Author: Badalian Vardan

ARMENIA TO STEP UP PRACTICAL, POLIT COOPERATION WITH NATO
ITAR-TASS, Russia
Aug. 8, 2006
YEREVAN, August 8 (Itar-Tass) – The main purpose of Armenia’s
foreign policy is “full-fledged integration into European bodies
and organizations,” according to Armenia’s obligations within the
framework of the plan of individual partnership with NATO, a document
placed on the official website of the republic’s Ministry of Defense.
“Armenia intends to step up practical and political cooperation with
NATO with the purpose of closer rapprochement with the alliance,”
and the plan of individual partnership with NATO will be an important
instrument in this respect, the document said.
“Pursuing the integration into European bodies and organizations,
Armenia intends to expand its cooperation with the European Union,
considering full-fledged membership in the EU its priority objective,”
the document on Armenia’s obligations said.
It reiterated Yerevan’s commitment to “fully implement” the agreement
on security with NATO.
Armenia “will continue the formation of a peacekeeping battalion
conforming to NATO standards, counting on its further transformation
into a peacekeeping brigade.”
Armenia also stated its intention to “revise its current practice and
security procedures” on its borders with the view of perfecting them.
Armenia’s state border with Turkey and Iran is guarded by Russian
border-guards.

Kars Mayor Wants to Reopen Armenian Border
PanARMENIAN.Net
01.08.2006 15:11 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Kars Mayor Naif Alibeyoglu is waging an uphill
battle to overcome nationalist sentiments against Armenia to once
again get the Turkish-Armenian border reopened to civilian traffic
and trade since being shut down in 1993 due to the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict. Alibeyoglu says that reopening the border crossing with
Armenia will not be simply a move that will boost the local economy of
the region but will also constitute a major breakthrough for Turkish
exporters who have been dreaming of acquiring cheap and secure land
and rail access to markets in Central Asia and beyond.
Being a prosperous, multinational city, where Turks, Kurds, Armenians,
Russians and Georgians lived, Kars is today one of the poorest regions
of the country. 70% of Kars population left the town lately. The
only income of the locals is cattle breeding. The opening of the
border will revive Kars, the Mayor believes. “Turkey’s future is
in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Turkey lost this market to Russia
and America,” Alibeyoglu says.
Kars Mayor Alibeyoglu is a devout believer that the city can regain
at least some of its past splendor. Alibeyoglu pictures Kars as the
Davos of the Caucasus. “If that was its status 80 years ago, then why
shouldn’t it be so now?” he asks. Kars will be home to the 3rd Festival
of Caucasus Cultures between Sept. 15-17, hosting groups from 30
countries including Armenia, Ukraine, Sudan and even Cuba. The festival
is just one attempt to earn Kars the recognition it deserves. Apart
from that, the municipality has a number of projects to preserve
the unique Tsarist-era architecture of the city, responsible for the
city’s decrepit charm. In addition, a large citadel and a crumbling
Armenian church-turned-mosque are some of the sights accounting for
Kars’ specialization in ruins, reported Turkish Daily news.

ARMENIA’S BANKING SYSTEM SERVES 745,000 CLIENTS BY END OF MAY 2006
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Aug 1 2006
YEREVAN, August 1. /ARKA/. In May 2006, the number of clients served
by Armenia’s banking system increased by 9,955 and reached 745,075.
The RA Statistical Service reports that legal entities numbered 37,884
and individuals 707,191.
By May 31, 2006, 919,292 accounts had been registered at Armenia’s
commercial banks, 865,056 of them individual accounts. The combined
accounts of the Armsavingsbank involve 3,469.5ths people.
By June 30, 2006, the balance of deposits attracted from the population
had amounted to AMD 102,748 – an AMD 860 or 0.8% increase.
It increased by AMD 25,243mln or by 32.6% compared to the corresponding
period of last year. P.T.

PanARMENIAN.Net
Azerbaijan Won’t Be Allowed to Start War in Karabakh
28.07.2006 13:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The military operation in the Codori canyon is just
a political PR campaign launched by Mikhail Saakashvili, head of the
International Relations Department at the Institute of the Political
and Military Analysis Sergey Markedonov told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter. In his words, neither Georgians nor Abkhazians control the
territory where the operations started. `This operation gives
Georgians the opportunity to hold talks with the `other state
structure’ of Abkhazia bypassing official Sukhumi. However this
territory is too small to talk about it seriously. It doesn’t even
include the Galsky region mostly inhabited by Georgians,’ Markedonov
said.
At the same time the Russian political scientist underlined that
Azerbaijan’s wish to follow Georgia’s example and launch hostilities
against Nagorno Karabakh is just unsound. `The operation in Kodori is
just a walk while incursion into Karabakh is a lingering and bloody
war Azerbaijan can lose. Karabakh’s security zone is a deeply
echeloned defense while the Defense Army of Karabakh cannot be
compared to a group of Georgian `guerrillas’ led by Emzar
Kvitsiani. The territory of Nagorno Karabakh is really controlled what
cannot be said about the Kodori canyon. There is one more nuance: late
Heydar Aliyev has created an image of a victim for Azerbaijan in the
West. Now, if military operations start in the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict region this image will immediately crack. It will be the end
of Ilham Aliyev and I suppose he understands this. It’s just a
political move. From time to time he just has to tell his people that
`Azerbaijan will liberate its territories. Moreover, Europe, the
U.S. and of course Russia will be against Azerbaijan’s
aggression. Thus, adding the factor of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil
pipeline Azerbaijan will not start war. It just won’t be allowed,’
Markedonov said.

BUSINESSMEN WERE MISLEAD
Lragir.am
27 July 06
The public wonders why President Robert Kocharyan, nevertheless,
did not go to the CIS informal summit in Moscow. Nobody believes
the official excuse. The source standing close to the president
administration says Robert Kocharyan’s demarche towards Moscow is
connected with a definite factor of enlargement of the Republican
Party. The president of Armenia did not like businessmen running
businesses is in Russia to become members of the Republican Party.
The Armenian president doubts that the membership of these businessmen
to the Republican Party might have been encouraged by the Russian
government which thereby tried to support Serge Sargsyan. Our source
states that this concern pushed the president to make a demarche
towards Moscow. The evidence to this is the news from Russia that
the Russian partners of certain businessmen, who became members of
the Republican Party, advised them to leave the Republican Party as
soon as possible.

A-320 Commander Could Not Direct Plane into Sea
PanARMENIAN.Net
27.07.2006 15:14 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The conclusion of the Inter-State Aviation
Committee on A-320 airplane crash is not conforming with reality,
President of the National Aviation Association (NAA) of Armenia
Dmitry Atbashyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. “I do not agree with
the conclusion. No one from the air crew believes Grigor Grigoryan,
having flied on various planes, would direct the liner into the sea. He
could not be mistaken, his qualification as a pilot is rather high.
It is laughable to say he lost the attitude position.
No pilot believes the conclusion of the Inter-State Aviation Committee:
it is counted for stupid passengers,” Atbashyan noted.
He underscored, “Pilots are not suicides. Not worth a pin is a plane,
which crashes resulting from a pilot’s mistake. A-320 has no automatic
pilot – it is an ignorant wording. There is an automatic system of
steadiness, which are integrated in the control system. And no matter
how much you turn it off, it will not turn off fully. It keeps working
irrespective of the pilot’s wish,” the NAA President said.
Dmitry Atbashyan is sure that the Inter-State Aviation Committee
conclusion is aimed at not damaging the image of Sochi, which aspires
for hosting the Winter Olympic games. In his words Adler airport falls
short of Russian federal aviation rules. “The regulations say that
flights are prohibited in dangerous meteorological conditions. 6 types
are considered dangerous. I will mention only two, present on that
day: storm rainfall and wind shear. There was no equipment at Sochi
airport to determine the availability of dangerous meteorological
phenomena at the trajectory of approach operation. An airport
does not have the right to receive Airbus liners without having
corresponding devices. Those, who allowed flights of those planes to
Sochi, should be responsible for the crash of the Armenian liner,”
Atbashyan said. He also remarked that everything, what happened to
the plane is an illustration of the aerodynamics textbooks, which
describe the plane movement during the so-called phenomenon of grab.

MANY ART LOVERS ENJOY UNSEEN FRAMES OF SERGEY PARAJANOV’S
“COLOR OF POMEGRANATES” AT YEREVAN STATE PICTURE GALLERY
AZG Armenian Daily #140, 27/07/2006
Culture
The unseen working materials of Sergey Parajanov’s “The Colour of
Pomegranates” were shown to a large number of art lovers, today. “The
manuscripts do not burn. The same thing concerns the films,” Levon
Grigorian, film director, author of the film, said this at today’s
film session at the State Picture Gallery of Armenia. The new film
comprises of the unseen working materials of Parajanov’s film that
excluded by the Soviet censors. The famous film by Parajanov had quite
a tragic fate. The script to the film was approved in 1966, but later,
the CC of the Communist party accused Parajanov of the existence of
many mystical and erotic scenes in the film. The edited version of film
was given the IV category, which meant that the film crew were totally
deprived of their emoluments. The film was renamed from “Sayat Nova”
into “The Coulor of Pomegranates” and was issued in five copies. The
original version of the film existed for only 20 days, while the frames
excluded by the censors were considered lost till 1995. Only then
L.Grigorian learnt that a part of the working materials on the film
is kept in Armenia. “This is a genuine miracle! Till now I don’t know
who I shall be grateful to for that,” Grigorian said, explaining that
he found the lost frames quite accidentally. The film by Girgorian
lasts 26 minutes and consists of 6 stories based on the original
script by Parajanov. After the film session. Grigorian said that he
is currently working on the next film based on the same materials.
By Melania Badalian

VIENNA MAYOR’S OFFICE TO IMPLEMENT A NUMBER OF PROGRAMS IN GEGHARKUNIK REGION
GAVAR, JULY 25, NOYAN TAPAN. Issues relating to nature protection,
agriculture and tourism development were discussed at the recent
meeting of Gegharkunik Regional Governor Arsen Grigorian and
Foreign Relations Responsible Person of Vienna Mayors Office, Stefan
Rainer. The Austrian side planned these programs aimed at conservation
of Sevan ecological system as early as in 1999, but they were not
put into operation for different reasons.
“As programs worked out several years ago were not put into practice
for some reasons, a memorandum is to be again signed between the two
sides, their priority should be clarified,” Stefan Rainer said. It was
also mentioned that the programs will be mainly financed by Vienna
Mayor’s Office and the World Bank. Gegharkunik Governor in his turn
assured that the Regional Administration is for any program that will
contribute to economic development and poverty reduction in the region.

DAYS OF TERIAN SOLEMNLY MARKED IN JAVAKHK
AKHALKALAK, JULY 25, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The annual holiday
dedicated to great Armenian poet Vahan Terian, Days of Terian, were
solemnly marked on July 22-23 in Javakhk.
The unveiling ceremony of bust to the great poet took place on July 22
in front of the Youth House, in the Ninotsminda regional center. And
on July 23, the traditional field event dedicated to Terian was held
in the poet’s native town, Gandza.
According to the A-Info agency, Georgian President’s Plenipotentiary
to Samtskhe-Javakhk Georgy Khachidze, Acting Head of Ninotsminda
Region Mels Bdoyan, Chairman of Javakhk compatriotic union Shirak
Torosian, Chairman of Georgian Armenians Unity organization Tachat
Hayrapetian, cultural figures and others spoke during the official
part of the event.
Local singers, choirs, musical ensembles and those having arrived
from Armenia performed at the event.

State Awards Presented to Armenian Peacekeepers
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.07.2006 18:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian peacekeepers, who participated in
operations to settle the Kosovo conflict and post-war restoration of
Iraq are presented with medals and diplomas. By an order of Armenian
Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan six servicemen of Armenia are awarded
Andranik Ozanyan and Drastamat Kanayan medals, sixteen got diplomas.
Sargsyan also thanked the Armenian peacekeepers in person.