Author: Kafian Jirair

Itar-Tass, Russia
May 14 2006

Kocharyan praises Armenia’s cooperation with OSCE

YEREVAN, May 13 (Itar-Tass) — Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
praised cooperation with the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Kocharyan met with OSCE Secretary General Mark Peren de Brisambo on
Saturday. Brisambo arrived in Armenia to attend the opening ceremony
for an enterprise at Kaltakhchi, not far from Spitak, which will
recycle a component of missile fuel left over from Soviet times.

Kocharyan and Brisambo discussed the latest events in the OSCE area
and the organisation’s reform.

The president briefed the guest on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement
efforts. He stressed the importance of the fact that these efforts
are taking place within the OSCE framework and an effective format.

The two men also discussed relations between Armenia and Turkey, two
neighboring countries that have no diplomatic relations.

In a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan, Brisambo
lauded the country for its contribution to the OSCE’s work. They also
talked about the programmes implemented by the OSCE Yerevan office
and democratisation processes in Armenia.

Armenian president, OSCE head discuss bilateral cooperation

Arminfo
13 May 06

Yerevan, 13 May: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today met OSCE
Secretary-General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut who is visiting Yerevan
to attend the opening ceremony of a plant to process rocket fuel
components – melange.

The president welcomed the OSCE secretary-general and highly assessed
cooperation with this organization, the presidential press service has
told Arminfo. The sides discussed in detail developments in OSCE
member countries and reforms within the organization. At the request
of the guest, Kocharyan briefed him on the current stage of the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict settlement. He pointed out that the process
is continuing under the aegis of the OSCE and quite an effective
format has been chosen.

The sides also touched on relations between Armenia and Turkey.

A1+

WINDSURFING IN YEREVAN

[07:45 pm] 12 May, 2006

Tomorrow at midday the Yerevan windsurfing club will be opened by the
lake in the park «Vardavar». By now the only possibility to engage in
this sport was to go to the Sevan, but thanks to the newly created
club windsurfing appeared in Yerevan too.

After the opening ceremony the first windsurfing championship of
Yerevan will take place.

Armenian leader reacts “calmly” to speaker’s resignation, spokesman says

Mediamax news agency
12 May 06

Yerevan, 12 May: The Armenian president’s press secretary, Viktor
Sogomonyan, today said that “the head of the state has reacted calmly
to the Law-Governed Country Party’s departure from the ruling
coalition, as well as to the resignation of the speaker of the
Armenian National Assembly.”

Commenting on the president’s attitude to the latest developments over
the Law-Governed Country Party and its leader Artur Bagdasaryan,
Sogomonyan said that “the changes in the composition of the coalition
are an everyday occurrence in any civilized country”.

“In this case nothing extraordinary has happened, especially, if we
take into account the fact that there have been certain disagreements
among members of the coalition, which should have been exacerbated
during the pre-election period. We have been witnessing this over the
last few months,” Sogomonyan said.

Sogomonyan said with certainty that the recent developments “will not
cause a political crisis in the country”.

“The ‘divorce’ was carried out in an open and civilized manner. The
Armenian Republican Party and Armenian Revolutionary
Federation-Dashnaktsutyun will continue to work within the framework
of the political memorandum. The government and the Armenian National
Assembly will continue to work as normal,” Sogomonyan said.

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 12 2006

Update: Armenian speaker quits, party goes into opposition
15:28 | 12/ 05/ 2006

YEREVAN, May 12 (RIA Novosti) – The speaker of Armenia’s parliament
quit his post Friday, and said his party would join the opposition
after leaving the ruling parliamentary coalition.

The Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) party pulled out of the governing
coalition late on Thursday, citing pressure from the authorities.

“Nobody is waiting for us with open arms, either the authorities or
the opposition. But we are going into opposition,” Artur Bagdasaryan
said, adding that Orinats Yerkir had its own set of values and its
own path.

“The path is to create a prosperous and well-to-do Armenia,” he said.

Orinats Yerkir, headed by Bagdasaryan, had been in the governing
coalition together with the Republican Party and the Dashnaktsutyun
party (Armenian Revolutionary Federation) since parliamentary
elections in 2003.

Bagdasaryan also thanked all the political groupings his party had
been working with in the coalition.

“It was a time of failures, achievements and misfortunes,” he said.

Bagdasaryan said his resignation Friday was the direct result of the
party’s decision to leave the coalition.

“I find it immoral to stay on in the speaker’s post at a time when
the Orinats Yerkir party has withdrawn from the ruling coalition,”
Bagdasaryan said. “I think all the party’s members working in the
government should leave as well.”

In the past ten days, nine parliamentarians – all respected
businessmen – have left the party in disagreement with the faction’s
policy. Experts said they sought to deprive the party of funding
ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for 2007, and to force
Bagdasaryan to resign.

The speaker said he would file his resignation May 22 at a
parliamentary session, the Novosti-Armenia agency said. The
resignation must be confirmed or rejected within the next five days.

Bagdasaryan said he could have held a vote of confidence on his
resignation instead.

“However, I will not do this because I think it would be better and
more moral to leave decently,” he said said.

SESSION OF RULING COALITION BOARD COMPLETED IN ARMENIAN PRESIDENT’S
RESIDENCE

Yerevan, May 12. ArmInfo. The session of the ruling coalition Board,
held in the residence of the Armenia’s President Robert Kocharyan, was
completed several minutes ago. The leader of the “Orinats Yerkir”
party, the Parliament speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan, the representative
of the “Dashnaktsutiun” party’s Supreme Body, the Head of the
Parliament Commission for Foreign Affairs Armen Rustamyan, as well as
the Republican party’s leader, the country’s Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan participated in the session, it became known to the Arminfo
correspondent from the Parliament sources.

According to the source, the current situation in the “Orinats Yerkir”
party (OY) and in the ruling coalition was discussed at the
session. To be reminded, the OY party’s governing Board had made a
decision the day before about the party’s leaving the ruling
coalition, the resignation of the Parliament speaker Arthur
Baghdasaryan and recall of his ministers from the government. Ten
deputies-businessmen have left the OY faction for the last several
days. The Minister of City Planning Aram Haroutiunyan also announced
today about his leaving the OY. The OY party explains the last
processes by pressure of the governmental circles upon the OY members
because-of Baghdasaryan’s rough speeches concerning foreign political
issues of NATO-European Union cooperation, as well as party’s
criticism of the 2001-2003 state property privatization program. It is
unknown yet what decisions the meeting participants made.

ARMENIA IN CONTEXT OF IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM: “THERE CANNOT BE SO EVIDENT CONNECTION”

Regnum, Russia
May 11 2006

“A stage-by-stage and, which is most important, well-considered
settlement of the Iranian problem could encourage easing tension in the
world on the whole. And, on the contrary, any deviations can provoke
a completely unexpected deterioration of new conflicts including the
one in Nagorno Karabakh,” chair of comparative politics department
of Moscow State Institute of International relations of Foreign
Affairs Ministry of the Russian Federation (MGIMO), Mikhail Ilyin,
PhD, has said to a REGNUM correspondent.

According to him, the Iranian nuclear program is “a complicated issue
that influences world development ion the whole, various countries
and regions, and moreover, Transcaucasus, and Armenia, which is a
close neighbor of Iran.” However, talking about the risk of Armenia
becoming a hostage to Iranian nuclear ambitions, Mikhail Ilyin said
that “there cannot be so evident connection” in this.

Earlier today, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei approved
decision made by the UN Security Council to postpone the issue of
sanctions against Iran.

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet:

PRESS RELEASE
May 11, 2006
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

ARMENIAN AND HELLENIC CAUCUS LEADERS JOIN
TOGETHER IN OPPOSING MISSILE SALE TO TURKEY

— Reps. Bilirakis, Pallone, Radanovich, and Maloney
Warn that SLAM-ER Missile Transfer Will Undermine
Cyprus Peace Process and Threaten Armenia

WASHINGTON, DC – The Co-Chairpersons of the Hellenic Caucus, Reps.
Michael Bilirakis (R-FL) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), were joined
today by Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and
Armenian Genocide Resolution lead sponsor George Radanovich (R-CA)
in calling on Congressional leaders to reexamine a controversial
$162 million U.S. missile sale to Turkey.

In letters addressed to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the
House Armed Services and International Relations Committees, the
four legislators voiced their “deep concern and opposition to the
application currently before your Committee for the foreign
military sale to Turkey of 50 AGM 84K Joint Standoff Land Attack
Missiles – Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) and associated equipment and
services.”

Noting that Turkey has enforced an illegal blockade against Armenia
for the last twelve years, provides support to Azerbaijan against
Nagorno Karabagh, and refuses to normalize relations with Armenia,
they stressed that, “there are no safeguards in place to ensure
that the transfer of these advanced new weapons to Turkey will not
be used to threaten Armenia.” Commenting on the presence of more
than 40,000 Turkish military troops in the Turkish-occupied area of
Cyprus, the legislators argued that the sale would “exacerbate the
already existing military imbalance over Cyprus,” and “worsen the
uneasy, insecure and disadvantaged position of the Republic of
Cyprus in terms of its defense and weapons proliferation.” They
closed the letter by requesting a “thorough reexamination of all
factors pertaining to the sale” of the missiles to Turkey.

“We join with our friends at the American Hellenic Institute in
thanking Representatives Bilirakis, Pallone, Maloney, and
Radanovich in calling for a careful review of this ill-advised and
destabilizing arms sale to an already over-armed Turkish military,”
said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “Neither U.S.
interests nor American values are served by providing advanced
offensive weapons to a government that used U.S. arms to invade
Cyprus in 1974, transferred weapons to Azerbaijan during the
Nagorno Karabagh conflict, regularly invades Greek airspace over
the Aegean Sea, and has used American military equipment in
committing human rights abuses against its own citizens.”

The full text of the Congressional letter is provided below.

#####

Dear Mr. Chairman:

We are writing to express our deep concern and opposition to the
application currently before your Committee for the foreign
military sale to Turkey of 50 AGM 84K Joint Standoff Land Attack
Missiles – Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) and associated equipment and
services.

Considering the presence of more than 40,000 Turkish military
troops in the Turkish-occupied area of Cyprus, this particular sale
– if materialized – will exacerbate the already existing military
imbalance over Cyprus. It will worsen the uneasy, insecure and
disadvantaged position of the Republic of Cyprus in terms of its
defense and weapons proliferation.

We also believe that U.S. approval of this sale will negatively
influence the ongoing efforts of the Administration to encourage a
negotiated settlement of the Cyprus question. Support for the sale
could be perceived as adversely affecting our third-party role in
helping to bring the interested parties together.

Turkey has also has enforced an illegal blockade against Armenia
for the last twelve years, continues to provide support to
Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabagh, and refuses to normalize
relations with Armenia. There are no safeguards in place to ensure
that the transfer of these advanced new weapons to Turkey will not
be used to threaten Armenia.

This potential sale sends the wrong political message at the wrong
time to Turkey and the neighboring countries. In a time of
delicate diplomatic balance by the United States in that region of
the world, the sale of this particular weapon to Turkey runs the
real danger of being seen by the other countries of concern as a
politically insensitive move.

We therefore request a thorough reexamination of all factors
pertaining to the sale of the cruise missiles to Turkey.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[signed]
Michael Bilirakis
Co-Chair, Hellenic Caucus

[signed]
Frank Pallone
Co-Chair, Armenian Caucus

[signed]
Carolyn Maloney
Co-Chair, Hellenic Caucus

[signed]
George Radanovich
Member, Armenian Caucus

ARMETEL OBLIGED TO ANNUL PAYMENTS OF SUBSCRIBERS FOR ERROR INTERNATIONAL PHONE CALLS VIA INTERNET

Noyan Tapan
May 10 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. At the May 5 sitting, the RA Public
Services Regulatory Commission discussed the issue of the bills sent by
the ArmenTel company to its subscribers against the use of phones for
Internet access services. The commission decided to accept ArmenTel’s
proposal, according to which the company expresses a willingness
to annul the payments to be made by complaining subscribers against
international phone calls made by error while using the Internet in
the period from November 2004 to April 1, 2006. In case such payments
have already been made, the company is prepared to register these sums
as a prepayment for fixed-line phone services. NT correspondent was
informed from the commission that ArmenTel was instructed to inform
all the indicated subscribers about the decision until May 13, as
well as to consider the possibility of putting on this list all those
subscribers who filed written complaints to ArmenTel in the period
of April 1 to May 5, 2006. The commission also obliged ArmenTEl to
submit, within a month, proposals concerning the terms of providing
a new additional service, by which, based on written applications of
subscribers, the provision of phone services will be restricted in
case of exceeding the sum indicated in the application. ArmenTel is
obliged to inform subscribers once a month through the mass media about
measures aimed at avoiding undesirable or error international calls.

LA TURQUIE RAPPELLE SES AMBASSADEURS A PARIS ET OTTAWA
Sophie Shihab

Le Monde
10 mai 2006

Turquie Genocide Armenien

La question armenienne empoisonne de nouveau les relations de
la Turquie avec la France et le Canada. Ankara a annonce, lundi 8
mai, le rappel ” pour consultations pour une courte duree ” de ses
ambassadeurs a Paris et a Ottawa.

Depuis dix jours, Ankara mettait en garde contre la probable
adoption, le 18 mai au Parlement francais, d’une proposition de loi
penalisant tout deni du genocide armenien d’un an de prison et de
fortes amendes. Le ministre turc des affaires etrangères, Abdullah
Gul, avait d’abord interroge son homologue francais, fin avril,
pour savoir s’il serait embastille a sa prochaine entree en France.

La Turquie nie officiellement le ” genocide ” de 1915, meme si le
sujet n’est plus tabou. Le president du Parlement turc a rappele
a son propre homologue francais que ” l’histoire doit etre laissee
aux historiens ” et que la France, ” qui joue un rôle eminent pour
etendre les droits de l’homme dans le monde “, ne devrait pas voter
une loi ” limitant la liberte de pensee “. Enfin, le porte-parole de
la diplomatie turque a parle des ” dommages irreparables ” que son
adoption causerait aux relations franco-turques.

Ces mises en garde n’ayant produit aucun effet susceptible d’arreter
l’adoption de la loi, Ankara a rappele son ambassadeur. Au Canada,
le premier ministre, Stephen Harper, avait ” consterne ” Ankara en
disant qu’il partageait l’opinion de son Parlement qui, en 2005,
avait reconnu le genocide armenien.

Les deux ambassadeurs sont censes ” regagner leurs postes a la fin
des consultations “. Mais les medias citent des diplomates turcs
selon lesquels ” Ankara est decidee a frapper, s’il le faut, plus
fort qu’en 2001 “, quand fut votee, en France, la loi reconnaissant
le genocide. Des contrats avec Thomson, Alcatel et Bouygues furent
alors annules, de meme que des actions universitaires et culturelles.

Les importations de produits francais furent freinees, voire
bloquees. Certains taxis affichaient meme des pancartes : ” pas de
clients francais “.

Cette fois-ci, l’image de la France est deja celle du pays ” qui mène
l’opposition a l’entree en Europe ” de la Turquie. Ses dirigeants,
entres en periode electorale dans un contexte de nationalisme
croissant, seront tentes par la rupture avec une France dont les
dirigeants sont ” prets a tout pour gagner les voix de leurs 400
000 Armeniens “, comme le repètent les medias turcs. Murat Yetkin,
editorialiste de Radikal, semble isole en relevant le dommage que
s’inflige Ankara avec ses menaces d’embargo contre les pays, en nombre
croissant, qui reconnaissent le genocide.

–Boundary_(ID_zOF/vLqf/tTQw9RIEgWLvQ)- –