Month: October 2006

JAVAKHK WAITING FOR CHANGES BUT NOTHING HAPPENS

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2006 13:25 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The situation in Samtskhe Javakhetia is
quiet. However, those who leave Javakhk to earn money become
Russia citizens and never come back. People awaited problems with
bank transfers over the tension of the Russian-Georgian relations
but everything is all right. Everyone is waiting for changes, but
nothing happens," editor of hos.am e-newspaper Armen Grigoryan told
a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, the election to the local
self-government started October 5 but one can hardly make out the
situation.

Two parties – United National Movement and Industry Will Save
Georgia (opposition), -as well as candidates by majority lists run
in Akhalkalaki. "The opposition stands little chance for victory,
though it’s my personal opinion. The administrative pressure is
strongly felt," Grigoryan said. "Though several servicemen from the
62nd military base were in Tbilisi at the period on the "espionage
scandal", none of them was arrested," he added.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN ARMY PERFORMS MAIN TASK

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2006 13:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The most important task of the Armenian Armed
Forces is to prevent any violation of the ceasefire established in
1994, military expert Ruben Meghrabyan stated in an interview with
PanARMENIAN.Net. In his words, the Azeri Armed Forces have the same
task, added to rearmament, multiplication of military potential in
an aspiration to change the status quo in their favor with a final
purpose to restore the territorial integrity so much spoken about
by the military and political leadership of the neighbor state. "I
will not reveal a secret by saying that the Armenian army performs
its main task while the Azeri side confines to the first part only.

The fact is that over 12 years the ceasefire is maintained without
any dividing force. Parity has been established and the Armenian
side is not interested in change of military-geographical and
military-political status quo in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone
while the Azeri side doesn’t possess sufficient power to change the
status quo unfavorable for it," he said.

Ruben Meghrabyan remarked that these are two mini-soviet armies. "Here
function the same soviet general regulations and laws, the same closed
regime ruling out any civil control. The same huge expenses and absence
of reserve training. As a matter of fact these two armies are "deeply
soviet" and are efficient to the extent their soviet prototype was,"
Meghrabyan said.

RUSSIA INTERESTED IN KARABAKH CONFLICT SOONEST SETTLEMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2006 14:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A joint press conference of Council of Europe
Secretary General Terry Davis and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov took place in Strasbourg yesterday. The top officials referred
to the settlement of conflicts available in the CIS space. Sergey
Lavrov stated he sees no sense in UN’s engagement in the resolution
of CIS conflicts, since the conflicting sides have already agreed
on the settlement principles. In his words, the agreements and
settlement formats remain in case of any conflict emerging on the CIS
territory and this is the only way to resolve the so-called "frozen
conflicts". When commenting on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict Sergey
Lavrov said, "Russia is interested in the soonest settlement of the
Karabakh conflict. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs spare no effort
for it." According to the Russian FM, the mediators have the exact
wording for each unsettled issue however "the final decision is up
to the conflicting sides," reports RFE/RL.

WEATHER UPSET OSCE MG VISIT TO STEPANAKERT

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2006 14:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ As a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter came to know from the
NKR representative office in Yerevan, the visit of the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-chairs to Stepanakert scheduled for October 4 was upset
by bad weather conditions. October 5 the mediators left Yerevan for
Moscow to participate in the meeting of the Armenian and Azeri FMs
to be held October 6.

HRANT DINK AWARDED BJORNSON PRIZE FOR PUBLICATIONS ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2006 14:48 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Hrant Dink, the Editor-in-Chief of the ‘Akos’
Istanbul-based Armenian newspaper, was awarded with Bjornson Prize
for the publications on the Armenian Genocide of 1915. The DPA report
says that Hrant Dink has many times referred to the issue that is
considered disputable in Turkey. The report reminds that in summer
2006 the Turkish Court of Cassations upheld the decision of the First
Instance Court on the journalist’s suspended sentence. Hrant Dink
will receive the $15200 prize in the city of Molde on November 24,
says RFE/RL.

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER ENDS VISIT TO GREECE

Armenpress
Oct 05 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS: Armenian defense ministry said
minister Serzh Sarkisian and other senior army officers who were
visiting Greece, attended on October 3 the official opening ceremony
of the 14-th Defender International exhibition.

A spokesman for Armenian defense ministry, Seyran Shahsuvarian, said
Sarkisian visited the pavilion of the joint Armenian-Greek company
LT Pirakla, which is a subsidiary of Greek EBO-Pirakla company and
spoke to its chief executives.

On the same the Armenian delegation visited the Hellenic Land Force
Academy and met with Armenian cadets studying there. The delegation
also visited Greece’s National Military Museum. An arrangement was
reached to hold in it in 2007 an exhibition devoted to Armenian
armed forces.

On October 4 Serzh Sarkisian was received by his Greek counterpart
Evangelos Meimarakis. Both men discussed a wide scope of bilateral
relations and reached arrangements on expansion of bilateral
cooperation in military education and peace-keeping operations areas.

The Armenian minister was also welcomed by the Armenian embassy in
Athens and met with members of the Greek Armenian community. The
Armenian minister awarded Hrant Basmajian, chairman of the Union of
Friends of Armenia and Karabakh the Armenian military medal. At the
end of the visit Sarkisian met with local journalists for a news
conference.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

JAVAKHQ FACES A DILEMMA

A1+
[12:38 pm] 05 October, 2006

"Armenia must do its utmost to facilitate the tension existing between
the Russian-Georgian relations. All Armenians must unite and announce
that they are adherents of stability and their support neither side.

This is driven from our natural interests and is necessary for
Javakhq and Armenia", claims Shirak Torosyan, head of "Javakhq"
Patriotic Union.

The tension between the Russian-Georgian relations has its negative
outcome on the Armenian residents of Javakhq. After the cessation
of transportation and postal relations between Russia and Georgia,
a lot of Javakhq residents who left for Russia in search of proper
work conditions, are unable to return to their homes. It is already a
few days Sedrak Berikyan and his father (residents of Bavra village,
Akhalqalaq region) have been unable to send money to their people at
home. "It is impossible", say the bank clerks each time they turn to
them with the same request.

The Moscow-Tbilisi flights have been stopped. The terms Berikyans’
visas will soon expire and they might be "deported" lest they leave
Moscow in time. They can seize their last opportunity to get home
via Armenia.

Another problem Javakhq faces today is connecting with Armenians living
in the territory. The point is that Armenians of Javakhq abandon the
territory. "If this situation lasts for a long time all the Javakhq
residents will strive to get Armenian or Russian citizenship even at
the cost of their last property.

In this case Javakkq will gradually become deprived of Armenians and
the Armenian lands will be given to the local self-government bodies,"
urges Shirak Torosyan.

The main reason Armeni³ns abandon Javakhq is conditioned by
social-economic problems. The main source of the residents’ income
is the oversea work.

In this respect, Shirak Torosyan, claims that Armenians face a dilemma
as in case they support this or that conflicting side, they will
appear in economic and geopolitical blockade.

–Boundary_(ID_v4obh6X6SxiAaMiek53rIQ)- –

ENCROACHMENT ON MAJOR GENERAL IN THE CENTRE OF YEREVAN

A1+
[02:34 pm] 05 October, 2006

On October 4 the Central department of the police forces was informed
that an unknown person shot at Aram Zaqaryan, police major general and
head of the State Security Board of the RA police forces. Mr. Zaqaryan
was parking his car in the garage the moment he was shot. He was
wounded in the chest.

Aram Zaqaryan was immediately taken to hospital and examined by
doctors. After receiving the corresponding medical assistance he was
taken home.

Two bullets were found on the scene. The investigation is under way.

AZERIS ARE DESTROYING ARMENIAN FORESTS

A1+
[02:36 pm] 05 October, 2006

On October 5, OSCE monitoring group, started the environmental
assessment of the territories adjacent to the Azerbaijan-Karabakh
borderline.

"We regret that the OSCE did not create the necessary conditions
for the inclusion of the NKR representatives in the group of the
OSCE Mission on the assessment of the ecological situation on the
territories suffered from the fires. However, it does not exclude
the possibility of the participation of Karabakh experts in the
realization of the monitoring, especially when in connection with
the necessity of joining of NKR representatives to the Mission its
conducting is postponed for a day". NKR Minister of Foreign Affairs
Georgy Petrossian stated answering the question of journalists on the
actions of the official Stepanakert in connection with the departure
of the OSCE expert group from Baku to the fire zone.

Georgy Petrossian also informed that the NKR MFA had sent a note to
the OSCE in which the position of the republic’s leadership on the
issue of the participation of experts from the NKR in the monitoring
was expressed. "One part of the territories on which the assessment
is to be conducted, is under the jurisdiction of the NKR and it is
a serious argument for our participation in the monitoring realized
by the Mission on the opposite side", the Minister stressed.

According to the information of the NKR authorities, an alarming
ecological situation is formed on the territories occupied by
Azerbaijan: a mass cutting down of wood in the Shahoumian region
is carried out, the ecological balance is seriously affected in the
eastern part of the Martouni region where the structure of soil and
micro flora are injured.

OYP AGAINST ARMENTEL

A1+
[03:19 pm] 05 October, 2006

Today a group of members of Orinats Yerkir Party organised a rally
opposite the government premises against the increase of telephone
tariffs by "ArmenTel".

They condemn "AmenTel" for violating human rights and qualify their
decision as groundless. The participants of the rally claim that the
Greece operator "which provides low-quality connection" hasn’t got the
right to increase the telephone tariffs for a number of reasons. First
of all, they breech the provisions of License 60 and don’t provide
many remote dwelling places with telephone. Besides, the quality of
the connection doesn’t meet the lowest criteria existing all over
the world.

The quality of the Internet connection "seriously hinders the
development of informative technologies" whereas the Internet tariff
in Armenia are the highest in the region. The strikers call on the
government to prevent "ArmenTel" from implementing its subsequent
whim and turn down their decision to increase the tariffs. Otherwise,
they claim to involve large masses into the rally of protest.