Author: Babken Chilingarian

MINISTER FOR SCIENCE AND EDUCATION IS RESIGNING
Yerevan, May 12. ArmInfo. Education and Science Minister of Armenia,
Orinats Yerkir party member Sergo Eritsian is resigning is office,
reports the Ministry.
Previously it was announced that Orinats Yerkir made a decision about
resignation of party leader Arthur Bagdasarian from the office of the
Speaker of the National Assembly and withdrawal of party member
Ministers from the Government. Minister for Culture and Youth Affairs
Gevorg Gevorgian stated his intention to remain in the office as he is
not a member of Orinats Yerkir, although his candidature as proposed
by that party. Thus, only Sergo Eritsian remained true to the party
and followed the example of Arthur Bagdasarian.

A SHEPHERD DIES FROM SHELL EXPLOSION ON MAY 9 IN ARAGATSOTN REGION
Noyan Tapan
May 10 2006
ASHTARAK, MAY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. 1/3 lower part of the right shin
of 53-year-old Hakob Mikaelian was cut off from shell explosion on
May 7, in the border zone of the village of Khachik, Vayots Dzor,
and Nakhichevan. He was taken to Yeghegnadzor hospital. According to
the latest information, his leg was amputated: now his life is out of
danger. According to the report of RA Territorial Government Ministry’s
Rescuing Service, at about 2:00 pm on May 9, they received a signal,
according to which a shell was exploded in the firing range near the
village of Bazmaberd, Aragatsotn region, in consequence of which
a shepherd died. The rescuers found out that 35-year-old Mkrtich
Grigorian found a non-blown up shell at about 11:00 am. Taking out
the shell’s explosive he tried to burn it, which resulted in the
explosion of the shell. M.Grigorian died on the spot.

COURT EXTENDS CUSTODY TERM FOR STUDENT WHO KILLED ARMENIAN MAN
by Alana Kudzoyeva
ITAR-TASS News Agency
April 25, 2006 Tuesday 02:48 PM EST
Moscow City’s Cheryomushki district court has extended for another
three days a custody term for a 16-year-old general school student,
who killed a young ethnic Armenian at a downtown metro station
Saturday night.
The extension of custody term means that the prosecutors have another
three days for formulating official charges against the suspect.
Sources indicate that the prosecutors may simultaneously reformulate
the accusation of murder, which the teenager is suspected of.
His lawyer strongly denied reporters’ requests to comment on the
situation.
The incident occurred at around 17:50 Saturday, when a group of
twelve young people was standing on the platform and awaiting one
more of their friends. At that moment, another group of six or
seven youngsters got out of a train bound for southeast Moscow,
and a scuffle between the two groups broke out.
In the course of fighting, Vagan Abramiants, a 17-year-old student
of the Moscow University of Management, received a stab wound in the
chest and died on the spot.

ARKA News Agency
Oct 7 2005
YSMU HONORARY DOCTOR CONFERRED ON INDIAN VICE-PRESIDENT
YEREVAN, October 7. /ARKA/. The title of Honorary Doctor of Yerevan
State Medical University (YSMU) has been conferred on Vice-President
of India Bhairon Singkh Shekhavat. A YSMU “Gold Medal” was awarded to
him as well. The Indian Vice-President congratulated YSMU Rector
Vilen Hakobyan and the students on the 75th anniversary of the
University. He expressed his appreciation of the YSMU’s achievements.
“Indian citizens have a good opportunity to gain necessary knowledge
here and they must not miss it,” said Bhairon Singkh Shekhavat. He
also expressed readiness to render all possible assistance to the
cooperation between Armenian and Indian educational institutions.
Over 700 Indian students study at YSMU now. P.T. –0–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE INTERESTS OF ARMENIA AND GREECE COINCIDE
A1+
| 14:37:44 | 05-10-2005 | Official |
Today the RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan received the Greek
National Defense Minister Spilios Spiliotopulos and his delegation.
Andranik Margaryan and Spilios Spiliotopulos underlined that the
strategic interests of Armenia and Greece in the region coincide. The
approach is the same as to the membership of Turkey to EU, according
to which the long process of negotiations will make the country
more controllable; both countries will try to use the fact in order
to solve many problems – the recognition of Cyprus, the opening of
Armenian borders and others.
The RA Prime Minister and the Greek Defense Minister also agreed that
one of the main aims of recognizing the Armenian Genocide is to avoid
suchlike crimes in future and to protect the humanity from them.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSKANIAN-MAMMADYAROV MEETING LIKELY TO BE HELD DECEMBER 4-5 IN LJUBLJANA, AZERI SOURCES REPORT
Pan Armenian
03.10.2005 13:22
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The recurrent meeting of the Azerbaijani and
Armenian Foreign Ministers is likely to take place during the summit
of the OSCE Foreign Ministers to be held in Ljubljana December 3-4,
Azeri FM Elmar Mammadyarov stated. He also informed that OSCE Minsk
Group U.S. Co-Chairs Steven Mann will arrive in Baku late October to
hold meeting with the Azerbaijani leadership. Meanwhile, the Armenian
Foreign Ministry did not confirm the information on the terms of the
Oskanian-Mammadyarov meeting.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DOUBTS OVER TURKISH JUSTICE CAST SHADOW ON EU ACCESSION TALKS
By Vincent Boland
Financial Times, UK
Sept 26 2005
Nobody yet knowswhether the progressives or the reactionaries have
won thebattle over free speech that has raged in Turkey for the past
few days. One thing is clear, however: despite years of reforms,
the country’s justice system is riddled with loopholes. The result,
observers say, is arbitrary justice, which undermines people’s faith
in judges, prosecutors and police.
Although it is making changes as it seeks to join the European Union,
Turkey still endures a justice system that puts the rights of the
state above those of the individual. Recent events suggest that reforms
made last year to the fascist-era penal code, which were supposed to
make the system fairer and less punitive, are not working.
A court last week banned an academic conference that was to discuss
the mass killings of Armenians as the Ottoman empire collapsed 90
years ago. The conference went ahead at the weekend amid a heavy police
presence and demonstrations by small groups of protesters. A few weeks
earlier, Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s most acclaimed writer, was charged
with treason for remarks about Turkey’s denial of Armenian suffering.
The two incidents suggest how criminal justice and judicial
systems steeped in decades of nationalist ideology, reinforced by an
authoritarian constitution, can betray a reforming government’s best
intentions. They did little to enhance Turkey’s democratic credentials
a few days before it begins the formal EU accession process. The
attempt to silence the conference will have been noted in France,
which opposes Turkey’s EU membership and is home to Europe’s largest
Armenian diaspora community.
Joost Lagendijk, chairman of the Turkey delegation at the European
parliament, says the ban on the conference demonstrated the inadequacy
of the new penal code. Some legal experts claim the court in which
the judge sat had no authority to hear such a case. Turgut Tarhanli,
director of the Human Rights Law Research Center at Istanbul Bilgi
University, says the judge who ordered the ban did not allow the
organisers – two Istanbul universities – to mount a defence, a clearly
unconstitutional act.
“I hope this is an individual case that does not represent the Turkish
judicial system, but I am not so confident,” Mr Tarhanli said. “The
judicial system is a taboo in Turkey and nobody ever questions it. But
we should be asking judges whether they take the principles of the
constitution into account in their daily work.”
Others believe the constitution itself is the problem. It came into
force after a military coup in 1980. The constitution has since
been heavily revised, but the context in which it was drawn up –
when Turkey perceived herself surrounded by enemies aiming to break
up the country – appears still to influence how it is interpreted.
Guler Sabanci, head of the Sabanci Holding conglomerate and Turkey’s
leading businesswoman, says the constitution is “like an ill-fitting
suit”. “It was a suit we put on in extraordinary circumstances [after
the coup] and now it is too tight. It needs to be refitted for Turkey
in the 21st century.”
Ms Sabanci says opponents of reform can find “legal discrepancies”
that allow them to interfere almost at will, not just in the criminal
and judicial systems, or in attempting to silence historians, but in
efforts at privatisation or measures to do with the economy.
One effect of the controversy, Ms Sabanci and others say, is that
it may persuade the government to go further in strengthening free
speech provisions in the penal code and launching a wider campaign for
tolerance of dissent and controversial opinions. The prime minister,
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, won praise from academics for his quick and
forthright questioning of the court decision.
But some noted that he reacted with seeming indifference when one
of his ministers scuppered the historians’ first attempt, in May,
to hold the conference, by accusing them of treason.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RTR Russia TV, Moscow, in Russian
24 Sep 05
RUSSIANS, ARMENIANS ENJOYING EASIER BORDER CROSSING
As of today both Russian and Armenian citizens can enjoy a simpler
procedure for crossing the border between the two countries. They
only have to show their foreign-travel, diplomatic or service
passports and a document proving they intend to return to their home
country. This simplified procedure was introduced on the basis of an
agreement signed between Russia and Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenpress
USAID LAUNCHES NEW DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH STUDY
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS; Armenian health experts have launched
an extensive demographic and health study among 7,500 women of reproductive
age between 15-49 and as many males. The study is being conducted in
cooperation and financial assistance of the USAID that will cover 97 percent
of all expenses.
This is the second such project. The first was implemented back in 2000.
Anna Grigorian, USAID health projects coordinator, said the focus will be
put on women-related issues. The study is supposed to be over and published
in 2006. She said field work was underway already.
The study is supposed to update relevant data and outline health
priorities for future. A special emphasis will be also on mother and child
health problems.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1+
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
| 19:08:04 | 08-09-2005 | Politics |
SADOYAN FORETELLING
Justice faction member Arshak Sadoyan knows the consequences of the
constitutional amendments. In his words, the referendum will empower Robert
Kocharian to run for President for the third term.
`Kocharian will appeal to the Constitutional Court. It is not ruled out that
after all Gagik Haruryunyan will advance a proposal on the 4-th term of
Robert Kocharian’s office’, Arshak Sadoyan said during today’s press
conference. He has decided to say `no’ to the referendum on Constitution.
The deputy also noted he possesses information, according to which the
Armenian authorities are going to falsify the outcomes of the so-called
referendum.
Arshak Sadoyan proposed to send 10 people to each polling station to
thoroughly observe the course of the referendum. In his opinion, 20 000
people is enough to launch a `colored revolution without bloodshed’. If the
referendum fails the authorities will have to resign, Sadoyan is convinced.
He also puts some responsibility upon the opposition leaders.
BUQUICCHIO’S REPLY TO SADOYAN
`Something strange is happening to Europeans. They are late for plane, do
not send letter in time’, National Democratic Alliance head Arshak Sadoyan
when commenting on the message sent by Venice Commission President Gianni
Buquicchio.
On August 30 the latter answered Arshak Sadoyan’s letter sent on July 23.
Mr. Buquicchio wrote that he received the letter in time and the proposals
mentioned in it were `thoroughly read and studied. `As you know part of them
found reflection in the report of the working group of the Venice
Commission,’ he noted.
However, out of 82 proposals 76 were declined and 6 were partially adopted.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress