Author: Tigranian Ani

CANADIAN MFA CONCERNED OVER BAKU MILITANT RHETORIC

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.09.2006 14:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A delegation representing the Armenian National
Committee of Canada (ANCC) met three senior officials of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Central, East and South Europe Division to discuss
issues of concern to the Canadian-Armenian Community.

As reported by the ANCC, during the meeting, which lasted over an
hour, the ANCC delegates and the ministry officials discussed the
Nagorno Karabakh issue, the illegal blockade of Armenia by Turkey,
the establishment of a Canadian Embassy in Armenia, Canada-Armenia
bilateral relations, and future Canadian economic investment in
Armenia. The ministry officials were forthcoming and frank in their
approach and analysis of the issues. They said they were concerned with
the recent Azerbaijani Government military buildup and Baku’s rhetoric
to use force to solve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. They hoped that
the mediation efforts by the Organization for Security and Co-operation
in Europe (OSCE) will find a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

BULGARIA: ARMENIAN DEFENCE MINISTER’S VISIT STARTS ON 11 SEPTEMBER

BTA news agency
8 Sep 06

Sofia, 8 September: Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sargsyan opens
a three-day official visit to Bulgaria [on] Monday [11 September]
at the invitation of his Bulgarian counterpart Veselin Bliznakov,
the Defence Ministry’ Press Centre said on Friday [8 September].

The two ministers will discuss cooperation in the defence sphere
and will sign a joint declaration on its development. They will also
discuss issues of regional and international security.

During the visit the guest will be received by Bulgaria’s President
and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Army Georgi Purvanov,
National Assembly Deputy Chairman Petur Beron and the leaders of the
National Assembly Defence Committee.

Sargsyan is scheduled to visit the Vasil Levski National Military
University in Veliko Turnovo and the Graf Ignatiev aviation base.

Amid intense debate, Senate Foreign Relations Committee approves Hoagland
nomination

ArmRadio.am
08.09.2006 10:17

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, by a vote of 13 to 5,
approved Ambassador-Designate Hoagland’s nomination. For over forty
minutes, Senators spoke forcefully on the nomination, each affirming
the historical facts of the Armenian Genocide. Those opposed to
the nomination urged their colleagues to take a stand against the
Administration’s complicity in genocide denial. Senator Barbara Boxer
(D-CA), in her remarks, noted that "The only way to express our deep
disappointment that he [Ambassador Evans] was recalled, it seems to
me, is to vote ‘no’." Answering concerns about the absence of an
US Ambassador to Armenia during an extended confirmation process,
Sen. Boxer argued, "I agree that it is important that we have an
Ambassador there. But isn’t it easy for the Administration to simply
say ‘we will speak the truth’? And then, we will have our Ambassador."

In his remarks, Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) expressed concerns about
the nominee’s ability to accurately and effectively communicate the
Administration’s position on the Armenian Genocide. Noting that, in
correspondence with Ranking Democrat Joseph Biden (D-DE), Amb. Hoagland
had needed to make changes to his initial written responses to a
series of Senate inquiries; Sen. Sarbanes noted that, "Ambassadors
deal with language. It is very important. You pick the wrong word,
you create a lot of problems. They have revised other answers. And so,
I looked through the revisions, and approve of them, but it raises
a question in my mind: ‘where was the understanding and sensitivity
on the part of this nominee on responding to the questions that had
been submitted to him in the first place. What does it say that we
got those answers in the first place?"

Senator John Kerry (D-MA), voted against the nomination as a matter of
principle. "For us to recall an ambassador because he utters the word
‘genocide’, is to cow-tow, to cave-in to those who change history,
something we are witnessing today with [President] Ahmadinajad in
Iran who says the Holocaust didn’t exist. So it is even more important
that we say something to the contrary.

We are not going to allow revisionism. We are not going to allow
people to push the United States of America around and say what you
can and can’t say about what’s happening with respect to history. We
honor history and we honor the truth. I don’t think we do so if we
allow this Administration to take the contrary policy."

On two previous occasions, June 28th and again on August 1st,
the panel had delayed its consideration of Ambassador-Designate
Hoagland’s nomination.

These delays were prompted by bipartisan concerns over a series of
controversies over the nomination. Among these points of contention
were is the nominee’s written response to Senator Boxer’s inquiry,
in which he questioned the genocidal intent of the Ottoman Turkish
government. Also of concern to members of the panel is the State
Department’s firing of the current US Ambassador to Armenia, John
Marshal Evans. His early recall from Yerevan is widely seen as
retribution for his public statements, in February of 2005, calling
for an end to "word games" by the US government in avoiding the proper
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Despite dozens of Congressional
inquiries, the Administration has yet explain its reasons for firing
Amb. Evans or to reveal the communications it received from the
Turkish government on this matter.

BABACAN: TURKEY SHOULD FOCUS ON REFORMS
By Cihan News Agency

Zaman Online, Turkey
Sept 6 2006

Turkey’s Chief E.U. Negotiator Ali Babacan said that it would be
wrong to deduce that Europeans do not want Turkey in the union just
by looking at the report adopted by European parliament foreign
affairs committee.

The strongly worded EP foreign affairs committee report, penned by a
Dutch legislator, harshly criticized Turkey, and called for recognition
of the alleged genocide against Armenians.

The Turkish foreign ministry dismissed the report, saying that it
lacked common sense and smelled of political bias.

Chief Negotiator Babacan has been carrying out talks in The Hague,
Netherlands. On Tuesday Babacan came together with Dutch Economy
Minister Joop Wijn.

"There may be faults in the report, they can be corrected. But
the important thing is that the reforms Turkey adopts are in our
interests," Babacan told reporters.

Babacan said that Turkey would take reform steps ahead of the release
of the U.N. progress report on Turkey in October.

CAR OF HEAD OF INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT WAS BLOWN UP

Lragir.am
06 Sept 06

On September 6 the head of the Department of Investigation of the Tax
Agency Shahen Hovasapyan was killed in a car explosion in the center
of Yerevan . The Lragir has learned that the accident happened around
10 o’clock in the morning, on Byron Street. Shahen Hovasapyan’s car
was blown up. Hovasapyan died, the driver is badly wounded.

Over the past 4 years Shahen Hovasapyan, 48 was the head of the
Department of Investigation of the Tax Agency, in other words, the tax
police. Before that he was the head of the Department of Big Taxpayers,
the Ministry of State Receipts.

On September 6 the police of Armenia made a statement on the
assassination of the head of the Department of Investigation of the
Tax Agency Shahen Hovasapyan. Legal proceedings were instituted under
Article 402 Murder of the Crime Code of Armenia. The motives of the
murder are not known yet.

UNPREDICTABLE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE SOCIETY AND THE STATE

Lragir.am
06 Sept 06

On September 6 the head of the bureau of the Heritage Party Vardan
Khachatryan and the founder of the political party Raffi Hovannisian
gave their evaluation of the assassination of a senior official of
the Tax Agency and the attack on the journalist on the same day.

"This reflects the sickness of our society, our government, our
state. We can speak about the phenomena, the necessity to change
the system, argue about national transformation, for weeks on,
for months on, at every news conference, argue about choosing the
right way, evolution or revolution. However, as long as the arrows of
responsibility are not pointed in any direction, as long as the law
is not applied equally, from the president to the ordinary citizen,
as long as there is an army of the privileged, and as long as the
privileged are connected with this government, as long as force,
weapon and money are with one circle and they use the law to keep
this force and money, it will go on like this. But this is not the
way it should be. I think, on the eve of the 15th anniversary of
independence of the Republic of Armenia this reveals the immense work
that our generation needs to carry out to maintain the rule of law
in Armenia," thinks Raffi Hovannisian.

The head of the bureau of the Heritage Party Vardan Khachatryan thinks
that the violence we witness is extremely harmful for the country and
the society because the opinion is gradually becoming established in
the public consciousness that problems are settled by killings. "This
is a dangerous phenomenon and may lead to unpredictable consequences,"
Vardan Khachatryan says. He says that most of his students witnessed
the explosion of the car of Shahen Hovasapyan, the head of the
Department of Investigations of the Tax Agency, and were so shocked
that they could hardly tell what they had seen.

HUNGARIAN COURT TO SENTENCE AZERBAIJANI ARMY OFFICER RAMIL SAFAROV ON 17 NOVEMBER

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 5 2006

Hungarian court today held next trial hearing on jailer’s claim
against Ramil Safarov, Azerbaijani Army officer, who was sentenced
to life in prison for murdering Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Markarian
in Hungary. Azerbaijani Embassy in Hungary told the APA three more
witnesses testified in the trial. They participated in the incident.

The next trial will be held on 17 November. Two more witnesses will
testify and, the court verdict will be announced.

Clara Fisher, Hungarian lawyer for Ramil defends him on this case.

While being held in Hungarian prison in 2004, jailers wanted telephone
card from Ramil. But Ramil could not understand Hungarian which led
an incident between them. Eight police officers tied his hands and
used force. Though lawyers for the Azerbaijani lieutenant appealed to
court related to this matter, the court dismissed the appeal saying
there was no evidence. Then the opposite side claimed that Ramil
resisted officials.

EU REBUKES TURKEY ON REFORM PACE
By Dan Bilefsky International Herald Tribune

International Herald Tribune, France
Sept 4 2006

BRUSSELS European Union lawmakers on Monday sharply criticized Turkey
for its slow pace of reform and warned that failure to make progress
in a dispute over Cyprus risked bringing entry negotiations to a halt.

The toughly worded report by the European Parliament’s powerful
foreign affairs committee also cited insufficient progress on freedom
of expression and raised concerns about the country’s treatment of
religious minorities, the Kurdish population and women.

The European Parliament must approve whether a candidate country
can join the EU and its views are seen as an important barometer of
a country’s membership prospects. Negotiations are expected to last
up to 15 years.

"The European Parliament regrets the slowing down of the reform
process," said the report, written by Camiel Eurlings, a Dutch
conservative. He chided Turkey for "persistent shortcomings"
and singled out Cyprus as a key stumbling block. The Parliament’s
impatience reflects a growing wariness in the EU of the risks of
further enlargement and of Turkey’s candidacy in particular.

The possibility of Turkey’s eventual admission was a significant
factor in the rejection of the EU’s constitution in France and the
Netherlands, where voters remain anxious about admitting a large,
agrarian Muslim country.

Olli Rehn, the EU’s expansion commissioner, recently warned that
Turkey was heading toward a "train crash" with the EU.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive, will publish its
assessment of Turkey’s membership progress on Oct. 24 amid growing
concern that the momentum for reform has dramatically slowed since
entry talks began last year. Turkey has, for example, been slow
in enacting a promised law guaranteeing the property rights of the
Christian minority, while a controversial article of the penal code
used to prosecute writers and intellectuals remains on the books.

The deepest immediate division between Turkey and the Union is
Turkey’s failure to open its ports and airports to traffic from part
of Cyprus. Eager to avoid inflaming Turkish public opinion ahead of
presidential elections in May and parliamentary elections in autumn
2007, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has insisted that Turkey
will not recognize the Greek half of the divided island until the EU
lifts trade barriers against Turkish Cyprus, which is recognized by
Turkey alone.

Speaking after a two-day EU foreign ministers meeting on Saturday,
Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja of Finland, whose country holds the
EU’s rotating presidency, warned that if Turkey failed to sign a
protocol extending the EU customs union to Cyprus, "it will create
a serious situation."

Echoing his concerns, the Parliament’s report Monday called on Turkey
to recognize Cyprus by the end of 2006 or face possible suspension of
its entry talks. "A lack of progress in this regard will have serious
implications for the negotiation process and could even bring it to
a halt," the report said.

Mehmet Dulger, chairman of the Turkish Parliament’s foreign affairs
committee and a prominent member of the governing AK party, said in
an interview that Turkey was determined to speed up reforms.

But he added that Turks were increasingly frustrated with the demands
placed on them by the EU and that the constant criticism by Brussels
was creating a backlash. "All of these requirements placed on Turkey
create the impression that the EU will never be satisfied, no matter
what Turkey does," he said.

He added that the EU had exacerbated the Cyprus problem by admitting
the Greek part of the divided island before the conflict had been
resolved.

Referring to Turkey’s progress on human rights, the report praised
recent acquittals of scholars and novelists like Orhan Pamuk, who had
been prosecuted for "insulting Turkishness." But it cited concerns
over cases such as that of an Armenian-Turkish editor, Hrant Dink,
who was recently given a suspended six-month jail term for saying
that Turkey, under the Ottoman Empire, had committed genocide against
Armenians during World War I.

Karabakh leader urges Azerbaijan not to go to war

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
1 Sep 06

The leader of Nagornyy Karabakh has accused Azerbaijan of intimidating
this republic and harbouring "foolish and revengeful plans". In an
address on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of Karabakh’s
independence, Arkadiy Gukasyan urged Azerbaijan to resolve all issues
at the negotiating table, no matter how complicated they were. Also
speaking at the festivities, Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
Markaryan said that Armenia’s main goal was to prevent a war.

The following is an excerpt from Gukasyan’s and Markaryan’s speeches
broadcast live by Nagornyy Karabakh Public TV and rebroadcast live by
Armenian Public TV on 1 September:

[Arkadiy Gukasyan, the president of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic]
Dear Armenian Prime Minister, the Holy Father, guests, ladies and
gentlemen! Fifteen years have passed since the memorable day on 2
September 1991 when a joint session of the parliaments of the Nagornyy
Karabakh Autonomous Region and Shaumyan District proclaimed the
independence of Nagornyy Karabakh.

[Passage omitted: on the way Karabakh has gone through over these
years] The Azerbaijani leadership is trying to put back the clock and
is threatening us with its military budget growth at the expense of
oil dollars. We heard these kinds of threats in the past as
well. During the years of the Karabakh movement our neighbours
intimidated us in different ways, including Azerbaijan’s erroneous
arguments, its population of eight million, favourable geopolitical
position and now with jihad.

This kind of behaviour of the Azerbaijani authorities is
pointless. The Karabakh conflict cannot be settled militarily. War
will only bring new losses and terrible suffering to both peoples. I
urge Azerbaijan to give up their foolish, suicidal and revengeful
plans and to resolve all issues, no matter how complicated they are,
at the negotiating table. Karabakh’s foreign policy is aimed in the
first place at solving the conflict peacefully together with
Azerbaijan.

In fact, the Nagornyy Karabakh people’s fight for independence is at
the same time a fight for establishing democratic norms both inside
our own state and in the whole region. Azerbaijan’s bellicose
statements calling for a military solution to the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict can be explained by the lack of democracy in Azerbaijan. I
believe that international observers, who are trying to draw up
mutually acceptable plans to resolve the Karabakh conflict, also
expect Azerbaijan to display a constructive position on the settlement
of the conflict during the negotiating processes. [Passage omitted:
repetition]

If the current settlement of the conflict has reached deadlock, this
has happened as a result of the Azerbaijani leadership’s
non-constructive position, and it is not the fault of Armenia or
Nagornyy Karabakh. Azerbaijan has not realized yet the realities of
the modern world, and by threatening to resume hostilities it wants to
resolve the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict with the help of others. A
resolution to the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict is possible only through
mutual compromise, and the leaders of the conflicting sides have to
display courage and political will to that end. At the same time, a
peace agreement should not call into question the historical choice of
the Karabakh people.

I can assure you that Karabakh is ready to start a direct and
constructive dialogue with Azerbaijan without any precondition. I
believe that this format of negotiations is more normal and that it
complies with the essence of the conflict. If Baku prefers solving the
problem militarily and takes this foolish step, then it will receive a
worthy response from the defence army of Nagornyy Karabakh which is
capable of ensuring the safety of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic and
its people.

[Passage omitted: on achievements over the period of cease-fire]
[Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan] Dear compatriots, I
congratulate you on the Independence Day of Nagornyy Karabakh on
behalf of Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, National Assembly
Chairman Tigran Torosyan and the Armenian government.

[Passage omitted: Markaryan on the Karabakh people’s fight for
independence] [Markaryan] The Armenian people will support you. Your
success is our success. We are also worried about any threats made
against the Karabakh people.

Our main goal is to prevent a war. We do not want to give away our
success, which we have achieved at the cost of our blood, to others at
the negotiating table.

We have two options – Nagornyy Karabakh should either reunite with
Armenia or establish an independent state.

[Passage omitted: heads of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as the
defence minister of Nagornyy Karabakh and representatives of public
organizations delivered speeches]

TROUBLED MINISTER EMBROILED IN FRESH CORRUPTION SCANDAL
By Hovannes Shoghikian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug. 30, 2006

Environment Minister Vartan Ayvazian on Wednesday brushed aside the
accusations of an American company exploiting gold reserves in Armenia
that said he had demanded a bribe in exchange for certain preferences.

The accusations were made public after newspaper reports revealed that
representatives of the Global Golden Corporation ostensibly provided
evidence substantiating their claims to the Armenian authorities.

Meanwhile, Ayvazian denies even having met the company’s people in
the period when they claim he demanded a $3-million bribe from them.

"It is a good plot for a detective story," Ayvazian said. "But why
do they remember it only a year after the incident allegedly happened?

We didn’t even have meetings in the last year, we only exchanged
correspondence."

Earlier this month Ayvazian was accused of condoning illegal
logging, poaching, mining and other activities after a six-month
inquiry conducted by the Prosecutor-General’s Office this year found
"serious violations" in the operations of the Ministry led by him. In
particular, the prosecutors said the Ministry and its territorial
divisions have failed to take meaningful action against the continuing
destruction of forests and other green areas across the country,
while the few individuals caught for illegally cutting trees usually
get off with minor fines or are not punished at all.

The fresh accusations of corrupt activities only stoke renewed
speculation that Ayvazian may soon be relieved of his duties.

Director of the Global Golden Corporation’s Armenia Office Ashot
Poghosian said to RFE/RL: "There is corruption in the country, we all
know about it, and it also exists in the Ministry of Environment. We
presented everything clearly and in a simple. I don’t want to comment
on it while it is still in process."

On January 25, the American gold mining corporation stated that it
had purchased 27 square kilometers of land in Armenia’s northeastern
Gegharkunik province. Information on the official website of the
company suggested that it was going to extract uranium in the
mentioned territory. The company had purchased the exclusive right
to the territory and its geological research from Armenia-registered
Attila Investment. But the Armenian law does not give the company
the right to extract uranium without an explicit permission from the
Environment Ministry.

The Ministry demanded explanations from the company on that account.

"They gave us a cynical answer saying that they could also look for
radioactive substances. We warned them that they must respect the
laws of this country," Ayvazian said.

Poghosian does not deny that the company is interested in finding
uranium in Armenia: "We expect the presence of uranium in the Getik
territory. Researches are being carried out within the framework of
the general license for researches issued to us by the Environment
Ministry."