Author: Topchian Jane

Turkish PM: There was no Armenian genocide

MICHAL LANDO, Jerusalem Post correspondent
THE JERUSALEM POST
Sep. 29, 2007

In a meeting with representatives of the Jewish community, Turkey’s
prime minister rejected allegations that the massacre of Armenians
during WWI was an act of genocide.

Speaking with officials from the Conference of Presidents of Major
Jewish American Organizations, the Anti-Defamation League, the
American Jewish Congress and other groups, Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan said the genocide claims were not supported by any scientific
or historical documentation.

Erdogan also reiterated Turkey’s call to Armenia to establish a joint
commission to study historical facts, and asked the Jewish
representatives to continue to support good relations between Turkey
and the US Jewish community, according to a statement released
following the meeting.

After disagreement between its New England chapter and national
headquarters, the ADL in August recognized the massacres of Armenians
as "tantamount to genocide," reversing the organization’s longstanding
refusal to do so. ADL’s recognition stopped short of supporting two
congressional resolutions that would call on the US to formally
recognize the genocide.

ADL national director Abraham Foxman reiterated Wednesday that the
issue should not be the subject of congressional resolution, according
to MSNBC.

"We believe that a matter between Turkey and Armenia related to
history should be tackled between the two parties, not in the US
Congress or the parliament of any other country," he said. "This is
not a political matter and those in the Congress are not historians."

"I believe that we should focus on the future, not the past. If the
Jewish community, the United States and the Congress are willing to
assist, they should bring together Turkey and Armenia for the [sake of
the] grandchildren of the two parties," Foxman said.

ADL’s national policy-making body is expected to discuss the
congressional resolutions at its annual meeting on November 1.

Source: 510040&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

PRIME MINISTER OF ARMENIA CALLS ON DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS IN THE COUNTRY FOR MORE ACTIVITY

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Sept 28 2007

ArmInfo. Prime Minister of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan met with Foreign
Minister of Armenia and the heads of diplomatic missions in the
country.

The governmental press-service told ArmInfo that Serzh Sargsyan
attracted the attention of Ambassadors at the fulfillment of two key
tasks: protection of Armenian citizens’ rights and the interests
of Armenian companies abroad, as well as more active work in the
economic issues, Serzh Sargsyan stressed the necessity for the
embassies elaborating definite programs and making new initiatives.

He mentioned that one of the most important conditions of the
country’s economic development is involvement of a great number of
foreign companies into the country’s economy in order to study their
experience, create new jobs and raise the interest to Armenia. Serzh
Sargsyan assured the diplomats that the Armenian Government does
its best to create favorable conditions for the work of embassies
and the draft budget of Armenia for 2008 takes into account all the
proposals of the Foreign Ministry. However, the government has great
expectations also from your activity, the premier said. In their turn,
minister Oskanyan and the diplomats thanked the prime minister and
the government for attention and assistance.

AZERBAIJANI PARTY’S CHAIRMAN MET WITH CALIFORNIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Sept 27 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. S. Ilhamgizi / The Chairman of the
Democratic Reforms Party of Azerbaijan, MP Asim Mollazedeh, met
with the representatives of the Californian parliamentarians on
27 September.

The main issues of the discussions were relations between Azerbaijan
and California, Azerbaijan integration into the Euro-Atlantic space,
relations between Azerbaijani and Californian parliaments, and the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Mollazadeh informed the guests about the prospects of integration of
Azerbaijan into the Euro-Atlantic space, the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Democratic Reforms Party
functioning.

The Californian delegation headed by the Senator Sheila Kuehl, visited
a range of regions and held meetings with representatives of executive
bodies of the country.

ARMENIA WILL STRENGTHEN RELATIONS WITH IRAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.09.2007 17:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ U.S. attack on Iran will be the worst scenario for
Armenia, RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan told a news conference in
Moscow. "I am hopeful, the sides will settle the discord via talks.

Iran is a very important state for us. It’s our outlet to the world,"
he said.

Armenia will strengthen relations with Iran, he added.

"We will expand the abuilding gas pipeline, since it raises Armenia’s
security in the region. As any country, we proceed from national
interests. I think our cooperation with Iran is justified," the PM
said, RIA Novosti reports.

DASHNAK LEADER HITS BACK AT TER-PETROSIAN TIRADE
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Sept 24 2007

A top leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun)
on Monday dismissed former President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s harsh
criticism of Armenia’s present leadership, saying that many of the
problems facing the country date back to his rule.

In a Friday speech that marked the end of his nearly decade-long
silence, Ter-Petrosian branded the Armenian government "corrupt and
criminal" and called for its ouster. He accused the administration
of President Robert Kocharian of rigging elections, breaking laws,
illegally influencing courts and restricting press freedom.

Reacting to the speech, Vahan Hovannisian, a Dashnaktsutyun leader and
deputy parliament speaker, said Ter-Petrosian has no moral right to
make such accusations because his eight-year rule was also marked
by fraudulent elections, human rights abuses and other serious
shortcomings.

"He spoke as if the population has already forgotten Levon
Ter-Petrosian’s days in power — political repressions, the severe
economic crisis that must not be linked with the war [with Azerbaijan,]
and the terrible atmosphere that led to a massive emigration,"
Hovannisian told RFE/RL.

"There are definitely vicious phenomena existing in the country now,
and Dashnaktsutyun has always been the first to talk about them
without hysteria characteristic of some opposition circles," he said.

"We are conscious at the same time that the roots of those problems
date back to Levon Ter-Petrosian’s rule."

Dashnaktsutyun, which is a junior partner in the ruling coalition, was
in strong opposition to Ter-Petrosian and his Armenian Pan-National
Movement (HHSh) throughout his presidency, which began in 1991 and
ended in 1998. The nationalist party was controversially banned in
1994 for allegedly violating Armenian law and operating a secret
death squad. The ban also led to the forcible closure of newspapers
controlled by Dashnaktsutyun.

Hovannisian was among senior party figures who were arrested in 1995
and subsequently handed long prison sentences on charges of plotting
a coup d’etat. All of them were set free following Ter-Petrosian’s
1998 resignation engineered by his key ministers, including then
Prime Minister Kocharian and Interior Minister Serzh Sarkisian.

While reaffirming Dashnaktsutyun’s highly negative attitude towards
Ter-Petrosian, Hovannisian said he and his party would welcome the
ex-president’s participation in the forthcoming presidential elections
as it would add "an ideological element" to the race.

"It wouldn’t be bad if he nominated his candidacy because the HHSh and
Dashnaktsutyun poles will be very visible. It would be interesting
to see how others will position themselves in between those poles,"
he said.

Still, Hovannisian predicted Ter-Petrosian will decided not to run
for president, saying that the latter realizes that his chances of
winning the vote are slim. "He is a very self-admiring man and doesn’t
like losing," claimed the vice-speaker.

Ter-Petrosian said on Friday that he has still not decided whether
or not to enter the fray.

PRESS RELEASE
UN Department of Public Information
Contact: Information Officer Armine Halajyan
Yerevan Office (Armenia)
Tel.: (374 10) 560 212
Fax/Tel.: (374 10) 561 406
Mobile: (374 91) 20 37 25
Press Release

UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Visits Armenia

(24 to 28 September 2007)

The United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) is
visiting Armenia this week as part of its practical and technical
assistance work to strengthen the ability of countries to fight terrorism.

The 11-person delegation includes members of the Committee’s Executive
Directorate (CTED) as well as representatives from the Council of
Europe’s MONEYVAL, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE), Interpol, the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Armenia is located in a region that has experienced conflict, and
therefore weapons trafficking and border security are concerns that
could be exploited by terrorists. Moreover, Armenia is in a highly
geostrategic position, which could serve as a bridge between the Middle
East and Europe.

The purpose of country visits is to precisely monitor, on location and
in practice, how Member States implement Security Council resolution
1373 (2001), as well as to evaluate the nature and level of assistance
that a particular country may need in order to fulfil the terms of the
resolution.

The resolution – which also established the CTC – calls on countries to
put into practice a number of measures to enhance their legal and
institutional capacity to be in a better position to counter terrorist
activities nationally, regionally and globally.

Onsite dialogue with Member States is a key aspect of the Committee’s
work and began in March 2005 with a visit to Morocco, followed by trips
to Kenya, Albania, Thailand and Algeria. The CTC carried out 10 visits
last year, and the mission to Armenia represents the sixth of 2007,
coming after visits to Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Viet Nam and Georgia.

The Committee and its expert body, CTED, which was established in 2004,
have been collecting written reports from Member States on how the
various anti-terrorism measures set out by resolution 1373 are being
implemented. Those periodic reports have served as the basis of an
active dialogue between the CTC/CTED and the respective Member State.
The country visits are a follow-up to that dialogue in a more focused,
practical manner with the national authorities that have the
responsibility to implement the different aspects of resolution 1373.
Such visits are conducted with the full consent and cooperation of the
national authorities.

Since 2001 Armenia has submitted five reports to the Committee – all of
which are accessible by the general public through the CTC website
().

Following each visit the counter-terrorism experts compile a report
based on their observations, which may also include the assistance needs
of the country. It is based on those needs and in full cooperation and
consent with the respective Member State that CTED then works with donor
countries and international organizations to help meet those assistance
requirements.

Background

Security Council resolution 1373, adopted on 28 September 2001, calls on
Member States to: deny all forms of financial support for terrorist
groups; suppress the provision of safe haven, sustenance or support for
terrorists; share information with other governments on any groups
practicing or planning terrorist acts; cooperate with other governments
in the investigation, detection, arrest and prosecution of those
involved in such acts; criminalize active and passive assistance for
terrorism in domestic laws and bring violators of these laws to justice;
and become party as soon as possible to the relevant international
conventions and protocols relating to terrorism.

The resolution established the Counter-Terrorism Committee comprising of
all 15 members of the Security Council to monitor implementation of the
resolution. The monitoring work was further enhanced on 26 March 2004
when the Security Council, through resolution 1535 (2004), established
the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) to assist
the CTC. The Executive Directorate is working to strengthen coordination
and collaboration among governments and national, regional and
international bodies. CTED is expected to help the CTC to broker
technical assistance for those Member States that have insufficient
capacity to meet their obligations. Resolution 1535, and subsequent
resolutions of the Security Council on the subject (such as Resolution
1566 (2004)) have specifically recognized the importance of conducting
country visits.

In order to monitor the implementation by Member States with the
obligations of resolution 1373, the CTED experts during country visits
focus their attention on various counter-terrorism areas. Those areas
may include:

– anti-terrorism legislation (offences; penalties; competence of the
courts; criminal procedure; special investigation measures; legislation
on weapons, explosives and dangerous substances; legislation on asylum
and immigration);
– measures against assets used for criminal purposes
(anti-money-laundering legislation; legislation against the financing of
terrorism; supervision of the non-financial sector; structures for
oversight of the financial system; mechanisms for the freezing, seizure
and confiscation of the proceeds of crime as well as of funds intended
to finance terrorist acts);
– effectiveness of law enforcement services (counter-terrorism
machinery; coordination of services; early warning system; methods for
combating and preventing criminal activities linked to terrorism);
– international cooperation (machinery for international cooperation in
criminal matters; status of ratification of anti-terrorism conventions;
modalities and effectiveness of judicial cooperation; modalities and
effectiveness of police cooperation; modalities of cooperation with
regional and international organizations); and
– territorial control (control of trans-border movements of persons;
control of cargo; mechanisms for issuance and control of identity and
travel documents; methods for the prevention and detection of forgery
and fraud).

For more information on the work of the CTC/CTED (including the periodic
reports of Armenia), you can visit the Committee’s website at
; or contact Mitch Hsieh, CTED public
information officer, tel: +1-212-457-1712 or e-mail: [email protected]; or
Janos Tisovszky of the UN Department of Public Information, tel:
+1-917-367-2068 or e-mail: [email protected].

LET’S GO AHEAD WITH DETERMINATION

A1+
[09:10 pm] 21 September, 2007

"Rehabilitation of statehood is a unique event in the history of
Armenia. Our people expressed their will to build a free, democratic
and prospering country through an independence referendum," RA
President Robert Kocharian said in his congratulating message.

Presentday Armenia has taken a path of stable development and economic
growth. Thousands workplaces, income increase, Armenians’ return to
their homeland and the formation of medium stratum testify to this.

I am a great optimist and I fully realise that there is still much to
be done, we have great potential and our people deserve better life,
he said.

We must double our efforts directed at modern and productive
statehood establishment. Therefore we must continue amendments in
various spheres.

We shall continue to support NKR as only full statehood can guarantee
security of the NKR people.

This was Robert Kocharian’s last speech in the post of the RA
President.

YOU CANNOT WIN OVER SUPPORT THROUGH TAX AVOIDANCE

Lragir.am
20-09-2007 16:31:33

"I can enumerate at least ten of my addresses over the past four or
five years when I called on the businessmen not to present their
activities as manna for the Armenians," stated the leader of the
United Labor Party Gurgen Arsenyan on September 20 at the Pastark club
when he commented on Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan’s appeal in a TV
interview to businessmen in answer to the question of reporters.

"Business is an activity that generates profit. Business has two
participants: one is the employer, the second is the employee who
produces output. In other words, business is not charity," Gurgen
Arsenyan says.

"Now the address of the prime minister was not a message for
businesses. The prime minister could not address business because
business is an activity. The prime minister addressed the people who
are involved in business, the subjects, who have a wrong idea of how
they should behave toward the society. The prime minister addressed
them," Gurgen Arsenyan says. He says he understood the message of the
prime minister because he has undergone this evolution, and stated
these ideas.

"Spending resources to win over support cannot solve public, national
or civil problems. Public, national or civil problems are solved in
case the businessman pays taxes to sustain the state. All the rest is
another level. The false mindset has been shaped in Armenia, in modern
Armenia, in our society that one can win over support through charity.
This is false charity when you do not pay taxes, hence the support won
through false charity cannot be presented as a public value," Gurgen
Arsenyan says. However, he does not mention the people who are engaged
in false charity, and whom the prime minister had meant. Gurgen
Arsenyan only says his business is legal and transparent.

"The prime minister meant that they should audit themselves, revise
their behavior. In other words, it was addressed to those businessmen
who do not behave so, who think they can continue to win over support
at the expense of taxes they avoided," Gurgen Arsenyan says. Will the
businessmen get the meaning of the message? "With difficulty but they
will," Gurgen Arsenyan says.

A1+

`ARMENIA IS A MEANS TO SECURE PEACE’
[08:14 pm] 21 September, 2007

NKR President Bako Sahakyan highly assessed the meeting with the OSCE
Minsk group Co-Chairs. `We simply changed ideas and viewpoints. No
reference was made to the details. We voice hope that such meetings
will be ongoing and will contribute to the NKR engagement into the
negotiation process, Bako Sahakyan said today in `Erablur.’

In reply to the question whether he supports former NKR president
Arkadi Ghukasyan’s statement that it is high time Armenia yielded its
place to Karabakh in the negotiation procedure, Bako Sahakyan said,
`As far as I know Arkadi Ghukasyan hasn’t made such a statement. Just
on the contrary, Armenia must be involved in the negotiations, as
Armenia’s engagement is a major means to secure peace. We do state on
the completion of the Minsk group commitments and on Nagono-Karabakh’s
involvement into the negotiation process.’

Today a number of high-rank officials paid a visit to `Erablur,’ among
them Robert Kocharian, Serge Sargsyan, All-Armenian Catholicos Karekin
II, etc.

Panorama.am

15:34 20/09/2007

`HAYFEST’: FIFTH TIME IN ARMENIA WITH UNPRECEDENTED PERFORMANCES

Fifth international theatric `Hayfest’ festival will open on October 4
to run until October 14. The anniversary festival will have 350
participants from 33 countries, including from Great Britain, USA,
Switzerland, Italy, San-Marino, Russia. The number of participants is
twice high against last year.

The organizers say performances will be staged in almost all Yerevan
theater houses. Lilit Galustyan, general coordinator of the festival,
told Panorama.am that almost all theatric groups will take part in
`Hayfest.’ Open-air performances are planned to take place at the
Square after Aznavour.

In the words of the organizers internationally unprecedented plays
will be staged such as `Art and Shuk.’

Source: Panorama.am