Kocharian ‘Will Retain Key Government Role After Exit’

KOCHARIAN ‘WILL RETAIN KEY GOVERNMENT ROLE AFTER EXIT’
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 4 2006

President Robert Kocharian intends to continue to play a key role in
Armenian politics and government affairs after completing his second,
presumably final term in office in just over a year from now, his
national security adviser said on Monday.

Garnik Isagulian predicted that Kocharian will retain his "big
influence" on political processes in the country, giving more weight to
suggestions that the Armenian leader is aiming for another high-level
government post.

"The role to be played by President Kocharian [after his anticipated
resignation] will be quite large," Isagulian told reporters. "Life will
tell," he said when asked to specify what concrete forms it might take.

Armenia’s constitution bars incumbent presidents from staying in
power for a third consecutive term, and Kocharian has so far left no
indication that he will try to find a legal loophole for contesting the
presidential election due in early 2008. There are growing signs that
his most influential and longtime associate, Defense Minister Serzh
Sarkisian, is his preferred candidate for the Armenian presidency.

The Armenian press has been rife with speculation that Kocharian
would like to serve as prime minister after 2008. The 52-year-old
president, who came to power in 1998, himself stoked it at a November
2005 meeting with university students in Yerevan. "Who is better than
I in terms of knowledge, experience, hard work and resilience?" he
said, answering a question about his political plans for the future.

Kocharian has been heavily linked with a new but extremely ambitious
party set up by Gagik Tsarukian, one of Armenia’s wealthiest
government-connected men. The party called Prosperous Armenia has
effectively kicked off its well-financed campaign for next spring’s
parliamentary elections recently with a large-scale distribution of
relief aid to impoverished farmers across the country.

Local analysts believe that Prosperous Armenia’s main mission is to
win strong presence in the next parliament and serve as Kocharian’s
main support base. Some say it is also meant to hold Sarkisian and
the governing Republican Party of (HHK) in check.

But Isagulian, who makes no secret of his strong support for
Sarkisian’s apparent presidential ambitions, denied any rivalry between
Armenia’s two most powerful men. He also indicated his intention to
team up with the HHK ahead of the upcoming parliamentary polls.

Lavrov Urged Kocharian And Aliyev To Make A Step To Agreeing Over Ka

LAVROV URGED KOCHARIAN AND ALIYEV TO MAKE A STEP TO AGREEING OVER KARABAKH PRINCIPLES

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.12.2006 15:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russian FM Sergey Lavrov on behalf of the OSCE
MG co-chairs urged Armenian and Azeri Presidents to make a new
important step towards agreeing over Basic principles of settlement
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, thus making the prospect of
establishment of a fair and lasting peace closer. This is said in a
release of the Russian MFA on the meeting of the Armenian and Azeri
Presidents. Kocharian and Aliyev had met in Minsk November 28 within
the CIS Summit of Heads of State.

BAKU: FM meets with British Baroness O’Cathain

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Dec 1 2006

FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS WITH BRITISH BARONESS
[December 01, 2006, 14:56:51]

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Member of
the House of Lords of Great Britain’s Parliament, Baroness O’Cathain,
press service of the Ministry said.

The British Baroness said Great Britain and Azerbaijan share a long
history of relations.

Minister Mammadyarov and Baroness O’Cathain discussed current state
of the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace negotiations over Nagorno Karabakh,
implementation of large-scale economic projects in the region, fight
against international terrorism and other questions.

Elmar Mammadyarov said the Nagorno-Karabakh problem should be solved
only in accordance with international norms and the principle of
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

The Minister said Armenia is spreading false information about his
country, adding this affects peaceful talks negatively.

BAKU: Nizami Bahmanov: "If Azeri And Armenian Presidents Meet It Mea

NIZAMI BAHMANOV: "IF AZERI AND ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS MEET IT MEANS IMPROVEMENTS IN TALKS"

Newsday, NY
Nov 30 2006

"If Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents meet, there are improvements
in the talks," said Nizami Bahmanov, the head of the Azerbaijani
community in Nagorno Karabakh.

He told the APA that to hold talks within Prague process is a positive
tendency. Nizami Bahmanov also took a stance on the visit of the head
of Nagorno Karabakh separatists Arkadi Gukasyan to the US.

"Only Armenians can greet Gukasyan warmly in the US. The US officials
do not recognize Gukasyan and his separatist regime. His meeting with
the US co-chair Matthew Bryza has not been confirmed. But Matthew
Bryza can meet with Gukasyan as the head of Armenian community. The
co-chair meets with me, too. There is nothing unusual in this. It
is absurd that Matthew Bryza did not visit the region because of his
meeting with Gukasyan," he said.

Nizami Bahmanov said that he will visit foreign countries as the head
of Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh.

URL:

http://www.today.az/news/politics/33310.html

Pope Arrives In Ankara

POPE ARRIVES IN ANKARA
By Hakob Chakrian

AZG Armenian Daily
30/11/2006

After public insinuations as well as violent protest demonstrations
in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and other towns of Turkey, Pope Benedict
XVI at last arrived in Ankara. Meanwhile Turkish public explains the
unrest by the Pope’s defamatory words addressed to the Islamic world,
"The Guardian" newspaper focused attention on a demonstration organized
by the "Happiness" Islamic party in Istanbul, November 26.

The British newspaper pointed out an expression by the party leader
Reja Kutan that the Pope is "the assignee of Satan on earth". "The
Daily Telegraph" reports about a banner saying that "Christ is not
the son of God but a prophet of Islam".

The Pope, who arrived in Turkey by the invitation of Presient Ahmed
Nejdet Sezeri, was met in the airport by Prime Minister Rejep Tayip
Erdogan, who has postponed his departure for Riga, where he is to
take part in a NATO summit. Mr. Erdogan expressed his contentment
to Benedictus XVI and emphasized his meeting in the context of the
dialogue of civilizations. On his way from the Ankara airport the
Pope visited the tomb of Ataturk. The Pope was officially received
at President Sezeri’s residence.

On his meeting with the Turkish president the Supreme Pontiff discussed
the relations between Vatican and Turkey and regional development
issues. Benedict XVI was also received by Minister of State Mehmed
Ali Sahin and the head of the Governmantal Department for Religion
Issues Ali Bardaqoglu. On November 29 the Pope is to visit Izmir,
Ephesus and at last Istanbul.

The Turkish authorities expect that in spite of all anxiety about
the Pope’s visit to the Constantinople Orthodox Patriarchy and the
Aya Sofia temple, he will give the Turkish public a positive message
and thus assist the establishment of contact between the Western and
Islamic civilizations.

BAKU: Azeri Pundit Pessimistic About High-Level Talks With Armenia

AZERI PUNDIT PESSIMISTIC ABOUT HIGH-LEVEL TALKS WITH ARMENIA

Day.az, Azerbaijan
Nov 28 2006

Well-known political expert Rasim Musabayov has granted an exclusive
interview to Day.az.

[Correspondent] What do you expect from the forthcoming Minsk meeting
between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and
Robert Kocharyan?

[Musabayov] There is a minimal possibility that some document will be
signed after the meeting. There is not even a hint that the foreign
ministers have agreed on the text of such a document. On the contrary,
the statements that Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharyan made before
the meeting in Minsk do not inspire optimism and show that it will
be difficult to bring the positions of the sides closer.

Therefore, it would be good if the presidents appear in front of
journalists together after the meeting to say that the negotiations
were useful. And it should be regarded as success if there is a
statement that they managed to bring their positions on disputable
issues closer and that the foreign ministers of the two states were
instructed to hold an additional round of negotiations bearing in
mind the progress achieved during the presidents’ meeting.

[Passage omitted: on Russia’s relations with Georgia and other
countries]

[Correspondent] What kind of policy do you think is Azerbaijan
pursuing now?

[Musabayov] A prudent one, and this is justified by the situation.

Unlike Georgia and Ukraine, Azerbaijan is not only under pressure
from Moscow, but also has quite problem relations with neighbouring
Iran and a frozen war with Armenia.

Therefore, the republic’s leadership has to manoeuvre, balance and try
not to irritate Moscow even more with its open pro-Western orientation.

But we should not forget where our strategic pipelines go as well
as the fact that we have the leading Western energy company BP as a
partner and that fraternal Turkey, our only real strategic partner,
is a member state of NATO. All this defines Azerbaijan’s pro-Western
orientation.

We should honour our commitments step by step within the framework of
Azerbaijan’s Individual Partnership Action Plan [IPAP] with NATO and
the Azerbaijan-EU Action Plan. As for political decisions and making
them public, the time will come for them.

FIBA Europe Confirms Armenia’s Participation In European Championshi

FIBA EUROPE CONFIRMS ARMENIA’S PARTICIPATION IN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 27 2006

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA Europe) has confirmed
the participation of the under 16 and under 18 basketball teams of
Armenia in the European Championship contests to be held in Italy,
Romania and Macedonia, "Armenpress" was told at the Basketball
Federation of Armenia.

Turkey’s Christians await pope’s visit

Nov. 26, 2006, 4:40PM
Turkey’s Christians await pope’s visit

By SUZAN FRASER Associated Press Writer

ANKARA, Turkey – Next door to a store selling artificial limbs in a
run-down area of Turkey’s capital, the Protestant church sits on the ground
floor of a dreary apartment block, with barred windows and kitchen chairs
for pews.
The 100-strong congregation of the Kurtulus Church, which is linked to the
U.S.-based International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, rents the space
because authorities have not responded to its request for land and a permit
to build a proper chapel.
When Pope Benedict XVI visits Turkey for four days starting Tuesday, he will
try to ease anger over his recent remarks linking Islam and violence. But he
is also expected to press the 99 percent Muslim country to give its
Christian community more rights. Some of those Christians are forced to
worship in so-called "apartment churches," and suffer prejudice,
discrimination, even assault.
"The pope will discuss the rights of the religious minority" with Turkish
officials, said Monsignor Luigi Padovese, the pope’s vicar in Anatolia. "In
a secular country, people must have the right to believe in whatever faith
they choose to believe."
The pastor of Kurtulus Church, the Rev. Ihsan Ozbek, sees an opening for
dialogue. "We face serious problems. Turkish citizens who converted to
Christianity, especially, face serious discrimination and violence," he
said.
The windows of his makeshift chapel have twice been smashed by suspected
Turkish nationalists, reflecting a widely held conviction that conversion is
treason and that Christian clergy are missionaries or spies for Western
powers.
Of Turkey’s 70 million people, some 65,000 are Armenian Orthodox Christians,
20,000 are Roman Catholic, and 3,500 are Protestant, mostly converts from
Islam. Another 2,000 are Greek Orthodox and 23,000 are Jewish.
The shrunken Christian presence belies the church’s deep roots in latter-day
Turkey.
Constantinople _ modern-day Istanbul _ was the Christian Byzantine capital
for more than 1,000 years until it fell to Muslim forces in 1453 and became
the seat of the Muslim Ottoman Empire.
St. John the Apostle is said to have brought the Virgin Mary to Ephesus, 400
miles southwest of Istanbul, where she is believed to have spent her final
years, while St. Paul traveled through much of modern-day Turkey on his
missionary journeys.
Iznik is the former Nicea, where early Christian doctrine was formulated in
325 A.D. All seven major churches of early Christianity, mentioned in The
New Testament, are in present-day Turkey. The pope will make a pilgrimage to
one of them at Ephesus.
Today, Istanbul remains the center of Orthodoxy and the seat of Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew I, considered "the first among equals" among the
Orthodox leadership.
But membership is dwindling. The sole seminary training Greek Orthodox monks
was ordered closed in 1971, and no alternative site has been granted.
Turkish law also makes it impossible to import non-Turkish seminarians, and
requires that the patriarchs be Turkish citizens, severely reducing the pool
of candidates to succeed 66-year-old Bartholomew.
The Armenian Orthodox community’s seminary is also closed, confronting it
with the same challenge, while Greek and Armenian communities are struggling
to recover property that the state confiscated in the 1970s.
Turkey wants to join the European Union, which is pressing it for greater
tolerance. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted government
has taken some steps toward change, amending laws to allow religious
minorities to recover some property. The government has also indicated
willingness to reopen the minority seminaries, but has failed to find a
formula that conforms with the country’s secular laws.
Even though Turkey is secular and Turks are considered moderately religious,
authorities often report students who attend Christian meetings to their
families to prevent possible conversions, and proselytizers are detained and
extradited.
The distrust is so deep that non-Muslims are barred from the police force
and military.
In February, a Turkish teenager shot dead a Catholic priest, Rev. Andrea
Santoro, as he knelt in prayer in his church in the Black Sea port of
Trabzon. The attack was believed linked to widespread anger in the Islamic
world over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of the
Prophet Muhammad. Two other Catholic priests were attacked this year.

Edu Min pleased w/1st stage of implementation of Bologna agreement

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 24 2006

ARMENIAN MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE IS PLEASED WITH FIRST
STAGE OF IMPLEMENTATION OF BOLOGNA AGREEMENT

On December 14, in Strasbourg, an Armenian delegation led by Levon
Lazarian, the Armenian Minister of Education and Science, will
present the first report on implementation of the Bologna agreement
in Armenia, L.Lazarian said at a press-conference, Friday.

During the meeting with journalists, the Minister pointed out some
positive results the Armenian side has reached since joining the
Bologna agreement in 2005. Particularly, Armenian teachers have
already passed the advanced training course in a number of European
countries. Besides, due to the Armenian-German program on pupil
exchange, next year several Armenian pupils will get an opportunity
to live and study in Germany. L.Lazarian noted that serious work
will be done to raise the quality of teaching the German language in
Armenian educational institutions. The Minister also expressed hope
that in the future it will be possible to establish an
Armenian-Chinese cultural and educational center in the republic due
to the cooperation of Armenia and China in the sphere of education.

L.Lazarian said that it is planned to publish a book about Armenia’s
obligations under the Bologna agreement, as well as training aids on
test system of passing the Armenian language and Literature exam for
university entrants. The Minister emphasized that all the 50 thousand
copies of the edition will be given to senior pupils free of charge.

To note, the first official report on implementing the Bologna
agreement in Armenia will be published in London in spring 2007.

Days of Armenian music in US on initiative of Turkish pianist

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Nov 23 2006

DAYS OF ARMENIAN MUSIC TO BE HELD IN US IN 2007 ON INITIATIVE OF
TURKISH PIANIST

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. On the initiative of the Turkish
pianist Atakan Sari, days of the Armenian music will be held in the
US in 2007. During a talk with NT correspondent, the pianist said
that the orchestra of Cornell University, the world-famous pianist
Martin Berkovski, as well as opera singers from Armenia will
participate in the concerts, during which works by Khachatur
Avetisian and Alan Hovhannes will be performed.

In the words of A. Sari, it is well known that the Armenian people
has a rich culture, and it is "the duty of everybody to present it
duly throughout the world."