Author: Jilavian Emma

PERU UPHOLDS SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT IN THE FRAMES OF
THE PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
[July 17, 2006, 21:13:46]

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
July 17 2006

FM of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov met on July 17 with the ambassador
of the Republic of Peru accredited in Azerbaijan Umberto Umeres.

First was signed the protocol on cooperation between the Foreign
Ministries of both countries.

Noting that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cooperation
with the Latin American states, including Peru, the Minister said
the signed protocol opens large opportunities for development of
bilateral relations.

In the meeting, the sides had comprehensive exchange of views on
strengthening of cooperation in the frames of United Nations, also
stressed necessity of increasing the efficiency of reforms in this
international structure.

Noting that 20 percent of the country’s lands have been occupied and
in these areas pursued ethnic cleanse policy by Armenia, Mr.

Mammadyarov said despite four resolutions of the United States on
immediate withdrawal of the Armenian summed forces from the occupied
territories, the aggressor ignores these resolutions. The Minister
said Peru is the member of the UN Security Council, and its position
is of great importance for Azerbaijan.

Mr. Umberto Umeres said Peru supports territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan and the Nagorno Karabakh conflict should be solved in the
frames of norms and principles of international law. Peru has also
faced the ethnic cleanse policy, the Ambassador underlined.

FM of Azerbaijan expressed gratitude for kind and fair position,
stressing inadmissibility of forced change of borders in the XXI
century.

In the meeting, also discussed were the accomplishments Azerbaijan
gained in the economic field, informed on the history of oil industry
in the country, expansion of cooperation between two countries in
the political, economic, scientific, education and other fields.

President Robert Kocharyan taking a short vacation

ArmRadio.am
17.07.2006 14:08

RA President Robert Kocharyan is taking a short vacation. The President will
spend the holidays in Armenia.

Thousands of Australians in Lebanon

The West Australian, Australia
July 16 2006

The federal government is being called on to help thousands of
Australians flee Lebanon following open conflict between Israel and
the Lebanese militant group Hizbollah.

But it claims there is no longer a safe way to rescue almost 3,000
Australians travelling in the war-torn country, nor the 25,000 members
of the Australian Lebanese community who live there.

"There is no way at the moment for anyone to leave and the sea ports
are dangerous, the road and the highway’s been damaged and also the
airport," Teresa Gambaro, parliamentary secretary to the Foreign
Affairs Minister, said.

"There’s no means, no transportation mode, that is safe to us at the
moment and, in fact, we would be putting Australians at risk if we
advised them to leave at this time."

As the violence increases, there is mounting criticism the government
was too slow to decide it must evacuate its citizens.

The parents of 57 young Australians stranded in Beirut lashed out
at the prime minister on Saturday, accusing John Howard of not doing
enough to help their children.

"There is a lot of anger, and a lot of frustration," said Rosemary
Diodati, who has 12 members of her extended family, including two of
her children, stranded in Lebanon.

"I don’t think they (the government) are doing enough. We want them
out and we want them safe and sound. You don’t just say stay put –
stay put until when?"

About 78 members of the Sydney Armenian Community dance group,
including young children, teens and young adults, are trapped in
Beirut as Israel’s devastating bombing raids continue.

The attacks began after Hizbollah launched a cross-border raid on
Wednesday killing eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapping two others.

On Saturday, Hizbollah’s chief all but declared war on its neighbour.

"You wanted open war. We are going to open war," Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah said in a call to Hizbollah’s television.

Ms Gambaro urged people in Australia to contact family members in
Lebanon and get them to register with the Australian embassy in Beirut.

But some of the last Australians to flee the war-torn country,
touching down at Sydney Airport on Saturday night, said the embassy
had been slow to act.

Rosemary Haddad, back in Australia with her husband and three
children, spent more than a day sitting by the phone trying to call
the Australian embassy in Lebanon.

"I was abandoned and I think it’s disgusting," she said. "We are
Australians and we were in a foreign country. We had no idea what to
do or where to go … the only people that helped us were the local
travel agents."

Escaping across the Syrian border in a car driven by a family friend
was "like Armageddon", she said.

"There were cars everywhere, everyone was trying to get out and once
we got to the airport we had to wait 16 hours before we could get on
a plane," she said.

Ms Haddad was one of less than a dozen people who touched down in
Australia on Saturday night after fleeing the violence.

STRUGGLE AGAINST COUPS FROM THE INSIDE

Lragir.am
14 July 06

"We think that both the internal and external political state of
Armenia are rather complicated and difficult. They require solutions,
but unfortunately the government does not offer solutions, they do
not think about these solutions or they are afraid of thinking,"
Hovanes Hovanisyan, the leader of the Liberal Progressive Party,
stated July 14.

He believes that the problem is becoming deeper, unsettled issues
become more complicated, and the situation is becoming complicated.

"There is no political dispute in the country, there is no political
thought, there is no debate on the political thought, and there are
no real political processes," says Hovanes Hovanisyan.

The leader of the LPP says they will ally with other liberal parties
and notes that the government is preparing to fight coups from the
inside, perceiving the internal situation. The opposition is also
getting ready for this.

Lebanon offers aid on Garabagh

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 12 2006

Baku, July 11, AssA-Irada — Lebanon could use its experience on
conflict resolution to facilitate settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan
Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh dispute upon request of the sides, its
foreign minister visiting Armenia has said.

Fawzi Sallukh said military action would not bring victory to
either side. "Azerbaijan and Armenia should make efforts to solve
the conflict in peace considering their national interests." The
Lebanese official invited Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian
to his country to attend a meeting of the joint commission on economic
cooperation.

"The relations between the two countries are on a high level. During
a recent meeting with Oskanian, we held discussions on regional,
international and energy issues," Sallukh said.*

Merzlyakov: No Framework Agreement on Karabakh Bargaining Table

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.07.2006 17:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ There is still no framework agreement at peaceful
negotiations on the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
reportedly said Yuri Merzlyakov, the Russian co-chairman of OSCE
Minsk Group. Merzlyakov said mediators have offered the parties to
coordinate the problem settlement principles prior to developing
the agreement on their basis. Besides, co-chairmen do not use in
negotiation process such terms as "stage-by-stage", "package",
"universal" and so on, Merzlyakov remarked.

The further state of the negotiation process, the Russian diplomat
went on, will get defined after the first regional visit of Matthew
Bryza as US co-chairman of OSCE Minsk Group. "At the moment I am just
not ready to state the situation. It will get clear when he comes
there and listens to the parties’ opinions", he added. Merzlyakov
added that Bryza’s visit to the region had been originally scheduled
to later July or early September.

Answering the question about the preparation to the next meeting
between foreign ministers or presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan,
Merzlyakov said: "The co-chairmen’s latest statement says the parties
shall put forward their initiatives. We are always alongside, we ill
always help. But in the coming months we are not going to undertake
anything," reports Trend.

9 LEADING BOXERS FROM ARMENIA TO TAKE PART IN EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP

YEREVAN, JULY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The Europe Championship of Boxing will
be held in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria on July 14-23, where the 9
leading sportsmen from Armenia will take part in. The delegates of
Armenia, led by Derenik Gabrielian, Vice Chairman of the European
Assocciation of Boxing will leave for Plovdiv on July 10. Suren
Khazarian from Yerevan is included in the judge committee of the
championship.

EFFORTS MADE IN 2006TO STRENGTHEN NAGORNO-KARABAKH REPUBLIC’S DEFENSE

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
July 10 2006

STEPANAKERT, July 10. /ARKA/. All the measures, planned by
Nagorno-Karabakh army to strengthen the republic defense, were taken
in 2006, NKR Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan said on Friday.

In his words, the army leadership’s attention has always been focused
on training officers.

"There is a prospect plane on training and granting appropriate ranks,
depending on the education obtained", he said.

The minister also said that a non-stop consistent work is being carried
out and certain amount of money is being targeted for engineering
equipment improvement. M.V.-0–

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, July 10, 2006

AGBU DISTRIBUTES 10 ULTRASOUND MACHINES TO ARMENIA AND KARABAKH
HOSPITALS

On July 3, 2006, AGBU distributed 10 ultrasound machines to nine
medical facilities in Armenia and a newly built clinic in Karabakh’s
capital, Stepanakert, to ensure that Armenian hospitals are equipped
with state-of-the-art diagnostic tools.

After Armenia’s independence in 1991, AGBU began financing a number
of long-term educational, cultural, and humanitarian projects in the
country, including the AGBU Ultrasound Training Center at Yerevan State
Medical University in 2000, which was established in collaboration with
Jefferson Ultrasound Research and Education Institute of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Levon Nazarian, MD, Professor of Radiology and Vice
Chairman for Education at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, led
the initiative with financing provided by Nazar Nazarian, AGBU Vice
Chairman and Treasurer. The success of the AGBU Ultrasound Center
is attested by the fact that more than 100 specialists have already
been trained there, including individuals from as far away as India
and Russia. The Global Ultrasound Equipment Donation Foundation,
headed by Barry B. Goldberg, MD, Professor of Radiology and Director
of Ultrasound at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, donated the
ultrasound machines.

"These machines cannot serve their goal without trained
specialists. That is why before giving the machines to the hospitals,
all specialists operating them completed training courses at the
AGBU Ultrasound Training Center. Thanks to the efforts of Professors
Andreas Hambardzumian and Hmayak Sissakian, Co-Directors of the AGBU
Ultrasound Center, doctors learn modern diagnostic methods at the
university. Many specialists then take their knowledge to different
regions around Armenia and Karabakh. We highly value the fact that,
in the distant regions of Armenia and Karabakh, people will have
the opportunity to make use of the services provided by these
ultra-modern machines. I hope that chief doctors will support the
trained specialists by providing all the necessary conditions for
utilizing the new machines to make correct and timely diagnoses,"
said Gohar Kalian, Rector of the Medical University.

Each machine costs $20,000 and diagnoses many abdominal, gynecological
and heart diseases. In deciding which hospitals would receive
the machines, the organizers took into consideration the number
of patients treated at each hospital and the diagnostic equipment
available. Research showed that hospitals in Karabakh and southern
Armenia do not have echocardiography machines and institutions in
those regions were given special consideration.

The 10 ultrasound machines have been allocated to the newly built
clinic of Stepanakert, hospitals in Kapan and Goris, the Central
Military Hospital of the Republic of Armenia’s Defense Ministry,
Yolian Hematology Center, St. Nersess the Great Scientific-Medical
Center, the Oncology Center, and Clinic #1 of Yerevan State Medical
University. The AGBU Ultrasound Training Center will receive the
remaining two machines.

AGBU is the largest Armenian nonprofit organization in the world. It
promotes the Armenian heritage through educational, cultural,
humanitarian, and media projects. For more information on AGBU,
please visit

Condoleezza Rice: Taking the Southern Cypriots into EU was wrong

Hurriyet, Turkey
July 7 2006

With Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul having met this week in Washington,
DC with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as well as President
George W. Bush’s National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, observers
in Ankara agree that the US has struck a more favorable stance on
two matters in particular sensitive to Turkey:

Cyprus and Kirkuk. In the case of Northern Cyprus, for which the
US administration has pledged to help lift isolationary economic
measures currently in place, US Secretary of State Rice said during
Gul’s visit to the US capital, "Accepting Southern Cyprus into the
EU was not right. Had the Greek Cypriots not entered the EU, solving
this problem would be easier."

Gul: Cyprus matter requires patience, persistance, and the correct
approach

Gul, during a press conference in the US capital, confirmed US support
for Turkey on the question of Northern Cyprus, saying "Turkey’s stance
on this matter was understood very well by Rice, and looking at the
"Strategic Vision Document" this can be seen very clearly. We are
insistent and correct in our Cyprus views. The important thing is
to be able to explain our side of this case to the international
community. It is not enough to announce that we are right, and then
to just speak to eachother in Turkey. This matter requires patience,
persistance, and the right approach. We will continue this stance
without giving up any concessions."

On the subject of the Northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, which lies close
to Turkey’s southern borders, Rice told Gul that the US had warned
Kurdish groups in the region, and that if necessary, the United
Nations could be involved in delivering these warnings.

One more subject that was raised during talks between Gul and Rice was
that of the so-called Armenian genocide, a matter which has been at
the forefront of recent international movement. Gul thanked Rice for
preventing Armenian lobbies from being able to pass legal decisions
against Turkey in the US Congress, and noted "For such a law to pass
through Congress would hurt US-Turkish relations."