Author: Emil Lazarian

RUSSIAN TRANSPORT MINISTER VISITS CENTRE OF EUROPEAN AIR INDUSTRY
by Dmitry Gorokhov
ITAR-TASS News Agency
July 5, 2006 Wednesday
Russian Transportation Minister Igor Levitin began his working trip to
France by visiting Toulouse, which is the key centre of West European
aerospace industry.
Levitin arrived in France on an invitation of his French counterpart
Dominique Perben.
In Toulouse, the Russian minister met with Airbus Company executives.
The company built more than 4,300 jets for its clients during 35
years of its activity.
At present, Airbus occupies the leading positions on the market of
commercial aviation.
Levitin plans to return to Paris late Wednesday night.
On Thursday, Levitin expects to hold talks at the French Ministry of
Transport, Infrastructure, Tourism and Marine Affairs.
The minister also plans to meet with head of the Paris airport and
open a seminar of the Russian-French Dialogue Association.
The French experience in controlling traffic speed on highways
will be among the key topics during the Paris talks, Transportation
Minister’s press secretary Svetlana Kryshtanovskaya told Itar-Tass on
Wednesday. The French experience in this sphere is of great interest
for Russia.
The visit will end on Friday, July 7.
On Friday, Levitin will give Russian awards to French participants
in a rescue operation in the beach city of Sochi on the Black Sea,
where an A-320 jet of Armenian Airlines crashed this May.
The awarding ceremony will be held in the residence of Russian
Ambassador to France.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WILL AGHVAN HOVSEPYAN LEAVE FOR HARSNAKAR
Lragir.am
06 July 06
The Armenian public noticed immediately that the “fusion” of the
minister of defense and the Republican Party was sumptuous. The
allies yielded to the temptation of celebrating their initiative as
a national holiday. One of the Armenian newspapers, appearing highly
oppositionist, gladly provided its first page as a bulletin board
for Serge Sargsyan.
The first instruction to Attorney General Aghvan Hovsepyan went up
on the board: fall in with the Republicans! Moreover, his photo was
pinned to the bulletin board for the Attorney General to be sure that
the instruction was addressed to him.
In fact, the Attorney General did not hurry. It is not that easy to
play politics in the place where he was to go. Now it is time to make
a choice: Office of Public Prosecutor or politics. The allies cannot
wait. There is no time. They are going to decide the “fate of the
nation” at the Harsnakar Hotel. And they long for Aghvan Hovsepyan,
for fate cannot go without the Office of Public Prosecutor. It is
interesting whether Aghvan Hovsepyan will go to the Harsnakar. This
is not the case to ask Robert Kocharyan for permission. He has to
decide himself.

GIVE BACK OUR VICTORY!
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir.am
06 July 06
Over the past years the ruling elite of Armenia have displayed an
amazing ability to downplay and even discredit victories. Even the
victory in Karabakh has been downplayed to some degree, and it has
been discredited to a certain degree. And if this great victory of
the past several hundred years could not avoid the “skillful hands”
of the Armenian elite, it seems pointless to think about the security
of other victories.
When the men’s chess team of Armenia returned from Turin to Yerevan,
the president of the federation Serge Sargsyan modestly kept to the
second row, and often to the third row, leaving the Armenian chess
players in the first row. It seemed that the defense minister was
trying to refute the forecast that he was going to use the Olympic
victory for his political goals as an instrument of propaganda.
At that moment it really looked like that in reality Serge Sargsyan
is unlikely to use the sport victory as a political instrument.
However, “the first became the last and the last became the first”. On
July 4 the Armenian chess players were received in Stepanakert. Here
the defense minister was already in the first row, the chess players
were simply following him. The contribution of the president of the
federation to the victory is great, of course. The members of our
delegation even pointed out that thanks to him the Armenian chess
players in Turin ate outside the Olympic village not to waste energy
on standing in queues. Thanks to the president of the federation they
stayed in single rooms to prepare for the games and not disturb one
another. Who knows, queues for meals and double rooms might have been
intended to hamper the success of the Armenian team, and the minister
of defense neutralized it.
However, it is already unclear who gets the laurels, the winners of
the game or the payers for winning. Payment is last but not least,
even when it is an intellectual sport. But it is not in the first
row, especially that this is an intellectual sport, therefore it is
a little strange that the payer appears in the first row. Moreover,
if it were in Stepanakert, it would somehow be possible to say that
Serge Sargsyan was the first as a host, after all he knows the place
better and he could take the chess players around. But he started to
advance in the Bellagio, where he received the title of an Honorary
Citizen of the Center. In Stepanakert he was already both the first
and the leader. And there is a lot of time and cities until the
election. It is interesting how far ahead of the chess players Serge
Sargsyan will go, a step or two cities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WRESTLERS OF ARMENIA DEPRIVED OF MEDALS OF EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP
Noyan Tapan
Jul 6 2006
ZINATELLI, JULY 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The Europe Youth Championship of
Free-Style Wrestling finished on July 5 in the city of Zinatelli,
Hungary. All the 5 wrestlers presenting Armenia were deprived of
medals.
On July 6, the floors were given to the young wrestlers of Greco-Roman
style. Tigran Gevorgian (50 kiligrams) and Khosrov Melikian (60
kilograms) from Gyumri, Vahram Khachatrian (55 kilograms), Arman Papian
(60 kiligrams) and Arsen Jyulfakian (74 kilograms) from Yerevan and
Artur Shahinian (84 kilograms) from Etchmiadzin represent Armenia. The
Championship will end on July 9.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJANIS FAIL TO BELIEVE OSCE OBSERVERS
Lragir.am
06 July 06
Azerbaijani public officials and politicians continue manipulating
fires in the security zone controlled by the Nagorno-Karabakh armed
forces. They say they do not believe the OSCE monitoring mission,
which reports after a monitoring of the front line there are no facts
of arson. The Azerbaijanis say they do not believe the OSCE observers,
but they fail to tell whom they believe.
NKR Member of Parliament Rudik Martirosyan, Chair of the Committee
of Defense, says the Azerbaijanis burn stubble and the fire spreads
towards Karabakh. On the Azerbaijani side wheat ripens earlier, and
fire easily spreads on to the fields in Karabakh, where harvest is
collected later.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD: THE RELATIONS BETWEEN IRAN AND ARMENIA ARE FRIENDLY, STABLE AND DEVELOPING
ArmRadio.am
06.07.2006 11:22
“The relations between Iran and Armenia are friendly, stable and
developing,” President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said yesterday after the press conference held after
the ceremony of signing bilateral documents in the framework of RA
President Robert Kocharyan’s working visit to Iran.
In his words, the similarities, contacts, friendship and geographic
position have always linked the two countries.
“Now our relations are developing in diverse directions. We are
decisive and willing to develop bilateral relations,” Ahmadinejad
noted, according to ” Armenpress.”
During the President’s visit reference was made both to bilateral
relations, regional developments and international questions.
“We have reflected on the whole package of our bilateral relations. We
have common views and opinions on a number of international issues,”
the Iranian President said.
He expressed the hope that the documents signed will become an
important step in the direction of further development of ties between
the two countries.
The parties arranged to accomplish the joint projects as soon as
possible.
In the result of the talks yesterday the officials of the two
countries signed seven memorandums of understanding instead of the five
envisaged. These include: “The Memorandum on understanding between the
Governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Armenia
on the assistance provided by Iran for the development of Armenia,”
“2006-2011 cooperation program between RA Ministry of Culture and
Youth Affairs and the Ministry of Cultural Legacy and Tourism of Iran
on protection of cultural heritage,” “Agreement on financing the third
electricity power line,” “Agreement on legal cooperation between Iran
and Armenia,” “Memorandum of understanding between Energy Ministries
of Iran and Armenia.”
In response to the question to what extent these documents will
promote the Iranian investments in Armenia, RA President Robert
Kocharyan noted that the first precondition for investments is the
establishment of a favorable legal field.
“The increasing volume of trade shows that the documents are
functioning and I thing it is the proper time to think about the
accomplishment of more investment programs. We are ready to discuss
diverse programs related to Iranian investments. We are open in this
regard, and this issue was touched upon during today’s talks,” Robert
Kocharyan said.
According to President Kocharyan’s assessment, the mutual disposition
of the two countries is favorable and this is one of the unique cases
when neighboring countries have no disputable questions inherited
from history. Although there have been cultural relations coming
from the depth of centuries, the new history of development is only
15 years old.
“We have not had even a highway, the bridge was built only in 1990s.
Actually, we started our new history and relations from the very
beginning, and if we look back what we have achieved during these five
years, we’ll see that an immense work has been done,” RA President
noted.
In his words, if this pace maintains, than in a few years the field
of economic cooperation will be fully establishment.
Yesterday the delegation headed by RA president had meetings with
the Foreign Minister of Iran Manoucheher Mottaki and Secretary of
the supreme Council of National Security of Iran Ali Larijani.
Today RA president is scheduled to meet representatives of the
Iranian-Armenian community.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE CRISIS OF FUEL AT “ZVARTNOTS” AIRPORT CONTINUES
ArmRadio.am
06.07.2006 15:08
In the recent days some flights from “Zvartnots” airport are either not
executed, or the planes refuel at reserve airports, Press Secretary of
the Chief Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia Gayane Davtyan told
“Noyyan Tapan.”
According to her, the problem with the avian fuel is connected with
its sole importer “Mika Armenia Limited,” which has not imported a
sufficient quantity of fuel. It is hard to say when the issue will
be regulated.
For executing direct Yerevan-Moscow flight, the planes have to land
at Sochi airport for refueling.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VISTING ARMENIAN LEADER SIGNS ACCORDS WITH IRANIAN COUNTERPART
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
5 Jul 06
[Presenter] Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has left for Tehran
on a working visit. The Iranian president met the Armenian president
at the airport.
President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad said with confidence that Robert
Kocharyan’s visit will give a boost to the development of bilateral
relations.
Robert Kocharyan noted noticeable progress that has been made in
bilateral cooperation since his last visit.
[Correspondent from Tehran] The results of Armenian-Iranian talks
were confirmed in seven agreements signed a while ago.
[Passage omitted: recaps other documents signed during 15 years].
Officials of the two countries, in the presence of Robert Kocharyan
and Ahmadinezhad, signed a memorandum of understanding under which
the Iranian side will support Armenia’s development; a programme of
cultural cooperation between the two countries in 2006-11; and an
agreement on legal cooperation and extradition.
Three agreements were signed in the energy sphere. In particular,
Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan and the head of the
Iranian Export Development Bank signed an agreement on financing
the construction of a power transmitter. The Iranian and Armenian
energy ministries signed a memorandum on the construction of the
third high-voltage power line.
At a joint news conference the two presidents stressed that the
agreements were signed on cooperation in various spheres, including
the cultural, the economic and legislative spheres.
Mahmud Ahmadinezhad described Armenian-Iranian relations as friendly,
stable and developing and expressed the hope that the signing of the
agreements today will further promote the development of bilateral
relations.
[Passage omitted: the Armenian president hails trade relations between
Armenia and Iran].
Robert Kocharyan urged Iran to invest in Armenia, and expressed the
hope that major programs implemented in the construction sphere will
contribute to this. They said that the two neighboring countries will
be able to achieve all this because of their warm relations.
The Armenian president talked about the times when the two countries
not even had a road connecting them. He recalled that a bridge was
constructed at the beginning of 1990s and today, 15 years later,
they made some noticeable progress.
The presidents also touched on international issues. Mahmud
Ahmadinezhad noted that they shared views on various issues and said
that bilateral programmes will be implemented as soon as possible.

WHICH PARTY WILL RA MINISTER DAVID HARUTYUNYAN JOIN?
ArmRadio.am
06.07.2006 16:08
During the talk with journalists at the National Assembly today RA
Minister of Justice David Harutyunyan did not rule out that he may
join some party.
“One thing is for sure: I will stay in politics, which is not
restricted to being represented in the National Assembly or becoming
President,” he said, not willing to publicize which party he will
join. The Minister had declared earlier that he has no intention
to join any party. However, following the developments, has decided
“which kind of future is more attractive to him.”
“I have ideas on different questions and I cannot resolutely assert
that my interests are restricted to the sphere of justice,” David
Harutyunyan noted.
In his opinion, there should be no independent MPs and Ministers,
not representing the policy of some Party.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE QUESTION OF DECLARING GENERAL PARDON DISCUSSED AT NA EXTRAORDINARY SESSION
ArmRadio.am
06.07.2006 16:27
An extraordinary session started today at the National Assembly. Among
other issues is RA President’s suggestion on adopting a bill on
“Declaring amnesty.” To remind, the last general pardon was declared
in 2001, on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of adopting
Christianity. The project to be presented to NA discussion envisages
declaration of amnesty on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of
declaration of independence of the Republic of Armenia.
RA Minister of Justice David Harutyunyan told the journalists that
in case of adoption of the draft, 300 prisoners will be released,
detention periods of a number of periods will be reduced.
According to the President, the general pardon will not apply the
prisoners, who committed particularly heavy crimes.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress