Author: Kafian Jirair

OSCE MG HOPES FOR CREATING “NEW OPPORTUNITIES” IN KARABAKH TALKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.04.2006 22:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group intend to visit
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict region in May, OSCE MG French co-chair
Bernard Fassier stated in Baku April 11. Co-chairs’ trips to the
region aim at possible rapprochement of the parties to conflict,
the mediator said. He hoped that the visit will convey an impulse
to the new phase of talks. Last year the mediators did much, but
it was not managed to attain progress at the Rambouillet meeting of
the presidents, Fassier remarked. He expressed co-chairs’ hopes for
creation of “new opportunities” in the talks, which will pave way
for new meetings of the presidents.

The French co-chair stated that he had arrived in Baku with specific
proposals, but he could not reveal these. There is nothing especially
new about them, he added. In his words, The MG can only provide new
ideas to help attain peace. The responsibility to find a middle line
at the talks lies on the parties of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
Fassier underscored. In the former half of the day Fassier had talks
with Azeri FM Elmar Mammadyarov. The meeting was held behind closed
doors and no statements were made after it, reports Trend.

34 ISSUES, 6 INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS ON DRAFT AGENDA OF COMING FOUR-DAYS SITTINGS OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Noyan Tapan
Apr 10 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 10, NOYAN TAPAN. Drafts to the decision on making
additions to the agenda of the 7th session of the 3rd convention of the
RA National Assembly and to the agenda of the April 10-13 four-days
sittings of the National Assembly were discussed at the NA working
consultation on April 7. 8 drafts are involved in the additions
part of the agenda of the 7th session of the NA 3rd convention. 34
issues and 6 international agreements are put on the draft agenda
of the coming four-days sittings of the National Assembly. As Noyan
Tapan was informed by the NA Public Relations Department, the draft
decision on making additions to the agenda of the 7th session of the
3rd convention of the Parliament and the draft agenda of the April
10-13 four-days sittings of the National Assembly are to be affirmed
at the April 10 NA sitting.

NO HOUSE NO PROBLEMS

A1+
[04:19 pm] 11 April, 2006

There are no more dwelling houses in the adjacent part of Amiryan
and Buzand streets. Some of the former dwellers could get flats;
others found a shelter at their relatives’ and acquaintances’. And
what about the Buzand residents? They informed us that they are
waiting for the answer of the Constitutional Court.

“If they don’t start the trial next week we shall continue
our hunger-strike. But this time we shall do it in front of the
Constitutional Court instead of the Human Rights Protector’s Office. We
don’t organize strikes in front of the Government premises as we
find it senseless. Our matter can be solved only by the court,” says
the former inhabitant of Buzand Nuneh Varduni. Another inhabitant of
the same street Sedrak Baghdasaryan assumes that they will establish
justice due to the Constitutional Court, “And why not; one day our
country will become a country of law.”

The majority if the residents still continue their strikes and will
continue, as they say, “Our officials declare without pondering that
90% of the dwellers are interested in the compensation. But it is
not true.

Judging from their words one can say we are ready to sell the country
if we are given more money. Money is not vital, it is secondary. If
there is no law in the country and the law is only for ordinary people
that country is doomed to fall.”

Let us remind you that the Human Rights Protector Armen Harutyunyan
lodged a claim to the Constitutional Court on the issue of Northern
and Main Avenues inhabitants but so far his claim hasn’t been upheld.

‘The Armenian Genocide’ screened at Congress library

07.04.2006 16:27

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – `The Armenian Genocide’ documentary was shown on
April 4 in its first public screening at the US Congress library. The
screening was intitiatied by Congressman Adam Schiff.

Following the screening, Armenian Ambassador to United States Tatul
Margarian thanked Schiff and praised the film’s producer Andrew
Goldberg.

The one-hour documentary will be aired throughout United States
beginning April 17 on PBS.

EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE IN SOUTH CAUCASUS: EU DOES NOT INTEND TO CHANGE FORMAT OF OSCE MG

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
April 6 2006

YEREVAN, April 6. /ARKA/. The EU does not intend to change the
format of the OSCE Minsk Group (MG) engaged in settlement of Karabakh
conflict, as the newly-appointed EU Special Representative in South
Caucasus Peter Semneby told journalists during the press conference
in Yerevan.

In his words, the OSCE MG format and its activities on settlement of
Karabakh conflict quite satisfy the EU.

“EU is ready to assist Armenia and Azerbaijan in establishment of
relations after coming to a peaceful agreement”, Semneby emphasized.

In his turn the RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Vartan Oskanian
emphasized that recent stirring up of USA in the negotiation process
makes an impression that official Washington intends to act beyond
the format of the OSCE MG.

However Oskanian emphasized that “it is absolutely not like that”.

“All peace-talks around Karabakh conflict, with American side as well,
are within format of the Minsk Group”, Oskanian stated.

U.S. WILL PASS ON RIGHTS COUNCIL, FOR NOW
By Nick Wadhams
Associated Press Writer

AP
Thursday April 6, 2006 7:16 PM

UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The United States will not seek a seat on the
new U.N. Human Rights Council but will likely run next year and pledges
to work with the new body, the State Department announced Thursday.

“Our nation has led and must continue to lead at the U.N. and around
the world. We will continue to do so,” State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack said after announcing in Washington that the U.S. will not
be a candidate in next month’s election.

Observers said the United States decided against running because it
wants to see how the new body takes shape and amid concerns it would
not receive the necessary 96 votes to be elected to the council.

The council will replace the highly politicized and often criticized
Human Rights Commission, which was discredited in recent years because
some countries with terrible human rights records used their membership
to protect one another from condemnation. Commission members in recent
years included Sudan, Libya, Zimbabwe and Cuba.

Elections to the new 47-member council will be held May 9 and its
first meeting will take place June 19 in Geneva.

So far, 35 countries have declared their candidacy to be members of
the new council, including Cuba and Iran.

The United States was virtually alone in voting against the council
when the U.N. General Assembly approved its creation last month. U.S.

officials said not enough was done to prevent abusive countries from
becoming members.

Officials also raised the fear of a possible U.S. defeat during a
U.S. National Security Council meeting earlier this week, said one
person who was at the meeting but insisted on anonymity because it
was secret.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan “is obviously disappointed,” U.N.

spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

“However, we very much hope that the U.S. will continue to be an active
player in the defense of universal human rights and support the work
of the new Human Rights Council as it goes ahead, and we also very
much hope they will participate in the elections next year,” he said.

A key sticking point during the negotiations had been the U.S.

insistence that members be elected by two-thirds of the General
Assembly, not the absolute majority as is required.

Yet concern had grown since the council was created that the United
States, stung by criticism over the Iraq invasion and its handling
of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere in its war on terror,
might not win a majority vote.

“It’s unfortunate that the Bush administration’s disturbing human
rights record means that the United States would hardly have been a
shoo-in for election to the council,” said Kenneth Roth, executive
director of Human Rights Watch. “Today’s decision not to run seems
like an effort to make a virtue of necessity.”

Many members of the Congress – including Henry Hyde, the Republican
chairman of the House International Relations Committee, and Tom
Lantos, the body’s ranking Democrat – had urged the United States to
join. “Today’s announcement projects a picture of profound weakness in
U.S. diplomacy,” Lantos said Thursday in a statement. “It should not
have been a heavy lift for our diplomats in New York and in foreign
capitals to recruit the necessary 96 affirmative votes to seat the
United States in the new council.”

Countries serve a maximum of two three-year terms. Then they must
leave the council before running again.

Bolton said earlier that the United States will work with other member
states “to make the council as strong and effective as it can be.”

The U.S. mission to the United Nations in New York had no comment.

Human rights groups had urged the United States to seek a seat on the
council, saying that any such body that did not have the U.S. voice in
it could be weakened. By not seeking a seat, the United States also
will be left out of decisions that will shape the council’s work,
they said.

Under the rules for the new council, any U.N. member can announce
its candidacy any time until the vote is completed. Members of the
council must be elected by an absolute majority of the 191 U.N.

states – 96 members. The United States lobbied unsuccessfully to have
the new council elected by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly
to keep out rights abusers.

To ensure global representation, the resolution gives Africa and
Asia 13 seats each, Latin America and the Caribbean eight seats,
Western nations seven seats and Eastern Europe six seats.

Algeria is the only African candidate so far. The Asian candidates to
date are Bangladesh, China, India, Iran, Jordan, Pakistan and South
Korea. There are 13 candidates for the six East European seats –
Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia and Ukraine. Six
countries are seeking the eight Latin American and Caribbean seats –
Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru.

Eight countries who have announced their candidacies for the seven
Western seats – Britain, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Portugal and Switzerland.

If the United States had decided to run, it would have been running
in this group.

The council was endorsed by key human rights groups, a dozen Nobel
Peace Prize winners including former President Carter, and 170
countries who voted “yes” on the resolution – including a surprise
endorsement from Cuba.

—

Associated Press writer Anne Gearan in Washington contributed to
this story.

MP SAYS CUSTOMS OFFICE INFLICTS MILLIONS OF LOSSES ON STATE BUDGET

Lragir.am
06 April 06

“The customs committee is an organization which permanently violates
the law. It is common knowledge that violation of the law is a
crime. Hence, the head of the customs committee is an offender,”
states MP Tatul Manaseryan.

To make this statement he gave a press conference April 6, and he also
offered reasons for his statement. The Member of Parliament assures
that certain importers of certain products are privileges for the head
of the Customs Committee. “Certain importers pay only half of customs
duties, others do not pay anything,” says Tatul Manaseryan. He made
an inquiry for data on payment of customs duties for some products
imported to Armenia. On April 6 the Customs Committee was to answer,
but failed to.

“Only in import of coffee the illegal actions of the customs inflict
losses of 10 million dollars annually on the state budget.

For instance, Royal Armenia pays 1.8 dollar, and other 9 companies
importing coffee of the same quality and origin pay twice as less. I
am not asking why Royal Armenia pays more. I am asking why the others
pay less,” says Tatul Manaseryan.

The center of the next statements against the head of the Customs
Committee was again Royal Armenia. According to him, the head of the
Customs Committee thus takes revenge for he was not offered a bribe.

“They demanded a bribe from the president of the company Gagik
Hakobyan, and he refused to bribe the customs committee. Now the
head of the customs committee Armen Avetisyan takes revenge,” says
the member of parliament.

According to him, Armen Avetisyan’s revenge is taken by the National
Security Service, and the president of Royal Armenia Gagik Hakobyan
and manager Aram Ghazaryan are illegally kept in custody for six
months now. “The decision on the custody was prolonged three times for
groundless reasons. No information can be obtained, it is impossible
to visit them. The audit of the company’s record revealed nothing. The
head of the customs committee organized a false attempt against his
life to charge Gagik Hakobyan but there was no evidence. The case
was dismissed,” said Tatul Manaseryan.

He said under the court ruling, the customs committee was to pay a fine
to Royal Armenia but it did not. He has applied to the Supervision
Service of the President, the Audit Chamber of the National Assembly
and the ombudsman, and on April 6 he will send the materials to the
Head Public Prosecutor.

Besides coffee and the example of Royal Armenia Tatul Manaseryan
balances his stricture with other examples. Particularly, he says,
according to the data of the customs committee, presently petrol
imported to Armenia I is two times less than in 1998 and 1999.

“Whereas the import of cars has doubled, and the petrol supplied for
the official car pool on the state budget has doubled against the
previous years,” says the MP.

According to him, the illegal import of petrol inflicts losses of
55 million dollars on the budget of Armenia. And the total of losses
that the budget of Armenia annually suffers is equal to 1.5 per cent
of the GDP. “I call the Office of Public Prosecutor to focus attention
on this,” says the member of parliament, although he is not convinced
that the Office of Public Prosecutor will do.

He presents a fact from the World Bank report that 46 drams out of
100 drams paid to the Customs Committee for import and export is
bribe. He urged the law enforcement bodies to accuse the experts of
the World Bank of slander against the state governmental body if their
report does not correspond to the reality. And if it does correspond
to the reality, let them accuse the head of the customs committee,
says Tatul Manaseryan.

THE LEVEL OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH DECLINED IN ARMENIA

Panorama.am
14:36 04/04/06

“In the course of the last 4 years the level of the freedom of speech
has considerably declined,” announced the president of Yerevan
Press Club Boric Navasardyan at the press conference today. As he
said the closing down of “A1+” TV Company was a turning-point for
Armenia. Moreover, in the last 4 days no power or political body was
formed in the country to promote freedom of speech to some extant.

In his turn the manager of the closed down TV Company Mesrop Movsisyan
noticed that Armenian TV Companies couldn’t understand what freedom of
speech really means in general and what it means for the company from
commercial point of view. “TV Companies have to compromise in order
to solve certain commercial problems, yet often times the compromise
is the idea of freedom of speech,” M. Movsisyan mentioned. Talking
about censorship B. Navasardyan mentioned that there is a drop of level
even concerning Russian information-analytical programs, as there is a
hidden censorship as well. As he thinks great hopes are cherished for
the positive judgment of European Court of Human Rights. To remind,
at present the European Court of Human Rights is dealing with the
appeal of “A1+”.

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
PACE Spring session focuses on relations between the Council of Europe
and the European Union

Strasbourg, 04.04.2006 – Relations between the Council of Europe and the
European Union will be a major theme of the Spring session of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which takes
place in Strasbourg from 10 to 13 April 2006. The Assembly will be
addressed on Tuesday by:

* Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who will present his
report on this subject
* Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, representing the
chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers

* The Federal Chancellor of Austria Wolfgang Schüssel, President of
the Council of the European Union
* European Commission President José Manuel Barroso

Later in the week, on Thursday, parliamentarians will debate a
memorandum of understanding between the two European organisations as
well as the specific issue of the EU’s new Fundamental Rights Agency.
Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis and the Chairperson of
the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Elmar Brok will take
part in the debate.

A possible urgent debate on stopping trafficking in women before the
FIFA World Cup, as well as debates on the human rights of members of the
armed forces and combating the resurrection of nazi ideology, are among
other highlights. Representatives of the Palestinian Legislative Council
and the Israeli Knesset have been invited to a debate on the situation
in the Middle East.

Other invited guests include Vlado Buchkovski, Prime Minister of “the
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, and Thomas Hammarberg, the new
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, who will address the
Assembly for the first time. Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister
Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu will present the communication from the Committee
of Ministers to the Assembly and will answer parliamentarians’
questions.

Debates are also due on the place of mother tongue in school education,
refugees and displaced persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, the
social reintegration of prisoners and poverty and the fight against
corruption in Council of Europe member states.

Below is the draft order of business, updated to incorporate proposed
changes. The Assembly will decide on its final order of business at the
opening of the session.

Monday 10 April (3 p.m.)
* Opening statement by René van der Linden, President of the Assembly
* Examination of new credentials
* Election of the Vice-President of the Assembly with respect to Georgia

* Progress report of the Bureau of the Assembly and the Standing
Committee
* Statement by Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for
Human Rights
* The place of mother tongue in school education
< k=3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC10837.htm>

* Poverty and the fight against corruption in Council of Europe member
states
< ?link=3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC10834.htm >

Tuesday 11 April
* Election of a judge to the European Court of Human Rights with respect
to Liechtenstein
* Address by Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, on his
report on the relations between the Council of Europe and the European
Union

– Address by Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, Prime Minister of Romania
– Address by Wolfgang Schüssel, Federal Chancellor of Austria
– Address by José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission

* Situation in the Middle East
* Social reintegration of prisoners
< k=3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC10838.htm>

* Human rights of members of the armed forces
< D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC10861.htm>

Wednesday 12 April
* Possible urgent debate: stop trafficking in women before the FIFA
World Cup
* Communication from the Committee of Ministers to the Parliamentary
Assembly
presented by Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, Minister for Foreign Affairs of
Romania and Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers

* Address by Vlado Buchkovski, Prime Minister of “the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia”
* Combating the resurrection of nazi ideology
< =3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc05/EDOC10766.htm>

Thursday 13 April
* Joint debate on follow-up to the Third Summit: relations between the
Council of Europe and the European Union
– Memorandum of understanding between the Council of Europe and the
European Union
– The Council of Europe and the Fundamental Rights Agency of the
European Union
– Statement by Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe
– Statement by Elmar Brok, Chairperson of the European Parliament’s
Foreign Affairs Committee
* Refugees and displaced persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia
< 3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC10835.htm>

(3.30 p.m. Closure of the second part of the 2006 Ordinary Session)

Practical information

PACE President René van der Linden will give a press conference on
Monday 10 April at 11 a.m. in Room 1. Other press conferences will be
announced on the spot.

See the Assembly’s website, , for further
details. Additional information may also be found on the Council of
Europe web portal,

Contact:
PACE Communication Unit:
Tel. +33 3 88 41 31 93; Fax +33 3 90 21 41 34; e-mail: [email protected]

For accreditation:
Directorate of Communication, Danielle Schreiber-Somoza, e-mail:
[email protected]
<mailto:dani [email protected]>
Tel. +33 (0)3 88 41 25 44 – Fax : +33 (0)3 88 41 37 40

Press Release
Parliamentary Assembly Communication Unit
Ref: 196a06
Tel: +33 3 88 41 31 93
Fax :+33 3 90 21 41 34
[email protected]
internet:

The Parliamentary Assembly brings together 315 members from the national
parliaments of the 46 member states.
President: René van der Linden (Netherlands, EPP/CD); Secretary
General of the Assembly: Mateo Sorinas.
Political Groups: SOC (Socialist Group); EPP/CD (Group of the European
People’s Party); ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe);

EDG (European Democratic Group); UEL (Group of the Unified European
Left).

VITALY NAUMKIN AND HAROLD SONDERS PRESENT NKR FOREIGN MINISTER BASIC PRINCIPLES OF DOCUMENT WORKED OUT BY DARTMOUTH CONFERENCE

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 03 2006

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 3, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Lately the
delegation of the Dartmouth Conference Russian-American Working Group
on Issues of Regional Conflicts headed by Co-chairmen Vitaly Naumkin
(Russia) and Harold Sonders (U.S.) that arrived to NKR within the
framework of the regional visit was received by NKR Foreign Minister
Georgi Petrosian. As Noyan Tapan was informed from NKR Foreign Ministry
Information and Analytical Department, the interlocutors discussed
the draft frame agreement on peace process prepared during 9 stages
of the dialogue of the representatives of the public of Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh within the framework of the Dartmouth
Conference. At the meeting the Co-chairmen presented the basic
principles of the document worked out mentioning that it supposes
mutual concessions. In their opinion, the draft frame agreement
does not offer solutions, but is aimed at creating conditions for
establishing a stable dialogue between the conflict parties. NKR
Foreign Minister, positively estimating the efforts of the working
group aimed at looking for mutually accepted ways of conflict
settlement, mentioned the participation of the Nagorno Karabakh public
in the dialogue proceeding within the framework of the Dartmouth
Conference as positive. At the same time, Georgi Petrosian attached
importance to preservation of the current cease-fire regime, as well as
realization of moral responsibility by all mediators and interested
international structures and organizations for inadmissibility
of application of force or threat to apply force in the Karabakh
conflict zone, irrespective of their participation and assistance to
the negotiations process and presence or lack of an official mandate.