Author: Nahapetian Samvel

ARP CAN NOT APPROVE 100% PROPORTIONAL ELECTORAL SYSTEM
Lragir.am
21 July 06
Exclusive.am. Experts of “Electoral Systems” Center have belief in
this. “In case of proportional Parliamentary elections opportunities
of Republican Party to gain majority even in coalition with other
political powers will be theoretic”, says Mr. Arthur Avtandilyan,
Executive Director of “Electoral Systems” Center.
“In every Parliament political powers comparably can be divided
into four groups: ruling favorite party, parties under influence
of authorities, neutral parties and opposition parties. Armenian
Republic Party (ARP) will not be able to get more votes in forthcoming
elections, than Vazgen Sargsyan-Karen Demirchyan alliance did in 1999.
Opportunities are also rationally evaluated by Serj Sargsyan, who
mentions 25% for ARP as a good result. Parties, which are under the
influence of authorities together, will get fewer votes, than ARP,
i.e. 20%. This will not be sufficient to form coalition majority.
Neutral parties will prefer to form majority with opposition in better
conditions. The example is the present Parliament of Ukraine.
Thus, refusal of majority electoral system will be equal to defeat
for the present political majority “, the analytic bulletin of
“Electoral Systems” Center says.

Fourth Shift of Armenian Peacekeepers to Depart for Iraq July 23
PanARMENIAN.Net
19.07.2006 18:47 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ July 23 the fourth shift of Armenian peacekeepers
will depart for Iraq. RA Defense Minister, colonel Seyran Shahsuvaryan
told PanARMENIAN.Net, three shifts of Armenian peacekeepers, each
consisting of 46 people, have been sent to Iraq so far. The current
shift includes 3 staff commanders, 2 medical officers, 10 combat
engineers and 31 drivers. To note, the Armenian units have been taking
part in the peacekeeping mission in Iraq since January 25, 2005.

250 PEOPLE REGISTERED WITH ARMENIAN EMBASSY TO LEBANON TO LEAVE FOR
ARMENIA
Lragir.am
19 July 06
On July 20 Armenia will fly two planes to Syria to evacuate Armenians,
who moved to Syria from Lebanon to Armenia. The Lragir has learned from
the Department of Press and Information of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Armenia that 160 people were evacuated from Lebanon to
Armenia as on July 19, the majority are citizens of Armenia, the rest
are Armenian Lebanese. On July 20 two flights will transport 250
people registered with the Armenian Embassy to Lebanon. There are
both citizens of Armenia and Armenian Lebanese among them.

A Lebanese-Armenian applied the Migration Agency to receive temporary asylum
ArmRadio.am
19.07.2006 13:51
A Lebanese citizen Armenian in origin, who migrated from Lebanon
because of the military actions in the country, submitted a written
application to the Migration Agency of RA Ministry of Territorial
Administration to receive temporary asylum in Armenia.
Head of the Agency Gagik Yeganyan informs that another Lebanese
citizen applied for advice.
It should be noted that the emigrants can receive temporary asylum
in Armenia, which will enable them to launch social, economic and
cultural activity. The asylum is provided for one year with the
possibility of extension. Those who wish may reside in dwellings
under the supervision of the Agency.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
July 12, 2006 Wednesday
THE KARABAKH FRACTURE;
Deployment of NATO contingents in the conflict area will dramatically
change the geopolitical situation in the Caucasus
by Andrei Korbut
THE PROBLEM OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH IS DETERIORATING FROM REGIONAL INTO
GLOBAL; Once a regional headache, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is
deteriorating into a geopolitical problem.
Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister, Serj Sargsjan, made a trip to
Moscow. Sargsjan came to the Russian capital from the OSCE summit in
Minsk where President of Armenia Robert Kocharjan had criticized OSCE
documents as “weak” in the matter of mechanism of military aid to
OSCE member states. Kocharjan was convinced of the necessity to
“specify parameters of the mechanism of military-technical assistance
to OSCE members against external aggression.” The president’s anxiety
is understandable. The latest attempt at negotiations with his
Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev being another fiasco, official
Baku is now obsessed with a military solution to the
Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict.
Addressing graduates from three military colleges, Aliyev once again
mentioned the possibility of “using strength of arms to restore
territorial integrity of the country.” “How much longer are we
supposed to waste our time in talks?” Aliyev said. “How much waiting
is needed? Our patience has its limits. Azerbaijan is a fast
developing country. Armenia is not our match economically,
politically, or from a military standpoint. Let them in Armenia give
a thought to where Azerbaijan will be a year or three or five from
now and where Armenia will be.”
Aliyev pointed out that Baku expected to earn $140 billion in
realization of oil projects in the next two decades. “We will use the
opportunity to strengthen the army so that it will be able to regain
our land at any moment,” he promised then to “his people”.
In the meantime, the United States is displaying more and more
interest in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution. That is essentially
why US Assistant Undersecretary for Europe and Eurasia Matthew Brize
was appointed the new American chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group. The
US Embassy in Yerevan has already published some principles of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution that Washington offers to the
OSCE Minsk Group. This is what is offered for discussion by
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan;
– step-by-step withdrawal of Armenian armed formations from the areas
surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh;
– a special approach to the problems of the Kelbajar and Lachi
districts;
– a referendum or vote to define the legal status of
Nagorno-Karabakh;
– deployment of an international peacekeeping contingent in the
conflict area.
Neither Baku nor Yerevan accept all of that in total. Their
protestations notwithstanding, the Americans just may force a
peacekeeping operation on the warring sides, and deployment of
international peacekeepers in at least some conflict areas will mark
the beginning of a practical phase of conflict resolution. What
countries will these contingents represent? Experts suspect that they
will represent NATO countries. Baku does not mind but Yerevan seems
to mind it. Sergei Ivanov, Deputy Premier and Defense Minister of
Russia, visited Azerbaijan and Armenia in early 2006, and said that
it might be a Russian contingent in fact that would be deployed in
the conflict area.
Official Baku chose to ignore these words but Azerbaijani spokesmen
never miss a chance to point out that contingents of peacekeepers
must be international. Will Russia agree to that? The question is
quite serious, what with the Iranian factor and Washington’s resolve
to neutralize Tehran. Yerevan is thinking along these lines too as
Kocharjan admitted at the OSCE summit in Minsk. “Let us refrain from
the steps that may challenge the interests of OSCE members,” he urged
his colleagues from the Collective Security Council. Moscow in the
meantime seems to favor the idea of peacekeepers in the conflict
area. It is hardly surprising at this point (on the eve of the G8
summit) but what its stand on the matter will be afterwards?
Lieutenant General Yuri Netkachev, former second-in-command of the
Russian Army Group in the Caucasus, believes that it will be “a
geopolitical catastrophe” if Russia and Armenia are forced to accept
a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through NATO
peacekeepers. “The conflict will not be resolved,” Netkachev said,”
meaning that peacekeepers will remain here preparing everything for a
bridgehead for a NATO aggression against Iran.”
It follows that once a regional headache, the problem of
Nagorno-Karabakh is rapidly deteriorating into global. The United
States and its allies promote far-reaching plans. Moscow in its turn
has not defined its position yet and even that may undermine its
standing in the region.
Source: Voyenno-Promyshlenny Kurier, No 25, July 5 – 11, 2006, EV

Jerusalem welcomes Canadian filmmakers
by Hannah Brown
The Jerusalem Post
July 9, 2006, Sunday
An Oscar nominee and a Cannes prize winner are among Jerusalem Film
Festival’s distinguished early arrivals
A friendly unassuming group stopped by the King David Hotel in
Jerusalem on Wednesday night to have dinner with Tourism Minister
Isaac Herzog and a group of Israeli professionals. Nothing unusual
about that except that this group was the Canadian delegation to the
23rd Jerusalem Film Festival and included some of the world’s most
distinguished directors actors and producers.
The delegation which will be present at screenings panels and press
conferences includes Festival Achievement Award winners director
Atom Egoyan and producer Robert Lantos. Among Egoyan’s best-known
films are Exotica the Oscar-nominated The Sweet Hereafter and Ararat
which will be screened at the festival. Lantos has produced most of
Egoyan’s films as well as dozens of others including Sunshine and
the Oscar-nominated Being Julia. Both Egoyan and Lantos are longtime
supporters of the Jerusalem Film Festival and festival founder and
director Lia van Leer who attended the dinner spoke effusively about
their generosity over the years praising Egoyan for donating one
of his first films Family Viewing to the archives of the Jerusalem
Cinematheque after he presented it at the 1988 film festival.
The Hungarian-born Lantos who has lived and worked in Canada for
over 40 years spoke of how he first fell in love with Israel when
he visited the country with the Canadian Maccabiah team in 1969 (he
played on the water polo team). “This group of Canadian filmmakers
wanted to see the reality of Israel today he said.
Another delegation member, director Patricia Rozema (I’ve Heard
the Mermaids Singing and Mansfield Park, which will be screened
at the festival), was already enthusiastic about Jerusalem stone
architecture, and said she was eager to go on a scheduled walking
tour of the Old City.
Egoyan, who was born to an Armenian family in Cairo but was raised
in Canada, chatted about how he enjoys making contact with the
Armenian community here. He reminisced about meeting a Canadian from
his hometown on his last visit here, and asked questions about the
Israeli film industry as if he were a casual visitor and not one
of the world’s most celebrated directors. His wife, actress Arsinee
Khanjian, who has appeared in most of his films and works frequently
these days in France, joked about getting a place card with her son’s
name instead of her own.
Documentary filmmaker Simha Jacobovici, who became religious late
in his life and served in the artillery corps of the Israel Defense
Forces, introduced his five children and his wife proudly. His latest
documentary, The Exodus Decoded, an innovative look at the Bible,
was made with the assistance of Titanic director James Cameron and
will also be shown at the festival.
Actress Marie-Josee Croze smiled shyly when she was introduced,
knowing that most Israelis last saw her as a femme fatale involved
in the assassination of an Israeli intelligence officer in Steven
Spielberg’s Munich. The actress seemed relieved that at least one
dinner guest also recognized her from her charming comic turn in the
French film Mensonges et Trahisons, as well as from her performance
in The Barbarian Invasions, which won her the best actress award at
Cannes. Director/actor Paul Gross, who made the comic Men With Brooms,
one of the biggest box office hits in Canadian history, stood up and
let his dessert melt so that he could pose for photographs.
No one mentioned the one member of the delegation who dropped out
at the last moment, Sex and the City actress Kim Cattrall. They were
all far too gracious for that, and too busy thanking their hosts and
asking questions about Israel.
But don’t say Canadians don’t know how to have fun. Although they
had arrived in Israel just a few hours before the dinner and were
scheduled for a long walking tour the next day, after the Israeli
guests departed, quite a few of the Canadians made their way to the
hotel bar, where they had a couple of drinks and watched a little
World Cup soccer.
GRAPHIC: Photo: THE WINNER of the 2003 best actress prize at Cannes
Canadian film star Marie-Josee Croze celebrated the Jerusalem Film
Festival’s opening last week with Tourism Minister Isaac Herzog.
(Credit: Debbie Ben Ami Yerushalmy Magazine)

Baku ready to keep on talking on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement – Foreign Minister
Source: Trend
15.07.2006
Author: E.Huseynov
Azerbaijan is ready to keep on talking for peaceful settlement
of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Trend reports quoting Azeri Foreign
Minister Elmar Mamedyarov.
He said in the event of necessity Azeri officials, in particular
Mamedyarov himself, might meet in any place and discuss peaceful
settlement. “But the meeting should not pass with no use. There should
be some result, we shall feel our advancement”, minister said.
Commenting co-chairmen statements ‘now initiatives are for the
parties’, Mamedyarov said ‘co-chairmen are appointed to offer the
parties some proposals and coordinate their positions’. He also said
unless there was a necessity in co-chairmen, official Baku would have
conversed with Armenians independently and solved this matter long ago.
“I am optimistic in this matter. Earlier or later, this problem will be
solved. But we want it to be solved faster, as there are many refugees
and IDPs in Azerbaijan who are willing to get home. I believe we will
solve the problem, peacefully or not”, concluded Mamedyarov.

RA FM to Depart for Bosnia and Herzegovina June 18
PanARMENIAN.Net
14.07.2006 18:31 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said at
today’s press conference he will depart for Bosnia and Herzegovina
on a formal call June 18. The purpose of the visit is to promote the
development of interstate relations between Armenia and Bosnia and
Herzegovina. In his words, the visit was planned long ago but was
several times delayed for some objective reasons.

AZG Armenian Daily #132, 15/07/2006
Magic of Cinema
ARTAVAZD PELESHIAN: I USE MAGICAL ARCHIVES OF UNSEEN “ABSENT REALITY”
IN MY FILMS
Today, within the framework of “Golden Apricot” film festival the
Armenian art-lovers had a great opportunity to meet with Artavazf
Peleshian, one of the great masters of world’s cinematography,
prominent documentary film director. “I believe that the time will
come, and the scientific-technical progress will help the humanity to
read the code of the nature and reveal the unknown world that includes
the entire history of our Universe,” Artavazd Peleshian, said this at
today’s master class. He said this in response to a visitor’s question
that asked whether he is concerned about the new technical inventions
that may replace real actors and film production methods used today. He
said that in the beginning the inventions and discoveries may frighten,
but later it turns out that the men of art may use them for their
own purposes without losing the art value of the film.
The author of the so called “distance montage” which helps reveal
“the absent reality” stated that he tries to fully reflect his
view of “the nature’s code” in all of his films. He added that
in the course of the montage a certain magnetic field is created
between the first and the second layers and helps to see the third,
a newer and more real one. Mr. Peleshian stated that as compared with
the associative, poetic and other types of montage, the distance
montage help see the real essence of the world, i.e., in his own
terms “the absent reality.” Besides, he emphasized the importance
of musical accompaniment. “I like when in any film the music and the
images change their places and the music penetrates the space of the
image and the image enters the space of the musical layer. We can’t
achieve the expected effect without this “fusion,” Mr. Peleshian
said. At the same time, he stated with regret that he can’t shoot
films for already 14 years because of the financial problems. In
particular, the lack of about $10 million hinders him shoot the film
“Homo Sapiens.” Peleshian wrote the script to this film already in
1968. He even intended to shoot the film in collaboration with the
French cinematographers, but the financial problems prevented to
begin the work. Even Jean Luc Godard, great French film director,
was very impressed by the film’s script. He added that in March, 2006,
he agreed with Gevorgian, the former RA Culture Minister, to begin the
film screening works. Gevorgian promised to spare no efforts to help
him, but soon he resigned and a new minister was appointed. “I still
hope that I will be able to begin the screening of the film,” Mr.
Peleshian said.
In the end of the master class Mr. Peleshian said: “Some people talk
of the phenomenon of my art, though I personally see no phenomenon. I
believe that the time is against me, while my art is against the time.

HENRY CUNY: JULY 14 HIGH IDEAS ARE CLOSE TO ARMENIANS
YEREVAN, JULY 14, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “I think July 14 is
not only the holiday of the French people, but also of the Armenian
people,” French Ambassador Henry Cuny’s greeting speech on the occasion
of the National Holiday of France read. According to the Ambassador,
the high ideas of July 14, liberty, equality, respect of human rights,
are close to Armenians.
“No one, no people has completely achieved all its goals. But they
are stars sparkling in the sky and accompanying us,” Henry Cuny said.
Saying that it is already the fifth year he marks July 14 in Armenia
the Ambassador emphasized that it is pleasant for him to work in this
country: “I like its history, culture, talent.”
“I wish the warm sun of July 14 always to shine for all Armenians,”
Henry Cuny’s greeting speech read.