Author: Topchian Jane

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT ELECT WELCOMES ARMENIAN COUNTERPART AT KREMLIN

ARKA
March 24, 2008

YEREVAN, March 24. /ARKA/. Moscow sees a special symbol in that
Armenia’s president elect paid his first visit abroad to Russia,
stated Russian president elect Dmitry Medvedev.

"This is you first visit after the presidential election in Armenia,
as we see a special symbol of significance of Russian-Armenian ties
in it," Medvedev stated while receiving Sargsyan in the Kremlin.

Medvedev congratulated Sargsyan on his victory in the presidential
election.

He expressed hope that Russia and Armenia will be able to continue
their relations, which have developed over the recent years and are
now at a high level.

In turn, Armenia’s president elect expressed hope for further
consolidation of bilateral relations after the two presidents elect
take offices. "You are known and respected in Armenia," Sargsyan
told Medvedev.

"We are ready to build up our relations and do what we consider
achievable," Sargsyan said. Medvedev said that at their negotiations
the sides will focus on immediate plans.

"We are now going to discuss what we are going to do in the near
future," Medvedev said.

PREMIERE OF "TSITERNAKABERD" WORK BY ANDREY KASPAROV HELD IN U.S.A

Noyan Tapan
March 24, 2008

LOS ANGELES, MARCH 24, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Andrey Kasparov,
a composer, professor and musician, in collaboration with the Old
Dominion University’s contemporary music ensemble; Second Wind Dance
Company; and sculptor Peter Eudenbach, introduced the world premiere of
"Tsitsernakaberd." "Tsiternakaberd" is dedicated to the 1915 Armenian
Genocide. A photo of the monument on the program cover served as a
reference, making the audience’s job of interpreting the dance that
accompanied the composition less difficult.

PUTIN: RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN RELATIONS ENTERING NEW LEVEL

Regnum
March 24 2008
Russia

"Despite the hard times in the political process in Armenia,
Armenian-Russian are going to develop at a new level," president of
Russia Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Armenia’s president-elect
Serzh Sargsyan in Kremlin.

Vladimir Putin said at the meeting that he is informed of complicated
internal political processes in Armenia. Nevertheless, he observed,
Russia hopes that, regardless the course of internal political events
in Armenia, "everything that has been created in the preceding years,
is preserved and developed in the future."

Sargsyan, for his part, said that Armenia needs to further develop
relations with Russia. "We have always appreciated your help to
Armenia," Sargsyan noticed.

To remind, Sargsyan has already met on March 24 with Russia’s
president-elect Dmitry Medvedev. He is also expected to meet with
prime minister Viktor Zubkov and Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

MUSAVAT URGES AZERBAIJANI AUTHORITIES TO JOIN NATO

DEFENSE and SECURITY
March 21, 2008 Friday
Russia

Musavat, party of the opposition in Azerbaijan, appealed to the
republican authorities to initiate a dialogue over full-fledged
membership in NATO.

"The process of entry is long and difficult. The sooner Azerbaijan
initiates the dialogue, the better," the statement Musavat released
read.

Authors of the statement believe that membership in NATO will
facilitate the installation of democratic values in Azerbaijan and
bring the republic closer to common defense and economic level of
the advanced European countries. They are convinced as well that
membership in NATO will facilitate a fair solution to the problem
posed by Nagorno-Karabakh.

Musavat is upset that President Ilham Aliyev did nothing to initiate
a new Azerbaijan-NATO program when the previous two-year program of
cooperation ended in 2007.

A NATO evaluation commission is expected in Baku in the middle of
April. NATO evaluation commissions regularly visit the countries
where Individual Partnership Action Plans are under way.

ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF CANADA CONDEMNS ACTS OF VIOLENCE COMMITTED IN TIBET

Noyan Tapan
March 21, 2008

OTTAWA, MARCH 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Armenian National
Committee of Canada (ANCC) has condemned the use of violence against
the unarmed monks and civilians in Tibet. The Committee considers
as inaddmissible the fact that force is used against the people
of Tibet for the attempt to express their dissatisfaction with the
Chinese government.

The Chinese Government has an obligation to provide more religious
and political freedom to the people of Tibet. ANCC called on the
Chinese government to display restraint and regulate the troubled
Chinese-Tibetan relationship of the past 50 years through dialogue and
negotiations. The ANCC in the face of President Dr. Girair Basmadjian
expresses its deep sorrow and condolences to the Tibetans for the
loss of innocent civilian lives.

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS: "WE RECOGNIZE AZERBAIJAN’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY, BUT WE DON’T RECOGNIZE NAGORNO KARABAKH’S INDEPENDENCE"

Azeri Press Agency
March 20 2008
Azerbaijan

Vienna-APA. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Matthew Bryza (USA),
Bernard Fassie (France) and Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia) made a joint
statement on their meeting with Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and
Armenia in Paris on March 15.

OSCE Headquarters in Vienna reports APA that the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairs reminded that they recognized the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan, but they did not recognize the independence of Nagorno
Karabakh: "We also support the idea that Nagorno Karabakh status is a
subject matter of negotiations between the parties. We are confident
that peaceful and just solution of the conflict makes both parties
settle for a compromise. For this very reason, we consider to stop
the break in negotiations due to the presidential elections in Armenia
and resume talks", the statement reads.

The co-chairs express satisfaction with Azerbaijani and Armenian
Foreign Ministers’ readiness to resume negotiations. "We recommend
both foreign ministers to organize a meeting of Azerbaijani and
Armenian leaders as soon as possible this year. We do believe that the
meeting will be held sooner. The document titled "Basic principles on
peaceful regulation of Nagorno Karabakh conflict" presented to both
parties in November 29 in Madrid will be priority", the statement
reads. Touching upon the recent cease-fire violation in the line of
contact, the co-chairs called on both parties to seriously follow
the cease-fire agreement.

AZERBAIJAN TRYING TO REMOVE RUSSIA, U.S. AND FRANCE FROM OSCE MG

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.03.2008 18:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Azerbaijani authorities undertook to address a
task which is quite obviously beyond their sole competence, Head of
the Institute for National Strategic Studies of the MoD, Doctor of
Political Sciences, Major General Hayk Kotanjian said in an interview
with the press center of the RA Ministry of Defense.

"By their actions they are trying to persuade the international
community that the application of common principle of respect towards
Armenians of Karabakh based on the human rights and freedoms registered
in the UN Charter as a universal norm is purely their own internal
business. They aim at disavowing the OSCE Minsk Group and removing
Russia, the U.S. and France from the MG in connection with their
systemic approaches to the application of the norms and principles
of International law on the Karabakh conflict resolution," he said.

"The point is that the Baku politicians are trying to impose their
own opportunistic-local interpretation of the international law
concerning the settlement and resolution of the Karabakh issue. And
they are doing it with presumption of "lawmakers and indisputable
interpreters" of international law not only domestically but also
before the international auditoria. The head of the neighboring
state, as well as the MFA officials in their statements on the
Baku authorities’ commitments to the conflict resolution in "strict
conformity with the international law", persistently parallel this
very conformity with only one of the common norms of the International
law-the principle of territorial integrity and ignoring the other norms
applied when dealing with the problems like that of Karabakh. In this
context the ignorance of the principle of peoples’ equality and their
right to self-determination is of strictly manipulative nature. This
unilateral approach by Baku to the norms of International law cannot
be of serious influence upon the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs’ expert
position," the Major General said.

VARTAN OSKANIAN: NO AMOUNT OF RESOLUTIONS WILL MAKE KARABAKH DEVIATE FROM ITS PATH OF SELF-DETERMINATION.

armradio.am
20.03.2008 16:39

RA Minister of Foreign Affiars, Mr. Vartan Oskanian gave an interview
to Beirut based "Aztag" newspaper.

Question: It is true that the UN vote results carry a message to
Azerbaijan, as you mentioned. But don’t you think that the event
conveys a message to the Armenian side as well? It’s obvious that
official Baku wants to take full advantage of the internal turmoil
in Armenia.

Answer: It is true the resolution passed although of course we wish
it hadn’t. However, I’m satisfied with the number of countries that
did not support it. I assess their decisions positively. This is a
non-binding, or consultative pronouncement by the General Assembly,
I don’t think it will have an affect on the process, unless Azerbaijan
is engaged not just in deception but self-deception.

It was unnecessary, ill-timed, and mean-spirited, both as a process
and a product.

If they expect to use this for anything other than their domestic
purposes, if they have convinced themselves that the international
community truly supports the one-sided desires they had enumerated in
the text of this resolution, then this will cause serious problems
in the negotiations. One thing must be clear for Azerbaijan – that
no amount of resolutions will make Nagorno Karabakh deviate from its
path of self-determination.

Show me one example in history when a conflict has been resolved by the
passage or acceptance of a document by an international organization
or by third countries. It has never happened and it’s not going to
happen now, certainly not in the case of Nagorno Karabakh. In 1948,
the UN General Assembly resolution on the partition of Palestine
didn’t solve anything.

More recently, the Security Council resolution on Kosovo also didn’t
manage to bring the sides together in a meaningful way. I remember
in Lisbon when the OSCE Chairman-in-Office made a statement about
Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s joy knew no limits. It took years for
Azerbaijan to understand that that document had no value.

By insisting on this non-binding, non-collective statement, Azerbaijan
demonstrated two things -it wants to retreat from the Minsk Group
process, and therefore from the content of the document on the table;
and that it is only willing to negotiate what it wants, and not
a compromise.

That, unfortunately, is the message we have received from all this.

Question: There are signs that such behavior by Azerbaijan may continue
both in the form of ceasefire violations and in increased attempts
to mislead the international public in the diplomatic arena. What do
you foresee?

Answer: Fortunately, we will have an opportunity soon to find out what
Azerbaijan’s intentions are. There is a possibility that Armenia’s
President-Elect will meet with the Azerbaijani President in Bucharest,
in the framework of the NATO-EAPC Summit. We’ve stated our readiness
to participate, I know the co-chairs will make such a proposal, and
I know the Azeris have also hinted that they are ready to continue
the dialogue at the highest levels. During that first meeting this
issue can be clarified.

President-Elect Sargsyan can ask President Aliyev point blank –
if you truly believe in the content of this resolution and if
that will be your guideline, then there’s nothing to talk about
and let’s not waste our time. But if you’re still committed to the
negotiating document on the table today, then let’s get serious and
go the short distance that’s left. Indeed, the UN resolution text
and the content of the negotiating document are incompatible; most
of the international community recognized this which is why they
did not support it. The international community was also perturbed
by Azerbaijan’s recent serious breaches of the ceasefire. These two
things taken together should indeed make the international community
think whether Azerbaijan is serious about its commitments to peace. We
are. We will do what we must, adopt new policies if necessary, to
secure Karabakh’s self-determination and security.

Question: Today there’s a need to change Armenia’s image, as well as
to conduct an accurate and objective assessment of domestic political
developments. How do you envision that process, especially when it
comes to coordinating between the Republic of Armenia and the Diaspora?

Answer: Indeed, Armenia has taken a beating because of the riots
and the deaths. And when the international community comes inquiring
about the situation, they are not interested in asking or knowing who
is responsible for what. They look at this as an Armenian mess, an
Armenian tragedy, an Armenian problem and judge us all together. It’s
not the government that’s damaged, it’s not the opposition that’s
discredited, it’s Armenia that is dishonored.

We must accept their criticism, listen to their disappointment,
share their frustration and try to make certain that this is not a
permanent setback, but a temporary aberration from the path to which
we’re committed. I hope I’m not wrong. We will be tested by what
happens in the coming weeks and months. What is very encouraging is
that despite all that has happened, there’s a lot of good will towards
Armenia, a lot of hope pinned on Armenia, and a sincere desire to
see us come through this in a meaningful way, not just superficially
moving forward with business as usual.

This is also a challenge for the Diaspora. The Diaspora is obviously
shocked and disappointed by the way events have evolved. But we all
are. Now it is time for Armenia and the Diaspora together to navigate
through this polarized and paralyzing situation, find ways to build
faith, to encourage sustained, continuous engagement, to insist on
and support institutional change, in other words, to continue the
difficult task of nation-building.

What the Diaspora cannot do, as some have suggested, is to boycott
Armenia, to reject Armenia-based organizations, to blame Armenia for
not being the country of their dreams. I understand the disappointment,
I don’t understand the expectations or the reaction. This is when we
in Armenia need the Diaspora, this is when the Diaspora must say what
the international community is saying – we are disappointed in what
has happened and we stand ready to work with you to bring Armenia
out of this crisis. This is not the time to disown the family. This
is the time for systematic and broad cooperation.

SERGE SARGSIAN: DETAILED EXAMINATION IS NECESSARY IN ORDER TO GRANT AMNESTY

Noyan Tapan
March 19, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 19, NOYAN TAPAN. "A detailed examination is necessary in
order to grant an amnesty, and if after the examination I come to the
conclusion that there is such a necessity, there will be an amnesty,
if there is no such necessity, no amnesty will be announced," the RA
prime minister, president elect Serge Sarsgian stated at the March
19 sitting in the RA National Assembly when responding to "Heritage"
faction member Zaruhi Postanjian’s question about whether S. Sargsian
is going "to apply to the National Assembly with a proposal on amnesty
during the first days of assuming the post of Armenian president.

S. Sargsian also said that he is not going to take steps which
will be "purely political ones, or steps to be appreciated by the
public." "All my steps will be aimed at developing the country rather
than at forming an opinion about it," the prime minister said.

In response to the question about whether he as the country’s president
intends to grant a pardon to the convicts Zhirayr Sefilian, Vardan
Malkhasian and Arman Babajanian whom the US State Department "has
recognized as political prisoners", S. Sargsian replied: "As of today,
I do not know any political prisoners in Armenia, and if the highest
instance (for you) recognizes, it is your problem."

When answering the question about inviting international experts to
conduct an independent inquiry into the March 1-2 events, S. Sargsain
said that "a visit of international experts to Armenia or creation of
an international commission is a procedure envisaged by the Charter
of the United Nations, and when you familiarize yourself with this
procedure, we will see if this is expedient or not." When Z. Postanjian
(a lawyer by profession) claimed that it is not only the UN that
may deal with such issues, and there are other procedures they will
make use of, S. Sargsian replied: "If you are going to apply, then
there is no need for me to apply. You are the highest body. Apply,
and your wish will be fulfilled."

JOURNALISTS TAKING PART IN CCJN MISSION TO ARMENIA
By IWPR Caucasus staff

Institute for War and Peace Reporting
March 19 2008
UK

IWPR sent a group of 11 journalists representing different countries
in the Caucasus to report on the presidential elections in Armenia
in February.

The party comprised journalists from the North Caucasus, Georgia,
Abkhazia and was led by IWPR Armenia country director Seda Muradyan,
IWPR Caucasus programme director Margarita Akhvlediani and IWPR
editor in Georgia Sopho Bukia. During the course of the mission,
February 15-21, the participants met local experts and politicians,
journalists and presidential candidates.

On the first day, the journalists traveled to the city Abovyan,
to witness the rally of presidential candidate, Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisian. On the same day, they covered the rally of former president
Levon Ter-Petrosian, with one of the group, Irakli Managadze, posting
stories about the event on Interpressnews site and reporting live
for Radio Mwvane Talga.

Participants also separately met two other candidates Vazgen Manukyan,
chairman of the National Democratic Union, and Vahan Hovhannissian,
deputy parliamentary chairman of the Dashnaktsutyun Party, in their
offices.

On February 17, the journalists spoke to Shavarsh Kocharyan, leader
of the National Democratic Party, and Hrant Khachatryan, head of the
Constitutional Right Union. Both politicians support Manukyan.

Two round tables were organised on February 18, involving the
journalists and political analysts Alexander Iskandaryan and David
Petrosian. In addition, Yerkir Media TV prepared a special report
about IWPR’s CCJN mission, which was broadcast several times.

On February 18, participants visited Internews Armenia and met Gegham
Vardanyan, the editor-in-chief, and young journalists and student
journalists working there.

As a result of that meeting Akhra Smir from Abkhazia, traveled to
the city of Echmiadzin with a group of Internews journalists to cover
the elections.

On election day, February 19, participants were divided into groups,
working in the capital and rural areas. They interviewed the main
presidential candidates and senior officials after they had voted.

The journalists also traveled to Abovyan, where they spoke to electoral
commission members, and representatives of candidates who had been
subjected to violence while carrying out their work.

The participants took part in the press conferences of the different
political parties during and after the election. They also attended the
press briefings of the central electoral committee and international
observers.

As a result of the mission, the journalists wrote a joint story, Voting
Incidents Mar Armenian Election, for IWPR’s CRS, published on February
20, 2008. The participants also wrote stories for their own newspapers.

Dimitri Avaliani, from the Georgian newspaper 24 Hours, said he
gained much from the mission, "It is simply excellent to work in
a group with colleagues. I learnt a lot of things about Abkhazia
and the North Caucasus as well; we spent a lot of time discussing
election-related issues and making comparisons."

Anaid Gogoryan from the newspaper Chegemsskaya Pravda in Abkhazia
says that her reporting from Armenia was praised back home.

"My readers contacted me after they read my stories and said that
they watched Russian television and the coverage of elections was
very one-sided. They said that my stories gave them a more realistic
picture of how the elections went," said Gogoryan.

"I really appreciate the possibility to be at the centre of events.

Too bad we could not stay for the events that took place afterwards –
however, witnessing the elections was a unique opportunity."

Diana Alieva, from the newspaper Svobodnaya Respublika in Dagestan,
says she appreciated meeting journalists from other countries too,
since reporters from regional press in Russia very seldom have the
chance to travel outside of Russia.

"I think I was the only journalist representing Russian regional
press in Armenia during the elections," she said. "In our hotel we had
people from many different countries. For me it was a real eye-opener
to talk to them and hear how western media work during elections."

Alieva said she also got good feedback after her stories were
published, "We have a substantial Armenian minority in Dagestan
and people appreciated reading first-hand reporting of the Armenian
elections in their own paper."