Panorama.am
17:31 11/03/06

KARS AGREEMENT TO BE REVIEWED
On March 16 `Nichol Aghbalyan’ students’ union is
going to organize a conference dedicated to
anti-Armenian agreement signed in 1921 in Moscow (this
year the agreement is 85 years old).
As the organizers mention `by to this agreement
Armenia seemed to be forgotten and neglected’. Without
the participation of Armenia the territories of
Historical Armenia were divided between Azerbaijan and
Turkey. Thus, the agreement is unacceptable and hasn’t
received its real estimation. At the present the
situation has changed; there is no longer Soviet Union
and Armenia is independent, the character of the
relations and the policy has greatly changed as well.
Thus, it should be insisted that the question will be
raise din the future and the Kars and Moscow
agreements will be reviewed consonant to modern
interests of the RA.’
One of the goals of the conference is to prove the
legal and historical injustice of the agreement and
keep it in the centre of attention of political forces
of the country. /Panorama.am/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Panorama.am
17:27 11/03/06

WOMEN ARE FREE, BUT …
`There has been a little progress in the sphere of
Defence of Rights of Armenian women in the last 4
years. Yet it proceeds rather slowly,’ chief secretary
of Socintern Women’s Organization Marlene Haas thinks.
`Today our problem is the fact that there is an
attitude among our women and men which is an obstacle
to women participation in the political-social life of
the Republic,’ ARF representative to Socintern Women’s
Organization Maria Titizyan said. As she thinks the
above mentioned attitude is the result of foreign
influence on the one hand and of lack of experience
and self-confidence among women on the other hand.
Today women representatives of various fields took
part in the conference `Women in the process of
forming civil society.’ As M. Titizyan said the
unemployment among women is more, they are paid less
than men for the same work.
Yet, male and female representatives of our executive
and legislative bodies do not agree with the above
mentioned statement.
Minister of Social Affairs Aghvan Vardanyan knows no
cases when the amount of money paid to women and men
for one and the same work is different. And in her
turn NA Deputy Hranush Hakobyan stated: `In Education
field 86% of workers are women, 83% in health field,
73% in cultural field, 20% of Judges, 1/3 of lawyers,
25% of diplomats. This means that women are
everywhere. But it is another question that the number
of female representatives is small in state
governmental bodies. I do not agree that women must be
appointed ministers or deputies just because they are
women. Doesn’t it mean that is their only quality?’
Those present think that this situation is not typical
of Armenia but of the whole world. But the situation
in Armenia `is far from being at least satisfactory,’
head of ARF group Levon Lazarian says. As V.
Hovhannisyan thinks not men are not afraid to give
freedom to women but women are afraid to take that
freedom.
Everybody is sure the role of women in the process of
formation of civil society is as important as that of
men. Yet the most important and in this case sad thing
is that there are no even signs of civil society in
our country. /Panorama.am/

()
Speak up, for the neighbors’ sake

Mark Brzezinski International Herald Tribune
SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2006

_WASHINGTON_
( INGTON&sort=swishrank)
Last summer, the Council of Europe issued a report urging Russia to
cease treating “neighboring and other countries in the region as zones
of special influence.” The report urged Russia to “constructively
contribute to resolution of open issues and cease with activities”
that “undermine the countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
President George W. Bush should give President Vladimir Putin the
message that Russia’s own integration into the world, a highly
desirable objective, is jeopardized if at the same time the Kremlin
has a policy of undercutting democratic development along its borders.
It’s unlikely that there’s a master plan guiding Russia’s actions
toward her neighbors. Instead, Russia’s actions are driven variably by
ambition, nostalgia, confusion, misinterpretation, irritation and
resentment.
And Russia’s policy toward the former Soviet republics is manifested
in different ways and produces different results. Baltic leaders and
Ukraine claim that Russia uses energy to assert leverage, by having
Russian concerns acquire key elements of their energy sectors.
President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine has been clear about the goal
of Ukraine’s membership in the European Union. But he realizes the
vital importance of not estranging Russia and has taken steps to
develop dialogue with the Kremlin, even after Russia shut off gas
supplies on Jan. 1. By contrast, Belarus remains a dependency where
democracy demonstrations in the lead-up to the March 19 presidential
election have been brutally crushed.
In the Caucasus and Moldova, Russia has tried to readjust the
orientation of her neighbors, but with little success. In 2002, Russia
told Georgia to end its political and security relationship with NATO,
and urged Georgia to accept Russian bases for the long- term. In
Central Asia, dictators who previously resisted closer cooperation
with Moscow have been encouraged by the Kremlin to be heavy-handed
with any signs of religious revival. Only Russia and China endorsed
the Uzbekistan government’s killing of hundreds of demonstrators in
Andijon last summer.
There are signs that Russia is adjusting to new realities. Russia
accommodated itself to Georgian central control over Adzharia, and
Russian and Georgian authorities agreed to a plan for the withdrawal
of Russian troops from Georgia. But Russian troops may be redeployed
to Armenia, which would alarm Azerbaijan.
It’s in Russia’s interest, and in America’s, for there to be greater
trust and cooperation between Russia and her neighbors. The United
States should strive to help Russia to understand that Washington is
not trying to transform the region into a zone of American control
through “color revolutions” – and that instead, what’s been happening
there is part of a process Europe has been going through for more than
50 years.
At the same time, Russia’s neighbors need reassurance that the United
States is committed to their independence, integrity and
stability. The lack of Western reaction to Russian meddling made some
new democracies worry that their sovereignty is entirely subordinate
to other key U.S. interests with Russia.
In the near-term, the Belarus presidential election on March 19
provides an important test. Belarus is one of the most repressive
former Soviet republics. Last week, the police beat and detained
Alexander Kozulin, an opposition presidential candidate. Symbolizing
solidarity with the opposition, Bush met recently with the widows of
two Belarussian leaders who were murdered by Alexander Lukashenko’s
government. But as Western governments develop a strategy in the event
that international monitors report electoral fraud, it must be
remembered that Lukashenko’s major financial and political sponsor is
Putin.
In the long term, the West might consider a more dynamic vision of its
relationship with a democratic Russia. As the Russia task force of the
Council on Foreign Relations recommends: “Western leaders should also
diversify their political contacts within Russia. It’s not enough to
meet with representatives of ‘civil society.’ Open and routine contact
with opposition political figures and organizations carry a more
potent message.” Doing so would give credibility and consistency to
Bush’s freedom agenda.
(Mark Brzezinski, a Washington attorney, was director of Russian and
Eurasian affairs on the National Security Council in the Clinton
administration.)

I’ve been seeing Web addresses ending in unfamiliar monikers. What are they
all about?
The SouthTown
Q and A
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Internet users are no doubt familiar with “.com,” but it is only one
of 264 in the Internet’s master directories. In fact, according to the
company that runs the directories, VeriSign Inc., “.com” accounts for
only about half of all domain names.
Other popular ones include “.net” and “.org,” and countries have their
own suffixes as well, including “.de” for Germany and “.fr” for
France. There’s even a legacy “.su” for the Soviet Union in the
databases, even though the domain name has been formally phased out.
The organization that coordinates all that is the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, a California-based nonprofit
that gets its authority from the U.S. government, which funded much of
the Internet’s early development. In 1998, ICANN took over a naming
system created in the1980s by the Internet’s core engineers.
(While ICANN sets policies and assigns names, subject to Commerce
Department oversight, VeriSign runs the main directory computers under
a contract.
VeriSign separately keeps the lists for names registered under “.com”
and “.net.”)
Three of the original names – “.com,” “.net” and “.org” – are
available to anyone, although “.com” was designated for commercial
entities, “.net” for network providers and “.org” for organizations.
Others are reserved: “.edu” for educational institutions; “.gov” for
U.S.
government; “.mil” for U.S. military and “.int” for organizations
established by international treaty. In addition, “.arpa” is used
internally and is rarely seen by the public.
About 250 two-letter suffixes were initially assigned to various
countries, territories and the continent of Antarctica, and more
recently the Palestinian territories got “.ps” and the European Union
“.eu.” These are generally based on lists kept by the International
Organization for Standardization,which in turn took information from
the United Nations.
Although each country-code domain is meant for a country’s residents
and businesses, some countries have tried to raise money by permitting
anyone in the world to use their suffixes. So an AM radio station can
use “. am” by claiming Armenia’s “. am”, television station anywhere
can claim Tuvalu’s “.tv” and a doctor can use Moldova’s “.md.”
In 2001, ICANN approved the first expansion of the addressing system,
adding seven, including “.info” for general use and “.biz” for
businesses.
Others are restricted: “.aero” for the aviation industry; “.coop” for
business cooperatives like credit unions; “.museum” for accredited
museums worldwide; “.name” for individuals; and “.pro” for
professionals. Each has its own group deciding who qualifies.
ICANN is in the midst of a second expansion, having already approved
“.jobs” for the human resources community, “.travel” for the travel
industry, “.mobi” targeting mobile services and “.cat” for the Catalan
language.
Others in the works include “.xxx,” a controversial proposal to create
a virtual red-light district for porn sites, and “.asia” for the
Asia-Pacific community.
So how do you get one of these names?
It’s pretty easy with the general-use suffixes like “.com” and even
the specialized ones like “.travel.”
ICANN has approved scores of companies to sell those names for as
little asa few dollars. The list is at:
st.html Country-code
suffixes are tougher.
First, you must check whether you even qualify for one, since some are
restricted to residents, and some subdivide their domains so
U.K. businesses must use “.co.uk.” Then you must find the companies
that register names under that particular suffix.
A good rule of thumb is to start by going to
and finding your country’s
two-letter code.
Then, try typing “,” with “xx” representing the
two-letter country code. It doesn’t work with every domain, but for
many of them, you’ll get information about that suffix’s registration
policies and procedures.
Keep in mind, though, that not all of these suffixes will be as
reliable as “.com” and the other major ones.
Iraq’s “.iq” was in limbo for years after the 2002 federal indictment
of the Texas-based company that was running it on charges of funneling
money to a member of the militant group Hamas. Only in July did ICANN
approve transferring the “.iq” name to Iraq’s telecommunications
regulator.
So what are the most popular domain names anyway?
Tops, of course, is “.com.” Germany’s “de” is next, followed by
“.net,” “.uk,” and “.org.”
Despite the United States having the largest Internet population,
“.us” ranks 10th; most simply go for “.com” or one of the other
global domains.
By Anick Jesdanun, The Associated Press

Kenyan daily gives details of alleged foreign mercenaries
Daily Nation website, Nairobi
12 Mar 06
Police detailed to investigate the alleged presence of Russian
mercenaries in the country have not questioned any of the suspects –
despite circulation of copies of Armenian passports of two of the men.
“We only saw some documents displayed on a news report on television
on Friday evening but police have not received any document,” a senior
CID officer said.
The Sunday Nation can reveal today that the men Langata MP Raila
Odinga claims are mercenaries working for the government are two
Armenian “businessmen”.
Travel documents indicate the two men – aged 33 and 36 – arrived in
the country early this year from Dubai, but have also visited Kenya in
the past on missions that remain a mystery.
Investigations have established that the suspects have changed their
residence four times since they arrived in Kenya separately on 23 and
24 January.
On arrival, they booked in at a five-star city hotel before they moved
to the upmarket Runda Estate in early February.
A leading city hotel confirmed yesterday that one of the men had been
a guest there on different occasions since 2003.
They allegedly moved to Lenana Road after Mr Odinga gave details of
the Runda house to police.
Runda residents in the vicinity of the single-storey mansion confirmed
to Sunday Nation that a truck pulling a 40-ft container entered the
estate at around 9.15 p.m. on Thursday night and moved all the
household goods.
The relocation from Runda capped a week of dramatic happenings in the
palatial residence and its vicinity, including an assault on an
alleged police officer in circumstances that remain unclear.
Not interviewed yet
Police have not interviewed the two men despite the furore and have
dismissed Mr Odinga’s claims even after inviting him to record a
statement on Wednesday.
On arrival in January, the two men were granted a two-year category H
permit, which is for professionals or foreigners investing in the
country.
They paid 60,000 shillings each and posted a bond of a similar amount
for the permits.
A Mombasa politician and businessman yesterday denied being among
those who had been seen in the company of the alleged mercenaries.
Following the 2 March raid by hooded police officers on the Standard
Group offices, there have been claims of involvement of foreigners.
Mr Odinga displayed faded photocopies of the passports of the two
foreigners on Friday, saying they were Armenians and not Russians as
earlier claimed.
But police say they have not received such documents and do not,
therefore, know who the alleged mercenaries are.
“We have not received any documents or fresh information regarding the
presence of mercenaries. We only saw some documents displayed on a
news report on television on Friday evening but police have not
received any document,” a senior CID officer said.
It would be easy for police, through the Immigration Department, to
find out who the people are, how they entered the country and who
posted bond for them when they entered the country. The category ‘H’
visa issued to them would also identify the kind of business they
intend to engage in and the name of the company, if any.
On Friday, police officers led by the Deputy Nairobi Provincial
Criminal Investigations Officer, Mr Isaiah Osugo, began investigations
into the alleged existence of mercenaries as ordered by the
commissioner of police, Maj-Gen Hussein Ali.
But even as the investigations were going on, the CID boss Joseph
Kamau were dismissing the story of the alleged mercenaries as a lie.
CID boss Joseph Kamau, whose team is supposed to investigate Mr
Odinga’s allegations, on Wednesday dismissed the mercenary claims as
“untrue” and urged Kenyans not to take them seriously.
Mr Kamau said this as Mr Odinga made a formal complaint to the
commissioner of police, Maj-Gen Hussein Ali.
Mr Kamau said the MP was spreading propaganda, which should not be
taken seriously.
In a statement signed on his behalf by Senior Superintendent Gideon
Kibunja, Mr Kamau dismissed the MP’s dossier as “baseless, wild,
unsubstantiated”.

Tension runs high in Georgia’s Armenian-populated district
Imedi TV, Tbilisi
11 Mar 06
[Presenter] A rally organized by ethnic Armenian action groups in
Akhalkalaki [southern Georgia] continued for about an hour. After the
rally, protesters tried to storm and loot several buildings. First,
the protesters stormed the Akhalkalaki court building. They are angry
because ethnic Armenian judges failed to pass attestation and were
suspended. The action group is demanding that an ethnic Armenian judge
be appointed along with the Georgian judge and that court proceedings
be carried out in the Armenian language.
>From the court building the protesters moved to the Akhalkalaki
branch of the [Tbilisi State] University. Crime Police officers tried
to stop them, but the protesters managed to break into the building
and loot some rooms.
However, they left the building when told so by the organizers. The
Armenian action groups are demanding that the Georgian university
should be closed unless Armenian-language classes are
introduced. [Video shows a crowd breaking into a building and smashing
a door]
[Nodar Gvaramadze, Georgian judge] I had no idea that this rally was
planned. When these people came here, they entered the building and
told me to leave. When I asked why, they told me that they wanted to
board up the door. I told them that I was there to perform my duties
and they could only make me leave by force. They said I had better
leave. In the end, in order to avoid escalation and damage to the
building, I decided that it was better to leave.
[Young man, no caption, in Russian] Recently, [ethnic] Armenian judges
from Akhalkalaki, Kalbatono [Georgian polite form of addressing a
woman] Susana and judge Ararat Chobanyan, were sacked because they do
not speak Georgian.
That’s what the problem is. The people rebelled. They [judges] should
speak an understandable language.
[Albert Maranjyan, in Russian] This [university branch] should be
either closed or a joint facility should be opened, so that our people
could also study here. Our people cannot study here because they do
not speak Georgian, they are educated in Armenian. How can they study
in this institute? Only one or two students from the entire
Akhalkalaki study here, and even they were admitted in exchange for
money. All others [students] are not locals.
[Reporter] What are your plans?
[Maranjyan] Plans? These studies here should be shut down. If they
want to open something, it should have an Armenian component, so that
Armenians could study here too.
[Presenter] A short while ago, the situation in Akhalkalaki
escalated. After sacking the court and university buildings, the
protesters moved to the building of the Kumurdo-Akhalkalaki eparchy
[of the Georgian Orthodox Church].
They tried to break into the building too. The protesters were
claiming that arms were hidden in the eparchy, so they wanted to check
the premises. After the negotiations with the police and a telephone
conversation with Father Nikoloz, several protesters were allowed to
enter the building and check the premises. After finding no arms, they
left the eparchy. At the moment, the rally is slowly coming to an end.
[Albert Maranjyan, in Russian] No, nothing of the sort. We simply met
and talked with employees [of the eparchy]. We saw how they live, and
we left, nothing else.
[Sister Mariam] They came here and I was among those who met them. I
asked them what they wanted. They said that the building was a
kindergarten and that we should vacate it. They wanted to break into
the building. Another sister managed to shut the door, and we stood
there. Then all these people were pushing the door and telling us
that unless we left this building – stressing that it was a
kindergarten – they would storm it.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Opposition leader sees revolution as way out of Armenian political
deadlock
Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
10 Mar 06

Text of Naira Zograbyan’s report in Armenian newspaper Haykakan
Zhamanak on 10 March headlined “Kocharyan’s game is over”
An interview with the leader of the Anrapetutyun Party, Aram
Sarkisyan.
[Haykakan Zhamanak correspondent] Mr Sarkisyan, today foreign and
domestic political problems are becoming more serious and against this
background the opposition’s position of an onlooker is becoming more
noticeable. Has the opposition chosen this position as a strategy or
can it really not find a way to fulfil itself?
[Aram Sarkisyan] If you were more attentive, you would say for sure
that not the opposition but the ruling parties have a status of
onlooker because in this country one person decides who should become
an ombudsman, how Zorakap village should join another district, how
the parliament should vote and so on.
An evident process has been taking place in that camp since the
interests of the ruling parties started moving away from one another
because the authorities do not have a general plan for resolving
serious geopolitical problems.
Our political partner [Russian President Vladimir Putin] said on the
territory of another state [Azerbaijan] that he would invite the
Armenian president for consultations [over Nagornyy Karabakh
settlement]. That is to say, [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev’s
words were confirmed that he would negotiate not with Armenia but its
owners. The Russian defence minister said that nothing could prevent
them from selling weapon to Azerbaijan as well as to Armenia. This
brings up the following question: where is the [CIS] Collective
Security Treaty? Are they going to write on the weapons: do not shoot
at Armenians.
As a result of the unclear policy of complementarity Armenia has found
itself in a “cracked” situation as it has turned its own
complementarity into a game. Every game has an end, and time has come
for [Armenian President Robert] Kocharyan’s game to be over.
Moreover, different power wings have taken uncoordinated steps. After
Karabakh President [Arkadiy Gukasyan]’s statement [on Karabakh’s
involvement in the talks], [Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan] Oskanyan
explained that they did not understand correctly what Gukasyan had
said. But as far as I know, Arkadiy Gukasyan knows Armenian better
than Oskanyan. Furthermore, a rally [dedicated to the anniversary of
the Sumqayit events] was organized at the state le vel, which was
nonsense from the political point of view. The authorities guided by
national populism cannot be democrats because fascism is the future of
an ideology like this.
Against this background comes a US Department of State report on drug
business, which the Armenian authorities have not yet replied. That is
to say, the Armenian authorities were directly told that they have a
drug business. Thus, these authorities’ game is really over.
[Correspondent] If the authorities’ game is over, why is serious
redistribution taking place within the authorities but not within the
opposition?
[Sarkisyan] New ruling parties are being intensively set up. This
shows that they believe that their journey with Kocharyan has ended
and they think about staying in power after Kocharyan. I do not take
it seriously when today somebody speaks about redistribution and
negotiations between different political forces because nobody can say
what will happen in Armenia before the [parliamentary] election in
2007. Therefore, I think that drastic steps by the opposition will be
useless. One should choose the time for drastic steps. I am sure that
at a crucial moment the opposition will unite to stage a democratic
revolution as the problems of Armenia and Karabakh can be settled only
by means of a revolution.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasian Affairs
Matthew Bryza, whom I met in the USA and who was presented by the
Armenian mass media as Bush’s hairdresser, said that democracy should
be built “from the bottom to the top”, and this is the way of the
revolution. That is to say, today the world understands that Armenia
is in a political crisis. While speaking about democracy and
evolution, the authorities are implementing counter-evolution. This
situation is explosive.
[Correspondent] What is the way out from the current foreign and
domestic political deadlock?
[Sarkisyan] A democratic revolution is the way out and it will happen
soon.
Armenia will pass two stages: a democratic revolution in which the
whole of the opposition will take part, and democratic
elections. These are the two stages which the opposition will
undoubtedly fulfil soon.

Georgian ombudsman urges caution in commenting on ethnic Armenian’s
killing
Prime-News, Tbilisi
11 Mar 06
Tbilisi, 11 March: Commenting on the tense situation in [the
multiethnic] Tsalka District [in southern Georgia], Georgian ombudsman
Sozar Subari has urged local law enforcers to work more actively.
Subari said at a new briefing today that on 9 March a clash between
young ethnic Armenian and Georgian residents of Tsalka had a tragic
end: One young Armenian died [of knife wounds] while four others were
injured. The ombudsman’s representatives visited Tsalka on 10 March to
study the situation. Their preliminary findings indicate that the
unfortunate incident had common criminal rather than ethnic
causes. Police arrested several suspects on the same day [9 March] and
are still looking for other suspects.
On 9 March, angry ethnic Armenians residents of Tsalka staged a
protest rally outside the Tsalka District administration building. The
rally turned into mass disturbances. Some of the protesters, about 300
men, gathered outside the Tsalka police station and demanded that the
suspects be lynched. Another group of about 200 men stormed the
administration building, shattered windows, smashed doors and burnt
documents.
The Georgian ombudsman said that lynching suspects and storming the
building was not a civilized form of justice but a crime. He said that
organizers of the storming as well as those who committed the murder
should be punished.
Sozar Subari expressed his condolences to the deceased Gevork
Gevorkyan’s family and condemned activities of the groups that tried
to use the tragic incident for inciting ethnic hatred, thus making the
sorrow of the deceased young man’s family deeper.
It is also unfortunate that some nongovernmental organizations
described the 9 March incident of hooliganism as an ethnic incident
and misled the Georgian population and the international community,
Subari said. He noted that the statements made by the NGOs were
absolutely inappropriate and could only harm the centuries-long
good-neighbourly relations between the brotherly Georgian and Armenian
peoples. The Georgian ombudsman urged everyone to refrain from making
such groundless statements and let the law-enforcement bodies finish
the investigation without any pressure. Such irresponsible statements
escalate tensions in the region and play to the hands of external
forces who want to stir up new conflicts, [Subari said].

Armenian Police official faults US human rights report
Arminfo
10 Mar 06
Yerevan, 10 March: The Armenian Police disagrees with the criticism
expressed in the report on human rights in 196 countries of the world
published by the US Department of State.
The chief of the main criminal investigation department of the
Armenian Police, Col Ayk Militonyan, said at a press conference today
that he does not know of a case when a detainee was denied medical
aid. “If there are such specific facts, I would like to them to be
submitted to me,” he noted.
At the same time, the department chief assumed that the authors of the
report might have also confused different departments belonging to
different organizations. It is worth noting that the Department of
State also listed as violations registered in the republic death cases
in the army in unclear circumstances, the beating of citizens by
representatives of the law-enforcement agencies, detentions carried
out without court sanction, the impunity of officers of the National
Security Service and the Police, and conditions in prisons that do not
meet medical standards.

Iran says 13,000 arrested in anti-human trafficking drive

AP Worldstream; Mar 11, 2006
Iran has over the past year arrested some 13,000 foreign nationals
attempting to illegally cross into neighboring nations, the official
Islamic Republic News Agency reported Saturday.
It said the foreigners mostly came from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and
Pakistan.
They were detained while attempting to cross into Turkey with the
intention of moving on to Western Europe, according to Gen. Hasan
Karami, police chief of Iran’s northwestern Azerbaijan province, which
has borders with Armenia, Turkey and Iraq.
The news agency’s report also said that a total of 25 human
trafficking rings have been uncovered by police over the past year.