Author: Antonian Lara

ARMENIANS FIRE ON AZERBAIJAN’S POSITIONS IN TERTER AND JEBRAIL

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 29 2006

Armenian armed forces violated the cease-fire again. Azerbaijani
Defense Ministry press service told APA that Armenians fired on
Azerbaijani Armed Forces’ positions from their positions located in the
occupied Goyakh village of Azerbaijan’s region of Terter from 20.35
to 20.45 on March 28, they also fired on Azerbaijani armed forces’
positions located near Jojug Marjanli village from their positions
located in occupied Mehdili village of Jebrail from 23.10 to 23.40.

On March 29 Armenians fired on Azerbaijani Armed Forces’ positions
from their positions located in occupied Gerabert village of Terter
from 4.00a.m till 5.00a.m with submachine and machine guns.

The enemy was silenced by response fire, no casualties were reported.

AMBASSADOR OF ARMENIA TO GEORGIA HRACH SILVANIAN HANDS HIS CREDENTIALS TO PRESIDENT MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 29 2006

TBILISI, MARCH 29, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Hrach Silvanian, the
Ambassador of Armenia to Georgia handed his credentials to President of
Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili on March 28. As Noyan Tapan was informed
by the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information Department, during
the conversation followed the ceremony, prospects of development and
deepening of bilateral relations were discussed. The meeting took
place in a warm and friendly atmosphere.

ALIYEV: CHANCES FOR PEACE REMAIN DESPITE ARMENIA’S STANCE

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 28 2006

Baku, March 27, AssA-Irada
President Ilham Aliyev has said the potential for peace has not
been exhausted despite Armenia’s non-constructive position on the
long-standing Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict.

“At the same time, Armenia has not be aware that Azerbaijan can
re-gain its territories through military action any time,” Aliyev
told the opening ceremony of the Heydar Aliyev history museum at the
National Security Ministry’s academy.

“I believe the potential for peace has not run out yet. But we have
to be prepared for any alternative. The Garabagh conflict resolution
will be stipulated both by diplomatic and political-economic, as well
as military factors. They have to know that Azerbaijan is ready to
restore its territorial integrity any time.”

The latest discussions held by the Azeri and Armenian leaders in
France in February turned out fruitless, as the parties failed to
iron out issues of principle.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT WARNS ARMENIA OVER DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT AZERI SITES

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 28 2006

Baku, March 27, AssA-Irada
The European Parliament has warned Armenia not to destroy Azerbaijani
historic and cultural sites, officials say.

“The demand was laid out in a letter sent by the foreign relations
committee chairman Elmar Brok to the Azeri representation in the EU,”
an official from Azerbaijan’s embassy in Belgium, Huseyn Huseynov,
told local ANS TV channel.

With regard to the recent resolution of the European Parliament
concerning the alleged destruction of ancient Armenian graves in
Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhchivan, which drew fire from Azeri
officials, the letter said this does not mean the legislative body
adheres to a position against Azerbaijan. The document unequivocally
stated that the adoption of the resolution was a result of the Armenian
Diaspora’s activity, Huseynov said.

“The overall environment suggests that the resolution does not
reflect the European Parliament’s stance and is strictly a position
of staunch Christians.”

The diplomat said the committee chairman also pledged that the European
Parliament will not pass any one-sided decisions any more.

The Azeri government should step up its activity to prevent this from
happening in the future, he added.

EX INTERIOR MINISTER OF ARMENIA WANTED BY INTERPOL MAY RETURN ONLY
WHEN THE SITUATION IN THE COUNTRY CHANGES

YEREVAN, MARCH 25. ARMINFO. Ex minister of the interior of Armenia,
Vano Siradeghyan, pins hopes for return to Armenia with a change of
the situation in Armenia. To recap, the ex minister is wanted by
International Police.

In an interview to the newspaper “Hakakan Zhamanak” (March 25 issue),
V. Siradeghyan says he would return to the country if the trial
against him is in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure of
Armenia, but “the authorities will not allow it.” The ex minister says
it is his second “forced exile,” the first time he returned and
underwent a trial for 6 months. However, “those who initiated all this
were not interested in the logic competition of the trial as they
wanted to hold me from participation in presidential and parliamentary
elections. It was not accidentally that I was chosen as a
target. Thus, the most vulnerable political figure in all the
countries of the post-Soviet area is the interior minister. And in all
the three countries of the South Caucasus, the first ministers of the
interior were subjected to persecutions,” Vano Siradeghyan believes.

Tree Planting of Unity started in Yerevan

ArmRadio.am
25.03.2006 13:16

The Tree planting of Unity to be held all over the territory of Armenia
continued today in Yerevan. About 300 thousand trees were planted in
Kanaker-Zeitun community of Yerevan.

President of the `Nig Aparan’ Patriotic Union, Prosecutor General Aghvan
Vardanyan, Mayor of Yerevan Yervand Zakharyan and Head of Community Arayik
Kotanjyan participated in the tree planting.

The tree planting started from the `Victory’ Park. A wreath of flowers was
laid at the memorial to the Unknown Soldier.

A1+

AN OFFER TO ARTHUR BAGHDASARYAN

12:54 pm 22 March, 2006

`The approaches of the RA NA Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan towards the
organization of the Constitutional Referendum and the evaluation of
the results are dangerous’, the Public Committee controlling the
lawfulness of the referendum warns.

The announcement of the NA Speaker that the Prosecutor’s Office has
initiated four cases about the law violations during the Referendum
became the reason for the Committee to make offers. The letter to
Arthur Baghdasaryan says:

«On purpose or not, you try to forget the following violations
(crimes) which had an enormous impact on the results of the
Referendum:

– Not the draft amendments, but the amended draft Constitution was put
to Referendum;

– The court system did not discuss any complaints about the idleness
of the Referendum Central Committee;

– The Referendum Central Committee did not establish any order to
realize agitation;

– The RA President violated the principle of secrecy of vote and
carried out an open vote;

– The Referendum Central Committee summed up the results of the
Referendum without taking into account the complaints which were in
the courts».

Public Committee controlling the lawfulness of the referendum also
reminds that the RA Foreign Minister mislead the international
community not representing the real image of the Referendum.

`The NA carries out formal amendments to the Electoral Code without
referring to the law violations in the courts today about the
Referendum processes’, the letter says offering to discuss these
issues.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 23 2006

Representatives of int’l group on Garabagh to visit the region: reports

Baku, March 22, AssA-Irada

The co-chairs of the international Dortmund Conference dealing with
the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict are due to
the visit the region soon.
Harold Sonders and Vitali Naumkin are expected to hold meetings in
Baku on March 27-28 and leave for the Armenian capital Yerevan the
next day. They are also scheduled to visit Upper Garabagh, Armenian
media reported.
The Armenian Democratic Party executive Aram Sarkisian said the visit
program has yet to be specified. `But the co-chairs are scheduled to
hold high-level meetings in Baku, Yerevan and Khankandi [the center
of the self-proclaimed Upper Garabagh republic],’ he claimed.*

Armenia poll show army more popular than government

Azg, Yerevan
21 Mar 06 p1

The National Statistics Service of Armenia has conducted a poll in 216
villages and 43 towns and Yerevan that showed a high level of trust in
the armed forces and church but not in the government, the Armenian
newspaper Azg reported on 21 March.

Quoting the results of the poll, the newspaper hailed the fact that 87
per cent of the respondents trust the army as “very important taking
into account the regional factor and threats issued by our
neighbours”.

The survey showed that 58 per cent of the respondents trust the
central government and 39 per cent do not; 63 per cent of the
respondents trust local authorities and 33.5 per cent do not. Azg
added that the popularity of the government has declined because of
the difficult socio-economic situation in the country.

Forty one per cent of those surveyed do not trust the justice system
as opposed to 52 per cent who do; 35,6 per cent do not trust the
police as opposed to 59 per cent who do. The newspaper said it had
expected a larger number of people to express their distrust of the
“justice and police systems that are considered the most corrupt and
discredited ones”.

Azg said that the mass media seem to be more popular than the
journalists: 75 per cent of those surveyed trust the mass media and 22
per cent do not.

4 ACTIONS WERE SUITED OVER ELECTORAL FRAUD

Lragir/am
20 March 06

Four actions were suited over electoral fraud during the constitutional
referendum on November 27, 2005, based on the information Speaker
Arthur Baghdasaryan had provided to the Office of Public Prosecutor,
stated Arthur Baghdasaryan on March 20. The Public Prosecutor gave
this information to the speaker of the National Assembly. There
has already been a ruling. The guilty was sentenced to 6 years of
imprisonment. The speaker vowed to inform the members of parliament
about further facts from the Office of Public Prosecutor.