Author: Kanayan Tamar

HOVHANNES IGITYAN: NEW REFERENDUM IN KARABAKH IS A TRAP
PanARMENIAN.Net
07.03.2006 23:06 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A new referendum in Nagorno Karabakh proposed at
the Rambouillet meeting of the Armenian and Azeri Presidents is a
trap, Chair of External Relations Commission of the National Assembly
of Armenia in 1995-1999 Hovhannes Igityan stated in a conversation
with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, the returns of the
referendum on NKR’s independence in 1991 are in fact canceled if it is
the case. “The move can be considered as a concession by Azerbaijan,
however it is not so. The NKR should be the one to set conditions
of holding (or not holding) a referendum. A legal formula should be
“invented” for displaced persons and refugees – only the NKR Ministry
of Internal Affairs can deal with that,” Igityan remarked. At that
he added that the legal framework for recognition of Nagorno Karabakh
independence will be weakened.

‘ROOTS AND RICHES OF ARMENIA’
Medford Transcript, MA
March 8 2006
“Roots and Riches of Armenia” is showing at Springstep, 98 George P.
Hassett Drive, now through March 15.
This gallery exhibit features examples of traditional Armenian
decorative arts, textiles and clothing, in addition to contemporary
artworks by Minas Avetisian and Paradjanov, two men who distinctly
influenced Armenian art in the 20th century.
Articles on display are courtesy of the Armenian Library and Museum
of America and the private collection of Carolann and George Najarian.

PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN URGES JAPAN TO INVEST IN OIL INFRASTRUCTURE
Pravda, Russia
March 9 2006
Azerbaijan’s president on Thursday urged Japanese companies to invest
in his nation’s oil infrastructure, saying he hoped the Caucasus
country will soon become a major oil exporter.
President Ilham Aliev, in Tokyo on a four-day trip, told Japanese
Foreign Minister Taro Aso that Azerbaijan had implemented a range of
social and economic policies and had “high expectations” for increased
Japanese investment, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Aliev
told Aso he hoped Azerbaijan would soon become a major exporter of
oil and natural gas, according to the statement.
Aso said Tokyo was interested in maintaining strong bilateral
ties because of Azerbaijan ‘s importance, geopolitically and as an
oil-producing nation.
Aliev was slated to meet Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday.
Azerbaijan is rich in oil and gas reserves. But development of those
reserves has been hindered by conflict with neighboring Armenia over
the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave within
Azerbaijan.
The 18-year dispute, in which at least 30,000 people have been killed
and 1 million made refugees, has affected stability throughout the
strategic and oil-rich Caucasus region, reports the AP.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 9 2006
Soldier of the Azerbaijani Army Alakbarov struck a mine and was
seriously wounded in Yusifjanli village of Aghdam region at 9.20a.m
yesterday.
The Garabagh bureau of APA reports that the solider (born in 1987)
was hospitalized. The Defense Ministry’s press service confirmed
the information. The official of the Ministry, major Ilgar Verdiyev
said that the wounded soldier underwent an operation and his leg was
amputated. The soldier is in better condition now.
Alakbarov was drafted by the military registration and enlistment
office of Geranboy region in April, 2005.

ROBBER KILLED IN SHOOTOUT
Kathimerini, Greece
March 14 2006
A bank heist in central Athens went awry yesterday as one of the two
armed men involved in the holdup accidentally shot dead his accomplice
in their attempt to get away, police said.
The pair entered a branch of Alpha Bank on Acharnon Street at about
midday and had begun their getaway from the branch with around 15,000
euros in cash.
However, a plumber working at the bank tried to stop the thieves and
wrestled with one of the two armed men.
In a bid to free up his accomplice, the other armed man shot and
injured the plumber in the leg.
However, a second bullet hit and killed his partner.
The man then escaped the bank on foot but was later arrested as a
police manhunt was immediately launched by an off-duty law enforcement
officer in the area.
Police identified the suspect killed as Constantinos Komesides,
an Armenian national, and the second man as Nikiforos Soilemetzides
from Kazakhstan.
They are both believed to have been involved in a number of bank
robberies in the past.

MORE THAN 10 THOUSAND REFUGEES LIVING IN GEGHARKUNIK REGION NOT
PROVIDED WITH APARTMENTS YET

GAVAR, MARCH 10, NOYAN TAPAN. 10400 refugees live in the Gegharkunik
region at present. Most of them aren’t provided with apartments. But,
according to the RA government’s decision adopted in 2004, it’s
envisaged to implement the program of providing with a permanent
dwelling the persons who have been deported from Azerbaijan in
1988-1992 and urgently need a flat. Certificates for an apartment have
been already given to 39 refugee families living in temporary
dwellings. 19 of them have already found flats and 4 will have them in
March.
More than 30% of 7400 Chambarak residents, including refugees and
internally displaced people, still lives at apartments built 200 years
ago and formerly populated by molokans. The Chambarak Mayor expects RA
government’s support for the purpose of solving this problem.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GARABAGH MEDIATORS TO MEET IN ISTANBUL MARCH 20
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 13 2006
Baku, March 10, AssA-Irada
The OSCE mediators brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh are due to hold their next
meeting in Istanbul on March 20. The schedule of the Minsk Group
co-chairs’ visit to the region will depend on the positions and
readiness of the conflicting sides, says a joint statement of
the intermediaries who have completed their three-day meeting in
Washington.
“We call on the Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities to make efforts
to prepare their people not for war, but peace. We urge both sides to
be guided by the developed principles in order to settle the conflict
in 2006.”
The mediators said that despite the unsuccessful outcome of the latest
round of presidential talks in France, they continue to believe that a
number of pre-conditions are fostering a conducive basis to solve the
long-standing dispute this year, Radio Liberty quoted the mediators
as saying.
The discussions held by the two leaders in the French town of
Rambouillet in February turned out fruitless, as the parties failed
to iron out issues of principle, which was followed by mutual threats.
The next meeting of the Azeri and Armenian presidents may take place
during a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States leaders in
Minsk in September, according to the head of the President’s Office
international relations department, Novruz Mammadov.

FORUM OF INTELLECTUALS DEMANDS OF ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES TO STOP NEGOTIATIONS WITH AZERBAIJAN
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 14 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 14, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. It’s seriously
contraindicated for Armenia and all the Armenians to negotiate with
a country brought the morbid hatred towards Armenians to the state
level. This is said in the March 13 statement of the Intellectuals’
Forum of Armenia.
Mentioning that during the recent months the military units of
the regular army of Azerbaijan annihilated in Nakhijevan the Jugha
graveyard of the middle centuries, being one of the last monuments
of the Armenian culture, the statement authors state the fact that
Azerbaijan successively liquidated all the historic evidences about
the real owners of Nakhijevan.
It’s mentioned in the statement that this last cultural genocide
was conducted in the conditions of the culprit silence of the world
society, even more, just during these days the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairmanship obliged Armenia to negotiate with Azerbaijan.
The Councillor of the Intellectuals’ Forum of Armenia demands
of the authorities of Armenia to stop all the negotiations with
Azerbaijan so far as the international community hasn’t estimated
the happened. “Without subjecting to international responsibility
the authorities of the country conducted a cultural genocide, it’s
useless to look for ways of compromise with it by the means of peace
negotiations,” is said in the statement.

ARKA News Agency
Oct 14 2005
RA STATE DEPOSITORY PUBLISHES AVERAGE PRICES FOR PRECIOUS METALS,
STONES FOR SEPT 2005
YEREVAN, October 14. /ARKA/. The RA State Depository of Precious
Stones and Metals has published the average prices for noble,
nonferrous, and rare metals and stones on the international market
for September 2005 for the calculations of nature management
payments. The following prices were set: 1gram gold $14.47, silver –
$0.230, platinum – $29.41. The following prices for 1 ton of metals
were set: copper $3,857.4, molybdenum – $76,603.52, lead – $933.07,
zinc – $1,397.52, aluminium $1,839.91, cadmium – $4,796.7, selenium –
$114,537, tellurium $160,000. The prices for gems are: 1kg of agate
$8.81, turquoise $132,16, iridescent obsidian – $17,62, jasper $6,61
($1 = AMD 446.27) P.T. –0-

ARMENIAN LEADER, RUSSIAN OFFICIAL DISCUSS RESUMPTION OF ABKHAZ RAILWAY SECTION
Mediamax News Agency, Armenia
Oct 13 2005
Yerevan, 13 October: The resumption of the Abkhaz section of the
railway “will open new opportunities for cooperation and development”,
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said in Yerevan today.
The Armenian president said this at a meeting with Igor Levitin,
Russian transport minister and co-chairman of the Armenian-Russian
intergovernmental commission, Mediamax news agency reports.
It was noted at the meeting that the conditions for the opening of
the Abkhaz section of the railway was being studied at present.
Robert Kocharyan and Igor Levitin discussed the opportunities of the
Armenian-Russian-Georgian cooperation in the restoration of the Abkhaz
section of the railway.
The meeting also discussed the problem of proper work of the
Armenian enterprises handed over to Russia within the framework of
the property-for-debt deal.
Igor Levitin said that Russia wanted to rapidly resume the enterprises
and set up a special working group for this purpose.