Author: Nahapetian Boris

OSKANYAN TO MEET MAMMEDYAROV

Lragir.am
12 June 06

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan will leave for Paris on
June 13 to meet with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammedyarov.

According to Vardan Oskanyan, the Kocharyan-Aliyev meeting in
Bucharest produced no results, however the presidents “agreed that
if the co-chairs find it convenient to organize a minister-level
meeting, they will be welcome.” “I think that we will be trying to
discuss the same issue and try to reach common approaches,” informed
Vardan Oskanyan.

Vardan Oskanyan does not know the agenda and the format of the meeting
in Paris, but Armenia has announced for a number of times that “there
are quite positive elements, unresolved issues and issues which used
to be complicated and defied any agreement for years on but there is
agreement on them today” on the table.

“The positive element is in the process, and we should do everything
to use this positive moment and try to bring the stances on the
unsettled issues closer and establish a possibility for the next
meeting of the presidents,” said Vardan Oskanyan. But he found it
difficult to say whether it will be a success or not.

THE LOGICS OF THE NEW DEVELOPMENTS
By Mher Ohanian

Yerkir.am
June 09, 2006

New rapid developments are under way in the world market, and
they significantly affect the economies of transitional countries,
including Armenia.

And this is especially true for basic sectors of economy, such as
mine industry, electronics and high technologies. The competition
between the euro and dollar as well as roaring prices for oil and
gold also have their indirect impact on the Armenian financial market.

External factors

It is a fact that the Armenian economy can develop only as an open
system that is integrated in the world economy. A self-isolation
could prove devastating.

It is evident that the situation in the world market for Armenia to
develop its basic sectors is currently very favorable. First of all,
it applies to the unprecedented hike of the prices for color metals:
copper, molybdenum, nickel and aluminum. For example, the price for
copper in the world market has grown three times in the past 3-4
years, reaching $8,000/ ton. If used efficiently, this factor could
ensure serious income for the sector and could help modernize the
color metal industry of the country.

Armenia is among the number of transitional countries that managed to
ensure a double-digit growth in the past six years, while, according
to experts, countries in transition usually are hit by two waves
of economic decline: the first one begins in the beginning of the
transitional period and though lasts for a short period but leaves
devastating consequences.

Armenia’s ‘transformational decline’ was one of the worst among the
CIS countries, when between 1990-1993, Armenia lost sixty percent
of its economy and more than 1 million jobs. After a cease-fire in
the Karabakh war was reached in 1995, the Armenian economy showed
progress in terms of its macroeconomic figures.

ACCORDING TO CHAIRWOMAN OF UNION OF ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN FRIENDSHIP,
GEVORG GEVORGIAN’S MURDER IN TSALKA WAS ORGANIZED

AKHALKALAK, JUNE 8, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. According to Aida
Khoderian, Chairwoman of the Union of Armenian-Georgian Friendship
functioning in Tsalka, the murder of Armenian youth Gevorg Gevorgian
three months ago in Tsalka was committed on the national ground. This
was informed by the A-Info agency.

“Gevorg Gevorgian was very much anxious about the state policy on
changing the demographical picture in the region of Tsalka to the
detriment of Armenians. Some days before the incident he had declared
this and even had proposed that Armenians be resettled in the vacant
houses of Greeks in the region,” A.Khoderian said. According to her,
after it Gevorg Gevorgian began to be persecuted and his murder was
organized in several days.

CHAIRMAN OF THE PARLIAMENT OF AZERBAIJAN CONGRATULATED HIS ARMENIAN COUNTERPART ON APPOINTMENT

ArmRadio.am
08.06.2006 16:10

The plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea
Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) came to an end in Yerevan, and presidency
over PABSEC was transferred from Armenia to Azerbaijan.

Chairman of RA National Assembly Tigran Torosyan handed the symbol
of presidency – the wooden hammer – to member of the Azerbaijani
Parliament Asaf Hajiev.

The next plenary session of PABSEC will be held November 22-23 in
Baku, and the Armenian side has already received an invitation from
Azerbaijan

Today Asaf Hajiev read out the address of the Speaker of the
Azerbaijani Parliament Oktay Asadov to participants of the PABSEC
sitting in Yerevan. The Chairman of the Parliament of Azerbaijan
congratulated his Armenian counterpart Tigran Torosyan on appointment
and wished him success, MEDIAMAX Agency informs.

PAKISTANI AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN VISITS VILLAGES OF TOVUZ BORDERING ON ARMENIA

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 8 2006

Pakistan’s extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador to Azerbaijan
Mohammad Hafiz is visiting Tovuz region at the initiative of
parliamentarian Ganira Pashayeva.

APA’s western bureau reports that the ambassador first visited the
Martyr’s Alley in the center of the region. Tovuz governor Hamid
Baghirov received the Pakistani ambassador and parliamentarian Ganira
Pashayeva. Baghirov and Ms. Pashayeva informed the ambassador about the
strategic location of Tovuz and the problems of the region bordering
on Armenia. The region’s governor said though Tovuz is not in Nagorno
Garabagh which is subject to Armenians’ territorial claim, Armenians
often fire on peaceful residents and their houses in the villages of
the region bordering on Armenia.

Expressing his gratitude for detailed information on the problems that
the region is facing, Mr.Hafiz presented governor Hamid Baghirov with
a silver sword. Baghirov thanked to the ambassador for accepting the
invitation to visit Tovuz and presented him with Azerbaijani folk
musical instrument saz.

Following this, Mr. Hafiz accompanied by Ganira Pashayeva visited
Alibayli village of Tovuz bordering on Armenia.

600 of 800 houses in Alibayli village have been destroyed by Armenians
during the war and the cease-fire. 200 houses and 30%-40% of the
destroyed houses in the village are populated at present.

Meeting the villagers, the Pakistani ambassador was interested in
their conditions. The residents said Armenians often fire on the
houses but they go on living there.

Mohammed Hafiz and Pashayeva met with soldiers of Azerbaijani Army
after that. The visitors arrived at the secondary school named after
National Hero Gasim Rzayev in Hajiili village. This village often
becomes subject to Armenian bullets. There are bullet holes on the
door and walls of the school.

Speaking to APA’s western bureau, Ms.Pashayeva appreciated the
Pakistani ambassador’s visit to the border zone.

“Mr. Mohammad Hafiz demonstrated his support for us by visiting
the zone. He accepted my invitation on visiting the region with
great pleasure. Such visits are very important for us. Pakistan
has its special weight among Muslim countries. As a member of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference, Pakistan plays one of the
key roles there. Mr.Hafiz is sure to share his opinions on the visit
with other ambassadors, especially those from Muslims states,” the
parliamentarian said.

Pashayeva also noted that Mr.Hafiz wants the relations between
different parts of our country and Pakistan to strengthen, “Pakistan
gives great support for Azerbaijan regarding the Garabagh conflict.

Mr. Ambassador promised to often visit our regions.”

Pashayeva also said the initiative of organizing visits of western
ambassadors to our country is also being considered.

“Most of the western ambassadors have promised to visit our regions.

British ambassador Laurie Bristow has agreed to visit this region in
July or August this year,” she said.

The Pakistani ambassador is still visiting villages of Tovuz
bordering on Armenia now. Mohammad Hafiz and Ganira Pashayeva will
leave for Aghdam region today to familiarize with conditions of
local residents. The Pakistani ambassador is due to visit Ganja
tomorrow.

TURKISH WRITER ON TRIAL FOR DEFENDING CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR

Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany
June 7, 2006 Wednesday 10:14 AM EST

The trial of Turkish newspaper journalist Perihan Magden on charges
of “encouraging people to refuse to do their military service” began
in Istanbul Wednesday with small scuffles between nationalists and
Magden’s supporters.

Magden was charged after writing an article last December in which
she defended Mehmet Tarhan who had been imprisoned for refusing to
do military service.

If found guilty Magden faces up to two years’ imprisonment.

A number of people outside the Istanbul court who described themselves
as “the families of those martyred” shouted slogans such

as “every Turk is born a soldier” before getting involved in minor
scuffles with Magden’s supporters and police.

The case is the latest test of Turkey’s acceptance of freedom of
speech as it tries to convince the European Union that it has not
just legislated for, but has actively implemented human rights reforms.

Turkey has been criticized for the way in which zealous prosecutors
lay charges whenever they detect a slight against the state.

In a similar case earlier this year, charges against novelist Orhan
Pamuk for “insulting Turkishness” were dropped on a technicality.

Pamuk was charged after being quoted in a Swiss newspaper as saying
that “30,000 Kurds and one million Armenians were killed in these
lands, and nobody but me dares talk about it.”

Despite constant criticism from human rights groups and the European
Union the government has refused to change the notoriously vague
Article 312 of the penal code under which many journalists have
been charged.

RUSSIAN SOCIETY AGGRIEVED OVER DEFEAT IN COLD WAR

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.06.2006 13:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Russian society feels aggrieved over the defeat
in the cold war. The burst of neo-fascism and crimes in Moscow is
conditioned by this fact, Armenian National Assembly Vice-speaker
Vahan Hovhannisian stated in Yerevan. “Russia came to grief in all
fields: the communist ideology has collapsed, the economy has been
undermined, huge territories have seceded from a united state. This
could not but tell on the mood of the society.

Moreover, the economic growth is conditioned not by the industry
development but by oil,” he remarked.

In Hovhannisian’s words, the Russian fascists are not aware of what
they are speaking about. “They are reasoning of the purity of the race,
but if Mussolini or General Franco appeared in the Moscow subway they
would be immediately killed since they are “black-skinned”. As for
the measures undertaken by the Russian government against fascists,
the Vice-speaker considers they are not efficient enough.

GHUKASYAN IS IN A HURRY

Lragir.am
06 June 06

While Kocharyan and Aliyev were talking about Karabakh in Bucharest
on June 5, NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan held a meeting of the NKR
Constitutional Task Force. It was reported during this meeting that
the draft of the Constitution is ready, though a month ago only 2
out of 8 chapters were said to be ready.

Nevertheless, Arkady Ghukasyan highly appreciated the work done on
the NKR Constitution and was pleased to say that the draft has already
received positive evaluations of experts.

Attorney General Armen Zalinyan, the head of the Task Force, presented
a report on the activities of the Task Force, then the political
forces, government officials and parliamentarians included in the
task force expressed their opinions on the draft.

According to the press service of the NKR President, Arkady Ghukasyan
decided to introduce the draft to the NKR National Assembly. At the
same time, the head of state instructed the Task Force to go on to
study actively the proposals on the draft constitution.

REDUCTION OF DOLLARIZATION IN TERMS OF HUMANISM

Lragir.am
06 June 06

The Central Bank of Armenia is likely to reduce dollarization in the
country. To put it more clearly, the Central Bank has decided to have
the population of Armenia keep their savings in drams rather than in
dollars. Frankly speaking, Tigran Sargsyan deserves a Nobel Prize for
this decision. Actually, the president of the Central Bank wants to
protect the population from the consequences of depreciation of the
dollar in Armenia. However, there is no need to hurry. However, the
humanism of Tigran Sargsyan, who is also the president of the Diocese
Council of the Ararat Diocese, seems disinterested only at first
sight. What does a cut of dollarization mean? Whatever instruments are
used, there is only one way out. Either the population should exchange
dollars for drams or the Central Bank should change everything,
so as the population of Armenia earn their income in dram amounts.

Armenia annually receives transfers of over one billion dollars,
which comprises about a quarter of the GDP of Armenia. Moreover,
this is the part of transfers that is counted, in other words, these
are transfers through banks and other systems of transfers. Transfers
in cash are also significant in amount but these are not covered in
these calculations. A significant share, or rather the greater part
of this huge amount of transfers goes to the population as income.

Hence, about a quarter of the GDP of Armenia or even more, which mostly
reflects the income of people, is accrued in drams. It appears that in
order to dramize this income the Central bank has to return economic
migrants to Armenia. But economic migrants are not an exchange rate
to be made to drift in any direction. Even if we outdo the vision for
an Armenia extending from sea to sea, and imagine economic migrants
return to Armenia and earn an income here, we cannot be sure that
this income will be in drams. Many companies in Armenia pay their
workers in dollars for different reasons. In fact, only salaries of
state enterprise workers and pensions are paid in drams, as well as
salaries of workers of some private companies. And it means that the
income of a major part of the population of Armenia is in dollars;
it is another issue whether this is legal or illegal.

At least, it is fair to get a sum in dollars earned honestly than
drams which come nobody knows from where. But this is another problem,
which is not the competence of the Central Bank. It is the duty of
law-enforcement agencies, however, it does not mean that the Central
Bank will never have to deal with it.

In the meantime, we are concerned with what the Central Bank is
concerned. It is almost certain that there is one way of reducing
dollarization of people’s savings (if there are such) in Armenia:
people will save their dollars after exchanging them for drams. It
is a surprise that the Central Bank has set such a goal, because
people anyway hurry to exchange their dollars for drams because the
exchange rate of the dollar is dropping daily. And the Central Bank
is merely trying to persuade, make or encourage those citizens, who
still are likely to keep their dollars until everything is settled,
including the exchange rate of the dollar. Moreover, this step of the
Central Bank also means that they also fear that everything will be
settled soon and little time is left, and it is necessary to collect
the remaining dollars. It is not bad. More importantly, it is not
dishonest. People will know from whom to demand the money back.

FRONT LINE MONITORING AND ITS PURPOSE

Ïðaâî Âûaîða, Azerbaijan
Democratic Azerbaijan
June 5 2006

Elman Mamadov: “Armenians are not punished for some reason” After
announcement of the cease-fire, May 12 1994, OSCE Monitoring Group
was recruited which right from that date started holding monitoring
on front line. It does it time from time now. Monitoring Group members
acting in Azerbaijan and Armenia including representatives of Defense
Ministries of both countries partake in monitoring process.

It should be mentioned that the above monitoring is not highly
evaluated on the part of society. Moreover, not all state circles
know the purpose of the monitoring. Some observers hold that
monitoring aims at defining the way of observance of cease-fire by
both states. The matter is that security of OSCE monitoring group
members was jeopardized many times during monitoring due to violation
of cease-fire by Armenia. On the other hand, it is well known fact that
due to violation of cease-fire by Armenia, many Azerbaijani soldiers
die or have wounds. However, despite this, Armenia is not punished
and OSCE Minsk Group members, entrusted with the task of mediator in
regulation of Nagorni-Garabagh conflict, do not even mention the fact
in their reports. Moreover, some observers hold that monitoring aims
at learning position for peacemaking forces.

Member of Standing Parliamentary Commission on security and defense
issues, deputy, Elman Mamadov, touched upon this subject during
conversation with journalists. He said that outwardly the given fact
can be evaluated as positive: “The process represents some kind
of control cease-fire. Unfortunately, organization that organizes
monitoring applies no punishment towards the side that systematically
violates cease-fire. We can ask: Why do we need monitoring then? What
is the purpose of activity of Monitoring Group? I think this structure
should have more serious purposes. If it is decided to cease fire,
then the side that violates it should be punished in accordance with
OSCE definition. Otherwise, not only monitoring is doubtful but its
purposes as well. It is the very reason that Azerbaijani society does
not know the purposes of monitoring”.

Accordingly to deputy, there were many cases due to which monitoring
process was undermined: “Sometimes Armenians jeopardized lives of
persons realizing monitoring. That is why we demand to punish the
guilty side at international level. If Armenia does not respect
approved laws and rules, then why should Azerbaijan respect them? I
repeatedly said it at international level”.

At the same time E. Mamadov holds that it is worthwhile to hold
monitoring not on Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia but right
on the frontiers of both states: “Today we do not observe development
of relation on due level and we won’t be witnesses of desirable results
of this activity. Undermining of negotiation process is usual for
Armenia, they always do it. The reason is the use of no punishment
which in turn leads to unwanted actions on the part of Armenia. If
Armenians are not punished they will continue their criminal activity”.

Deputy stated that actually monitoring results should be made
public: “Materials should be summarized and then final decision of
representatives of Defense Ministries of both states should be made.

However, up to now we haven’t faced such cases. I think if Azerbaijan
violated cease-fire, we would be punished immediately. Unfortunately,
no rules do exist for Armenia”.

vis.pl?s=001&p=0055&n=001541&g=

–Bou ndary_(ID_Wb7JzMLp6omRGa0fcGytYA)–