Real Apaches To Come To Armenia To Dance

REAL APACHES TO COME TO ARMENIA TO DANCE

Panorama.am
12:49 23/05/06

On the invitation of US Embassy Yellow Bird apache dance group will
arrive in Armenia soon. The group will stage dances in Ararat on May
26, in Yerevan on May 27 (Cascad) and in Gyumri on May 29 (Theater
Square).

According to US Embassy press services, Yellow Bird has a good name
to continue the old cultural heritages in America. Accompanied by
history long stories and elements of North American Indian art,
their dances present the art and culture of Native Americans to the
present and future generations. It will be interesting to Armenians,
who also have had long lasting history, to see the American native
culture, especially that we know about it only from films and
books.

Ramkavar-Azatakan Party Of Armenia Intends To Take Part In 2007 And2

RAMKAVAR-AZATAKAN PARTY OF ARMENIA INTENDS TO TAKE PART IN 2007 AND 2008 ELECTIONS

Noyan Tapan
May 23 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The Ramkavar-Azatakan Party of Armenia
intends to take part both in the parliamentary elections of 2007 and
in the presidential elections of 2008. Haroutiun Arakelian, Chairman
of the Ramkavar-Azatakan Party of Armenia, declared this at the May
23 press conference. According to him, the issue about participation
in the parliamentary elections separately or in alliance with some
other political forces will be solved at the party’s special congress,
which, possibly, will be held in February next year.

H.Arakelian pointed to the party’s active work in the legislative
sphere.

According to him, the party has submitted a number provisions on
amendments to the Electoral Code to the National Assembly. He mentioned
that the main requirement of the Ramkavar-Azatakan Party of Armenia
is transition to the proportional system, as well as abolition of
deputy immunity: “People engaged in law-adopting activity and not
those guided by fear for thier immunity should work at the National
Assembly.” As for the recent events and, in particular, RA NA Speaker
Artur Baghdasarian’s leaving the post of the Parliament Speaker,
as well as the Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) Party’s leaving the
coalition, Haroutiun Arakelian mentioned that OYP made a political
decision, but the absurd is that under the conditions of Armenia
a political decision can turn into a curious incident: “From time
to time the coalition parties made strict statements against one
another. I think the OYP’s leaving the coalition is logical.

I would congratulate Artur Baghdasarian in connection with the fact
that his party has been fully formed,” Haroutiun Arakelian declared. He
expressed bewilderment in connection with the ill-disposed reaction of
the opposition to OYP’s passing on to the camp of the opposition. “One
forms an impression that the opposition gives licences in this
issue.” As for accusations of National Unity leader Artashes Geghamian
and Artur Baghdasarian addressed to each other about the issue of
sources of financing of the political activity and, in particular,
about financial assistance of RA Defence Minister Serge Sargsian,
the Chairman of the Ramkavar-Azatakan Party of Armenia declared:
“Maybe, the three of them should gather together and decide who gave
more money to another.”

Tatul Manaseryan Says Aviation Is Unsatisfactory

TATUL MANASERYAN SAYS AVIATION IS UNSATISFACTORY

Lragir.am
23 May 06

Member of Parliament Tatul Manaseryan, Ardarutiun Alliance, has piled
up reference material, proving that the state of aviation in Armenia
is below satisfactory.

According to Tatul Manaseryan, in Armavia “the money passengers pay
for the luggage is appropriated by marking a lower weight of luggage
in statements, manpower “massacres” continue: thousands of workers
were fired, including 3000 qualifies pilots, the social problems of
the fired personnel were not solved. The parity of flights was not
observed, 67 percent of flights are foreign companies, 33 percent the
Armenian party, which are owned by a foreigner as well, so Armavia does
not pay profit tax to the state budget of Armenia. 67 percent of shares
of Armavia, which is considered Armenian party, belong to S7 Airlines,
33 percent is owned by a citizen of another country. Consequently,
Armavia does not have a legal relation with Armenia.”

After presenting this series of shortcomings and gaps, the member of
parliament stated, “The citizens of Armenia as well as the Armenian
companies cannot carry out flights, in addition, the government of
Armenia cannot control the civil aviation.” And finally a conclusion
that is not less painful. “The profit from the flights of Armavia and
the other companies flow out of the country, undermining the economy
and the budget of Armenia, the national money, and the national and
economic security generally.”

“The exclusive role of the Armenian aviation may never become reality
unless it gets rid of the harmful developments and negative tendencies
existing in this sphere since the declaration of independence,”
alarms Tatul Manaseryan.

Draft Law On Repatriation Developed

DRAFT LAW ON REPATRIATION DEVELOPED

Panorama.am
16:08 22/05/06

Union of public organizations Yerkir dealing with repatriation
developed a draft law “On repatriation,” Union Head Sevak Artsruni
told a press conference today.

In his words, the union addressed a letter to the National Assembly
in September, 2005 with a request to adopt the law on repatriation
and develop a national program on repatriation. The initial copy of
the draft law, submitted by union Yerkir, was not approved and asked
for further elaboration. The document was elaborated with the support
of Scientific Educational Fund Noravank and the Center for Strategic
and National Research. In Sevak Artsruni’s words, if the issue is
speculated in the political field, it will do more harm than good.

Speaking about the repatriation in financial and investment terms,
S. Artsruni said that the most danger comes not from oligarchs
of Armenia but low-level bureaucracy. In fact the process of
repatriation has already started, Artsruni says, but without legal
backing the repatriates are not sure that they won’t face problems
in the motherland.

Flight Recorder Of Crashed Armenian Jet Retrieved

FLIGHT RECORDER OF CRASHED ARMENIAN JET RETRIEVED

Xinhua General News Service
May 22, 2006 Monday 10:30 AM EST

A flight recorder of the Armenian passenger jet that crashed into
the Black Sea more than two weeks ago was retrieved from the sea on
Monday, the Interfax news agency reported.

“One of the flight recorders has been lifted from the sea bottom,”
a source close to the investigation was quoted as saying.

The Airbus A320 plane of the Armavia airlines crashed near the Russian
resort town of Sochi on May 3, killing all 113 people on board,
among them six children and eight crewmembers. Among the dead were
28 Russian citizens.

The remnants of the airliner sank to a depth of more than 600 meters
below the sea surface. A deep-sea apparatus was involved in the search
for the plane’s flight recorders.

Armenia Finishes Eight At Eurovision Song Contest

ARMENIA FINISHES EIGHT AT EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Armenpress
May 22 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 22, ARMENPRESS: Finland’s rock band Lordi has won the
2006 Eurovision song contest with their heavy metal rendition Hard
Rock Hallelujah. It is the first time Finland has won the contest
in 40 years of trying. The country had never been placed higher than
sixth in the competition before.

The Scandinavian masked quintet bagged 292 points from telephone
voters in 38 countries. Second came Russian heartthrob Dima Bilan,
who received 248 points, followed by Bosnia-Herzegovina group Mata
Hari with 229 points.

First-timer Armenia with the song called Without your Love finished
eighth with 129 points. Armenia and Russia exchanged maximum score
of 12 points. Armenia was also generously supported by fans from
Belgium, Netherlands, Greece, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Germany,
Spain and Turkey that gave a surprise 10 scores.

The Eurovision vote resembled a `regional cooperation’ rather
displaying the solidarity among neighboring countries which voted for
one another. For instance, the Balkan states, Scandinavia, Northern
Europe, the Baltic States and the three Slavonic states ` exchanged’
the highest points.

Armenian president to stand down in 2008, adviser says

Armenian president to stand down in 2008, adviser says

AP Worldstream; May 20, 2006

Armenian President Robert Kocharian is to step down at the end of his
second term in 2008, a top adviser said Saturday.

Kocharian, who has ruled his impoverished, landlocked Caucasus
Mountain nation since 1998, could hand the reins over to his defense
minister, said the president’s national security adviser, Garnik
Isagulian.

“One of those who is most experienced and ready to be the next
president of Armenia is the defense minister Serzh Sarkisian,” he
said.

“In this case, Armenia’s current political course will be pursued,”
Isagulian added.

The opposition in Armenia claims that Kocharian is preparing to change
the Constitution to allow him to be re-elected for a third consecutive
term. But the presidential adviser said that Kocharian did not want to
harm the legitimacy of the presidency.

“A person who has given so many years of his life to important state
affairs would never take such a step,” he said.

However, Kocharian will retain major political influence in the
country even after he leaves office, said Isagulian.

“Kocharian after he finishes his second term will continue to wield
influence over the political life of the country, even greater than
that of the prime minister,” he said.

Who Cut Armentel’s Cables

WHO CUT ARMENTEL’S CABLES

Panorama.am
14:26 18/05/06

The Internet connection was down in Armenia since morning
today. According to Internet providers, ArmenTel’s fiber optic cable
was broken. ArmenTel Communication and Public Relations Director
Hasmik Chutilyan said that also the reserve cables were down.

According to her, ArmenTel’s specialists are trying to recover the
connection. Chutilyan said that one of the cables was broken because
of a construction near Charentsavan. The other cable was broken in
Ashtarak for unknown reasons. ArmenTel has applied to the police
to investigate the case. According to Chutilyan, ArmenTel was not
informed about the construction in Charenstavan whereas according to
regulations all companies have to inform ArmenTel about construction
if it is done on ArmenTel’s infrastructure.

Armenian Paper Names Possible Candidates For Post Of Speaker

ARMENIAN PAPER NAMES POSSIBLE CANDIDATES FOR POST OF SPEAKER

Aravot, Yerevan
18 May 06

Excerpt from Margarit Yesayan’s report by Armenian newspaper Aravot on
18 May headlined “Who will become speaker of parliament?” and subheaded
“Is Arshak Sadoyan an alternative to Tigran Torosyan?”

As a result of the re-arrangement of parliamentary forces, the vacant
seats of the Law Governed Country Party have already been distributed,
and they are waiting for Artur Bagdasaryan to officially tender his
resignation on 22 May.

According to reliable sources, the deputy speaker of parliament and
a member of the Republican Party of Armenia [RPA], Tigran Torosyan,
will be elected speaker of parliament. But people in the corridors
of the parliament predict that Tigran Torosyan’s candidacy will not
pass so easily because there are people in the RPA who do not want
to elect him.

If we take into account that the People’s Deputy faction and the United
Labour Party may adopt a decision to vote openly in this election and
that the opposition will not participate in it, a difficult situation
will actually come about.

But the problem is not limited only to Tigran Torosyan. According
to some rumours, the leader of the National Unity Party, Artashes
Gegamyan, and the leader of the National Democratic bloc, Arshak
Sadoyan, are also going to nominate their candidacies to this post.

Artashes Gegamyan denied this report yesterday and said that his bloc
will not take part in the election.

[Passage omitted: Gegamyan said he is not going to become a political
kamikaze]

As for Arshak Sadoyan, he has confirmed that he is going to nominate
his candidacy to the post of speaker. Mr Sadoyan is sure that an
alternative is very important in the current situation.

Glasnost Turque Sur La Question Armenienne

GLASNOST TURQUE SUR LA QUESTION ARMENIENNE
La chronique d’Alexandre Adler

Le Figaro, France
18 mai 2006

Ala demande du groupe socialiste, le Parlement francais discute en
ce moment meme de la question du genocide armenien. Pour une fois,
il ne s’agira pas d’un acte de repentance, puisque, en 1915, date
du terrible massacre des Armeniens de Turquie, la France combattait
l’Empire ottoman, et aida, dès l’instauration de son mandat sur la
Syrie, les rescapes du genocide a se reinstaller plus au sud, voire
a combattre sous l’uniforme francais la nouvelle Republique turque
de Mustafa Kemal. En revanche, fidèle a sa vocation de protectrice
des droits de l’homme, la France viendrait a la rescousse d’une
petite nation longtemps humiliee, n’ecoutant ainsi que son courage
et ses principes, dont chacun sait que notre Parti socialiste est
le depositaire quasi perpetuel. Nous n’avons l’intention ni de nier
l’atrocite des crimes commis en 1915, ni meme la legitimite du peuple
armenien, en tant qu’Etat et dans sa diaspora, a demander a la justice
des hommes de reparer le premier crime contre l’humanite de grande
ampleur perpetre au XX e siècle.

Nos critiques a la demarche actuelle sont d’abord et avant tout d’ordre
politique : la Turquie, pour des raisons multiples, dont certaines
etaient legitimes, n’a pas su ouvrir une discussion honnete sur ce
sujet pendant de longues annees. Elle fut protegee dans cette attitude,
tout d’abord, par l’ampleur des devastations qu’elle eut a subir
entre 1911, date du declenchement des premières guerres balkaniques,
et 1922, achèvement de la restauration nationale par le mouvement
kemaliste. Au cours de ces annees de sang, l’Empire ottoman s’effondra,
nombreux furent les Turcs et autres musulmans massacres en Bulgarie et
en Macedoine par les Slaves chretiens armes par la Russie en 1912,
puis nombreux encore les Turcs qui durent quitter leurs terres
ancestrales. Comme en Union sovietique après 1945 où le souvenir
de Stalingrad servit a faire passer sous la table les repressions
des annees 30, le Goulag, mais aussi les crimes commis contre des
peuples allies des Allemands, notamment les Tchetchènes, la Turquie
de 1925 voulut tourner la page de l’Empire ottoman et de sa faillite
avec d’autant plus d’enthousiasme que les veritables instigateurs du
genocide, les Enver et les Talat, opposants de la première heure au
republicanisme francophile d’Ataturk, avaient, eux aussi, ete balayes
par le grand vent de l’histoire. Lorsque la question armenienne reparut
ailleurs que sous la plume de talentueux ecrivains de gauche tels Franz
Werfel dans la Prague des annees 30 ou Robert Merle dans le Paris des
annees 60, ce fut helas dans le cadre de manipulations politiques de
grande ampleur dirigees contre une Turquie qui opposait son tenace
verrou a l’expansionnisme sovietique et au modèle d’Etat totalitaire
sovieto-arabe, si populaire tout autour de ses frontières. Après la
liquidation de la presence sovietique en Egypte a la fin des annees
1970, une faction violente et terroriste des organes de securite
sovietiques mirent sur pied une vengeance dirigee contre ce pilier de
l’Otan qu’etait la Turquie, et qui passait par l’activation de tous
les objets contondants antiturcs qu’ils pouvaient ramasser sur leur
chemin depuis la Bulgarie islamophobe de Jivkov a d’ex-gauchistes
turcs ainsi qu’a certaines fractions extremes de l’extreme droite
dans lesquelles on recruta in fine Mohamed Ali Agca et, pour finir,
jusqu’a la mafia turque elle-meme et, bien sûr, un nouveau terrorisme
armenien. C’est un secret de Polichinelle que la montee des violences
de l’Asala, depuis son poste de commandement de Chypre, fut orchestree
de bout en bout par Damas, Moscou et Sofia dans des buts geopolitiques
peu acceptables et qui finirent dans l’attentat sanglant de mai 1981
contre Jean-Paul II. Pendant toute cette periode, la Turquie tint
bon, serra les dents quand ses jeunes diplomates et ses ouvriers qui
rentraient de vacances furent assassines sommairement et pour finir,
grâce a des hommes eclaires par l’ideal democratique et republicain
du kemalisme – l’amiral Koruturk, le general Evren, Turgut Ëzal –
reussit a eviter le basculement dans la dictature nationaliste et
la repression aveugle que les stratèges devoyes du KGB voulaient
provoquer. Il y eut aussi, au KGB et dans l’armee sovietique, des
hommes droits et honorables – Andropov ; Aliev, le defunt president
de l’Azerbaïdjan independant ; le marechal Ogarkov et le Bulgare
Alexandre Lillov qui le paya tardivement de sa vie -, pour s’opposer
a ces folies terroristes, notamment après 1981. De cela aussi, il
serait necessaire qu’Armeniens et Turcs en discutent aujourd’hui,
sereinement. Car nos socialistes francais, qui ont econduit sans meme
les entendre leurs amis de la gauche turque, semblent faire comme si
la Turquie, par la voix de son premier ministre Erdogan, n’avait pas
considerablement evolue en la matière en proposant un debat ouvert et
sans tabous entre historiens turcs et armeniens, y compris ceux de la
diaspora de toute evidence, et pourquoi pas d’autres nationalites. Le
grand ecrivain turc Orhan Pamuk, qui eut le courage de parler sans
barguigner de la tragedie armenienne, vient de voir le procès qui lui
avait ete intente, annule par un procureur. Est-ce bien le moment de
poignarder dans le dos cette formidable glasnost turque pour le seul
benefice de quelques electoralistes gaulois, qui croient avoir trouve
dans la rhetorique humanitaire un moyen imparable de creer de toutes
pièces un “villierisme de gauche” en croyant, comme tous les pervers
le font volontiers, que personne ne les comprend ni ne les voit ?

–Boundary_(ID_wMbfqPu6vm5MnzXGtUuSaA)–