Month: October 2006

GEORGIA ESTABLISHES SPECIAL DISCOUNTS FOR STUDENTS FROM JAVAKHK

Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 3 2006

According to Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli’s decree, Javakhk
students studying in higher educational establishments of Georgia
will enjoy special discounts at the expense of the state budget.

A-Info reports that the size of the discount will depend on the grades
received when entering the higher educational establishment.

According to the competition announced, 19 first-year students of
the Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi State Medical University,
Batumi Satate University and Akhalskha and Akhalkalak branches of
the Tbilisi State University will benefit from the discounts.

ARKADY GHUKASYAN: WE CAN SPEAK WITH AZERBAIJAN BOTH WITH AND WITHOUT ARMENIA

Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 3 2006

"We can speak with Azerbaijan both with and without Armenia," declared
NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan in an interview with El Paris newspaper
and "Regnum" agency.

"Nagorno Karabakh should participate in the negotiation process by
all means. Since Armenia is also a party to the conflict, it would
be probably more logical if it also participated in the talks. Of
course, Armenia is a party involved in the conflict, but the main
sides are Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan. And Baku’s aspiration to
speak only with Armenia means that it does not intend to settle the
conflict and is only engaged in propaganda activity," Arkady Ghukasyan
declared. Turning to Armenia’s agreement to hold negotiations with
Azerbaijan, NKR President noted that since Azerbaijan categorically
refuses to talk with Nagorno Karabakh, Armenia, most probably, proceeds
from the understanding that bad talks are better that the complete
lack of these. "War is the alternative to negotiations. By the way,
I think that everyone understands that Armenia cannot undertake the
functions of Karabakh.

That means hat there are questions, the resolution of which is
practically impossible without Nagorno Karabakh, and today everyone
understands that earlier or later Karabakh will return to the
negotiation process. By the way, Azerbaijan does not refute this,
either, insisting that it agrees on some kind of resolution with
Armenia, Karabakh will get involved. However, this is an illogical
position: what if we don’t like the resolution even if they agree upon
it. Therefore, we come from the fact that if we want the conflict to
be resolved, we must have a realistic format of negotiations," NKR
President underlined. In his words, the absurdness of the situation
is that attempts are made to cure the disease without diagnosis. "Up
to now there is no exact comprehension what the core of the conflict
is. Is it a self-determination question, a conflict between authorities
in Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, or a conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan? Thus, the attempt to mend the disease without the diagnosis
is evident. This is an extremely absurd situation. Azerbaijan has
put a target to blackmail the international community and distort
the attention from what is happening in the region in reality,"
Arkady Ghukasyan considers.

He reminded that Nagorno Karabakh has been recognized as a conflict
party and as such it has been always participating in the talks.

"There is no negotiation process today. From 1992 an active
negotiation process was underway in the framework of the OSCE Minsk
Group. Nagorno Karabakh was participating in all the talks. From 1998
the negotiation process was actually impeded. Today the OSCE Minks
Group Co-Chairs arrive in the region and consult with the conflicting
sides. Nevertheless, there is no process as such. Representatives
of Armenia and Azerbaijan meet outside this process. Why aren’t we
involved in the talks? This is the fancy of Baku, which demanded at a
certain point that talks be held only with Armenia. Why does Azerbaijan
behave this way? It aspires to present Armenia as an aggressor, to
show that all its problems are connected with Armenia rather than
Karabakh and that sanctions should be executed against it. To cut
short, Azerbaijan is engaged in propaganda, Arkady Ghukasyan noted. In
his words, for resuming the negotiation process Nagorno Karabakh’s
involvement is a must. "I have the impression that Baku does not want
to resolve the conflict. Azerbaijan hopes that time works for its favor
and cherishes the illusion that it has oil and will get rich tomorrow,
will strengthen its army and will destroy Nagorno Karabakh. That
‘s way Azerbaijan does not intend to have practical participation in
the negotiation process. This is the question today, since settlement
always includes risk; it is impossible to achieve 100 percent of the
dreams. The leadership of Azerbaijan is not ready to take risks. As
for the economic potential, I think it is the decisive precondition
of victory in a war. But economic potential alone will not resolve
anything. When Azerbaijan was starting war against Nagorno Karabakh,
it had considerably greater economic potential, but the results of
the war are known to you," Ghukasyan underlined.

MERZLYAKOV: ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN WILL BE PRESENTED "MODIFIED VERSION" OF THE BUCHAREST DOCUMENT

Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 3 2006

Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Yuri Merzlyakov told the
journalists that in case an agreement is reached on holding a recurrent
round of negotiations, Armenia and Azerbaijan will be presented the
"modified version" of the Bucharest document, Day.az reports. "In
the forthcoming talks the parties will be suggested to discuss a
document, which the Presidents were presented in Ramboulliet and
which was later reedited in Bucharest, and now with some amendments
it should be presented at the next meeting," he noted. The Russian
diplomat said that the new ideas are based on the clarification of
the document presented to the sides in May 2006 by the mission on
the level of Foreign Ministers of the Co-Chair countries.

PRESIDENT OF ROMANIA TO ARRIVE ON TWO-DAY OFFICIAL VISIT IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 3 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. By RA President
Robert Kocharian’s invitation, President of Romania Traian Basescu will
arrive on an official visit in Armenia on October 4-5. The main goal of
the visit is to strengthen interstate ties, to plan primary tasks and
directions of the economic cooperation between the two countries, to
stimulate development of the scientific-educational and cultural ties.

The official ceremony of meeting the President of Romania will take
place at the RA President’s residence on October 4. The ceremony
will be followed by a private conversation of Presidents Robert
Kocharian and Traian Basescu. Then the meeting with enlarged staff of
the official delegations will take place, after what joint documents
will be signed between the two countries’ governments. The Presidens
of Armenia and Romania will hold a joint press conference.

During the Armenian visit, Traian Basescu will also visit the Armenian
Genocide memorial complex, lay a wreath to the monument to victims,
will visit the Armenian Genocide Museum, plant a tree in the Memory
park.

The President of Romania will meet on Octoner 5 with Prime Minister
Andranik Margarian. His Holiness Karekin II Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians will receive the President on the same
day. Traian Basescu will have a meeting with the professors’ and
lecturers’ staff and students of the Yerevan State University.

The delegation headed by the President of Romania will leave Yerevan
on the same day.

According to the information submitted to Noyan Tapan by the RA
President’s Press Office, Romania is one of the first countries
recognized the independence of Armenia and established diplomatic
relations with the RA. The Armenian-Romanian mutual relations have
always been friendly ones which are assisted by the Romanian Armenian
community having centuries-old history. About 20 thousand Armenians
found refuge in Romania during the years followed the Armenian
Genocide.

Relations between Armenia and Romania are dinamically being developed
at present. The political dialogue is especially active. 35 agreements
and legal documents were signed between the two countries.

Appreciating the present level of bilateral relations, our country
is aimed to more strengthen the cooperation.

RA President Robert Kocharian’s state visit paid to Romania on November
16-18, 2003, greatly assisted guarantee of continuous character
and development of the bilateral relations. The two countries’
heads attached primary importance to development of the economic
cooperation. The Armenian-Romanian first business forum and opening
of the exhibition of production of Armenian enterprises took place
during the visit days.

RA President Robert Kocharian participated on June 5, 2006,
in Bucharest in works of the summit of the Black Sea Forun for
Partnership and Dialogue organized by Romania.

In the affair of development of the Armenian-Romanian relations,
the Armenian side especially attached importance to bilateral
contacts, guarantee of the continuous character of the high-ranking
mutual visits, necessity of close cooperation of the two countries’
representatives both in European structures and other international
organizations.

Armenia welcame efforts of Romania aimed to the EU membership and is
full of hopes that the year of 2007 will become a historic year for
the Romanian people. Armenia expects that Romania’s EU membership
will have a positive influence on deepening of the Armenian-Romanian
relations as well.

Unlike approaches of activization of the political dialogue,
commercial-economic relations between the two countries develop
slowly. Particularly, indexes of export from Armenia are low compared
with ones of import. However, the trade circulation between Armenia
and Russia grew in 2005 nearly twice, making 75 mln 537.9 thousand
U.S. dollars, instead of 34 mln 260.6. thousand U.S. dollars of 2004.

A number of important steps were taken during 2005 in the sphere of
the bilateral economic cooperation. Particularly, constant sale of
Armenian jewelry production was organized in Bucharest (the Yerevan
Jewelry Factory LTD signed an agreement with the Romanian ELDORADO
jewelry firm on exporting Armenian jewelry goods to Romania), a
lot of Armenian brandy samples was given to a Romanian interested
structure to study future possibilities of importing, an agreement on
exporting Cigarone cigarrettes to Romania was reached (the Romanian
DOCNET company was interested in cooperation with the Cigarone LTD),
works are continued in the direction of going on importing Romanian
furniture (the World of Furniture LTD imports Romanian furniture to
Armenia), medicine (an agreement on exporting medicine from Romania
to Armenia was signed in 2005 between the Romanian ROMFARMACHIM and
Armenian LAMBRON FARMIMPEX companies) and other goods in Armenia. The
Romanian DELTAYEL company is interested in cooperation in the sphere
of telecommunication (some specialists of the company were sent on
mission to Armenia in 2005).

A beneficial legal field exists for the economic cooperation between
Armenia and Romania, corresponding bilateral agreements are signed.

As of Novemner 30, 2005, 37 Armenian-Romanian joint enterprises were
registered in Romania, which made investment of 3 mln 538.1 thousand
U.S. dollars in the economy of Romania.

The Armenian-Romanian intergovernmental commission for
commercial-economic and scientific-technical cooperation, the second
sitting of which will take place in Yerevan on October 4, is of
important role in the sense of activization of the commercial-economic
relations. It will outline primary directions of development of the
economic cooperation. Activity of the Armenian-Romanian Trade and
Industrial Chamber founded in Bucharest in 2004 is also significant
in the sense of deepening the economic relations.

1780 people live in Romania. The community having almost millenial
history is fully involved in the public life of Romania.

The eparchic residence of the Romanian and Bulgarian Diocese of
the Armenian Apostolic Church is Bucharest. A church built in 1915
functions here. Armenian Apostolic churches function in Costanza,
Suceava, Pitesti, Braila Galatz, Iasi. Armenian Catholic churches
function in the city of Gerla, Transilvania, the community of which
is mainly formed of Hungarians of the Armenian origin.

The Romanian Armenian community organizes numerous community events,
the bilingual, Armenian and Romanian, "New Life" and Romanian "Ararat"
newspapers are published. The "Ararat" publishing house of the
Romanian-Armenian union periodically publishes Armenian and Romanian
authors’ works on Armenian themes, mainly in the Romanian language. 102
titles of books were published in 1994-2005, 10 of which in 2005.

The Grigor Zambakhchian gallery belonging to the Romanian state and
famous in the country functions in Bucharest. The Museum of Collections
opened after the reconstruction in December 2005, in the center of
Bucharest, where rich collections of Hurmuz Aznavourian, Professor
Karapet Avagian, Beatrice and Hrant Avagian occupy significant places.

CHESS WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP STARTS IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 3 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Solemn opening ceremony of the world
chess championship of chess-players below 20 took place on October 3
at the Central Chess House after Tigran Petrosian. Grand master Smbat
Lputian, Vice-Chairman of the Armenian Chess Federation, champion
of world olympiad, Mikael Ispirian, Vice-Chairman of RA State Sport
Committee, Gagik Hovhannisian, Secretary General of the Armenian Chess
Federation, and Ashot Vardapetian, principal coach of the championship,
made greeting speeches addressed to the championship participants.

Before this the championship participants laid wreaths to the monument
to 9th world champion T.Petrosian.

Armen Hambartsumian, head of the U.S. delegation, Armenian deserved
coach, Tatev Abrahamian, former pupil of Yerevan Chess School,
Hamlet Tumanian representing Iran are among the guests who have
arrived in Armenia.

To recap, the championship organizers have a great experience of
holding such tournaments. World championship of chess-players below
20 was held in Yerevan in 1999 and in 2000.

ARMENIANS MAY ARTIFICIALLY HAVE FEW REPRESENTATIVES IN SAKREBULOS OF JAVAKHK

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 3 2006

AKHALKALAK, OCTOBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Elections of
local self-government bodies will take place in Georgia on October 5.

According to the acting legislation, 10 deputies in each of regional
sakrebulos must be elected by the proportional electoral system and
one representative at each of the lowest local self-government bodies
(rural and town sakrebulos) must be elected. 32 (10+22) deputies
will be elected in the Akhalkalak region, 20 (10+10) ones in the
Ninotsminda region, 25 (10+15) in the Akhaltskha region, 22 (10+12)
in the Aspindza region, 20 (10+10) ones in the Borzhom region, 37
(10+27) deputies will be elected in the Tsalka region. The A-Info
agency states about it.

It is expected that more than 20% of deputies at the sakrebulo in
the region of Akhalkalak will be not Armenians by origin, in spite of
the circumstance that 90% of the population of the region is Armenians.

The problem is that some Armenian villages were artificially united
into one administrative unit, in a rural sakrebulo, and villages
having not numerous Georgian population are represented by separate
sakrebulos.

By the same reasoning, Armenians will make a comparatively small number
in sakrebulo of the region of Tsalka, though they make majority of
the population, A-Info states.

Owing to 98% of Armenian population in the region of Ninotsminda and
presence of sakrebulos populated only by Armenians, only Armenians
will be voted here.

In the regions of Akhaltskha, Aspindza and Borzhom as well,
though Armenians do not make majority in sakrebulos, however their
representation is again artificially limited.

DAYS OF ARMENIAN CULTURE FESTIVAL OFFICIALLY OPENS IN BRATISLAVA

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 3 2006

BRATISLAVA, OCTOBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The concert
of Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Eduard Topchian and
with participation of violinist Sofia Jaffe took place on October 3
at the Reduta well-known philharmony hall of Bratislava. The concert
was organized within the framework of the Days of Armenian Culture
festival dedicated to the 15th anniversary of Armenia’s independence.

The solemn opening of the festival took place two days before near the
Armenian khachkar (cross-stone) placed in the center of Bratislava,
with participation of Slovakian officials and many guests. The
Armenian khachkar was placed with joint efforts of the Nig-Aparan
compatriotic union, the Chairman of which is RA Prosecutor General
Aghvan Hovsepian, and Armenian community of Slovakia, in token of
gratitude for adoption of the resolution recognizing the Armenian
Genocide at the Slovakian Parliament.

As NT correspondent informed from Bratislava, at the opening ceremony
of the Days of Armenian Culture, Ashot Grigorian, Chairman of the
Representation of Armenian Organizations in Europe, emphasized
that Armenian-Slovakian contacts continue to develop and the
Armenian community also has a great contribution to this issue. In
A.Grigorian’s words, A.Hovsepian and First Deputy Prosecutor General
of Slovakia, Martin Lauko, also rendered great services to development
of Armenian-Slovakian contacts.

The speeches were followed by first concert performances, then
the concert continued at the hall of the Ararat club. Soloists
of A.Spendiarian National Theater of Opera and Ballet, soprano
Lusine Ordukhanian, performed some works of Komitas, and tenor Artak
Kirakosian performed arias from Italian operas. Their performances were
highly appreciated by the spectators. Well-known pianist in Slovakia
Hasmik Gabrielian also performed on the first day of the concert.

During the reception organized after the concert, the guests,
especially former Prime Minister Jean Charnagurski, Martin Lauko and
others emphasized that this event is of exclusive importance from
point of view of getting to know the Armenian culture closely and
understanding the Armenian nation better.

Within the framework of the festival concerts will be held both in
Bratislava and in Prague. As NT was informed by festival organizer
Ashot Grigorian, Chairman of the Slovakian Armenian community and
Representation of Armenian Organizations in Europe, unfortunately,
the Armenian Embassy in Vienna not only did nothing to support this
initiative of the Armenian community of Slovakia, but also tried to
do everything possible to hamper holding of this cultural festivity
in this city.

CD "DEDICATED TO KOMITAS" RELEASED IN MUNICH

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 3 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. The Super Audio Compact Disk (SACD)
"Dedicated to Komitas" was released by the Audit record studio
(Germany) in September. It contains works performed by two famous
Armenian musicians – soprano Hasmik Papian and piano-player Vardan
Mamikonian. Conrad Kuhn, dramaturge of the Austrian State Opera and
the Munich Opera, stated this at the October 3 presentation of the
disc, which was recorded during a Yerevan concert in 2005.

In addition to 26 Armenian songs, the disc contains 9 works of Komitas
written to verses of German poets. Komitas created these works while
studying in Berlin. In the words of C. Kuhn, the Armenian composer’s
excellent knowledge of Western musical traditions is felt in these
songs which are performed for the first time.

It was noted that the disk is first of all intended for foreign
audience, presenting in most comprehensive way the Armenian music,
with the great Komitas making his contribution to its development.

A booklet-disc contains the texts of the songs in Armenian, German,
English an French. It also provides information about the life and
activity of Komitas. Taking into account the great interest that
foreigners show to the works of Komitas, the author of the booklet
Claude Mutafian, professor of Sorbonne University, mathematician and
historian, presented both Komitas’ life and the Armenian history of
his period in an original form that makes an easy reading.

Asked by reporters why she chose Komitas’ works, Hasmik Papian replied:
"When I was just making ny first steps as a singer, I always had
an idea of recording some Komitas songs in my performance. It was
important to me and it was a dedication to the great musician. This
is my tribute to the memory of Komitas." In her words, it is the duty
of every singer to present the Armenian culture abroad.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FIRST DEBATES ON CONSTITUTION INVOLVING POLITICAL FORCES
Srbuhi Vanian

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Oct 3 2006

On September 28 the National Assembly kicked off debates on the draft
Constitution of NKR. The first debates involved the representatives
of political forces and parliament factions. It should be noted that
this is going to be the first Constitution of our republic, and this
fact was appreciated by everyone present (independent from their
opinion about the draft). The debates were conducted by the chair
of the Defense, Security and Legality Committee Rudolf Martirosian,
the chair of the State and Legal Committee Yuri Hairapetian, and
the head of the Task Force on Constitution Armen Zalinian. Speaker
Ashot Ghulian was present too. The text of the draft Constitution was
presented to the members of parliament, organizations and political
parties several months ago, and they had time to study the draft and
come up with proposals and questions during the debates. The members
of parliament long discussed the draft and did not reach agreement
on the way of organizing the debates. Member of Parliament Maxim
Mirzoyan said it would be expedient to discuss every chapter of the
draft separately because it is the basic document of the country and
is intended for a long period. "There should be consistency in every
action. Especially in this case. We should not be afraid of not being
recognized. Let us shake off all the complexes and discuss it part by
part considering the regional, political and military peculiarities,"
he said. Everyone appeared to approve the proposal, but Ashot Ghulian
said the shortage of time may not allow this. "The debates, in fact,
must underlie the adoption of the Constitution, but we are obliged
to take into account the time. It does not depend on our desire
and wish," said the speaker of the National Assembly. It became
known that the first reading of the draft will be in early October,
and it may be adopted at the end of the same month. In the middle
of the debates two or three people left the hall demonstratively,
and the remaining participants presented their proposals and
evaluations. The ARF Dashnaktsutyun put forward a number of questions
connected with the activities of the local governments (they say the
governors should be elected), human rights and civil rights. It was
mentioned that our system of government is saturated and certain posts
could be eliminated. Besides, it was emphasized that the parliament
majority should name the prime minister. Besides, an individual at a
government office should be a citizen of NKR. "This must be set down
in the Constitution to empower the parliament to give a vote of no
confidence to one minister or another," said V. Balayan. A. Zalinian
said for the citizenship of a high-ranking government official that
thus the deep love and care of Armenians living outside the country
is doubted. Meanwhile, the adoption of the Constitution will provide
a quite new model of forming executive power to our state, where
the role of the National Assembly will be enhanced. A. Zalinian
elucidated the questions about territorial integrity and borders
put forward by A. Mosiyan. Edward Aghabekian, ARF Dashnaktsutyun –
Movement 88 Alliance wondered if the Constitution enables people to
elect their government and participate in the activities of these
authorities. Member of the Alliance A. Sargissian pointed out the
shortage of time as the greatest drawback in adopting the Constitution,
and proposed holding debates involving the political parties, which
are not represented in the parliament. "The Constitution must first
of all be written for us, for our life, not for displaying it to
the world. In my opinion, it should solve national and territorial
problems, sustain democracy, marking its viable forms for our country,
and decentralize policies," he said.

Although there was disappointment (several members of parliament
left the hall), during the first debates Armen Zalinian called for
more responsible and balanced approach to the continuing debates on
the constitution. "The Constitution must be the product of efforts
by everyone of us, because it is our present and future," he said.

EU DELEGATION TO VISIT AZERBAIJAN

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
October 2, 2006 Monday 3:36 PM EST

A delegation of European Union diplomats headed by Finnish Foreign
Minister Erkki Tuomioja and Commissioner for External Relations Benita
Ferrero-Waldner was due to visit Azerbaijan as part of an ongoing
visit in the region, the Finnish EU presidency announced Monday.

The EU troika delegation included German Minister of State Guenter
Gloser since Germany is the next holder of the six-month presidency.

The delegation on Monday visited Georgia and Armenia.

The EU statement said talks focused on bilateral relations and current
international affairs.

In Armenia, the delegates were slated to meet President Robert
Kocharyan and Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan.

In Georgia they were due to meet among others Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili, the prime minister and foreign minister, and
in Azerbaijan the delegation was to meet President Ilham Aliyev and
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

The special representative for the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby,
will represent the EU High Representative Javier Solana.