ALLIANCE OF NATIONAL DEMOCRATS DEVELOPS PROGRAM FOR CONDUCTING FREE, FAIR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
ARMENPRESS
Aug 23 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23, ARMENPRESS: The Alliance of National Democrats
has developed a program for conduction of fair, free parliamentary
elections. The leader of the Alliance Arshak Sadoyan told today at a
press conference that the program has already been presented to the
international organizations, particularly to UN, OSCE as well as to
the U.S. ambassador.
According to Sadoyan, for getting material assistance from the
international organizations it is necessary to involve wide public
circles during the implementation of the program. With this aim,
he said, a meeting will be conducted until September 10 with the
representatives of social, political, international organizations
during which they will present suggestions and discuss them.
Sadoyan said on the basis of the finally approved version a
responsible organizational body will be elected which will assume the
responsibility of the implementation of the program. Sadoyan said
that approximately 2.5 million USD will be necessary for carrying
out the program.
“The U.S. State Department promised to provide 6.5 million USD for
conducting fair elections, and for implementation of our program only
2.5 million USD is necessary,” said the leader of the alliance.

PACE RAPPORTEUR ON MISSED PEOPLE TO VISIT NAGORNO KARABAKH
ARMENPRESS
Aug 23 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23, ARMENPRESS: The PACE rapporteur on prisoners and
missed people Leo Platvoet is planning to visit the South Caucasus
in September.
“I visited the region in June. I was in Baku, Yerevan and Tbilisi
where I met with the authorities, officials and relatives of the
missed people. In September I am going to visit Abkhazia and Nagorno
Karabakh,” Trend news agency quoted the rapporteur as saying.
Leo Platvoet also informed that the report on the prisoners and missed
people in the South Caucasus will be ready in the beginning of the
next year.

SADOYAN ASPIRES FOR US ASSISTANCE IN ELECTION CONTROL
Panorama.am
14:49 23/08/06
Arshak Sadoyan, leader of National Democratic Alliance (NDA), thinks
that the authorities are going to fake the parliamentary elections
once again. Sadoyan is very concerned since he believes that in case
Armenia does not take the path of democracy, world powers will oust
the country from the important processes, which has been already done
on the regional level. “Recent announcements have made it clear that
there will be no forgiveness this time,” Sadoyan said.
Connecting hopes with $6.5 mln grant promised by the Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice, Sadoyan has developed a complex program to
control elections. He even says that his plans may be implemented
on $2.5 mln only. The rough budget of the project runs as follows:
electronic control equipment – $ 200,000 -250,000, training of
personnel (20,000-25,000 trainees) – $500,000-600,000, free radio and
TV air and an independent newspaper – $ 700,000, advocacy -$700,000.
Sadoyan says several donors have approved the program, among them
U.S. Ambassador John Evans, OSCE, U.N., USAID. Sadoyan says they are
going to complain to the international community and leading media
outlets if the program is turned down.
Sadoyan already claims that the opposition representatives are not
included in the election committees whereas community heads take
schools and kindergarten principles to trainings on their personal
cars resulting in 100% pro-authority committees.

TURKS SWEEP AWAY ARMENIAN TRACES UNDER THE EXCUSE OF RENOVATION
Panorama.am
15:39 23/08/06
Turkish government plans a big event on the occasion of the renovation
of an Armenian church on Akhtamar Island. It is expected that even
Prime Minister Erdogan will be present at the ceremony.
Samvel Karapetyan, head of an office dealing with the Armenian
architectural monuments, shared his impressions on the Armenian
monuments in Turkey after his recent visit to Western Armenia. In
his words, Turks use the Armenian monuments as military bases.
Under such conditions, it is amazing that Turkey celebrates the
renovation of an Armenian monument with great celebrities. Karapetyan
connects that with Turkish aspirations to be part of Europe.
Karapetyan cast doubts that a cross will be raised on the top of
the church. Even if Turks decide to raise the cross, they will do
so to convince Europe that they are progressive, he said. Karapetyan
doubts that the architectural shape of the church will be preserved. ”
Turks massacred Armenians until 1918 and after that sweep away their
traces. How is that possible that they preserve an Armenian church?”
Karapetyan indicated.

HALACOGLU: WE WANT ARMENIAN ARCHIVES IN BOSTON TO BE OPENED
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug. 23, 2006
“All the archives in Turkey are opened. However, no scientist from
Armenia or Armenian Diaspora has come to learn these archives so far,”
Professor Yusuf Halacoglu, head of Turkish Historical Society told
APA’s Turkey bureau.
The professor reminded Turkish Prime Minister Rajab Tayyip Erdogan’s
appeal to Armenian head of state for opening all archives to jointly
investigate the “genocide” claims noting that Armenians and their
supporters should find the answer of this question together with
Turkish historians if they are self-confident.
“When the government head offers this it means Turkey will do all
its duties,” Halacoglu said.
The professor said they want Dashnak (Armenian party) archives
in Boston to be opened stressing they are ready to conduct joint
researches with world scientists.
Turkish Historical Society head also said the 11th History Congress
will be held in Ankara on 11-16 September, which will bring together
310 representatives from 44 countries. Prime Minister Erdogan will
make an opening speech. Several Turkish scientists are expected to
be awarded medal for contributions to Turkish history.

JORDANIAN KING HOLDS TALKS WITH AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT
Jordan News Agency (Petra), Jordan
Aug. 23, 2006
Baku, Aug. 23 (Petra)– His Majesty King Abdullah II on Wednesday held
talks at the Presidential Palace in Baku with Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev focused on the relations between the two countries and
ways of strengthening them in all areas.
Talks touched to a number of issues of mutual concern and means of
fostering the bilateral cooperation.
The two sides discussed the challenges facing the Middle East and the
latest developments, particularly the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
in addition to the problem of the Armenian occupation of the of
Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is about 20% of the Azerbaijani
territory.
His Majesty King said his talks with the Azerbaijani President were
important, affirming that it was a real opportunity to build on the
strong political relations and develop relations of cooperation in
many areas.
In a statement following the talks, His Majesty said “We discussed
during the talks several issues of common interest, especially since
our two countries are facing the same challenges and can achieve a
great deal of interest through enhancing cooperation in a number of
priority areas for the two countries,”
“We discussed a number of issues in the region, which constitutes
a major challenge for our countries, where Jordan and Azerbaijan
will work together to face these challenges that face the region as a
whole,” King Abdullah said, stressing the importance of translating the
friendly relations between the two leaderships into strong relations
between the Jordanian and Azerbaijani peoples.
His Majesty pointed to the importance of the visit in supporting the
economic relations and in increasing the trade exchange between the
two countries, affirming that Jordan will pay much more attention to
the economic issue.
“We will work with the government and the embassy of Azerbaijan in
Amman to translate the results of the successful visit to achieve
the desired objectives into reality,” the King added, inviting the
President of Azerbaijan to visit Jordan in the near future.
Talks were attended on the Jordanian side by HRH Prince Ali Bin Al
Hussein, Director of the King’s Office Basim Awadallah, the Minister
of Foreign Affairs Abdel Elah Khatib, and Jordanian non-resident
Ambassador Fares Mufti. On the Azerbaijani side, Minister for Foreign
Affairs Almar Mamadiarov, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of
National Security Navroz Mammadov and the Azerbaijani Ambassador in
Amman Alman Arsli.

JORDANIAN MONARCH AND AZERI PRESIDENT HOLD TALKS IN BAKU
Bahrain News Agency, Bahrain
Aug. 23, 2006
Baku, Aug. 23, (BNA) Jordanian Monarch, King Abdulla II, on Wednesday,
held talks in Azerbaijan with Azeri President, Ilham Eliyev.
Talks were centered around bilateral ties and ways of reinforcing
them in addition to issues of common concern. Developments in the
region mainly those concerning the Palestinian- Israeli conflict and
Armenian occupation of Nagorno Karabakh that involves 20 per cent of
Azeri territories were also reviewed.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RASIM MUSABEYOV: ARMENIA DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THAT AZERBAIJAN MIGHT REFUSE CURRENT PROPOSALS AFTER FIVE YEARS
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug. 23, 2006
A roundtable-“Principal of territorial integrity in solution of
conflicts” was held in Baku today, APA reports.
Political scientist Rasim Musabeyov said Azerbaijani territories have
been occupied during the Garabagh conflict.
“17 percent of Azerbaijani lands have been occupied as a result of
Armenian military intervention. Some sources exaggerate this figure
saying 20 percent has been occupied. At least 850,000 Azerbaijanis
have become displaced due to Armenian aggression,” Musabeyov said.
The political scientist also said Armenia violates international
laws and does not comply with the UN Resolutions on withdrawal from
Azerbaijani territorie.
“But Armenia does not understand that Azerbaijan’s military budget
will increase three times in five years. Azerbaijan might disagree
with the current proposals then,” he underlined.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EDITOR GRILLED OVER ARTICLE ON ARMENIAN BROTHERS
By Bernard Momanyi
Capital FM, Kenya
Aug. 23, 2006
Kenya Times News Editor Chris Oyuga was arrested Wednesday morning and
released after recording a statement at the Criminal Investigations
Department.
He was arrested near the Kenya Times offices and questioned for
more than three hours over a story published by the newspaper two
months ago quoting a ‘classified document’ from the National Security
Intelligence Service [NSIS].
Oyuga says detectives wanted to establish the source of a letter
which the newspaper quoted, claiming it was a forgery.
The document in question bore a letterhead of the NSIS and was
addressed to the CID. It warned that the controversial Armenian
brothers ‘were of questionable character.’
A senior CID officer says detectives from the Criminal Intelligence
Unit are now scrutinizing Oyuga’s statement before they decide if to
take further action.

OSCE ACTING CHAIRMAN’S SPECIAL ENVOY ANDZHEY KASPSIK HEADING TO SLOVENIA
Author: À.Ismayilova
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Aug. 23, 2006
Andzhey Kaspsik, OSCE acting chairman’s special envoy, is heading to
Slovenia upon completion of his visit to Yerevan and Nagorno-Karabakh,
Trend reports with reference to Kaspsik office in Baku.
On August 27-28 the international conference “Caspian-2008” is held
in Ljubljana.
At the conference are expected prominent political leaders and
international experts, among which President of Azerbaijan Ilham
Aliyev, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansha, OSCE acting chairman
Karel de Gucht, deputy Prime Minister of Georgia Georg Baramidze,
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan and so.
Fuad Ismayilov, Azerbaijani ambassador to Austria and representative
to OSCE, told Trend the meeting between Azeri President Ilham Aliyev
and OSCE acting chairman Karel de Gucht may take place for discussion
of fires at occupied grounds of Azerbaijan.
Mr Kaspsik is returning to Baku next week.
–Boundary_(ID_Ryj6y2kHTUYXckCkcXSrVw)–