HEAD OF REPUBLICAN PARTY FRACTION: NK CONFLICT TO BE SETTLED IN 2012
ARMINFO News Agency
September 19, 2006 Tuesday
The Karabakh conflict will be settled in 2012, Galoust Sahakyan,
Head of the Republican Party fraction, said at a press-conference in
“Mirror” club, Tuesday.
He doesn’t share the optimism of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen
that there will be progress the peace talks in 2006. Sahakyan also
said that the Karabakh conflict settlement doesn’t at all depend
on Armenia, Azerbaijan or Nagorno- Karabakh. “The Karabakh conflict
settlement depends on super-states, for whom Armenia is just a toy”,
he noted. Sahakyan expressed confidence that the peace process
will not reach a deadlock. The settlement depends on the formation
and consolidation of the Armenian statehood. He pointed out that
the conflict can’t be resolved by the Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents, this question must find a national solution. The Armenian
people will agree only to a settlement scenario stipulating either
Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence or its joining Armenia. “Perhaps,
it is because of the Armenian side’s position of principle that the
problem settlement is delayed, however, Armenia will never change
Nagorno- Karabakh’s independence for the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline or the
Kars-Tbilisi railroad”, Sahakyan said.

ARMENIAN-EGYPTIAN BUSINESS IT FORUM TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN SEPT 22
ARMINFO News Agency
September 19, 2006 Tuesday
Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF) informs that it is organizing
Armenian-Egyptian Business IT Forum to be held on 22 September, 2006
at the Congress hotel in the framework of the IT Month 2006 events.
Egypt -Armenia meetings held in February 2006 in Cairo has become
the starting point for joint Egypt-Armenia initiatives, first of
those is the Armenian-Egyptian Business IT Forum devoted to further
exploring of business development opportunities between IT companies
of two countries.
The main focus of the Armenian-Egyptian Business Forum is mutually
beneficial cooperation in ICT projects and initiatives targeting
the Egyptian and Armenian markets as well as other regions by
utilizing the expertise of companies. As well, the mutual cooperation
includes development and enhancement the capabilities, resources,
management and business practices applied by companies. Among other
issues, such pressing topics as implementation of expert exchange
program, which will be based on preliminary the identification
of mutual interest/matching, provision of technical assistance
and implementation/deployment services in the mutual projects and
activities will be discussed.
8 leading Egyptian companies are expected to participate in the
Forum, representing such IT specializations as software development,
IT services, IT applications for e-government, e- health, industrial
systems, e-commerce and data centers.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HRANT DINK INTENDS TO APPEAL TO EUROPEAN COURT ON HUMAN RIGHTS
ARMINFO News Agency
September 19, 2006 Tuesday
Hrant Dink, Editor-in-Chief of the Turkey-based Armenian newspaper
“Agos”, is going to appeal to the European Court on Human Rights.
He told journalists today that his trial for insulting the Turks’
national mentality has gone through all Turkish courts. “The other
day the Turkish Cassation Court approved the First Instance Court’s
verdict to sentence me to six months in prison”, he said. As soon as
he gets the official verdict of the Cassation Court he will ask the
European Court to protect his rights. This may take several months.
He said that he intends to struggle for his freedom in Turkey
till the end, but if he is still convicted he will have to leave
his motherland. He said that Turkey not only denies the Armenian
Genocide, but also suggests an absurd version of the historical facts:
it says that it was the Armenians and not Turks who perpetrated the
massacre. Modern Turkey undergoes the process of democratic reforms
and, particularly, the question of the Genocide.
Dink said that his business is not to condemn the Turkish viewpoint
of the Genocide, but to submit the subject for a wider discussion.
“The Turkish authorities defend their viewpoint and their freedom of
speech everywhere, particularly, in France, who wants to adopt a law
stipulating that a person denying the Armenian Genocide in France
should be prosecuted, but, in fact, are not willing to provide this
freedom in their own country. It is inadmissible and needs revision”,
Dink said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RULING COALITION AND OPPOSITION MEMBERS HAVE DIFFERENT VIEWS OF PRESENT ARMENIAN-US RELATIONS
ARMINFO News Agency
September 19, 2006 Tuesday
US-Armenian relations are at such a high level that Washington
has begun to give understanding to the inevitability of Armenia’s
deepening its cooperation with Iran, says the head of the Hay Dat
office and political issues of the ARFD Kiro Manoyan.
He says that Armenian-US relations are developing dynamically and
there are no negative tendencies therein. Manoyan points out the
importance of the Armenian lobby of the US. When after Sept 11 2001
Armenia was put into the though visa regime list, this problem was
solved within 48 hours. One more positive moment is the US annual
assistance to Nagorny Karabakh.
However, the leader of the Democratic Fatherland party Petros Makeyan
does not share Manoyan’s view. He says that the US supports and
develops relations only with the countries respecting democratic
rights and freedoms and Armenia is hardly one. The country’s
international image is plummeting and the de facto suspension of
the Millennium Challenge Program is a proof of worsening Armenian-US
relations. Makeyan says that Armenian-US relations are in crisis.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIA CAN ENSURE MOST EFFECTIVE RESOLUTION OF NK CONFLICT: SOCIAL SURVEY
ARMINFO News Agency
September 19, 2006 Tuesday
A sociological survey was held in Armenia in the spring 2006 on the
order of a US govermental institution (personal interview with 2000
people), reports APA news agency (Azerbaijan).
A source from the US Embassy in Armenia says that there is actually
a document containing the data of a sociological survey by Gallup. It
says that the document will be officially published in 1-2 weeks and
is surprised to know that it has already got in the Azeri press.
APA reports that asked who can ensure the most effective resolution
of the Karabakh conflict, 43.8% of the questioned said Russia, 33.3%
the US, 20.7% the UN, 17.9% France. 41.6% say that the conflict can
be resolved through international mediation, 40.7% through compromise
and 11.5% by force. 50% say that Karabakh must become part of Armenia
and 50% that Karabakh must be independent. 55.2% support the idea
of referendum on NK status, 21.6% object to it. 56.7% say that only
Karabakh residents should vote in the referendum, 15.3% only refugees
from Karabakh, 5.6% people who were Karabakh residents in 1991.
57.7% advocate the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border, each third
objects to it.
79.6% are friendly to Russia, 49% to the US. 80.1% are unfriendly to
Turkey, 54.7% to Georgia and 86.5% to Azerbaijan.
The most trusted Armenian politicians are Artashes Gegamyan 14.9%,
Gagik Tsarukyan 13.5%, Robert Kocharyan 12.3%, Artur Bagdassaryan 8.9%,
Raffi Hovhannissyan 6.7%, Tigran Karapetyan 5.6%, Stepan Demirchyan
4.1%, Serzh Sargyan 2.5%, Vazgen Manukyan 2.1%, Aram Karapetyan 0.8%.

TURKEY IS ONLY REAL ALLY OF AZERBAIJAN IN NK PROBLEM
ARMINFO News Agency
September 19, 2006 Tuesday
The only real ally of Azerbaijan in the Karabakh problem is Turkey,
says Mark Katz in his article “Azerbaijan’s Geo-Politics” in United
Press International.
Katz says that Azerbaijan’s enemies in the matter are Armenia, Russia
and Iran (because of Southern Azerbaijan). Struggling not to vex the
influential Armenian Diaspora and, at the same time, to get access to
the Azeri oil, the US and EU have been trying to solve the conflict
but in vain.
Azerbaijan hopes to use its oil revenues for increasing its military
capacity for taking back its territories from Armenia but it will
hardly succeed considering its geo-political disadvantage as compared
with Armenia.
Katz says that a change could come only if anti-US and Europe
Nationalist or Islamist forces come into power in Turkey. This may
well happen if Turkey’s is denied EU membership. Such Turkey may use
force against Armenia if it refuses to give back the territories. In
such a situation, Russia, the US and even Iran may support Armenia.
This may result in a regional war.
Thus, Azerbaijan’s geo-political situation is quite complex and may
get even more complicated.

WB EXPERT: ARMENIA DOES NOT PROPERLY USE DIASPORA’S POTENTIAL TO ACCELARATE ITS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
ARMINFO News Agency
September 19, 2006 Tuesday
At the Armenia-Diaspora conference in Yerevan Yevgeni Kuznetsov,
World Bank Senior Economist told an ArmInfo correspondent that
Armenia doesn’t properly use the Diaspora’s potential to accelerate
its economic development.
In Armenia money is invested mostly in infrastructure and
humanitarian programs. It is a “very shortsighted policy” and has
no relation to the country’s economic development. Armenia should
get science-intensive direct investments from the industrialized
countries with large Armenian communities, for example, France and
USA. First and foremost, it is necessary to attract investments from
transnational corporations. India is a good example of effective use
of Diaspora potential. The Indian Diaspora opened IBM and Motorola
scientific centers in the country and saw that they successfully
operate. Kuznetsov noted that the Diaspora itself should invest
no money, because Armenia is not China. For the inflow of such
investments Armenia should implement a number of interim projects to
develop cooperation between the Diaspora and the local authorities
and businessmen. It should start with raising the quality of higher
education to the international standards and establishing links with
the economy. The WB expert advises Armenia to create a center of
postal tuition and fund of venture capital.

SENIOR RUSSIAN MP SAYS NATO’S FURTHER EXPANSION INEXPEDIENT
RIA Novosti, Moscow, in Russian
19 Sep 06
Moscow, 19 September: The head of the State Duma international affairs
committee, Konstantin Kosachev, does not consider it necessary for NATO
to expand in order to oppose new challenges and urges the alliance to
“rid” the process of addressing this issue of mercenary considerations.
“Russia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
[CSTO] and at the same time it cooperates with NATO closely, and I do
not see any contradiction here. NATO is not perceived as an enemy,
as an adversary,” he said replying to the question on how Russia
perceives cooperation between Armenia, which is a CSTO member state,
and the North Atlantic Treaty organization.
“When we say that we cannot agree to NATO’s further expansion we view
this issue exclusively in a practical dimension. We do not see any
sense in this from the point of view of the global problems faced by
the humanity,” the Russian deputy said.
According to Kosachev, it is difficult to understand “how Georgia’s
possible entry to NATO could help solve the problems of nuclear
nonproliferation or international terrorism”.
“In countering these problems, NATO has proved to be an absolutely
inefficient organization. It is enough to look at what is happening
in Afghanistan today,” Kosachev said and added that, in his opinion,
this is precisely why Russia objects to the further expansion of
the alliance.
“Ukraine’s possible entry to NATO, ignoring the opinion of the
Ukrainian people, would result in the disruption of absolutely unique
cooperation ties between the military-industrial complexes of Russia
and Ukraine. Neither Russia nor Ukraine needs this,” the deputy said.
He also pointed out that Armenia had not yet discussed its possible
membership of the North Atlantic Treaty alliance.
“But I am convinced that this hypothetical project does not meet
either the interests of Armenia or the interests of Russian-Armenian
relations,” Kosachev said.
He pointed out that Russia’s appeal to NATO “boils down to the fact
that this situation should be rid of political mercenary considerations
and that it should be looked at from the point of view of expediency”.

TURKISH MINISTER SAYS DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION NEEDED TO IRANIAN NUCLEAR ISSUE
Anatolia news agency, Ankara, in English
18 Sep 06
New York, 18 September: “Turkey does not want to see nuclear weapons
in the Middle East. We want Iran’s nuclear programme to be resolved
through diplomacy,” said Abdullah Gul, Turkish Foreign Minister and
Deputy Premier, on Monday [18 September].
Gul began to hold talks in New York today. The American-Turkish
Society hosted a breakfast in honour of Gul on Monday.
Asked about Turkey’s relations with Israel and Palestine, Gul answered
that Turkey has “excellent” relations with both countries.
Gul pointed out that the Palestinian problem can be resolved in a
two-state formula.
“Turkey cares about the security of both Palestine and Israel. Once
the Palestinian problem is resolved, Israel’s security will also be
established,” noted Gul.
In reference to a question on legal cases against Turkish authors
who make comments on Armenian issues, Gul stated that the Turkish
government has changed many taboos. “All kinds of discussions take
place in Turkey on the Armenian issue. Many conferences are held
representing different opinions and thoughts,” underlined Gul.
“Turkish Penal Code 301 creates certain problems. But the legal
process on this code is not over yet. We support the expression of
all ideas as long as they do not support violence,” said Gul.
Minister Gul stressed that the entry negotiations with the European
Union will take a long time. “Turkey will be very different at the
end of negotiations.
Perhaps, at the end of negotiations the Turkish public will not want
to join the EU,” remarked Gul.
In regard to Cyprus, Gul stated that the EU made a decision on April
26th, 2004 to end the economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriots.
“However, EU member Greek Cypriots have been blocking the
implementation of this decision,” noted Gul. “Turkish Cypriots have
been penalized despite voting for the Annan Plan in the island,”
expressed Gul.

AL-JAZEERA AIRS PROGRAMMES ON SEPARATIST KARABAKH – AZERI TV
ANS TV, Baku, in Azeri
19 Sep 06
[Doha-based] Al-Jazeera TV channel has prepared a series of programmes
on the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the separatist regime
on occupied Azerbaijani territories. The TV channel has broadcast a
broad interview with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan. The interview
touched on the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, relations
between Armenia and the Arab world and other regional issues. An
Al-Jazeera correspondent also visited Nagornyy Karabakh and had an
interview with the head of the separatist regime, Arkadiy Gukasyan.
[Video showed Al-Jazeera studio, scenes of Karabakh, Kocharyan’s
library pictures]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress