Author: Chalian Meline

Opposition paper wary of Russia’s plans for Armenian power plant
Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
23 Jun 05

Text of Hayk Gevorkyan’s report by Armenian newspaper Haykakan
Zhamanak on 23 June headlined “The Russian full stop”
A regular session of the Armenian-Russian commission for economic
cooperation in Moscow has passed unnoticed as there was almost no
interest in the work of the commission.
The point is that the property-for-debt deal was the main result of
this commission’s activity. But almost no change has taken place in
the Armenian enterprises given to Russia under the deal. After the
deal was signed the commission turned into a meaningless
structure. But one could notice a scandal arising as a result of the
recent session of the commission.
Russian Transport Minister [and Russian Co-chairman of the commission]
Igor Levitin made a remarkable statement at a press conference after
the session yesterday [21 June]: “The fifth unit of the Razdan power
plant is a topical issue today, and I think that during the next
session, which will take place in Armenia, an end will be put to this
problem.” The next session of the commission will take place in the
autumn. Why is this statement remarkable?
The Razdan power plant was handed over to Russia under the
property-for-debt deal. But no decision was made regarding its
unfinished fifth unit. They only made an arrangement to give
preference to Russia when privatizing the fifth unit. For a long time
Russians paid no attention to the unit. But last year Russians said
they wanted to buy the fifth unit. The terms of the purchase were as
follows: Russia would issue an about 150m-dollar loan to finish its
construction and then it would become Russian property.
Quite unexpectedly Iran also showed interest in the same unit. Iran
made an offer that we could not turn down. Tehran suggested that it
invest money to put into operation the fifth unit and that later
Armenia repay its debt by exporting to Iran part of the electricity
produced by the Razdan plant. What was more important was that the
fifth unit was to remain Armenian property.
Incidentally, in accordance with the option suggested by the Iranian
side, twice as less investment is required and it will be easier to
repay it. Over the recent months Iran has made more positive changes
to its suggestion. Iran will fund the construction of a section of the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline to the Razdan power plant. It will also
build a power line to export electricity to Iran, an additional gas
turbine will be installed in the generator of the unit and as a
result, the fifth unit’s capacity will exceed that of the Armenian
Nuclear Power Plant.
The [Armenian] Energy Ministry believes that apart from economic
reasons, these favourable proposals from the Iranian side also have
political ones. Iran aims to reduce Armenia’s dependence on Russian
energy sources and become the main player in the country. Later this
will help Iran’s energy sources enter other countries as well.
Against this background, Levitin suddenly called for “an end to” the
issue of the fifth unit. This statement came as a surprise to the
Armenian Energy Ministry and it does not know how to deal with it. The
point is that recently Armenia and Iran signed a memorandum approving
the abovementioned suggestion. A group of Iranian experts are expected
to arrive in Armenia today. The Energy Ministry hopes that Russia will
make a more favourable suggestion and that Levitin’s statement was
evidence of this.
But we have clarified that the Russian party’s suggestion has not
changed in principle. Everything is still vague in this issue. If we
hand over the fifth unit to Russia, this will mean “putting an end”,
as Levitin said, but not to the issue of the fifth unit but to
Armenia’s future.

AZG Armenian Daily #116, 24/06/2005
Award
GERMAN PEACE AWARD 2005 GOES TO ORHAN PAMUK
Turkish author Orhan Pamuk was awarded German Publishers’ and Booksellers’
Association peace prize, German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung informed on
June 22 adding that the Association has raised this year’s prize from 15.000
to 25.000 euros. The author will get it in Frankfurt am Mein in October at
the international book fair. More than 50 writers, philosophers and
scientists have received the prize since its launch in 1950s. Among the
renowned nominees are Albert Schweitzer in 1951, Hermann Hesse in 1955, Carl
Friedrich von Weizsacker in 1963, Astrid Lindgren in 1978, Yehudi Menuhin in
1979 and Vaclav Havel in 1989. In 1997 Turkish writer Yasar Kemal received
the award. In 2003 Susan Sontag from America received the peace prize and
last year it went to Hungarian writer Peter Esterhazy.
The works of 53-year-old Orhan Pamuk were translated into 34 languages. His
“The Snow” novel was highly praised by the critics. The New York Times
hailed it as the best book put out by foreign publishers in 2004. DPA news
agency reports that Ralf Giordano, German writer, publicist and director of
a film about Armenian Genocide, congratulated the Turkish author emphasizing
that Pamuk is firm in criticizing Turkish lies. Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung in its turn gave its appraisal of Pamuk’s literature noting that it
is in his works in contemporary literature that Muslim Turkey meets Europe.
The paper wrote also about the writer’s views on Armenian Genocide and his
disapproval of Turkish stance. The online version of Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung posts daily extensive information on Armenian Genocide. This
influential German paper published the vast article of Mihran Dabagh on June
20.
By Anahit Hovsepian in Germany

ARMENIA’S PROSECUTOR GENERAL OFFICE WANTS AN AZERI SPECIAL AGENT
YEREVAN, JUNE 22. ARMINFO. Armenia’s Prosecutor general Office is
searching for Azeri special agent, deputy head of the Qazax department
of the Azeri National Security Ministry Faig Shamilov for complicity
in the espionage case of Andrey Maziev.
The hunt for Shamilov was started June 14. June 15 on the basis of
Maziev’s testimony the Centre-Nork Marash court ruled to arrest
Shamilov as well as some Mahmud and Zaur Hasan (no sufficient
information).
Maziev is facing the charges of high treason and plotting terrorist
act and political murder. He is accused of spying for the Azeri
special services and providing them with political and military
information. Particularly as an employee of Zvartnots Airport Maziev
provided the Azeri special services with the pictures of the plane of
the Armenian president and information on the movement of his
motorcade in the territory of the airport. Maziev was arrested Feb 3
2005.

Pan Armenian News
INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS CONTENT WITH ELECTION IN NKR
21.06.2005 08:36
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ « The authorities of Nagorno Karabakh have done their best
to hold honest and fair parliamentary election meeting democratic norms,»
says a document signed by international observers in Stepanakert, reported
Mediamax. The observers have recorded no significant shortcomings either in
the course of registration of voters and organized election or the counting
of votes and sending the vote protocols to the Electoral Commission. The
document says that for the first time transparent ballot boxes were used in
NK. Over 130 international observers from Russia, UK, US, CIS, France,
Italy, the Netherlands and other countries followed the election.

Pan Armenian News
NO SPECIFIC DATA ON KOCHARIAN-ALIYEV MEETING IN KAZAN YET
21.06.2005 02:56
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The recurrent talks between Presidents of Azerbaijan and
Armenia over settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh issue will be held within
the framework of the CIS Summit in Kazan in August, Deputy Foreign Minister
of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov told journalists. He also said one or two meetings
between the FMs of the two countries may bee held before it. Having noted
activation in the negotiation process, the Deputy FM also reported that a
two-day meeting of experts of the two countries was also planned. Meanwhile,
as an Armenian President’s Administration representative told
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, there is no specific information on a meeting of
R. Kocharian and I. Aliyev in Kazan yet. The question whether a meeting of
the leaders of the two states will be held within the CIS Summit will be
cleared out at the turn of July.

The Statesman, India
June 21 2005
Victoria clings to Charnock legacy
Mathures Paul
in Kolkata
June 20. – The Calcutta High Court might have changed history books,
removing Job Charnock ‘s name as the city’s founder, but Victoria
Memorial is yet to get away from the colonial hangover. In the sound
and light show, held on its premises every evening, it still claims
Charnock to be the founder of Kolkata and retains 24 August 1690 as
the birthday of the city. It maintains that three villages –
Sutanuti, Govindapur and Kolikata – were purchased by Charnock from
Sabarno Roy Chowdhury for Rs 1,300.
`I’m aware of the mistakes but a substantial amount of money and
expertise is required to make the necessary changes. We have spoken
to the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and during the monsoon, when the
show will not be held, necessary changes will be made. Kolkatans will
get to experience a new version of the show in October,’ says Mr
Panda, curator of Victoria Memorial.
A landmark judgment hammered out by the High Court a couple of years
back stated that Kolkata existed much before Charnock. Although the
programme admits that the Armenians arrived before Charnock, it still
considers Britishers to be the founder of Kolkata. The show makes no
mention of the grave of Rezabeebeh, wife of the late Sookias, who
died in 1630, to establish the arrival of the Armenians before the
Englishmen. The initiative to establish that people lived here much
before Charnock’s arrival was taken by former MP Mr Ajit Kumar Panja.
The popularity of the show seems to be decreasing, for much of the
chairs remain vacant on weekdays. Though the show features an
excellent combination of light and sound with the Raj as the
backdrop, it speaks little about post-Independence days and events
like the Emergency period, Naxalite movement and so on. Even events
like the 1857 uprising, formation of Congress and the birth of Indian
Museum have been left out. While celebrities like Rabindranath
Tagore, Netaji, Swami Vivekanada and others find place in the show,
Mother Teresa, V Balsara, Amartya Sen and Saurav Ganguly are still
waiting in the wings. Also missing is the fact that the first
recording of human voice in the country was done here in the city in
1902 on behalf of the Gramophone Company by Fredrick William
Gaisberg.
`Since the show was produced quite sometime back, Amartya Sen and
Sourav Ganguly have not been featured. The October version will
feature important personalities from the city,’ adds Mr Panda.
;theme=&usrsess=1&id=80611

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GENOCIDE SCHOLARS URGES TURKEY
TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
YEREVAN, JUNE 20. ARMINFO. To get its place among democratic states
Turkey should follow the example of Germany and recognize the
Armenian Genocide, Turkish Milliyet reports the International
Association of Genocide Scholars to have urged Turkish PM Recep
Erdogan.
The association severely criticizes the Turkish government for saying
that the events of 1915 should be studies by historians. The
association blames Erdogan for not knowing of the hundreds of
worldwide historical studies of the Armenian Genocide. Most of the
historians qualify the events as Genocide. Turkey’s attempts to shift
its responsibility for the events are aimed at revising history so as
to make culprits of the victims.
Among the association members are prominent scientists from different
countries including Turkey.

Physics Web, UK
June 20 2005
Strange turn for protons
20 June 2005
Nuclear physicists have found further evidence that strange quarks
can contribute to the structure of the proton. The latest data from
the G-Zero experiment at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator
Facility (JLAB) in the US lend further support to recent results from
the HAPPEx experiment, also at JLAB, and other experiments in the US
and Germany. The results could shed more light on the strong
interaction that holds quarks together in protons, neutrons and other
particles (Phys. Rev. Lett. to be published).
Quarks come in six different flavours — up, down, strange, charm,
bottom and top. A proton contains two up quarks and one down quark
that are held together by gluons, but occasionally these gluons can
fluctuate into quark-antiquark pairs. Although these virtual quarks
only exist for very short times, they can affect the properties of
the proton, such as its magnetic moment. Since the strange quark is
the next-lightest quark after the up and down quarks, it is the most
likely to have a measurable effect.
One way to observe the influence of strange quarks on the proton is
to compare measurements that probe the weak interaction with those
that probe the electromagnetic force. In the G-Zero experiment, a
high-energy beam of electrons was fired at a hydrogen target. The
beam was polarised so that the spins of the electrons either pointed
in the same direction as the beam or in the opposite direction. The
team then measured the rate at which these electrons scattered off
protons in the target.
The difference for the two beam polarizations was about 10 parts per
million. This asymmetry occurs because the electromagnetic force
conserves “parity” (that is, it does not change when all three
directions in space are reversed), while the weak force does not.
According to the G-zero team — which includes physicists from
Armenia, Canada, France and the US — this difference implies that
strange quarks must be contributing to magnetic moment and charge
distribution of the proton. The results agree with those recently
reported by the HAPPEx experiment, the SAMPLE experiment at the
MIT-Bates Lab in the US and the A4 experiment at Mainz in Germany.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PROGRESS IS EXPECTED IN ARMENIAN-POPULATED REGIONS OF GEORGIA AS
RESULT OF REFORMS OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNANCE BODIES
AKHALKALAK, JUNE 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Elections of local self-governance
bodies will be held in Georgia just in a year. Gergia already
certified (with some reservations) the European Charter of Local
Self-Governance, and elections will be held by the new law which is
not adopted yet. But President Mikheil Saakashvili created a special
commission which must work out draft reforms of local self-governance
bodies which may become a basis fro the new law. The commission created
by the President will pay great attention to decentralization of local
bodies and creation of their budget balances. The issue of separation
of the administrative-regional structure of Georgia, which depends on
making clear relations of Tbilisi with Abkhazia and the South Ossetia,
may remain open in the draft reforms. According to the “A-Info”
agency, it is expected in the south Armenian-populated regions of
Georgia, especially in Javakhk that as a result of reforms of local
self-governance bodies, the regions will have an opportunity to act
independent in issues of decentralization and local character.

MATERIAL EVIDENCE EXAMINATION COMPLETED AT TRIAL OF PERSON CHARGED WITH SPYING FOR AZERBAIJAN
YEREVAN, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The stage of witnesses’ questioning in
connection with the case of high treason in the form of spying for
Azerbaijan was completed at the trail on June 17. 14 out of the 18
witnesses were questioned, as well as the evidence of the 4 witnesses
who had not appeared in court was announced. The things recognized as
material evidence and the documents related to these were examined
by the court. Particularly, the recorded phone calls with a certain
Zurab who was acting as a messenger between the accused Maziev and the
Azerbaijani special services were heard in the court. The calls were
made during the preliminary investigation at the request of Andrei
Maziev so that Maziev’s silence would not arouse any suspicion of the
Azerbaijani special services, also as a proof that Maziev had given
truthful evidence. The documents related to the case will be examined
at the June 22 court sitting. It is expected that the prosecution
will make a statement.