Author: Emil Lazarian

WASHINGTON DENIES PRO-ARMENIA BIAS
AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
April 6 2006
A high-ranking US official has said Washington supports a fair and
peaceful settlement to the long-standing Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper
(Nagorno) Garabagh conflict that meets the interests of both sides,
despite some analysts describing US government’s financial aid to
Armenia as an indicator of bias.
The allocation of more financial assistance to Armenia than Azerbaijan
does not imply that the United States favors this country on the
conflict resolution, said the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza. Washington backs
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and a conflict resolution based
on the United Nations resolutions, Bryza said during his visit to
Baku jointly with a State Department Policy Planning Director Stephen
Krasner on Monday.
“The UN Security Council resolutions represent worldwide laws and we
support them. We are interested in the continuation of peace talks.
The key issue here is for the sides to reach agreement that would
benefit both of them,” the American official added. Commenting on the
operation of the self-proclaimed Upper Garabagh republic’s office in
the U.S., Bryza said this is in line with American laws. He said US
legislation does not ban the opening of any entity’s representation
in his country despite certain restrictions. “We allow any given
organization to operate in the United States unless this runs counter
to our laws. There is nothing illegal about the activity of an
organization from the Garabagh region or the Cyprus Turks’ community
in the U.S. But personally, I have not had any officially meetings
with the Upper Garabagh representatives.” In a meeting with President
Ilham Aliyev, the head of state said the successful development of
multi-lateral US-Azeri relations was essential for the whole region
and expressed hope for further expansion of cooperation. Heisner
thanked Azerbaijan for its contribution to the anti-terror campaign in
Afghanistan, Kosovo and other hot spots and said bilateral relations
were of strategic importance for his country.
‘Double standards’ The American officials met with opposition leaders
to exchange views on the social and political situation in Azerbaijan
after last year’s parliamentary elections, as well as democracy
and human rights. The current status of the Garabagh talks was
also reviewed during the meetings with the leaders of major Musavat,
Popular Front and Azerbaijan Democratic Parties, and the National Unity
Movement, according to the US embassy. A source from the PFPA said
the opposition raised the issue of what they described as a double
standard policy pursued by the U.S. with regard to Azerbaijan. The
US officials are expected to attend an international conference on
transparency in extractive industries. The event focusing on the
experience of pilot countries will take place next Thursday as part
of the fourth meeting of the Coalition on the Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (EITI).
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER VARTAN OSKANYAN ARRIVES IN RUSSIA ON VISIT
05.04.2006, 22.20
ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 6 2006
MOSCOW, April 5 (Itar-Tass) — Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanyan arrived in Moscow on a three-day visit on Wednesday.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said, “Relations
with Armenia have lately acquired the nature of strategic and allied
partnership and are characterised by positive dynamics.”
At the talks in Moscow the sides will discuss “the implementation
of top-level agreements on the enhancement of Russian-Armenian
cooperation, including in the transport, and fuel and energy sectors,
as well as direct economic ties between Russian regions and Armenia,”
Kamynin said.
The Year of Armenia in Russia will be one of the priority topics at
the talks, he added.
Special attention will be given to “the coordination of efforts to
step up political interaction against terrorism.”
“The sides will exchange views on the coordination of efforts in
international organisations and on important regional problems, as
well as interaction in the CIS, including the Collective Security
Treaty Organisation,” the diplomat said.
“The Nagorno-Karabakh settlement will dominate the agenda. … Russia
calls for continued Armenian-Azerbaijani dialogue at different levels,
primarily between the presidents of the two countries. We believe
that the parties to the conflict should work out a mutually acceptable
solution themselves,” the spokesman said.
Russia “is ready to provide the most active assistance in this case
both on a bilateral level and as a co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group,
and become a guarantor of the reached agreements.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJAN ARMY OFFICER WILL BE SENTENCED ON 13 APRIL IN BUDAPEST
Today, Azerbaijan
April 6 2006
Trial of Azerbaijani Army officer Ramil Safarov, who is indicted for
murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan, in Budapest brought
together Azerbaijani students, Turks living in Hungary as well as
many media representatives.
Head of the Azerbaijan-Belgium House Bulent Gurjami, who attended
the trial in Budapest, told APA that after reviewing the reports, the
judge presiding the court process at the beginning asked to consider
opinions of experts newly included into the materials of the criminal
case. The defendant’s petition was refused.
Public prosecutor said in his one-hour speech that all evidences were
against Ramil Safarov. The prosecutor concluded that Ramil Safarov
preplanned this crime and it was not accidental that it was committed
on the eve of the anniversary of the Armenia-Azerbaijan war. Taking
into account that this was the first crime committed by Safarov,
the prosecutor asked to sentence him for 30 years in jail.
The lawyer of Ramil Safarov addressing the court said that the
Azerbaijani officer did not commit the murder consciously and his
unconsciousness was proved by experts. The trial was appointed to
April 13. Ramil Safarov will address the process with final statement
and will be sentenced.
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

POWERLESS PROCLAMATIONS GET ATTENTION, TOO
By David Abrams, Staff Writer
Annapolis Capital, MD
April 5 2006
Macedonia might be independent, but it’s still Greek. The Lewis and
Clark Trail should be expanded. And Maryland should have a Coretta
Scott King Day.
Such are the proclamations sought by lawmakers in Annapolis. With
just five days remaining in this year’s legislative session, the
General Assembly is considering 26 joint resolutions that weigh in
on all kinds of national and international topics spanning thousands
of miles and several decades.
Del. David Boschert, R-Crownsville, who withdrew a proposed resolution
calling for docking the USS Forrestal CVA-59 World Super Aircraft
Carrier in Dundalk as a museum, said the measures are a show of
support – like writing a letter.
“It kind of says, ‘What we think you’re trying to do is right, and
we’re behind you,'” Mr. Boschert said. He withdrew his measure while
boosters of the carrier project look for a suitable site to keep the
1,000-foot-plus vessel.
Fully loaded, the carrier weighs about 80,000 tons, has a nearly
4-acre flight deck and has three 45-ton rudders. City Dock in Annapolis
would probably be a tight squeeze.
All of these resolutions are a way for lawmakers to show they are in
touch with things their constituents hold dear, said Dan
Nataf, director of Anne Arundel Community College’s Center for the
Study of Local Issues.
“They are kind of amusing,” he said when read some of the
resolutions. “Some things seem to be just pandering to a constituency,
but they seem innocuous.”
House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Annapolis, said some resolutions
are appropriate, but others are a bit questionable. For instance, he
supports a resolution pending this year calling for federal funding
of Chesapeake Bay cleanup, but remembers one in 2001 commemorating
Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide that got a little bit
out of control.
“It was almost hand-to-hand combat at a hearing over a matter we had
no bearing on,” he said.
“It was conducting foreign policy from the State House,” remembered
House Minority Whip Anthony J. O’Donnell, R-Calvert.
Of course, the General Assembly hasn’t cornered the market on issuing
such edicts. City and county councils have been known to weigh in on
matters of national security and war and peace.
But the legislature does have to deal with very serious issues like
Medicaid, taxes, electricity rates and abortion as well.
“The only question is, would they be doing themselves a favor by
concentrating on other things?” Mr. Nataf said.
Senate Republicans withdrew a resolution calling on Congress to
quickly confirm Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., because
he was confirmed before the resolution made it out of committee.
Lawmakers said the resolutions don’t take up much time.
Del. Ted Sophocleus, D-Linthicum, sponsored the resolution saying that
Macedonians are still Greek. The “Republic of Macedonia” declared
independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, and Greece protested its name
because a word intrinsically Greek shouldn’t be used for a foreign
country.
Unfortunately, the international dispute will have to remain
unresolved in Annapolis. The bill died in the House Rules Committee,
and Mr. Sophocleus, who is of Greek extraction, said he’ll be back
next year with the resolution.
The bill making April 27 Coretta Scott King Day passed the Senate
unanimously, and is in the House. It has to pass by Tuesday to go to
the governor’s desk. It honors the widow of the famous civil rights
leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“In her own right, she’s done a lot,” said Sen. John C. Astle,
D-Annapolis.
The resolution supporting expansion of the Lewis and Clark Trail all
the way to the East Coast has also passed the Senate.
The 3,700-mile trail extends from the West Coast through 11 states,
including Oregon, all the way to Hartford, Ill. There are only four
more states to go for the trail to reach the Atlantic.
There is a faint connection between Maryland and the trail. In 1803,
Lewis started out from Washington, D.C. Clark later joined him
in Indiana.
Mr. Nataf was a little baffled by that resolution.
“I don’t even know where to find it,” he said. “Maybe it’s out in
Oregon somewhere.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GAS PRICE CAUSED FERTILIZER INCREASE
A1+
[04:45 pm] 06 April, 2006
The impact of the gas price increase on the RA agriculture is already
evident. The price of the necessary fertilizer improved mainly from
Georgia, Russia and Ukraine has gone up.
“The increase is unprecedented,” the Chief of the Plant Cultivation,
Forest and Plant Protection Board of the RA Ministry of Agriculture
Garnik Petrosyan announced while speaking of the nitrogen fertilizer
high price. As a result of this increase the price of one fertilizer
bag may become from 5000 – 5200 AMD and even more. Taking into account
the financial state of the Armenian peasants the Government decided to
subsidize the fertilizer importers so that the imported and increased
fertilizer is sold in the Armenian market with the prices of last
year. The process of subsidization was realized at the expense of 294
million AMD. As a result, the fertilizer will be sold to the farmers
with the former price – 74 thousand AMD per a ton.
The observations of the Agricultural Ministry revealed that
the-quantity of autumn sowing in 2005 decreased about 20 – 24 thousand
acres in comparison with the previous year. This is determined by the
vacillation of grain prices as a result of which the peasant either
had a little income from the cultivated land or a loss at the end of
the year.
“There seems to be certain stabilization in the market,” says
Mr. Petrosyan who foresees that, willingly or unwillingly, there will
be procurement price increases by Russia and Ukraine. In order to
soften the effects of the increase the works of spring sowing have
already started in the Republic. The survey of the Ministry revealed
that the lands of spring grain cultivation will increase by 15 thousand
acres in comparison with the previous year.
The lands of corn cultivation outnumber the quantity of the previous
year in all marzes of the country. By the way, yesterday many lands
lay under snow because of the snowstorm, but according to the Ministry
there aren’t cases of freezing so far. The Ministry is concerned with
the coming overflowing which is foreseen in April and May. But the
Ministry takes measures to combat it.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA WILL BE GIVEN TENDENCIES
A1+
[07:11 pm] 06 April, 2006
“There is not a free tendency,” this answer can be given without
turning to the National Commission on TV and Radio and the Minister
of Transportation and Communication. “According to the frequency of
program broadcast foreseen in the RA the 63rd decimetre tendency is
given to the National Commission on TV and Radio and it is within
its liabilities to give further TV tendency licences,” this is a
quotation from the Prime Minister’s letter to the answer of “Melteks”
LTD president’s application. The letter was written on April 14,
2004, but the National Commission on TV and Radio President Grigor
Amalyan declared for a few times that the broadcasting licence is to
be given by the Ministry of Transportation and Communication.
Today the 33rd, 43rd, 53rd and 54th tendencies are free. Mr. Amalyan
may be unaware of this? “By the way, the National Commission on
TV and Radio annually makes the whole list of TV tendencies public
if necessary.”
Does anybody remember when they last did it? The National Commission
on TV and Radio published only the current TV channels tendency list.
There is no free tendency. But they could simply say that the
tendencies from 64 to 69 are free. Maybe they leave them for themselves
and will declare a contest if necessary. The tendency distribution is
implemented by the International Union of Telecommunication. It is also
mentioned in the Prime Minister’s letter that “We foresee to work out a
project of regional decimetre broadcasts in the tendencies of 174 – 230
MHz and 470 – 862 MHz in May 2004.” Decimal broadcast will allow a few
TV channels to work in the same tendency without hindering one another.
Those tendencies will be distributed in the Regional Radio
Communication Conference which will be held on May 15. “A1+” was
informed about it by the Head of the Radio Communication Office of the
International Union of Telecommunication Valeri Timofejev. “Armenia
will participate in the conference.” We wonder what the Ministry of
Transportation and Communication will say after the Regional Conference
when the fact that Armenia is given tendencies will become apparent.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

100 MILLION USD FOR THE ORGANISATION FAIR ELECTIONS
A1+
[07:32 pm] 06 April, 2006
The assistant of the police station head Ararat Mahtesyan brought
examples from the new Government resolution trying to prove that the
coming elections will be fair in Armenia due to their institution. By
using the word “fair” Mr. Mahtesyan meant only one thing; the lists of
electorals will be checked and corrected, the names of dead, prisoners
and people without registration won’t be included. The law violators
cannot vote instead of them.
The precedent of fair elections was as follows. The police will arm
all the passport and visa departments, will create a mechanism of
information exchange by means of computer and will make an accurate
list of residents. Then they will type the lists of electorals.
According to the new decision the police already know the addresses
of all responsible people who will be punished for not informing them
the data of dead, prisoners and absentees in time.
The program is worked out with the Ministry of Transportation and
Communication. Mahtesyan promised to invite the parties and journalists
to get acquainted with program in 3 months’ time. Mahtesyan said
that the project was valued 100 million AMD by the Executive Body
and concluded, “The Government intends to hold fair elections.”
Ararat Mahtesyan did not spoke about the tense criminal situation in
the country and the recent assaults. He only said, “Your question must
be answered by the person promising to divulge them within a month.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DEPUTY OF OPPOSITIONAL BLOC CHARGED CUSTOM SERVICE OF RA WITH LARGE-SCALE EMBEZZLEMENT AND EXTORTION
Yerevan, April 6. ArmInfo. At today’s press-conference in the
Armenia’s Parliament, the deputy of the “Justice” oppositional bloc
Tatul Manaseryan charged the country’s Custom Service with large-scale
embezzlement and extortion.
He mentioned, particularly, that according to the Custom Service data,
the volumes of petrol import to Armenia have reduced twice since 1998,
while a number automobiles in the republic increased twice and petrol
limits for state officers – 2,5 times for the same period. Manaseryan
assured that the state budget did not count up about $55 mln as
a result of machinations of custom officials in the sphere petrol
import. However, Manaseryan did not indicated the dynamics in the
import of a liquefied gas which has lately become too popular at the
Armenian drivers.
Tatul Manaseryan especially noted the custom officials actions related
to the coffee importers, having characterized it as a demonstration of
the officials’ arbitrariness. According to him, the “Royal Armenia”
Company had to pay dues which double exceed the custom fees from the
Company’s competitors for the same product, as a result of refusal
to pay bribe to the Custom Service. Manaseryan called illegal the
preliminary confinement of the director of “Royal Armenia” Gagik
Akopyan and the deputy director Aram Kazaryan in the National Security
Service (NSS), having emphasized that groundlessness of accusations
of A. Kazaryan in organizing attempts at the Custom Service Head was
proved. Manaseryan addressed to the Armenia’s Prosecutor General, the
Service of Presidential Control and the Parliament’s Control Palace
with a letter of inquiry. “If no answer follows, I intend to address
to the National Security Service with a letter”, Manaseryan said.
According to the deputy, the “Transparency International” fixed
growth of bribes in Armenia, especially among custom officers, tax
officers and the judicial authority representatives. Calculations
of the World Bank experts certify that 46 drams from each 100 drams,
paid to the custom Service by the Armenian importers and exporters,
are a bribe. As a whole, the damage from the Custom Service abuses
is estimated of 1,5% of GDP in Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA CEDES CONTROL OF PIPELINE TO GAZPROM
Bloomberg News, The Associated Press
Thursday, April 6, 2006
MOSCOW Gazprom said Thursday that it had signed a 25-year agreement
with the former Soviet republic of Armenia that includes provisions
granting the Russian natural gas giant control of part of an
Armenian-Iranian natural gas pipeline and a power-generating unit at
the Razdan-5 electric plant.
The agreement also obliges Armenia to give Gazprom’s Armenian joint
venture ownership rights to the 197-kilometer, or 122-mile, stretch
of the pipeline to Iran, which has yet to be built, as well as the
right to export electricity produced at the Razdan-5 power plant.
The agreement sets a price for Armenia of $110 per 1,000 cubic meters
of natural gas until Jan. 1, 2009, according to a Gazprom statement.
Opposition politicians in Armenia have already expressed concern
over Russia’s control of the small country’s energy infrastructure,
an impact that the new deal will magnify.
Gazprom has sharply raised prices recently for Ukraine, Georgia
and Moldova.
It argues that it is merely ending subsidies to former Soviet republics
and bringing the rates closer to market prices, but critics say the
Kremlin is using Russia’s energy wealth as a political weapon.
A top Gazprom executive this week called for the tripling of prices
in Belarus, the last former Soviet republic to pay significantly
below-market prices for Russian natural gas.
Armenia is Russia’s chief ally in the strategic Caucasus Mountain
region, partly because it is host to a Russian military base. Moscow
already largely controls the Razdan-5 plant, the country’s main
electricity producer, which it received in 2003 as a debt payment,
and Armenia is wholly dependent on Russia for natural gas supplies. $@
Norwegians lift U.K. supply
Statoil and Norsk Hydro, the two largest oil companies in Norway,
booked more space on a new pipeline from Norway that could meet about
20 percent of Britain’s demand for natural gas, a top executive at
the pipeline’s operator said, Bloomberg News reported from London.
The pipeline will connect North Sea gas fields to Easington on
England’s eastern coast. It is to start delivering gas from existing
fields in October and a year later connect to Ormen Lange, a new gas
field operated by Norsk Hydro.
“The owners of the pipeline have booked the capacity for a good many
years in a way that there will be good utilization of capacity,” said
Thor Otto Lohne, a senior vice president at the Norwegian pipeline
operator Gasso.
At 1,200 kilometers, Ormen Lange will be the world’s largest undersea
pipeline, capable of shipping 70 million cubic meters of natural gas
a day. The entire Ormen Lange project, named after a ship owned by
the Viking king Olav Tryggvason, includes an onshore processing plant.
Britain, the European Union’s biggest user of natural gas, is
increasingly dependent on imports and stored supplies as supplies in
the North Sea dwindle.
MOSCOW Gazprom said Thursday that it had signed a 25-year agreement
with the former Soviet republic of Armenia that includes provisions
granting the Russian natural gas giant control of part of an
Armenian-Iranian natural gas pipeline and a power-generating unit at
the Razdan-5 electric plant.
The agreement also obliges Armenia to give Gazprom’s Armenian joint
venture ownership rights to the 197-kilometer, or 122-mile, stretch
of the pipeline to Iran, which has yet to be built, as well as the
right to export electricity produced at the Razdan-5 power plant.
The agreement sets a price for Armenia of $110 per 1,000 cubic meters
of natural gas until Jan. 1, 2009, according to a Gazprom statement.
Opposition politicians in Armenia have already expressed concern
over Russia’s control of the small country’s energy infrastructure,
an impact that the new deal will magnify.
Gazprom has sharply raised prices recently for Ukraine, Georgia
and Moldova.
It argues that it is merely ending subsidies to former Soviet republics
and bringing the rates closer to market prices, but critics say the
Kremlin is using Russia’s energy wealth as a political weapon.
A top Gazprom executive this week called for the tripling of prices
in Belarus, the last former Soviet republic to pay significantly
below-market prices for Russian natural gas.
Armenia is Russia’s chief ally in the strategic Caucasus Mountain
region, partly because it is host to a Russian military base. Moscow
already largely controls the Razdan-5 plant, the country’s main
electricity producer, which it received in 2003 as a debt payment,
and Armenia is wholly dependent on Russia for natural gas supplies. $@
Norwegians lift U.K. supply
Statoil and Norsk Hydro, the two largest oil companies in Norway,
booked more space on a new pipeline from Norway that could meet about
20 percent of Britain’s demand for natural gas, a top executive at
the pipeline’s operator said, Bloomberg News reported from London.
The pipeline will connect North Sea gas fields to Easington on
England’s eastern coast. It is to start delivering gas from existing
fields in October and a year later connect to Ormen Lange, a new gas
field operated by Norsk Hydro.
“The owners of the pipeline have booked the capacity for a good many
years in a way that there will be good utilization of capacity,” said
Thor Otto Lohne, a senior vice president at the Norwegian pipeline
operator Gasso.
At 1,200 kilometers, Ormen Lange will be the world’s largest undersea
pipeline, capable of shipping 70 million cubic meters of natural gas
a day. The entire Ormen Lange project, named after a ship owned by
the Viking king Olav Tryggvason, includes an onshore processing plant.
Britain, the European Union’s biggest user of natural gas, is
increasingly dependent on imports and stored supplies as supplies in
the North Sea dwindle.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Thirty U.S. Representatives Urge PBS Not To Provide Platform For Armenian Genocide Deniers
Yerkir
06.04.2006 18:06
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was joined by Rep. George
Radanovich (R-CA), Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank
Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), and a bipartisan group of
twenty-six U.S.
Representatives in urging the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) not
to provide a broadcast platform for deniers of the Armenian Genocide,
reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
In an April 3rd letter, addressed to PBS Chief Operating Officer Wayne
Godwin, the House Members addressed the growing controversy surrounding
plans by PBS to broadcast a panel discussion including known Armenian
Genocide deniers Justin McCarthy and Omer Turan following the airing
this April of the documentary “The Armenian Genocide,” produced by
Andrew Goldberg. The ANCA has formally protested PBS’s decision, and
established an online WebFax program through which close to 10,000
individuals have already registered their protests.
“We want to thank Representatives Schiff, Radanovich, Pallone,
and Knollenberg for their leadership in giving voice to the growing
Congressional opposition to PBS’s deeply flawed decision to provide
public airtime to deniers of the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA
Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress