Author: Khondkarian Raffi

COMMUNISTS ENDORSE RUSSIA
Lragir.am
08 April 06
`People who will raise their hands against the Russian-Armenian
friendship are foe number one of the Armenian people,’ stated Ruben
Tovmasyan, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the
Armenian Communist Party on April 8.
And if those who raise their hands against the Russian-Armenian
friendship are those people, who are arousing an anti-Russian hysteria
on the price of gas and sale of the fifth generating unit of the
Thermal Power Plant of Hrazdan to Russia.
The leader of the Communist Party thinks this anti-Russian hysteria is
aroused by the Americans who want to break relations between Armenia
and Russia. ` God forbid this. We have to be very thoughtful with
Russia,’ says Ruben Tovmasyan.
Personally, his approach to Russia is not only thoughtful but also
tender.
He does not blame Russia for increasing the price of gas, and he does
not think that they coerced Armenians into transfer of the fifth
generating unit of the Thermal Power Plant of Hrazdan to them. `We
condemn selling people’s property, which has been done since the
1990s,’ says Ruben Tovmasyan. However, he says more with regard to the
fifth generating unit of the Thermal Power Plant. According to Ruben
Tovmasyan, not only Russia is to blame for having exercised pressure,
but also Armenia, which put it out for sale. `You put it out for sale,
and they bought it,’ says Ruben Tovmasyan, `you’ is the government and
`they’ is Russia.

ATTEMPTED ROBBERY FOILED IN CURRENCY EXCHANGE OFFICE
YEREVAN, APRIL 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The Yerevan Arabkir Department of the
RA Police received on April 5 an alarm call from the currency exhange
office at 30 Komitas Street. Upon arriving at the scene of the crime,
the operative group found that two unknown persons, one of them armed
with a Voltran gas pistol, had entered the above mentioned office and
tried to steal money from the office employee. However, Arman H, who
was there at that moment, grabbed the pistol from the intruder’s hand
and, firing 3 times into the air, put the robbers to flight. Arman
H. received an injury in the head. The police confiscated the gas
pistol and 3 bullet cases found at the scene. An investigation is
underway.

Baltic News Service
April 5, 2006 Wednesday 11:56 PM EET
NEW OPPORTUNITIES OFFERED TO LITHUANIAN BUSINESS IN ARMENIA
VILNIUS Apr 05
New opportunities are offered to Lithuanian business in Armenia – an
honorary consul-led consular institution is planned to be opened in
the country in April.
Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus is scheduled to pay an official
visit to Armenia this year. The visit agenda includes a business
mission, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has reported.
The Lithuanian Embassy to Russia has also initiated business and
culture missions in Kaluga, Smolensk, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod and
Rostov-on-Don.
A new member of Lithuanian Business Club, Company ISC, was presented
at a meeting of Lithuanian Business Club held at the embassy’s
initiative in Moscow on Tuesday.
Russia is one of the main foreign trade partners of Lithuania. In
terms of direct investments in Lithuania, Russia ranks third after
Denmark and Sweden.

tem_of_a_down_rally_in_dc
Rollingstone.com
Back to _System of a Down Rally in D.C._
ystem_of_a_down_rally_in_dc
System of a Down Rally in D.C.
Hard rockers rally for recognition of Armenian genocide
System of a Down will launch a three-day campaign for Armenian
Genocide recognition in Washington, D.C., beginning April 24th. The
Grammy-winning band, whose members are all of Armenian descent, plan
to urge Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and various Congressional
leaders to recognize Turkey’s Armenian genocide by taking part in a
rally outside of the Turkish Embassy.
The band also plans to hold a screening of Screamers, a documentary by
Carla Garapedian about System’s ongoing campaign for the cause.
The Armenian Genocide occurred during World War I, between 1915 and
1923, when the Turkish government killed more than one-and-a-half
million Armenians, driving hundreds of thousands more from their
homes. It is considered by many to be the first genocide of this
century, but the United States has not officially acknowledged it as
such. In 2000, a House Resolution was slated to change that, until it
was withdrawn by Hastert at the request of President Clinton.
“It’s important for people to be aware of the Armenian Genocide,”
frontman Serj Tankian said in a statement. “History does and will
repeat itself, unless we stop that cycle.”
>From their inception, System of a Down has campaigned tirelessly to
raise awareness of the historical tragedy and to raise money for
political organizations like Amnesty International, Center for the
Prevention of Genocide and Axis of Justice — which Tankian co-founded
with Audioslave’s Tom Morello. The subject has also found its way
into songs like “P.L.U.C.K. (Politically Lying, Unholy, Cowardly
Killers),” from the band’s self-titled 1998 debut, which states “A
whole race of Genocide/Taken away all of our pride/A whole race of
genocide/Taken away, watch them all fall down.”
In order to increase awareness, since 2000, System of a Down have
staged an annual “Souls” benefit show. This year’s performance,
however, was cancelled for undisclosed reasons.
System of a Down’s latest album, Hypnotize, the companion album to
their top-selling Mezmerize, debuted at Number One last November. The
Los Angeles quartet will headline this summer’s Ozzfest tour alongside
Ozzy Osbourne and Disturbed, opening July 1st in San Francisco.
DANE SMITH
Posted Apr 04, 2006 1:47 PM

INTERNATIONAL STRUCTURES EXPRESS READINESS TO SUPPORT ARMENIA IN FIGHTING CORRUPTION
Noyan Tapan
Apr 06 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. A two-day international conference
entitled “The role of NA-civil society cooperation in fighting
corruption” started on April 6 at RA National Assembly. Representatives
of the Armenian parliament, different departments, NGOs, mass media,
as well as foreign experts, delegates of different international
structures take part in the conference. The conference was organized
by RA NA, the Eurasia Foundation, USAID, OSCE and UNDP.
Eurasia Foundation Vice-Chairwoman on the South Caucasian Region Andrea
Harris, U.S. Ambassador to RA John Evans, UN Resident Coordinator
Consuelo Vidal,OSCE Yerevan Office Head, Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin
attached impotance to fighting corruption, the steps taken by the
Armenian authorities in this direction by now, particularly, to the
“Anti-corruption” program adopted 3 years ago by the government,
to ensuring of the respective legislative field, as well as to RA
NA’s joining the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against
Corruption (GOPAC). Meanwhile they mentioned that there is still
much to do in this sphere and expressed their readiness to support
Armenia. According to the speakers, a political will is necessary
for really fighting corruption. They expressed the hope that packages
containing measures on fighting corruption in different directions,
as well as packages of stable mechanisms will be worked out after the
conference and the international organizations will initiate grant
assistance programs to promote their implementation.

ENVOY POINTS TO GROWING EU INTEREST IN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT – ARMENIAN AGENCY
Mediamax news agency
5 Apr 06
Yerevan, 5 April: “I am not happy with statements about a possible
military resolution to the Karabakh conflict. During my recent visit to
Azerbaijan I said that any attempts to resolve the conflict militarily
will entail catastrophic consequences,” the EU special representative
for the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, said in Yerevan today.
Speaking at a news conference in Yerevan, Peter Semneby said that the
Armenian and Azerbaijani leaderships bear “historical responsibility”
for the conflict settlement and that 2006 is a very convenient year to
resolve the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. “The window of opportunities is
still open and the European Union is ready to render every assistance
to the peace process,” the EU special representative said.
Peter Semneby noted that “my mandate focuses more on the assistance
to the conflict settlement than the mandate of my predecessor Heikki
Talvitie, and this is a political signal of the EU’s growing interest
in the settlement of frozen conflicts”. He said that the EU’s increased
interest in conflict settlement is also explained by the fact that
Armenia and Azerbaijan are expanding their relations with the EU
within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy.
Peter Semneby said that the European Union could play a significant
role in the implementation of projects of post-conflict rehabilitation
in the region after the signing of a peace agreement.
The EU could also take part in peacekeeping efforts.
The EU special representative stressed that the EU’s growing interest
in the conflict settlement does not at all mean that the format of
the OSCE Minsk Group will be changed. Peter Semneby said that they
“are doing their job well”.

RUSSIA’S GAZPROM DOUBLES GAS PRICE FOR ARMENIA
Radio Mayak, Moscow
6 Apr 06
[Russian state-owned gas major] Gazprom and Armenia have signed an
agreement on gas delivery. Russia will sell gas to the neighbouring
republic at 110 dollars per 1,000 cu.m. until 2009.
Until 1 April 2006 gas was sold at 56 dollars per 1,000 cu.m. This
was an extension granted by Gazprom to the Armenian side, which has
now expired.
After the price increase, gas tariffs rose 50 per cent for the Armenian
population and doubled for Armenian enterprises.

SEMNEBY: “I BELIEVE A DOCUMENT ON SETTLEMENT OF NK CONFLICT WILL BE SIGNED”
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 5 2006
Each conflict has its own peculiarities and the Kosovo model cannot
be applied to all the frozen conflicts in the post soviet space. Once
tested model cannot be applied to all the other conflicts,” European
Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby told
(APA).
Referring to the Nagorno Garabagh conflict, Mr. Semneby said it is
very specific one.
“The settlement of this conflict should be based on negotiations. The
conflicting parties are likely to complete the talks and I think
a document will be signed on the settlement. As for compromise,
in my opinion it should be elaborated through long and delicate
negotiations,” Semneby emphasized.

ARMENIAN ARMED FORCES BREAK CEASE-FIRE IN TOVUZ AND AGHDAM
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 4 2006
Armenians keep on violating the cease-fire. Azerbaijan’s Defense
Ministry informed APA that the companies of the Armenian armed forces,
from their positions in 1.7 km south-east of Mosesgekh village of
Armenia’s region of Berd, fired on the positions of Azerbaijani armed
forces located in an unnamed height of Tovuz region from 17.55 till
18.00 on 3 April.
>From their positions in 2.5 km south-east of the occupied village
Javahirli of Aghdam region, the enemy forces fired on the positions
of Azerbaijani forces located near Ahmadahgali village with submachine
and machine guns from 21.00 till 2.00.
The enemy was silenced by response fire. No causalities were
reported.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AT CZECH SENATE TO ADDRESS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Yerkir
04.04.2006 15:39
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – A one-day international conference titled ‘The
Armenian Genocide’ will be held on April 4 at the Czech Senate,
Noyan Tapan reported, citing the Radio Liberty.
The conference has been initiated by the Armenian Club of Prague and
Senate member Jaromit Shtetina.
Professor Vahakn Dadrian of the Zorian Institute will make a report
on the documents kept in the Turkish archives. Prominent German human
rights advocate Tessa Hoffman will present the issue of the Armenian
Genocide recognition in the light of human rights. European Armenian
Federation Chairperson Hilda Choboian will speak of the European
Union’s role in the recognition process.
The Turkish views in the coference will be presented by Yelda Ozcan,
a Turkish scholar residing in Germany.
Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosian will attend the
conference.