Author: Kafian Jirair

PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
7 Vazgen Sargsian Street
Yerevan 0010, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 58.08.77, 52.22.38
Fax: (+374 – 10) 54.38.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:

May 23, 2006

The Subsequent Impediment Against Heritage Party

Yerevan–On May 20, Heritage Party Chairman Raffi K. Hovannisian accompanied
by high-ranking party members was paying a visit to the Armavir region to
hold consultations with members of the party’s local divisions. At his first
stop, at Miasnikyan, it became apparent that the visit was being watched by
the local police department. Before the meeting, the law enforcement bodies
had questioned Heritage Party’s local representative about the objective and
time of the visit, about the members of the visiting delegation, and had
insisted that they be informed as soon as the delegation arrived.

The meeting at Miasnikian was not over when word came from the town of
Armavir. There, party’s local staff member Levon Margarian was taken into
custody. He was told that the local law enforcement body knew about the
forthcoming visit of Raffi Hovannisian and the other senior party members.
The police demanded that he make sure that the meeting did not take place
otherwise they would use force to disrupt it.

Upon arrival at Armavir, the Heritage Party leadership saw the local police
units standing on the sidewalk across the party’s regional division
headquarters. It was apparent that they were called to intimidate and ensure
that the meeting did not take place. This notwithstanding, the get-together
between the party leadership and local residents did take place. Afterward,
Raffi Hovannisian went to the local police precinct and informed of his wish
to meet with the district police chief, Colonel Gevorgian. Initially, he was
told that this would be arranged in 15 minutes, but later he was informed
that Gevorgian had convened an urgent meeting and could not meet him. Talks
with the deputy police chief or any other person in command were also ruled
out under the same pretext. Subsequently, the request for a formal
explanation was submitted to the officer on duty, Lieutenant Melkonian.

It is clear that all this was centrally orchestrated. On May 22, the
executive board of the Heritage Party forwarded a letter to Armenia’s Police
Chief Haik Harutiunian requesting him to give an explanation and assessment
of these unlawful and unconstitutional acts.

Throughout his visits Raffi K. Hovannisian was accompanied by chairman
Hovsep Khurshudian of the Heritage Party’s Regulatory Commission, board
member Gevorg Kalenchian, and political secretary Vardan Khachatrian. In Mr.
Khachatrian’s words, the party members expect that “the police uncover the
architects of this illegal act and give a legal evaluation of what took
place.”

Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land. Its
central headquarters are located at 7 Vazgen Sargsian Street, Yerevan
375010, Armenia, with telephone contact at (374-10) 580.877, fax at (374-10)
543.897, and email at [email protected]

TURKISH PARADE EXCITEMENT IN US

Zaman, Turkey
May 22 2006

The Turkish Day parade, which was first held in reaction to attacks
in the 1980s against some Turkish diplomats from ASALA, an Armenian
terror organization, celebrated its 25th anniversary over the weekend.

New York hosted the “Turkish parade” and attracted the largest ever
turnout of Turkish people in the United States.

Thousands of people gathered in the Madison Street and Dag Hammarskjold
Park with Turkish flags in their hands.

The parade, which is held every third Sunday of May, welcomed people
from all over the US.

The Turkish people-either independent or associated with an association
of foundation-from Rochester to south New Jersey, from Ohio to Florida
joined the march.

The Turks later held a celebration in Dag Hammarskjold Park. Mehmet Ali
Sahin, the Minister of State and the Deputy Prime Minister, said he was
very happy to see Turks here living together in peace and solidarity.

Omer Onhon, the Turkish counsel general, expressed how deeply affected
and touched he was by the parade, indicating his 4-year term would
be ending in the upcoming months.

Zaman Stand Draws Attention

Zaman was, as always, there to support the parade with a display stand.

Its colorful stand received much welcome from the public.

Thousands of people were given a copy of Zaman for free.

Yuruyus was another newspaper that attracted great public attention.

Yuruyus wants its news articles to be an exploration of the Turk’s
history in the United States.

People were also informed about the books that Zaman has so far
distributed.

NA VICE SPEAKER: FOR TURKEY, BLACKMAIL IS A KEY POLICY

Yerkir
19.05.2006 16:19

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau
member and National Assembly Vice Speaker Vahan Hovhannisian said on
Friday that the derailing of the Armenian Genocide bill in the French
Parliament is the continuation of Turkey’s blackmailing policies.

“Blackmailing has been the main method in Turkey’s politics for the
past 250 years,” Hovhannisian said. “Therefore, it didn’t come as a
surprise to us.”

He added that the Turkish reaction to our foreign policies is a sign
that our policies are working.

“But I believe that France cannot delay this issue forever,”
Hovhannisian went on saying. “I think, France, as a progressive
European nation, will return to this issue, and we will succeed
this time.”

FIRST CONSIGNMENT OF RUSSIAN MILITARY EQUIPMENT SENT TO ARMENIA
By Aghavni Harutyunian

AZG Armenian Daily
18/05/2006

Today, part of the Russian military equipment will leave Akhalkalak,
Georgia, to reach Armenia. In accordance with the agreement of March
31 2006, the Russian military motorcade will head to Armenia from 12th
military station in Batumi. Military tracks loaded with communication
facilities, engineering equipment etc will head for the 102d Russian
base in Gyumri.

According to Georgian media, 6 echelons of Russian equipment will
set off for Armenia from Batumi.

AZERBAIJAN TO RECEIVE SOUTHERN PART OF IRAN, AND ARMENIA – NAGORNO KARABAKH?

Regnum, Russia
May 18 2006

Launch of military actions against Iran would necessarily destabilize
the situation in the South Caucasian region, Head of International
Relations Problems Department at the Political and Military Analysis
Institute Sergey Markedonov has told to a REGNUM correspondent.

At the same time, he treated skeptically the prospect of military
actions in Iran. “Launch of a military operation in the Islamic
republic would force the US to transform all its military system. The
war in Iraq has shown that the US Army formed on the basis of contracts
cannot endure two wars,” noted Sergey Markedonov. “Iran is a large
country with 70 million population. Taking into account this as well,
the war is not profitable for Americans, as the US will have to switch
to draft and mobilization, and American society is not ready for it,”
believes the analyst.

According to him, in case of a military operation against Iran, Georgia
would support this campaign, as it has already chosen a pro-American
position. “Positions of both Azerbaijan and Armenia on this issue are
very complicated. Ilham Aliyev’s behavior in Washington has shown
Azerbaijan’s concern, because, if it supports the USA, Iran would
strike Azerbaijan in response,” the expert noted adding that in theory
a variant of exchange is possible. “If the operation is a success,
Azerbaijan gets southern part of Iran, and Armenia receives Karabakh,
but it is only theoretical,” concluded Sergey Markedonov.

POLITICIAN CONSIDERS POSSIBLE THAT MOVEMENT LIKE GEORGIAN AND UKRAINIAN ONES STARTS IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
May 18 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The innerpolitical developments taking
place in Armenia during the recent days revealed the situation existing
in the country. Politician Stepan Grigorian, the Chairman of the
Globalization and Regional Cooperation Analytical Center expressed such
an opinion in the interview to the Noyan Tapan correspondent. According
to him, the 2003 elections took place with serious violations, and
in the conditions of having no support by the society, the coalition
was mainly created to keep the power. According to Grigorian, the
coalition was formed by parties too different from each other: “The
Dashnaktsutiun is a classic revolutionary party, the Republican is
a classic corrumpants’ party, and the “Orinats Yerkir” (Country of
Law) is a populist party.” The foreign political orientation of the
parties is different as well: if, according to him, Dashnaktsutiun
is exclusively aimed to Russia, then Republican and “Orinats Yerkir”
accepts the necessity of the cooperation with Europe as well. According
to the politician, the coalition having no ideological warp was
to break down sooner of later. And if National Assembly Speaker,
“Orinats Yerkir” party Chairman Artur Baghdasarian got guarantees from
the West, he may take such a step. Grigorian considers such a variant
more possible. According to him, Western countries are anxious with
the low level of democracy in Armenia, and even more with the absence
of the political alternative. According to the politician, viewpoints
of the parliamentary opposition do not differ in any way from the
authorities’ viewpoints in issues of either Karabakh settlement or
foreign political orientation. “For this reason, such an idea might
be born in the West, but it’s implementation was not possible withot
Artur Baghdasarian’s personal qualities,” he mentioned. According to
the speaker, the OYK must refuse some ideas raised by it before, which
are connected with establishment of social justice as the European
integration means that a liberal democracy must be established in
the country. If breaking down of the coalition brings to general
innerpolitical crisis, it will depend on Artur Baghdasarian’s future
activities, from the issue if the OYK really becomes opposition
and is successive in the issue of integration to the EU and NATO,
leads a principal struggle against corruption. Much depends on the
issue with which political forces the OYK will cooperate at the
Parliament and out of the Parliament. If it unites with the ANM,
a part of the “Ardaroutiun” (Justice) faction, the “Zharangutiun”
(Heritage) party, then, according to the politician, it is possible
that a movement like the one in Georgia and Ukraine starts in Armenia,
taking into account, that Sahakashvili and Yushchenko were also members
of the rulling team. Grigorian does not exclude that Defence Minister
Serge Sargsian has some role in the affair of creation of the party,
but it is not important now. According to him, Artur Baghdasarian
has a great political experience. “As it is known, he was a member
of the ANM faction (“Hanrapetutiun” (Republic), when ANM was the
authorities. I think he oriented well during the power shift taken
place in the country in 97-98,” the politician mentioned. According to
him, then Baghdasarian found that idea based on which it was possible
to create a party, and there are many people now as well who believe
his promises connected with solution of social problems.

RUSSIA GOING TO BUILD FIRST NPP IN TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.05.2006 16:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Atomstroyexport Russian company announced of the
wish to build the first nuclear power plant in Turkey. The province
of the port city of Sinop on the Black Sea was chosen to host the
plant. A representative of the Turkish government told Reuters that
11 companies submitted their projects. According to the source, no
tender will be held. The Turkish Ministry of Energy will choose the
best project and introduce it in the government. The construction
will be started next year despite numerous protests of environment
protection activists and inhabitants of the region.

Observers say that Turkey wishes to free its energy system from gas
deliveries from Russia and Iran.

Yesterday a Turkish official expressed regret that Turkey falls behind
of other states in nuclear energy utilization, reported BBC.

VARTAN OSKANYAN TO MAKE A SPEECH AT COUNCIL OF EUROPE FOREIGN MINISTERS’ COMMITTEE SESSION

Panorama.am
12:45 17/05/06

Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan will make a speech May 19
at the Council of Europe FM Ministers’ Committee 116 session with
a launch tomorrow in Strasburg. Oskanyan will leave for Strasburg
tomorrow to participate in the event.

According to FM press services, Oskanyan will hold a non-official
meeting with Terry Davis, CE Secretary General together with other
foreign ministers. The meeting will be devoted to the status of
Kosovo. Our interest is whether there will be any reflections upon
Nagorno Karabakh conflict regulation. It is expected that Oskanyan
will meet Azeri foreign minister E.

Mamediarov and OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen in Strasburg.

Oskanyan will make two more trips to USA and Canada after
Strasburg. The head of the Armenian foreign agency will meet the
Armenian community there. They will discuss 3rd conference on
Armenia-Diaspora relations to be held in Yerevan September 18-20.

Oskanyan will fly back to Yerevan on May 24.

OSCE MINSK GROUP COCHAIRMEN TO VISIT YEREVAN LATER IN MAY

Armenpress
May 16 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 16, ARMENPRESS; Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian
said today the OSCE Minsk group cochairman-Yury Merzlyakov (Russia),
Bernard Fassier (France) and Steven Mann (USA) will be visiting
Yerevan on May 25-26.

Oskanian said the cochairman had already sent their new proposals
to the conflicting parties. He said the Azerbaijani reaction would
be clear after his anticipated meeting with Azeri foreign minister
Mamedyarov in Strasbourg later this week. Oskanian said proceeding
from the situation and the complexity of the Karabakh conflict it
was impossible to have the same approach towards any document.

“Any document that is put on the table contains both positive and
negative aspects which have to be elaborated in the course of talks,”
he told journalists. Oskanian said the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan could meet next month or later given a successful outcome
of his meeting with Mamedyarov and Minsk group cochairmen’s visit to
the region.

PARLIAMENTARY HEARINGS ON “KOLTSO” OPERATION TO BE HELD IN NKR

ArmRadio.am
15.05.2006 10:52

Parliamentary hearings on “Koltso operation: The violations of
Soviet Azerbaijan and Soviet Union authorities against the Armenian
population of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjunct territories” will be held
today in NKR. The hearings are dedicated to the 15th anniversary of
“Koltso” operation. It was in April-June 1991 that the Soviet troops
forcefully displaced the peaceful Armenian population.