Armenian News

PEOPLE LIVING IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH SHOULD DETERMINE

THEIR STATUS THROUGH VOTING - U.S. DIPLOMAT
Interfax News Agency
Aug 4 2008
Russia

The people living in Nagorno-Karabakh will decide themselves whether
the republic should remain under Azerbaijan's jurisdiction or gain
independence, said U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for
European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza, a co-chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group.

"That's what the vote would determine [] by the people who are there,
I mean by the Karabakhs themselves," Bryza told journalists in Moscow
following a meeting between the Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers
on Thursday.

"It's the basic principles that have been talked about before, I mean
the rough framework," Bryza said.

"None of this by the way is agreed, nothing is agreed until everything
is agreed," Bryza said. "What we have suggested - only what we have
suggested - is that the Armenian troops would pull out of the seven
territories around Karabakh, there would be international peacekeepers
that are brought in there, then there would be the return of internally
displaced persons and refugees, that there would be a corridor that
connects Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, and there would be a process
of voting, be it a plebiscite or a referendum, you can talk about
different words, but anyway, a voting process to determine the future
of Nagorno-Karabakh, its future status," he said.

"We don't know exactly when that would occur, all those sorts of
modalities would need to be negotiated," he added.

What is also important is that the parties trust each other and have
enough political will, Bryza said. He also warned against the danger
of a stall in the negotiations.

Yury Merzlyakov, the Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group,
praised the group's active role in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

"The way the process is going on, including meetings between the
presidents and the foreign ministers, means that the Minsk Group
is acting properly and that the conflicting parties - Armenia
and Azerbaijan - have constructive attitudes toward each other,"
Merzlyakov told journalists.

Baku lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and several districts
adjacent to it in a bloody conflict between Azeris and Armenians in the
1990s. The conflict rendered about 1 million Azeris refugees. The UN
Security Council condemned the occupation of Azerbaijan's territories
by Armenia and demanded that Armenian troops be withdrawn from
them.

A negotiating process to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh problem is
currently underway with international mediation of the OSCE Minsk
Group, which is comprised of representatives from the U.S., Russia,
and France.

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THE 2790TH ANNIVERSARY OF YEREVAN CITY WILL BE CELEBRATED

WITH SPLENDID FESTIVITIES ON OCTOBER 11
arminfo
2008-08-04 11:08:00

ArmInfo. The 2790th Anniversary of Yerevan city will be celebrated
with large-scale festivities on October 11, Head of the Municipal
Department for Culture, Youth and Sport Affairs Kamo Movsisyan told
media Monday. 'In conformity with a governmental decision, Yerevan Day
will be celebrated every year on the second Saturday of October. This
year it will be October 11;, he said. 'We are going to turn that day
into a citywide holiday that will be this year even more splendid
than last year', he said.

K. Movsisyan underlined that many foreign delegations and tourists will
arrive in Yerevan to attend the festivities. 'Over 20 foreign cities
have already expressed desire to participate in the event', he said.

Argishtis I - a son and successor of Menuas, he continued the series of
conquests initiated by his predecessors. Victorious against Assyria, he
conquered the northern part of Syria and made Urartu the most powerful
state in the post-Hittite Near East. He also expanded his kingdom
north to the Lake Sevan conquering much of Diauehi and the Ararat
Valley. Argishtis built the fortress of Erebuni in 782 BC, and the
fortress of Argishtikhinili, in 776 BC. The cornerstone with the date
of Yerevan's foundation engraved on can be found at Yerevan Municipal
Museum. Yerevan was declared the capital of the Republic Armenia on
28 may 1918. Yerevan Day is celebrated every year in mid October.

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ARMENIA-TURKEY MEETING TO BE PREPARED
Panorama.am
16:12 04/08/2008

On Saturday a discussion has been held at the Vice Prime and the
Minister of Territorial Administration Armen Gevorgyan covering the
organizational issues of Armenia-Turkey football teams meeting.

It was mentioned that a group of fans is to visit Armenia from Turkey
to support the Turkish football players. Armenian officials have
covered every detail to guarantee the security of both the football
team and the fans.

Remind that Armenia-Turkey meeting is to take place on 6 September.

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ARMENIAN POLICEMEN TO GET 50% HIGHER SALARIES IN 2009
ARKA
Aug 4, 2008

YEREVAN, August 4. /ARKA/. Salaries of Armenian Police staff will
be raised by 50 percent in 2009, Police Chief, Mayor General Alik
Sargsyan said.

Sargsyan said very low salaries are paid to Armenian policemen now. In
Estonia, for example, policemen get $1.500, in Russia -$800, and in
Georgia - $500, while in Armenia they get in average $200.

According to Sargsyan, Police and National Security Service personnel
are paid even lower salaries than teachers and civil servants.

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Police General Defends Break-Up Of Opposition Tent Camp
By Karine Kalantarian

A high-ranking police official on Tuesday defended and assumed
personal responsibility for the break-up of the Armenian opposition's
non-stop post-election protests in Yerevan's Liberty Square which led to
the deadliest street violence in the country's history.

Thousands of supporters of opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian set up
a tent camp there the day after the disputed February 19 presidential
election which they believe was rigged in favor of then Prime Minister
Serzh Sarkisian. Up to 2,000 of them spent nights in the square and were
joined by tens of thousands of other protesters in daytime until they
were dispersed by riot police in the early hours of March 1.

Scores of the campers were injured and arrested by security forces armed
by batons and electric-shock guns, while others managed to flee the
scene and regroup elsewhere in the city center. The crowd rapidly grew
in size as it barricaded itself at a sprawling street junction outside
the Yerevan mayor's office later in the day. At least eight civilians
and two interior troops were killed in ensued pitched battles that ended
the next morning after a state of emergency declared by then President
Robert Kocharian.

Major General Sasha Afian, a deputy chief of the national police, gave
some details of the Liberty Square violence as he testified before an
Armenian parliamentary commission investigating the post-election
unrest. Afian said he personally ordered some 600 officers from various
police divisions to enter the square and `restore public order.' `I am
the one who gave the order after the incident,' he said.

Afian reiterated the official version of the events whereby the police
decided to break up the unsanctioned protest only after the
demonstrators led by Ter-Petrosian refused to allow them to search the
square. He claimed that the police received on February 29 `reliable
information' that he protesters will be handed out firearms, explosives,
iron bars and other weapons to stage a coup d'etat allegedly planned by
Ter-Petrosian.

Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian told the parliament earlier that
law-enforcement authorities received such information on February 19.
Afian gave no clear explanation for the discrepancy when pressed by
commission members.

Ter-Petrosian and his associates have strongly denied the government
claims, saying that the security forces issued no warnings before
attacking the crowd. The official justification for the use of force has
also been questioned by Armen Harutiunian, the state human rights
ombudsman.

`If fleeing demonstrators left guns behind them, then why is it that
during their dispersal, which was accompanied by beatings and
resistance, not a single gunshot was fired?' Harutiunian asked in an
extensive report released in late April. The report also said that the
purported search also violated Armenia's Code of Procedural Justice
requires court warrants and the presence of witnesses in such cases.

`All the demonstrators were witnesses,' Afian commented in that regard.

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RETIRED BLACKBURN COUPLE'S ARMENIAN ADVENTURE
By Catherine Pye
Lancashire Telegraph
Aug 4 2008
UK

A RETIRED couple are about to go on a trip of a lifetime to Armenia
to help underprivileged children.

David and Sue Andrew of Whitehall Road, Blackburn, are travelling to
Yerevan and Stepanavan for a week tomorrow (Wednesday), visiting the
Area Development Programme run by the charity World Vision.

They will be helping out at a summer school for children, and working
with local communities to improve food security and access to clean
water.

Sue, 64, a former home tutor and hospital teacher, said: "We've never
done anything like this before and never thought we would because my
husband has had two major heart operations in the last couple of years.

"It's marvellous we can go and I'm very excited and nervous."

David, 69, a former lecturer at Blackburn College, said: "When
Communism fell and the Russians left in 1991, they took the industry
away with them.

"There is now about 50 per cent unemployment and electricity is
prohibitively expensive.

"There was a bad earthquake in 1988 and many of the buildings are
still in their collapsed state because there are no resources."

They are representing Leamington Road Baptist Church in Blackburn,
which they have attended since 1973.

The church has supported the project for the last three years, together
with 20 other churches across the country in a project called Churches
in Partnership (CHIP).

Five others who are going on the trip are from the North East,
Birmingham and High Wycombe.

They hope to learn about the needs in the country, and take their
experiences back to their churches where fundraising can take place.

Sue and David also hope to meet the seven-year-old boy they sponsor,
called Armen.

They will be taking him a Blackburn Rovers shirt, a cap and a football.

Sue added: "Everytime I go shopping I end up coming back with things
for Armenia.

"The children at our church have also been drawing pictures for us
to take to other children their age."

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