Author: Maghakian Mike

AZG Armenian Daily #053, 24/03/2006

Diaspora
HISTORIC MEETING WITH PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER
A Canadian Armenian delegation, led by the Primate His Eminence Bagrat
Galstanian, met with The Right Honorable Stephen Harper in his
Parliament Hill office on Tuesday March 21, 2006.
The Primate congratulated the Prime Minister on his recent election,
and thanked him for actively supporting the passage of Bill M-380 by
the House of Commons in 2004 which recognized the Armenian
genocide. He also presented a letter from His Holiness Karekin II,
Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.
“We highly appreciate this important action,” said the Vehapar in his
letter to the Prime Minister, referring to Bill M-380, “and appeal to
you to condemn all similar atrocities throughout the world that are
directed against the well-being of man.”
“We look forward that during your term in office, there may be further
tangible cooperation between Canada and the Republic of Armenia,
leading to official diplomatic representation in Yerevan” added His
Holiness.
The Primate told Mr. Harper that he was gratified to hear the policies
of the Conservative government on social issues, and offered his
co-operation towards enhancing dialogue with Church and interfaith
community leaders in Canada.
The Prime Minister showed keen interest in all aspects of Armenian
community life, and had a cordial conversation on several topics with
the Primate and his delegation. Mr. Harper asked Bishop Galstanian to
convey his greetings to the Catholicos of All Armenians, and to thank
His Holiness for his blessings.
Accompanying the Primate were V. Rev. Father Ararat Kaltakjian, Vicar
of the Diocese; Rev. Archpriest Zareh Zargarian, Pastor of Holy
Trinity Church in Toronto; Mr. Jack Stepanian, Chairman of the
Diocesan Council; Mr. Taro Alepian, Vice-Chairman of the Diocesan
Council; and Mr. Ara Boyadjian, Treasurer of the Diocesan Council.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Bishop Galstanian presented
Mr. Harper with a “Khatchkar” exquisitely etched in crystal, with two
small vials containing earth and Holy water from Armenia.
Prior to meeting with the Prime Minister, the delegation had visited
the Armenian Embassy in Ottawa, where they were briefed by Counselor
Mikhayil Vardanian on several issues concerning Armenia, including the
situation in Karabakh.

PanARMENIAN.Net
40% of Russian Frontier Guards in Armenia Serve on Contract

22.03.2006 21:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The number of Armenians serving in the Russian
frontier troops has already exceeded 50%, commander of the Russian
border-guard force in Armenia, General Lieutenant Sergey Bondarev
said. In his words, 40% of the Russian frontier troops in Armenia are
staffed with military serving on contract and the number of Armenian
servicemen is growing.
`This is a unique fact when citizens of another state serve in our
troops,’ Bondarev noted. According to a treaty, the expenses are
covered equally, reported the Military-Industrial Express.

ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS DISCUSSED AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB
ArmRadio
22.03.2006 17:30
“We should put an end to emotional approaches and carry out a
pragmatic policy with Russia,” Head of the “New Times” Party Aram
Karapetyan said.
Representatives of nearly all forces of the political field of Armenian
were invited today to the National Press Club to discuss the problems
of Armenian-Russian relations and the prospects of resolution of these.
Which is the major reason for the absence of mutual understanding
between Armenia and Russia? NA Deputy Shavarsh Kocharyan is confident
that no economic issues lie in the basis of this, the reasons are
political. Russia is not content with the Armenia’s aspirations for
Eurointegration.
“The crisis in the Armenian-Russian relations is mainly Armenia’s
fault,” considers Aram Manukyan, member of the All-Armenian National
Movement.
The representative of former authorities condemns our current
leadership of losing the future of Armenian-Russian relations.
“Although Armenia is the strategic partner of Russia, our country
has no correct strategy of relations with Russia,” President of the
Democratic Party Aram Sargsyan noted.
Head of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau’s Hay
Dat and Political Affairs Office Kiro Manoyan considers that it
is senseless to break the ties with Russia because of the rise of
gas price.
“The strategic partner should be reminded that it must fulfill
its duties.
However, if we are partners with a country, it does not mean that
we cannot be partners with another state,” Kiro Manoyan said, adding
that we have no problem of being pro-Russian or pro-American.

THE COMMERCIAL AGENTS’ VICTIMS
A1+
05:32 pm 21 March, 2006
“The inspectors of the Centre, the guide angels of the laureate
deceivers, watch out the vagrant “treacherous” commercial agents,”
today 9 families who were cheated by such agents organized a revolt
in front of the RA Chief Attorney building with suchlike posters.
On March 13 the initiating group sent a letter to Robert Kocharyan,
then to the RA Ministry of Justice and to the RA Chief Attorney
building. Not getting any response on March 17 the protestants handed
another application to the RA General Attorney and the latter promised
to answer them within 5 days.
According to the application “there are vagrant commercial agents in
Yerevan, who want to obtain the right of ownership on our property
and belongings in order to exploitate our confidence. These “talented”
cheaters exclaim among people that they “have no problems” in Yerevan
and in the courts as all those people are their acquaintances.”
The protestants ask the RA General Attorney to pass the cases of the
sufferers from the Kentron Police station to the RA Attorney building
for primary investigation.
Today the protestants were received in the Letter Department of the
RA Attorney premises and they were promised to satisfy their demand
by 17:00.
It is worth mentioning that the suffering inhabitants needed some
money and they gave their flats as a pawn.
Ruzanna Adamyan who is one of the commercial agents sold the
inhabitants belongings for a little money.
There are also cases of other sufferers. In 2003 certain people brought
a flat for 6500 US dollars but so far they haven’t moved in as the
person registered there does not want to release the flat. It turns out
that the commercial agents cheated both the buyer and the flat owner.
By the way if the protestants’ complaint remains without an answer
this time they are going to go on a hunger strike in front of the
resident of RA president.

GEORGIAN OMBUDSMAN DISCUSSES RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN TSALKA
Prime News Agency, Georgia
March 21 2006
Tbilisi. March 21 (Prime-News) – The Tuesday session of the Council
on Ethnic Minorities of the Ombudsman’s Office of Georgia was
dedicated to the recent developments in the town of Tsalka of the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region.
MP Van Baiburt, Zinaida Bestaeva, State Minister for Civil integration
and Davit Darchiashvili, Executive Director of Open Society Georgia
were attending the session.
According to Sozar Subari, Ombudsman, it is necessary to facilitate
dialogue between the parties. The murder in Tsalka was a pure crime,
but the following developments made it clear that that there are
serious problems in the region with regard to relationship of the
different ethnic groups, that might stir ethnic conflicts. That factor
makes attention by the government and society more necessary.
MP Van Baiburt said that some problems with regard to relation of
different ethnic groups definitely contribute to the ongoing tension.
He also surveyed the problems with regard to governance and said that
the tension must be eradicated by the central government, as the local
residents of Georgian origin do not discredit ethnic minorities in
the region.
The members of the Council also discussed negligence by the
Establishment, saying that the local population of the region lives in
extremely harsh economic conditions and there are no state programs
implemented in the region that could contribute to civil integration
of the ethnic minorities.
The members of the Council said that the issue on language for
record keeping was one of the most urgent. According to them, special
programs must be elaborated to sea to teaching of Georgian language
to the local residents, but it can take 5 or 10 years.
The representative of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Georgia
also discuss the murder of the young man of Armenian origin in Tsalka
and said that the law enforcements are doing their best to eradicated
violation of human rights for ethnic reasons and are ready to cooperate
with the Office of Ombudsman.
The members of the Council on Ethnic Minorities are to visit the
region, which is mainly populated with Armenians, and will study the
issue on the spot.

DEPUTY SPEAKER SAYS THERE IS HOPE WITH REGARD TO PRICE OF GAS
Lragir/am
21 March 06
On March 14 and 15 the Russian-Armenian Parliamentary Committee
discussed the price of the Russian gas. The head of the Armenian
delegation Vahan Hovanisyan announced without details that there were
positive moves and there is reason for optimism.
The deputy speaker of the Russian Duma Vladimir Zhirinovsky announced
that if Armenia wants to buy gas at a lower price, it has to enter
the Russia-Belarus Union. Vahan Hovanisyan said this is the opinion
of one person, or the political party he represents, and the Russian
Federation did not offer this to Armenia. The price of gas and the
steps and standpoint of Russia that are far from being pro-Armenian,
have kindled anti-Russian moods both in political circles and among
people. Pro-Russian stance is being replaced by pragmatism, states
Vahan Hovanisyan, who explained to Russians that if “insensible
persons dominate Russian politics, they will bring about changes”
that will not benefit the Russian Federation.
In Yerevan Vahan Hovanisyan elucidated for the Armenian reporters
that the price of gas is boosted by Gasprom and not the Russian
state. “It is not important that the state owns 51 per cent of shares
of Gasprom.” Vahan Hovanisyan believes that the Russian Federation is
becoming a country which lives under the rules of liberal markets,
where the economy dictates policies. In this case there is nothing
left to do but to “make changes in our national interests and introduce
new components in the Russian-Armenian relations.”

BITTER FRUITS OF REFERENDUM
Panorama.am
14:23 20/03/06
Today the for-day sessions of the National Assembly began with
the bitter recollection of the referendum of constitutional
amendments. The Parliamentary minority, particularly “Ardarutyun”
(Justice) representative Victor Dallakyan suggested to his
parliamentary colleagues to form a temporary committee to “carry out
corresponding examination and give a political estimation to what
had happened.” Hmayak Hovhannisyan had an analogical speech. Yet the
dream of the parliamentary minority did not come true as after the
voting for the question the image was as follows: 20 for, 0 against,
and 27 abstained form voting. The result of the voting made Aram
G. Sargsyan think: “The unpunished crime is fraught with the danger
to be repeated.”
Victor Dallakyan came to the following conclusion: “In this way the
Parliamentary majority proved that they took part in falsification
of the referendum.” In reply to these ideas of the oppositional
representatives NA Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan said: “The committee
were to give the estimation that already exists. And voting is the
right of every political body.”

GEORGIAN AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA: KARS-AKHALKALAKI IS A NO-OPTION RAILROAD
Lragir/am
20 March 06
Georgia has to build the Kars-Akhalkalaki railroad, every country
needs transit routes, and we will be glad if the Gyumri-Kars railroad
is operated, stated Revaz Gachecheladzeh, Georgian Ambassador to
Armenia on March 20.
According to him, Georgia has no reasons to reject economic flows
determined by the railroad, with the annual capacity of the Georgian
ports of 22 billion tones.
Soon the ports will not supply the demands of developing Georgia. Revaz
Gachecheladzeh thinks that the Kars-Akhalkalaki railroad is favorable
for Javakheti too. “Not all the freight is for transit, part of it
remains. Besides, crafts will develop in Akhalkalaki.” The ambassador
suggests viewing Kars-Akhalkalaki as a purely economic project that
will become part of the Beijing-Paris highway.
Georgia, which welcomes the re-operation of Gyumri-Kars, will not
try to influence Turkey or Azerbaijan in the question of opening the
borders, however. ” First because even the Minsk Group cannot influence
Turkey and Azerbaijan,” and besides, “like Armenia, we also conduct
a complementary policy, we want to have good relations with everyone,
and especially our neighbors. The question of opening the borders is
your internal affair.”
Everyone understands that Kars-Akhalkalaki is not favorable for
Armenia. The ambassador does not say anything with regard to this. The
Georgian-Armenian economic relations were not satisfactory but there is
progress. For instance, in Georgia they are already selling Armenian
products – juice, cigarettes, cement, etc. Besides, the Armenians are
building a hotel in the resort town of Kobuleti. “We assist the inflow
of the Armenian capital to Georgia. I think you would assist the inflow
of the Georgian capital to Armenia. Our markets are small, and if we
unite, both countries will benefit,” assures Revaz Gachecheladzeh.
The Armenians and Georgians are also implementing regional
projects. The second transmission line of electricity from Armenia
to Georgia is being built.
If it joins the Iran-Armenia line, something that Georgia is eager for,
trilateral cooperation would facilitate the export of electricity among
these three countries. Georgia would like the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline
to reach Georgia and have a sufficient capacity to transport gas to
Europe, which would be favorable for both Armenia and Georgia. But
“Armenia decided to construct a small pipeline.”

ARMENIAN PM APPOINTS GEVORK KOSTANYAN TO ARMENIAN DEPUTY JUSTICE MINISTER POST
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 15, 2006
YEREVAN, March 15. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan
appointed Gevork Kostanyan to the post of Armenian Deputy Justice
Minister on Tuesday, Government’s press service told ARKA News Agency.
Gevork Kostanyan was born in 1977 in Yerevan. He was graduated from
Yerevan State University in 1999 with legal expert diploma.
Kostanyan has been Armenian Justice Ministry’s Adviser on legal issues
over a period between 1995 and 1999.
After serving his national duty in Armenian army in 1999 to 2001,
he continued his work in Justice Ministry as the Minister Adviser
and later as Deputy Chief of Justice Ministry’s Staff.
>>From 2004 till his today’s appointment Kostanyan worked at
Justice Minister Adviser position. He is married and father of one,
non-partisan.

CONSTRUCTION OF “YERANKYUNI” SPITAK DISTRICT TO BE COMPLETELY OVER IN APRIL
Noyan Tapan
Mar 16 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 16, NOYAN TAPAN. It’s envisaged to completely finish
the program of building of the “Yerankyuni” (Triangle) district
of Spitak in April. As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed from
the Public Relations Department of the “Hayastan” All Armenian Fund
implementing the program, the internal repairs of the last 2 out of
district’s 11 buildings are proceeding at present. It was mentioned
that like the buildings already put into exploitation, each of these
buildings will also have 3-2-room 8 apartments.
One of the “Yerankyuni” district’s buildings was built with the
financing of the “Hayastan” Fund’s German local body and the rest 10
with the funds of the British local body. To recap, the Fund started
the district construction in 1999.