Author: Karakhanian Suren

STEPAN HAKOBYAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED

A1+
[04:42 pm] 26 June, 2006

On June 24 Stepan S. Hakobyan born in 1978 was arrested in connection
with the June 22 murder in Malatia. No charge has been brought against
Hakobyan yet but he is suspected of keeping illegal weapon.

During the search in his house cartridges have been found. The
information has been confirmed by press secretary of the Prosecutor’s
office Sona Truzyan.

It is noteworthy that Stepan Hakobyan is the nephew of NA deputy Hakob
Hakobyan. Let us also remind that Stepan Hakobyan and Sedrak Zatikyan
who was murdered on June 22 had a terrible quarrel two years ago.

Stepan Hakobyan will be accused of keeping illegal weapon. The
investigation is under way.

DIASPORA ARMENIAN CULTURAL FIGURES DISCONTENT OF THE QUALITY OF CULTURE AND LITERATURE IN ARMENIA

Panorama.am
19:06 26/06/06

We became the witnesses of unorganized work of One Nation, One Culture
festival in Moscow Cinema House where a meeting with diaspora Armenian
writers was held. Some came with the expectation to listen to poetry
and got discontent and demanded that they get to the point.

The Armenian cultural figures in Los Angeles, Sofia and Austria
mentioned that they are deprived of the opportunity to follow the
developments of the Armenian literature. "We do not know what books are
published in Armenia. We do not get books and literary newspapers,"
Hakob Ormanjyan, the head of Armeniology Center in Sofia said. He
said book fairs are held in Sofia but Armenia never comes up with
its products.

Armenian Writers’ Union Head Levon Ananyan explained that the
transport fair is high enough and sometimes the expenses do not
cover the cost. In his words, the state must eliminate the customs
due on books for transport of books. H. Ormanjyan also complained
about the content of the literature – it is always about our past
and village which does not have demand among the youth. "They want
to see Armenia’s reality today," he said.

ERIK GEVORGYAN ACHIEVES A SILVER MEDAL AT THE EUROPEAN YOUTH JUDO CHAMPIONSHIP

ArmRadio.am
26.06.2006 14:05

Erik Gevorgyan of Yerevan achieved a silver medal and vice-champion’s
title at the European Youth Judo Championship held in Hungary. Six
other Armenian sportsmen were participating in the tournament.

RA Judo Federation informs that Erik Gevorgyan lost only in the final.

The trainer of the Armenian team is Martin Sargsyan.

ARMENIANS DEBATE DUAL CITIZENSHIP CONCEPT

Armenpress

YEREVAN, JUNE 23, ARMENPRESS: The main idea of hearings on dual
citizenship convened today by an Armenian parliament committee
on foreign affairs was that it would help Armenians worldwide to
rally around their homeland and use to the full their potentials
and resources.

The clause in 1995 Constitution banning dual citizenship was removed
last November, when Armenians approved a set of constitutional
amendments in a nation-wide referendum. But possible repercussions
of introduction of dual citizenship still remain unclear.

Critics say the introduction of dual citizenship could lead to a
radical change in the relationship between the Armenian state and
millions of Armenians who live outside it. According to different
estimates, the official population of Armenia is no more than three
million, while between seven and ten million Armenians live elsewhere
in the world.

Supporters of dual citizenship argue that its introduction would enable
the Armenian Diaspora to render assistance more effectively, increase
foreign investment into the country and bring expatriate Armenians
psychologically closer to their historical motherland. Opponents
of the idea say that it is fraught with unforeseen consequences and
could surrender sovereignty to people in other states. They say dual
citizenship is only possible where a bilateral agreement could be
struck with another country. But this can be problematic for Armenia.

Dual citizenship is being vigorously advocated by the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (ARF) which has developed a draft concept
on how to grant Armenian citizenship to Diaspora fellows. ARF member
Armen Rustamian, head of a special commission to tackle the issue, said
today they expect the hearings to clarify answers to many questions,
to help specify the circle of working international norms and standards
which could be used while drafting the Armenian law.

Science and education minister Levon Mkrtchian, also from the ARF,
spoke extensively about the international regulation of the dual
citizenship.

Constitutional Court chairman Gagik Harutunian reminded that only 54 of
191 member states of the United Nations recognize the dual citizenship.

Harutunian said it is critical to adopt such a law that would dismiss
all related concerns.

Russia’s Post Soviet Allies Discuss Economy, Security at Minsk Summit

MosNews, Russia
June 24 2006

MosNews

Leaders of several ex-Soviet nations met Friday to discuss plans to
strengthen their economic alliance and bolster defense and security
cooperation, The Associated Press reported.

Leaders of Russia, Belarus and four Central Asian nations –
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – sat down for a
summit of their Eurasian Economic Community in the Belarusian capital,
focusing on plans to form a customs union. Opening the talks, Belarus’
authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, also said they would
discuss ways to coordinate strategies for joining the World Trade
Organization. Lukashenko said later that they had failed to reach
common ground on coordinating WTO accession talks.

Talks on forming a customs union were also moving slowly, he said,
and the pact’s members so far had agreed on just over half of all
customs tariffs. "The process isn’t advancing as quickly as we would
like it to happen," Lukashenko said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who took over from Lukashenko
on Friday as the chairman of the group, tried to sound optimistic,
saying that "we are paying a close attention to forming the customs
union and have an intention to form it quickly."

Numerous previous attempts by the ex-Soviet nations to form a customs
union and coordinate their economic policies have failed because of
sharp differences in size and level of development of their economies,
as well as fears of Russian domination.

The same six leaders and Armenia’s president held a summit of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization on Friday.

Lukashenko – dubbed "Europe’s last dictator" by the United States
and other Western nations for his relentless crackdown on dissent –
has repeatedly accused the West of harboring aggressive intentions
and sought to build closer economic and military ties with Russia
and other ex-Soviet nations.

Belarus this week is hosting the largest ever joint military
maneuvers with Russia, envisaging a joint response to an unnamed,
outside military threat. Belarusian officials have said that Putin
and other leaders would watch the exercise over the weekend, but the
Kremlin said Friday that Putin would not attend it.

Russia backed Lukashenko’s re-election to a third term in March’s
election, which was criticized as fraudulent by the opposition and
Western governments. However, ties between Moscow and Minsk soured
recently over the Russian plan to end cheap natural gas supplies
that kept Belarus’ Soviet-style economy afloat and start charging
market prices.

Observers said the move by Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom natural
gas giant was part of efforts to raise pressure on Belarus to force
it into giving up control over its gas pipeline, which carries Russian
gas exports to the West.

ACCORDING TO NKR PRESIDENT, NAGORNO KARABAKH SETTLEMENT IS STILL FAR AWAY

STEPANAKERT, JUNE 23, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The organization
of the authoritative conference in Artsakh is one more step in the
issue of properly presenting NKR to the world an in achieving its
international recognition.

NKR President Arkady Ghukasian said this at the June 22 meeting with
the participants of the international conference titled "Nagorno
Karabakh Republic: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" that started the day
before in Stepanakert under the aegis of the NKR President. In his
conversation with the guests representing scientific and educational
spheres of over one dozen countries, NKR President expressed an opinion
that the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem is still far away
and the opponents avoiding the dialogue have moved the conflict to the
political, economic and even scientific field. "We have to accept the
challenges and your scientific potential and rich experience should
become our firm support in this struggle," he said. According to NKR
President’s Acting Spokesperson, the interlocutors exchanged opinions
about a number of issues relating to development of education and
science in NKR. Arkady Ghukasian expressed readiness to study various
ideas and programs proposed to him. He suggested making annual such
kinds of conferences in NKR. NKR Prime Minister Anushavan Danielian,
Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Danielian, NKR Minister of Education,
Culture and Sport Kamo Atayan were also present at the meeting.

Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
June 23 2006

OIC voices support for Iran

By Aida Sultanova

BAKU ~W Foreign ministers from member nations of the Organization of
the Islamic Conference said Wednesday that the dispute over Iran~Rs
nuclear program needs to be resolved through the U.N. nuclear
watchdog – the International Atomic Energy Agency. Tehran also has
insisted the issue should be dealt with solely within the IAEA, but
the United States and other Western countries have pushed for
possible referral to the United Nations Security Council.

In recent weeks Iran has indicated it might be is willing to
negotiate the nuclear dispute with six world powers who have offered
a package of rewards if halts uranium enrichment.

In a statement issued at the end of a three-day meeting in the
Azerbaijani capital Baku, diplomats said the Islamic organization~Rs
57 member nations had ~Sthe inalienable right~T to develop nuclear
energy for peaceful purposes.

~SWe believe that the outstanding issues between the Islamic Republic
of Iran and the IAEA should be resolved within the IAEA framework as
the sole competent authority,~T the statement said. ~SThe only way to
resolve the issue is to resume negotiations without any
preconditions.~T

Iran insists that its nuclear program is aimed at generating
electricity, but the United States and European Union suspect that it
is aimed at building weapons. Tehran is considering a Western package
of incentives, also backed by Russia and China, that calls on Iran to
suspend, not permanently halt, uranium enrichment as a condition for
the start of talks, although the negotiations are aimed at getting
Iran to agree to a long-term moratorium on such activity.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the OIC~Rs secretary general, said the
organization also called for ridding the Middle East of all nuclear
weapons ~W a long-standing demand by many Arab states directed mainly
at Israel and its clandestine nuclear arms program. Israel neither
acknowledges nor denies having nuclear weapons.

The OIC ministers also condemned Azerbaijan’s neighbor, Armenia,
blaming it for the lingering conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ihsanoglu also criticized the media for last year’s controversy
surrounding the publication of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
A Danish newspaper first printed the cartoons, and other foreign
newspapers later followed, infuriating much of the Muslim world and
sparking deadly riots.

"This is impermissible. This is a crime against Islam. This is an
insult to Muslims," Ihsanoglu said.

"Freedom and responsibility should go hand-in-hand," he added.
"Irresponsible freedom is anarchy. We call on the Europeans to pay
attention to this issue."

THERE ARE SEVERAL WONDERFUL LAWS IN ARMENIA

Lragir.am
21 June 06

Considerable progress was reported with regard to the legislation
on freedom of the media in Armenia, and the state of the media does
not use all the possibilities and is limited to some extent. Miklos
Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media came to this
conclusion during the two days spent in Armenia. On June 21 he met with
Armenian journalists and told about his impressions from his visit.

It is interesting that Miklos Haraszti was invited to Armenia by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, but the program of his visit
was worked by the OSCE. In accordance with the program, Haraszti met
with the representatives of the government and the non-governmental
sector of Armenia. He also met with the president of Armenia. During
the news conference Miklos Haraszti announced that despite his
meetings, they learn about the state of freedom of the media in
Armenia from statistics, publications, the OSCE Yerevan Office.

Haraszti’s impression is that only press is free in Armenia. He said
he found out that there is perfect pluralism of opinions.

However, he says, pluralism in press is not observed in such
influential media as TV companies. According to him, public events
are not covered objectively.

Miklos Haraszti says the main cause of this state is legislation,
and only legislative improvements will enable having independent TV
channels. Haraszti also mentions the fact that monopoly of air should
be battled as well. It should be set down in the law that the same
group of owners cannot have more than one TV company.

On the other hand, however, he says the law is not enough to guarantee
freedom of press. He said there are several excellent laws and
emphasized the law on freedom of information. But according to him,
it needs to be applied. Nevertheless, he considers upgrading of
legislative mechanisms as a key issue. With this regard, Haraszti
emphasized the bill on distribution of press, which has already
been introduced to the National Assembly. The bill provides for
licensing companies for distribution of press. Haraszti disapproves
this approach. According to him, it is very important that the
parliamentarians recognize the importance of free competition
in distribution of press. According to the OSCE representative,
distribution should be as free and competitive as press itself.

ISLAMIC GROUP SAYS IRANIAN NUCLEAR CRISIS MUST BE RESOLVED THROUGH U.N. WATCHDOG
Aida Sultanova

AP Worldstream
Jun 21, 2006

Foreign ministers from member nations of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference said Wednesday that the dispute over Iran’s nuclear
program needs to be resolved through the U.N. nuclear watchdog _
the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Tehran also has insisted the issue should be dealt with solely within
the IAEA, but the United States and other Western countries have
pushed for possible referral to the United Nations Security Council.

In recent weeks Iran has indicated it might be is willing to negotiate
the nuclear dispute with six world powers who have offered a package
of rewards if halts uranium enrichment.

In a statement issued at the end of a three-day meeting in the
Azerbaijani capital of Baku, diplomats said the Islamic organization’s
57 member nations had "the inalienable right" to develop nuclear
energy for peaceful purposes.

"We believe that the outstanding issues between the Islamic Republic
of Iran and the IAEA should be resolved within the IAEA framework as
the sole competent authority," the statement said. "The only way to
resolve the issue is to resume negotiations without any preconditions."

Iran insists that its nuclear program is aimed at generating
electricity, but the United States and European Union suspect that
it is aimed at building weapons.

Tehran is considering a Western package of incentives, also backed by
Russia and China, that calls on Iran to suspend, not permanently halt,
uranium enrichment as a condition for the start of talks, although
the negotiations are aimed at getting Iran to agree to a long-term
moratorium on such activity.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the OIC’s secretary general, said the
organization also called for ridding the Middle East of all nuclear
weapons _ a long-standing demand by many Arab states directed mainly
at Israel and its clandestine nuclear arms program. Israel neither
acknowledges nor denies having nuclear weapons.

The OIC ministers also condemned Azerbaijan’s neighbor, Armenia,
blaming it for the lingering conflict over the territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ethnic Armenian forces have controlled the mountainous territory
located entirely within Azerbaijan since six years of open fighting
ended in 1994 and the lack of resolution about its status has hampered
development of the strategic Caucasus region.

Ihsanoglu also criticized the media for last year’s controversy
surrounding the publication of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. A
Danish newspaper first printed the cartoons, and other foreign
newspapers later followed, infuriating much of the Muslim world and
sparking deadly riots.

"This is impermissible. This is a crime against Islam. This is an
insult to Muslims," Ihsanoglu said.

"Freedom and responsibility should go hand-in-hand," he added.

"Irresponsible freedom is anarchy. We call on the Europeans to pay
attention to this issue."

NKR MEETS EUROPEAN STANDARDS MUCH BETTER THAN BAKU

Yerkir
21.06.2006 16:48

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – "I was glad to learn about the international
conference dedicated to the 15th anniversary of proclamation of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

This is an evidence that our state has formed," NKR President Arkady
Ghukasian stated in Stepanakert at the opening of the international
conference titled "Nagorno Karabakh Republic: Past, Present and
Future."

In his words, recent 15 years have proved that the people of Nagorno
Karabakh have the right to live in an independent state that was
proclaimed according to the former USSR legislation and norms of the
international law.

"Though the NKR has not been recognized by the international community
yet, our republic meets the European standards much better than
Azerbaijan, which having imposed a war on us attempted to get rid of
the Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh.

However our people not only held out in an unequal bloody opposition
but also managed to cure the wounds of the war, restore the economy
and raise the cultural life during a short period of time.

The NKR possesses an efficient and equipped army, which is the best
guarantor of security and prosperity of Nagorno Karabakh and its
people," Arkady Ghukasian said.