Author: Emil Lazarian

THE “ARMAVIA” COMPANY SIGNED AN AGREEMENT OF PARTNERSHIP WITH THE RUSSIAN “AIR UNION” LTD
ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Oct 12 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 12, ARMINFO. “The “ArmAvia” company signed an
agreement of partnership with the Russian “Air Union” LTD,” reported
the commercial manager of the air company.
According to the report, the partnership of the two companies will
permit to implement joint commercial policy and create integrate
route networks. The companies also signed an interline agreement. The
commercial manager noted that the “Air Union” LTD has got three
transit points in Moscow, Krasnoyarsk and Samara. Through those
points ArmAvia will be connected with the whole route network of the
Russian Federation. On the other hand the Russian company will have
the opportunity of communicating with the Middle East through the
route network of ArmAvia. The representatives of the two companies
also discussed the opportunities of Trans- Atlantic flights as well
as further cooperation on the Yerevan-Krasnoyarsk route and transiting
to the Middle East.

USA EXPRESSES INTEREST IN IRAN-ARMENIA PIPELINE
Regnum News Agency, Russia
Oct 12 2005
On Wednesday, Energy Minister of Armenia Armen Movsisyan met U.S.
Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman in Washington. As MFA of Armenia
press office informs, Armen Movsisyan expressed his high assessment
of the US assistance to Armenian power engineering. Concerning the
upcoming deactivation of Armenia’s only nuclear power plant, Movsisyan
said it could be shut down only if there were other energy-generating
facilities available to replace it.
He also noted that Armenia hopes to keep the US assistance in the
process of the power plant deactivation and development of other
energy-generating facilities.
In his part, Samuel W. Bodman expressed his readiness for negotiations
over the ways of development of Armenian power engineering and interest
in construction of Iran-Armenia gas pipeline.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN OMBUDSPERSON BACKS CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
By Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenialiberty.org, Armenia
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 12 2005
Armenia’s state human rights defender, Larisa Alaverdian, expressed
on Wednesday her support for draft constitutional amendments that
will be put to the referendum next month.
“I am not in a position to campaign for or against the amendments,”
she told RFE/RL. “But if you ask me whether the amendments contain
provisions which broaden a person’s capability to protect their rights,
I will say yes.”
The most contentious of constitutional changes sought by President
Robert Kocharian and his governing coalition concern a shift of powers
from the Armenian president to the government and parliament.
The Armenian authorities, backed by the Council of Europe, say they
would put in place a more effective system of checks and balances.
But their political opponents dismiss the proposed changes as cosmetic.
Alaverdian said she is only concerned with those provisions of
Kocharian’s draft that deal with human rights. She singled out a
provision empowering the human rights ombudsperson and ordinary
citizens to appeal to Armenia’s Constitutional Court. Under the
existing constitution, only the president of the republic, at least
one third of parliament members as well as election candidates have
such a right.
Alaverdian also pointed to another draft amendment that would restrict
the president’s controversial authority to appoint and sack virtually
all judges. The head of state would supposedly have no control over
Armenia’s Justice Council which has the exclusive right to make
judicial nominations.
The ombudsperson admitted that the proposed change can only
“theoretically” make Armenian courts independent of the executive
branch of government. “In practice, it will probably take a generation
to end their dependence,” she said. “Having said that, this is at
least half a step forward.”
Alaverdian also endorsed another amendment which would affect her
directly. She was appointed by Kocharian in accordance with the
current constitution. The amendment would transfer that prerogative
to the National Assembly. Its enactment would require the legislature
to either re-appoint her or name a new ombudsperson.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkey hands over Ottoman land records to Palestinians
Haaretz
11/10/2005
By Danny Rubinstein
The Turkish government on Sunday gave the Palestinian Authority a copy
of the Ottoman archive containing all documents pertaining to land
ownership in pre-state Israel through 1916.
The PA requested the records to support Palestinian land claims. The
Palestinians say that these documents reflect the “true” ownership of
the land. One year later, in 1917, Britain drove the Ottomans out of the
country and issued the Balfour Declaration, expressing support for the
establishment of a Jewish state in what was then called Palestine. The
Palestinians say these evens represented the start of “a Zionist
takeover of their land, under the auspices of British imperialism.”
Even before 1917, Jewish and Zionist institutions had purchased large
tracts of land in Palestine from absentee landlords, who lived mainly in
Syria and Lebanon. These landlords had previously leased their property
to local farmers, but were happy to sell it for the right price, without
giving a thought to their tenant farmers. Nevertheless, Palestinians
view these sales as more legitimate than those that took place during
the British occupation that began in 1917.
Under Ottoman rule, a substantial portion of the land in Palestine was
registered as state land. Some of this land was later sold or
transferred to pre-state Jewish institutions. Other portions belonged to
the Muslim waqf (religious trust), and these, according to Islamic law,
cannot be sold. However, there was no orderly registration process;
ownership was determined primarily using records such as tax payments.
Ever since 1948, Palestinian institutions dealing with the refugee issue
have been trying to obtain accurate records on the land and property
that were lost when Israel was established. This effort has gained steam
in recent years, but no Palestinian institution has come close to
collecting all the relevant data. One reason for the lackadaisical
effort may be the Palestinians’ understanding that the data has little
practical value other than for public relations. At most, it will be
used in the bargaining over compensation for refugees, if and when such
negotiations take place.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN CD “ARAM KHACHATRYAN: LIFE AND WORK” BEST IN WORLD IN 2005
YEREVAN, October 12. /ARKA/. The Armenian multimedia CD “Aram
Khachatryan: Life and Work” has been recognized the best CD on culture
in the world in 2005, Chairman of the Information Technologies
Foundation, Executive Director of the Information Technologies in
Education Company Garegin Chukaszyan told a press conference. Three
other Armenian products were recognized the best at a contest held on
the threshold of the Tunisian Summit of information community.
Specifically, the multimedia CD “Armenian Genocide 1915-1923” was
among the ten best education projects and won a special diploma, and
the and sites were among the ten best sites
in the categories e-business and e-healthcare.According to Chukaszyan
it is an unprecedented result for such a small country as Armenia,
especially so as it is the winner in one of the categories of the
contest of the World Summit for the second time. He said that it is a
special honor as Armenia is among such winners and IBM with its CD
“Historical heritage of Egypt”, US Smithson Museum, “Virtual Paris” of
the Ministry of Culture of France and the Russian web-site on World
War II. “We consider it a great success for Armenia. Although we rank
last in communication systems, we can compete with the world’s leaders
in programming and design,” Chukazszyan said.
The multimedia CD “Aram Khachatryan: Life and Work”, designed by the
“Bazmaweb” studio of the Information Technologies in Education
Company, is dedicated to the 100th birthday anniversary of the great
composer. The CB contains the composer’s biography and compositions,
tells about the atmosphere he lived and worked in, his letters,
pictures, archives, contemporaries’ memories and a film on his life.
The CD “Armenian Genocide 1915-1923” is dedicated to the 90th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. It
contains documents on the life in Western Armenia from 1877 to
1965. The CD contains the information that has never been published
before, photo-archives, articles in the leading newspapers of the
world, evidence of witnesses, the most frequently asked questions,
process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide, maps and over 100
names of books and publications, recommendations, etc..
The Armenian winners are to receive their prizes and diplomas at the
World Summit of information community in Tunis on November 16-18,
2005. Armenia presented eight winner-works of the national contest
“Mashtots 1600”. Specifically, the CD “Armenian Genocide 1915-1923”,
CD “Aram Khachatryan: Life and Work”, (Byurtakan
observatory), (RA Economic Court), medical site
, , (a payment system), (RA
public TV), (Armenian Agency for Tourism
Development). P.T. -0–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIAN BUSINESS IS IMPORTANT
A1+
| 14:04:10 | 12-10-2005 | Official |
Today Robert Kocharyan received governor of the Krasnodar region
Alexander Tkachov. The latter mentioned that he is impressed by the
volume of construction carried out in Yerevan.
Robert Kocharyan found cooperation with the regions of Russia important
and said that it is good ground for developing the relations between
the two countries.
The sides have also referred to the course of Armenian-Russian economic
relations. Robert Kocharyan mentioned that thanks to the enhancing
of business links now Russian business has a more important place in
the Armenian economy.

ANDRANIK MANUKYAN REJECTED ARMENTEL AGAIN
A1+
| 21:39:27 | 11-10-2005 | Politics |
ArmenTel company appealed to Minister of transport and communications
Andranik Manukyan with a request to reduce the time of free
conversation from 360 to 120 minutes, raise the subscriber fee from
770 to 1400 and lower the 2250 minutes costing 4 drams to 1700 minutes.
The company proposes to make the minute fee 12 AMD.
The Minister rejected the package of new tariffs.
The tariffs proposed are economically ungrounded. However we will
continue the talks”, Manukyan noted.
To note, if the parties do not come to agreement the monopoly terms
will reduce with 3 years.

RAMIL SAFAROV: ANAR ALIYEV DID NOT SPEND THE LAST NIGHT IN THE ROOM WITH ME
By Ruzan Poghosian
AZG Armenian Daily #183
12/10/2005
Trial in Budapest
Nazeli Vardanian, lawyer of murdered Gurgen Margarian, and Hayk
Demoyan, historian of the Armenian armed forces, told about the
September 15 court session at the Budapest court yesterday.
The lawyer said that the Armenian side’s plea to view the case
as a genocidal act and not as a homicide met the Azeri lawyer’s
objection. The court remained silent. “We tried to make one more plea
though we had no hope that anyone can be charged with such a crime
in present-day Europe”, Vardanian said.
The court disclosed that the Latvian serviceman will not take part
in the sessions any more; his whereabouts are unknown. The court
proceeded from his previous affidavit that basically coincided with
that of Hayk Manucharian.
The latter was exposed to psychological pressure during the session,
in particular, he was asked several times if Safarov “was insane
at that moment”. “I think it’s clear to the court that there is no
contradiction in Hayk Manucharian’s words, there is no doubt also as
to his and Safarov’s sanity”, the lawyer said.
Hayk Demoyan added that Safarov was so deeply moved that his speech
at the session turned into a curious thing. To reject that the crime
was planned he said: “Anar Aliyev did not spend the last night in
the room with me” but the judge retorted saying: “To plan murder
with him you did not need necessarily sleep with him”. The defendant
refused to answer any question as soon as asked about buying an axe
for the murder.
Anar Aliyev did not take part in this session either. The Azeris
promised to the angry judge to bring him to the next session. The
Armenian side made a plea to recognize him as an accomplice that
was also turned down. The forensic experts stated at the end of the
session that Safarov was completely healthy and committed the crime
in his right mind. The second expert pointed out to Safarov’s stories
and dreams considering him partially guilty. Inconsistencies in the
two conclusions of the experts made the judge plea for the third
one. “The first expert simply bore down the second one.
The second expert claimed that Ramil Safarov used Xenex, a medicine
against nervous shock, during army service in Turkey. The first expert
rebuffed that lie at once claiming that there was no such medicine
at that time. Though the second expert tried hard to find ways of
justifying Safarov, his diffidence was obvious”, Demoyan said.
Nazeli Vardanian is sure that the court could easily accept the first
expert’s conclusion and reach a verdict but it chose a third medical
examination that would compare the previous ones. “If there is no
pressure from the Azeri side, I think that inconsistencies will show
up and we’ll hear the last medical conclusion in December”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CITIZENS WHO DIED IN THE 1960S WERE INCLUDED IN THE ELECTORAL LISTS IN 2005
ARMINFO News Agency
October 11, 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11. ARMINFO. The head of “Your Choice” social
organization Harutiun Harutiunian said that during the local government
bodies elections new methods of falsifications were invented.
According to Mr. Harutiunian, the citizens’ right for secret vote
was violated almost everywhere. The bulletins were checked and often
falsified by the electoral committees. Cemetery voting occurred
in Ararat region, where over 220 citizens who died in the 1960’s
were included in the electoral lists. Numerous citizens of Nor Hachn
region, registered in the preliminary lists, were not admitted to the
elections. In that region, in result of falsifications was re-elected
Armen Keshishian, who had murdered the head of local electricity
network. In electoral ditricts 27/7, 27/05, 27/02, 27/03, and in
some regions of Abovian, Biuregavan and Eghednadzor the members
of electoral committees accompanied the electors to the cabins and
intervened in voting. Sometime the voters were conducted to fill two
or more voting bulletins.
The report of the “Your Choice” social organization will be presented
to the Central Electoral Committee. Mr. Harutiunian added that there
is nothing to change in the Electoral Code of Armenia and assured
that the Venice Commission did not comment on it just by chance.
Harutiun Harutiunian also denoted the decision of the Central
Electoral Committee, made on the initiative of Artashes Abovian, a
representative of “Orinats Erkir” party. According to that decision,
in case an electoral committee member violates the Electoral Code, the
violator will be dismissed from the office, and not the organization
he represents, as it was before.
The head of the Electoral Committee, Garegin Azarian, promised Mr.
Harutiunian that the suggestions of the “Your Choice” organization
will be taken into consideration when discussing the amendments to
the Electoral Code at the Parliament.

ARMENIA SHOWS INTEREST IN MILITARY COOPERATION WITH BELARUS
National Legal Internet Portal, Belarus
Oct 11 2005
Armenia shows great interest in development of the military and
military-technical cooperation with Belarus, first deputy defense
minister – head of the main staff of the Armenian army Colonel-General
Mikhail Arutiunian stated in Minsk October 10.
Analyzing the talks with head of the general staff of the Armed Forces
of Belarus Lieutenant-General Sergei Gurulev, Mikhail Arutiunian noted
that “the two sides discussed a wide range of issues, especially on
the CSTO military constituent”. “We showed mutual understanding in
many issues”, he underlined.
The Armenian party is interested in training of its military in
Belarus, the record of military reforming, modernization of the
military equipment, in particular, new automated control systems. “As
yet the issue of Karabakh has been unsolved and we cannot curtail the
army and should hone the military skills. As for the acquisition of the
new equipment, it should satisfy us in price, technical characteristics
and ability to operate in mountains”, Mikhail Arutiunian said.
The program of the visit of the Armenian delegation includes trip to
the 120th mechanized brigade and the military academy of Belarus.
According to Mikhail Arutiunian the present day meeting is a
preparation to the visit of the defense minister of Belarus Leonid
Maltsev to Armenia, with is due in the end of 2005.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress