Author: Chalian Meline

RUSSIA TO POST DRUGS POLICE ABROAD

Gazeta.ru website, Moscow
28 Mar 06

Russia’s counternarcotics agency is to send 50 of its staff abroad to
work out of Russian embassies, with the first representatives going to
the Russian embassy in Kabul. Later, staff of the Federal Service for
Control over the Trafficking of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances
will be sent to Armenia and Belarus, and to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and
Tajikistan, countries which the service says are now staging posts on
the drug-trafficking route from Afghanistan northwards. The following
is the text of report by Russian Gazeta.ru website on 28 March:

Staffers of Gosnarkokontrol [Federal Service for Control over the
Trafficking of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances] are going to be
working under Russian diplomatic missions abroad. The relevant edict
has been signed by [President] Vladimir Putin. Experts are doubtful
whether these people will succeed in halting the flow of narcotics.

On the other hand, human rights champions believe that maybe this
will teach the narcotics control service how to work and not to just
hound veterinary surgeons through the courts.

On Tuesday [28 March] Vladimir Putin signed an edict “On official
representatives of the Russian Federation Federal Service for Control
over the Trafficking of Narcotics in Foreign States”. According to this
document the service is authorized to have official representatives
and their deputies abroad numbering a total of 50 persons. These
staffers are to work as part of the diplomatic missions but without
being included on the embassy staff roll. It is assumed that this
will simplify the service’s contacts with their foreign colleagues.

A mission of the Gosnarkokontrol, as one of the first, will open in
Afghanistan from where the main mass of heroin makes its way both
onto the Russian and the world drugs markets.

As Gazeta.ru was told by Oleg Kharichkin, deputy director of the
Russian Federation Federal Service for Control Over the Trafficking
of Narcotics, staffers periodically travel as it is to that country
but they will now stay in Kabul on a permanent basis. Later, the
service’s missions will also be opened in states belonging to the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. According to Kharichkin,
“this will be especially timely in those countries which are becoming
staging posts on the northern route for the movement of narcotics into
our country. That is, on the route for the trafficking of narcotics
out of Afghanistan. It is also assumed that Gosnarkokontrol staffers
will be sent to other Asian states and also to countries of Latin
America and Europe.

The service director will decide who will be going abroad, after which,
as Kharichkin explained, “the candidacies of these staffers will have
to be coordinated with the Foreign Ministry and with the states to
which they are being sent”.

According to Kharichkin, it is assumed that two staffers will work
in the missions. “Most likely people able to speak the language of
the country where they will be working will be sent there,” he added.

According to Kharichkin, the experience of such missions is not
unique. The DEA – the American Drug Enforcement Administration –
works according to the same principle. The Russian office of the US
drugs police is in the embassy building in Moscow.

In the opinion of human rights champions, there will certainly be no
harm done by the new Gosnarkontrol subdivision, but at the moment it
is not clear how much benefit will derive from it.

“International contacts are necessary and there can be no particular
objections here. After all, these drugs police will not be keeping
tabs on the staffers of the embassies,” Gazeta.ru was told by Lev
Levinson, head of the New Drugs Policy public organization. “It is
better to direct one’s efforts at something serious than to engage
in dubious affairs in one’s own country.” Especially as, according
to him, other countries also have an interest in this: After all,
Russia is also a transit zone for narcotics. “Apart from Afghanistan,
‘synthetic drugs’ are brought into Russia from Poland, Germany, and
the Baltic States, and cocaine is brought in from South America. So
there is certainly something to work on,” he believes.

Oleg Zykov, president of the No to Alcoholism and Drug Addiction
Foundation is of the same opinion. “I welcome any structural
subdivision if it is going to be effective. I hope that this is a
movement in the direction of control over hard drugs,” Zykov says.

“In any case, if these representatives are going to end up in
countries where there is a positive experience of, and not repressive
technologies for, combating drugs, they might at least borrow their
experience.”

HAYRUSGAZARD CONFIRMS DOUBLED PRICE FOR RUSSIAN GAS

Armenpress

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS: Russian-Armenian Hayrusgazard natural
gas operator has confirmed today that Russia will be selling gas
to Armenia at $110 per one thousand cubic meter. The rise becomes
effective from April 1.

Shushan Sardarian, a spokeswoman for the company, said nevertheless,
Armenian and Russian officials continued talks, but refused to
elaborate. The Armenian energy ministry said executives from Russian
Gazprom were in Yerevan negotiating with Armenian party, but likewise
refused to flesh out.

State regulators have already sanctioned a 50 percent rise in the
cost of gas supplied to individual consumers to become effective from
April 9.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE “RETURN AND REINTEGRATION: HOW TO OVERCOME
ECONOMIC CHALLENGES” TO TAKE PLACE IN YEREVAN ON APRIL 4-5

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, NOYAN TAPAN. An international conference “Return and
Reintegration: How to Overcome Economic Challenges” will be organized
in Yerevan on April 4-5 by the Danish Council of Refugees and the
OSCE Yerevan Office jointly with the UN. NT was informed from the
OSCE Yerevan Office that the problems of illegal migrants’ return and
stable reintegration will be discussed with the persons interested
and donors. Representatives of the International Department of the
Danish Council of Refugees, the Foreign Ministry of Denmark and the
OSCE Yerevan Office will participate in the event.

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
March 31 2006

‘Azadlig’ block to focuses on such issues as Karabakh, elections, oil & corruption

Source: ‘Trend’
Author: S.Ilhamgizi

31.03.2006

‘Azadlig’ [Freedom] block has made a decision to establish 4 more
commissions, Trend reports quoting Lala Shovkat Hajiyeva, a co-chair
of the block, also the leader of the National Unity Movement, as
saying at a news conference on Friday.

She said earlier they had decided to establish 6 commissions at
forming of the structure of ‘Azadlig’. On Friday the meeting of the
Council of Chairs has made a resolution

on establishment additional commissions on human rights, oil,
corruption and world Azerbaijanis.

The new commissions will deal with the situation of human rights in
the country, defense of their rights, monitoring of oil incomes,
studying of facts of corruption in the state bodies, work with world
Azerbaijanis, and Diaspora organizations. Thus, the number of the
commissions has reached 10.

Hajiyeva stressed that they would attach special attention to the
work of the commissions on Karabakh, elections and corruption.

The meeting has also appointed Taleh Ashrafov the secretary of the
Council of Chairs. The 2nd session of the Supreme board is scheduled
for 15 April, the conference on entrepreneurship – 21 April. Besides,
the zonal conference of the block will be held in Shaki on 1 April.

EXHIBITION OF ARMENIAN PRODUCTION TO BE HELD IN ATHENS IN OCTOBER

Noyan Tapan
Mar 30 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 30, NOYAN TAPAN. An agreement on cooperation was signed
on March 29 between the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen of
Armenia (UMBA) and the Industrial Federation of Greece (IFG). The
agreement was signed by the UMBA Chairman Arsen Ghazarian and the IFG
Coordinator of International Relations Ioanis Patsiavos. According
to A. Ghzarian, the implementation of the agreement will enable
Armenian businessmen to enter the business information field of the
European Union and use the EU business infrastructures. The UMBA
Chairman said that the sides reached an agreement to organize an
exhibition of Armenian production and an Armenian-Greek business
forum in Athens in October, which will constitute a serious step
aimed at increasing the commodity turnover between the two countries
to 100 mln dollars in 1-2 years. According to the RA official data,
in 2004, the commodity turnover made 29.7 mln USD, in 2005 – about
26.1 mln USD. A. Ghazarian said that in 2005 the total amount of Greek
investments in Armenia made more than 150 mln USD, with the ArmenTel
company accounting for most of these investments. He noted that 25
companies with Greek capital are now operating in Armenia.

CRISIS GROUP: GARABAGH CONFLICT NOT “FROZEN”

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 30 2006

Baku, March 29, AssA-Irada
The Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict is not
“frozen” and frequent reports of human casualties prove this, said
a representative of the International Crisis Group, an organization
working to prevent conflicts worldwide.

“After the failed talks at Rambouillet, 19 people, including eight
civilians, died last month alone as a result of ceasefire violations,”
the ICG project director on South Caucasus Sabine Frasier told a news
conference in Washington.

The parties failed to agree upon the issues of principle during the
negotiations held by Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharian in
France in February, which was followed by mutual threats.

Frasier said the resumption of hostilities is not inevitable but could
be prompted by the escalating tensions on the frontline. She said the
conflict zone is particularly sensitive due to its specific geographic
location and that new military actions could potentially get Russia,
Iran, Georgia and Turkey involved in the confrontation.

The ICG representative added that the cities occupied by Armenians
in Upper Garabagh have been devastated and should be rehabilitated.

SARGSYAN AND PRYAKHIN DISCUSSED PROPELLANT LIQUIDATION PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.03.2006 01:18 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Secretary of the Security Council at the RA
President, Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan met with head of the OSCE
Yerevan Office Vladimir Pryakhin, RA Defense Minister’s Spokesman
Seyran Shahsuvaryan told PanARMENIAN.Net. During the meeting Vladimir
Pryakhin briefed on the process of the first and second stages of
the propellant liquidation and informed of the works to be carried
out during the third stage, when the propellant will be proceeded
in a fertilizer. The interlocutors also referred to the further
cooperation on democratic control of the armed forces and alternative
military service. Vladimir Pryakhin underscored the importance of
participation of the RA MOD specialists in the programs launched by
the OSCE Yerevan Office.

PERFORMING ARTS: LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Washington Post
March 29 2006

Intangible qualities like chemistry and daring made the difference
in the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s impressive Monday evening
performance at the Kennedy Center. The orchestra arrived at the tail
end of a long American tour that saw its chief conductor, Kurt Masur,
drop out early due to illness. A busy month and no fewer than four
guest conductors later, one would have a predicted a solid if somewhat
bedraggled run-through with little of the luminous sweep and detail
in Eastern European music that actually came about.

The concert opener, Benjamin Britten’s “Simple” Symphony, Op. 4,
showed the nice connection between the orchestra and Yan Pascal
Tortelier, an experienced conductor of confident technique and keen
imagination. This lucid, well-appointed reading pointed to such
diverse influences as Bach and Sibelius.

Yet it was the gifted Armenian violinist Sergey Khachatryan who
sparked the bristling energy in Aram Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto
in D Minor. The 20-year-old virtuoso had an idiomatic feel for the
work’s ebb and flow, launching off a brilliant range of flourishes
and accents in a reading that magnified the music’s foreboding
contrasts. Khachatryan gave a beautiful encore of the first movement
from Bach’s Violin Partita No. 1 in B Minor, BWV 1002.

Multihued colors, churning rhythms and passionate melodies similarly
distinguished Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64.

Tortelier balanced warm blending and clean articulation by turns,
bringing out the music’s glowing swells, tender lines and ultimately
triumphant mood.

The evening was a presentation of the Washington Performing Arts
Society.

THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE SHOULD BE TRANSFERED TO THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FIELD

ArmRadio.am
28.03.2006 15:19

“Turkey will recognize the Armenian Genocide only when the Turkish
society realizes the importance of the occurrence,” member of the
All-Armenian National Movement Hovhannes Igityan said.

Head of the Turkish Department of the Oriental Institute of the
National Academy of Sciences Ruben Safrastyan does not share this
opinion. According to the latter, the time has come to transfer
the issue form the political aspect to international legal field,
particularly the Court of Hague, which should recognize that modern
Turkey is the follower of Osman Turkey.

According to him, a new phenomenon is observed in the international
law – a state’s genocide against another state is being condemned.

PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
7 Vazgen Sargsian Street
Yerevan 375010, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 58.08.77, 52.22.38
Fax: (+374 – 10) 54.38.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:

March 27, 2006

IN DEFENSE OF HERITAGE

Since March 4, 2006, Chairman Raffi K. Hovannisian of the Heritage
Party and the staff of its central office have been forcibly denied
the right of entry into their own place of work, which under the
existing contract is theirs until June of this year.

Considering this to be a flagrant infringement, on the part of the
incumbent presidency and its ruling clique, of fundamental civil
liberties and political freedoms, MP and chairman of the National
Democrats’ Alliance Arshak Sadoyan has launched an initiative
whereby he has petitioned all political parties in Armenia as well
as institutions that are interested in the establishment of democracy
in the Republic to raise their voice of protest against this blatant
lawlessless.

The authors of this initiative declare that the letter is open to all
political forces and public and private organizations which choose
to demonstrate their solidarity on this matter.

OPEN LETTER TO ARMENIA’S CITIZENS AND ALL INSTITUTIONS INTERESTED IN
ESTABLISHMENT OF DEMOCRACY IN THE REPUBLIC

On March 4, 2006, a criminal break-in took place at the premises which
Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs Raffi K. Hovannisian has
been leasing for more than 12 years. Without advance notice on legal
warrant, the lock of the Heritage Party headquarters’ main outer door
was smashed and replaced with another.

As a result, the chairman of the Heritage Party and the staff of its
central office have been forcibly denied the right of entry into their
own place of work, which under the existing contract is theirs until
June of this year.

The absolute closure of access to Heritage’s official seal, documents,
computers, and means of telecommunication has brought the party’s
activities to a standstill, paralyzing the regular contact between
its headquarters and regional offices.

Raffi Hovannisian and the executive board of the Heritage Party have
issued formal and telephonic petitions to Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian, Attorney General Aghvan Hovsepian, and Police Chief Haik
Harutiunian regarding this unlawful act. No response, explanation,
or comment has been received to date from the law enforcement bodies.

In fact, the constitutional order has once again been violated in
Armenia. A leading opposition party that has stood out of late with its
civic and public initiatives has effectively and illegally been shut
down. We consider this to be a flagrant infringement, on the part of
the incumbent presidency and its ruling clique, of fundamental civil
liberties and political freedoms.

We demand that the Armenian authorities reopen the Heritage Party
headquarters immediately and implement measures guaranteeing its
normal, unfettered, and secure operations.

Forum of Intellectuals of Armenia National Democrats’ Alliance Republic
Party National Rebirth Party National Democratic Union New Times Party
Social Democrat Hnchak Party Social Democratic Party of Armenia Social
Ecological Party of Armenia Democratic Motherland Party Motherland
and Pride Union National Unity Mission Party Armenian Arian Union
Armenian Center for Cultural Assistance and Strategy “Human Rights 96”
NGO “The Officer’s Pride” NGO Anti-globalists’ Union “People are the
Country’s Owners” Union