YOUTH TEAN OF ARMENIA WINS TEAM OF NORWAY WITH SCORE OF 1:0
Noyan Tapan
Sept 04 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The team of Armenia played with
the team of Norway at the 2nd meeting of the group tournament of the
2nd electoral stage of the 2007 Europe Youth Football Championship
taken place on September 1 in the Yerevan sports ground after Vazgen
Sargsian. The team of Armenia was to win with advantage of at least
2 balls to continue the struggle. In the first part of the meeting,
Tigran Gharabaghtsian among the field owners opened the score. The
play finished just with that ball: the Armenian football players won
with a score of 1:0. The issue of the Armenian youth team’s entering
the next stage will become clear after the Norway-Bosnia meeting,
scheduled for September 6.

“AJAX” HEADS NOT PERMIT EDGAR MANUCHARIAN TO ARRIVE IN YEREVAN AND PERFORM IN TEAM OF ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
Sept 04 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. Football youth team of
Armenia received on September 2 the team of Norway, by the group
tournament program of the second electoral stage of the 2007 Europe
championship. Armenian team coach Samvel Petrosian made public the
team staff, in which Edgar Manucharian was not involved as the “Ajax”
club of Holland refused to let him come, and Zhora Hovhannisan, who
is in Greece, was not involved as he did not respond the invitation
to participate in the game. The most part of members of the team of
Armenia is from “Pyunik,” 3 are from the “Banants” club, 1 is from
“Ulis,” another is from the Austrian “Pasching” team. Football players
of the team of Norway mainly perform in the highest division teams
of that country.

PROSECUTORS DEMAND TOUGH JAIL TERM FOR ARRESTED EDITOR
By Ruzanna Stepanian
Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Sept 4 2006
A state prosecutor demanded on Monday four and a half years’
imprisonment for the arrested editor-in-chief of an independent
Armenian newspaper who is standing trial for dodging compulsory
military service.
Zhanna Kotikian, the trial prosecutor, stood by the accusations that
Arman Babajanian of “Zhamanak Yerevan” stole and forged in 2002 legal
documents belonging to the family of a former friend living in the
United States to avoid being drafted to the Armenian Armed Forces.
She described this as a grave crime, citing Armenia’s unresolved
conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Our country is in such a state that even having an extra soldier is
essential for it,” Kotikian said in her concluding remarks made at
a district court in Yerevan.
The speech drew sarcastic applause and jeers from a group of “Zhamanak
Yerevan” staff present in the courtroom.
The demanded punishment is quite strict by Armenian standards. Local
draft evaders, most of them members of Christian sects opposed to
military service, are usually sentenced to between two and three
years in prison.
Babajanian’s defense attorney, Robert Grigorian, condemned the
prosecutor’s demand as an “outburst of anger that has nothing to do
with justice.” Grigorian said his client should only be convicted of
draft evasion and handed a suspended jail term.
While admitting that he illegally evaded the two-year service,
Babajanian insisted during the two-week trial that he did not steal and
forge the marriage certificate of the Los Angeles-based Vahe Abovian
and his wife Armine as well as the birth certificates of their two
children for that purpose. He said he got hold of the papers through
a middleman who was never questioned by law-enforcement authorities.
Under Armenian law, young men who have at least two children do not
have to serve in the army. Babajanian, 30, studied at an Armenian
religious seminary and had his service deferred until 2001 before
moving to California in 1998. He set up and began publishing his
paper in the Los Angeles area, home to a sizable Armenian community,
in 2003. He launched its publication in Armenia just weeks before
being arrested by law-enforcement officers in his office more than
two months ago.
In a June statement released from his prison cell, Babajanian claimed
that the case against him is aimed at muzzling an “independent and
incorruptible media outlet supporting the removal of the illegal
regime and the establishment of a legitimate government in Armenia.”
The prosecutors, however, have denied any political motives.
The young editor was due to deliver his final speech on Monday but
asked the judge for more time to prepare it. The trial will resume
and most probably end on Friday.

2 FROM 4 FREE STYLE WRESTLERS OF ARMENIA ARE OUT OF STRUGGLE FOR MEDAL
Noyan Tapan
Sept 04 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. Two representatives of Armenia,
Artur Arakelian (60 kg, Yerevan) and Khachik Amroyan (74 kg, Martuni)
performed on September 3 at the World Youth Championship of free-style
wrestling in Guatemala. They had one victory and one loss each and
lost the right to struggle for the medal. Representatives of Yerevan
Suren Adyan (66 kg) and Edgar Yenokian (86 kg) perform on September 4.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEW CHIEF POLICE OFFICER APPOINTED IN AKHALKALAK
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Sept 04 2006
AKHALKALAK, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. By the decree
of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, Aram Poghosov, the
Chief of the Akhalkalak Regional Police Department was discharged
the post. By another decree of the Minister, Samvel Petrosian was
appointed the Chief of the Akhalkalak Police Department. According
to the “A-Info” agency, Samvel Petrosian was the Akhalkalak Regional
Prefect in 1991-1992. He has worked in the system of the Georgian
Internal Affairs for many years. He has been the Deputy Chief of
the Samtskhe-Javakhk Traffic Police. During the last few months,
S.Petrosian was the Georgian President’s Representative’s Advisor on
internal affairs and national security issues in Samtskhe-Javakhk.

ARMENIA REJECTS UN ROLE IN KARABAKH TALKS
By Karine Kalantarian
Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Sept 4 2006
Armenia will refuse to hold further peace talks with Azerbaijan if the
latter persists in trying to get the United Nations to deal with the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian indicated
on Monday.
Oskanian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov are
tentatively scheduled to meet in Paris or London next week to discuss
ways of kickstarting the Karabakh peace process. Officials in Baku
and Yerevan have said the meeting could pave the way for another
crucial Armenian-Azerbaijani summit before the end of this year.
“We have not yet confirmed the September 12 meeting,” Oskanian told
reporters. “I don’t know whether it will take place. It will depend
on developments unfolding at other bodies.”
He was clearly referring to a joint appeal to the UN which was made
last week by Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The four
ex-Soviet states aligned in the pro-Western GUAM grouping reportedly
asked the UN General Assembly to discuss the unresolved ethnic
conflicts in the South Caucasus and Moldova at its upcoming session.
They argued that international efforts to settle those conflicts have
yielded no results.
Armenia has always been opposed to UN involvement in Karabakh peace
talks, insisting that the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe remain the main international body brokering
a solution to the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute. It apparently fears
that Azerbaijan would enlist the backing of other Muslim nations to
push pro-Azerbaijani resolutions through the General Assembly. Speaking
to RFE/RL last month, the Armenian ambassador at the UN, Armen
Martirosian, warned that Yerevan will pull out of the negotiating
process if the Karabakh issue is included on the assembly agenda.
Oskanian did not deny this, saying that the additional “obstacles”
created by Azerbaijan would render further negotiations meaningless.
Speaking to Armenian state television at the weekend, he accused Baku
of toughening its position on the issue and being reluctant to accept
the Minsk Group’s most recent peace plan.
The plan, which was disclosed by the group’s American, French and
Russian co-chairs in June, calls for a gradual settlement of the
conflict that would culminate in a referendum on Karabakh’s status.
The authorities in Yerevan have largely accepted the proposed
deal, saying that it upholds the Karabakh Armenians’ right to
self-determination.
“Today there is no other document on the table,” Oskanian said on
Monday. “I think [further talks] will center on it.”
The Azerbaijani reaction to the proposed settlement has been more
ambiguous, with President Ilham Aliev repeatedly stating in recent
months that he will never agree to any deal that could legitimize
Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan. Aliev’s top foreign policy aide,
Novruz Mammadov, accused the mediators last month of “ignoring” his
country’s territorial integrity and warned that Baku might turn to
the UN.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

REPRESENTATIVES OF A NUMBER OF POLITICAL FORCES DRAW ATTENTION OF ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES TO POSSIBLE RE-DRAWING OF NEAR EAST MAP
Noyan Tapan
Sept 04 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The realization of the
English-American plan on creating a new Near East started during
the last Arab-Israeli conflict. Armen Avetisian, Chairman of the
Armenian Aryan Union Party, said this at the September 2 press
conference. He and another participants of the conference, including
heads of the Ukht Ararati and For the Sake of Homeland organizations
Tigran Pashabezian and Nerses Nersisian, as well as Chairman of the
Tsekhakron organization Gevorg Hovsepian, expressed bewilderment in
connection with the fact that the Armenian authorities in no way
reacted to the plan and map already known in the world, which was
published in all regional countries with the exception of Armenia. In
their words, one of the main directions of the plan is education,
including on the lands of the Western Armenia, the new state of
Kurdistan. Nagorno Karabakh is not mentioned at all on the map of
the new Near East. Instead, currently Turkish but formerly Armenian
cities of Ardahan, Kars, Igdir, as well as mount Ararat are returned
to Armenia. In A.Avetisian’s words, an attempt to form another state
is again made on historical Armenian lands. As the new state will
be created at the expense of the territories of another states as
well, including Syria and Iran, as he estimated, Armenia should
create a united front of struggle together with these friendly
countries. In the opinion of the press conference participants,
Armenia is vulnerable and is not ready for such challenges. They
called on the Armenian authorities to attend to this issue and to
take all necessary measures for strengthening the national security
system. In the respect of Armenia’s active involvement into regional
processes Armen Avetisian spoke for leaving of an Armenian military
contingent for the Lebanese-Israeli border. “Yes, we were against
sending our servicemen to Kosovo and Iraq, but with regard to leaving
for Lebanon, we consider this necessary,” Avetisian declared.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THREE MORE WITNESSES TO TESTIFY IN AZERBAIJANI ARMY OFFICER RAMIL SAFAROV’S TRAIL IN HUNGARY
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Sept 4 2006
Tomorrow, Hungarian court will hold next court hearing on jailer’s
claim against Ramil Safarov, Azerbaijani Army officer, who was
sentenced to life in prison for murdering Armenian lieutenant Gurgen
Markarian in Hungary.
Azerbaijani Embassy in Hungary told the APA three more witnesses will
testify in the trial. Clara Fisher, new Hungarian lawyer for Ramil
defends him on this case.
While being held in Hungarian prison in 2004, jailers wanted telephone
card from Ramil. But Ramil could not understand Hungarian which led
an incident between them. Eight police officers tied his hands and
used force. Though lawyers for the Azerbaijani lieutenant appealed to
court related to this matter, the court dismissed the appeal saying
there was no evidence. Then the opposite side claimed that Ramil
resisted officials.
Clara Fisher, new Hungarian lawyer for Ramil defends him on this case.
Another Hungarian lawyer Koch Machar will defend Ramil in the trial
in the Court of Appeal.

OVER 20,000 APPEALS SUBMITTED TO UN ON VIOLATION OF AZERBAIJANIS’ PROPERTY RIGHTS IN ARMENIA
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Sept 4 2006
Documents were submitted to the European Court of Human Rights for
restoration of property rights of Azerbaijanis, who have been deported
from Armenia.
Azerbaijan National Academy of Science Human Rights Institute told
the APA.
The documents submitted to the European Court state that the
properties belonging to Azerbaijanis deported from Armenia cost
totally $20 billion.
The UN has received more than 20,000 appeals regarding violation of
property rights of Azerbaijanis.
There are 272 Azerbaijani villages and 89 mixed villages in Armenia.
All Azerbaijani graves in these villages have been destroyed by
Armenians.
From: Baghdasarian

NKR PRESIDENT: OUR KEY TASKS TODAY ARE TO PRESERVE PEACE AND ATTAIN NKR’S INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
Regnum, Russia
Sept 4 2006
“I am absolutely sure that today the world community is not interested
in a new war,” Nagorno Karabakh President Arkady Gukasyan said during
a news conference in Stepanakert, when asked about the possibility
of a new war in Karabakh. A REGNUM correspondent reports him to say
that he does not see any political, economic, moral or geographic
prerequisites for new war.
He said that “our key achievement today is that we have attained our
goal, have won in a war imposed on us and have built a developing
state. The free and independent life of the Nagorno Karabakh people
is the symbol of the last 15 years.” Gukasyan pointed out that the
proclamation of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic was the only way for
the Nagorno Karabakh people to survive. “Life has proved that we were
right. Otherwise, we would have the same fate as Nakhichevan had in
its time,” Gukasyan said.
He said that the key tasks of NKR today are to preserve peace
by concluding a peace agreement with Azerbaijan and to attain
international recognition. “I think we can solve these two key
problems,” Gukasyan said.