Author: Hambardsumian Paul

SIRKAP ARMENIA IS TOO SLOW

KarabakhOpen
07-06-2007 17:52:52

The Sirkap Armenia Company runs a few businesses in Karabakh. The
company is reconstructing the stadium and is building a new hotel in
the place of the former Karabakh Hotel in Stepanakert.

Not far from the home of government Sirkap Armenia is building an
elite block of apartments on the central avenue.

It should be noted that the building by the Swiss company is growing
slower.

Even the Karabakh government confesses. The ministry of territorial
administration and development of infrastructures had demanded a
statement on the construction done so far.

According to the minister Armo Tsatryan, Sirkap Armenia presented
a lengthy report on 800 pages, which was sent back. Minister Armo
Tsatryan said to the KarabakhOpen that they demanded a corresponding
document and the estimates.

Besides, Armo Tsatryan said the pace of work of the company is
too slow.

US MEDIATOR DENIES REFERENDUM TO BE HELD IN BREAKAWAY AZERI REGION

Turan news agency
6 Jun 07

Baku, 6 June: The US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Matthew
Bryza, has denied the statement the media has attributed to him that
Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to hold a referendum on the status
of Nagornyy Karabakh. "I have never said that the sides have agreed
to hold a referendum. I said the mediators think that the issue of
the status should be solved by means of voting," Bryza said at a news
conference in Baku today. However, he added, the issue of holding the
referendum should be solved "step by step" during the negotiations
between the two countries’ presidents. "For this reason, nothing has
been decided yet," Bryza said.

In his view, in general "nothing can be regarded as agreed in the
negotiations until all issues are agreed on".

In turn, the French co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Bernard
Fassier, added that the presidents will determine "even the very name"
of the planned voting on the status of Nagornyy Karabakh.

The Russian co-chairman, Yuriy Merzlyakov, expressed the opinion that
the results of the meeting with the Azerbaijani leadership give hope
that the 9 June negotiations between the presidents of Azerbaijan and
Armenia in St Petersburg will be held in a constructive atmosphere
and become a step forward in the settlement process. The mediators
hope that the Armenian side will demonstrate a similar approach during
tomorrow’s negotiations with the co-chairmen in Yerevan.

All three co-chairmen shied away from answering how optimistic they
are about the St Petersburg meeting.

At the same time, Fassier said that one will be able to speak about
the mediators’ "optimism" when a "breakthrough" is achieved. This is
the moment when the presidents will instruct their foreign ministers
to prepare a draft peace agreement. At the same time, Fassier let
it be known that it is too early to hope for a "breakthrough" in St
Petersburg. If the sides supplement the basis of the negotiations in
St Petersburg, "that will be good news", Fassier stressed.

THERE ARE NO OCCUPIED TERRITORIES IN NAGORNO KARABAKH AND AROUND IT

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.06.2007 18:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The meeting between Armenian and Azeri presidents in
St. Petersburg on June 9 will not become fateful, NKR President Arkadi
Ghukassian stated in Yerevan to a press conference after having met
with OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel
Moratinos. He said, it will become one of those meetings, during which
the sides will not come to an agreement. "If President of Azerbaijan
Ilham Aliev continues to insist on his variant of settlement, the
conflict will not be solved," Ghukassian underlined.

At the same time the NKR President stressed that the issue of
territories adjacent to NKR is out of the question. "We do not have
occupied territories and we do not have Armenian army here. The
Defense Army of NKR liberated the security zone around NKR the same
army defends those territories. But for some reasons nobody talks
about those 15 percent of Karabakh territories, which up till now are
under Azeri occupation: part of Martouni, Mardakert and the Shahumyan
region. It is necessary to speak on equal terms about this issue,"
Ghukassian said.

Oshkosh Northwestern, WI
June 2 2007

Oshkosh teacher remembered for classroom work and commitment to
students

By Doug Zellmer
of The Northwestern

Seraph "Kappy" Kaprelian brought a lot to the table as a teacher in
the Oshkosh school district.

Kaprelian, 87, died May 6 and is not only remembered for his years of
teaching, but also his commitment to students and for a good sense of
humor. He taught math and science at South Park Junior High School
and then Oshkosh West High School.

He retired from the school district in 1985 and then spent several
years teaching math at Fox Valley Technical College.

"As far as his teaching, he was always the rock of the math
department at South Park," said William Holm, retired principal at
South Park. "He was cool, clam and collected. He was a fine teacher
and a fine gentleman."

John Sheehy, retired principal at Oshkosh West, said Kaprelian was
student council advisor at West "and the kids loved him."

"He had them going in all directions and they were very willing to
work for him," Sheehy said. "He was popular with the students and
staff."

Holm said Kaprelian had a good relationship with students at South
Park.

"Seraph was just a good solid supporter of most if not all activities
held at South Park," he said.

Kaprelian’s widow, Pat, said her husband was born in Turkey and was
three-years-old when his family immigrated to the United States in
1923 and settled in Racine. She said he was "very proud" of his
Christian-Armenian heritage.

"His parents survived the 1915 genocide by the Moslem Turks against
the Christian-Armenians," she said. "The entire village was uprooted
and forced to march. One thousand started on the march and only 50
people survived and among them were my husband’s parents. They ran
out of food and water during the march."

ZVARTNOTS TO EARN BACK $200 MILLION INVESTMENT IN 30 YEARS

Panorama.am
18:29 01/06/2007

The first flight was annouced in the newly opened departure hall
of Airport Zvartnots today. Gevorg Abrahamyan, press secretary of
Armenia International Airports, said the hall complies with high
quality airport standards. The hall is capable to serve up to 1000
passengers in an hour due to its 12 checkpoints.

Abrahamyan said the passengers will not pass customs checking but only
border checking. Pablo Gechijyan, director of Armenia International
Airports, assured the new complex may serve up to six flights. "The
new complex has Duty-free services, beautiful seats looking to
the flight field and Mount Ararat. There is a cafe, new toilets,
a business section and a smoking section. The complex is going to
support transit flights," Gechijyan said.

"Zvartnots is unique in the region in terms of its quality and
facilities for transit flights. It gives great advantages in terms
of competition to the Armenian air companies," he added.

In the words of the director, in 2010, another complex will be
commissioned. The glass complex will have a car park with a park
behind, Gechijyan said. Some $100 million is expected to cover the
construction, as much as spent on the operating departure hall. The
director of Armenia International Airport says they plan to have to
money back in 30 years.

TENNIS – FRENCH OPEN
Nalbandian downs dogged Monfils
Friday, June 1, 2007

Argentina’s David Nalbandian overcame a bold challenge from home favourite
Gael Monfils in the third round of the French Open on Friday, holding off
the fighting Frenchman to take victory in the fourth set, 7-6 5-7 6-4 7-6.

A SUICIDE BOMBER WHO WAS GOING TO GET IN A PLANE FLYING TO IRAN DETAINED IN ANKARA AIRPORT

PanARMENIAN.Net
31.05.2007 17:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A suicide bomber has been detained in the Ankara
International Airport. The suspect was trying to get into a plane,
which would fly to Iran.

During customs inspection a certain Ahmed Yazici fell under suspicion
and customs officers seized his "Nokia" cell phone stuffed with
explosives.

Representatives of Special Services of the Turkish capital after
examining the cell phone and establishing the identity of the suspect
decided to arrest him. Fears that the suicide bomber was trying to
pass a hidden explosive in a cell phone confirmed after examining
the suspect. Currently an investigation is on the way. Investigators
also check up the "psychological state" of the potential terrorist,
"Vesti" reports.

ARMENIA NOT TO ENRICH URANIUM – PRESIDENT

Television of Armenia, Yerevan
30 May 07

Armenia has no plans of uranium enrichment, Armenian President Robert
Kocharyan said at the ninth sitting of the Armenian Nuclear Power
Security Council on 30 May.

Reporting the event on the same day, Public TV showed him saying:
"It is preferable for us to integrate into the idea of creating
international centres that would provide services of nuclear heating
cycle under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency
[IAEA]. An agreement, exactly in this context, has been reached
with Russia."

Arminfo news agency quoted Kocharyan as saying that in the next two
months the Armenian Energy Ministry will submit to the government
the strategy of ceasing the operation of the Armenian Nuclear Power
Plant (NPP). He said that government was still planning to develop
nuclear energy.

"Amendments to the law on energy are manifestation of our intention to
preserve and develop nuclear energy. The law has abolished restrictions
on the involvement of foreign and private capital in the nuclear
energy sector," Kocharyan said.

"The issue of raising the security level of the exploitation of the
operational block of the NPP, including the termination of the plant’s
operation, has been and remains one of the most priority issues for
the government of the country and for the president personally. This
is why we assess highly the initiative of the IAEA on the coordination
of international technical assistance and all the work directed at
the implementation of the programme," Public TV showed Kocharyan
telling the participants in the meeting.

Kocharyan stressed the importance of changes in the energy
field. Arminfo news agency quoted him as saying that currently
Armenia actively continues the construction of the second part of
the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline. He also said that modernization of
nine power substations had been completed.

The president also spoke about the changes in Armenian economy since
the previous sitting in 2005. Public TV quoted Kocharyan as saying
that that economy has grown twice since then. "The republic has
‘closed’ the 2005 and 2006 with doubled figures of economic growth,"
the president said in his remarks shown by the TV.

ARMENIA’S MILITARY DOCTRINE TO BE READY BY LATE 2008, GENERAL SAYS

Mediamax news agency
29 May 07

Yerevan, 29 May: An inter-agency commission tasked with working out a
draft of the republic’s military doctrine, Maj-Gen Mikayel Melkonyan,
the head of the Defence Ministry’s department for international
military cooperation and defence programmes, has said.

He made the remarks today [29 May] when speaking at a news conference
dedicated to international Peacekeepers’ Day, marked on 29 May,
at the NATO Information Centre in Yerevan.

Melkonyan said that according to the Individual Partnership Actions
Plan (IPAP) between Armenia and NATO, the doctrine should be adopted
by the end of 2008.

"However, we are ahead of the schedule in several IPAP components,
and I think that the military doctrine will be adopted in late 2007,"
he said.

He said that Armenia’s National Security Strategy too was adopted ahead
of the schedule: under the IPAP, this document was to be adopted only
in the end of this year.

Melkonyan said that the IPAP is being implemented "very
successfully". He said that the success is due to the fact that "this
is exactly the programme needed for reforming and modernizing our army,
there is nothing artificial or imposed in it".

He said that the issue of establishing the institute of ombudsman in
the Armenian Armed Forces is almost settled.

"We have decided to choose the best option and establish a post of
deputy Armenian ombudsman for the armed forces. The government has
already allotted necessary funding, and very soon a person will be
appointed to that position," he said.

OSCE SUPPORTS INTERNATIONAL YOUTH CO-OPERATION ON ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS

ArmRadio.am
30.05.2007 10:15

Ecological challenges faced by cities in mountainous regions is the
topic of a two-day international youth conference that started in
Yerevan on May 29.

More than 100 young academics from 32 research and education
institutions of Armenia, Belarus, Germany, Israel, Kazakhstan, Norway,
Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan gathered to discuss environmental
instability of mountainous regions, to share experiences, and
to join forces in finding common comprehensive solutions. The 47
reports to be presented at the conference address problems, such as
the geochemistry of the environment in cities, the geomorphology of
cities and landscape planning, and geoinformation technologies used
in researching ecosystems in cities.

"Fostering networking and partnership among scientific and research
institutions and young academicians is part of what the OSCE is
about. This is especially important for confronting the rising threats
and challenges of modern times, one of which is ecological security,"
said Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan.

"Young academics’ contribution to the development of science is
vital. This conference proves once again that science does not
recognize borders and that there is a unified scientific space, in
which scientists can exchange information about their achievements,"
added Emil Gabrielyan, Vice President of the Armenian National Academy
of Sciences.

The event is organized by the Centre for Ecological-Noospheric Research
of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, with support from the
OSCE Office in Yerevan and the Moscow UNESCO Office.