Author: Nanijanian Alex

AZERI MP SAYS PACE REPORT PROVES ARMENIAN OCCUPATION

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 5 2006

Baku, April 4, AssA-Irada
The Council of Europe’s report on the plight of armies in the former
Soviet Union republics indicates that part of Azerbaijani territories
have been occupied not by some Armenian troops, but Armenia itself.

The document will be put on discussion at the June session of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

The Azeri MPs at the Assembly have developed feedback on the critical
remarks mentioned in the report.

The PACE document expressed the most criticism on the condition of the
Armenian military. An Azeri delegate Gultakin Hajiyeva says rapporteur
Alexander Arabachiyev’s criticism in this respect is quite fair. She
welcomed that Arabachiyev also aired his grievances over the fact
soldiers drafted to the Armenian military are sent to Upper Garabagh
and other Azeri regions under occupation.

“This once again proves that the army of the Armenian Republic, but not
some Armenian military divisions, occupies Azerbaijan’s territories,”
Hajiyeva said.

HUNGARIAN PROSECUTOR DEMANDS 30-YEAR IMPRISONMENT
Author: S.Aliyev

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 5 2006

Prosecutor on the case of Ramil Safarov, an Azerbaijani officer
accused of murder of his Armenian fellow, Gurgen Markarian, during
the military exercises in Hungary demanded 30-year imprisonment for
the convicted, Adil Ismayilov, Safarov’s law-defender told Trend.

Ismayilov noted that Safarov’s law-defenders submitted petition on
conduct of one more expertise as the previous expertise test showed
different results. However, the Judge rejected the petition stating
that the conclusion will be made on the base of previous expertise
tests.

During the meeting the law defenders of both sides made remarks. The
last word by Safarov will be made on 13 April.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: LAND ALLOCATION PROCESS SHOULD BE MADE MOST ACCESSIBLE

Noyan Tapan
Apr 04 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. Issues related to land auctions,
unauthorized buildings and the real estate market were discussed at
the April 4 meeting of the RA President Robert Kocharian and Manuk
Vardanian. R. Kocharian indicated that the land allocation process
should be made most accesssible, with great attention being paid
to a public and transparent holding of auctions. In this connection
the President underlined the necessity of reviewing the land zoning,
which, according to him, will help determine the real reserve prices
of lands at auctions. According to the RA President’s press service,
some options for solution of the problem of unauthorized contructions
that have not been legalized, as well as the issues related to lease
terms at the specially protected forest areas were also discussed
during the meeting. The sides spoke about the tendencies on the
mortgage and real estate market, according to which the number
of transactions concluded in the past two months has increased by
27% compared with the same period of last year. R. Kocharian gave
instructions concerning the issues discussed to the head of the State
Committee of the RA Real Estate Cadastre.

ONE-WINDOW PRINCIPLE PROVES EFFECTIVE AT YEREVAN MUNICIPALITY

Armenpress
April 3 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS: Suren Koshetsian, chief of staff at
Yerevan municipality, said today 4,915 applications and other papers
were received in the first three months of this year through the
so-called ‘one window’ system, introduced last year in the municipality
to reduce red-tape. He said the number of received papers was 23
percent more from a year ago.

He said after examining the applications and complaints the
municipality issued 7,135 instructions and only 0.86 percent of
them were not fulfilled. He said the municipality was working to
correct a set of shortcomings mentioned by president Kocharian in
his meeting with municipality staff. He said there is also a hotline
telephone number for Yerevan residents to complain about the poor
work of officials.

He said two officials of the municipality will visit Budapest, Hungary,
to learn its experience in handling one-window system principle.

REMARK RAISES DEBATE ON ENVOY TO ARMENIA
by Michael Doyle Bee Washington Bureau

Fresno Bee (California)
March 29, 2006 Wednesday
FINAL EDITION

Ambassador John Evans is unfailingly diplomatic about his fate as
the plain-speaking U.S. envoy to Armenia.

Others, including California lawmakers and Armenian-American activists,
are more blunt.

Unhappy lawmakers and activists contend Evans is being forced from his
post because he conceded last year that the term “Armenian genocide”
appropriately described the slaughter of Armenians between 1915 and
1923. His potential career problem is that the State Department and
the government of Turkey do not accept the term.

On Tuesday, sounding as if he were reciting carefully prepared talking
points, Evans spoke delicately about his current status.

“I am still the ambassador,” Evans said in a brief interview during
a Washington visit. “I have not submitted my retirement papers.”

At the same time, the career foreign service officer underscored the
temporary nature of any diplomatic posting. In June, he will have
served in Armenia for two years — and he also will have reached the
35-year mark in the State Department.

“No ambassador stays forever,” Evans said, twice.

A Yale graduate who speaks four foreign languages and is studying
Eastern Armenian, Evans is the subject of considerable speculation
by politically active Armenian-Americans and their congressional
champions. Ever since rumors began several weeks ago that Evans was
to be recalled or otherwise disciplined, interest groups and lawmakers
with large Armenian-American constituencies have been weighing in.

Most recently, Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, has called the
State Department to request a meeting. It has not yet been scheduled.

Other lawmakers, too, have been increasing the pressure. At least
three members of Congress, including Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff,
D-Pasadena, and Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, have leveled
written blasts at the State Department.

“I do not believe it is possible for any ambassador to Armenia to
function with any credibility if he does not recognize the genocide,”
Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., wrote Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
on March 10. “It is simply wrong for the State Department to punish
Ambassador Evans for statements he made that are factually correct.”

The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or (202)
383-0006.

AZG Armenian Daily #059, 01/04/2006

Economy

ROGER ROBINSON: NEW GAS TARIFFS WILL HAVE NO AWFUL
IMPACT

Roger Robinson expressed this opinion in response to
the question put by the journalists at yesterday~Rs
press conference. He said that the World Bank experts
haven~Rt completed researches on the future impact of
the new gas tariffs on the Armenian economy yet. He
added that the negotiations of RA Government with the
Russian side of the abovementioned issue haven~Rt
completed either. At the same time, he expressed the
opinion that certainly, the increase in tariffs for
gas will have some impact on the economy of Armenia,
but that will not be that awful as some people expect.

Naturally, it will have negative impact on socially
insecure class and the prices for some goods. The rise
in tariffs will not have big impact on the industrial
sector, as the industrial companies will apply
economical energy regimes.

Robinson also stated that the rise in gas tariffs
would have no impact on the prices for imported goods,
either.

By Ara Martirosian

BAGHDAD ON THE BOSPORUS
By Dana Milbank

The Washington Post
Thursday, March 30, 2006; A21

Howard Kaloogian, vying for the Republican nomination in the race
to succeed felonious former representative Randy “Duke” Cunningham
(R-Calif.), just returned from a trip to Baghdad and posted on his
Web site a photo showing a busy urban street scene, which he said
proved that Baghdad is “much more calm and stable” than people think.

But something didn’t look right to readers of the liberal Web site
Daily Kos, who noted that women in the photo were wearing Western
clothing, a couple was holding hands, and signs are in the Roman
alphabet.

Soon after this discovery yesterday, the photo disappeared from
the Kaloogian Web site and was replaced by a notice: “We originally
posted a photograph not of Baghdad, Iraq but from Istanbul, Turkey,
where our delegation traveled on the way home to the United States. We
apologize for this mistake.”

The photo was replaced by a long-distance shot of a Baghdad street
empty of pedestrians. Late yesterday the whole display disappeared.

/content/article/2006/03/29/AR2006032902277.html?n av=rss_politics/fedpage

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT, MINISTER SET TO CONTINUE RUSSIAN GAS PRICE TALKS

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
29 Mar 06

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan
discussed consequences of the Russian gas price increase and mechanisms
for softening them, as well as the construction of the Iran-Armenia
gas pipeline today.

The sides decided to continue negotiations with Russia on gas prices
and to present a package of proposals to the public after agreeing
it with the president.

The energy minister told the president that welding work on the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline has already begun and construction will be
completed this autumn.

[Passage omitted: Movsisyan giving an interview about the talks with
the president and construction work on the Iran-Armenia pipeline]

CNN INTENDS TO AIR COMMERCIALS ADVERTISING ARMENIA IN 2006

Noyan Tapan
Mar 29 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 29, NOYAN TAPAN. 318 thousand tourists visited Armenia
in 2005 against 45 thousand in 2000, that is, over the last 5 years
this index has increased about sevenfold. Quite dynamic developments
have also been registered in the internal tourism sector as well. RA
Deputy Minister of Trade and Economic Development Ara Petrosian
stated this at the March 29 hearings in the RA National Assembly. At
the same time he noted that there are still many problems in the
tourism sector. The subject of the hearings, which were organized by
the NA Standing Committee on Financial, Credit, Budget and Economic
Issues, was “Tourism in Armenia: Problems and Prospects”. The problems
preventing the development of tourism were discussed by represenatives
of the departments and organizations concerned, in the almost complete
absence of NA deputies. The high price of tourist packages was pointed
out. In the words of A. Petrosian, 10 years ago the starting conditions
of tourism in Armenia were quite poor: the ruined infrastructures,
lack of experience of organizing tourism in line with international
standards and the appropriate staff, only one or two hotels, etc. Over
the last 6-7 years, 35-40 hotels have been constructed or repaired,
which allowed to form a flexible competitive system. Most of the
museums of interest for tourists, as well as many roads have undergone
major repairs. Yet some community roads leading from motorways to
historical and cultural monuments are in need of repair. It is also
necessary to modernize Zvartnots Airport. According to the deputy
minister, it is planned to put the new arrival hall into operation in
2006, and the new terminal – in 2007. The 2006 state budget envisages
215 mln drams (about 478 thousand USD) for tourism advertising in
order to present Armenia in other countries. A. Petrosian noted
that the airing of commercials on CNN is already possible this
year. Besides, a draft law on making amendments to the law on the
status of foreign citizens will soon be subitted to the government
for consideration. It envisages the opportunity to conduct a flexible
policy of visa granting, particularly the unilateral granting of
the right to visit Armenia without a visa to the citizens of some
countries in case of expediency.

ENERGY ISSUES IN THE CENTER OF RA PRESIDENT’S ATTENTION

ArmRadio.am
29.03.2006 15:25

Issues related to mechanisms for softening the results of the rise of
Russian price and to the construction of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline
were discussed during today’s working meeting of RA president Robert
Kocharyan and Minister of Energy Armen Movsisyan.

It was decided to continue the negotiations on gas price with the
Russian side and to present the package of suggestions to be formed
as a result of these to the attention of the society.

The President informed that the construction of the Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline has already started. It will be completed by autumn of the
current year.

Issues related to the increase of the number of hydroelectric stations
was discussed as well. President Kocharyan presented the process of
construction of 38 small hydroelectric stations and noted that in
a few years small energy will have 500 million Kw/H power annually,
which makes 10 percent of the internal demand.