Author: Kalantarian Kevo

ARMENIAN FM TO TAKE PART IN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN IRAQ IN
BRUSSELS
YEREVAN, June 21. /ARKA/. At the invitation of US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, RA
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan is to take part in an international
conference in Iraq, which is to be held in Brussels on June 21-22. The
Foreign Ministers of 80 countries, US Secretary General Kofi Anan and
heads of other international organizations are to take part in the
conference. The conference is to focus on issues of systematizing
international efforts toward rehabilitation and economic progress in
Iraq, as well as toward assistance to the country’s newly elected
authorities. P.T. -0–

The Messenger, Georgia
June 21 2005
Negotiations open on renewal of Abkhaz railway
The Georgian government has suggested recently that it supports the
reopening of the Tbilisi-Sochi railway through Abkhazia, though it is
unclear on what terms Tbilisi would be prepared to agree to the rail
link.
The decision was made at Georgian-Abkhaz talks in Moscow last week
that representatives of Georgia, Russia and Abkhazia will discuss the
issue on July 1. The meeting will be held in Gali, in the office of
the UN special representative.
Speaking before the 46th CIS Railways Council last week, Prime
Minister Zurab Noghaideli stated that although “for a long period of
time the Georgian government had a negative attitude towards
reopening the railway via Abkhazia, recently this position has
changed.” The PM added, however, that the restoration of the railway
was connected with several factors, including, first and foremost,
the safe return of Georgian IDPs to Gali.
Although Noghaideli points to a change of attitude regarding the
railway, his connecting its renewal with the return of refugees is
nothing new: according to the 2003 Sochi agreement signed by Vladimir
Putin and Eduard Shevardnadze, restoration of the railway and the
return of refugees should happen in parallel. Nevertheless, the
government’s language is undoubtedly more constructive, and it looks
increasingly likely that an agreement will be reached. Chairman of
Georgian Railways Davit Onoprishvili acknowledged as much last week
when he stated that the rail link would be reopened “sooner or
later.”
This is good news for Russia and Abkhazia, as well as for Armenia,
which is largely dependent on imports from Russia. Although there are
many in Georgia who argue that the railway should not be reopened, as
it will help improve the Abkhaz economy and thus strengthen the
separatist regime, for a country whose greatest asset is arguably its
strategic location, the railway is also good news for Georgia, at
least in economic terms.
Of course, the railway is an important bargaining chip for Tbilisi,
and it should not pass up the opportunity of negotiations on the
issue to press for the opening of a UN Human rights Bureau in Gali
and greater guarantees for Georgian refugees returning to the region.
On the other hand, however, the railway offers a chance for Georgians
and Abkhaz to work together on a project of mutual economic benefit.
If Georgia is to finally restore its territorial integrity, and
Abkhazia is to return to the Georgian fold, it will be because the
two sides have learnt to trust each other; and the railway provides
an opportunity for the development of such trust.
There is a widespread belief in Georgia that the government should
not do anything, such as agree to the restoration of the railway,
that will improve the lot of Abkhaz separatists. The argument for
this is twofold. Firstly, it is believed that for the government to
pursue such policies while so many refugees live in poverty is to
snub those Georgians who lost their homes, and family members, in the
Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. Secondly, the argument runs that a rich,
happy Abkhazia will have no need to reintegrate into Georgia.
Although there is perhaps some logic to the second argument, it
should be noted that the Georgian economy should also benefit from
the reconstruction of the railway, as well as the Abkhaz. As for the
first, such an argument is based on the belief that the Abkhaz are to
blame for the 1990s conflict, and that no Georgian government should
take a “soft” line on an Abkhaz regime responsible for the suffering
of so many Georgians. While such feelings are understandable, such an
attitude is never going to lead to the reintegration of Abkhazia into
Georgia, and if the government’s primary aim is to restore
territorial identity, it must be prepared to be constructive and make
compromises in order to develop better relations with Sokhumi.
There are a number of technical issues that need to be addressed
before an agreement can be reached on the restoration of the railway,
including where Georgian and Russian customs offices are to be
located, who will pay the cost of restoration, who will be
responsible for the railway’s security, and so on. The government
should press ahead in addressing these issues, however, as the
renewal of rail communications is a good thing for everyone: the
Georgian administration’s apparent change of heart on the issue is
encouraging.

IN PLAN OF ORGANIZATION OF ELECTIONS EUROPEAN COUNTRIES HAS TO LEARN
SOMETHING FROM KARABAKH, BRITISH OBSERVER SAYS
STEPANAKERT, JUNE 20. ARMINFO. In the plan of organization of
elections great Britain has to learn something from Nagorny
Karabakh. Marc Almond, observer from the Helsinki group on defence of
human rights of Great Britain, stated during the news conference on
the results of the parliamentary elections in NKR.
“I became a witness of a full democratic electoral process, and I
think many recognized states should follow the example of Nagorny
Karabakh. Much was organized better here than in Great Britain”, he
said. Speaking of the course of the parliamentary elections in NKR,
the observe said that the British observation mission did not register
any gross violation either by electoral commissions or electors.

OBJECTIVE AND OVERALL INFORMATION
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
20 June 05
The Central Election Committee does not have a permanent press centre.
The head of the newly established press centre of the Central Election
Committee Mikael Hajyan said the newly-established press centre will
serve as a basis for later establishing the press centre of the
Central Election Committee. The press centre is for the journalists,
as well as the observers. M. Hajyan informed that the centre has 12
computers, ten for the journalists, one for coordinating the work of
the centre and one is placed in the hall for providing information.
The computers are connected to the Internet. The software includes
information about Nagorno Karabakh, the election system, all the
elections on different levels held in Karabakh, including the June
19th election to the parliament. The centre is provided with foreign
telephone communication. On the monitor placed in the hall the centre
provides the latest information. In the hall the centre will hold
briefings and press conferences. Besides, through the media kit which
includes information on the whole process in Armenian, English and
Russian the centre will be able to provide objective and compact
information. Besides, the centre will provide information about the
services available in the city of Stepanakert, telephone numbers and
transport. The centre will work till evening of June 20th. The
telephone number of the centre is 7 18 55.
NVARD OHANJANIAN.
20-06-2005

A1plus
| 12:12:22 | 20-06-2005 | Regions |
HOUSING PROBLEM NOT SOLVED YET
The distribution of the house-buying certificates by the Government has not
started yet ion the Shirak region. Although the costs of the certificates
are already known, taking into account the costs of houses in the market it
is not hard to guess what the lingering of the program may cause.
Artashes Sargsyan, head of the municipality urban development
administration, says that if the 1 billion dram allotted by the program is
not realized till the end of the year, that will be a serious problem.
According to him, before starting the program the list of the shelterless
people should have been checked a second time. Besides, some decisions of
the Government should have been reconsidered.
Artashes Sargsyan claims that the program has not failed yet. But as «Tsayg»
TV company reports, from the 1600 families only 129 have applied to
participate in the program. 300 have refused, and the others have not made
up their mind yet.

Armenian court sentences two former policemen for forcing false confession
.c The Associated Press
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – An Armenian court on Monday sentenced two former
policemen to three years in prison for violently forcing a suspect to falsely
confess to raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl. But the two were freed
immediately under an amnesty.
Ruben Saakian and Gurgen Arushanian also were stripped of the right to work
as police officers for violently coercing suspect Armen Pogosian to confess
to the charges, which landed him 15 years in prison.
After five years, prosecutors established the crime had been committed by
another man, Pogosian was freed, and the two officers were fired.
They received amnesty because their 1998 crime fell under an amnesty
declared in 2001 to mark the 1,700th anniversary of Armenia’s adoption of
Christianity.
06/20/05 03:15 EDT

AZERBAIGIAN: NAGORNI-KARABAKH, SI VOTA PER IL PARLAMENTO
ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
June 19, 2005
(ANSA-AFP) – STEPANKERT (AZERBAIGIAN) – 19 GIU – Gli abitanti della
autoproclamata repubblica del Nagorni Karabakh, enclave armena in
territorio azero, votano oggi per eleggere il loro quarto parlamento
mentre le autorita’ di Baku hanno denunciato un tentativo di
“legalizzare l’occupazione armena”.
Il parlamento conta 33 deputati ed e’ eletto par cinque anni.
Perche lo scrutinio sia valido deve recarsi alle urne almeno il 25
per cento degli 89.000 aventi diritto.
Questa soglia e’ gia’ stata superata a meta’ giornata. A tre ore dalla
chiusura dei seggi gia’ si segnala una partecipazione di circa il 60
per cento.
Le autorita’ locali hanno insistito sul fatto che votare significa
fare un ulteriore passo verso l’indipendenza: “Ho votato per la
stabilita’, l’indipendenza e la prosperita’ “, ha dichiarato il
presidente dell’enclave, Arkadi Gukassian.
L’Azerbaigian, che rivendica ancora il Nagorni-Karabakh, ha fatto
sapere che ritiene il voto illegale, soprattutto perche decine
di migliaia di azeri sono stati cacciati dalle loro case e viene
loro impedito di rientrarvi. La commissione elettorale azera,
in un comunicato diffuso ieri, ha parlato di occupazione armena,
ha negato legalita’ a un voto che si svolge sotto occupazione e ha
detto che elezioni regolari si potranno svolgere solo dopo la presa
di controllo del territorio da parte di Baku. (ANSA-AFP)
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TWO ISSUES CONCERNING AZERBAIJAN PUT ON PACE SUMMER SESSION
YEREVAN, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The summer session of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe will be convened in Strasbourg on
June 20-24. No issue directly concerning Armenia is envisaged by the
draft agenda. But the PACE Beauru gave a positive conclusion on the
initiative to put the issue concerning the constitutional reforms
in Armenia on the agenda as an immediate one. It must get necessary
number of votes to be put on the agenda of the plenary sitting. As
Shavarsh Kocharian, a member of the PACE Armenian delegation,
a representative of the NA “Ardarutiun” (“Justice”) bloc informed
the Noyan Tapan correspondent, among the South Caucasian problems,
two issues concerning Azebaijan, about political prisoners and
formation of democratic institutions, are on the agenda of the
session. Malcolm Bruse, a British Deputy appionted as a special
rapporteur will present the first one, and co-rapporteurs on the
Azerbaijani issue at the Monitoring Commission of the Assembly will
present the second one. At the final part of the draft resolution
to be presented to the PA adoption it is particularly mentioned that
if the parliamentary elections to take place in Azerbaijan early in
November do not correspond to international standards and are not
free and just the PA will not recognize the Azerbaijani delegates’
powers at the January session. Besides the plenary sittings, the
representatives of the Armenian delegation will participate in the
discussion of the edited draft of constitutional amendments of Armenia
to be held jointly with the working group of the Venice Commission
on June 23-24. The Ad-hoc Committee on Nagorno Karabakh Issue will
also convene its first sitting during the days of the session of the
Assembly. It was created two months ago according to the demand of the
January resolution of the Assembly concerning Nagorno Karabakh. Heads
of the national delegations to the Assembly of the OSCE Minsk Group
member countries, Armenia and Azerbaijan, rapporteurs on the issue
of Armenia and Azerbaijan at the Assembly are particularly in the
committee headed by Lord Rassel Johnstone. It is envisaged to involve
one additional representative of opposition in the delegations of
Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Committee. The only mission of the
Ad-hoc Committee is to gather information got from the each member
about steps taken by the own country in the direction of supporting
a peace settlement of the Karabaklh conflict, and, summing up the
mentioned information to present an annual report to the Assembly.

AZG Armenian Daily #112, 18/06/2005
Culture
RAFAL ZAMBZHICKY PANE PERFORMS ARMENIAN MUSIC
The fact that a great number of musicians play Armenian music evidences
that it is the component part of contemporary music. Rafal Zambzhicky
Pane, born in Lodz, is one of them. He studied in England in the class
of Wuen Zhu Lee. He also studied in Vienna in the class of Gerhard
Schultz. After receiving the second prize at the Violin Contest in
Luxemburg in 2005 and being awarded a prize in BBC Young Musician of
the Year in 2000, he began performing as a soloist and an orchestra
musician. Rafal Zambzhicky performs with the London “Dimension”
Piano Trio and the Frankfurt “Ensemble Modern.”
It was the second visit of Rafal to Yerevan. In the May of 2002 he
performed Aram Khachatrian’s Concerto for Violin with the Philharmonic
Orchestra of Armenia. Rafal emphasized the melodic part of Aram
Khachatrian’s music, making the melody an intermission line of the
piece. Performing Khachatrian in Polish way, putting him by the side
of Karol Shimanovsky, his contemporary, Rafal revealed the sad lyrics
of the piece in all of its parts.
Zambzhicky performed as a soloist playing “Hayastan 88” concerto for
violin by Alexander Harutyunian during his second visit. His concert
was organized by Regina Pargev, the manager. Thanks to Regina Pargev,
Rafal played Armenian music in London, including the pieces by Komitas,
Aram Khachatrian and Arno Babajanian. In April of 2004, Zambzhicky
performed Harutyunian’s concerto for violin in Wigmore Hall, in London.
Rafal said in the interview that “the value of the piece is
more important for him, than its national value,” when choosing a
piece. As for the Armenian musical pieces, the violinist emphasized
“the sadness and the feeling of grief” that are peculiar to them. He
sees the same in violin concerto of Harutyunian. “That is a great
music. I played that twice in England and if I have the opportunity,
I will play it again.”
The presence of the music~Rs author and Rafal Zambzhicky Pane imparted
additional festive shades to the concert dedicated to 85th anniversary
of Alexander Harutyunian. Besides the concert for violin and “The
Dance of Sassoon People” by Alexander Harutyunian, “Armenian Songs
and Dances” by Komitas-Aslamazian, and “Holberg~Rs Times” by Edward
Grieg, two suits, were also included in the concert.
The harmony of the concert was secured by the ethnic expressionism of
the music, as well as Aram Gharabekian~Rs talent of a conductor. He
managed to create an orchestra of true international level that lives
and creates by Lege Artis, i.e. by the law of arts. Rich repertoire
and professional stability gained deserved fame to the orchestra,
making it one of “calling cards” for Armenia.
The soloist secured high-level performance of the concert for violin.
Zambzhicky managed to reflect the sadness and the pathetic element of
the piece, that were based on the components of the Armenian monody
and rhetoric elements of baroque taste. Zambzhicky performed his part
with warmth and sincerity peculiar to him.
The lyric talents of the violinist were displayed in a quite
interesting way when performing Scherzo and Adagio recitative.
Alexander Harutyunian’s concert is dedicated to Ruben Aharonian,
prominent violinist. Ilya Grubert and Levon Hambardzumian also
performed this concert. The young Polish musician managed to make a
very interesting interpretation of the piece.
By Svetlana Sargsian, Dr. of Arts

OSKANIAN CALLED ADOPTION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION BY BUNDESTAG TURNING POINT
Pan Armenian News
17.06.2005 03:31
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia positively evaluates the German Bundestag
passing the Armenian Genocide Resolution, Armenian Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian said. In his words, it is a very important step on the
way of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. It spite
the resolution language does not include the term «genocide,» as the
Bundestag does not consider itself competent to estimate the events
taken place in 1915, however the word «genocide» is included in the
descriptive part of the document and the term «massacre of Armenians»
is used in the part of the decision, the Armenian FM remarked. Taking
into account the circumstance that Germany has avoided discussion
of the issue for many years and rather tended to silence or denial,
the Bundestag Resolution is a turning point. Specifically, Germany
recognizes its complicity to events in 1915 and urges Turkey to put off
with its past. As noted by V. Oskanian, the Bundestag Resolution is
another step to inclusion of Armenian issues in the agenda of talks
on Turkey’s accession to the EU, reported the Press Service of the
Armenian Foreign Ministry.
–Boundary_(ID_1HKUogULPMKqrWTax0uSKA)–