Author: Chavushian

AGBU Press Office
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New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, June 16, 2006

AGBU CANADA TO REBUILD VILLAGE IN KARABAKH

Montreal – AGBU Montreal has joined forces with AGBU Toronto and other
Armenian communities in Vancouver, Ottawa and Calgary to build a new
village called Nor Jraberd in the Mardakert region of Nagorno Karabakh
(NKR) for refugees who lost their lands and homes during the war. This
is part of AGBU’s Karabakh Repopulation Project, which plans to adopt
new villages during its Centennial and beyond.

The NKR Government will provide the land for homes and farming
in Nor Jraberd, the necessary infrastructure (roads, electricity
and water), and a five-year exemption from taxes and start-up
payment per settler. AGBU Canada will build the homes and an entire
community, complete with a kindergarten, school, outdoor sports
facilities, medical centre, pharmacy, ambulance, church, museum and
more. Thirty-two families are already waiting to settle into the new
village. The cost of each home is about US$15,000, but more funds
are required to complete a viable village.

"We believe that the most valuable capital of a country is its happy
and satisfied population," says Mego Malkhassian, the Canadian project
manager. "And it is our objective to build this new village for the
people-to give them land, homes, work and possibility to live happily."

Nor Jraberd will be the third village built by AGBU-the first two,
Norashen and Pareshen, both located in the region of Hadrut, were
funded by AGBU France and AGBU London, respectively. Today Norashen is
home to 100 residents, 23 houses, a kindergarten, primary school and
medical centre; and the construction of homes is underway in Pareshen,
which was established at the end of last year.

"Now it is our turn to show our colours," adds Malkhassian. "This
is a major challenge that we are undertaking, and we are convinced
that with the support of our Canadian-Armenians, we will achieve
it successfully."

Historical background

During the war, about 150 villages and towns in NKR were
destroyed. More than 11,000 private homes and 226 multi-story
residential buildings – representing 60% of all housing in NKR –
were completely or partially ruined. NKR’s health-care system nearly
collapsed-17 clinics and 70 first-aid stations were abolished. The war
devastated NKR’s educational system, too-200 educational institutions,
121 theatres, museums and cultural centres, and more than 500 other
social or economic facilities were wiped out.

If you would like to contribute to the NKR Repopulation Project or to
learn about our upcoming events, please visit us at

Established in 1906, the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) is
the world’s largest non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in
New York City with an annual budget of $34 million, AGBU ()
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural and humanitarian programs, annually serving
some 400,000 Armenians in 35 countries.

REGIONAL SEMINAR "IMPROVEMENT OF PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE BY PERFECTION OF LEGISLATIVE FIELD" TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan
Jun 15 2006

YEREVAN, JUNE 15, NOYAN TAPAN. On June 16-17, the Armenian National
Commission on Issues of UNECSO in Yerevan will hold a regional seminar
under the title "Improvement of Preservation of Cultural Heritage by
Perfection of the Legislative Field."

As Noyan Tapan was informed from RA Foreign Ministry Press and
Information Department, the seminar will involve representatives of all
interested institutions and services, including representatives of RA
Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs, Agency of Monuments Protection,
Mayor’s Office, International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)
Armenian Committee, a number of organizations engaged in territorial
government and cultural heritage.

The main reporters at the seminar will be David Michelmore, expert
of the World Heritage Center and ICOMOS, Georgian and Iranian ICOMOS
representatives, as well as experts from Russia and the Ukraine.

"CASCADE CREDIT" TO START IMPLEMENTING PROGRAM OF RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECT CREDITING

Yerevan, June 15. ArmInfo. "Cascade Credit" crediting institution
will start implementing a program on crediting of renewable energy
projects starting from July 2006, "Cascade Credit" Executive Director
Garegin Gevorgyan said at a press conference, Thursday.

He said the program costs $15 million, including $7 million allocated
by EBRD, $5 million by WB. The remaining $3 million are invested by
Gafesjian Family, the owner of "Cascade Credit." In addition, World
Environment Protection Program will provide a $3 million grant as a
technical assistance to the program. G. Gevorgyan said the credits
will be provided mainly for construction of small 10 megawatt capacity
HPPs for 8 years and a 2 year grace period. He said the credit will
not exceed one million dollars and 70% of the total expenses. The
annual interest rate is 8-9% on the six-month rate LIBOR+. Given
the urgency of the projects in Armenia, he said "Cascade Credit"
cooperates with authors of 25 of 48 projects submitted recently.

KOCHARIAN-ALIYEV MEETING NOT FIXED YET

AZG Armenian Daily
15/06/2006

The last meeting between Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs in Paris to
schedule the next Kocharian-Aliyev meeting in fact did not yield
any agreement. As was officially reported, the sides will come to
terms over the next Kocharian-Aliyev meeting when there are necessary
conditions for that. Yet, both Armenian and Azeri sides have announced
that they agreed on continuing negotiations over Nagorno Karabakh
regulation.

CALMY-REY EN ARMENIE RELATIONS COMMERCIALES DU RESSORT DES INVESTISSEURS PRIVES ENCADRE

Schweizerische Depeschenagentur AG (SDA)
SDA – Service de base francais
12 juin 2006

Erevan (ats) Micheline Calmy-Rey a signe lundi une convention
pour eviter la double imposition entre la Suisse et l’Armenie. Cet
accord devrait ameliorer les echanges commerciaux et economiques des
entrepreneurs des deux Etats, alors meme que Zurich accueillait un
forum d’investisseurs consacre a l’Armenie.

Les relations commerciales et economiques entre la Suisse et l’Armenie
sont relativement faibles, a reconnu la conseillère federale lundi
au terme de la signature de la convention a Erevan, la capitale
armenienne. Leur potentiel est peu exploite, mais ce texte va permettre
de les developper, selon elle.

D’autres cadres juridiques existent egalement, a savoir un accord
de cooperation dans ce domain en vigueur depuis 2000 et un accord de
protection des investissements depuis 2002.

Alors que le Secretariat d’Etat a l’economie (seco) ne considère plus
l’Armenie comme un pays prioritaire et a diminue son aide, la balle
est dans le camp des investisseurs prives et non de la Confederation.

Le forum organise lundi a Zurich montre qu’Erevan fait des efforts,
a indique a l’ATS la cheffe du Departement federal des affaires
etrangères (DFAE). La presence d’une importante diaspora est aussi
un facteur de dynamisme, a-t-elle releve.

L’Armenie reproche au seco de ne pas avoir soutenu le forum de
Zurich. Des remarques ont aussi ete formulees a l’egard du chef du
Departement federal de l’economie Joseph Deiss qui n’a pas souhaite
rencontrer le ministre du commerce armenien dans ce cadre.

–Boundary_(ID_ifsI66ELeyebXpdQZB1Iew)–

Capital FM, Kenya
June 10 2006

Armenians declared ‘persona non grata’
By Bernard Momanyi

The government has finally deported the two controversial Armenians
and two other foreigners following Thursday night’s fracas at the
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport where they roughed up customs
officials.

Artur Margrayan and his brother Sargsyan left the country last night
to Dubai after they were declared persona non grata by the Kenyan
Government.

They were deported alongside two foreigners Arman Damidri and
Alexander Tashchi.

Police Commissioner Major General Hussein Ali said in a statement
faxed to newsrooms last night that the foreigners will not be allowed
to come back to the country either on transit or through any other
means.

Ali says the deportation follows Thursday night’s serious breach of
security at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport involving the
Armenian brothers and their two colleagues.

The deportation follows a series of high-profile meetings held
yesterday by top security officials where it was resolved that their
continued stay in the country was undesirable and posed a major risk.

On Thursday night, the foreigners roughed up customs officials at the
airport and refused to have their luggage inspected, prompting a
night-long raid at their Runda residence and subsequent arrest.

They further claim to have been denied access to their lawyers, and
have not recorded statements with the police.

The Armenian brothers, who made headlines in March, after allegations
that they were mercenaries, say their arrest is a political frame-up,
blaming Langata MP Raila Odinga for the turn of events.

Regnum, Russia
June 9 2006

Viktor Yakubyan: Infamous finish of `Prague Process’ – Karabakh epic
to be continued

The Bucharest `draw’ between Kocharyan and Aliyev and the following
statement by Steven Mann that he will be shortly replaced as OSCE MG
US Co-Chair have put an end to the so-called `Prague Process.’
Obviously, the Euro-American project to accelerate the Karabakh peace
process by diplomatic pressure on the sides has failed. One could
easily predict the outcome of the Bucharest meeting and the very
atmosphere of the talks if one heard the statement Kocharyan made just
one day before going to Romania. `Since the UN was formed no single
nation exercising its self-determination right and attaining de facto
independence has changed its decision and has rejoined the state it
broke away with. I don’t understand why the Karabakh people should be
the first to decide that their independence is not good for them for
some reasons. We have given no cause for such conclusions.’ That’s
what Kocharyan said. It is obvious that besides expressing the
position of the Armenian side on the basic issue of Nagorno Karabakh’s
future, this statement hints at the parade of sovereignties in the
Balkans triggered by the referendum in Montenegro. In fact, it reads:
`Is Karabakh worse than Montenegro or Kosovo?’

Today, it does no longer matter which of the `Prague Process’ points
the sides have failed to agree on. It is clear that Bucharest was an
attempt to squeeze agreement out of them after their failure in
Rambouillet, and this will hardly be continued. It is also clear that
after Bucharest the US will only increase its pressure but how it
will do this is hard to say yet. Much will depend on who will replace
Mann in the OSCE MG. On the other hand, the OSCE may also try to
involve some new co-chair countries in the negotiating format, while
Europe will try to step up its diplomacy by couple-two new
resolutions, like the work of Atkinson.

Summing up the results of the `Prague Process,’ we can say that the
co-chair countries were actually unwilling to unfreeze the conflict.
In all the other things, each of them tried to push its interests or
not to yield its positions. For example, France, who represents the
EU to a certain extent, did its best to ensure `the victory of the
European diplomacy’ by putting on the negotiating table a document
that would lead the problem away from `dangerous’ Balkan precedents.
On the other hand, it sought to ensure the military presence of
European countries in the `new neighbor’ region.

Though empathizing with the hopes of the Europeans, Washington still
pushed forth its own interests thereby putting spokes in France’s
wheel. The whole result of Mann’s work is that he has almost opened
the US’ cards. It turns out that the Americans closely link the
Karabakh conflict with the developments over Iran, which is extremely
dangerous for the South Caucasus. In fact, right after the visit of
Ilham Aliyev to Washington, the international community witnessed
sharply escalating situation in Iran’s mostly-Azeri provinces.

Baku demonstratively ignored this situation and made no single
official statement in this respect. Obviously, Baku was expecting to
get or had already got compensation from the US for its neutrality.
No coincidence that US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and
Eurasia Daniel Fried said right after Bucharest that as a
representative of America he wants Azerbaijan to get back as much
territory as possible and to see Azeri refugees going back to their
homes. Of course, he said nothing about Armenian refugees.

Concerning Russia, Arif Yunusov, Azeri political expert who proved to
be surprisingly right when forecasting Mann’s resignation, says that
its co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov `sabotages the talks.’ We dare say he
`sabotages’ the talks not alone but, at least, together with one of
the presidents.

Thus, all i’s are dotted. It was obvious from the very beginning that
the US, France and Russia simply can’t be unanimous on such an issue.
If in general they tried not to destabilize the situation, in details
– particularly, on the issue of possible peacekeeping operation –
there is no unanimity and cannot be, in principle. No coincidence
that the Russian Defense Minister keeps reiterating his commitment to
send Russian peacekeepers to the conflict zone, thereby leaving no
chances for anybody to ignore the Russian interest.

Following the same logic, the Bush administration, whose electoral
priority was foreign policy and who is already running short of time,
will shortly start consistently changing the negotiating format, will
try to draw Azerbaijan even deeper into the anti-Iranian campaign and
will, simultaneously, increase its diplomatic and political pressure
on Armenia. We can also expect a new wave of Azeri activity in the
UN, something Armenia once overcome by allowing an OSCE fact-finding
mission to visit occupied territories.

As regards Russia, the importance of its functions in the Karabakh
peace process depends of its general positions in the region.
Obviously, Moscow will try to prevent escalation or transformation of
the conflict until it resolves all of its urgent problems with
Georgia and strengthens its positions in the region. At the same
time, Russia will continue regarding all these three ethnic conflicts
in the South Caucasus – Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia – as a
direct challenge to its security and, consequently, as a field for
its peacekeeping activities as well as in the context of global
tendencies – particularly, the re-division of the Balkans according
to American scenario.

AZERBAIJANI SPEAKER CONGRATULATES HIS ARMENIAN COLLEAGUE

Yerevan, June 8. ArmInfo. Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Oktay
Asadov sent a congratulation message to his Armenian counterpart
Tigran Torosyan on the election and wished him success. In his
message, Oktay Asadov invited all the delegates of the 27th Plenary
Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of Black Sea
Economic Cooperation (PA OBSEC) to Baku, which “has been known with
its internationalism and tolerance .” Asaf Hajiyev, Head of the
Azerbaijani delegation to PA OBSEC, read out the message in the
Armenian National Assembly. PA OBSEC CIO, Speaker of the Armenian
Parliament, Tigran Torosyan, expressed confidence that “everything
will last good in Baku.”

However, Asaf Hajiyev told journalists he is not sure that the
Armenian delegation will take part in the September Session of PA
OBSEC in Baku. Asked for the motives of his uncertainty, he said: “How
can I know, maybe, war starts before it.”

PA OBSEC Vice Chairman for Economic, Trade, Technological and
Ecological Affairs, David Saganelidzeh thanked Armenia for warm
reception. However, he said that two issues have remained unsettled:
who makes barbecue better and whose brandy is the best.

COMMISSION FINISHES DECIPHERING BLACK BOX FROM BLACK SEA PLANE

RIA Novosti, Russia
June 8 2006

MOSCOW, June 8 (RIA Novosti) – An intergovernmental commission has
finished work to decipher the cockpit voice recorder from an Armenian
A-320 passenger jet that crashed in the Black Sea May 3, Russia’s
Transportation Ministry said.

The ministry said in a press release that the recorder had captured 33
minutes of exchanges between the pilot of the plane and air traffic
controllers at Russia’s southern Adler airport, which services the
popular resort of Sochi.

“It was established that most of the conversation between crewmembers
took place in the Armenian language. Armenian embassy representatives
helped translate the talks into Russian and verified the translation,”
the ministry said.

The statement also said the transcript would not be published in
line with the standards and practices of the International Civil
Aviation Organization.

The Transportation Ministry also said the commission was continuing
work on deciphering the flight data recorder.

All 113 people on board the plane, including 8 crewmembers, died in
the tragedy.

KARABAKH AN INDEPENDENT STATE ON THE AIR OF IRAN TV1

AZG Armenian Daily
09/06/2006

Baku has voiced dissatisfaction for representing Nagorno Karabakh as an
independent state on the air of the Iranian State Television. Referring
to Ali Nijat, head of the press service of World Azerbaijanis’
Congress, Day.az reports that in the coverage of Kocharian-Aliyev
meeting by the Iranian TV it was said that Nagorno Karabakh declared
independence 15 years ago and today Azerbaijan lays territorial claims
to this republic. Azerbaijan views such statements by the Iranian TV
as a threat.