Author: Nahapetian Lilit

ROXANA SABERI URGES IRAN TO FREE JAILED AID WORKER

Washington TV
1.aspx?lang=en&t=floater_censoredculture&i d=11591
June 25 2009

Washington, 25 June (WashingtonTV)–Iranian-American journalist Roxana
Saberi, whose nearly four month imprisonment in Tehran garnered
massive media attention, on Wednesday called for the release of a
former cellmate, who remains behind bars.

Saberi was speaking at a press conference in Paris to support
humanitarian worker Silva Harotonian, an Iranian citizen of Armenian
descent, who was detained last year in Tehran.

Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of Harotonian’s
imprisonment. She was charged with trying to wage a "soft" revolution
in Iran, and sentenced in January to three years in prison.

"When I was freed, I left a lot of people behind, a lot of innocent
people. So I hope that in some small way I can use my experiences to
help others like Silva, whether they’re in Iran or in other countries,"
Saberi said, according to the Associated Press.

Saberi said that Harotonian, whom she shared a cell with in Tehran’s
Evin Prison for several weeks, gave her "a lot of strength."

Also joining Saberi in appealing for Harotonian’s release were Karim
Lahiji, president of the International Federation for the League of
Human Rights; Hadi Ghaemi, director of the International Campaign for
Human Rights in Iran; and Robert Pearson, president of the U.S.-based
International Research and Exchanges Board.

Harotonian was administering a maternal and child health project in
Iran for the International Research and Exchanges Board.

"I know Silva is innocent. I have studied the court document," Ghaemi
was quoted by Fox News as saying.

Pearson said that despite the unrest in Iran following its disputed
presidential election, he had not lost hope in chances for Harotonian’s
release. According to Fox News, her second appealing is pending.

Saberi described the Iranian government’s crackdown on post-election
protests as "very inhuman".

"I’m very disturbed and distressed by what I’ve seen in Iran in the
past ten days," she said, according to AFP.

Sources: Associated Press, Fox News, Agence France-Presse

MINISTER OF DIASPORA RECEIVES AZAD-HYE EDITOR HRACH KALSAHAKIAN

Noyan Tapan
June 24, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 24, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On June 23, RA
Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobian received Managing Director and
Editor of Azad-Hye Armenian website () in the United
Arab Emirates, writer, translator Hrach Kalsahakian.

H. Kalsahakian presented activities of the Arab-English website
telling about Armenian communities of the Middle East countries, as
well as possibilities of cooperation with the Hayern Aysor electronic
newspaper of the RA Ministry of Diaspora.

Problems (accounting, registration) relating to dual citizenship
raised by H. Kalsahakian, programs on teaching the Armenian language
intended for Armenians of the Arab world and other issues were also
discussed during the meeting. They also touched upon the issue of
creating an address reference book of all-Armenian websites that will
give a possibility of uniting the Armenian Internet potential, as well
as the possibilities of assisting development of tourism in Armenia,
taking into consideration H. Kalsahakian’s experience in the sphere
of tourism.

RAFIK PETROSYAN: PROCESS OF AMNESTY TO BE OVER AHEAD OF DEADLINE
Lusine Vasilyan

"Radiolur"
24.06.2009 16:26

Vice-Chair of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Protection
of Human Rights and Public Affairs Rafik Petrosyan considers that the
process of application of the amnesty will be completed ahead of the
deadline on September 31.

"All the people to be amnestied will be set free within the coming
days," the Republican MP said and underlined that the issue of amnesty
would prolong only in some exceptional cases.

Rafik Petrosyan considers that March 1 fostered the declaration of
a general pardon, but was not the sole reason.

Rafik Petrosyan and the Armenian National Congress differ in their
opinion on the number of persons arrested on the case of March 1 to
be granted pardon. Representative of the Congress Aram Manukyan noted
that 20 of their supporters were still in jail.

"No one can make exact calculations today, because the investigation
of some cases is sill under way. I think that, all in all, 8-9 people
will stay in prison," Rafik Petrosyan said.

V. KAZIMIROV: THERE IS HOPE FOR RESUMPTION OF CONTACTS BETWEEN ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI SOCIETIES

ArmInfo
2009-06-23 11:57:00

ArmInfo. ‘I pin moderate hope on the visit of the Armenian
and Azerbaijani ambassadors to Nagorno Karabakh on resumption of
contacts between the two countries’ societies’, deputy Chairman of the
Association of Russian Diplomats, ex- Cochairman of OSCE MG Vladimir
Kazimirov said during the International conference "Armenian on the
Crossroad of Communications" in Tsakhkadzor.

Armen Smbatyan and Polad Bulbul Oghly should repeat their joint
visit to the NKR this year, and, in all appearance, they will be
accompanied by Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador on Special
Mission and Special Representative of the Russian president for
Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydka’, he said.

V. Kazimirov emphasized that under conditions of almost complete
absence of communications between the two states and societies,
except the meetings of the presidents and foreign ministers, this
visit may be of serious value.

To recall, the joint delegation of the Armenian and Azerbaijani
intellectuals, headed by Ambassador of Armenia to Russia Armen
Smbatyan and Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia Polad Bulbul Oghly,
already visited Armenia, Azerbaijan and the NKR in 2007.

ATTACK LAUNCHED AGAINST RALF YIRIKYAN?

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
24.06.2009 10:32 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ VivaCell (MTS) company’s General Director Ralf
Yirikyan was reported to have been attacked on the night of June 24.

Such rumors are pure disinformation, the company’s press service
reported to PanARMENIAN.Net. "No assault was committed against the
General Director. As the famous anecdote says, ‘rumors on my death
are a little bit exaggerated’," VivaCell’s PR Service Manager Vahe
Sahakyan said.

PRESS CONFERENCE OF PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN AND THE PRESIDENT OF SYRIA BASHAR AL-ASAD

President.am
June 19 2009
Armenia

Statements by the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and the President
of the Syrian Arab Republic Bashar Al-Asad for the press

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan

"Ladies and Gentlemen,

My wife and I are greatly honored to welcome the President of the
Syrian Arab Republic Bashar Al-Asad and Mrs. Asad in Armenia.

Our nations have been walking down the intricate and difficult road of
history side by side, constantly supporting each other and creating
common cultural heritage. The people of Syria lent a hand to the
hundreds of thousands of the Genocide survivors in the direst time
in the history of our nation. Forefathers of many of the Armenians
spread today all over the world had found their refuge behind the
Syrian gates. With this regard, I would like to recall the words by
the blessed memory President of Syria Hafez Al-Asad pronounced here in
Armenia thirty years ago, "Syria is the Armenians’ second motherland."

After Armenia regained independence, the Armenian-Syrian relations have
acquired a new quality and new content. Development of our relations
with the countries of the Middle East and with Syria in particular
has been among the priorities of Armenia’s foreign policy. Armenia
and Syria have been cooperating extensively in the political area and
particularly in the international structures. However, it is necessary
to undertake decisive steps to raise the level of our economic
and trade relations. In this area, despite existing difficulties,
we are ready to exert necessary efforts to solve pivotal issues
that would promote cooperation. The Armenian-Syrian Business Forum,
which is opening in Yerevan tomorrow, will help to move this issue
forward. Agreements have also been reached related to the cooperation
in the area of transportation, especially land transportation. In
addition, a number of documents fostering the bilateral cooperation
have been singed today. Among them I would like to underline the
Agreement on Encouragement and Protection of Investments, which is
a major document for the promotion of bilateral cooperation in the
economic and trade area. Equally significant are the documents on
cooperation in the humanitarian area.

Speaking about our today’s meeting, I would like to note that it was
conducted in the atmosphere of openness and mutual understanding. We
have discussed with the President of Syria issues pertaining to
bilateral relations, as well as regional and international issues of
mutual interest. I would also like to mention with satisfaction that we
share total understanding regarding all the discussed issues. We have
also reached agreement to continue high level contacts and discussions.

I am happy to once again welcome President Al-Asad’s visit to Armenia,
viewing it as a historic visit of the President of a friendly nation.

Welcome, Mr. President."

President of the Syrian Arab Republic Bashar Al-Asad

"I am happy to visit this beautiful country and meet with President
Serzh Sargsyan.

This is the first visit of the Syrian President to your country
after Armenia’s independence. Certainly, relations between our two
countries are not confined to formalities. These relations should be
observed from a number of viewpoints: historical, existing mutual
sympathy, peoples’ viewpoint, and cultural perspective. During the
last two centuries both nations were walking down a difficult road and
those difficulties helped them to stick together to overcome those
difficulties. The interaction of the two nations was facilitated
by those Syrians, by those Armenians, who were living in Syria,
who were highly respected in that country and were true to their
obligations. Those Armenians came to Syria, entered that society,
adopted its ways, preserving at the same time their own national
traditions and their culture. It would be fair to say that a unique
kind of individuals was born, those who while living in a different
civilization, can create their own, new civilization. To the already
existing diverse Syrian culture they added their own.

I can say that these relations have strong foundations. And as a
result of today’s discussions and after future meetings we should
be able to move forward more decisively and faster. Our meeting with
President Sargsyan encompassed many topics. We have spoken about many
issues related to the Middle East, Caucasus, and Central Asia.

In Syria we greatly appreciated all the steps directed at the
normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations. I told President
Sargsyan about our readiness to assist in that process also since
close relations exist between Syria and Armenia and also between
Syria and Turkey.

President Sargsyan told me about Armenia’s position on the NK issue. Of
course, it is a very complicated issue and we would not like to see
it becoming even more complicated, because our experience in the
Middle East shows that, unfortunately, whenever the issue becomes
more complicated so does its resolution. I asked for President
Sargsyan’s opinion regarding that issue because next month I will be
visiting Azerbaijan and would like to know some concrete details of
this problem.

I presented to President Sargsyan our vision regarding the Middle
East peace process. I told Mr. President that today there is no
partner in Israel who can sit at the table of negotiations. And
we don’t see such a partner showing up in the foreseeable future;
however it doesn’t mean that we must stop the peace process. When
there is such a partner, the peace process will move forward.

When we talk about peace we cannot disregard Palestinians and
especially sufferings of the Palestinian people in Gaza, the difficult
situation which exists there, which provides no opportunities for
living, which results in children’s death. All these leave a negative
mark on the entire process.

Together with President Sargsyan we spoke in detail about our bilateral
relations, and I will not dwell on that issue again. Of course,
tonight we’ll have another opportunity to continue our discussions.

I express my deep gratitude to President Sargsyan for the invitation
to visit Armenia, and I am looking forward to his visit to Syria.

I wish the President of Armenia, the Government of Armenia and the
friendly people of Armenia good health and great success."

OSCE URGES TURKEY TO STOP PROSECUTION OF JOURNALIST SENER

BIA Magazine
June 19 2009
Turkey

Haraszti, media freedom representative of the OSCE, has urged Turkey to
drop the case against journalist Sener and to reform laws restricting
freedom of expression.

Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media,
asked Turkish authorities yesterday (18 June) to drop charges against
journalist Nedim Sener for his investigative book on the murder of
fellow journalist Hrant Dink, and called for urgent reform of laws
that restrict freedom of expression.

Letter to Foreign Minister Sener is prosecuted in defiance of freedoms
that both OSCE commitments and Council of Europe standards grant to
critical publications," wrote Haraszti in a letter to Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu. "What he did was critically assess the events leading
up to Hrant Dink’s murder, and the deficiencies afterwards in the
handling of the case and in the prosecution of the perpetrators."

"Justice must not be degraded into an act of revenge by the criticized
authorities," said Haraszti.

Sener, a journalist for newspaper Milliyet, faces up to 28 years
of imprisonment for writing a book, entitled The Dink Murder and
Intelligence Lies. The book alleges that security forces failed to
stop the murder of the well-known Turkish-Armenian writer in 2007,
and cites alleged incidents of negligence by gendarmerie, police and
national intelligence officers working on the case.

"Media freedom commitments may be complied with only if fact-finding
journalism receives the full backing of the law, and inaccuracies, if
any have occurred, are not criminalized," wrote Haraszti in the letter.

Legislation must be modernised "There exist legal provisions in Turkey
that could be misused to curb freedom of expression and information,"
he added. "The Criminal Code, the Press Law, the Anti-Terrorism Law,
and the recent Law No. 5651 on Internet regulation all need to be
modernized so that they cannot be used to restrict speech rights."

"By dropping the charges against Sener, Turkey could now stop punishing
the messengers of unwelcome news, and instead carry out much-needed
legal reform to ensure freedom of expression."

Hrant Dink had publicly discussed the killing of Armenians in 1915
in terms that went against the official Turkish interpretations of
history. For this, he was convicted in 2005 based on Article 301 of
the Criminal Code, "denigrating Turkishness’, and murdered in January
2007 by radical activists. The trial of the persons accused in his
murder still continues. (OSCE/AG)

* This press release was taken from the OSCE website. Sub-headings
were added by bianet.

PRIME MINISTER OF ARMENIA: IT IS PLEASANT TO MARK 20% GROWTH IN IT-SPHERE IN ARMENIA DESPITE THE GLOBAL CRISIS

ArmInfo
2009-06-19 14:08:00

ArmInfo. It is pleasant to mark 20% growth in IT-sphere in Armenia
despite the global crisis, Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sarkisyan
said at today’s IT forum DigiTec Business in Yerevan. ‘By evidence of
the forum organizers, 20% growth has been fixed in the sector since
early 2009. it is also pleasant that the number of participants in
the forum grew by 30% as compared to the previous year’, PM said. He
added that growth in IT-sphere is also important for the reason
that high-tech developments may be used almost in all the economy
sectors, that is a serious factor of enhancement of the national
competitiveness. ‘The state is an interested participant in such
meetings and a client of a number of developments, including in the
sphere of e- government. This will allow to enhance the efficiency
of functioning of the governmental machinery. We also attach much
attention to the new solutions in education’, the prime minister
said. He pointed out the necessity of more frequent meetings and
topical discussions with representatives of IT-companies.

To recall, the annual forum DigiTec Business was first held in
2008. The primary goal of the forum is activation of contacts of the
business and IT-companies. "ArmenTel" Company is the general sponsor
of the forum this year.

GAGIK TSARUKYAN LOOKS FOR NEW MARKETS FOR ARMENIAN PRODUCTS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
18.06.2009 18:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Finding new markets for Armenian products was the
main purpose of the two-day visit of the leader of the "Prosperous
Armenia" party to Belarus, press secretary of "Prosperous Armenia"
Khachik Galstyan told journalists today. He informed that the visit
was also aimed at giving new impetus to Armenian-Belarus business ties.

Trade turnover between the two countries reaches $28 million, exports
from Armenia to Belarus is equal to $4 million. Khachik Galstyan
informed, that in late June Gagik Tsarukyan will visit Croatia, and
at the end of June he will receive business delegation from Belarus.

NA SPEAKER AND INDIAN AMBASSADOR DISCUSS PROSPECTS OF COOPERATION BETWEEN THE PARLIAMENTS OF THE TWO COUNTRIES

ARMENPRESS
June 18, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 18, ARMENPRESS: Armenian National Assembly speaker
Hovik Abrahamyan received today Indian Ambassador to Armenia Rina
Pandey on the occasion of ending her diplomatic mission in Armenia.

NA public affairs department told Armenpress that during the
conversation the head of the Armenian parliament expressed
gratitude to Mrs. Pandey for the close cooperation of the previous
years. H. Abrahamyan highly assessed the ambassador’s work and
stressed that she made her personal contribution to development of
bilateral relations taking into consideration the rich history of
Armenian-Indian relations.

During the meeting the interlocutors discussed the prospects of
cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries. Ambassador
Pandey told NA speaker that her country has aimed to assist one of
the rural communities of Lori province, as well as to establish IT
center in Yerevan.

Summing up the conversation H. Abrahamyan wished good luck to
ambassador Pandey in her undertakings and expressed hope that she
will continue her friendly relations with our country after ending
her diplomatic mission in Yerevan as well.