Armenian News

Wednesday 6, August 2008

BEIJING: ARMENIAN STATE FLAG HOISTED IN BEIJING
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.08.2008 18:04 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On August 4, Armenian state flag was hoisted
in the Olympic Village in Beijing, the RA MFA press office told
PanARMENIAN.Net.

Mayor of the Olympic Village Chen Zhili, Armenia's Charge d'Affaires
in China, head of the Armenian

Olympic mission, officials of the RA Foreign Ministry and Armenian
Embassy in China as well as members of the Armenian Olympic team took
part in the solemn opening ceremony.

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Armenia Sets Lavish Rewards For Olympic Winners
By Astghik Bedevian

Armenian athletes winning gold medals in the upcoming Olympic Games in
Beijing will each be rewarded with more than $760,000 in cash and other
bonuses, Minister for Sport and Youth Affairs Armen Grigorian confirmed
on Wednesday.

Grigorian said the bulk of the reward, $700,000, would be provided by
Gagik Tsarukian, a wealthy businessman heading Armenia's National
Olympic Committee (NOCA). The remaining 20 million drams ($66,000) would
be paid from the state budget, he said.

Tsarukian promised the bounty shortly after taking over the NOCA
following Armenia's worst-ever performance in the last Olympic Games
held in Athens in 2004. He made clear that the payment would be made in
cash and in the form of a luxury apartment in one of his residential
buildings in central Yerevan.

None of the 18 Armenian athletes won any medals at the Athens Olympics.
The Tsarukian-led NOCA has since spent heavily on the reconstruction of
the country's outdated sport facilities in the hope of ensuring a more
respectable performance at the Beijing games.

Armenia will be represented there by 25 athletes vying for medals in
seven sports, including boxing, wrestling and weightlifting. Some of
them have done well in recent European and world championships and are
expected to be major contenders at Beijing.

`We have European champions and winners of world championship medals,'
Grigorian told RFE/RL. `So we have serious ambitions to win medals at
the 2008 Olympic Games.'

An Armenian government delegation led by President Serzh Sarkisian will
fly to China to attend the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.

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AZERBAIJAN TO SET UP NEW CAPITAL FOR BREAKAWAY KARABAKH
Regnum News Agency
Aug 4 2008
Russia

4 August: Azerbaijan has started implementing measures anticipating
mass return of Azerbaijani refugees to Nagornyy Karabakh. As a Regnum
news agency correspondent has learnt, the administrative centre -
the government of the Azerbaijani community of Nagornyy Karabakh -
has been situated in the village of Nargiztapa - some 2-3 km away
from the front line in Xocavand District.

The Xocavand District is a formal administrative unity in southwestern
Azerbaijan. In fact, the territory of the district has been divided
into Martuni and Hadrut districts of Nagornyy Karabakh and is
controlled by the administration of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic. The
administrative centre of the district is the town of Martuni.

According to reports received by Regnum, the village of Narqiztapa
is situated not a long way from the town of Martuni and the territory
is controlled by the Azerbaijani armed forces. The government of the
Azerbaijani community of Nagornyy Karabakh functions in Nargiztapa. The
process of mass registration of Azerbaijanis who wish to return to
Nagornyy Karabakh has already started.

We should say that one of the mediators in the process of regulation
of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, the US chairman in the OSCE Minsk
Group, Matthew Bryza, slightly lifted the veil of secrecy from the
negotiations process. "What we have proposed are - the Armenian troops
have to be withdrawn from the [Azerbaijani] seven districts around
Nagornyy Karabakh; international peacekeepers have to be brought in;
the IDPs and refugees have to return to their homes; a corridor linking
Armenia with Nagornyy Karabakh has to be established and a process
of plebiscite (a referendum - editorial office) has to be conducted
to determine the future status of Nagornyy Karabakh," added Bryza.

To all appearances, the Azerbaijani authorities through the
administration in Nargiztapa are making preparations for one of
the mentioned by Bryza points, in particular, the return of the
refugees. It is obvious that in case of effective work in this
direction, Baku could hope for a favourable outcome of the "postponed"
referendum for the determination of the future status of Nagornyy
Karabakh.

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UNITED STATES MADE SUKHUMI, TSKHINVALI, AND STEPANAKERT

HAPPY; BAKU SAYS THE AMERICANS ARE "WRONG"
by Arkady Dubnov
WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 6, 2008 Wednesday
Russia

BAKU IS DISSATISFIED WITH MATTHEW BRYZA'S STATEMENT MADE

AFTER THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH SETTLEMENT MEETING;

Azerbaijani-Armenian meeting in
Moscow fomented a scandal in Baku.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement meeting in Moscow between
foreign ministers Edward Nalbandjan (Armenia) and Elmar Mamedjarov
(Azerbaijan) fomented a scandal in Baku. To be more exact, the scandal
was fomented by the statement Matthew Bryza of the OSCE Minsk Group
made after the meeting.

Nalbandjan said he had discussed "all issues on the agenda" with his
Azerbaijani opposite number.

Mamedjarov's comment on the meeting was cautiously optimistic. "I've
listened to what the Armenian side had to say on the subject," he
said. "Mutual understanding is undeniable, but a breakthrough is
still far in the future."

So benevolent a tone in evaluation of the meeting between the involved
countries is unusual and therefore encouraging.

As soon as Matthew Bryza of the OSCE Minsk Group aired the offers he
himself had allegedly made to the ministers, Baku announced that it
was not ready to accept them.

The scandal was created by the words of the American diplomat to the
effect that "Residents of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh themselves
will decide if their republic is to be under Azerbaijani jurisdiction
or sovereign. A referendum will be arranged" (INTERFAX quoted Bryza
as saying).

Baku became immediately alerted to how INTERFAX web site immediate
posted a report on the "undisguised joy in Abkhazia and South Ossetia
over Bryza's latest statement concerning Nagorno-Karabakh." As a
matter of fact, self-proclaimed republics striving for independence
from Georgia and international recognition will be happy to hear of
even a remote opportunity that Nagorno-Karabakh might become sovereign.

It was Bryza's reference to Nagorno-Karabakh as a "republic" and the
fact that he allows for the possibility of its sovereignty that made
Baku hit the roof. "A referendum on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh as
part of the Azerbaijani Republic is possible only in 15 or 20 years,"
Novruz Mamedov of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration's
International Relations Department said on August 2.

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ILHAM ALIYEV REFUTES MATTHEW BRYZA'S STATEMENT ABOUT

REFERENDUM IN KARABAKH
arminfo
2008-08-06 17:04:00

ArmInfo-TURAN. Azerbaijani government will further pay attention to
military construction, President Ilham Aliyev said at yesterday's
enlarged session of Cabinet of Ministers.

He said additional measures are taken to strengthen defense industry.

"Strong army is, undoubtedly, plays a decisive role in restoration
of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and we will further continue
strengthening our army," Aliyev said.

Aliyev said that Azerbaijan's position to the Karabakh conflict
settlement remains unchanged. The conflict must be settled within the
framework of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and status of autonomy
must be granted to Nagorno Karabakh. No other variants are discussed,
added Aliyev.

He said the conflict can be settled on terms of withdrawal of Armenian
troops from all occupied regions and Azerbaijani population's back
to native lands, including Nagorno Karabakh.

"Azerbaijan will not grant any status to Nagorno Karabakh beyond of
Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. Both Armenia and countries of
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen are well aware of that," Aliyev said. He
explained that he would like to pay attention to this fact, because
of possible speculations.

"Along with Armenia several international organizations also express
subjective and far from reality opinions.

Distribution of such false information could aggravate the situation,"
said Aliyev hinting at the latest statement of Matthew Bryza,
U.S. co-chairman of OSCE Minsk Group.

Last week Matthew Bryza, U.S. co-chairman of OSCE Minsk Group, said
Nagorno Karabakh's status will be resolved by means of referendum in
the region.

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