Author: Dabaghian Diana

BAKU’S POLICY HAMPERS EFFORTS OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO RESOLVE KARABAKH CONFLICT

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.07.2007 15:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azeri authorities annually increase expenses on
acquiring arms and mercenaries. They have not stopped anti-Armenian
propaganda in official media for a single minute," NKR President
Arkadi Ghukassian stated in his lecture at the Russian-Armenian
(Slavonic) University. He said, Baku’s such policy hampers efforts
of the international community in the face of the OSCE Minsk Group
on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.

"Unfortunately, during past years the government of Ilham Aliev has
not made a single step to form a positive image of Azerbaijan in the
eyes of NKR people, which might result in establishing atmosphere
of confidence. Currently because of official Baku’s opposition OSCE
cannot bring the negotiation process to conformity with documents of
OSCE Budapest summit, where NKR was fixed as a conflicting party,"
the President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic said.

Ara Nazaryan appointed RA Defense Minister

armradio.am
29.06.2007 10:28

With RA President Robert Kocharyan’s decree of June 28, Ara Nazaryan
was dismissed from the position of the member of the Civil Service
Council and was appointed Deputy Defense Minister of the Republic of
Armenia, President’s Press Office informs.

AZERBAIJANI AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA VISITS HIS PATERNAL HOME IN KARABAKH TOWN OF SHUSHI

arminfo
2007-06-29 16:15:00

"It is for the first time in 17 years that Azerbaijani delegation
overcomes a certain psychological barrier and crosses a real border
existing between the parties to the Karabakh conflict," Head of the
Delegation of Azerbaijani Intellectuals, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to
Russia Polad Bul Bul oglu said in NKR town of Shushi. The Ambassador
arrived in NKR together with the Armenian Intellectuals headed by
Armenian Ambassador to Russia Armen Smbatyan, ArmInfo’s special
correspondent to Stepanakert reports.

Ambassador Bul Bul oglu said that representatives of both parties
demined the relevant area on the boundary for safety of the
delegations. "This situation is becoming unbearable," the Ambassador
said. He also added that intellectual people in Europe have united
and become world citizens. As a result, no borders have been left in
Europe. He expressed hope that the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples
are "wise enough to break the situation and settle the conflict by
peace methods, through negotiations and compromises to live together,"
the Ambassador said.

For his part, NKR President Arkady Ghoukassyan said: "We have no
guarantees that these meetings will become traditional as there is
no relevant atmosphere and there are too many disagreements." He
stressed the importance of such visits for peaceful settlement of the
conflict. "Our Azerbaijani colleagues who are now in Karabakh share
the given opinion. We will not be able to create an atmosphere of
mutual trust and will be far from the settlement if we fail listening
to each other," the president said.

To recap, on June 28, the Azerbaijani delegation crossed the
preliminary demined section of the contact line of NKR and Azerbaijani
Armed Forces, near Martakert-Terter (Mir Bashir) road. Official
representatives of Karabakh received the Azerbaijani delegation in
the field of NKR Defense Army and accompanied them to Stepanakert. A
delegation of Armenian intellectuals headed by Armenian Ambassador to
Russia Armen Smbatyan also visited the capital of NKR. Both ambassadors
initiated the visit.

LARGE-SCALE CAMPAIGN OF VACCINATION AGAINST MEASLES, RUBELLA TO BE STARTED IN ARMENIA IN OCTOBER

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
June 28 2007

YEREVAN, June 28. /ARKA/. A large-scale campaign of vaccination
against measles and rubella is to be started in Armenia in October,
Chief of State Hygienic and Epidemiologic Inspection of Armenia
Artavazd Vanian said at the government briefing Thursday.

The campaign will be held in line with the National program of struggle
against measles, rubella and mumps, Vanian said.

Children at the age of 1-5 are to be vaccinated. Vanian also attached
importance to involvement of the population in the campaign and said
that the program is to cover 95% of the population.

In parallel with local elimination of these diseases, injection
of double-dose vaccination will be practiced to also prevent the
congenital syndrome of rubella and mumps, the epidemiologist said.

The Armenian Government approved the National program for elimination
of local cases of measles and rubella, anti-mumps measures and
prevention of congenital syndromes of rubella for 2007-2010. The
National Program envisages mass vaccination.

OSKANIAN DIDN’T HOLD INFORMAL TALKS WITH MAMMADYAROV IN ISTANBUL

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.06.2007 14:42 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian did
not hold any talks with his Azeri counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov
in Istanbul, RA MFA acting spokesman Vladimir Karapetian told a
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. "All BSEC FMs were sitting at the same
table during the dinner but Vartan Oskanian was sitting at a distance
from the Azeri Foreign Minister and there was no talk between them,"
Karapetian underscored.

Meanwhile ANS-Press reported that Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian held informal talks with Elmar Mammadyarov during the
dinner. The Azeri new agency quoted Minister Oskanian allegedly saying,
"Yes, I discussed some issues with Mr Mammadyarov.

However, due to the absence of the OSCE MG Co-chairs the talks were
informal. That is why I can’t tell what we were speaking about."

GOVERNMENT SUBMITS ITS AGENDA FOR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CONSIDERATION

ArmRadio.am
26.06.2007 13:36

The first session of the National Assembly suspended on June 7
restarted on June 26. Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan presented the
Government agenda, laying a special emphasis on five priorities:
national security and stable development, efficiency of state
governance, education and science, identical development of regions,
social security of RA citizens.

Serge Sargsyan noted that the agenda is rather ambitious and will
demand utmost efforts on the part of all state bodies. "We are
considerably refreshing our approaches: every new project will be
presented to the public, will be discussed by all interested parties
and what is the most important, will be executed on the principle
of cooperation between the state and private sectors," the Prime
Minister noted.

According to the Prime Minister, analysts evaluate the Government’s
activity mainly based on quantitative indices, but "for me the most
important factor is the confidence of people in the future of our
country."

In compliance with the by-law of the National Assembly, the issue of
approval of the Government agenda will be brought to a vote within
five days after it is presented. The Government agenda is approved
by the simple majority of the votes of the total number of MPs,
i.e. at least 66.

To note, the sitting was attended by Orinats Yerkir and Heritage
opposition factions, who were missing on June 7.

REPATRIATION OF TURKS MESKHETIANS DOESN’T CONCERN JAVAKHETI ARMENIANS

Yerkir
25.06.2007 16:50

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – "It’s wrong to bind the Armenian population of
Javakhk with the repatriation of Turks Meskhetians," Kiro Manoyan,
director of the ARF Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office,
told a news conference in Yerevan.

"Turks Meskhetians should return to their pre-deportation residence.

Their homes are occupied by Georgians now. So, the issue is not
urgent for Javakheti Armenians. The region of Samtskhe Javakhetia
is large. Moreover, repatriates are supposed to settle throughout
Georgia. If Georgia meets commitments to the CoE, Armenians of Javakhk
will have fewer problems," he said.

TIGRAN TOROSIAN: RUSSIAN PRESIDENT’S PROPOSAL ON USE OF GABALA RADAR
STATION IS A BIT STRANGE

YEREVAN, JUNE 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The Russian president Vladimir Putin’s
proposal on joint use of Azerbaijan’s Gabala radar station by Russians
and Americans is "a bit strange". The speaker of the RA National
Assembly Tigran Torosian expressed this opinion at the June 22 press
conference.

However, in his words, a short time after this statement "we can state
that there are not many people today who believe that this cooperation
will finally become reality", and it will remain as an interesting
political step.

Speaking about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, the NA speaker
expressed confidence that Azerbaijan has no desire to solve this
problem. According to T. Torosian, the Azerbaijani side’s statements to
solve the problem in a military way and return the territories under
control of Armenian troops are pseudo-patriotic. In his opinion, the
fact that the Karabakh subject is more frequently addressed in
Azerbaijan is conditioned by the upcoming elections in this country. He
noted that if the Azerbaijani authorities really intend to solve the
Nagorno Karabakh prolem, they should have reduced the hatred for the
Armenian people and anti-Armenian propaganda and prepared their own
people for the problem’s solution. "But they know very well that
Karabakh will never be part of Azerbaijan," Tigran Torosian said.

Ethnic Armenian editor favours federal status for Georgia – agency

Mediamax news agency
21 Jun 07

Yerevan, 21 June: There is a tendency for growth of anti-Armenian moods
in Georgia, the deputy director of the Caucasus Media Institute (CMI),
Sergey Minasyan, and the editor of Akunq newspaper of [Georgia’s region
of] Samtskhe-Javakheti Armenians, Mels Torosyan, stated in Yerevan
today.

Sergey Minasyan stated that the Armenians living in Samtskhe-Javakheti
are not perceived as full members of Georgian society. According to
him, this becomes a reason for Armenians’ reluctance to study the
Georgian language. Armenians make 98 per cent of the population of the
given region. He noted that Armenians, who live in Akhaltsikhe
[regional centre of Samtskhe-Javakheti] and Tbilisi, are to a greater
extent loyal to the solution of the language problem.

Mels Torosyan expressed concern in connection with the fact that the
Georgian media published information on the allegedly separatist moods
of the Armenians residing in Samtskhe-Javakheti. He noted that "after
the withdrawal of the Russian military base from Akhalkalaki, the local
population found itself face to face with the burden of socioeconomic
and political problems".

Mels Torosyan voiced opinion that Georgia should be reformed into a
federal or a confederal state, since the tightly living national
minorities make the considerable part of the country’s population. He
spoke for the provision of the language, cultural and educational
autonomy to Samtskhe-Javakheti until the final settlement of the issue
of Georgia’s state structure.

"SHUSHI – A CRADLE OF ARMENIAN CIVILIZATION" CONFERENCE OPENED IN SHUSHI

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.06.2007 17:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On June 21, a scientific conference on the subject of
"Shushi – a Cradle of Armenian Civilization", dedicated to the 15th
anniversary of the town’s liberation, was opened in Shushi.

Well-known scientists from Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh are
participating in the conference.

The participants were welcomed by the NKR President Arkady Ghukasian.

"This forum of the representatives of the Armenian science is,
undoubtedly, a significant event as a part of various measures on
Armenian studies and similar undertakings, held in Nagorno Karabakh
Republic during 15 years of its independence", the message says,
in part.

The Republic leader underlined that the event differed by its
historical, cultural, legal and political importance, since it had been
dedicated to Shushi – an ancient administrative, educational, spiritual
and cultural center of Artsakh, and one of the cradles of the Armenian
civilization. He expressed confidence that the issues discussed at
the conference with their thematic and deep coverage will have a
significant role in the historical-scientific confirmation of the
region’s being a part of the national historical Armenian ethnicity.

"Today it is becoming more than actual in the context of speculations
and distortions, which our opponents bring into the process of the
Karabakh conflict settlement", Arkady Ghukasian emphasized, the NKR
MFA press office reported.