Author: Emil Lazarian

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM IN ARMENIA IRREVERSIBLE

Noyan Tapan
May 30 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 30, NOYAN TAPAN. Over the last seven years, sustainable
growth has been registered in the Armenian tourism sector: in 2000,
only 40 thousand tourists visited Armenia, in 2005 their number
reached 318 thousand, and 370 thousand are forecast to visit Armenia
this year. Deputy Minister of Trade and Economic Development Ara
Petrosian stated this on May 25. In his words, the further development
of tourism in Armenia is irreversible, which in its turn will promote
development of the whole economy. The deputy minister said that each
tourist who stays 4-5 days on average in Armenia spends 800-1,000 USD,
including the price of a plane ticket. In 2006 alone, five 400-room
hotels were built in Armenia, there are currently about 50 hotels
in line with international standards and a great number of tourist
facilities with a total of 4,000 rooms. He underlined that 5-6 years
ago tourist services were much more expensive in Armenia than now,
which is the result of an increase in delivery of tourist services
under conditions of introduction of market mechanisms.

According to him, those visiting Armenia by plane will find themselves
in more comfortable surroundings when a new arrival hall of Zvartnots
Airport is put into operation in late 2006. A. Petrosian considered
decentralization of service delivery from Yerevan to Armenian marzes
as a priority for tourism development in the next 6-7 years.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANCIENT CROSSES SMASHED WITH SLEDGEHAMMERS

Independent
New Zealand Herald, New Zealand
May 31 2006

BRUSSELS – Fears that Azerbaijan has systematically destroyed hundreds
of 500-year-old Christian artefacts have exploded into a diplomatic
row, after European Union MPs were barred from inspecting an ancient
Armenian burial site.

The predominantly Muslim country’s Government has been accused by the
International Council on Monuments and Sites of vandalism similar to
the Taleban’s demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan.

The claims centre on the fate of rare “khachkars”, stone crosses
carved with intricate floral designs, at the burial ground of Djulfa
in the Nakhichevan region of Azerbaijan, an enclave separated from
the rest of the country by Armenia.

The works – some of the most important examples of Armenian heritage
– are said to have been smashed with sledgehammers last December as
the site was concreted over.

The Azerbaijan Government, which denies the claims, is now at the
centre of a row with MEPs, some of whom it accused of a “biased and
hysterical approach”. Its ambassador to the EU also says the European
Parliament has ignored damage to Muslim sites in Armenia.

Azerbaijan refused to allow a delegation of MEPs permission to visit
the 1500-year-old Djulfa cemetery during their trip to the region
last month.

Most of original 10,000 khachkars, which date from the 15th and 16th
century, were destroyed by the early 20th century.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHAT DID YOU FOR DARFUR?
By Jennifer Chestnut

Akron Jewish News
May 30 2006

In 15 years when your kids are working on school history projects
and ask what you did for the situation in Darfur, what will you tell
them? This question bubbles in my mind and has since Sunday, April 30.

In our house, as with most families with two working parents and two
small kids, Sunday is dedicated to housework, tag-team early morning
childcare, a little outside time and, if we’re lucky, getting everyone
to nap at the same time. But on April 30 we dedicated it to something
else. We-yes, all four of us, including 4-year old Seth is 4 and
9-month old Martha-loaded in the minivan and headed for Washington,
D.C. to attend the Save Darfur Rally to Stop Genocide.

The rally was moving, powerful, energizing, depressing, embarrassing
and rewarding. By now you may have read the reports about the day’s
speakers. They all made the event powerful and energizing, along with
the 15,000 people in attendance. But it was depressing to realize
the magnitude of what’s really going on in the Darfur region of
Sudan. It was depressing to see the photos of the abysmal situation
and of Sudanese people in attendance that have family there right
now. It also shamed me to realize how little I did for the atrocities
and genocides that have happened “on my watch.” What did we do about
Rwanda? Not the US, but us, me, you; did you do anything? I didn’t. I
was a thinking college student able to do something. But I did nothing.

It’s easier for me now. I work at a college and have the student
manpower and the environment to do a little more than normal. But we
owe it to ourselves, to the people of Sudan, to the memories of those
who were killed in previous genocides that we may feel connected to
(the Holocaust, Armenia, Rwanda,etc.) to do something. If nothing
else, just learn more about the situation and talk about it with
friends so they too are more aware.

Maybe we did nothing more than make ourselves feel better by attending
the Save Darfur rally. I hope not. I hope that we were counted among
the tens of thousands, so the Bush administration knows that the world
is watching. I hope that you take three minutes to do something, too.

Chestnut is the director of Hillel at Kent State University.

t.cfm?article_id=1067&cat=6

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri expert slams foreign NGO for mine clearing in Karabakh

Trend news agency
18 May 06

Baku, 18 May: The activity of the HALO Trust is illegal and the
organization is violating international law by clearing mines on
occupied Azerbaijani territories, Nazim Ismayilov, director of the
Azerbaijani National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA), has told
reporters.

In accordance with international practice, munitions found and defused
are not calculated in tonnes or kilograms. “Every landmine, every
shell poses a hazard and it is inappropriate to talk about tonnes of
them,” Ismayilov said, adding that the HALO Trust’s information was
off the mark.

“It is not possible to control the organization’s work. They are
working in Nagornyy Karabakh, Abkhazia and also in some African
countries which are inaccessible for international monitoring. It is
not known what the organization is actually doing,” he stressed. He
went on to say that the organization was deliberately choosing areas
which are difficult to control.

He said that the UK and the Netherlands were supporting the HALO
Trust’s activity. “Both states are funding the HALO Trust. To its
protest, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry was told that the
organization was allegedly carrying out humanitarian activity and its
work was legitimate,” he said.

He added that Azerbaijan was seriously displeased with the
organization’s work.

Session of the CoE Congress of Local and Regional Authorities to start
in Strasburg

ArmRadio.am
30.05.2006 10:30

The state of local and regional democracy in Turkey and South
Caucasian countries will be discussed today at the session of the
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe to
start today in Strasburg.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Second Azeri Embassy opened in Paris

ArmRadio.am
30.05.2006 12:52

Azeri President Ilham Aliev opened the second Embassy of his country
in Paris.

President Aliev had a meeting with the businessmen of the Union of
Entrepreneurs of France, ITAR-TASS informs.

This evening the President of France Jacques Chirak will receive Ilham
Aliev at the Elisée Palace.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Armenian delegation will not participate in the sitting of the CIS
Council of Defense Ministers

ArmRadio.am
30.05.2006 12:26

RA Ministry of Defense issued a statement today, which says that in
case of lack of security guarantees the Armenian delegation will not
leave for Baku to participate in th esitting of the CIS Council of
Defense Ministers.

`Considering that the Secretariat of the CIS Council of Ministers did
not manage to get guarantees for the security of the members of the
Armenian delegation, the decision was taken not to participate in the
sitting to be held May 31 in Baku.

This fact evidences once again that Azerbaijan is not able to
accomplish its duties ` to guarantee the security of the participants
of an international event on its territory. In its turn, the
Secretariat of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers is obliged to
provide for conditions for participation for all CIS countries. We
anticipate the official position of the CIS Council of Minister in
this regard,’ the statement says.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian men’s team leading in the World Chess Championship

ArmRadio.am
30.05.2006 13:05

In the 8th round of the World Chess Olympic Games the Armenian men’s team
scored 3:1 against the team of Cuba, thus gaining 24 points. Russian and
Ukrainian teams have 22 points each.

Vladimir Hakobyan and Gabriel Sargsyan won Dominges and Kuezada
correspondingly; Bryuzon-Aronyan and Delgado-Asryan games ended a draw.

Our women’s team scored 2:1 against the team of India. With 15.5 pints they
share the 9th-11th places with Slovakia and Slovenia. The Russian women’s
team is leading with 19 points.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PASSION WEEK IN BAKU

Yerevan. May 29. ArmInfo. The former co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group,
Ambassador Vladimir Kazimirov has provided ArmInfo news agency with
his response to the actions of the Azeri side following his recent
statement in Yerevan.

It’s worth mentioning that Kazimirov’s statements concerned the
principles of territorial integrity and the right of the peoples for
self-determination, as well as the militant statements made by
official Baku. In connection with this, the Foreign Ministry of
Azerbaijan called the temporary charge d’ affaires of RF in Azerbaijan
and Deputy Foreign Minister expressed oral complaint to him. Besides,
Novrouz Mamedov, head of Foriegn Affairs Department at AR President’s
Staff, gave a press conference and stated that V. Kazimirov “lost the
ability to think logically.” He also condemned the diplomat for “close
relations with the Armenians” and “getting financial assistance from
them.” Mamedov said that Kazimirov’s statements may make harm to the
Nagorno Karabakh settlement process.

In his response to the Azeri side, the former co-chair of the OSCE MG
says: On May 20, the high ranked Azeri officials spared no efforts to
make good advertisement to Mr. Kazimorov, resigned ambassador, former
head of the Russian mediators’ group for Karabakh, the one who helped
all the sides in conflict cease the bloodshed 12 years
ago. Mr. Kazimirov wonders whether the Azeri officials are going to
response all the statements of retired diplomats. While none of the
Moscow officials responses the anti-Russian statements of a retired
official like Vafa Gouladze or Asim Molladze. At the same time, it’s
very hard to treat the response of Mamedov seriously, Mr. Kazimirov
said.

According to Mr. Kazimirov, Mamedov got irritated by the interview of
the former “peacekeeper,” where “he sometimes falsifies international
documents.” Mr. Mamedov began spreading the rumors he read, not
realizing that the journalists are capable of writing such things that
a beginner diplomat may never compose. Certainly, Mamedov didn’t find
out who was the author of the statements, the retired diplomat or the
journalist who interviewed him. Meanwhile, on May 18, Mr. Kazimirov
demanded from the agency to remove from the site the unknown text that
Mr. Kazimirov failed to correct. Mamedov didn’t even realize that he
should have criticized quite another text at the same sight already
edited by Mr. Kazimirov.

According to Mr. Kazimirov, Mamedov can think only about money and
market relations. And as Mamedov can think only about money, he lost
respect to even the old people. As a result, he expressed opinion that
the Armenians pay Kazimirov for persecuting Azerbaijan. At the same
time, Mamedov didn’t ground his statements with any sensible and
logical proofs.

Mamedov also touched upon another very serious point. It turned out
that Mamedov was “the invisible witness” of the conversation between
Heidar Aliev and Vladimir Kazimirov on May 20, 1993, as he stated that
he saw and heard everything. In fact, Mamedov wasn’t present at that
meeting.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AIRBUS EXPERTS NOT TO TAKE PART IN THE DECODING OF BLACKBOX RECORDERS
OF THE ARMAVIA A-320

Yerevan, May 29. ArmInfo. Airbus company denies the information by
certain Russian mass media that Airbus experts are taking part in the
examination and decoding of the blackbox recorders of the ArmAvia
A-320 liner. The representation of Airbus reported ArmInfo that
experts of that company did not take part either in examination or
decoding of the boxes’ content. It was said that the French experts
are not representing the Airbus company, as the latter has no
corresponding authority.

At present the blackboxes are in Paris. They are to be opened and the
extracted microchips are to be taken back to Moscow in order to decode
the information in them. The examination is jointly realized by
Armenian, Russian and French experts. As for 6:30 PM no news was
received from Paris.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress