Author: Topchian Jane

WILL SERZH SARGSYAN PUNISH VAZGEN MANUKYAN?

A1+
07:56 pm | June 11, 2009

Politics

"Supreme Council- parliamentary club has complained of Vazgen Manukyan
to Serzh Sargsyan.

On June 3 the "Supreme Council- parliamentary club chaired by Ruben
Torosyan requested President of the Public Council Vazgen Manukyan to
consider the reports on election frauds recorded during the Yerevan
municipal election at the Council.

"The Council’s president has violated the RoA legislation and made
no decision on the fate of the above-said reports. We are hopeful
that Mr. Sargsyan will make his inferior employee accountable for
this vivid violation," runs the club’s press-release

US AMBASSADOR: THE NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT MUST BE SOLVED ON THE BASIS OF TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY AND SELF-DETERMINATION PRINCIPLE

ArmInfo
2009-06-11 17:17:00

ArmInfo. "The US position on the solution to Nagorno Karabakh conflict
remains unchanged. The conflict must be solved peacefully on the
basis of territorial integrity and self-determination principle",
outgoing US ambassador Anne Derse told journalists, APA reports.

Speaking about the US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and
Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon’s statement in Armenia, the diplomat
said the underlined principles must be discussed in balance. The
ambassador reminded that Gordon was appointed recently and would keep
all regional issues, including the solution process of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict in the focus of his attention. "Gordon was appointed
to this post two months ago. I consider he will learn the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict closer during his present visit to the region".

To recall, P. Gordon, having visited Yerevan on June 10, said that
"any voting mechanism enable people to express its opinion should be
included in the solution process".

88-YEAR-OLD GUNMAN OPENS FIRE IN U.S. HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
10.06.2009 23:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ An 88-year-old gunman with a violent and virulently
anti-Semitic past opened fire with a rifle inside the crowded
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday, fatally wounding
a security guard before being shot himself by other officers,
authorities said.

The assailant was hospitalized in critical condition, leaving behind
a sprawling investigation by federal and local law enforcement and
expressions of shock from the Israeli government and a prominent
Muslim organization.

Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the gunman was "engaged by
security guards immediately after entering the door" with a rifle. "The
second he stepped into the building he began firing."

Law enforcement officials said James W. von Brunn, a white supremacist,
was under investigation in the shooting and that his car was found near
the museum and tested for explosives. The weapon was a .22-caliber
rifle, they added. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they
were not authorized to discuss the investigation just beginning.

Museum officials identified the dead guard as Stephen T. Johns, a
six-year veteran of the facility. Director Sara Bloomfield said he
"died heroically in the line of duty," AP reported.

ARMENIA CONCERNED ABOUT DEEPENING AND EXTENSION OF RELATIONS WITH EURASEC

ArmInfo
2009-06-10 18:02:00

ArmInfo. Armenia is concerned about deepening and extension of the
economical, political and cultural relations with EurAsEC countries,
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisyan told Arminfo correspondent
on board when returning from the 23-rd session of EurAsEC Inter-state
Council held in Moscow.

He also added these relations are developing quite dynamically and
new institutes are being created within the frames of EurAsEC, new
instruments which Armenia can use being not a fully-fledged member of
EurAsEC. At the same time, Sarkisyan added there are several problems
to be resolved for Armenia’s becoming the fully-fledged member of
EurAsEC. "The first and most important problem is a problem of the
Customs Union, which is not stemming from the economic interests
of Armenia. For this reason we still abstain from the fully-fledged
participation in EurAsEC", – Armenian premier said.

He recalled that within the frames of the 23-rd Inter-state Council
of EurAsEC prime ministers of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia signed
a trilateral agreement on setting up of the Customs Union which will
start acting since 2010. The Union is going to join the WTO like a
single customs territory. "Our partners are flexible and they have
to pass some way.

They have declared about their principle political decision to continue
talks as a single union with the WTO. It is not ruled out that several
years later the customs taxes, which do not meet our interests,
maybe revised within the frames of EurAsEC. And if these countries
join the WTO, naturally, these obstacles will disappear", – he said.

INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL IN MOSCOW

Panorama.am
15:37 09/06/2009

In the frames of 31st international film festival to be held in Moscow
on 19-28 June Karen Shakhnazarov’s famous 10 films will be presented
in "Shakhnazarov’s films" special project. "I have included 10 films
in that list which have had special impact on me," the film maker says.

16 films from 14 countries will be shown in the 31st international
film festival in Moscow. Armenian film director Harutyun Khachatryan’s
films are also included in the festival’s retrospective show.

It’s worth mentioning that the film festival is being conducted since
1959, but only in 2000 it became annual.

PRESIDENT OF THE NKR MET A DELEGATION

hp
08-06-2009
NAGORNO KARABAKH REPUBLIC
REPUBLIC NEWSPAPER

On 8 June President of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic Bako Sahakyan
met a delegation from the UK at the head of the House of Lords’
deputy speaker Baroness Caroline Cox.

According to Baroness Cox every time she visits Artsakh she becomes
inspired by positive changes in in Artsakh. At the instance of the
guests Bako Sahakayn introduced current situation and development
prospects of different spheres of economy. Issues related to the
settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabagh conflict were touched ipon too.

According to the President international recognition of NKR’s state
independence in a matter of time and the main mechanisms to achieve it
is persistent development of the Artsakh statehood and strengthening
democratic values.

At the end of the meeting the President expressed his gratitude to
the guests for their continued attention and assistance to Artsakh.

Public Television of Armenia
June 5 2009

Armenian, Russian presidents discuss ties, Karabakh

[Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan and [Russian] President Dmitriy
Medvedev met yesterday evening in the Konstantinovskiy Palace of the
Russian president. The meeting was held in a warm and constructive
atmosphere. The sides discussed issues of mutual interest. The Russian
president attached importance both to bilateral and regional ties. The
Armenian president introduced results of his meeting with the
Azerbaijani president in Saint Petersburg to his Russian
counterpart. The sides spoke about cooperation in the framework of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization, attaching importance to
efficient activities of the organization’s rapid reaction collective
force in this context.

[Medvedev speaking at the meeting in Russian with Armenian translation
superimposed] Dear Serzh Azatovich, I would like to sincerely welcome
you in Petersburg. I am happy that you came for both communicating and
speaking about issues and developing bilateral ties. I hope that you
will have an opportunity to take part in the forum tomorrow and to
speak about contemporary issues of international policy, international
economic life. It is necessary to meet more frequently in order to
overcome difficulties, and we are doing so. We have met many times
recently and I believe that this is necessary for the development of
Armenian-Russian cooperation and personal ties. It helps making
targeted decisions regarding specific issues.

[Sargsyan speaking in Russian with Armenian voiceover] Thanks you dear
Dmitriy Anatolyevich. First of all, I would like to express my
gratitude for the invitation to take part in the Petersburg economic
forum. I would like to express my gratitude for providing the
500m-dollar loan to Armenia. This will help overcome the negative
consequences of the crisis. We have worked and are working in the
direction of the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh issue with the
help of the co-chairs of the [OSCE] Minsk Group. We are trying to find
ways to allow residents of Nagornyy Karabakh to live securely in their
homeland allowing them to decide their fate themselves. A regular
session of the Collective Treaty Security Organization will be held in
Moscow. We should take more steps to unite efforts, in particular, in
the cause of establishment of the rapid reaction force.

REPORT ON ACTIVITY OF DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS IN ARMENIA TO BE DISCUSSED AT PACE MONITORING COMMITTEE JUNE 5 SITTING

Noyan Tapan
June 5, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 5, NOYAN TAPAN. In addition to other issues, the report
on activity of democratic institutions in Armenia will be discussed at
the PACE Monitoring Committee June 5 sitting to be held in Paris. Head
of the Armenian delegation in PACE, Chairman of the RA NA Standing
Committee on State and Legal Issues, RPA member David Haroutiunian and
delegation member, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign
Relations Armen Rustamian will take part in the sitting.

MEETING IN THE RA NA STANDING COMMITTEE

National Assembly
June 4 2009
Armenia

On June 2 Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign
Relations Mr. Armen Rustamyan met the Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Finland to Armenia H.E. Mr. Petri
Salo.

At the guest’s request Mr. Rustamyan presented his assessments on
the regional developments. Touching upon the problem of the Karabakh
conflict regulation, Mr. Rustamyan noted that Armenia was for the
peaceful solution of the issue through negotiations without using
force. In Mr. Rustamyan’s conviction, the Minsk Group process should
be continued as the change of the format can result in tension.

The Committee Chairman believes that the opening of the
Armenian-Turkish border and the establishment of diplomatic relations
with Turkey shall be without any preconditions.

Mr. Salo also noted that the Karabakh problem and the regional
conflicts should be solved through peaceful means, and Finland,
being a member country of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement, would support the peaceful regulation of the
Karabakh issue.

During the meeting other issues regarding the Armenian-Finnish
relations and regional problems were discussed too.

BAKU’S KARABAKH STATEMENTS INAPPROPRIATE – ARMENIA

Interfax
June 1 2009
Russia

Yerevan claims Azerbaijan again made statements damaging the talks
on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict ahead of the
Azeri-Armenian summit due in June.

Obviously, these statements go beyond the limits of diplomatic
etiquette and elementary tact, Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister
Shavarsh Kocharian said, according to the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

It looks like Azerbaijan’s statements, made ahead of each meeting
and damaging talks that have not even taken place, is becoming
a tradition. Strangely enough, this also happens after the talks,
when Baku’s commentaries differ almost always not only from Armenia’s
assessment, but also from the opinion of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group, he said.

The question arises: What goal is Azerbaijan pursuing – to hold talks,
or to try to foil them, he said.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev earlier said that the settlement of
the Karabakh conflicts was delayed due to Armenia’s non-constructive
position, and that Azerbaijan will not depart from its fair position
of principle.

Aliyev made a point, according to the Azeri mass media, that
neither today, nor in a 100 years’ time will Karabakh be granted
independence. Armenia is already an independent state, and the
Armenian people went through self-determination once. The state of
Azerbaijan and the Azeri people will never allow a second Armenian
state to emerge on the Azeri soil, Aliyev was quoted as saying.

The next meeting between Armenian and Azeri presidents Serzh Sargsyan
and Ilham Aliyev will take place in June at an economic forum in
St. Petersburg.