Author: Kalashian Nyrie

ARMENIA AGREES WITH ANY OUTCOME OF RUSSIAN GAS SUPPLY ISSUE
RIA OREANDA
Economic News
April 4, 2006 Tuesday
But Rise In Prices To Negatively Affect The Level Of Living In
The Country
Moscow. OREANDA. Arthur Bagdasaryan, speaker of the Parliament,
declared that official Yerevan would agree with any outcome of the
issue on gas supply from Russia. However, the speaker added that the
rise in gas price would worsen the living level of Armenian population.
“Leaders of the corresponding departments of Armenia and Russia are
holding negotiations on the price of Russian gas supplied to the
republic and we are to wait for 1-2 days before commenting on the
outcomes of the negotiations”, Arthur Bagdasaryan declared at the
press conference on April 4.
Starting April 1, 2006, Armenia will be paying $110 per 1 000 cubic
meters of gas instead of $56.

USA IS TO UNDERSTAND FIRST?
A1+
[02:57 pm] 03 April, 2006
“USA must understand and Armenia must remember that Azerbaijan
will not only disagree with the separation of their territories but
will prevent it”, the Azeri deputy Foreign Minister Araz Aziomov has
announced in the USA saying that this is the principle position of his
country which has existed since the very first days of the conflict.
According to him, the Armenian community living in Karabakh must
have sovereignty and this must not be understood as “weakness of the
Azeri side”.
He announced that Armenia must renounce its “extreme” position that
Karabakh has never been and will never be part of Azerbaijan. According
to Regnum, he also found the return of the Azeris of Karabakh to
their houses important.

CROATIA/TURKEY: ACCESSION TALKS RUN INTO EARLY POLITICAL DIFFICULTIES
European Report
March 28, 2006
Moves to open Croatia’s and Turkey’s EU membership negotiations on
education and culture are being held up by French-led calls to put
greater emphasis on the broader political entry criteria.
The European Commission said on February 14 the two countries were
ready to start talks on education and culture, but by 28 March member
states were still to take the step of asking the Austrian EU Presidency
to invite the candidates to submit their negotiating positions. The
invitation has already been sent for science and research, paving
the way for the start of membership negotiations proper.
Sources say France – evidently cautious about further EU enlargement
– supported by others including Cyprus and Greece, has called for
a reference to be made in the Presidency’s letter to the political
membership criteria, which require aspiring EU members to achieve
“stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law,
human rights and respect for and protection of minorities”.
But some member states are against the move, saying the political
criteria should not be mixed up in this way with detailed negotiations
on the EU’s acquis communautaire, or body of law. One view is that
there would be other fora and other more appropriate ‘chapters’ of
the talks to deal with political criteria, such as the chapter on
‘judiciary and fundamental rights’.
Diplomats said one possible compromise might be to somehow reflect
the French concerns in the cover note of the COREPER text asking the
Presidency to send out the letter. The Committee of Member States’
Permanent Representatives to the EU looked set to broach the matter
on 29 March.
The education and culture chapter was thought to be one of the ‘easy’
areas of the negotiations, given that it is primarily a matter
of national competence. But one EU source explained that it had
proved trickier than expected because it could touch on politically
sensitive questions such as the teaching of history, the role of women,
languages, minority rights or even the disputed Armenian genocide.
While the concerns about the political criteria appear to revolve
more around Turkey, Croatia is affected too because so far the two
countries have been moving in parallel – even though Croatia would
like to join by 2009 while many believe that Turkey’s talks could
last a decade or more.
Hints of frustration have already begun to emerge from Zagreb. “With
all due respect to Turkey, I think the moment will have to come real
soon when Croatia will have to separate from Turkey”, Croatia’s Prime
Minister Ivo Sanader said on 23 March. The accession process “could
go faster in some segments but at this moment everything is perhaps
a little too encumbered with political aspects”, he added.
EU sources say the Austrian Presidency is looking to schedule a
deputy-level accession conference, prospectively in May, with a view
to opening at least two chapters of the embryonic negotiations. That
could be followed by a ministerial conference in June.

THE WASHINGTON POST PUBLISHED THE LETTER OF THE KARABAKH REPRESENTATIVE IN THE USA
YEREVAN, MARCH 28. ARMINFO. Yesterday the Washington Post published
the letter of the Nagorno- Karabakh representative in the USA Vardan
Barsegian, addressed to the newspaper editor as a response to the
‘The Shadow Empire of Russia’ article published on March 11.
The Nagorno-Karabakh representation informs that the article concerned
the ‘frozen’ conflicts on the territory of the former USSR. The
letter notes that the Karabakh conflict has not been settled yet
as Azerbaijan is still unwilling to recognized the democratically
adopted independence of Karabakh. Mr. Barsegian states that Karabakh
has never belonged to the Republic of Azerbaijan and it is undoubtedly
rightful to fight for its freedom.
The Karabakh representative criticizes the authors of the article for
praising Azerbaijan’s ‘willingness to cooperate for the settlement
of the conflict’. He wondered if the willingness is expressed
in militaristic and threatening statements by President Ilham
Aliev. Mr. Barsegian in his letter pressed that the world society
must support the movement of the Armenians of Karabakh and reprove
Azerbaijan for its intentions to unleash a new war.
The matter is that the authors of the article – ex-Foreign Minister
of Spain Anna Palacio and Marshall Fund Consultant Daniel Twining,
claimed that the West can approve an agreement by which Armenia would
surrender Azerbaijan the ‘occupied’ regions.

ARMENIAN NATURE PROTECTION MINISTRY AWARDS WINNERS OF YOUTH COMPETITION “SAVE NATIVE NATURE”
YEREVAN, MARCH 29. ARMINFO. On the occasion of its 20th anniversary,
the Nature Protection Ministry of Armenia organized a school painting
competition “Save Native Nature.” Wednesday, at the Museum of
Armenian Nature the winners were awarded prizes and gifts. 380 pupils
representing 7 Armenians regions participated in the competition. 65
works were selected and exhibited at the Museum, with 30 of them were
given prizes. Besides, WWF Office in Armenia introduced encouraging
prizes for 5 young painters. Humorist Samvel Baghdasaryan awarded
another prize. The young painters received painting accessories,
DVD-players and photo-cameras. Besides, the secondary school No.2 of
the village of Nerkin Getashen, Gegharkunuik region, won a Pentium
IV computer for active participation in the competition.

ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR PRESENTED CREDENTIALS TO PRESIDENT OF GEORGIA
Prime News Agency, Georgia
March 28 2006
Tbilisi. March 28 (Prime-News) – Grach Silvanian, Ambassador of
Armenia to Georgia presented his credentials to Mikheil Saakashvili,
President of Georgia on Tuesday.
Gela Bejuashvili, Georgian Foreign Minister was attending the
ceremony too.
In their conversation after the ceremony Grach Silvanian and Mikheil
Saakashvili discussed the issues on the future promotion of the
bilateral relations, Prime-News was told by the representatives of
the Armenian Embassy.
Before his recent appointment Grach Silvanian was working in the
Ministry of Foreign Affaires of Armenia. Before that he was an Armenian
Ambassador to the Ukraine.

AN EXHIBITION OF WORKS BY ARMENIAN ARTISTS TO BE HELD IN FRANCE
ArmRadio.am
28.03.2006 12:47
For a month works of Armenian artists Ferdinand Gymretsi, Nicole
Aghababyan, Vahram Harutyunyan and Hovhannes Margaryan will be
exhibited in “Arcades” cultural center of Trua, France.
The works of Armenian artists have been highly evaluated by director of
the cultural center Mari Morotel, French MP Albert Danila and others.
The exhibition has been organized at the initiative of “Interkap”
benovelent center. President of the center Norayr Zuloyan assures
that Mayors of Trua and Vanadzor have arranged to establish friendship
between the two cities.
The towns will cooperate in the spheres of culture and sports.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER AND OSCE MINSK GROUP U.S. COCHAIRMAN TO MEET IN WASHINGTON
YEREVAN, MARCH 27. ARMINFO. Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan
and U.S. Co-chairman of OSCE Minsk Group for Karabakh conflict Steven
Mann are to meet in Washington, Monday, on March 27.
The further settlement of Karabakh conflict is supposed to be the
major topic of the meeting.
As it was reported earlier, Vardan Oskanyan’s press conference is
planned for March 28 at the National Press Club in Washington.
Earlier, today, Foreign Minister Oskanyan is to speak at a forum
organized by combined efforts of the Armenian Assembly of America,
the Armenian General Benevolent Union and the Eastern Diocese of the
Armenian Apostolic Church. The minister will meet with the Armenian
community of America. On March 29, Vardan Oskanyan will leave for
New York. On March 30, the minister will meet with UNDP Coordinator
Kemal Dervish, General Assembly Chairman Jan Eliasson. On March 31,
the minister is expected to meet with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
The same day, Minister Oskanyan will speak on the topic “Building of
a State in the Caucasus” at Columbia University.

DOES TIGRAN SARGSYAN CHEAT THEM PERSONNALY?
A1+
01:32 pm 27 March, 2006
The depositors of the bank “Armenia” which went bankrupt were gathered
opposite the Central Bank again this morning. This was by approximate
calculations their 250th meeting.
According to cheated depositor Qnarik Avetisyan, There are all in
all 140 depositors who have lost a total sum of only 140 thousand
USD. She is especially angry with the fact that the sum can be lost
by a state official in a casino in a single hour. She is also angry
with the latest announcement of the President of the Central Bank
that his income has raised as the income of the bank has raised,
and he has no money to give to the depositors.
What is interesting is that none of the depositors gathered opposite
the Central Bank speaks about the interests of the main sum they left
in the bank.
Astghik Baghdasaryan said nothing about her deposits but informed that
the bank “Armenia” had a property of about 4.5 million USD which was
sold for very low prices to high state officers.
The depositors told the journalists present that in February 2003
the President of the Central Bank received them and advised them
to make an announcement in the newspaper in order to find all the
cheated depositors. The did so, and several months passed, but upon
receiving them again the CB President said that he has no money for
compensation. Before that, nevertheless, he assured that if the total
sum becomes known, and the depositors agree to the phase-by-phase
compensation, he will allot 30-35 thousand USD for the first phase
of compensation.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 24 2006
Gov’t slams Russian culture worker for grave destruction claim
Baku, March 23, AssA-Irada
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture and Tourism has condemned a
Russian culture worker’s recent statement concerning the alleged
destruction of ancient graves in Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhchivan.
Mikhail Piotrovski of Armenian descent, who heads the Hermitage, one
of the largest museums in the world and is a correspondent member of
the Russian Academy of Sciences, went as far as describing the
alleged destruction of Armenian tombstone crosses in Julfa,
Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, as a crime.
In a statement, the Ministry said the utterances by Piotrovski and
distortion of historic facts showed that he is poorly informed on the
matter. In 1960s, after an appeal by the Catalicos [clerical leader]
to then Soviet leadership, the tombstones in Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh
and Julfa cemeteries were transferred to Armenia. Moreover, other
ancient tombstones dating back to the period of Caucasus Albania were
stolen from Azerbaijan’s Districts of Gazakh, Tovuz, Gadabay, Gubadli
and Lachin and also moved to Armenia. The views of Armenian
historians, who politicized the issue and distorted the facts were
reflected in the mentioned statements by the Russian cultural figure,
the Ministry indicated.
The statement said further that Armenian barbarians, ignoring the
demands of UNESCO and other international organizations, continue to
pursue their policy of aggression. It warned that Piotrovski’s views
do not reflect the attitude of influential and unbiased Russian
historians and scholars.
Piotrovski’s statement and his inclination to mix science with
politics comes as no surprise due to his origin. His mother is of
Armenian descent, while his father is an academician of the Armenian
Academy of Sciences, archaeologist and Orientalist.*