Author: Nahapetian Boris

KARABAKH NGOs DISCUSS ACHIEVEMENTS OF 12 YEARS OF CEASEFIRE

Lragir.am
13 may 06

On May 12 NKR celebrated the 12th anniversary of the
armistice. Helsinki Undertaking 92 organized a round-table meeting
with NGOs and invited Speaker Ashot Ghulyan. What have you done over
these 12 years, did you use this period rationally? Public opinion on
this question is not unanimous. First, the representatives mentioned
that Karabakh should become involved in the talks. Karen Ohanjanyan,
the coordinator of Helsinki Undertaking 92 noticed that the present
format of the talks cannot lead to a resolution in the context it was
raised. Member of Parliament Maxim Mirzoyan says political conjuncture
changes constantly, and activities should be made to correspond it. If
in 1991 we had to hold a referendum and declare our independence, now
we have to think in accordance with other parameters to guarantee our
independence and security.

Independence is independent home and foreign policies. In this sense
we can hardly be considered independent. We lack a constitution, we
held the first parliamentary hearings on the Karabakh issue quite
recently, we have a large number of economic irregularities. This led
to the discussion of a settlement at the OSCE Minsk Group unacceptable
for us, namely recognition of the independence of Karabakh within the
borders of the Autonomous Region of Nagorno Karabakh plus a tiny
corridor,’ said Member of Parliament Maxim Mirzoyan.

The speaker of the National Assembly Ashot Ghulyan noticed that the
standpoint of the NKR government has not changed since 1991. It is
guaranteeing the independence and security of the people of NKR. A lot
has changed since 1991, namely with respect to the issue of
territories. Did the standpoint change? In answer to this question
Ashot Ghulyan said it is difficult to have ready schemes every
time. Do we have a ready plan of actions in case the United States
strikes our neighbor Iran? This question of Karen Ohanjanyan also
remained without an answer. As an achievement, the participants of the
round-table meeting mentioned the contrasts found in Karabakh. The
money spent on the billiard contest and expensive song festivals could
be spent on repairs ofthe Republic Hospital, which is in a terrible
condition. Doctor Lyudmila Grigoryan says one of the `peculiarities’
of the year is the wrong choice of priorities.

Another peculiarity is the lack of mechanisms of public debates on
burning issues. In 20 days from the parliamentary hearings on the
Karabakh issue it turned out that people had different opinions on
these hearings. During the round-table meeting the hearings were
criticized, but no one was able to answer the question why these
evaluations are made so late.

`The Jewish fund will always be full of billions, because the society
is sure this money is spent duly and is not stolen,’ says former
member of parliament Valery Ghazaryan. Sociologist Davit Gharabekyan
says the chief problem of our independence is that we have not learned
to solve our problems ourselves.

We are still waiting for someone from `above’ to tell something or to
blame someone.

TREND Info, Azerbaijan
May 12 2006

PACE hearing on the Stability Pact for the South Caucasus was
interesting – Azeri Ambassador

Source: «Trend»
Author: E.Huseynov

12.05.2006

A parliamentary hearing on the Stability Pact for the South Caucasus
took place today, 12 May in Belgian Senate in Brussels, organized by
the Political Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), Trend reports quoting Arif Mamedov,
Azeri Ambassador to Benilux and the EU.

At the hearing was performed CE special representative for South
Caucasus Peter Semnebi, on behalf of governments – Ambassadors of
Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, PACE’s speaker for South Caucasus
Charles Tanek, etc. At the session were also performing heads of
Azeri and Armenian delegation to PACE Samed Seyidov and Tigran
Torosyan. «We opined at the hearing that prior to restoration of
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity it is untimely to talk of
stability on South Caucasus», – Ambassador said.

Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX
May 12 2006

Turks defy labeling of WWI Armenian deaths as genocide

By BENJAMIN HARVEY

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/MURAD SEZER
Protesters with the Workers’ Party hold posters saying, “The genocide
lie is an American game,” left, and “The Armenian genocide is an
international lie” at the French consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkey has pulled out of a military exercise in
Canada and hinted at economic repercussions against France, stepping
up protests of accusations that Turks committed genocide against
Armenians during World War I.

The Turkish government this week briefly recalled ambassadors from
NATO allies France and Canada to protest the Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper’s declaration last month that the killings of
Armenians constituted genocide, and a French bill that would outlaw
denying that Armenians were genocide victims. The ambassadors
returned Thursday after four days in Turkey.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Thursday that it was pulling out of
an Air Force training exercise in Canada, to which it had been
expected to send officers and several F-16 fighters.

“This decision is Turkey’s and we would not comment on why they have
made this decision,” said Pamela Greenwell, a spokeswoman for
Canada’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a private meeting in
Ankara on Tuesday with representatives of large French firms with
investments in Turkey, where he warned of serious harm to relations
if the genocide measure was allowed to pass.

Armenians say as many as 1.5 million Armenians died or were killed
over several years as part of a genocidal campaign to force them out
of eastern Turkey. Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of
Armenians died, but says that the overall figure is inflated and that
the deaths occurred in the civil unrest during the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire.

Turkey is facing increasing pressure to fully acknowledge the
killings, particularly as it seeks membership in the European Union.

But many in Turkey feel that, by using the word genocide to describe
the killings, other countries put the Ottoman Turks in the same
category as Nazi Germans.

Turkey has made it government policy to fight genocide assertions
with diplomatic and economic sanctions if necessary. But it is
unclear how far Turks are willing to go, especially if that could
mean harming the bid to join the EU.

“Sometimes you talk, then you have to behave according to the way you
talk, and you get to a place you never wanted to go in the first
place,” Ilter Turan, a political scientist at Istanbul Bilgi
University, said of whether Turkey would carry through on all its
threats.

BY “ORINATS YERKIR” PARTY’S LEAVING POLITICAL COALITION, ACTION OF
MEMORANDUM TO BE STOPPED AHEAD OF TIME

YEREVAN, MAY 12, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. According to the June
11, 2003 memorandum signed by the political coalition, in the case of
not overcoming the principal disagreements among the sides of the
political coalition in the way of negotiation, each of parties may
inform other sides in written form about it leaving the coalition, at
the same time calling back all its officials envisaged by the
memorandum. Late on May 11, the Political Council of the “Orinats
Yerkir” party made a decision about its leaving the coalition and
concerning party Chairman Artur Baghdasarian’s resigning the NA
Speaker’s post. To recap, according to the memorandum, the OYK party
is given posts of the NA Speaker, Chairmen of the NA two standing
committees, the Committee for Social, Health Care and Nature
Protection Issues and the Committee for Defence, National Security and
Internal Affairs, as well as the posts of three ministers, the Urban
Development, Education and Science, Culture and Youth Issues. It was
also mentioned that deadlines for the political coalition’s activity
and action of the memorandum are in force till the next parliamentary
elections. It was fixed at the same time, that it may be stopped
ahead of time in the case of leaving one of the coalition sides as
well as by the agreement reached among all sides of the coalition.

NO SCHOOL CHILDREN TO GRADUATE IN 2011

Panorama.am
15:41 11/05/06

There will be no school graduates in the year 2011.

This is conditioned by the fact that those who went to school in
2001 will finish their school education after 11 years instead of
normal 10, Norair Ghukasyan, deputy education and science minister
told a briefing followed by a government session today. There will
be no problems connected with draft but the number of applicants to
higher educational establishments will considerable decrease, he said.

It turns out that 1-5 class schoolchildren will go to school for 11
years, 5-10 class schoolchildren – for 10. Part of the schoolchildren
who went to school this year will study for 11 years and the other
part for 12. Certain legal amendments came to be necessary as a result
of 12-year educational system. The government session approved the
draft Law on Education according to which children will start school
at the age of 6.

IN YEREVAN THEY DEMOLISH WITHOUT ANY PLAN

Lragir.am
11 May 06

Samvel Danielyan, the architect of Yerevan, reports cases when a
building in the center of Yerevan is pulled down without envisioning
what to build in its place. Such as, for instance, the Sevan Hotel and
the House of Cinematography. There are no fixed projects yet, but there
are proposals, assures Samvel Danielyan. An investor proposes to build
a multifunction high-rise in the place of the House of Cinematography
which will be located on the 3rd and 4th floors of the building. “The
present facilities of the House of Cinematography no longer satisfy
modern requirements. Studios and the administration will be based
on these two floors,” informed the architect of Yerevan. The rest
will be rent as office space. “Although this project was approved by
Yerevan City Planning Board last year, there is an important question,
which makes us delay a final decision on this project. This problem
allows the City Hall not to accept the project with regard to the
height of the building and parking facilities. I have no doubt that
it has a city planning accent. The central avenue of Yerevan starts
from the high-rise of the Central Post Office on Saryan Street and
does not have an accentuated ending.

Debates on building a high-rise to mark the end of the avenue somewhere
near the House of Cinematography were going on.”

It has been foreseen to build another multifunction building in the
place of the Sevan Hotel. Samvel Danielyan says the project was put
out to tender. The project of a designer was chosen, which “resembles
the former Sevan Hotel with its volume and space, floors, tower, but
in terms of architecture the projects needs further elaboration. They
were offered to review the project. I think there is not going to be
a skyscraper there,” announced Samvel Danielyan.

New allegations in old style
Editorial

Yerkir.am
May 05, 2006

Recently, several publications ran articles containing false
allegations against the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. This
prompted National Assembly’s ARF faction secretary Hrayr Karapetian to
make a statement on the National Assembly floor.

“Recently, several publications, using known methods, have been
printing articles against prominent ARF figures and officials,” he
said in the statement.

“The articles aim at discredit the ARF and trigger a mistrust in the
ARF figures and officials in the context of elections. Those who
organize this campaign that has far-reaching goals against the ARF,
are disturbed by the ARF popularity and especially in the fields where
the ARF representatives have shown great success.”

He also warned that such activities against the ARF were never
successful in the past too since the people have long offered their
assessment of the party and those who spread lies about it. Karapetian
reminded the infamous TV statement made by the first Armenian
president, Levon Ter-Petrosian, who sounded similar ungrounded
allegations against the ARF.

“I am confident that like in the past, this time too, our people would
express their clear attitudes,” Karapetian concluded.

PILOTS OF CRASHED PLANE WERE QUALIFIED SPECILALISTS

YEREVAN, MAY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. The pilots of the Armenian airline
Armavia’s A-320 plane that crashed near Sochi on May 3 – commander
Grisha Grigorian and second pilot Arman Davtian were qualified
specialists. According to the newspaper “Armenian Time”, deputy
commander of the squadron of Armavia’s planes Aram Eghoyan stated
this. The 40-year-old Grisha Grigorian had a nearly 20-year work
experience. Prior to becoming the crew commander of the A-320 plane,
he flew planes of various types. Before 2003, he worked in Iran,
operated flights by a YAK-40 plane. Upon returning to Armenia, he as a
qualified pilot was sent to Stockholm to undergo training and receive
permission to operate flights by A-320 planes, after which, on April
2004 Grigorian started operating A-320 flights. He operated flights of
a total of 5.5 thousand hours, 1,400 of which – on the A-320 plane
(560 hours – as the aircraft commander). The newspaper indicated that
these figures are quite impressive in terms of a pilot’s
experience. As regards the claims that Sochi Airport was a difficult
one to land at, A. Eghoyan said: “That Sochi Airport is a difficult
one is much spoken about. But Grisha learned all it, he knew Sochi
Airport as well as Zvartnots.” The second pilot, 29-year-old Arman
Davtian operated flights on TU-154 before starting on A-320. During
this time, he worked at one of the airlines of Sochi and operated
flights from Adler in various destinations. In 2003, he returned to
Armenia and after undergoing training in Toulouse he began operating
flights by French ATR planes. Later these planes are given back to the
French side, and Davtian went to Stockholm to receive permission for
A-320 planes. His work experience was 2,200 hours, 1,020 hours of
which – by A-320 plane. The newspaper reported that on December 27,
2005, commander Grisha Grigorian saved the lives of the passengers
aboard the plane he flew, when there was an emergency during a
Ekaterinburg-Yerevan flight: the air conditioning system stopped
functioning, which caused lack of oxigen in the aircraft. This
happened on the same A-320 plane that carshed near Sochi. At that time
Grisha Grigorian managed to make an emergency landing at Ekaterinburg
Airport.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 6 2006

Nagorno Garabagh Azerbaijanis Majlis founded

[ 06 May 2006 15:08 ]

Nagorno Garabagh Azerbaijanis Majlis which was formed by
International Garabagh Fund, has held a meeting of foundation
today.(APA).

Azerbaijani representation leadership of the Fund Mehman Ismayilov
making a speech at the meeting said that 52 people are represented
in the Majlis. According to him, representatives of the organization
are elderly people from Garabagh, intellectuals and youth. In the
next stage, he said the Majlis will be expanded and be as a public
parliament. According to Ismayilov, the Majlis will make cooperation
with Tatars of Crimea. At present stage, Mr.Ismayilov stated, there
is no necessity to elect leader to the Majlis.

Azerbaijan Liberal Party chairman substitute Avaz Temirkhan taking
part in the meeting as a guest, stated the necessity of establishing
coordination of organizations organized with regard to Western
Azerbaijan and their activity in joint form. According to him, this
may give more successful results. Political Culture Center leader
of Women, Mehriban Vazir said there is no coordination between
Garabagh organizations and Western Azerbaijanis, as well as among
Garabagh organizations. She put forward an initiative to establish
coordination center related to Garabagh. Azerbaijani Intellectual
Movement chairman Eldaniz Guliyev stressed the Majlis to activate as
peoples movement. He also considered propaganda work to be significant
factor. “Armenians have shot a film “Ararat”, but not any alternative
film has been shot in Azerbaijan with regard to it. I consider that
International Garabagh Fund should prepare scenario in this subject,
and for financial support of shooting that film competition should be
announced. ” Other guests in the meeting and Majlis members making a
speech have forwarded different proposals. In the end of the meeting,
resolution was adopted on behalf of the Majlis. Resolution authors
have announced founding of Majlis and they stated that they will try
for territorial integrity of Azerbaijan./APA/

Aafathis News, Maldives
May 6 2006

The President extends condolences to the President of Armenia.
6/5/2006 | Aafathis

Thursday, May 4, 2006

The President has sent a message of condolences to the President of
Armenia, Mr. Robert Kocharyan, on receiving the news of the crash of
an Armenian jet into the Black Sea, resulting in the loss of life of
all on board.

The President extended heartfelt sympathy to President Kocharyan, the
Government and the brotherly people of Armenia, at this time of
national grief and mourning. He also conveyed sincere condolences to
the members of the bereaved families.

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