Author: Basmajian Ani

FRENCH HISTORIAN’S TURKISH CITIZENSHIP APPROVED
By Cihan News Agency

Zaman, Turkey
Dec 27 2006

Jean Michel Thibaux, a French historian, has had his citizenship
application approved by the Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Thibaux accepted an academic position offered by Turkey’s Akdeniz
University and declared he would become a Turkish citizen in response
to the Armenian genocide bill approved in the French Parliament in
October 2005.

After his application process began at the birth registration office
in Konya, Thibaux’s application was first accepted by the Population
Register Directorate General before being passed to the Interior
Ministry.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has approved the application, but
it still requires the approval of the Turkish Council of Ministers
and President Sezer.

Mr. Thibaux’s new name will be Atakan Turk, the Turkish name he
has chosen, following publication of the decree in the parliament’s
Official Gazette.

"I protest the trivial politics of the French on the Armenians. My
home will be Turkey if I am accepted as Turkish citizen," Thibaux
previously remarked in an interview.

BRITISH EMBASSY GRANTS VISAS TO 91 PERCENT OF APPLICANTS

Amenpress
Dec 22 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS: The British embassy in Yerevan
said 1,629 citizens of Armenia, India, Russia and others, granted
temporary residence in the country, have applied this year for
non-immigrant visas.

The embassy said 137 application were denied and the rest 1,492
(91.6 percent) were granted visas.

It said 1,165 applied for a short visit to Great Britain and 183 for
student visa.

ARMENIAN FINANCE MINISTER AND FRENCH AMBASSADOR UNDERLINE NECESSITY FOR PROMOTING ARMENIAN-FRENCH ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Noyan Tapan
Dec 20 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 20, NOYAN TAPAN. During the December 20 meeting
with the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to France Serge
Smessov, the RA Minister of Finance and Economy Vardan Khachatrian
congratulated the newly appointed ambassador, expressing his
willingness for further cooperation.

According to the press service of the RA Ministry of Finance and
Economy, during the meeting the sides discussed a number of issues
related to the Armenian economy. V. Khachatrian briefly presented the
current state of the Armenian economy, the envisaged development,
long-term programs and other economic problems. He also addressed
the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper – the priority of the Armenian
government’s economic policy, noting that it is a guideline for
donor organizations and international bodies. Speaking about the
Armenian-French economic relations, the sides were unanimous on their
promotion and implementation of joint programs, especially in the
context of the friendly Armenian-French relations.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenia Can Become Instrument in EU’s Hands Against Turkey
16.12.2006 13:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey should implement reforms
before the negotiations on the European Union
membership, said in Yerevan Kiro Manoyan, the head of
`Hay Dat’ office. In his words, Turkey also must
acknowledge the Armenian Genocide of 1915. `The demand
to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide comes from the
Armenian Diaspora not from official Yerevan. These are
two different things. At the same time we must
understand, that we can become an instrument in EU’s
hands against Turkey. As an obstacle for Turkey’s
membership first Europe used Greece and Cyprus, then
Armenia’s turn will come and we must be ready for it,’
underlined Manoyan.

A1+

PAMBUKYAN REELECTED
[07:08 pm] 14 December, 2006

A number of local and international tennis tournaments will be held
in Armenia in 2007.

The Armenian Tennis Federation considered the organizational issues of
the tournaments. Alongside with other issues, the participants of the
discussion elected the president of the federation. Haroutyun
Pambukyan, president of the Armenian Tennis Federation, was reelected.

Reminder; Mr. Pambukyan has held the post since 2000.

BY RA GOVERNMENT’S DECISION, "CENTER ON YOUNG PEOPLE’S PROFESSIONAL
ORIENTATION" TO BE FOUNDED

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 14, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Government made a decision
at the December 14 sitting to found the "Center on Young People’s
Professional Orientation" state non-profitable organization. It was
mentioned that the main goal of the young people’s professional
orientation is to give a person general abilities of developemt of
career what involves his continual development as a student, worker
and citizen. According to the information submitted to Noyan Tapan by
the RA Government’s Information and Public Relations Department, the
program of founding the center arises from priorities of the
"2006-2007 Strategy of Youth State Policy."

PACE REGULAR SESSION HELD IN PARIS

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Dec 13 2006

Regular session of the Committee of Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe on migration, refugees and population took place
in Paris. Discussed were the questions of regulation of illegal
immigration, activity of the Development Bank of the Council of Europe,
position of workers-immigrants in agencies of day-work. Also were
considered the questions connected with missing persons in Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Armenia, the people looking for refuges in Europe, state
of democracy and human rights in the European states and others.

At session, the Dutch deputy Leo Platvoet made report on the theme
"The missing people in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia".

L. Platvoet has noted, that with the purpose of gathering the facts
for preparation of the report, he alongside with Armenia and Georgia
has twice visited Azerbaijan, has met members of the government,
parliament, other officials, and also families of the people who
have missing.

The reporter informed, that as a result of occupation of the
Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan by Armenia and adjacent 7
regions, 4604 Azerbaijanis have missed. The report reflects the fact,
that many of them are alive and secretly contained in territory of
the occupied Nagorno Karabakh and in Armenia. The report in detail
narrates about the problem with which Azerbaijan has faced, including
about creation in Nagorno Karabakh of the so-called "government"
of a separatist regime, the armed forces of Armenia located at the
occupied Azerbaijan lands.

The report notes that the Council of Europe recognizes territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, emphasizing that
discussion of the question at all does not mean recognition in this
or that form of Nagorno Karabakh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, where
today there are conflicts. In the document, it is stated that Armenia
till now ignores four resolutions of Security Council of the United
Nations on unconditional liberation of the Azerbaijan territories.

These Resolutions have recognized the territorial integrity and
sovereignty of Azerbaijan, the report underlines.

EU REJECTS REFERENDUM VOTE ON DRAFT CONSTITUTION IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH
The Associated Press

International Herald Tribune, France
Dec 11 2006

BRUSSELS, Belgium: The European Union said Monday it would not
recognize the outcome of a referendum backing independence in the
breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The 25-nation bloc said it was "aware that a ‘constitutional
referendum’ has taken place," but reiterated that only a negotiated
settlement between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenians who control the
region can bring a lasting solution.

Officials said preliminary results indicated more than 98 percent of
voters in Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday backed the proposed
constitution, which describes the disputed territory as a "sovereign,
democratic" state.

"The EU recalls that it does not recognize the independence of
Nagorno-Karabakh. It recognizes neither the ‘referendum’ nor its
outcome," the EU said in a statement. It added that holding the
referendum pre-empts the outcome of negotiations and "did not
contribute to constructive efforts at peaceful conflict resolution."

Nagorno-Karabakh is a region in Azerbaijan that has been under the
control of Armenian and ethnic-Armenian Karabakh forces since a 1994
cease-fire. The six-year separatist conflict killed about 30,000
people and drove about 1 million from their homes, including many of
the region’s ethnic Azeris.

The final status of the region remains unresolved, despite years of
international mediation.

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AUTHORITIES PRESS COUP CHARGES AGAINST WAR VETERAN
By Astghik Bedevian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 12 2006

Law-enforcement authorities on Tuesday pressed coup charges against
a prominent Lebanese citizen of Armenian descent who was arrested at
the weekend for allegedly plotting to overthrow Armenia’s government.

Zhirayr Sefilian, the leader of a nationalist group opposed to Armenian
concessions to Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, appeared
to have avoided deportation from the country and looked set to stand
trial there instead.

The National Security Service (NSS) says Sefilian, a veteran of
the 1991-1994 war in Karabakh, set up a clandestine organization to
mount an armed uprising against the government during parliamentary
elections due next spring. Dozens of its alleged members were also
briefly detained over the weekend.

A court in Yerevan was considering behind the closed doors late
Tuesday the NSS’s request to keep Sefilian under arrest pending
investigation. The suspect was expected to be remanded in pre-trial
custody.

The NSS’s decision to formally charge Sefilian with publicly calling
for a "violent change of constitutional order" suggested that he will
not be deported from Armenia despite claims to the contrary made by
his friends and associates.

"I rule out his deportation," Sefilian’s Lebanese-Armenian wife,
Nanor Parseghian, told RFE/RL earlier in the day. "First of all,
because his passport’s validity period has expired and no third
country will agree to take him in and transfer to Lebanon."

The case against the decorated war veteran was condemned by more
than a dozen Armenian opposition parties. In a joint statement issued
late Monday, they accused the authorities of stifling dissent ahead
of the upcoming elections and demanded his immediate release from jail.

A similar statement was also released by 18 members of Armenia’s
parliament, most of them representing opposition factions. Three of
them also offered to pay bail on Sefilian’s behalf.

The inquiry was launched by the NSS under an article of the Armenian
Criminal Code that was invoked by state prosecutors in their
controversial criminal case against the country’s leading opposition
groups that tried unsuccessfully to topple the government with a
campaign of street protests in spring 2004.

AMBASSADOR OF INDIA IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

National Assembly of RA, Armenia
Dec 8 2006

On December 8 Mr. Tigran Torosyan, President of the National Assembly
of the Republic of Armenia received Mrs. Reena Pandey, Ambassador of
India to Armenia.

At the meeting issues concerning the upcoming official visit to
India in the nearest future, Mrs. Pandey noted that for preserving
and deepening the Armenian-Indian high-level relations, the NA
President’s visit is an important factor, and it will boost the
establishment of cooperation in different spheres. Noting that during
the mutual contacts opportunities are disclosed, Mr. Tigran Torosyan,
NA President, highlighted the use of the whole potential of the
Armenian-Indian relations and the elaboration and implementation of
concrete programmes. After three-year interval the Armenian-Indian
Intergovernmental Commission session will take place, which will also
boost the development of economic relations.

At Mr. Torosyan’s request Mrs. Pandey enumerated the spheres, where
the opportunities of deepening relations are big: inter-parliamentary
relations and exchange of legislative experience, health care
and alternative medicine, agriculture, development of information
technologies. Within this framework the opening of Yerevan-Delhi
flight was highlighted, which will especially promote the formation
of business relations. Mrs. Pandey also noted with gratitude the
assistance of Armenia to India in international structures, stressing
its continuity.

At the meeting both parties touched upon the problems of the Indian
young students in Armenia.

Mrs. Reena Pandey, Ambassador of India to Armenia, wishes successes
to NA President with the expectation of meeting again after his visit
and discussing new opportunities.