Author: Emil Lazarian

THE FUTURE OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE ISSUE IS THE NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN NKR AND AZERBAIJAN
A1+
[07:13 pm] 21 June, 2006
Today President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Arkadi Ghoukasyan sent
a message to the members of the international scientific conference
titled “Nagorno Karabakh Republic: past, present and future” which
opened today in the capital of the country, Stepanakert.
The message says, “Today Azerbaijan spares no effort to turn back the
hands of time and deprive our nation of the freedom and independence
won by heavy losses.
This is an unpromising way. I am sure that the futures lies in the
negotiations between NKR and Azerbaijan in order to look for mutually
convenient ways of settling the conflict and to start cooperation
between the two countries.”
The President of NKR also added that although the NKR is not recognized
by the international community, Azerbaijan lacks behind Karabakh in
holding the country up to democratic standards. Besides, according to
Arkadi Ghoukasyan, the past 15 years proved that the people of Nagorno
Karabakh have the right to have an independent republic of their own.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A VISIT TO ENJOY THEIR WORK
A1+
[05:30 pm] 21 June, 2006
RA Minister of Agriculture David Loqyan, and NA deputies Hranoush
Hakobyan and Hakob Hakobyan visited the marz of Gegharqounik yesterday.
The Minister of Agriculture got acquainted with the course of the
reconstruction of the road Gavar- Gegharqounik. He also visited
Verin Getashen the population of which has disagreements with those
of Nerqin Getashen about the exploitation of the water pipeline.
Regional Governor of Gegharqounik Arsen Grigoryan mentioned that two
major problems of the region have been solved. “The RA Government has
allotted 63 million AMD in order to realize the cleaning of Gavaraget
in Noratus”, he mentioned.
David Loqyan too mentioned that there are still many problems in the
region, but the majority is in the solution phase.
TV Company “Qyavar”, Gavar
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

COUNCIL SUMS UP RESULTS OF TENDER FOR CONSTRUCTION OF NEW HIGHWAY IN YEREVAN
Armenpress
Jun 21 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS: The press office of the Armenian
president said the council set up to manage and coordinate a set of
development projects funded by the US-based Lincy Foundation, met
today to sum up the results of a tender announced for construction
of a new highway in downtown Yerevan that would join three streets
of Heratzi, Saralanj and Avetisian.
It said the meeting was chaired by Armen Gevorkian, chief of president
Kocharian’s staff and also chairman of the council. The press office
said based on the recommendations of the tender commission the council
recognized three construction firms winners of the tender. It said
these companies will build the new road on three sections.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHERE IS ARKADY GHUKASYAN?
Melik Mejlumyan
Lragir.am
22 June 06
On these days the media of Nagorno Karabakh is focused on the NKR
presidential election in 2007. In particular, there is a lot of
consideration about the Constitution of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
and the hustle and bustle thereof among the ruling elite. The point
is the anxiety among the public that President Ghukasyan is likely
to use the factor of the Constitution to establish a legal basis to
run a third term.
Ghukasyan and his aides refuse to give an explanation that would
relieve the anxiety of the public. During his short visits to his
office, the president simply gives some new instructions concerning the
Constitution and quickly leaves in some direction. Moreover, a process
is underway among the ruling elite, which is difficult to explain,
which interests the public more. Namely, different senior and junior
officials convey information to the media, which damages one another’s
reputation. A real fight started between the NKR government and Armenia
Foundation. The escalating conflict between the two pro-governmental
factions of the parliament is becoming known to the public. People
who are fond of the topic of the president’s successors are emerging.
However, the public is more anxious about President Ghukasyan. The
Karabakh society is considering more and more often the fact that
Arkady Ghukasyan was not in the country all through 2006, and almost no
information was given where he was. The people of Karabakh are already
“used” to the long absence of the president, which was interrupted by
“short visits to the country” on different occasions. The year 2002
(the first year of his reelection) was a record; people learned
about him from his interviews with the foreign media. At that time
the popular joke about the “short visit of the Karabakh leadership
to Karabakh” was born.
But not everyone has got used to it. The lasting absence of Arkady
Ghukasyan is arousing special interest among a certain circle. Along
with kneading the idea of running a third term it is suggested that
Ghukasyan no longer believes in the possibility of a third term and
is busy thinking about his future. Besides, one of the purposes of his
visits to different countries is said to be “settlement of complicated
financial problems with various sponsors who have provided assistance
to the NKR people at different times.”
The Armenian media have published a lot of information about
Ghukasyan’s property. Now, however, when the danger of publishing
information about the “black” activities of the leaders of the ruling
elite emanates from the government, he cannot remain calm.
One way or another, the end of terms of presidency in both NKR and
Armenia is giving rise to big problems. The activities of top officials
has “localized” within the concern about their own future. It appears
that for someone the problem of Nagorno Karabakh has reached the
problem of their own future. This circumstance, in fact, may worry the
society in Karabakh. In a period when the country’s political issue
is under “international pressure,” the absence of the head of state
from the processes underway may lead to dramatic consequences. It is
becoming clear for many that Ghukasyan does not have time for Karabakh.
It would be unfair to state that Ghukasyan’s future is not a
state affair (especially that he is haunted by Samvel Babayan’s
revenge). However, Ghukasyan probably cannot realize that the
question is being solved a little differently. For instance, it
would be expedient if Arkady Ghukasyan quitted office earlier at a
more convenient moment. Everybody remembers how the former president
of Russia Boris Yeltzin gave away power on time, guaranteeing his
future. He could have realized, but only real figures act so. In
Armenia and Karabakh they wait until the danger of total defeat hangs
immediately overhead, then they start complaining of others. They
hope to find a way out by creeping to “different lords.”
People should therefore rely on themselves. Karabakh needs a new and
practical leader. Especially now, when there is no time to look for
Ghukasyan all over the world and return him to his presidential duties.
P.S. June 22 is Arkady Ghukasyan’s birthday, and we congratulate him
with all our hearts.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS WILL MEET IN VIENNA
ArmRadio.am
22.06.2006 10:12
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on the Karabakh conflict settlement will
meet today in Vienna. Mathew Bryza will be officially presented as
new US Co-Chair.

ROSE-ROTH SEMINAR OF NATO PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY TO BE HELD IN SOCHI
ArmRadio.am
22.06.2006 10:37
Issues related to the security in South Caucasus, Russia-NATO
cooperation, as well as the role of civil society in the settlement
of “frozen” conflicts will be discussed today during the “Rose-Roth”
seminar of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to start today in Sochi.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FIGHTING EU ‘ENLARGEMENT FATIGUE’
by Alison Smale and Dan Bilefsky
The International Herald Tribune, France
June 20, 2006 Tuesday
Commissioner urges leaders to speak out
Olli Rehn, the European Union’s expansion commissioner, issued a
strong call Monday to European leaders to sell enlargement to voters
and not make it a scapegoat of larger policy failures such as high
unemployment and globalization.
“Enlargement blues could be called ‘unemployment blues’ or
‘globalization blues’,” Rehn, a Finn, said in an interview at his
office. “The origins are much deeper in our social fabric.”
Rehn, who has been responsible for enlargement for almost two years,
acknowledged that the policy was a tough sell. On vacation last summer
in France and Germany, he said, he heard popular criticism.
“I am not blind or deaf,” he said. “I could see there is a certain
enlargement fatigue.”
But, he argued, Europeans are often “more rational” than their
governments and can be sold on the notion that the absorption of eight
former communist countries and Cyprus and Malta all of which became
members in May 2004 has been a success story, uniting a Continent
previously divided by the Cold War.
“We should not make enlargement a scapegoat for our domestic policy
failures,” he said, adding, “The European Union has been better at
doing enlargement than communicating enlargement.”
For instance, the EU summit meeting last week ended with a statement
trumpeting the success of the May 2004 expansion. “That’s the kind
of thing I want to hear,” Rehn said.
Asked whether European politicians were doing enough of that kind
of talk once they left the summit halls of Brussels, Rehn mentioned
President Jacques Chirac of France as an example of someone who had,
in his view, done that, but declined in the characteristic manner of EU
officials who must please 25 constituencies to single out countries
that were not playing their part. When reminded that Chirac must
leave office within a year, he smiled and acknowledged that Chirac
would not be a candidate in next year’s race for the French presidency.
Enlargement “has been a success story,” Rehn said. “The EU should
have all the reasons to be proud of it.” Asked, therefore, why this
pride was not more palpable, he said it was linked to “bad feelings
and social discontent in many EU states.”
He also noted that the expansion in May 2004 was essentially
“yesterday’s news” when it happened because the EU and the new member
states had been so careful to negotiate economic, social, political
and other reforms in advance of membership.
That pattern, he noted, is continuing in the efforts to include new
members from the Balkans and in the case of Turkey.
The summit meeting was also dominated by talk of the 25-nation bloc
having reached its capacity to absorb new members. Rehn stressed,
however, that this was not so much a sign that Europe should not
expand but proof that it could not function smoothly without altering
institutions and operations to reflect that it was no longer a cozy
bloc of a dozen or 15 overwhelmingly West European states.
Romania and Bulgaria are the two nations due to join next, with a
review process this fall to determine whether or not the EU will
stick to the current date of Jan. 1 next year for their admission.
Turkey, which is not expected to complete membership negotiations
for another 10 to 15 years, poses much bigger questions.
Rehn said Turkey had made significant progress in reducing systematic
torture but that the pace of judicial reform guaranteeing freedom of
expression was “more schizophrenic.”
The prosecution of the Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk last spring for
remarks acknowledging Turkey’s role in the genocide against Armenians
in the early 20th century was “a disappointment in the beginning,”
said Rehn, who met Pamuk on his last visit to Turkey. Eventually,
however, the case was dropped resolved in a way, he said, that should
serve as a benchmark for other cases concerning free speech.
He added that skepticism toward Turkey appeared to be softening in the
most unlikely of places, noting that France and Germany two countries
where politicians and voters are highly critical of Turkey’s projected
EU membership each awarded the maximum, 12 points, to Turkey’s act
in the recent Eurovision song contest.
Both Romania and Bulgaria have made progress in the key area of
judicial reform, Rehn said, but the EU needs to be sure that the
changes are genuine and likely to last.
Romania has made large strides in the past 18 months, he said, and
Bulgaria has started to do the same, but must stay the course.
Bulgarian legislators had to forgo some vacation last summer to put
necessary changes in place, he noted, and this summer it should be
the prosecutors and judges who stay at work to make convincing changes.
“We can’t say yet that it’s on the right track,” he said. When asked
to specify which changes would convince Brussels, he stressed: “We
can’t start a witch hunt and ask for a certain number of people to
be arrested because that would be against European standards. But we
need to be assured that countries, when they join, have functional
judicial systems.”
As for other Balkan countries Albania and former Yugoslav republics
that are now independent Rehn underlined the importance of sticking
to standards set by agreements such as the Dayton accords that
brought peace to Bosnia after the conflict of the 1990s or the likely
international accord now being negotiated on the status of Kosovo,
the Serbian province that has been under UN administration since 1999.
Asked how Balkan leaders could be expected to stick to such criteria
when the EU itself waives its own rules on such matters as national
budget deficits, Rehn said simply, “Of course, applying double
standards is incorrect and counterproductive.” The difference, he
added, is one of degrees.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GHOUKASYAN’S MESSAGE TO PARTICIPANTS OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE TITLED “NAGORNO KARABAKH REPUBLIC: YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW”
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
June 21 2006
Dear friends,
I have apprehended the news on the conduct of the international
conference dedicated to the 15th Anniversary of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic’s declaration with solid satisfaction. It again provides
ample evidence of our state’s existence.
Last fifteen years showed to the world that the Nagorno Karabakh people
are entitled to have the independent state of their own declared
pursuant to the former USSR’s legislation and the international
law’s basic rules. Although the NKR has not been recognized by the
international community yet, however, by the level of conformity to
the European society’s standards our Republic noticeably outstrips
Azerbaijan, which endeavored to dispose of the Nagorno Karabakh’s
Armenian population having enforced a war on us.
However, our nation has not only survived in an unequal sanguinary
armed confrontation, but it managed to mainly cure the war’s wounds,
stage an economic recovery, restore social sphere, inspire new life
to the region’s cultural and spiritual development.
An efficient army equipped with modern weaponry, which is the safest
guarantor of the security and prosperity of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic and our nation, has been formed in the NKR.
At present Azerbaijan exerts efforts to reverse history, deprive our
nation of freedom and independence gained at the cost of irreplaceable
losses. It is an unpromising way. I am convinced: the future is the
talks between the NKR and Azerbaijan on the search for the ways of the
problem’s advantageous solution and the establishment of cooperation
between the two states.
One is eager to believe that our conference will promote deeper
comprehension of the realities of the region, which is difficult to
imagine without the Nagorno Karabakh Republic’s existence.
In this connection it is pleasant that you intend to discuss a wide
spectrum of issues referring both to the Nagorno Karabakh’s history and
culture, its spiritual heritage and to the legal aspects of the NKR’s
functioning, the outlooks of our country’s social-economic development.
I wish successful and fruitful work to the conference.
I wish you all the best, friends!
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN CB APPROVES DESIGN OF COMMEMORATIVE SILVER COIN TO BE MINTED ON OCCASION OF POLAR YEAR
Arka News Agency, Armenia
June 21 2006
YEREVAN, June 21. /ARKA/. The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) has
approved the design of the commemorative silver coin that is to be
minted on the occasion of the International polar Year. The coin is
to be put into circulation under the 2006-2007 emission program.
The CBA also decided to amend the Program of emission of commemorative
coins for 2006-2007.
The International Polar Year is to be held in 2007-2008. It is a
large-scale campaign of coordinating research in the polar regions.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BAKU DECLARATION ADOPTED AT THE SESSION OF OIC OF FMS DECLARES ARMENIA AGGRESSOR
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 21 2006
“There is a large item on the Nagorno Garabagh problem in the Baku
Declaration adopted at the 33rd session of the Islamic Conference of
Foreign Ministers hosted in Azerbaijan,” Deputy Foreign Minister of
Azerbaijan Khalaf Khalafov told journalists (APA).
Mr.Khalafov said in the Declaration the OIC Foreign Ministers strongly
condemned Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan and urged immediate,
complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian occupying forces
from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. In the declaration,
the Ministers also expressed their deep concern over recent massive
fires in the occupied territories and demanded the occupying forces
to take urgent measures to prevent ecological disaster. They also
urge the OIC member states to support Azerbaijan on the issue of full
restoration of its territorial integrity and sovereignty.
The Deputy Foreign Minister assessed the Baku Declaration as
demonstration of solidarity of the OIC 57 member states regarding
the issue.