Author: Karagyozian Lena

DAVID MURADIAN APPOINTED DEPUTY CULTURE MINISTER

ARMENPRESS
JULY 22

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian decreed to appoint David
Muradian Armenian deputy culture minister, governmental press service
told Armenpress.

ARMENIAN ECONOMY MINISTER TRAVELS TO MOSCOW TO DISCUSS BILATERAL COOPERATION

ARMENPRESS
JULY 21

Armenian Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsian traveled to Moscow on July
20 for a two-day visit. The press division of the Armenian ministry
said today and tomorrow the minister will meet with Russian Transport
Minister Igor Levitin, the Russian cochairman of the bilateral
commission on economic cooperation, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin
and top executive of Alrosa diamond company.

The press division said the Armenian minister will discuss
possibilities of expanding Russian-Armenian cooperation in diamond
cutting.

It said during the visit to Moscow a month ago President Serzh Sargsyan
had discussed this issue with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin.

Nerses Yeritsian is in Moscow together with Gagik Abrahamian,
president of the International Association of Armenian Jewelers,
and a parliament member, and Gagik Kocharian, a senior official of
the Economy Ministry, in charge of trade policy regulation issues.

Zaman Online, Turkey
July 20 2008

Turkey fears for Ä°ncirlik’s status after US-Iraq deal

Turkey is concerned that once the US strikes a deal with neighboring
Iraq regarding the maintenance of a US military presence in the
country in 2009 and beyond, this will lessen the importance of its
Ä°ncirlik air base in the southern part of the country in
particular and its geo-strategic importance in general.

The US has already started building military facilities both in
Romania and in Bulgaria, Turkey’s neighbors with coasts on the Black
Sea, under bilateral access and training agreements signed with
Romania in 2005 and Bulgaria in 2006. Those agreements will provide a
platform for other fellow NATO member countries — mainly the US — in
their engagement in the eastern Mediterranean as well as in the
Caucasus and in Central Asia, areas that also fall under Turkey’s
close scrutiny.

Currently Ä°ncirlik is used by allied forces in neighboring Iraq
as well as in Afghanistan for overflights (not for combat purposes),
while being utilized as a cargo hub, particularly by the US.

"Turkey has been the last country which has provided overflight
permission to its close ally the US," recalled one Western diplomat,
speaking to Sunday’s Zaman. "Since Turkish Parliament’s rejection of a
motion that would allow access to US troops for using Turkish soil in
March 2003, Ankara has proven that strategically it is an undependable
ally.

Coalition members and in particular the US do not know if permission,
for example, for overflights will be cut off at any time. Washington
does not know either whether Turkey will threaten to stop the US from
using Ä°ncirlik every time the Armenian genocide allegations of
the Ottoman Turks come up on the agenda," remarked the same source.

Every year in April, regarded as the commemoration of the alleged
genocide of Armenians, US diplomats make an effort to discourage the
US president from using the word genocide during their messages to
Armenians in order to avert possible negative reactions from Turkey.

For strategic planners, the predictability of the country regarding
deployment plans is of great importance, said another Western diplomat
in Ankara.

"Therefore, in the future the US will seek cooperation with Bulgaria
and Romania as well as with Iraq, negatively affecting the strategic
importance of Ä°ncirlik," he said.

Turkey has been following the ongoing negotiations between Iraq and
the US over the latter’s military presence in the former with the
concern that Baghdad, as the weaker party, may be trapped into a
losing deal; for example, one that allows US presence in the country
without being governed by strict regulations.

The Defense Cooperation Agreement (DECA) between Turkey and the US,
renewed in the 1980s, governs the US presence at Ä°ncirlik and
the parameters of the US in using this base, subjecting the US to
strict rules.

Turkey, for example, has the right to terminate the deal by simply
providing notice that it will do so.

However, Turkish diplomatic sources who spoke to Sunday’s Zaman are
confident that Iraq will make a deal that will have stricter
regulations rather than a deal allowing the US unlimited rights.

Meanwhile, Western military sources have stated their belief that
within a few years, as the demands of Iraq decline and new facilities
in Romania and Bulgaria are completed, these new facilities will prove
to be an important venue not only for training US and allied forces
but also as an ideal "engagement" location to support training and
operations further afield in central and southwest Asia, the Middle
East and the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkish rapprochement to Iraq to ease PKK tension

As Turkey has been closely observing a possible security deal to be
struck between the US and Iraq, Ankara has been increasing steps to
improve bilateral ties in all spheres with its southern neighbor,
though this rapprochement has come quite late, with a recent visit by
the Turkish prime minister to Iraq coming a full 18 years after the
last.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an paid a one-day visit to
Iraq on July 10, signing a strategic cooperation agreement with his
Iraqi counterpart, Nouri al Maliki, that also involves economic
integration.

Rapprochement between Turkey and Iraq will not only help the two
countries to cooperate against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK) terrorists active in northern Iraq but will also bring long-term
economic benefits, including Turkish involvement in Iraqi oil and gas
wealth, said a Turkish diplomat.

Turkey’s increased dialogue with Iraq as well as with the Iraqi
Kurdish administration will help reduce the PKK presence in northern
Iraq, which the terrorist group has been using as a staging ground for
attacks on Turkey.

But, as one Western military official recalled, the ability of Turkey
to resolve its decades-long Kurdish problem within the country will
play a major role in reducing the PKK’s violent activities.

One Turkish diplomat noted that after British political leadership
started dialogue with the political wing of the Irish Republican Army
(IRA), a significant amount of financial resources allocated by Irish
Americans and earmarked for the IRA that were critical in training and
sustaining its terrorists and in buying arms had been cut off.

"Then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a commitment to taking
political initiatives; then the US cut off the IRA’s financial
resources," a Turkish diplomatic source recalled. Similarly, he said,
if the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) is integrated with
the political system, both the West and the US will be encouraged in
taking more punitive measures against the PKK.

But the main concern is how far Turkey will be able to pursue its
foreign policy issues such as Iraq in view of the fact that the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is facing a court case for
its closure while the Ergenekon operation, which has resulted in an
indictment of the criminal organization on charges of being involved
in terrorist activities to topple the government, has deepened the
political crisis in the country, said a Turkish diplomat.

20 July 2008, Sunday
LALE SARIÄ°BRAHÄ°MOÄ?LU ANKARA

PRO-ARMENIAN CONGRESSMEN VOTE AGAINST REDUCTION OF ASSISTANCE TO AZERBAIJAN

Azeri Press Agency
July 18 2008
Azerbaijan

Washington. Husniyya Hasanova -APA. Pro-Armenian congressmen voted
against proposed reduction of military assistance to Azerbaijan at the
US House of Representatives Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations,
and Related Programs.

According to APA US bureau, proposal made by co-chairman of Congress
working group on Armenia Joe Knollenberg was not supported by other
members of the group. Jesse Jackson, Steve Israel, Ben Chandler,
Steve Rothman, Barbara Lee and Betty McCollum voted against the
reduction of military assistance to Azerbaijan. According to the
Sub-Committee’s decision, Azerbaijan and Armenia will receive same
military assistance in 2009, but the military assistance to Armenia
is 59 per cent less than 2008.

GOVERNMENT OF ARMENIA GRANTS ROBERT KOCHARYAN AN OFFICE IN THE CENTER OF YEREVAN

ArmInfo
2008-07-17 18:13:00

The Government of Armenia has decided to grant Robert Kocharyan an
office in the center of Yerevan.

The head of the State Property Management Department of the Government
of Armenia Karine Kirakossyan says that the Government has allocated
money for renting an area of 374.1 sq m in the building belonging to
Erebuni Plaza company at 26/1 Vazgen Sargsyan Street (near Republic
Square) for 10 years.

The annual rent is 2,000,000 AMD ($6,500). Kirakossyan says that
17,600,000 AMD ($58,000) will be allocated for equipment and furniture.

This decision amends the May 22 decision. To remind, the law on the
security and financing of the President of Armenia stipulates that
the ex president, if he likes, should be provided with an office.

Earlier, the Government decided to grant Kocharyan a lifelong pension
equivalent to 80% of the salary of the acting president (400,000 AMD).

RECONSTRUCTION OF ONLY ARMENIAN CHURCH IN KARS CARRIED OUT WITH GRAVE MISTAKES

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.07.2008 18:06 GMT+04:00

The only Armenian Church in Kars, Cathedral of Saint Apostles, was
reconstructed with grave mistakes, said Samvel Karapetyan, chairman of
Era NGO dealing with protection of cultural and historical monuments.

"After the reconstruction, the church resembles an ornamental
building. Nothing Armenian was preserved. Once used as a museum and
storehouse, the Church is now operating as a mosque," Karapetyan told
reporters Wednesday, Novosti Armenia reports.

COMMISSIONER URGES NOT TO BE HIS SPOKESMAN

Panorama.am
15:15 16/07/2008

"Before starting the press conference I would like to clarify a
thing: I can express my view point myself and I don’t allow anybody
to say that in this or that press conference I have expressed a view
point," said the Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammaberg in
the beginning of press conference. He said that he has been informed
that various official press releases have been spread covering his
press conference in Armenia which expressed his view points but
"the majority of them were inaccurate".

To a question whether it concerns to the press release spread by the
Justice Ministry stating that the Commissioner agreed on the point
that criminal cases can be applied based on the police officers’
requests. The Commissioner mentioned that the current issue is well
described in the Resolution and that he agrees with that point in
resolution. He said that as in this case the police officers were
acting against the participants of the meetings their requests can
not be taken into account.

ARMENIAN WRESTLERS TO TAKE PART IN EUROPEAN YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP

NOYAN TAPAN

JU LY 16

European Greco-Roman Wrestling Youth Championship will be held on
August 15-19 in the city of Koshitse, Slovakia.

Alik Dnoyan (50 kg, Gyumri), Babken Karapetian (55 kg, Etchmiadzin),
Mikayel Hakobian (60 kg, Yerevan), Aram Julfalakian (66 kg, Yerevan),
Varsham Boranian (74 kg, Gyumri), and Andranik Khachatrian (84 kg,
Etchmiadzin) will represent Armenia. National team’s principal coach
is Armen Babalarian.

Before that, on July 17-21, free-style wrestlers will perform in
the European Championship. Artur Sedrakian (50 kg, Yerevan), Garnik
Mnatsakanian (55 kg, Yerevan), Narek Sanoyan (60 kg, Yerevan),
Roman Zadoyan (60 kg, Gyumri), Gevorg Avsharian (74 kg, Yerevan),
and Sergei Khachatrian (84 kg, Gyumri) are included in the Armenian
national team. Former world champion Aram Margarian will accompany
the team to Slovakia.

LEADER OF ARMENIAN POPULAR PARTY: "IT IS NOT THE FIRST TIME WHEN RUSSIA AND OTHER COUNTRIES RECOGNIZE THE TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF AZERBAIJAN"

Today.Az
July 16 2008
Azerbaijan

Armenian diplomats need to carry out huge work to avert negative
consequences on the international arena, said leader of Armenian
Popular Party Stepan Demirchyan at a press conference in Yerevan on
July 15, commenting on the declaration, signed by the Presidents of
Russia and Azerbaijan in Baku, stating the "observance and provision
of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the state
borders".

According to Demirchyan, the Popular Party of Armenia has always
spoken for partner and strategic relations with Russia. "But Russia
has its own interests and it has a right to have good relations with
other countries, including with Azerbaijan", noted the party leader.

At the same time, Demirchyan noted that Armenian diplomacy will have
to carry out huge work.

Armenian Popular Party leader reminded that instead of averting the
appearance of regulations, undesirable for Armenia, in PACE resolution
No 1914 on Azerbaijan, the Armenian delegation attempted to remove
the shortcomings of the resolution on functioning of democratic
institutions in Armenia.

THE CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUS TO UPHOLD ITS’ PRO-ARMENIAN COMMUNITY

armradio.am
16.07.2008 15:18

In the framework of his visit to Washington RA Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian visited the US Congress, where he met with the Co-Chair of
the Armenian Caucus on Armenian Issues Joseph Knollenberg and members
of the Caucus.

The Foreign Minister expressed gratitude to the Congressman for
his long pro-Armenian activity, stressing the importance of the
Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues in the reinforcement of
Armenian-American relations.

The Congressmen presented the activities of the Caucus and the future
programs, noting that they are friends of the Armenian nation and
will continue their activity for the benefit of Armenia and its people.

Turning to issues of ensuring regional security, Minister Nalbandian
called the interlocutor’s attention to the bellicose propaganda of
Azerbaijan and noted that Azerbaijan obviously violates the provisions
of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which does not
receive the proper attention of the international community.

At the Congressman’s request, Minister Nalbandian presented the
latest developments in the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict, Armenia’s approaches on the prospects of normalization
of Armenian-Turkish relations, as well as the process of democratic
reforms in Armenia.