Author: Ekmekjian Janet

AZERBAIJAN TO REVIEW POLICY SHOULD ARMENIA DISRUPT PEACE PROCESS, PRESIDENT SAYS

AzTV Baku
16 Mar 06

President Ilham Aliyev has said that Azerbaijan wants to resolve
peacefully the conflict over the disputed region of Nagornyy Karabakh
but it may rethink its policy if Armenia disrupts the peace talks,
the state-run AzTV reported on 16 March.

In a live address to the Baku-hosted second congress of Azeris of
the world, the president said: “If we see that the peace process is
being undermined by Armenia…, then of course, Azerbaijan will have
to reconsider its participation in the peace process.”

“Over the past 12 years we have shown loyalty to the peace talks
despite the failed attempts to resolve the conflict. There has been
a cease-fire regime between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the past 12
years. We are taking part in the talks because we are still hoping
to achieve certain results. But how long will this continue? This
process cannot go on forever. The patience of the Azerbaijani people
and authorities is being tested… Our participation in the peace
talks once again confirmed our resolve to settle the problem not
militarily, but peacefully. We have channelled all our efforts into
this. If we see that Armenia’s position at the talks is insincere and
not constructive, if we see the international community being deceived
and misinformed by Armenia – we will have no choice…. Azerbaijan
will not participate in the talks for the sake of talks,” Aliyev said.

The president called for the Armenian withdrawal from the occupied
territories and the return of Azerbaijanis to their homeland, including
to Nagornyy Karabakh.

“Normal relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan can be restored only
after this. Only then will the peace process be possible. We will not
allow Nagornyy Karabakh to part with Azerbaijan today, tomorrow, in a
decade or in a century. We are the victims of the conflict. Armenia
had carried out an ethnic cleansing policy against us for which it
should answer before the international community,” the president said.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: “NEW SYSTEM OF MANAGEMENT OF INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPOSES SERIOUS REFORMS”

Noyan Tapan
Mar 09 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 9, NOYAN TAPAN. RA President Robert Kocharian
received on March 9 the newly elected Rectors of four institutions of
higher education of Yerevan: State Medical University Rector Gohar
Kyalian, State Economy Institute Rector Yuri Suvarian, Rector of
State University of Architecture and Construction Hovik Tokmajian
and Theater and Cinematography State Institute Rector Hrachia
Gasparian. According to the information submitted to Noyan Tapan by
the RA President’s Press Office, congratulating the newly elected
heads of the educational institutions, the President mentioned that
they are the first rectors elected by introduction of the new system
of management of the institutions of higher education. According to
R.Kocharian, the system has a long-going goal and supposes serious
reforms of the system of higher educational institutions. He
expressed a wish to listen to what the heads of the institutions
are going to do in that direction. Presenting the main problems and
future actions of their spheres, the Rectors considered primary the
quality increase of education, improvement of the management system
and its making corresponding to modern demands, preparation of the
scientific staff. Mentioning that the first step in the direction
of improvement of management mechanisms of institutions of higher
education was taken, the country head expressed wish for the next
steps are successive. According to him, every reformation program
is connected with some difficulties and heads of higher educational
institutions must have enough will to overcome them and move the
reforms forward.

MEETING AT THE INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
March 9 2006

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on 8 March held a meeting at
the Institute of International Relations of Japan.

In the meeting, attending was the minister of education and science,
the country’s former prime minister, ex-foreign minister, renowned
men of science, authoritative diplomats, ambassadors, businessmen,
militaries, former ambassador of Japan to Azerbaijan, currently the
Executive Director of the Japan Foreign Relations Institute Toshiyuku
Fujiwara, public of Japan, media representatives.

President of the Institute Yukio Yato warmly greeted President Ilham
Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Khanum Aliyeva.

Mr. Yukio Yato informed on biography of the Azerbaijan President.

Then, President Ilham Aliyev gave a large speech for the participants.

Expressing pleasure with the visit to Japan and level of relations
between two countries, President Aliyev said Japan was one of the
first to cooperate with Azerbaijan after raining state independence.

Visit of the nationwide leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev to Japan
in 1998 played a special role in development of these ties.

President of Azerbaijan spoke of dynamic economic growth in the
Republic, commenting them as record figures in world.

Touching upon the political situation in region, the head of the
Azerbaijan State said there are conflicts on the Caucasus. Azerbaijan
can be considered a stable country in this region and it has good
relations with neighbors. Azerbaijan is an attractive country with
rich natural resources, and important geographical position. It draws
attention and interest. But Azerbaijan is not an arena of rivalry.

President of Azerbaijan informed on the opening of over 340 working
places in the last two and half years in the country, poverty reduction
measures taken, on the social programs being realized.

At the same time, he dwelt on the problems existing in social plight
of the internally displaced persons. Armenia holds 20 percent of
Azerbaijani lands under occupation, pursues ethnic cleanse. As a
result, over one million of people have become refugees and IDPs. The
reason of the conflict is separatism, the President emphasized,
expressing confidence for restoration of justice from the political,
legal and historical points of view. Nagorno Karabakh has never
been the land of the Armenians, he said. They have been removed to
these areas.

The world community and United Nations have recognized Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity, which is not the subject to discussions,
President Ilham Aliyev said. Further, he gave detailed information
on the principles of settlement of this conflict, noting that the
conflict is a threat for entire region.

Speaking of the investment environment in Azerbaijan, President of
Azerbaijan said last times the European countries seek alternative
energy sources as they face gas crisis. In this sense, Azerbaijan
can be the very energy source.

President Ilham Aliyev informed on the religious tolerance historically
existing in Azerbaijan, noting “we can share our experience with the
world states”.

Then President Aliyev widely spoke of the relations with Japan, its
large-scale credits allotted to Azerbaijan, stressed the similarity
in character of two nations – respect for traditions, the adult and
other nations.

The, President of Azerbaijan answered questions on Azerbaijan-Japan
relations, the prospects of economic cooperation, the country’s
oil strategy, the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict and
religious tolerance.

President of the Institute Yukio Yato thanked to the Azerbaijan
President for interesting and substantial lecture, on behalf of the
Institute made him a gift.

** The same day, at the “Imperial” hotel, the Azerbaijan-Japan
Intergovernmental Commission arranged a banquet in honor of the
President of Azerbaijan.

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
March 10 2006

ARAM G. SARGSYAN: ARMENIA SHOULD RECOGNIZE LEGITIMACY OF KARABAKH’S
WITHDRAWAL FROM AZERBAIJAN

Nagorno Karabakh’s participation in the negotiation process is one of
the principal issues in the context of the Karabakh conflict
settlement, RA Democratic Party leader, National Assembly deputy,
Justice Faction member Aram G. Sargsyan believes.
In the course of a press conference that was held today Democratic
Party leader stated to involve Nagorno Karabakh in the talks Armenia
should first recognize the process of the Nagorno Karabakh’s
withdrawal from Azerbaijan legal, corresponding to all the
international standards. That is the essence of a draft referring to
the ways of the Karabakh conflict settlement Democratic Party
presented to the Parliament. According to A. Sargsyan, it will enable
the Armenian party to present the Nagorno Karabakh as a subject at
the Karabakh talks. The deputy noted at present Karabakh turned into
the negotiations’ object, which made the Armenian party’s stand very
vulnerable. He stressed recognition of legitimacy of the Karabakh’s
withdrawal from Azerbaijan did not imply recognition of independence
of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. In his words, the issue of
recognition of the NKR by Armenia should be submitted to a
nation-wide referendum. In the course of the referendum the people
must resolve the following issue: to recognize the NKR as an
independent state or as Armenia’s integral part. Aram Sargsyan added
the referendum should be held in not only in Armenia, but in the
Nagorno Karabakh as well.
In the politician’s words, the policy Armenia pursues in the Karabakh
issue is unacceptable for Karabakh as well. It is disagreement with
Armenia’s position that made the NKR President Arkady Ghoukasyan
state that the Karabakh party should be immediately involved in the
negotiation process.
As for Robert Kocharyan’s statement, according to which Armenia may
recognize the NKR, Aram Sargsyan believes it was made late. `Late
statements often result in negative consequences’, he remarked.
Touching upon Azerbaijan’s bellicose statements, the deputy stated
they were rather rhetorical. In his opinion, nowadays the word `war’
is just inadmissible for the South Caucasus countries. He noted
everyone was aware of the fact that in case a war was resumed the
hostilities would be much more large-scale than in early nineties, as
not only Armenia and Azerbaijan, but other states would be dragged in
the conflict. He added not Armenia or Azerbaijan, but superpowers
that are interested in the region determined the issues of the war’s
resumption. Aram Sargsyan is sure the interest of the external
powers, which put pressure both on Armenia and Azerbaijan, is a
principal factor in the Karabakh settlement.

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian National Committee
Eastern United States
P.O. Box 1066
New York, NY 10040
Contact: Doug Geogerian
Tel: 917 428 1918
Fax: 718 651 3637
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

Time Apologizes and Prints Letter Condemnding DVD Denying Armenian Genocide

Time Magazine European Edition printed a full-page letter in its October 17,
2005 edition, decrying the magazine~Rs inclusion of a DVD that included a
documentary, which denied the Armenian Genocide. The letter was written by
Bernard Jouanneau, the President of Memory 2000, which is described as
~Srepresentatives of . . .French organizations whose aim is to fight against
racism, anti-Semitism and for the memory of the Armenian Genocide.~T Mr.
Jouanneau is a leading lawyer and activist defending against anti-defamation
concerning the denial of the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide.

Directly following Mr. Jouanneau~Rs letter, Time~Rs editors expressed regret
for the offense caused by distributing the DVD. ~SThe so-called documentary
portion of the DVD presents a one-sided view of history that does not meet
our standards for fairness and accuracy, and we would not have distributed
it had we been aware of its content,~T said the editors. Claiming that the
DVD was not adequately reviewed, the editors announced a change in their
review process to avoid such future incidents. They conclude by apologizing
to the Armenian community.

In his letter, Mr. Jouanneau asserts the magazine~Rs responsibility
regardless of whether or not the Turkish Chamber of Commerce misled them.
He says redress for distributing the DVD to 500,000 house holds across
twelve European countries should include 1) disclosure of officials
standards used by Time when considering the inclusion of an ad and whether a
similar DVD denying the Holocaust would have been acceptable, 2) free
distribution of a ~SDVD prepared by the European Armenian Federation for
Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) regarding the history and modern-day
consequences of the Armenian Genocide,~T and 3) a donation from the revenue
earned from the Turkish advertisement to a nonprofit organization dedicated
to informing the public about the truth of the Armenian genocide and other
genocides.

The letter describes in detail many of the ~Slies, racial defamation,
personal defamation and historical mistakes in this DVD, which contains all
the techniques of disinformation and propaganda.~T Jouanneau points out
footage of Justin McCarthy, a known revisionist of the Armenian Genocide,
who says that the survival of some Armenians proves that a genocide did not
take place. The letter strongly objected to the characterization of all
Armenians as terrorists and accusations that Armenians collaborated with the
Nazis to exterminate the Jews.

Mr. Jouanneau criticizes Time~Rs editors for contributing to Turkey~Rs
campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide. In doing so, Jouanneau condemns
Time for aiding Turkey~Rs precedent of having committed a genocide with
impunity. ~STIME magazine has helped embolden future perpetrators of genocide
with the knowledge that their crimes can be committed without consequence,~T
said Jouanneau.

####

COOPERATION IN THE ASPECT OF THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

National Assembly of RA, Armenia
Oct 18 2005

On October 17 RA NA President Artur Baghdasaryan received Allar
Jõks , the Chancellor of Justice of the Republic of Estonia. Larisa
Alaverdyan, the Ombudsperson of Armenia attended the meeting.

During the meeting Mr. Allar Jõks presented the Estonian model of the
Ombudsman, saying that being a parliamentary structure it includes
the parliamentary control and the protection of human rights. It was
noted that the Estonian model of Ombudsman enables all the citizens of
Estonia to apply the Justice Chancellor for their problems, proposal
of legislative amendments. The Estonian Justice Chancellor expressed
his readiness with the legislative experience, as well as in the
aspect of the study of that experience and the specialists’ training,
to cooperate with the National Assembly of Armenia and Ombudsperson.

NA President Artur Baghdasaryan highlighted the positive result of
the referendum of the constitutional amendments, which will become
a new impetus both for the activeness of the parliamentary works
(in the aspect of the increase of the powers) and the development of
the new law on Ombudsman. They also discussed the issue of holding
a forum of Ombudsmen of the European countries in Armenia in 2006.

–Boundary_(ID_HqC6VdzqNNZNoBtvzRlVpA)–

STALLING PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT NECESSITATES POWERFUL MILITARY – ALIYEV

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Oct 13 – 19, 2005

Azerbaijan is seeking a peaceful settlement of the Upper Garabagh
conflict but no results have been achieved in this area yet, which
prompts the country to continue strengthening its military power,
President Ilham Aliyev said at the ceremony of opening a new
administrative building of the Special State Guard Service last week.

Aliyev pointed out the need for establishing strong military
potential. “Only powerful Azerbaijani army will achieve liberation
of the country’s territories. If the peace talks turn out fruitless,
the occupied lands will be freed through military action,” he said.

President Aliyev said the government is increasing military spending
every year. Whereas military expenses made up $175 million in 2004,
the figure is $300 million this year and will reach $600 million in
2006. But in defiance of the Azeri President’s statement, Armenia
has cited rapprochement in the positions of the conflicting sides.

“The positions on the Armenian and Azeri sides have drawn closer on
a number of pivotal issues. A commonality of approaches is observed
on the status, security and territories. There is hope that with the
increasing number of such elements, they will be reflected on paper”,
Armenian media quoted the country’s foreign minister Vardan Oskanian as
saying. With regard to the conflict mediation, Oskanian said there is
no alternative to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States,
Russia and France. Touching upon the possibility of transferring
the negotiations to a new format, notably, the Council of Europe,
which has been repeatedly proposed by Azerbaijan, Oskanian said: “The
discussions on the conflict resolution may take place anywhere. But
OSCE MG is the only entity for full-fledged talks on resolving the
problem. If a decision is made to consider the issue in a different
format, we will do so. But there is no alternative for the OSCE MG
today.” As for the participation of Upper Garabagh in the negotiations,
Oskanian said this is inevitable. “Someday Upper Garabagh will become
a full-fledged party in the negotiating process.

The Azeri side realizes this as well”, he claimed.

ARMENIA END CAMPAIGN WITH 3-0 WIN OVER 10-MAN ANDORRA

Reuters, UK
Oct 12 2005

ANDORRA LA VELLA, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Armenia ended their World Cup
qualifying campaign on a high with a 3-0 victory over 10-man Andorra
on Wednesday that lifted them off the bottom of Group One.

Armenia, whose only other win came against the same opponents in March,
finished in sixth place in the group with seven points from their 12
matches, two ahead of Andorra.

It was a disappointing end to what has been Andorra’s most successful
campaign in their short history in international competition.

The team from the tiny Pyrenean principality beat Macedonia 1-0 at home
a year ago to claim their first points in an official qualifying match.

They then earned a 0-0 draw away to the same opponents in February and
won another point with a goalless draw at home to Finland last month.

Although they held the visitors for most of the first half they
self-destructed in an unfortunate five-minute spell just before
the break.

Midfielder Oscar Sonejee turned a cross from the left into his own
net in 39th minute and defender Ildefons Lima received his marching
orders soon after for spitting at an opponent.

Andorra suffered another setback at the start of the second half when
Aram Akopyan smashed home a volley at the far post after a quickly
taken corner.

Things went from bad to worse just after the hour when Ara Akopyan
made it 3-0 with a virtuoso individual goal.

The Armenia striker received the ball with his back to goal on the
edge of the area, turned inside a defender, skipped past another and
rifled home into the top corner to complete an emphatic win.

OSCE Monitoring To Be Held At Karabakh And Azeri Contact Line

Pan Armenian
10.10.2005 18:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ October 11 a recurrent OSCE monitoring will be held
at the contact line of the Azeri and Karabakh armed forces. According
to a report of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, the monitoring will
be conducted in accord with the mandate of the Personal Representative
of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, whose field assistants Imre Palatunis,
Miroslav Vimetal, Peter Kii and representative of high rank working
group David Prenderhast will hold the monitoring from the Azeri
side. Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office,
Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzuk and his field assistants Alexander
Samarsky, Harry Eronen and the head of the high rank working group
will conduct the monitoring from the Karabakh side, IA Regnum reported.

The Hellenic Radio, Greece
Oct 8 2005

Olli Rehn’s Visit to Turkey “Proceed Quickly with Reforms”
08 Oct 2005 15:41:00

By Annita Paschalinou

The EU Enlargement Commissioner urged the Turkish National Assembly
to immediately proceed with signing the EU-Turkey protocol, while he
called on Ankara to implement the reforms at a faster pace, so that
the accession talks can commence on time. After meeting with the
Turkish PM, Olli Rehn noted that the speed of negotiations would
depend on the rate of reforms implemented by Turkey. He also
predicted that Turkeys accession to the EU would be tough and the
negotiations could last 10 years. Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke of a
tough process, while he voiced his optimism that the negotiations
will prove successful in the end.

Meeting with Novelist Orhan Pamuk

In the context of his contacts in Turkey, Olli Rehn met with Turkish
novelist Orhan Pamuk, a great defender of the rights of Kurds and
Armenians.

Turkeys most famous author faces up to three years in jail on the
charge of “insulting Turkish identity” for allegedly backing charges
that Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Empire
forces 90 years ago.

The incident has prompted intense reactions from the EU.

Pamuk will be called to appear before an Istanbul court in December.

Translated by Vicky Ghionis