Month: October 2006

"I WOULD REMAIN PRESIDENT IF I WANTED"

A1+
[07:14 pm] 11 October, 2006

President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Arkadi Ghoukasyan rendered a
press conference today in order to inform that journalists and through
them to the society that he is not going to be nominated for the post
of the NKR President for the third time.

Mr. Ghoukasyan made the announcement in answer to the opinions that
it is his desire to be nominated for the third time that makes him
adopt the NKR Constitution.

"I would not pay attention to the gossips if it weren’t for two
important factors: the reputation of Nagorno Karabakh as a country
faithful to democratic values, and the importance of the Constitution
in the life of the country", Arkadi Ghoukasyan announced.

Explaining why the Constitution is being adopted now the President
said that a number of objective circumstances prevented them from
adopting the Constitution earlier.

"I assure you that I never intended to be nominated for the third
time. Even if the Constitution gives me that right, it doesn’t mean
that I will make use of it. Power has never been an aim in itself for
me. If I wanted to preserve the post of the President, theoretically
I would choose an easier way through changing the corresponding law
in the Parliament", the NKR President said.

At the end of his speech Arkadi Ghoukasyan voiced hope that
his announcement will put an end to the gossips which harm the
international reputation of Nagorno Karabakh.

ISN’T THE DRAFT THE OFFICIAL POSITION OF FRANCE?

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[07:35 pm] 11 October, 2006

France benefit from the adoption of the law criminalizing the negation
of the Armenian Genocide, announced French Ambassador to Azerbaijan
Bernard du Chaffaut. He underlined that the draft has been brought
to the Parliament by the oppositional Socialist Party.

Bernard du Chaffaut also mentioned that even if the draft is adopted
in the National Assembly, it will not mean that it will come into
force at once. For that the Senate must confirm it; and even if the
Senate does so, it still will not be the official position of France
to the issue, agency "Trend" informs.

The French diplomat mentioned that the adoption of the draft cannot
have negative influence on the French-Turkish relations and the
relations of France with other Moslem countries. The Ambassador claimed
that the attitude of France will not affect the membership of Turkey
in the EU and that the President of France is for Turkey’s membership.

CRIMINALS WANT TO GRAB POWER

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[05:15 pm] 11 October, 2006

Shadow economists and criminal elements in Armenia are tired of serving
others and want to grab power, deputy Shavarsh Kocharyan warns. He says
that the political, economic, administrative and criminal structures
have united into one which will result in handing the power on to
each other like batons.

Referring to the arrest of NA deputy Hakob Hakobyan, Shavarsh Kocharyan
said that "this way the authorities sort out their relationship",
otherwise other deputies would be punished too in similar
circumstances. "He has broken the laws of the game", Kocharyan said.

According to him, Hakob Hakobyan may be punished by losing a
significant sum of money.

The Parliamentary elections are to be held in six months, but the
opposition unites in the anti-criminal movement instead of uniting
for gaining power.

According to the head of the National Democratic Party, this is rather
strange; that’s why his party did not join the movement.

He also claimed that combat against criminals is the business of the
authorities and not that of the opposition as they do not have police
or courts.

"THEY HAVE INSULTED OUR PARTY"

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[05:49 pm] 11 October, 2006

"Those who are guilty must be punished", said Armen Ashotyan from
the Republican faction in connection with the arrest of Hakob
Hakobyan. "You should not look upon all this as a process in the
context of pre-election campaign" he added.

As for the incident with former Minister of Internal Affairs Suren
Abrahamyan, the deputy voiced confidence that "not a single member
of the Republican party has anything to do with it", and "the head
of the party must not be blamed for the act".

"It’s not favorable for the Republican party to meddle with suchlike
incidents. The Party is interested in revealing all the details
connected with the case.

I’ll tell you more: the organizers of the case have insulted our
party. They think that the people are so naive that they will believe
in downright deceit", he mentioned.

IT SPECIALIST CRITICIZES ARMENIAN INTERNET SITES

Panorama.am
13:49 11/10/06

Armenian internet sites are "dead" since their pages open for more than
8 seconds, Hovanes Avoyan, director of Lycos’s Armenian representation,
told a news conference today.

In his words, Armenia is poorly presented in the internet. "If our
local users have to wait until the page opens, no one will wait more
than 8 seconds abroad," Avoyan mentioned. Speaking about the reasons
of such failures, Avoyan said the internet connection is bad. He also
said it is disconnected for hours and even for days. Among reasons,
Avoyan also mentioned the technical capacities.

Some 110 companies work in the sphere of IT today in Armenia 30%
of them with foreign capital. Some 5,000 people are employed in the
field. IT attracts $100 million private and government investment
annually.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ON-LINE PROGRAMMING MARATHON TO BE HELD

Panorama.am
15:28 11/10/06

On October 14 a Web Open Source All-Armenian on-line marathon will
be held in Armenia, Hovanes Avoyan, directory of Lycos’s Armenian
representation who is also the chairman of the organizational committee
of the marathon, told a news conference today.

As of today, 73 groups and individuals have registered to participate
in the event. The marathon aims to show the capacities of Armenian
experts in the field of IT.

The event will run for 24 hours. To participate interested parties
are encouraged to register at http:webos2006.com. Best participants
will get prizes.

COMMUNITY DISPUTES OVER LAND OF A FOREST RESERVE

Panorama.am
15:33 11/10/06

Mapping of Khosrov reserve will end late 2007, Vorontsov Barseghyan,
the deputy director of Khosrov Forest reserve, told reporters today. He
said local communities have disputes over the land of the forest.

He said the local community disregards the map of 1985-86 whereas
Barseghyan assures it is very importance document. The community
refers to a map dating back to 1962 but Barseghyan says a lot has
been changed since that time.

At present, Khosrov forest reserve covers 29 196 ha land, 15 % of
which are forests. Moufflons, bezoars, bears, leopards and other
animals live in the forest.

NDP LEADER PREDICTS THAT SHADOW ECONOMY MAY COME TO POWER

Panorama.am
15:40 11/10/06

"If the opposition does not make a serious claim for power, this claim
will be made by shadow economy representatives," Shavarsh Kocharyan,
National Democratic Party (NDP) chairman, told a press conference
today. In his words, 80% of businessmen are tired of paying services
to the power authorities and want to take the power themselves.

Panorama.am asked Kocharyan if he means Gagik Tsarukyan and his
Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) but Kocharyan refrained from giving
names and said all big businessmen are working in shadow in Armenia
and that is why the mid size business is not developing in the
country. When the reporter insisted on his question, Kocharyan said,
"If I said that the leader of PAP Gagik Tsarukyan does not work in
shadow, would you believe me?"

207 ADVOCATES PASS QUALIFICATION EXAMS

Panorama.am
15:47 11/10/06

As a result of qualification exams at the Palace of Advocates 207
advocates have been successfully qualified among 346 applicants. Ruben
Sahakyan, the chairman of Palace of Advocates, refuted the rumors
that the committee has been bribed up to $2000-3000.

Speaking about the conflict between the committee and Sahakyan,
the chairman said, "It is natural," saying the arguments were about
grading of some eight applicants. Sahakyan hoped next year the exams
will be more successful.

The chairman hoped the status of advocates will rise in the public
over time. He said at the moment they do not have high public demand.

The exams are the initiative of American Bar Association aimed to
foster independence of advocates.

PARTIES CLASH IN GEORGIA IN POST-ELECTION FIGHT

Panorama.am
19:03 11/10/06

Shirak Torosyan, the leader of "Javakhk" Union, an NGO of compatriots
from Javakhk, said it is unclear that local self-government elections
were held in Georgia on October 5 despite of being planned in late
November and December. He thinks the Georgian authorities in power
did it on purpose in order not to allow the opposition to organize
itself, Torosyan said referring to Georgian media sources.

Speaking about post-election situation, Torosyan said, "Industry will
save Georgian" Party, which collected 30% of votes, was provoked to
organize a protest action.

On October 9 pro-government United National Movement, which collected
70% of votes, and "Industry will save Georgia" clashed and Akhalkalak
police head was beaten. Torosyan said before the clash both Georgian
and Russian channels knew that something was going to happen and had
their cameras ready. Therefore, Torosyan thinks that the conflict
was planned.