Author: Boshkezenian Garik

CONSUMER PRICES GROW BY 2.6% IN ARMENIA IN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2007

Noyan Tapan
Mar 01 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, NOYAN TAPAN. A 2.6% grwoth was registered in
the Armenian consumer market in January-February 2007 on December
2006. According to the RA National Statistical Service, consumer
prices grew by 2.6% in February 2007 on December 2006, while the
growth in prices of food commodities (including alcoholic drinks and
cigarettes) made 4.6%. The overall level of non-food commodity prices
declined by 1.1% in the indicted period, and a 1% growth of tariffs
was registered in the service sector.

The consumer price index made 105.1% in February 2007 on February 2006,
including the index of food commodity prices (including alcoholic
drinks and cigarettes) – 106.7%, index of non-food commodity prices –
99.6% and index of service tariffs – 105.1%.

I AM TURKISH, I AM HONEST, I AM HARD-WORKING!
by Mehmet Y. Yilmaz

Hurriyet, Turkey
Feb 27 2007

Turkish History Foundation Professor Yusuf Halacoglu has turned to
be one of those excited about making politics out of the slogan that
was heard at the funeral proceedings for slain journalist Hrant Dink:
"We are all Armenians! We are all Hrant Dink!"

In fact, Halacoglu has gone a step further than some of the
commentaries that we have heard up until today, asserting that "We need
to research who exactly it was taking part in the funeral for Dink."

Here is what he says: "There are around 50 thousand Armenians in
Turkey. Women, men, children, all together around 50 thousand. Of this
number, there were probably 20 thousand at the funeral. So then who
else was there? Let’s say that there were about 10 thousand sincerely
there in terms of protest of Dink’s murder. Who were the others,
we need to look into this."

I wanted to draw your attention to these strange calculations by
Professor Halacoglu, which do not fit any sense of reason or thought
I can understand. If this is the way we approach the Armenian matter
in Turkey, then we are in real trouble.

Halacoglu asks, among his other comments, "Why didn’t anyone shout
the slogan ‘We are all Turks!’?"

But what I wonder is whether or not Halacoglu ever spent any time in
the garden of his primary school here in Turkey. If he had, he must
of heard the slogans, shouted in unison by everyone, (including the
children of ethnic minorities) which we all know so well: "Turkum,
dogruyum, caliskanim." (Meaning, "I am Turkish, I am honest, I am
hard-working.")

POLISH MINISTER, ARMENIAN PRESIDENT DISCUSS REGIONAL SECURITY

Polish News Agency, Poland
Feb 27 2007

Yerevan, 27 February: The situation in the Caucasus region and the
participation of Poland and Armenia in the stabilization mission in
Iraq were the key topics discussed by Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga
and Armenian President Robert Kocharyan during a Tuesday meeting
in Yerevan.

Minister Fotyga stressed "very fruitful" Polish-Armenian relations
since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two
countries in 1992, Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrzej Sados.

Fotyga winds up her two-day visit to Armenia on Tuesday afternoon.

HRANT DINK’S LESSONS AND SPIRIT ARE ALIVE

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.02.2007 13:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Lessons and spirit of slain Hrant Dink, the
editor-in-chief of Armenian-Turkish "Agos" weekly, are alive, Aleida
Assman of Konstanz University in Germany said during "From the Burden
of the Past to Societal Peace and Democracy" international conference
at Bilgi University in Istanbul. "We still hear his voice, and aim
for his beliefs to continue to exist," she told.

Drawing attention to the "We are all Armenian" slogan carried by
those attending Hrant Dink’s funeral in Istanbul, Assman said that
"synagogues, homes and goods belonging to the Jewish minority were
ransacked in Germany in 1938. If we had been able to say, "We are all
Jewish," would Hitler have been able to do this?", Hurriyet reports.

THE CONGRESS HAS TO AFFIRM THE FACT OF VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW BY TURKEY
By Ara Papian

AZG Armenian Daily
28/02/2007

US Congress and Woodrow Wilson’s Arbitral Award to Armenia

Recently the issue of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by
the United States of America has been extensively illustrated by the
Armenian and international mass media. Turkey as ever, is trying
to argue the right of foreign states to interfere its history and
inner affairs.

In this state of things a rather important thing has slipped away from
our attention – USA’s Constitutional right of interfering international
affairs, judging international law violations and punishing the guilty
side. Article 1, Section 8, paragraph 10 of the US Constitution says:
þþThe Congress shall have power … to define and punish …offenses
against the law of nations."

Therefore, each member of the Congress may raise such a question:
is not Turkey’s refusal to fulfill the Arbitral Award on the
Turkish-Armenian Border by Woodrow Wilson (22 November, 1922) a
violation f international law? If so, why do not the United States
take measures to bring the lawbreaker to responsibility?

The Congress has to affirm the fact of violation of international
law by Turkey for two main reasons.

First, the principle of precedents, adopted by the Senate.

Already in 1927 the Senate expressed a firm and certain position on
the Wilson’s Arbitral Award. Thus on January 18 the Senate refused
to endorse the American-Turkish agreement (signed August 6, 1923 )
and to accept the present Turkish republic [1].

Therefore the USA-Turkey relations remain uncertain by now [2]. Three
reasons of declining the agreement were brought by the Senate, of
which the first was the following: "Turkey failed to provide for
the fulfillment of the Wilson award to Armenia" [3]. The agreement
remained pending at the Senate until 1934, when called back to the
President’s cabinet by the request of Franklin Roosevelt [4]. Turkey
also never completed the process of endorsement of that agreement [5].

Second, the terms of the Democrat Party Platform.

1924-1928 party platform stated the necessity of "Fulfillment of
President Wilson’s arbitral award respecting Armenia". The 1928-32
platform said: "We favor the most earnest efforts on the part of the
United States to secure the fulfillment of the promises and engagements
made during and following the World War by the United States and the
allied powers to Armenia and her people" [6].

Taking into consideration that in the both cambers of the US Congress
the majority at present belongs to Democrats, it seems quite possible
that the Senate, according to the US Constitution will define Turkey’s
offences against the law of nations, neglecting the arbitral award
and urge the executive branch to take measures of punishment.

1. Unperfected Treaties of the United States of America, 1776-1976,
edited and annotated by Christian L. Wiktor, Volume 6, 1919-1925,
New York, 1984, p.

421. Leland J. Gordon, Turkish-American Political Relations, The
American Political Science Review, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Aug., 1928), p. 721.

2. Roger R. Trask, The United States Response to Turkish Nationalism
and Reform 1914-1939, The University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis,
1971, p. 36)

3. Lausanne Treaty is Defeated, the Davenport Democrat, January 19,
1927, p.

4. Roger R. Trask, The United States Response to Turkish Nationalism
and Reform 1914-1939, The University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis,
1971, p. 48)

5. Unperfected Treaties of the United States of America, 1776-1976,
edited and annotated by Christian L. Wiktor, Volume 6, 1919-1925,
New York, 1984, p. 421.

6. National Party Platforms, 1840-1968, (completed by Kirk Porter
and Donald Johnson), Urbana, Chicago, London, 1972, p. 277.

–Boundary_(ID_FoZKpXPOzXhRrN69cF8Ohw)–

Agence France Presse — English
February 22, 2007 Thursday 2:15 PM GMT

Budapest court upholds life sentence for Azerbaijani officer

A Budapest court upheld a life sentence on Thursday against an
Azerbaijani military officer convicted of murdering an Armenian
lieutenant in Hungary in 2004, court spokesman Gyorgy Felkai told
AFP.

The murder had inflamed simmering ethnic tensions between Azerbaijan
and Armenia, two former Soviet republics fighting for control over
the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The appellate court upheld the life sentence handed down by the
first instance," Felkai said Thursday.

Ramil Safarov, an Azerbaijani army lieutenant, used an axe to hack
Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Markarian to death in his sleep in the
dormitories of a NATO training centre in Budapest in 2004.

The two officers were enrolled in an English-language course in the
Hungarian capital as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s
Partnership for Peace programme, of which both Armenia and Azerbaijan
are members.

Safarov was also found guilty of planning the murder of another
Armenian, which he did not carry out.

He will be eligible for parole in 30 years.

Armenia had attributed the murder to "anti-Armenian hysteria" fanned
by the Baku government, while Azerbaijani officials countered that
the killer was himself a refugee from the conflict with Armenia and
that the victim had taunted him over the conflict.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-year war over Karabakh that
claimed around 25,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of
people.

It ended in a tense ceasefire in 1994 with Armenian forces in control
of most of the enclave and seven surrounding regions, but Karabakh’s
status remains unresolved and tensions are still at boiling point.

JOINT DISCUSSION OF THE KARABAKH CONFLICT

armradio.am
22.02.2007 17:00

"The communities of Nagorno Karabakh can jointly discuss the ways
of resolution of the conflict. The Azerbaijani community proposed
to hold such meeting in the city of Shoushi," Head of the so called
Azeri community of Nagorno Karabakh Nizami Bakhmanov told RIA Novosti.

He said that "the Azerbaijani side positively assesses the suggestion
of the EU Special Envoy for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby to hold
discussions between the communities of the region on ways of the
conflict resolution."

According to Bakhmanov, "such a meeting can take place only in
Shoushi." "If these negotiations yield a positive result, the Azeri
community is ready to hold this kind of meetings with mediation of
international organizations," he noted. Bakhmanov also informed that
"the work in this direction is already under way and Peter Semneby will
discuss the question during the visits to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

THERE IS NOTHING EXTRAORDINARY ABOUT OYP VICE-CHAIRMAN’S LEAVING PARTY, PARTY CHAIRMAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 22 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The rumors on Orinats Yerkir
(Country of Law) Vice-Chairman Gagik Aslanian’s intention to
leave the party do not correspond to reality. OYP Chairman Artur
Baghdasarian declared this at the February 22 press conference. As
regards party’s another Vice-Chairman Gagik Mkheyan’s leaving the
party, in A. Baghdasarian’s words, there is nothing extraordinary
about it. He said that G. Mkheyan had long stopped working actively
in the party, which he publicly confessed. OYP Chairman considered as
"decency" the fact that G. Mkheyan elected as a deputy by the party’s
list remained in the faction until the expiration of the powers of
current parliament. In A. Baghdasarian’s words, soon OYP and another
political forces will publish their proportional lists and it is not
excluded that parties not included in the lists will leave the party.

DELEGATION MEETS ARCHBISHOP AND AYATOLLAH IN IRAN
Mark Beach

Mennonite Central Committee
Feb 21 2007

TEHRAN, Iran – On the first day after their arrival in Iran, a
delegation of U.S. religious leaders met separately with Tehran
Friday prayer leader Mohammad Emami Kashani and the Archbishop of
the Armenian Orthodox Church in Tehran.

In introductory remarks to both leaders, delegation co-leader
Ron Flaming of the Mennonite Central Committee explained that the
delegation of Christian leaders feels a calling to visit Iran at a
time of great tension between the two nations. He made clear that
the delegation believes that this tension is not what God intended.

Flaming said the delegation came to meet with the Iranians to engage
in dialogue and hear suggestions on how people in Iran and the U.S.
can help reduce the tension.

In an effort to help the group understand the relationship of
minorities in Iran, Archbishop Sebu Sarkissian said that although
the Armenians living in Iran are a minority faith group, they view
themselves as full Iranians. In fact, he added, the Armenian church
in Iran is an indigenous community.

He said that religious leaders in the U.S. and Iran have to build
trust between each other. "This is not an easy task," he said.

The Ayatollah began his address to the delegation by revealing that
the Holy Kor’an says Christianity is mentioned as the closest religion
to Islam. He explained that the two religions are not in conflict
and that both want peace, equality and justice.

In a question and answer period with the delegates, the Ayatollah
confirmed that the Grand Ayatollahs of Iran have issued a "fatwa"
against the development and use of nuclear weapons and all weapons
of mass destruction. He said it is forbidden in Islam.

When asked why harsh language is used against the United States in
the Friday prayers that he sometimes leads-prayers broadcast across
the country- he replied "What you mention is not against the American
people. Our objection is to statements of the American government."

On his way to evening prayers, the Imam’s final statement to the
delegation was, "Please consider Iran as your second home for
Americans."

The 13-member U.S. group represents church members from the Mennonite,
Quaker, Episcopal, Catholic and United Methodist churches.

The group is spending one-week in Iran meeting with religious and
political leaders in the country.

"IRAVOUNK" WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED TOMORROW

A1+
[07:41 pm] 19 February, 2007

Tomorrow a protest action will be held in the office of Constitutional
Right Union. Newspaper "Iravounk" will not be published. The reason,
according to CRU President Hayk Baboukhanyan, is the threats to the
party and the editorial office.

"People call us on behalf of Hrant Khachatryan and threaten
us. Besides, we know what an attack on the party means. The same
people had organized an attack ten days ago which was prevented thanks
to our efforts. Our workers are afraid to go home in the evening",
announced Hayk Baboukhanyan and added that they have sent the woman
workers home as they cannot provide their security. He also mentioned
that their bank account has been blocked.

The CRU President claimed that the doors of the office will be
closed for Hrant Khachatryan. Electing leader of the party by court
is unacceptable for Baboukhanyan.

Nevertheless, Hayk Baboukhanyan has a suggestion for Hrant
Khachatryan. He offers him to participate in the 18th conference of
the party and vote together with the members of the party.

Let us remind you that by the decision of the Court the results of
the 17th conference of the CRU have been canceled.