Author: Jabejian Elizabeth

PRIME MINISTER TIGRAN SARGSYAN CONDOLES DEATH OF PASSENGERS AT MADRID AIRPORT

ARMENPRESS
Aug 22, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS: Armenian prime minister Tigran Sargsyan
sent a message to Spanish prime minister Luis Zapaterro to convey his
and Armenians’ condolences on the death of passengers of an aircraft
that crashed in Madrid’s Barajas airport.

The government department for public relations and information told
Armenpress that the message reads as follows.

"We learned with pain about the aircraft accident at Madrid airport
that claimed so many lives. On behalf of the Republic of Armenia
and myself I express my deep condolences to you, the families of the
killed people and their relatives."

LEADER OF ARMENIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY: "CONFLICT IN SOUTH OSSETIA WILL HELP ARMENIA PRESENT ITS POSITION ON NAGORNO KARABAKH TO THE WORLD SOCIETY"

Today.Az
olitics/47138.html
Aug 22 2008
Azerbaijan

The conflict in South Ossetia will help Armenia to present its clear
position on the Nagorno Karabakh issue to the world society, considers
leader of Armenian Democratic Party Aram Sargsyan.

"We should use the chance we have got and present the issue of Nagorno
Karabakh status to the world arena and draw attention to recognition of
"Nagorno Karabakh Republic", said Aram Sargsyan at a press conference
Thursday.

He said the idleness in this issue can become a great mistake.

At the same time, Sargsyan noted that Armenia has no right to hold
talks with Azerbaijan on the status of Nagorno Karabakh, as the said
issue was settled by results of the "national referendum" in 1991.

"Thus, if we talk about Nagorno Karabakh independence from Azerbaijan,
this does not mean violation of the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan", said he.

The leader of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan considers that
Armenia should hold talks with official Baku only on the issue of
eliminating consequences of war "declared by Azerbaijan".

AZERI PAPERS COMMENT ON RUSSIA-GEORGIA CONFLICT’S IMPACT ON KARABAKH PROBLEM

BBC Monitoring International Reports
August 21, 2008 Thursday

An Azerbaijani independent daily has expressed its concern about the
consequences of "the US-Russian fight to put the South Caucasus in
the sphere of their influence".

On 20 August, in a comment on the latest developments in the South
Caucasus region after the Russian-Georgian conflict, Ekspress said: "It
is obscure where the US-Russian standoff is leading the region. One of
them want to take control over our wealth, the other wants to control
our territories as well. Europe comes up as another geopolitical actor
in the region in the person of the third co-chairing country – France."

The paper added that "the resolution of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict
by means of such mediating countries conflicting is impossible as
each of them promises us only nasty surprises".

"When Georgia entered South Ossetia, it saw the US support at least
although it was late. If we want to enter Karabakh, all the three
co-chairing countries will stand by Armenia," Ekspress said.

The opposition daily Azadliq quoted independent expert Rasim Musabayov
as saying that everything can be expected from Russia now.

Asked about the possibility of Russia’s military incursion into
Azerbaijan, Musabayov said that there was still no reason and need
for that.

"First, we have an opportunity to head off this provocation. Second,
it is impossible to create this artificially," Musabayov said.

The political analyst thinks that as Russia has faced a threat of
losing several partners, it prefers cooperation with Azerbaijan,
the paper said.

In an interview with another opposition daily Yeni Musavat, Musabayov
said that "the reality is that Russia is seeking for a pretext to
destroy Georgia. The world, including the USA, understands that Russia
does not enjoy great power. From this standpoint, the West considers
achieving success as a result of diplomatic pressure. Russia does
not have much room for manoeuvres".

He added that the Russian president and premier did not want to be
isolated from the world and wanted to be represented in G8.

The analyst said that Russia would be expelled from Georgia by force
and added that "the blow of any serious step that the USA takes in
any case will hit Turkey".

However, he added that Turkey is trying to regulate ties with Moscow
so that to avoid risks against itself and Azerbaijan.

Asked if Azerbaijan is Russia’s next target in the South Caucasus,
political expert Vafa Quluzada told Azadliq that "if Russia wants
to really take control over the South Caucasus, then the capture
of Azerbaijan will be put on agenda whether you like it or not. But
nobody can say precisely if Russia will attack Azerbaijan or not".

In a comment on the latest developments, the Yeni Azarbaycan newspaper
of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party said that "although it is logical
to think that the Georgian developments will speed up its NATO
membership, one should take into account that a political decision
is also of great importance here… In any case, the resolution of
the conflict or Georgia’s NATO membership demands political will. If
this will is not displayed [by the West], Tbilisi will suffer from
its pro-Western policy".

ARMENIAN GDP ROSE 10.6 PERCENT IN THE FIRST 7 MONTHS

ARMENPRESS
Aug 20, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 20, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s GDP in the first 7 months
of 2008 rose 10.6 percent from a year before to 1.740 trillion
Drams. According to the National Statistical Service, the growth in
July against June was 21,4 percent.

It said also the industrial output, including power production, rose
1.8 percent to 428.2 billion Drams. The growth in July against June
was 6.5 percent.

ANGRY SWEDISH WRESTLER TO HAVE PENALTY CASE REVIEWED

Toronto Star
Aug 20 2008
Canada

BEIJING-Wrestler Ara Abrahamian and his country’s Olympic committee
asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport to investigate a controversial
semifinal bout that so incensed the Swede that he dropped his bronze
medal in disgust and eventually had it stripped by the IOC.

CAS said Wednesday that a hearing will be held on Friday in Beijing
after it received a request from the National Olympic Committee
of Sweden and from Abrahamian against the International Wrestling
Federation.

The Geneva-based CAS said in a statement that it will decide whether
the international federation’s consideration of Abrahamian and the
Swedish Olympic committee’s requests "to change the result of the
bout and to sanction the officials in the bout comply with the Olympic
charter and FILA’s own internal rules."

CAS said Abrahamian and the Olympic committee "do not seek from the
CAS any particular relief" regarding the ranking of the medals for
the event, or a review of the IOC to exclude Abrahamian from the games.

Last Friday, the IOC disqualified Abrahamian and stripped his bronze
medal for dropping the medal in protest after Thursday’s disputed
loss. He was punished by the IOC for violating the spirit of fair
play during the medal ceremony.

Abrahamian was upset that a disputed penalty call decided his semifinal
match against Andrea Minguzzi of Italy, who went on to win the gold
medal in the Greco-Roman 84-kilogram division.

During the medal ceremony, the Armenian-born Abrahamian – who also
lost a 2004 Olympic semifinal match on a disputed call – took the
bronze from around his neck and dropped it on the mat as he walked
away. He did not take part in the rest of the medal ceremony.

The IOC executive board ruled Abrahamian’s actions amounted to
a political demonstration and a mark of disrespect to his fellow
athletes.

The 28-year-old Abrahamian had to be restrained from going after
matside officials following his loss to Minguzzi. He stormed away
from the area where interviews are conducted and slammed a door to
the dressing rooms.

VISITING ARMENIAN ENERGY MINISTER MEETS DPTY IRANIAN FM

Mathaba.Net
Aug 19 2008
UK

Visiting Armenian Energy and Natural Resources Minister and Armenian
head of Iran-Armenia Cooperation Council Armen Movsisyan here Monday
met and conferred with Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister care taker
of Foreign Ministry’s Middle East and CIS Affairs Office Ali Reza
Sheikh Attar.

According to the Information and Media Head Office of the Foreign
Ministry, during the meeting in the presence of the Deputy Armenian
Foreign Minister Qarib Janain, the two sides reviewed bilateral ties,
as well as the Caucasus region’s recent developments.

Sheikh Attar in the meeting referred to the depth and wide span of
the bilateral ties, emphasizing that the two countries’ relations
are still in need of further development.

Movsisyan, too, stressed that Yerevan’s determination for expansion of
its level of cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran in various
fields is quite strong, reiterating, "Iran’s role in the region
is quite significant and your country enjoys a unique geographical
status." –IRNA

DENMARK TO HELP ARMENIA CREATE EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS

ARMENPRESS
Aug 19, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS: Armenian education and science ministry
is negotiating a plan of joint cooperation with the government of
Denmark in elementary and vocational education.

Artak Aghbalian, head of elementary and vocational education department
of the ministry, told Armenpress that both sides are going to sign soon
a memorandum of understanding. He said as part of cooperation Armenia
will use Danish experience in creating new education standards. Also
teachers of colleges and vocational schools will have training course.

Artak Aghbalian said the training course and creation of new standards
are very important. He said Armenia has so far only 24 operating
educational standards, 27 will have been developed this year and 100
more in 2009-2010.

Interfax, Russia
Aug 14 2008

Russia to allocate over 20 million rubles for modernization of CIS
missile defense system

DUSHANBE Aug 14

Russia will allocate over 20 million rubles for the modernization of
the combined CIS missile defense system in 2008, Sergei Bulkin, a
representative of the secretariat of the CIS Council of Ministers,
said at a meeting of the Council of Ministers’ coordination committee
on ABM (Anti Ballistic Missile) issues in Dushanbe on Wednesday.

"Every year, Tajikistan and other CIS countries receive funds for
modernization of their ABM systems. This year, Tajikistan has received
4 million rubles for this purpose," said Bulkin.

An estimated 21.5 million rubles will be allocated for the development
of the CIS ABM system this year, not taking into account Russia,
Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan.

Belarus will receive 4.3 million rubles for the repair and
modernization of its air defense missile systems, Armenia will receive
3.5 million rubles for modernization of its radar stations, and
Kazakhstan will get 3.1 million rubles for parts for C-200 air defense
missile systems.

The coordination committee is also considering the possibility of
supplying Kazakhstan with equipment for the regional command point and
the headquarters of the combined CIS missile defense system in central
Asia.

In addition, Uzbekistan will probably receive 6.6 million rubles to
buy parts for its missile defense systems.

Interfax, Russia
Aug 14 2008

Russian rights defender compares Georgia’s actions in Tskhinvali to
Holocaust, September 11

MOSCOW Aug 14

Georgia’s military crimes in South Ossetia are comparable to Holocaust
and genocide against Armenians, Russian Public Chamber deputy and head
of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights Alexander Brod announced
Thursday.

"This is yet another dark page in the history of the past decades.

Its barbarity and cruelty put it in one row with Holocaust, genocide
against Armenians and September 11", he told Interfax.

Brod is a member of the Public Chamber’s commission collecting
eyewitness testimony about the Georgian-Ossetian conflict.

The Moscow Bureau for Human Rights has collected more than 100
eyewitness reports, he said.

"All eyewitnesses say that Georgians who entered Tskhinvali were
exceptionally brutal and inhumane, they abused civilians, opened fire
on apartments, their tanks rolled over people," he said.

Cases of South Ossetian civilians taken hostage by Georgian servicemen
deserve a separate investigation, he said.

"Its unclear how many hostages were seized and where they are now,"
Brod said.

Haykakan Zhamanak , Armenia
Aug 8 2008

The government is nervous

A member of the board of the People’s Party of Armenia [PPA], Ruzan
Khachatryan, told journalists yesterday [7 August] that the government
was very nervous about the establishment of the [opposition] Armenian
National Congress [ANC], meanwhile the opposition’s approach to this
issue was calmer and more practical.

"It has been said on many occasions that the Armenian National
Congress is the same [opposition] Popular Movement and has been
established just to solve strategic issues and to coordinate
mechanisms," Khachatryan stressed. She said that the stronger entity
[the ANC] would provide an opportunity to unite more people in the
popular struggle. "Because numerous citizens do not have a chance to
physically participate in the rallies that we hold. That is the
authorities are also afraid that these entities can work more actively
in the regions as well and can overcome the isolation that has been
artificially created by the authorities," Khachatryan said.

The PPA board member also stressed that the government understood that
its positions were gradually getting weaker and that, sooner or later,
it will have to concede the place which it seized via violence and
bloodshed. Khachatryan also spoke about the statements of the [ruling]
coalition that ideologically different forces were included in the
ANC.

"In fact, it is the coalition that unites parties which have different
ideological platforms, and we have set tasks before us that do not
oblige us to have similar ideological approaches," Khachatryan said,
adding that the coalition has united parties that were more different
from one another than the member-parties of the congress, which proved
that the coalition had been united by the most primitive interest. "As
we do not have this interest, we are not feeling constrained,"
Khachatryan said.

She did not rule out that the member-parties of the ANC could deal
with their own programmes after they solved the tasks set before the
ANC. "But this will take place only after a legitimate government is
established in Armenia," Khachatryan said.

[translated]