Author: Tavakalian Edgar

ARF FACTION TO SUBMIT A NUMBER OF LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES DURING
FORTHCOMING NA SESSION

YEREVAN, February 4 (Noyan Tapan). The ARF Dashnaktsutiun is going to
continue working out the bill “On Lobbying” during the forthcoming NA
session. Hrayr Karapetian, Head of NA ARF faction, reported during the
February 3 press conference that issues connected with opportunities
and limits of lobbying carried out by high-ranking officials are
important from point of view of anti-corruption struggle. The head of
the faction said that though the government rejected the bill
submitted in November 2004 ARF managed to prove the necessity of this
law and it was decided to submit a bill worked out jointly with the
government. Harayr Karapetian also said that the party submits the
bill “On Guards Service” for the discussion of the parliament. In
order to raise the level of birth-rate in the republic the
Dashnaktsutiun proposes a bill envisaging to allocate lump sum
financial assistance to the families in case of birth of third child
and more than 3 children. The law “On Territorial Government” is also
among the legislative initiatives of ARF. According to Hrayr
Karapetian, under the conditions of legislative deficiency this sphere
is only regulated by the decrees of the president. Levon Mkrtchian,
Secretary of the faction, said that the faction attaches importance to
its participation in the process of introduction of amendments to the
Electoral Code. According to him, this is necessary for holding the
next elections in Armenia in accordance with democratic principles.

Touching upon the constitutional reform Levon Mkrtchian stressed the
importance of opposition’s participation in the discussion. At the
same time he mentioned that ARF considers it inadmissible to use the
issue of constitutional reform for other political purposes. Mkrtchian
stressed that the political situation has changed since the
Dashnaktsutiun proposed that the opposition should participate in the
discussions even by the right of veto.

Karabakh minister hopes OSCE to be satisfied with results of factfinding
mission

Mediamax news agency
4 May 05

YEREVAN

The foreign minister of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR], Arman
Melikyan, today expressed his hope that the OSCE factfinding mission,
which has already visited six of the seven districts controlled by the
NKR, will be satisfied with the results of the work that has been
carry out.

Speaking at a briefing in Stepanakert today, Melikyan said that “our
help to the mission is a demonstration of good will in reply to the
peacekeeping efforts of the international community”, Mediamax new
agency reports.

Douglas Daily Dispatch, AZ
Feb 5 2005

Naplitano joins group that would allow Ten Commandments monument to
remain

Howard Fischer/Capitol Media Services

PHOENIX – Gov. Janet Napolitano joined Monday with a group that
promotes what it calls “pro family” legislation in Arizona in urging
the U.S. Supreme Court to let a 6-foot-tall monument of the Ten
Commandments remain in a public park across the street from the state
Capitol.

The brief, filed by the Center for Arizona Policy, said these kinds
of monuments have “a valid secular purpose.” Peter Gentala, the
organization’s legal counsel, got not only the governor to join in
the plea but also Secretary of State Jan Brewer and 38 of the 90
state lawmakers.

Officially, the case before the nation’s high court relates to a
monument in Austin. A federal appeals court has rejected efforts to
have it removed.

But there is a virtually identical monument in Wesley Bolin Park,
directly east of the House and Senate buildings. Any ruling on the
legality of the Texas monument will determine the fate of its Phoenix
counterpart.

The decision by Napolitano came as no surprise to Eleanor Eisenberg,
director of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union.

She noted the governor opposed efforts by her organization two years
ago to have the monument removed. But a lawsuit threatened at that
time has been held in abeyance awaiting the outcome of the Texas
case.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments March 2.

Tim Nelson, the governor’s chief counsel, said Napolitano does not
believe the monument amounts to a state endorsement of religion,
something prohibited by the First Amendment.

“It’s one of many, many monuments out there” in Wesley Bolin Park,
Nelson said. Other monuments in the park include one to Armenians who
the display said were martyred in Turkey early in the last century
and another to Jewish war veterans.

“One is not more prominent than the other,” Nelson said. Gentala, in
his legal papers, said there is no reason to move the Arizona
monument.

“Like Texas, the people of Arizona, by the decision of their elected
officials, display a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of
their State Capitol,” he wrote. “Arizona’s Ten Commandments monument
is one of the many ways the State acknowledges the role of religious
faith in the lives of its citizens.”

Gentala also noted that the state expressly acknowledges the
existence of God: The state seal bears the motto Ditat Deus , which
translates to “God enriches.”

What the U.S. Supreme Court will do in this case is unclear.

Four years ago, the justices refused to disturb a ruling by a
different federal appellate court that concluded a similar monument
had to go. It stood in front of the municipal building at Elkhart,
Ind.

At that time, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that one thing that
convinced him the monument was religious and not secular is that the
First Commandment, “I AM the LORD thy God,” was larger than the
following nine.

“The graphic emphasis placed on those first lines is rather hard to
square with the proposition that the monument expresses no particular
religious preference,” Stevens wrote.

The Arizona monument, dedicated in 1964, is etched in the sam way.
And, like the Indiana monument, it also has two Stars of David and a
symbol composed of the Greek letters “chi” and “rho” superimposed
on each other that Stevens said represents Christ.

But in 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to disturb a Colorado
Supreme Court decision that allowed the Ten Commandments to remain on
the Colorado Capitol grounds.

The Arizona monument orignally was located right next to the existing
Capitol buildings. It was accepted at a ceremony by then-Gov. Paul
Fannin, with Catholic, Protestant and Jewish representatives in
attendance.

The Phoenix Gazette reported at the time that the monument was one of
many the Eagles had purchased, at $500 apiece, to give to state
governments across the nation.

It was moved across the street to the newly dedicated park more than
a decade later.

MONITORING MISSION VISITING ZANGELAN

Azg/arm
5 Feb 05

The OSCE monitoring mission made its way to the bank of Araxes
River. They visited every house and interrogate everyone they met in
the towns of Mijnavan (formerly Minchevan) and Kovsakan (formerly
Zangelan).

Incessant mission was in full swing. They will leave Nagorno Karabakh
in few days to make a report for the Minsk group. The monitoring
mission was provided with everything necessary for a fruitful work

Emily Haber, head of the monitoring mission, met Artur Balasanian, 38,
in the main street of Mijnavan. He lost his home and property that
were in Getashen as a result of the war. Artur looks 50. He moved to
Mijnavan in 1996. Two of his four sons were born here. Before moving
to Mijnavan, Artur and his old parents were given a shelter in the
Hrazdan resort house and Njuvadi village in Meghri. The life in
Mijnavan is not the last station for him, as he will leave for another
place if possible – a place with no name for him. He wishes he could
return to Getashen but realizes that new dwellers have already found
his two-storied house.

Vladimir Gasparian, 25, and his family left Armenikend, a Baku borough
where the Armenians used to live, when he was 9. He left Baku by car,
moved to Ghubatlu then to Kapan. After living in one of the hostels of
Kapan for tenyears, they moved to Mijnavan in 1998.

“There are five children in our family and I am the eldest. We go to
other people’s fields to work there, gathering the harvest and
fertilizing the earth. We will leave this place if it is possible,”
Vladimir said and added that there are other 5-6 cities in the city
that fled from Baku.

Mamikon Yavrumian was born in Kirovabad. He has to live in Kovsakan
town. Mamikon works in the field and is engaged in cattle breeding.
Mamikon and Arpine, his wife, are teachers. They met in Kovsakan and
got married. They have an infant that was born two months ago.

“The life makes us live here, as we have no house in Armenia. We have
no drinking water there are a lot of snakes all around here. We can’t
let our children walk freely in this territory,” he says.

Zangelan administratively belonged to Azerbaijan, formerly. No
wintertime comes here. The weather is mild. It seldom snows
here. Zangelan is the smallest territory under the control of Karabakh
forces. It is situated in the lower parts of the Voghji, the Tsav and
the Hakari rivers.

The OSCE monitoring mission spent a whole day in these places and
spoke with people they met on their way and visited their houses. They
were putting down all the things these people said, so that they can
summarize their statements and find out who are the dwellers of these
territories, when and where they came from.

The official Baku keeps saying that Armenia and NKR are conducting an
official policy of inhabiting and using the territories they control.
While Yerevan and Stepanakert deny this, by stating that no official
inhabiting policy is being conducted there. The Armenians that had to
flee from Azerbaijan and lost their homes there came and inhabited
these regions by their own decision.

By Tatoul Hakobian

Armenian president receives members of ruling political coalition

A1+ web site
2 Feb 05

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan met members of the board of the
[ruling] political coalition today. During the meeting, the sides
discussed issues concerning the spring session of the National
Assembly [parliament].

It must be remembered that constitutional reforms will be discussed in
the presence of political forces in the National Assembly
tomorrow. This was a key issue at the meeting today.

The presidential press service has not reported other details of the
meeting.

MP urges better lobbying of Armenia’s interests in Karabakh

Mediamax news agency
3 Feb 05

YEREVAN

Armenia needs serious and purposeful international lobbying of its
interests in the Karabakh issue, the head of the faction of the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun [ARFD], Levon
Lazarian, said in Yerevan today.

Levon Lazarian noted that in the last few years, the perception of
the Nagornyy Karabakh problem has begun to change, Mediamax news
agency reports.

“We need to make every effort and remind the world community that the
Nagornyy Karabakh problem is an issue related to the implementation of
nations’ internationally-recognized right to self-determination”.

“We have to let it be known that this issue is as topical for us today
as it was in 1988,” the Armenian MP stated.

Levon Lazarian expressed his confidence that the Armenian side can
counter Azerbaijani propaganda and foil attempts to misinform
international structures.

Who are the happiest people in the world?

Mail & Guardian Online (Africa)
02 February 2005

Copenhagen, Denmark — People in Denmark, Malta and Switzerland are the
happiest in the world according to a new survey, the Berlingske Tidende
newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The trio topped a list of 90 countries where people have been polled
about how they “enjoy their life as a whole”.

The listings in The World Database of Happiness were based on research
conducted for the past 20 years by Professor Ruut Veenhoven at Erasmus
University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

The top trio scored eight on a scale of zero to 10. They were shadowed
by Iceland and Ireland with 7,8, while Ghana’s score of 7,7 put it ahead
of Canada, Guatemala, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Sweden with 7,6.

Ghana’s result may, however, be slightly inflated due to uncertainty
about sampling, and a more accurate score would likely be about six,
Veenhoven said on the database’s website.

Trends in Denmark suggested an increase in life satisfaction, bucking
trends in Switzerland and Malta where it is decreasing.

The Nordic country meets five main criteria for a society that
experiences well-being. It is a high-income country, democratic,
well-governed with a low level of corruption, has a large degree of
personal freedom and is tolerant, Veenhoven said in remarks reported by
the Danish newspaper.

Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova, Zimbabwe and Tanzania were at the bottom of
the list with Tanzania scoring a lowly 3,2.

More than 2 400 general population surveys conducted from 1946 to 2004
in 90 nations were included in the database. — Sapa-DPA

On the net:
The World Database of Happiness

;articleid=196678

ArmenPress
Feb 2 2005

14,000 RURAL HOUSEHOLDS BENEFIT FROM DEEP WELLS

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, ARMENPRESS: Researchers and professors of
Agribusiness training center, an affiliation of the Armenian
Agricultural Academy, conducted recently a study in 55 rural
communities to learn whether 75 deep wells built or reconstructed in
these communities with the assistance of the US Department of
Agriculture, Yerevan office, have had any impact on their
socio-economic conditions.
According to their findings, the wells have brought irrigation
water to 14,000 rural households and 2,562 hectares of land. The
immediate outcome were doubled volumes of agricultural products and
less people choosing to emigrate. Another result was that their plots
have risen in price, about 25 percent.

RIA Novosti, Russia
Jan 31 2005

KARABAKH LEADER RECEIVES OSCE DELEGATION

YEREVAN, January 31 (RIA Novosti’s Gamlet Matevosyan) – Arkady
Gukasyan, the leader of the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorny
Karabakh, received a delegation of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in his headquarters on Monday. The
delegates included the three cochairmen of the Minsk Group for the
Karabakh settlement-Yuri Merzlyakov, of Russia, Steve Mann, of the
United States, and Bernard Fassier, of France-as well as members of
the fact-finding team set up to verify Azerbaijan’s allegations that
Armenian authorities continue the settlement of “occupied Azeri
territories.”

In an interview with RIA Novosti, presidential spokespeople quoted
Mr. Gukasyan as saying that the OSCE decision to visit territories
presently under Karabakh control was a highly important one.
According to him, Karabakh authorities suggested the idea on more
than occasion in the past.

Speaking of the current situation in the Karabakh-administered
territories under OSCE monitoring, Mr. Gukasyan said his government
had no program of settling those areas. According to him, government
activity here is limited to the creation of decent living conditions
for the population and the establishment of proper control.

In order to get a fuller picture of the situation in the conflict
zone, the Karabakh leader suggested that the OSCE mission should also
visit Karabakh territories now being control by the Azeri military.

OSCE Conflict Prevention Commissioner Emily Haber, who heads the
fact-finding team, thanked the Karabakh leadership for creating
favorable conditions for her team’s work. She said the mission was
intended for a ten days’ period and that it was more technical than
political in nature.

Today, the OSCE fact-finding team is beginning to monitor the seven
Karabakh-administered regions that constitute what is known as the
security belt around the self-proclaimed republic. The aim is to find
out whether Azerbaijan has any grounds to accuse Armenia of illegally
settling these territories.

ARMENIA’S TRADE WITH RUSSIA IN 2004 DOWN 11 PERCENT

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s trade with its biggest
trade partner, Russia, was down 10.6 percent in 2004 against the
previous year standing at $266 million, a $31 million downfall from
almost $298 million in 2003.

According to Armenian national statistical service, Armenian
exports to Russia went down last year 17.3 percent, making only $78
million. Last year Armenia imported from Russia $188 million worth
goods, a 7.9 percent decrease over the previous year.

Share of Armenia’s trade with Russia, in the overall trade volume
was 12.9 percent.