Author: Emil Lazarian

G8: Soonest Coordination of Principles on Karabakh Essential
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.07.2006 15:46 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ During the summit the G8 leaders referred to the
situation in Nagorno Karabakh, says the statement by G8 Summit
President. The document says in part, “We confirmed that the G8
supports the mediating efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia,
the United States and France) and stressed the necessity of soonest
coordination of the principles of a peaceful settlement in 2006. We
call on Azerbaijan and Armenia to demonstrate political will, achieve
an agreement and prepare their public for peace but not for war.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VARTAN OSKANIAN STATES ARMENIA READY TO ACCEPT PRINCIPLES SUGGESTED BY OSCE MG AND CONTINUE
NEGOTIATIONS WITH AZERBAIJAN
AZG Armenian Daily #133, 18/07/2006
Opinion
The statement by OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen on Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement principles was not completely unexpected for
Armenia, said at the July 14 press conference RA Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian.
Certainly, Armenia was aware of the intention to disclose the Content,
he said. In general, the statement will help to start objective
discussions in the Armenian society, said Mr. Oskanian. He said that he
has neutral attitude to the statement and to the conflict settlement
principles. He added that he has no intention to persuade anyone to
accept them, as Azerbaijan has not accepted them in its turn. “If
the terms were ideal for Armenia, I would be the first person to
start persuading everyone to accept those terms,” he said. Anyway
the document is not a perfect one, but it represents a balanced
combination of mutual compromises, which could become a good ground
for further negotiations between the conflict sides.
In response to the question about the probable meeting of Ilham
Aliev and Robert Kocharian, he said that this issue will discussed
during the visit of Minsk Group Co-Chairman Matthew Bryza. He also
said he cannot give any certain information about the coming visit of
Bryza. Mr. Oskanian also commented on the reports about contradictory
statements by the two OSCE Co-Chairmen and the contradictions
between the positions of Armenia and Karabakh on the abovementioned
statement. He said that the settlement terms are acceptable for
Armenia in general.
Mr. Oskanian said emphasized that Armenia will express its official
position on the matter during Matthew Bryza’s visit to Armenia. Most
of the principles are not convenient for Armenia, as the necessity of
accepting them cannot be so easily explained. Nevertheless Armenia
is ready to accept the principles suggested by the Minsk group and
renew negotiations with Azerbaijan.
By Nana Petrosian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Grange hears from Peace Corps volunteers
Evening Observer, NY
July 17 2006
7/18/2006 – FALCONER – Peace Corps volunteers Jason and Terra Sprague
presented the program at a recent Ross Grange meeting.
The former area residents are serving in Armenia, formerly part of
the Soviet Union. They are involved in the Gavar school for special
children. It is the only one of its kind in the country. They showed
pictures of the washing machine installed with the help of Ross
members’ donations.
The school has nearly 100 special children and will have about
25 more next year. Women were doing the laundry by hand, so were
very appreciative of the gift. The Armenian people are especially
interested in education and pictures and lifestyle were discussed.
The Spragues have spent two years in the Peace Corps and will return
to Armenia for one more year.
Hazel Porter, Ross treasurer, presented a $1,000 check for use in a
special project to Mr. Sprague. She also presented a check for $500
to Mary Jane Griffith and Laurene Rice, representing the Ellington
Farman Free Library. A similar gift has been given to Falconer,
Fluvanna and Sinclairville public libraries.
Members are planning a display booth at the Chautauqua County Fair,
July 24 to 30 in Dunkirk. The committee shared ideas and specific
needs with others.
Officers were recently elected, with installation of new officers
at the Aug. 14 meeting. Marlyn Griffith, community service chairman,
asked volunteer hours be turned in to her by that date. Blood pressures
will be taken before the meeting and those attending should bring
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia ratifies Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
Armenia/Andorra ratify Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
Tuesday, 18 July 2006, 10:12 am
Vienna, 17 July 2006: Armenia has deposited its instrument of
ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)
with the United Nations Secretary-General on 12 July 2006, bringing
the total number of ratifications to 133. The number of ratifying
States in the Eastern Europe geographical region now stands at 20.
Armenia hosts one International Monitoring System (IMS) facility,
an auxiliary seismic station at Garni. The station forms part of
the global network of 337 IMS monitoring facilities which is being
established under the terms of the CTBT to verify compliance with
the terms of the Treaty. The monitoring facilities transmit data via
satellite to the International Data Centre (IDC) in Vienna, where
the data are used to detect, locate and characterize events. These
data and IDC products are made available to the States Signatories
for final analysis.
The CTBT bans any nuclear weapons test explosion or any other nuclear
explosion. Drafted at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and
adopted by the General Assembly on 10 September 1996, the Treaty
was opened for signature on 24 September 1996 at the United Nations
headquarters in New York.
To enter into force, the CTBT must be signed and ratified by the
44 States listed in Annex 2 to the Treaty. These States formally
participated in the work of the 1996 session of the Conference on
Disarmament and possessed nuclear power or research reactors at that
time. To date, 34 of the Annex 2 States have ratified the Treaty.

RA CULTURE MINISTRY AWARDS PARTICIPANTS OF “GOLDEN APRICOT” FILM FESTIVAL WITH MEDALS
AZG Armenian Daily #133, 18/07/2006
On Satruday, RA Culture Minister Hasmik Poghosian awarded several well
known foreign film directors with golden medals for their cooperation
with the third “Golden Apricot” international film festival and with
the Armenian film directors. In particular, Tonino Guerra (Italy),
Godfrey Regio(USA), Krzsystof Zanussi(Poland), and Kin Don Khoh (North
Korea) received the medals. Mrs. Poghosian stated in her speech that
not everyone can be a genuine man of art, but those who can really
create art and present their art to millions of people make great
contribution to the cultures of their countries and nations.
The film directors awarded with medals gave various estimation to the
gold medals they received. Thus, Mr. Guerra stated that that was the
second award he received in Armenia, as the first one he received for
his friendship and cooperation with Sergey Parajanov, great Armenian
film director. He said as a joke that he is twice happy. In his turn,
Mr. Zanussi, who greatly contributed to popularization of Parajanov’s
“The Colour of Pomegranates” in Europe, expressed hope that he will
never become a persona non grata. Mr. Kin don Khon and Mr. Godfrey
Regio stated that they will continue cooperating with Armenia in the
future too.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SERGE SARGSIAN STATES NAGORNO KARABAKH HAD SELF-DETERMINED LONG AGO
AZG Armenian Daily #133,
18/07/2006
Opinion
RA Defence Minister Serge Sargsian excludes holding of double
referendum in NKR in coming future. He said this at a press
conference. He added that the referendum may take place only in
case OSCE MG co-chairs or other mediators suggest that and the
international organizations are ready to acknowledge the results of
the referendum. At the same time he emphasized that the referendum
political self-determination in NKR took place long ago.
As for the latest developments is Lebanon, he said that the situation
shaping around the conflict between Lebanon and Israel is dangerous
for the whole region.
“But we can do almost nothing in this case,” he said.
By Nana Petrosian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEW INSIGHT LIBERATED TERRITORIES
Lragir.am
17 July 06
Even the legal definition of the territories controlled by NKR is
doubted. What is more, not only by foreigners but also ourselves.
Maps are published in Armenia, where the liberated territories are
marked with a different color. On other maps Kashatagh and Karvachar
are marked with the same color as Armenia and Karabakh. This means
that the Armenian reality lacks a common, real attitude towards these
territories. The Armenian refugees presented their point of view on
these territories. They proposed president Aliyev recognizing these
territories as compensation to Armenian refugees. Arman Melikyan,
adviser to the NKR president, says 500 thousand Armenian refugees
comprised 8 percent of the population of Soviet Azerbaijan, and
they can claim to 12 thousand square km from 150 thousand square km
legally belonging to Azerbaijan. “Hence, it is not serious to consider
returning lands,” said Arman Melikyan.
Sanasar Saryan, chair of Karabakh Refugees NGO, told us in an interview
that the approach of the international community towards the problem
of refugees is not equal. The rights, possible return, compensation to
Armenian refugees is not included in any document. And the refugees
living in Karabakh have not received any compensation. So far no
international organization has attended to the problem of Armenian
refugees, said Sanasar Saryan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

G8 CALLS ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN
Lragir.am
17 July 06
G8 called Armenia and Azerbaijan to display political will and reach
agreement on the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. This is stated in
the statement of the chair of G8, ITAR-TASS reports.
It is stated in the document that during the meeting the question of
the status of Nagorno Karabakh was raised. G8 asserted their support to
the mediating efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and emphasized
the necessity to reach an agreement in 2006, runs the statement.
G8 called Armenia and Azerbaijan to display political will and prepare
their publics for peace, not war, runs the statement.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ABSOLUTE REFUSAL OF ALL PARTIES TO KARABAKH CONFLICT TO APPLY FORCE
MUST BE FIRST AND FOREMOST “UNCONDITIONAL CONDITION”
Yerevan, July 17. ArmInfo. Absolute refusal of all the parties to
the Karabakh conflict to apply force and resume war must be the first
and foremost “unconditional condition,” former OSCE MG Vladimir
Kazimirov says in his article “Discouraging From Resolution by
Threats and Blood.”
Kazimirov says that by disclosing the key settlement principles the
OSCE MG co-chairs sought not only to report on their work and to
pressurize the leaders of the conflicting parties but also to start
“making ready for peace” their public opinion. Now they are
discussing pluses and minuses of the peace process but if they
actually want to ensure peace, they better give this a wider
approach.
Kazimirov says that some media have translated the report and the
statements with lots of inaccuracies, which has given rise to false
rumors. As long as more Armenians and Azeris know Russian better than
English, such documents should be made in Russian. They in Vienna
translate into English better than they in the South Caucasus – from
English, says Kazimirov.
One should not use in vain such important terms as “principles” and
“agreements” as here the question is hardly about any “basic
principles” or “framework agreements.” The co-chairs have presented
just general contours but no specific principles. True, they are
trying to apply two real principles: non-application of force and
peaceful resolution of disputes. Here they must be given all-out
support. Still, it is very early yet to speak about “framework
agreement”: even if there were specific principles, it would take
much time to negotiate each of them into a full value juridically
binding agreement.
Kazimirov says that one should not expect Armenia to talk Karabakh
into conceding. How can one hope to oblige Karabakh Armenians to
withdraw their troops from the five districts around Karabakh unless
they also sign to the agreement. Comprehensive agreement requires
consent of all the conflicting parties (like was the case during the
May 12 1994 truce). In this light, it is surprising to see “two
parties” mentioned in the Vienna text. Three parties to the Karabakh
conflict have long been mentioned in the OSCE documents and
recognized by the OSCE MG co-chairs. Who has changed this approach?
One can’t start by withdrawing troops from occupied territories and
then see what comes next. Peace guarantees are mentioned just
casually as secondary measure, while the first and foremost
“unconditional condition” (sine qua non) must be the guarantee of
non-application of force and non-resumption of war.
Kazimirov advises his colleagues to actively engraft commitment to
peace and non-application of force in the conflicting parties.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have repeatedly committed themselves not to
use mutual threats but they keep breaking their commitments.
Kazimirov says that the mediators should give not only the rest of
2006 but also the next two years to come as close as possible to real
peace agreement and should abstain for the time being from raising
this issue at G8 or even UN SC.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MINISTER OSKANIAN TO VISIT BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA ON JULY 18
YEREVAN, JULY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. On June 17, Minister Oskanian will
depart for Sarajevo, where he will meet with his counterpart Mladen
Ivanic. A joint press conference will follow the meeting. Later the
same day, Minister Oskanian will leave for Banja Luka to participate
in the opening ceremony of the Davis Cup tournament with participation
of Armenian national team.
According to RA Foreign Ministry Press and Information Department,
on June 20, Minister Oskanian’s visit to the Common Institutions of
Bosnia and Herzegovina is scheduled, as well as meetings with Adnan
Terzic, Chairman of the Council of Ministers, representatives of the
Parliamentary Assembly, and the members of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Presidency.
The Minister will return to Yerevan the same day.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress