Month: November 2006

YOUNG UZBEK CHEMISTS EARN TOP PRIZES IN YEREVAN
UzReport.com
November 14, 2006 Tuesday
Letter of congratulation from the organizational committee of the
International Mendeleyev contest, dean of the Faculty of Chemistry at
the Lomonosov Moscow State University, member of Academy of Sciences
V.Lunin arrived from Moscow with regard to successful participation
of the Uzbek pupils at the 40th International Mendeleyev Contest of
schoolchildren on chemistry held at the capital of Armenia Yerevan.
The message said that the young chemists from Uzbekistan worthily
represented their country at the contest, where t 82 higher graders
from 15 countries around the world participated.
“Shokhrukh Salimov, Ulughbek Yuldashev and Behzod Karimov were
awarded the diploma of the contest participants, and Jamol Uzokov
won a bronze medal”, – V.Lunin said. “Such deserved success of Uzbek
higher graders is an evidence of the profound attention now attached
the gifted children in Uzbekistan”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

REFUGEES IN SHIRAK PROVINCE REGISTERED
Armenpress
Nov 15 2006
GYUMRI, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS: Authorities in the northwestern
province of Shirak have completed registration of Armenian
refugees form Azerbaijan who have settled down in this region of the
country. The registration was initiated by the UNHCR Armenian Agency
and completed in cooperation with Armenian ministry for territorial
management.
The real situation with refugees in the province will be clear after
the results of the registration are summed up. It was the first
official registration of refugees in the province.
According to preliminary estimates, there are 360 Armenian refugees
from Azerbaijan in this province.

ARMENIA AGREES TO RUSSIA’S BUYING 90 % STAKE IN DOMESTIC OPERATOR
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
November 14, 2006 Tuesday 11:02 PM EST
The Armenian government has approved the acquisition by Russia’s
VympelKom Beeline of a 90-percent stake in operator Armentel for 381.9
million euros, a commission on regulating the republic’s market of
services reported on Tuesday.
In early November, VympelKom reached an agreement on buying out this
stake from Greece’s Hellenic Telecommunications Organization for
341.9 million euros and Armentel’s 40-million-euro debt.
Armentel is Armenia’s operator of fixed line communications, and
a holder of licenses for providing GSM-900 and CDMA communications
services. The number of Armentel’s fixed line segment subscribers is
600,000, while GSM format users number 400,000.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IMPORTED FOODSTUFF MUST HAVE ARMENIAN LANGUAGE MARKING
Armenpress
Nov 15 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS: Robert Dayan, head of
standardization, measurement and compliance certification department
of the trade and economic development ministry, said beginning from
January 1, 2007 forty types of imported foodstuff must have Armenian
language marking.
He said subject to mandatory Armenian language marking are chicken
meat, eggs, meat products, sausages, meat cans, dairy products,
confectionaries, teas and coffees, chocolates, vegetables, jams and
others. The list of these products was approved by the government in
April, 2006. Other imported foodstuffs, not included in this list,
will be subjected to obligatory marking as of June 1, 2007.
Dayan said the marking must indicate the name of the product, its
origin country, city, the name of the manufacturing company, when it
is made and the expiry date, as well as its ingredients. He said the
ministry and customs committee had done a great deal of job to inform
Armenian importers about new regulations.
He said foodstuff with no Armenian language marking will not be
allowed into the country.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LAWYER RULES OUT EXTRADITION OF SAFAROV
Armenpress
Nov 15 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS: Nazeli Vardanian, an Armenian lawyer
who defended the interests of the family of an Armenian officer,
Gurgen Margarian, who was killed by an Azeri counterpart in Budapest
in 2004, ruled out that Safarov, sentenced to life imprisonment by
a Hungarian court, may be extradited to Azerbaijan.
Her remarks come after a report by Azerbaijani news agencies which
quoted a member of Hungarian Constitutional Court as saying during
a visit to Baku that the Safarov may be sent to Baku to serve his
term there.
Nazeli Vardanian said a member of Hungarian Constitutional Court is
not in a position to refer to this case.
Mrs. Vardanian said extradition was ruled out. She also said the
Hungarian Court of Appeals has not yet considered an appeal lodged
by Safarov and his lawyer.
Safarov is being accused also of inciting a squabble with prison
guards where he is kept. She said there was no precedent in Hungary
that a prisoner sentenced to serve life in jail was extradited to
another country.
In February of 2004, while attending a NATO Partnership for Peace
program, Safarov was arrested by Hungarian police for the murder of
Armenian fellow participant Lieutenant Gurgen Margarian . Margarian
had been hacked to death with an axe and a knife.
In addition to Margarian’s murder, Safarov had attempted to murder
captain Hayk Makuchyan, another Armenian officer. A Budapest policeman
commented that the murder had been conducted “with unusual cruelty,”
adding: “beside a number of knife wounds on his chest, the victim’s
head was practically severed from his body.”
On April 13th 2006 the Budapest court judge Andras Vaskuti sentenced
Ramil Safarov to life imprisonment (the harshest punishment in Hungary)
without the right of parole for 30 years.

ARMENIAN INTELLECTUALS CONDEMN KILLINGS OF ARMENIANS IN RUSSIA
Armenpress
Nov 15 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS: Levon Ananian, the chairman of the
Union of Armenian Writers said today murders of Armenians in Russia
were either induced by racial hate or were a political order. He said
protests of Armenia were ignored by Russian law-enforcement agencies
and the bulk of hate crimes committed against Armenians in Russia
remained undisclosed.
“We have to register that Armenians in the modern world are being
killed only in Russia and Azerbaijan,” he said. He was speaking at a
gathering that was prompted by another brutal murder of an Armenian
boy in the Moscow region on November 11. Narek Kocharian, a native
of Armenia, was stabbed to death on a railway platform.
The majority of speakers argued that murders of ethnic Armenians in
Russia were a political order.
‘The Russian government is capable of controlling its skinheads. When
such crimes are committed against Azeris or Tajiks the perpetrators
are revealed hours later,” one of the speakers alleged. An art critic,
Henrik Igitian, spoke against calls urging to cut friendly relations
with Russia saying it would be followed by the pullout of Russian
military base from Armenia which many Armenians perceive as the
strongest guarantee of their national security. Igitian argued that
Armenia must press for a broad coverage of such murders by Russian
media and demand that Russian media condemn hate crimes.
Mrs. Hranush Kharatian, head of a government division in charge of
religious and national minorities issues, said Russian officials are
well aware of the hate crimes against Armenians but they are also
aware of Armenians’ impotence and dependence on Russia. She said this
question must be raised officially within the CIS agreements. At the
end of their conference intellectuals suggested writing a letter to
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin urging him to take swift action to
stop hate crimes in Russia.
In a related development Russian interior minister Rashid Nurgaliyev
was quoted by RIA news agency as saying they were seriously concerned
over the fast rise in extremism-related crime, driven by racial
intolerance. He said his ministry was currently monitoring 150
extremist groups across Russia, mainly race-hate groups, which have
a total membership of around 10,000.
Human rights groups have raised concerns over a surge in
racially-motivated violence Russia in recent months, and cite
widespread xenophobic attitudes in the country. About 80% of the
extremist groups’ members are under 30, and most are based in Moscow,
St. Petersburg, and the Samara and Voronezh regions, according to
Russian ministry data. Eight of these organizations pose a real threat
to public security, Nurgaliyev said.
The minister earlier said that youth extremist groups have become
more aggressive and better organized, and that some are influenced
by criminal organizations.
Ella Pamfilova, the head of the presidential council on civil society
institutions and human rights, said laws should be toughened to
eliminate legal loopholes, through which race-hate crimes are
registered as ‘hooliganism’, or no criminal cases are opened at all.

‘ACCORDING TO INFORMATION WE POSSESS THE LANDS WILL BE RETURNED’
By Gohar Gevorgian
AZG Armenian Daily
16/11/2006
Command Board Members of ‘Brotherhood of Freedom Fighters’ Say
Command Board Members of “Brotherhood of Freedom Fighters” stated
yesterday that they possess information about an agreement to return
the liberated lands. “To our knowledge, everything is agreed; the
lands will be handed over. Vartan Oskanian on his part has stated for
the third time that we are ready for concessions,” Arkady Karapetian,
coordinator of the Command Board, head of Karabakh’s Yerkrapah Union,
said. The commanders pointed out that they do not agree to any kind
of concession. “In my opinion, mutual concession is that I don’t want
to attack Baku.
I am serious. That is my concession because this is my country. Many
can call me an extremist, can say that want war. No one who has
ever seen a war will want war. War is an awful thing; I have lost
my children, I know that,” Arkady Karapetian said. “The people of
Karabakh does not believe that the lands can be handed over but if such
a thing happens no one can predict what will be in Karabakh.” Moreover,
Karapetian underscored that no soldier would go to war if he knew
that the lands for which he had fought would be returned.
The Command Board Members of “Brotherhood of Freedom Fighters”
made a statement where it urged everyone to join the movement of
“Civil Disobedience.” “The memory of most of our perished brothers
is blotted out; the history of freedom fight has been falsified.
Everything has been done to break up our brotherhood.
We kept silent because we were afraid of losing our 15 years old
spiritual victory the nation has gained.
Today, the only remaining precious thing – our liberated territories –
is under danger. Let us all unite to save Armenia, to restore justice
in all spheres and not allow that the blood of our brothers be vainly
shed,” the statement reads.

RIGHT OF NKR PEOPLE FOR SELF DETERMINATION SHOULD BE RATIFIED IN RELEVANT DOCUMENT
By Aghavni Harutyunian
AZG Armenian Daily
16/11/2006
“We had modest expectations from the meeting with Azeri foreign
minister Elmar Mamedyarov. I wouldn’t say that even these modest
expectations came true.
Anyway, I can say that a slight progress was achieved,” Vartan Oskanian
said in the Interview with the RFE/RL. He said that “common terms
for agreement began emerging” in Brussels about the suggestions made
during the October 6 and October 24 meetings of the foreign ministers
in Paris and Moscow.
Anyway, Oskanian said that the negotiations should be continued,
moreover, he stated that the expression of the people’s in NKR will
remain a principle point for Armenia in the negotiations. “This is
one of the key issues and indeed this is a necessity for the Armenian
side. Either through a referendum or though another way, the right
of the NKR people for self-determination should be ratified in a
relevant document that should serve as a means for the settlement,
on its turn,” Oskanian said.
In general, Oskanian said that the atmosphere of the meeting was
positive and the meeting itself was quite a constructive one. At the
same time, he said that he can’t say that certain agreements were
achieved. But one can feel in the context of these meetings that
the positions got closer in some way. “You may call that a flexible
approach or a compromise, I don’t want to give any labels. I can
only state that many of the common terms for agreement emerged in
the course of this very meeting,” Oskanian underscored.
The Azeri side, in the person of Tair Taghizade, speaker of Azeri
foreign minister, stated that the negotiations in Brussels “were
complicated but constructive.” Azeris do not exclude that the
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan may meet in the course of the
coming OSCE Summit in Minsk.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF NKR’S INDEPENDENCE SHOULDN’T BEGIN FROM ARMENIA
By Nana Petrosian
AZG Armenian Daily
16/11/2006
The international recognition of NKR’s independence shouldn’t
begin from Armenia, as that will hinder the settlement and will
create new obstacles in the negotiation process both for Armenia and
NKR. After such a step, all kind of possible consequences should be
figured out. But at present it is still early for the settlement
of the issue, Arman Melikian, councilor of NKR president, stated
at a press conference at “Urbat” club. He added that the financial
and material advantage will play no significant role in the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict. At the same time, he emphasized the importance of
deepening the democratic values and directing the nation’s capacity
to attaining one goal,” he said.
As for the population of Lachin, Melikian said that they don’t have
definite data on the population of that region as the people are
in constant migration processes. At the same time, he said that the
issue of inhabiting Lachin is not only NKR’s problem. “We should admit
that solely by efforts of NKR, we will not be able to create relevant
conditions for fast and successful inhabitation of that territory,”
he said.
He said this issue is the concern of both Armenia and NKR and the
Diaspora that should spare no efforts for securing all conditions so
that Armenians can live in Lachin.

FOREIGN MINISTERS OF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN HAVE POSITIVE VIEW ON KARABAKH PROCESS
AZG Armenian Daily
16/11/2006
Foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia as well as leaders
of the European Union (EU) held a joint press conference in Brussels
yesterday. Vartan Oskanian, RA foreign minister, and his Azerbaijani
counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov were in positive mood in regard of each
other at the press conference. Their comments greatly differed from
their previous statements. Both of them highly estimated the EU’s
Wider Europe: New Neighborhood policy. In response to the questioned
whether the mutually positive mood of the Ministers will be reflected
on the coming negotiations on Karabakh problem, Mr. Oskanian said
that logical proposals of the members of Minsk Group OSCE would be
presented before the negotiations launch. He also emphasized that
there are interesting thoughts on the topic. E. Mamedyarov said that
the issues are to be studied in the short time context.
“Consciousness on necessity to set off the dead point, were we failed
to agree about, has increased”, Mamedyarov said. Touching upon the EU
‘New Neighborhood’ policy, Mr. Oskanian said: “Our relations entered
an entirely new stage. The document is quite large and promises
many perspectives.
Integration process has started. In order to get the best results,
we should focus on this policy. We don’t want to have the agreement
only on paper – but to fully realize the prospects. In this case,
Armenia will be able to enter a new level in politics and economy
in 5-years’ time.” Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Union Foreign
Relations Commissar, said that the fact that the sides signed the EU
‘New Neighborhood’ policy demonstrates that the countries enter a
new stage in their policies. She added that the basic human values
such as – human rights, democracy and rule of law are to be applied
in the South Caucasus states. Ms Ferrero-Waldner added that EU
takes into account the country’s wills and stimulates their regional
cooperation. Peter Semneby, South Caucasus: EU Special Representative,
said that participation in the EU ‘New Neighborhood’ policy means
considerable investments into the states. These financing must go for
social good, that is – westernization of the population of Armenia
and Azerbaijan. EU will be carefully following parliamentary and
presidential elections in Armenia.
Mr. Semneby emphasized that the elections will be an important
examination for Armenia.