OSCE MG: IRANIAN PROBLEM CAN HAMPER KARABAKH PEACEFUL PROCESS
PanARMENIAN.Net
04.04.2007 14:33 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Tension with Iran’s nuclear program influences the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process," OSCE Minsk Group Russian
Co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov. Depending on the further developments the
peaceful process may be hampered, he added, Trend news agency reports.
KOCHARIAN AND LAVROV APPRECIATED ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS
PanARMENIAN.Net
04.04.2007 14:42 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian met with
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the RA leader’s press office
reports. The parties appreciated the level of the Armenian-Russian
relations in all fields and pointed out to the possibilities of
expanding cooperation. They also referred to implementation of joint
programs, regional problems and their possible developments.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN AZERBAIJAN CONDEMNS ARMENIAN OCCUPATION POLICY
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 4 2007
The two-day international conference on "Heydar Aliyev and religious
policy in Azerbaijan: realities and prospects" finished today. The
conference adopted a resolution, APA reports. The resolution says
religious tolerance and free activity of persons representing
different sects in Azerbaijan is ensured irrespectively of their
religious believes. The resolution stressed Armenian occupation of
Azerbaijan territories as negative factor for religious tolerance in
Azerbaijan. It also condemned the activity of Armenian occupants to
establish monoethnic entity destroying historical- religious monuments
and falsifying history.
After the conference, head of the State Committee for Religious
Communities Hidayat Orujov held a press conference. He said the
conference is organized in high level and representatives from over
20 countries and local communities attended the conference with more
than 60 reports. Hidayat Orujov said the conference materials will
be publicized and its web site will be made.
OVER 3 THOUSAND TOURISTS ATTENDED AKHTAMAR CHURCH DURING 5 DAYS
PanARMENIAN.Net
04.04.2007 15:41 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Over 3 thousand tourists have attended the Church
of Holy Cross on Akhtamar island.
Tourists pay 3-5 lyres for arrival and 2 lyres for entering the church
transformed into a museum where they are told about the history of
the church, RFE/RL reports.
The inauguration ceremony took place on March 29.
YEREVAN MEDICAL UNIVERSITY HOSTS MILITARY MEDICINE CONFERENCE
ARMENPRESS
Apr 04 2007
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS: Military medics from 16 countries,
including newcomers from Holland, the Czech Republic, Great Britain
and France are in Yerevan for the 4-th international military medicine
conference, organized by Armenian defense ministry in cooperation with
NATO’s military-medical headquarters and Yerevan Medical University.
The focus in discussions will be on preventive and anti-epidemic
measures in the armed forces. David Mkhitarian, chair of the
University’s Military Medicine Department, said the traditional
conference is a good opportunity for Armenian military medics for
exchange of information with colleagues from other countries.
Today military medicine experts from Hungary, UK and Germany will
present reports on the structure of NATO’s medical system and basic
performance principles. The conference will run through April 6.
BOGER, NAHABEDIAN WIN SEATS
By Anthony Kim
Glendale News Press, CA
April 4 2007
School Board candidate Mary Boger hugs friend Bobbi Gangi at the
election night party.
GLENDALE – Incumbent Mary Boger and top-money raiser Nayiri Nahabedian
won seats on the Glendale Unified School District board, but candidate
Todd Hunt lost the second seat to Nahabedian by just 29 votes.
Tony Tartaglia and Vahe Peroomian returned to their seats on the
Glendale Community College Board of Trustees, but challenger Christine
Rodriguez nearly closed the gap coming within 172 votes of Peroomian.
The race for the two open seats on the Glendale Unified School
District Board of Education was a dash for second place. Boger had
a commanding lead throughout the evening has results came in leaving
the rest of the candidates vying for the second spot vacated by Pam
Ellis’s retirement from the board.
Boger had 11,011 or 31.3% of the votes.
Nahabedian, who ran her campaign touting her educational and social
work experience, placed second in the number of votes with 7,575 or
21.5% of the vote, and Hunt finished with 7,546 or 21.4%.
Hunt described the outcome as a "pleasant surprise."
Elizabeth Manasserian, who was favored by many and supported by several
on the board, garnered only 4,965 votes, finishing fourth place with
14.1% of the vote.
In the college race, Tartaglia finished comfortably with 10,699 votes
or 38.7% of the vote.
And Peroomian came in second with 8,558 votes or 30.9% of the vote,
with Rodriguez on his heels with 8386 votes, which was 30.3% of
the vote.
Rodriguez, who was bolstered by an endorsement from the college’s
faculty union, ran a campaign emphasizing her experience as a community
college educator.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
VENUE AND DATE OF ARMENIA VERSUS AZERBAIJAN MATCHES TO BE KNOWN BEFORE APRIL 14
ARMENPRESS
Apr 04 2007
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS: The Union of European Football
Association, better known under its acronym of UEFA will decide
before April 14 where and when national football teams of Armenia
and Azerbaijan will hold their 2008 European Cup qualifying games.
Armenia’s Football Federation indicated earlier it was in favor of
holding both games in Yerevan and Baku respectively, pledging also
full security for Azeris in Yerevan, however, Azerbaijan suggested
that the games be held in a third country.
IAN PORTERFIELD TO BE BACK IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS
Armenpress
Apr 04 2007
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS: Ian Porterfield, Armenia’s Scottish
coach, is recovering at his Armenian home after leaving hospital
where he received treatment for cancer of the colon, Armenian Football
Federation said today.
Porterfield, 61, went into hospital for checks a few weeks ago after
complaining of pains in his pelvic area, and tests revealed the tumor.
He had to decide whether to return to Britain for treatment, travel to
America or stay in Armenia and in the end decided to stay in Armenia
because of a lack of time.
The Football Federation said he will be back to his team in a couple
of weeks.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
PEACEKEEPING AS MOOT POINT: RETURN OF RUNAWAY TERRITORIES IS SOMETHING TO BE LEFT TO POLITICIANS
by Alexander Skakov, Tamara Guzenkova (both of the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies)
Translated by A. Ignatkin
Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, April 2, 2007, p. 17
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
April 4, 2007 Wednesday
PROBLEMS OF PEACEKEEPING IN THE COMMONWEALTH; Analysis of peacekeeping
in the post-Soviet zone.
The artificial "revival" of "suspended" conflicts attaches previously
unprecedented importance to the problem of peacekeeping in the
post-Soviet zone. On the one hand, Russian peacekeeping operations in
Abkhazia (under the CIS auspices), South Ossetia (four-sided), and in
the Trans-Dniester region may be viewed a success. They did put an end
to conflicts and allowed for the return of at least some refugees,
brought down crime rates and made restoration of the infrastructure
somewhat easier. On the other hand, Georgia and Moldova are grumbling,
encouraged by their Western patrons, by the lack of progress in the
matter of "restoring territorial integrity."
Attempts to revise the form of peacekeeping operations in the
Commonwealth can be seen in the decision of GUAM to establish its
own international peacekeeping contingent, in Ukrainian President
Victor Yuschenko’s proclaimed readiness to send his peacekeepers
to the Caucasus, and in the draft resolution on conflicts in GUAM
countries presented to the 61st Session of the UN General Assembly.
Georgia is particularly active in all of this. Tbilisi never misses a
chance to bring up resolutions of its parliaments (dated October 11,
2005 and July 28, 2006) and to demand an end to Russian peacekeeping
operations and replacement of Russian troops with international police
forces. There is one other factor that revived interest in peacekeeping
operations in the Commonwealth. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
resolution plan the OSCE Minsk Group charted in 2006 stipulates
the employment of peacekeepers on the territories of Azerbaijan
currently controlled by the Armenians. Once the Armenians are out,
these peacekeepers are supposed to maintain a functioning corridor
between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. The question is, what kind of
peacekeepers will they be and what countries will they represent? Many
countries are loath to see the Russian peacekeepers there.
The replacement of Russian peacekeepers and internationalization of
peacekeeping missions are an obsession with Tbilisi. If the Russians
in the runaway regions are replaced with NATO peacekeepers and their
GUAM partners, their zone of responsibility will cover all of Abkhazia
and South Ossetia, which will give Georgia a chance to regain the
territories in question. Kishinev must be thinking along these lines
in application to the problem of the Trans-Dniester region.
Washington’s stand on the subject of the Georgian-Abkhazian and
Georgian-Ossetian conflicts underwent a starling change in the late
summer and early autumn of 2006. US Senators Richard Lugar and John
McCain visited Tbilisi in late August of 2006. Speaking on behalf
of the US Administration, the US lawmakers suggested withdrawal of
the Russian peacekeepers from Georgia and their replacement with a
"neutral force". It stands to reason to assume that some powerful
circles in the American establishment are encouraging President Mikhail
Saakashvili to revive the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. The statement
of the US Mission to the OSCE (August 12, 2006) also included a call
for employing an "international civilian police forces" in Abkhazia.
Aware of the support it can count on in the US establishment,
Georgian leadership is clearly out to do away with the Russian
peacekeepers’ presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The operation
in the Kodor Gorge in summer 2006 could be a dress rehearsal. Tbilisi
may have chosen its new targets by now – a control unit of the Inguri
Hydroelectric Power Plant or the Lower Gal District.
Should the Georgians mount an offensive in the Gal district and Russian
peacekeepers choose to stay away from the conflict, Georgian-Abkhazian
clashes will be inevitable, and that will be used to blemish the
Russian peacekeepers.
There is another problem to be considered. The parameters of
peacekeeping operations in the future are currently being designed,
and the very notion of peacekeeping is being dramatically altered. An
emphasis is made on coercion by force, on splitting the world into
zones of responsibility, on the support of "loyal" regimes and the
discrediting of "disloyal" ones. The emphasis in international security
is shifting to brute force.
TWO INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUMS COMPETE FOR YEREVAN THERMAL POWER PLANT RECONSTRUCTION
Armenpress
Apr 04 2007
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS: Two international consortiums have
submitted bids for a major reconstruction of the Yerevan Thermal
Power Plant, it has emerged today.
The first consortium comprises the Japanese Mitsiui, South Korean
GS and German Alston companies and the second is made up of German
Siemens, South Korean Samsung and Japanese Sumito Mill.
Hovakim Hovhanesian, director general of the power plant, said they
were assessing now the bids, which may take up to 90 days, but he
said the Armenian side will try to step up this process and announce
the winner’s name as soon as possible.
The reconstruction of the Yerevan Thermal Power is planned to start
in 2008 February. According to preliminary estimates, it will take
28 months.
The Japanese International Cooperation Bank will release a 16 billion
Japanese Yens ($150 million) credit to Armenia. Hovhanesian said
under the agreement, all payments will be made in Yens in order to
avoid fluctuations of the U.S. Dollar’s value.
Under the reconstruction plan, the government plans to build a new
unit with 230 megawatt capacity, which will reduce the cost of one
kilowatt/hour of electricity. Another positive outcome will be less
environmental pollution, which now exceeds the permissible level.
The reconstruction plan has been designed jointly by the power plant’s
experts and Japanese TEPSCO company. It was then examined and approved
by the International Cooperation Bank of Japan.
Experts say the modernization will result in reducing the prime cost
of 1 kilowatt/hour electricity from current 400 drams to 160-170
drams. The updated plant is expected to produce one sixth of the
overall domestic power demand.
The power plant was removed from the list of state-owned enterprises
subject to privatization, as demanded by the credit agreement.
The credit will be released at 0.75 percent interest rate for 40
years and a 10 year grace period.
The plant was built in Yerevan outskirts in the 1950-s and has been
working with no major reconstruction for over 40 years already and
has fully exhausted its operational potential.