VARTAN OSKANIAN AND PITER SEMNEBY THOROUGHLY DISCUSS KARABAKH SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS PROCESS
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 05 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A wide exchange of
thoughts around issues regarding regional cooperation, settlement
of conflicts, Armenia-EU relations took place at RA Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian’s April 5 meeting with EU Special Representative Piter
Semneby who arrived in Armenia on a 3-day cognitive visit. Minister
Oskanian congratulated Ambassador Semneby in connection with
the latter’s appointment and wished him success in his mission,
highly estimating the activity of EU Special Representative to
the South Caucasus, in particular, the large-volume work of first
Representative, Ambssador Heikki Talvitie. The interlocutors had a
thorough discussion about the negotiations process on Nagorno Karabakh
settlement. In this connection Minister Oskanian presented P.Semneby
the last developments and Armenia’s approaches in the direction of
continuing the negotiations process. The sides also touched upon
the process of working out of the Armenian Actions Plan within the
framework of the European Neighborhood policy, as well as separate
aspects of settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations. Immediately
after the meeting V.Oskanian’s and P.Semneby’s joint press conference
was held at RA FM press hall. According to RA Foreign Ministry Press
and Information Department, the discussions between V.Oskanian and
P.Semneby went on over a working dinner with the participation of
Fokion Fotiadis, European Commission’s Deputy Director General on
Foreign Relations. Piter Semneby was born in 1959 in Sweden. He
got education at Stockholm economic school, Stockholm and Upsala
Universities, Harvard University Management School after J.Kenedy. In
2002-2005 he was the OSCE mission head in Croatia. In 2000-2002 he
was the head of OSCE mission in Latvia. In 1997-2000 he was the head
of Swedish Foreign Ministry’s Board on European Security and Defence
Policy of the Department on European Security.
P.Semneby worked in Swedish Embassies in Germany, Ukraine and the USSR,
as well as in 1992 in OSCE mission in Georgia. He masters the English,
French, German, Russian and Serbian-Croatian languages.

ARMENIA IS GOING TO DEEPEN COOPERATION WITH EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOREIGN RELATIONS MANAGEMENT
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 05 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A wide range of
issues of EU-Armenia cooperation agenda was discussed at RA Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian’s April 5 meeting with Fokion Fotiadis,
European Commission’s Deputy Director General on Foreign Relations,
who is in Armenia on a working visit.
Congratulating the guest in connection with his appointment, Minister
Oskanian expressed the hope that the visit is a good beginning
for future close cooperation. The Minister mentioned Armenia’s
intention to deepen its cooperation with the European Commission’s
Foreign Relations management. The sides paid a special attention to
issues of region’s and, particularly, Armenia’s energy security and
diversification of the energy sources. In this respect they exchanged
thoughts about issues of energy possibilities of the South Caucasus
and its neighboring regions, as well as prospects of safe use of the
atomic energy. According to RA FM Press Service, the interlocutors
thoroughly discussed the process and separate issues of elaboration
of the Armenian Actions Plan within the framework of the European
Neighborhood policy. The sides highly estimated the two stages of
consultations in this direction giving assurance that during the
third stage to be held in May it will be possible to complete the
program and already to start to implement it. Attaching importance
to immediate settlement of the existing conflicts in the respect of
complete regional cooperation, the meeting participants touched upon
the Nagorno Karabakh peaceful settlement. Minister Oskanian presented
the latest processes and Armenia’s approaches in connection with
the settlement.

ARAM KARAPETIAN: AUTHORITIES MUST BE CHANGED FOR HOLDING FREE AND JUST ELECTIONS
Noyan Tapan
Apr 05 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN. If there are no radical changes in
Armenia till 2007, elections will be a farce, and any person or
party participating in them will support the authorities: today’s
authorities of the country must be changed for holding free and
just elections in Armenia. Aram Karapetian, the Chairman of the
“Nor Zhamanakner” (New Times) party made such a statement, making
a speech for participants of the April 4 open-air conference of the
party. According to Karapetian, country President Robert Kocharian’s
and Defence Minister Serge Sargsian’s “night” consultations are not
aimed to solution of the Karabakh issue: “Those are aimed to one thing:
for 18 people who have robbed the country, never stand in front of the
Armenian court.” According to the speaker, the authorities want to
protect themselves at any price. For reaching this goal, Karapetian
stated, the authorities are ready to agree with the variant of
giving the liberated territories of Karabakh and holding a referendum
concerning the status of Karabakh only in 10-20 years. Aram Karapetian
expressed confidence that nothing will change in the country till 2007
parliamentary elections. According to him, “all those opposing parties,
which will make an attempt to reach agreements for having presence at
the Parliament, will cheat the people.” It is also useless to wait
for a “coloured” revolution as the authorities will be mobilized at
the elections and make an attempt to fight on whole front. “Our year
is 2006,” Aram Karapetian stated. According to him, the outer world
will put pressures on the authorities of Armenia, connected with Iran,
Karabakh, gas tariff and other problems, and “when the outer forces
start to shake the authorities,” one must be ready for acting inside.
According to Aram Karapetian, he is ready to invest financial resources
necessary for those actions. “We don’t spare to use our own money
for activizing the people. Our goal will be to activize the people,
to take them to Yerevan, then, Baghramian street and resignation,”
the Chairman of the “Nor Zhamanakner” party stated. As for the other
opposing forces, according to Karapetian, they may join actions of
the “Nor Zhamankner” party if they want, joint with their resources:
“If they don’t, we’ll do as much as we can.” The foreign political
direction of the party is clear: future Armenia must be the closest
ally of Russia,” Aram Karapetian stated. According to him, Armenia must
be able to make use of the market of Russia, and it’s necessary for
this that roads coming through Georgia open. Otherwise, according to
the speaker, a very bad situation is expected in Georgia. “Today the
Georgian state stands at the edge of degradation, and if we are not
ready for that, a great disaster is expected there for the Armenian
inhabitation,” Karapetian stated.

GOAL OF ARCHEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IMPLEMENTED IN ARTSAKH IS RE-SETTLEMENT OF LIBERATED TERRITORIES WITH ARMENIANS AND KEEPING THEM ARMENIAN
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 05 2006
YEREVAN, APTIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The goal of the
archeological excavations implemented during the last one year in
three places of Artsakh, in historic Tigranakert (Martakert region), in
Shushi and at the Handaberd monastic complex (the region of Karvajar)
is to again remind the authorities of Armenia that towards those
territories “the Armenian people has a historic national obligation
to make them Armenian, and if it doesn’t, the history will condemn
us.” Vigen Arabian, the Executive Director of the U.S. branch of the
“Yerkir” Union of NGOs’ for Repatriation and Settlement, stated about
this at the April 4 opening ceremony of the “Culture of Borders”
archeological researches’ exhibition at the “Narekatsi” cultural
center. Results of joint archeological excavations in the liberated
territories of Artsakh of the “Yerkir” union and “Kenats Tsar” cultural
reseaches center are presented at the exhibiton. According to Vigen
Arabian, the goal of those excavations is one: “re-settlement of the
liberated, especially strategic bordering territories of the Fatherland
with Armenians and keeping them Armenian.” The most part of them,
including the NK Autonomous Region, was annexed to Azerbaijan during
the last 80 years, as a consequence of what not only the number of the
Armenian inhabitation reduced, but the centuries-old Armenian culture
existed in them was destroyed. “We came to implement a propaganda and
educational work in general for an Armenian, particularly, for our
state,” Vigen Arabian emphasized. He is sure that one liberates a land
not only by fighting: that war will be valued only at the time when
Armenian will live in those territories. V.Arabian also mentioned that
since 1994 if the war has not been finished, then it has been stopped,
“but we were not able to solve that problem, we gave a huge number
of victims and economic losses for those territories.” “Our people
paid the price of those territories but they are less populated today:
there is a problem of re-populating the solution of which is, in fact,
left for public organizations. And the state has no clear policy
of re-populating and keeping them Armenian yet,” he stated. Vigen
Arabian is sure that “we’ll not historically be the owners of those
territories for a long time as they are empty.”

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THEME OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE FINISHES IN PRAGUE
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 05 2006
PRAGUE, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A conference dedicated
to the issue of the Armenian Genocide took place at the building
of the Senate of Czechia on April 4. The conference was held under
the patronage of Vaclav Havel, the former President of the Czech
Republic. Jaromir Stetina, a member of Senate, the upper chamber of
the Parliament of the Czech Republic and the “Armenian Club” public
organization initiated the one-day event. Senator Stetina, RA Deputy
Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosian, Jan Carnogursky, the former Prime
Minister, former Justice Minister of Slovakia, world-known historian
Vahakn Dadrian from the U.S., Hilda Choboyan, the head of the ARF
Dashnaktsutiun Hay Dat Committee of Europe, Turk attorney Eldag
Uzcan, who was prosecuted in Turkey for studying and making public
facts of violation of the human rights and took refuge in Germany,
participated in the representative conference.
As Radio Liberty informs, Czech Senator Jaromir Stetina said that
following the example of Slovak partners (the Parliament of Slovakia
adopted the decision on recognizing the Armenian Genocide), Czech
legislators work out a document concerning the Armenian Genocide
which will be presented to discussion of the Parliament. The
Senator did not mention when the draft would be ready and what
contents it may have. “The one who forgets the past, is condemned
to survive it in future,” this idea was expressed almost in all the
speeches. Many of participants of the conference, including Mrs. Uzcan,
mentioned that Europe must demand of Turkey to recognize the crime
conducted towards the Armenians during the period of the Ottaman
Empire. Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia A.Kirakosian said that
the position of official Yerevan is unchanged: “Armenia is ready to
negotiate without pre-conditions and to cooperate with Turkey, but
will never leave the policy directed to international recognition
of the Genocide.” According to Arman Kirakosian, recognition of the
Genocide is a issue of the national security for Armenia. “If Turkey
recognizes what it did towards our people in the past, it will really
be a guarantee for us that we are safe that this country undertook
the obligation, and, factually, apologized for what not it but the
previous authorities did. I specially mentioned in my speech that
we are not against the people of Turkey, and the recognition is not
carried out against the Turk people,” the RA Deputy Foreign Minister
said to Radio Liberty.

ARMENIAN CLERGYMEN NEEDED IN JAVAKHK
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 05 2006
AKHALKALAK, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Bishop Vazgen
Mirzakhanian, the primate of the Virahayots Diocese of the Armenian
Apostolic Church, considers lack of clergymen to be the greatest
problem of the spiritual life of Javakhk. According to the “A-Info”
agency, His Holiness presented the necessity of appoiting new clergymen
in Javakhk to the Supreme Spiritual Council of the Mother See of
Holy Etchmiadzin. His Holiness Vazgen also informed the SSC, that the
diocese has finally got a possibility to restore the Surb Gevorg and
Surb Etchmiadzin two Armenian churches functioning in Tbilisi which
are in unsafe state. The restoration works will be finished this year.

GEORGIAN GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES FERTILIZER TO PEASANTS OF JAVAKHK
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 05 2006
AKHALKALAK, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. By the decision
of the Government of Georgia, every family of the rural settlements
of Samtskhe-Javakhk will get 25 kg chemical fertilizer as a present,
for agriculture at the spring sowing. The Ministry of Agriculture
of the country and the staff of the authorized representative
of the President in Samtskhe-Javakhk have already implemented the
corresponding calculation, according to which 1096 tons of fertilizer
will be given to 47844 families. During the preliminary period, the
Government’s assistance will be given to the regions of Akhaltskha,
Aspindza, Adigen and Borzhom of the lower zone, then to the regions
of Akhalkalak and Ninotsminda of the higher zone. At the same time,
according to the “A-Info” agency, 25 kg fertilizer to be given to
villagers is few even for the smallest rural family-household which
uses up to 500-1000 kg fertilizer in middle in different cases during
the spring sowing.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IT’S ENVISAGED TO CREATE PEOPLE’S UNIVERSITIES IN AKHALTSKHA AND AKHALKALAK
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 05 2006
AKHALKALAK, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The European
Union and the German Association of People’s Universities envisage
to implement a 30-years educational program with 500 thousand evro
budget in Samtskhe-Javakhk.
According to Adriana Longoni, the Projects Director of the European
Union, the main goal of this program is protection of Armenians’
rights in Samtskhe-Javakhk, the southern region of Georgia, and
integration in the civil society of their country. According to the
“A-Info” agency, it’s scheduled to create People’s Universities in
Akhaltskha and Akhalkalak where a program of civil education will be
implemented. About 6300 people, besides getting knowledge on law at
the universities, will attend courses of studying Georgian as well.
Having a goal to encourage small business, courses of industrial
education will also be held in the universities.

BROCHURE CONTAINING OPINIONS ABOUT PROBLEMS OF MULTINATIONAL SOCIETY IN JAVAKHK PUBLISHED
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 05 2006
AKHALKALAK, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The “Democrate
Meskhs’ Union” public organization, with the financial assistance of
the European Union, published its second brochure “Opinions about
Problems of Multinational Society in Samtskhe-Javakhk” concerning
the inter-ethnic relations in Samtske-Javakhk. According to the
“A-Info” agency, the triglot brochure was published within the
framework of the “Dialogue as Best Way of Settlement of Problems”
program and is the continuation of the “Problems of Multinational
Society in Samtskhe-Javakhk” brochure. As in the first brochure,
in spite of the numerous positive sides, the reality wasn’t observed
from different viewpoints, an attempt is made in the second to add that
lack. Representatives of different nationalities and religious groups
are given here possibility to express their opinion concerning the
situation. Issues of the Armenian-Georgian interracial and religious
mutual relations, central authorities as well as mutual relations among
Armenians, return of Meskh Turks, etc. are presented in the brochure
by the Armenian, Georgian, Ajarian and Russian authors. Almost only
defect of the brochure is the one that having Russian, English and
Georgian variants, it has no Armenian variant, in the case when the
absolute majority of the inhabitation of Javakhk is Armenians.

KNOLLENBERG QUESTIONS SECRETARY RICE OVER ARMENIA-AZERI MILITARY AID DISPARITY
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 05 2006
WASHINGTON, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Armenian
Assembly of America (AAA) commended Congressional Caucus on Armenian
Issues Co-Chair Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) for questioning Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice on the disparity in military funding to
Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Administration’s Fiscal Year (FY)
2007 budget. During a hearing before the House Foreign Operations
Subcommittee on Appropriations, Knollenberg questioned Rice over the
Administration’s proposal to provide Azerbaijan with an approximately
20 percent increase in military funding over neighboring Armenia. In
her response, Rice said that the issue of need and requirement is
handled on an individual basis and that the U.S. is working with
both governments. Rice also noted that the U.S. and Armenia recently
signed a five-year $235 million Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)
Compact which will help Armenia reduce rural poverty. Rice also
added that the U.S. maintains good relations with both Armenia and
Azerbaijan. Knollenberg countered that the U.S. is a leading mediator
in the Nagorno Karabakh peace conflict, pointing out that a disparity
in military funding can damage U.S. credibility in the region. Rice,
answered in part, that slight differences in military assistance can
be tolerated between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Administration’s
2007 funding proposal for Foreign Military Financing (FMF) calls for
$4.5 million for Azerbaijan and only $3.5 million for Armenia. The
proposed budget also recommends $885,000 for Azerbaijan versus
$790,000 for Armenia in International Military Education and Training
(IMET) assistance. Congressman Jesse Jackson (D-IL) expressed concern
over the decrease in U.S. economic assistance to several countries
including Armenia. Jackson noted that the Administration requested $50
million in assistance to Armenia in FY 2007 while Congress provided
Yerevan with just under $75 million in FY 2006. “We appreciate
Congressman Knollenberg’s leadership on this critical issue,”
said Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. “Given the ongoing
bellicose statements emanating from Azerbaijan, the Assembly will
continue to fight to ensure that parity is reinstated.” “We also
commend Congressman Jackson for raising concerns about the decrease
to Armenia and will continue to work with our friends in Congress to
increase this request, especially in light of the ongoing blockades
by Turkey and Azerbaijan,” Ardouny continued.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress