan,
Melikyan,Khachatryan, Karen Aleksanyan, Lazarian (Arman Karamyan
76),Mkhitaryan (Galust Petrosyan 81), Samvel Melkonyan,Shahgeldyan
(Aram Hakobyan 72).
Subs Not Used: Feliks Hakobyan, Bagdarasyan, Pachajyan, Tadevosyan.
Booked: Khachatryan.
Belgium Stijnen, Hoefkens, Simons, Van Damme, Van Buyten,Daerden
(Goor 65), Englebert, Collen (Vanden Borre 59),Geraerts, Dembele
(Defour 77), Pieroni.
Subs Not Used: Vandenbussche, De Decker, Huysegems, Vandenbergh.
Booked: Daerden, Van Damme, Vanden Borre, Pieroni.
Goals: Van Buyten 41.
Att: 8,000
Ref: Gerald Lehner (Austria).
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH SPOKESMAN: EP REPORT “FAR FROM COMMON SENSE AND OBJECTIVITY”
Anatolia news agency
5 Sep 06
Ankara, 5 September: “It is obvious that the [EP – European Parliament]
report (on Turkey) focused on issues which has nothing to do with
common sense and objectivity. We hope that those points will be
addressed before the vote in the General Assembly at the end of this
month,” Turkish MFA spokesman Namik Tan said regarding the Turkey
report which was adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
European Parliament, yesterday.
Upon a question, Tan said that the report, which was prepared by
Christian Democrat MEP Camiel Eurlings, would be voted at the General
Assembly on 28 September 2006.
Tan noted: “Several matters in the report which are far from being
real and written with political impulses do not reflect EP’s esteem
and seriousness.”
He mentioned as example issues like the so-called Armenian genocide.
Tan said: “We expect the EP would encourage Turkey-EU relations. We
hope MEPs will demonstrate common sense to fix this situation during
general assembly meeting.”

EP’S TURKEY REPORT ANGERS BRUSSELS
By Emre Demir, Suleyman Kurt, Strasbourg, Ankara
Zaman Online, Turkey
Sept 6 2006
The Turkey report approved by the European Parliament (E.P.) Foreign
Affairs Committee on Monday drew strong reaction from Brussels after
Ankara’s response.
President of the E.U. Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso said recognition
of the so-called Armenian Genocide would not be a precondition
for Turkey’s E.U. membership. Some European parliamentarians
say the Armenian issue was being used to hinder Turkey’s
E.U. membership. Ankara reacted to the report saying that it was
“lacking commonsense and objectivity.” The report, compiled by Dutch
legislator Camiel Eurlings, contained an article that requires Turkey
to recognize the so-called Armenian Genocide, a possible stipulation
mentioned for the first time last year, to gain E.U. membership. There
were some last-minute additions to the report, which also claimed
Turkey had committed genocide against its Greek Pontus and Syrian
populations.
Ankara strongly objected to the report and emphasized: “The efforts
to assert non-objective conditions on issues such as the so-called
Armenian Genocide, which requires serious professional studying and
discussions, was met with great sadness by Turkey.” Spokesman for the
Foreign Ministry Namik Tan demanded that this mistake be corrected
at the next E.P. General Assembly meeting.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said there was no need
to exaggerate the report and Turkey had not accepted any preset
conditions relating to the so-called Armenian Genocide, adding that
Turkey’s stance was very strong.
E.U.-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Commission Co-Chairman Joost Lagendijk
and Turkish origin-legislator Cem Ozdemir called the report a new
obstacle for Turkey’s E.U. journey. The two legislators said this
report would weaken the reformists’ hands in Turkey, and added:
“If you aggravate Turkey’s conditions every year, you give the image
that the E.P. is against Turkey’s E.U. membership.”
The report’s author, Camiel Eurlings, said yesterday that the “spirit”
of the report did not change with the last minute additions; however,
the tone of its voice had. Eurlings said he believed Turkey should
recognize the so-called Armenian Genocide; however, this condition
cannot be held as a pre-condition as it is not in the Copenhagen
Criteria.
‘EP Report Berates Turkey’
The European media evaluated the E.P. Foreign Affairs Assembly’s
harsh report and assessed that the deepest immediate division between
Turkey and the E.U. was related to Turkey’s decision not to open its
ports to Greek Cyprus. The International Herald-Tribune wrote that
E.P. legislators had harshly criticized Turkey; while The Times of
London emphasized that the report predicted a suspension of Turkey’s
E.U. membership negotiations.