Author: Boshkezenian Garik

NKR HOLDS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS SUNDAY
STEPANAKERT, JUNE 18. ARMINFO. The Nagorno Karabakh Republic is
holding elections into 4th parliament Sunday.
274 electoral commission will act in 22 electoral districts. 89,576
people will vote on parties, 87,578 on single mandate candidates –
the difference is due to servicemen who are allowed to vote on parties.
Over 120 international and journalist mission will observe the
elections.
107 people will run for 22 single mandate seats. For party seats
running are Free Fatherland, Democratic Party of Artsakh, Moral
Revival (opposition), Communist Party, Our HOme – Armenia, Social
Justice and ARFD – Movement 88. The favorite is DPA led by NKR Prime
Minister Anoushavan Daniyelyan.
NKR president Arkady Ghoukassyan has promised that the elections will
be fair and transparent

French Help for Pipeline?
Moscow Times
June 16 2005
Business in Brief
LONDON — Naftogaz Ukrainy, Ukraine’s state-owned natural gas company,
is seeking Gaz de France’s help in planning a pipeline from Iran that
will allow Ukraine to lessen its dependence on Gazprom.
The pipeline will go across Armenia, Georgia and under the Black Sea
to Ukraine, and may be extended to Europe, Naftogaz spokesman Dmitry
Marunich said Wednesday.
Gaz de France may also cooperate with Ukraine in marketing gas in
Romania, where the French utility owns a network. (Bloomberg)

ARMENIA THIS WEEK
Monday, June 13, 2005
In this issue:
Armenia calls for greater U.S. role in lifting Turkish blockade
Armenia submits Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) to NATO
Azeri agent confesses to plotting terror attacks in Armenia
ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CALLS FOR GREATER U.S. ROLE IN TURKEY
DISPUTE
Armenia urged the U.S. to be “more assertive” in its calls on Turkey
to lift the 12-year blockade of Armenia, Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian said at a press-conference following his meetings with
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the President’s National
Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. Oskanian said the talks with U.S.
officials focused on growing bilateral cooperation in security
matters, including Armenia’s deployments in Iraq and Kosovo, as well
as plans for the Millennium Challenge assistance to Armenia.
Oskanian reaffirmed the Armenian government’s readiness to establish
diplomatic relations with Turkey without preconditions. Oskanian also
dismissed the notion that Turkey’s ongoing blockade may force Armenia
to end its support for the international affirmation of the Armenian
Genocide or lead to unilateral concessions in the Karabakh conflict
by stifling Armenia’s economy. Oskanian noted Armenia’s strong
economic growth of recent years and added that Armenia will continue
to successfully develop with or without the Turkish border opening.
“We are not desperate” to have the border open, Oskanian said, but
such an opening would benefit both Armenia and Turkey. He also
objected to the Azerbaijani-initiated proposal to build a new
railroad between Georgia and Turkey, estimated to cost some $600
million, while there was an existing rail link between Turkey and
Armenia.
In meetings with Rice and Hadley, Oskanian also raised Armenia’s
domestic political issues, including the governing coalition’s plan
to reform the country’s Constitution, in line with Armenia’s Council
of Europe obligations. U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans
reiterated America’s commitment to work with the Armenian government,
political parties and civic groups to advance Armenia’s democracy
before national elections set for 2007 and 2008. (Sources: Armenia
This Week 6-7; Mediamax 6-10; R&I Report 6-10; Associated Press 6-11;
Regnum.ru 6-13)
ARMENIA SUBMITS ACTION PLAN ON PARTNERSHIP WITH NATO
Defense Minister Serge Sargsian officially submitted Armenia’s
Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) to the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) leadership in Brussels last week. Meeting
with the NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Sargsian
discussed Armenia’s expanding relations with the Alliance. Armenia’s
Ambassador to NATO Samvel Mkrtchian described the IPAP submission as
“a serious step that raises relations with NATO to a new level.” An
analysis by the Armenian Mediamax news agency described the
development as a “real breakthrough” in Armenia-NATO partnership, as
part of which Armenia commits itself to further security and
democratic reform.
NATO began offering IPAP to the Partnership for Peace (PfP) allies
following its 2002 summit. The plan is essentially a two-year
schedule of cooperation that aims to increase interoperability
between NATO and PfP partners. Last year, Armenia ratified the Status
of Forces Agreement (SoFA) with NATO that provides a legal framework
for joint exercises and deployments under NATO command, such as that
of Armenia’s peacekeepers in Kosovo.
Last April, the Armenian Defense Ministry announced plans to develop
a proposal for long-term reform of the Armenian military with NATO
help. The plan will be ready for consideration by Armenia’s next
Parliament, due to be elected in 2007. According to Mediamax, the new
Armenian President to be elected in 2008 will be positioned to decide
whether to seek membership in NATO. (Sources: Armenia This Week 4-12;
RFE/RL Armenia Report 6-10; Mediamax 6-11)
AZERI AGENT CONFESSES TO PLOTTING TERROR ATTACKS IN ARMENIA
An Armenian citizen pleaded guilty to charges of treason and
conspiracy to commit terrorist attacks on behalf of the Azerbaijani
Ministry of National Security (MTN), according to reports from court
proceedings that got underway last Friday in Yerevan. According to
prosecution’s indictment, Andrey Maziyev, who had worked as an
engineer at Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport, provided the Azeri MTN with
pictures he took of the Armenian President’s airplane, security
procedures at the airport and on the way to the President’s
residence, as well as of various buildings throughout Yerevan,
including those of the U.S. and other embassies.
In his pre-trial testimony, Maziyev said that he believes that the
Azeri operatives were preparing terrorist acts against specific
targets in Armenia. Other former Azeri operatives had previously
conceded to undertaking a series of terror attacks against
Armenia-bound infrastructure in Georgia, civilian targets in Armenia
and in Diaspora communities. Last month, a former official with the
Azeri Interior Ministry Colonel Alekper Ismailov publicly claimed
that he was in charge of anti-Armenian terror operations through
1995.
According to Maziyev’s testimony he was recruited by MTN operatives
after being detained on the Georgian-Azerbaijani border in October
1999, because he was carrying an Armenian passport. Since then he had
between 17 and 18 meetings with MTN operatives in the Kazakh
district, on the border with Armenia and Georgia, receiving some
$2,500 for his services through January of this year. He was arrested
last February. (Sources: Mediamax 2-9; Armenia This Week 5-10;
Arminfo 6-9, 13; Noyan Tapan 6-9)
Note to Readers: For issues dating back to 1997 visit
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Media advisory: news conference by Union of Armenians of Russia
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 15, 2005 Wednesday 12:20 PM Eastern Time
A news conference devoted to the fifth anniversary of the Union of
Armenians of Russia public organization will be held at the Itar-Tass
news agency (2, Tverskoi Boulevard, 6th floor) at 11:00 on Thursday,
June 16.
President of the Union Ara Abramian and heads of the organization’s
regional offices will take part.
Admission of Russian and foreign journalists, TV and radio broadcasting
companies by journalist identification cards.
For more information, please call at 229-6034, 229-6403;
Fax: 229-0585.
E-mail: [email protected].

Karabakh parliamentary elections illegal – Azerbaijan
By Sevindzh Abdullayeva, Viktor Shulman
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 14, 2005 Tuesday 2:38 PM Eastern Time
BAKU, June 14 — The June 19 ‘parliamentary elections’ in
Nagorno-Karabakh “to be held against the background of an occupation of
territories and ethnic cleansing contradict the norms and principles
of the international law and the constitution of Azerbaijan and are
illegal,” says a Tuesday statement by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
This action of the Armenian side “does not correspond to the spirit
of the Karabakh settlement negotiations, which have recently given
hope for positive tendencies,” the ministry said. “It is impossible
to achieve lasting peace without normalization, peaceful co-existence
and cooperation between the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities
in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Azerbaijani Republic,” the
ministry said.
Azerbaijan supports the international appeals for direct contacts
between the communities and comprehensive confidence-building measures
aimed at the prevention of feud and the achievement of stability and
mutual understanding, the ministry said.
“The dialog between the communities will promote relations between
Karabakh Armenians and Azerbaijanis returning to places of their
permanent residence and create prerequisites for the involvement of
all strata of the population into the legal, peaceful and democratic
process, including the establishment of legitimate regional authorities
of any level,” the ministry said.

LET’S BE READY FOR EMERGENCIES
A1plus
| 16:57:44 | 13-06-2005 | Social |
The International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) is
in Armenia. On the initiative of different international and other
Rescue Advisory Groups which took part in the Spitak earthquake rescue
works in 1991 this structure was formed within the UN.
As Nikolay Grigoryan, head of the Emergency Administration information
service informs, the main aim is the efficient organization of the
international rescue advisory works, regulation of the works of
emergency services of different countries, processing of a general
methodology, and establishing cooperation between international
rescuers and local disaster eliminating structures.
On June 11-15 INSARAG will carry out the usual training in Armenia.
Representatives from 16 countries will take part in the training ~V
Armenia, France, USA, Sweden, Austria, Belarus, Japan, Turkey, Estonia,
Greece, Lebanon, Cyprus, Tunisia, South Africa, Jordan, and Iceland.

MP proposes law banning visits by `undesirable’ persons
Baku, June 9, AssA-Irada
Visits by `undesirable’ people to Azerbaijan should be prevented and a
relevant law passed, said chairman of Yurddash Party, MP Mais Safarli.
`Visits by undesirable people, such as Vladimir Kazimirov [former Russian
co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group mediating the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over
Upper Garabagh], should be prevented. But this is currently not regulated by
the legislation. I will raise the issue at the next session of the parliament.’
Safarli said that inviting Kazimirov to the country was aimed at subversion.
`Everything could happen at the event he attended. He could have been beaten,
killed or thrown out of the window.’
The MP added that Armenia could have used possible incidents to disrupt the
ongoing peace talks.
Kazimirov visited Baku to attend the seminar on `The geo-strategic importance
of Azerbaijan’ organized by NGOs. His anti-Azerbaijan statements infuriated
the Garabagh Liberation Organization members attending the event.*

Italian senator, Azeri leader discuss Karabakh, ties
Space TV, Baku
9 Jun 05
Italy will continue to support Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia
over Nagornyy Karabakh, the chairman of the foreign affairs and
migration commission of the Italian Senate and a member of the Italian
Senate delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe [PACE], Fiorello Provera, said at a meeting with Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev.
Having said that the conflict has brought a lot of suffering to the
Azerbaijani people, the guest expressed his hope that the conflict
would be resolved peacefully.
In turn, President Aliyev expressed his hope that cooperation between
Azerbaijan and Italy within international organizations, including
PACE, would become even more fruitful.
During the Italian senator’s meeting with Azerbaijani Parliament
Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov, the sides mainly discussed the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict. Alasgarov said the issue would be discussed at the
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly session soon.
The speaker thanked Italian MPs for their support for Azerbaijan’s
position during PACE discussions on the recognizing Armenia as an
aggressor. At the same time, the speaker said that delays in solving
the problem had caused concern in Azerbaijan.

Armenian groups in Georgia protest against school principal’s dismissal
Noyan Tapan news agency, Yerevan
9 Jun 05
Akhalkalaki, 9 June: The council of Armenian public organizations of
Samtskhe-Javakheti has expressed its concern over the dismissal of
Lyuba Matevosyan, the principal of Armenian secondary school No 3 in
Akhalkalaki, as well as the over forced dispersal by the police of
protest actions staged by Akhalkalaki residents.
In a telephone conversation with Matevosyan, Georgian Minister of
Education and Science Kakha Lomaia promised her to review his 24 May
order to dismiss Matevosyan. The council has refrained from taking
drastic steps yet.
The Akhalkalaki police department attempted to use force to disperse
an action staged in protest against Matevosyan’s unfair dismissal. As
a result, four Armenians were injured, A-Info agency reports.

MONUMENT TO ZORAVAR ANDRANIK OPENS IN CITY OF LE PLESSIS-ROBINSON,
NEAR PARIS
PARIS, JUNE 7, NOYAN TAPAN. On June 4, in the city of Le
Plessis-Robinson near Paris, Edvard Nalbandian, the Ambassador of
Armenia and Philippe Pemezec, a French MP, the Le Plessis-Robinson
Mayor opened solemny a monument to Zoravar Andranik. As Noyan Tapan
was informed from the Press Office of the State Commission on
organizing events dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide, the monument was presented to the city of Le
Plessis-Robinson by the Arabkir Prefect’s Office. A delegation of the
Arabkir Prefect’s Office headed by Prefect Levon Haroutiunian arrived
from Yerevan to participate in the event. Ambassador E.Nalbandian
mentioned that the monument to national hero Zoravar Andranik is added
to more than a hundred of memorials, streets and squares in French
cities and regions dedicated to Armenia and the Armenian people, which
symbolize in a peculiar way the great friedship and warmness and
intensity of the relations established between Armenia and
France. Patrik Devejian, a former Minister, French statesmen and
politicians, Senators, Deputies, the Paris Region Prefect, hundreds of
representatives of the Armenian community were present at the
monument’s opening ceremony which was dedicated to the 90th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.