Author: Chakrian Hovsep

COMPETITIONS OF RECONNAISSANCE GROUPS WITH PARTICIPATION OF ARMED FORCES OF RUSSIA, ARMENIA, KAZAKHSTAN AND UKRAINE ARE ORGANIZED IN BELARUS

Source: Vo Slavu Rodiny (Defense Ministry of Belarus), May 29, 2007, p. EV
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
June 1, 2007 Friday

Competitions of reconnaissance groups (platoons) of the armed forces
are organized in the fifth separate special-purpose brigade. Fifteen
teams of military professionals from Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan and
the Ukraine are taking part.

Organizers of the competitions try to make work of the reconnaissance
groups on the terrain as close to combat conditions as possible.

Competitions of snipers are going on simultaneously with competitions
of the reconnaissance groups. Participants of the sniper competitions
demonstrate their knowledge and skills in tactical and military
medical training, disguising and preparation of outfits and do various
exercises in firing sniper rifles.

EUROPEAN SOCIALISTS SATISFIED WITH ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA

Panorama.am
20:09 31/05/2007

RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Vardan Oskanian received the European
Socialists delegates leaded by Peter Shider, the ex-President of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Austria), leader of
the Party of European Socialists. MFA press-service informed that the
Party representatives highlighted the recent progress in Armenia. The
sides discussed the parliamentary elections.

Delegates mention that May 12 election was more democratic in
comparison with the previous ones. In this connection Armenia has
lot of political prospects.

The parties also discussed the issues of Armenian foreign policy,
Karabakh problem peaceful settlement, Armenia – Turkey relations,
Armenia’s integration into European structures, the Middle East current
situation and involvement of Armenia in regional peacemaking processes.

A FRIEND OF ARMENIA HAS PASSED AWAY

ArmRadio.am
31.05.2007 15:15

The great French actor of cinema and theatre, Mr. Jean Claude
Brialy died yesterday on may30 in Paris at the age of 74 after
a long disease. He had presented the great Concert offered by
Charles Aznavour in Yerevan on September 30, 2006 in the presence of
President Kocharyan, Mr. and Mrs. Jacques Chirac, Line Renaud and
many personalities and French artists. That day this friend of the
Armenians had said "Today, it’s the love’s feast". "Le Beau Serge"
under the direction of Claude Chabrol, is the film which had revealed
his talent in 1958.

ALEXANDER ARZUMANIAN’S DEFENDER IS GOING TO APPLY TO EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Noyan Tapan
May 31 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 31, NOYAN TAPAN. Making of application on the fact of
violation of fundamental freedoms and rights of former RA Foreign
Minister Alexander Arzumanian is underway at present. A. Arzumanian’s
defender, lawyer Hovik Arsenian said this in his May 31 interview to
Noyan Tapan correspondent. In his words, the application was based
on the fact that they arrested A. Arzumanian and only after it they
try to motivate the accusation brought to him.

H. Arsenian expressed bewilderment that "we try to prove our
innocence without giving testimony." For that purpose the defence
party presented petitions to National Security Service carrying out
preliminary investigation of the case instituted with accusation
of money laundering. The petitions relate to conducting separate
investigation actions, which in case of being sustained, as the
defender affirmed, will reveal the objective truth.

CIS MEMBER STATES SIGNED ENERGETIC AGREEMENT

A1+
[08:59 pm] 29 May, 2007

31 session of the Electric Energy Council of the Commonwealth of
Independent States’ was over in Yerevan.

During the meeting an agreement on forming joint market of electric
energy was signed. The agreement was signed by Russian Federation,
Armenia, Belarus, Ghazakh, Tajikistan and Kirgizia. Other CIS member
states did not have any official objections to the agreement, though
they did not sign it today.

The representatives of energetic sphere of the CIS countries, headed
by Anatoly Chubayes, head of the Electric Energy Council of CIS,
met the journalists.

Chugayes considered the agreement very important and informed that
one-tenth of the issues discussed during the session were of technical
character. According to Chubayes, the agreement on the joint market
of electric energy sets up open, transparent long term legislative
field of cooperation.

Answering to the questions of journalists, whether the document would
be an obstacle for other partners, for example, for the development
of cooperation with Iran in this field, Areg Galstyan, the RA Deputy
Energy Minister said: "No obstacle". He considers that a very important
step was accomplished which is only the beginning. In the coming 12
months each state that joined the agreement will work out its own
program for putting the document into force.

L. MKRTCHIAN: ALL CONDITIONS ARE CREATED TO ORGANIZE JOINT EXAM ON "ARMENIAN LANGUAGE, LITERATURE" IN PROPER WAY

Noyan Tapan
May 30 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 30, NOYAN TAPAN. This year joint and school-leaving exams
on the Armenian Language subject are exams of not only school-leavers
but also of the testing centers and school directors. Levon Mkrtchian,
the RA Minister of Education and Science stated about it at the May
29 press conference, mentioning that the continual character of this
new education policy is provided by the process of the new examination
order and results.

In the Minister’s words, they will attempt to make the process of
passing from the secondary education to the professional education
as calm as it is possible, without concussions and additional amount
of work. "All conditions are created for organizing the exams in a
proper way, technical problems are solved, standards of objectiveness
are present," he said.

"This experience is more prepared than other educational reforms, and
the cases of corruption are almost excluded. However, in the case of
existence of crying cases, it is not excluded that the exam is held
at the given center for the second time," Levon Mkrtchian assured.

PATRICK DEVEDJIAN CANDIDAT UMP A LA PRESIDENCE DU CONSEIL GENERAL DU 92

Agence France Presse
29 mai 2007 mardi 4:40 PM GMT

Le groupe UMP et apparentes du conseil general des Hauts-de-Seine
a designe mardi Patrick Devedjian, depute UMP des Hauts-de-Seine et
conseiller general, comme son candidat a la presidence de l’instance
departementale, presidee jusqu’a recemment par Nicolas Sarkozy.

Le groupe UMP indique dans un communique avoir "elu, par un vote a
bulletins secrets, Patrick Devedjian", egalement secretaire general
delegue de l’UMP, comme candidat.

Le conseil general, a majorite UMP, elira vendredi en seance publique
son nouveau president, qui succedera ainsi a Nicolas Sarkozy,
demissionnaire depuis son election a la presidence de la Republique.

M. Devedjian semble largement favori, le groupe UMP, UDF et apparentes
detenant 30 des 45 sièges du conseil general.

En avril 2004, Nicolas Sarkozy, maire de Neuilly-sur-Seine
(Hauts-de-Seine) de 1983 a 2002, avait herite de Charles Pasqua la
presidence du conseil general des Hauts-de-Seine, le departement le
plus riche de France.

M. Sarkozy a annonce sa demission le 15 mai. Il reste neanmoins
conseiller general du canton de Neuilly-Nord, ce qui permet
d’organiser l’election du nouveau president sans passer par une
cantonale partielle.

"Il n’y a pas de date prevue pour le moment pour une election dans
le canton de Neuilly-Nord", avait-on explique la semaine dernière au
conseil general.

De meme source, on ignorait egalement si M. Sarkozy serait present
vendredi pour l’election du nouveau president du conseil general,
tout en jugeant l’hypothèse "peu probable".

–Boundary_(ID_Auxe0NUA595FH2jw7+ mLMA)–

RUSSIAN POLITICAL ANALYSTS SAYS KREMLIN MUST DIVERSIFY ITS SOUTH CAUCASIAN POLICY

ARMENPRESS
May 25 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS: A Russian political analyst Sergey
Markedonov blamed today the Kremlin for failing to conduct a
diversified policy in regard to three South Caucasian nations. Speaking
to a conference in Yerevan titled ‘The Caucasus-2006" Sergey Markedonov
said Russia should display more realism in its relationships with
these nations.

To substantiate he cited the examples of Georgia and Armenia. "Russia
can not act as successfully in Georgia as it does in Armenia, but it
can not ignore its relationships with Georgia at all," he said.

According to Markedonov, the Kremlin has to give up the methods that
were used under the Soviets because ‘national elites in the South
Caucasus do not perceive these methods any longer."

In a reference to Russian-Armenian relations he said they spoiled
last year after Russia moved to raise the price of natural gas it
ships to Armenia, which prompted Armenian media to go as far as to
dub Russia as ‘a traitor."

According to Markedonov, another reason that accounts for cooled
Russian-Armenian relations are manifestations of xenophobia in Russia
that hit also Armenians living there.

"Unlike in Armenia where a murder of an ethnic Armenian in Russia
becomes an issue of a national scale, in Russia it goes actually
unnoticed,’ he said.

KARABAKH: LOUDER BAKU SPEAKS ABOUT WAR, MORE CONFIDENT ARMENIA HAS THE RIGHT TO SPEAK ABOUT IMPOSSIBILITY OF CONCESSIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.05.2007 14:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "All militant calls from Azerbaijan on arms race and
possibility of launching military actions in near future give Yerevan
a quite successful reason for additional argumentation in the dialog
with western superpowers and European structures for grounding its
rights on the territories of Lower Karabakh," head of Caucasian Studies
at the Caucasian Media Institute Sergey Minasyan stated during an
international conference entitled "Caucasus-2006" in Yerevan. He said,
Azerbaijan’s militarization may give certain political preferences
to Armenia. "Azerbaijan considers militarization and calls for war
efficient tools for exerting pressure on Armenia making him be more
compliant in the Karabakh issue. Armenia can assure that in conditions
of such intensive militarization of Azerbaijan keeping that territories
under the control of Nagorno Karabakh is one of the important elements
for ensuring military balance," Minasyan underlined.

"Louder Baku speaks about war for liberating Karabakh, more confident
Armenia has the right to speak about impossibility of making
territorial concessions from Lower Karabakh. Argumentation becomes
more convincing in the eyes of the world community, since concession
of territories will disturb military balance and create in Azerbaijan
temptation to really launch military actions. Taking into account this
circumstance, it is in the interests of the world community to keep
the security zone territories around Nagorno Karabakh under Armenian
control," he said.

At the same time Minasyan underlined mass purchases of
Ukrainian armament by Azerbaijan had destabilizing effect in the
region. "Azerbaijan bought from Ukraine "Smerch" type 12 missile
systems, which approach weapons of mass destruction with their
characteristic features," he thinks.

"However, arms race is a double-edged thing, and actually it is
difficult to say how arms increase in Azerbaijan will have impact
on his offensive abilities in case if a war breaks out in Karabakh,"
Minasyan underlined.

DASHNAKS OFFERED TO STAY IN GOVERNMENT
By Irina Hovannisian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 23 2007

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) said
on Wednesday that it has been offered senior positions in a new
government to be formed by Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian and is
currently weighing up its options.

Sarkisian appears willing to share power with Dashnaktsutyun and other
parties loyal to President Robert Kocharian, even though his Republican
Party of Armenia (HHK) won an outright majority in parliament in this
month’s general elections. Observers believe he is thereby trying
to broaden political support for his bid to succeed Kocharian early
next year.

Meeting with Western election observers on Tuesday, Sarkisian said the
HHK is ready to "engage able parliamentary and extra-parliamentary
forces into both the government and the National Assembly" in order
to maximize popular trust in his new cabinet. A government statement
cited him as saying that "negotiations are already being conducted
in that direction."

Armen Rustamian, a top Dashnaktsutyun leader, confirmed that the
nationalist party, which is represented in Sarkisian’s outgoing
cabinet, is involved in those talks but refused to give details. "We
are holding discussions right now and I wouldn’t like to make any
comments now," he told RFE/RL.

"There have been various kinds of offers, but we can not say anything
concrete at the moment," Rustamian said, adding that a decision will
be made "very soon."

Another Dashnaktsutyun leader, Education Minister Levon Mkrtchian,
said he hopes his party will choose to stay in government and allow
him to retain his job. "I have a desire to work because we have
just launched a program [of education reforms] and can see its first
results," he told RFE/RL.

"It all depends on the party’s decision," added Mkrtchian. "That is, if
Dashnaktsutyun decides to be part [of the new government] I will keep
working. If it decides otherwise, I will comply with that decision."

Rustamian has repeatedly stated before that Dashnaktsutyun will not
serve as a "fifth wheel" in a coalition government not dependent on
its parliamentary backing. Nonetheless, the influential party seems
ready, in principle, to remain in government, despite the fact that
the HHK will be able to single-handedly control the parliament.

During the election campaign Dashnaktsutyun leaders implicitly laid
claim to the posts of defense and education ministers. Newspaper
reports have said that they are also demanding the post of parliament
speaker. It is not clear if they are ready to endorse Sarkisian’s
presidential bid in return.

The Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) of businessman Gagik Tsarukian,
which came in a distant second in the elections, is also presumably
involved in the ongoing talks. Despite winning 25 parliament seats,
the pro-Kocharian party is hardly in a position to dictate to the
HHK, though.

Neither Tsarukian, nor other BHK leaders have commented on their
party’s performance in the polls so far. This is construed by
commentators as a sign that the election outcome did not live up to
their expectations.

Under the Armenian constitution, Kocharian has to appoint a prime
minister nominated by the parliament majority within ten days from
the first session of the newly elected National Assembly expected on
June 7. The new premier will have 20 days to form his cabinet.