Author: Torgomian Varazdat

Tehran, Baku set up commission to probe Iranian TV ‘invasion’
Jun 13, 2005, 12:39 GMT
Monsters and Critics.com, UK
June 13 2005
Baku, 10 June: A special commission is expected to investigate the
invasion of Azerbaijan’s broadcasting space by Iranian TV channels,
Minister of Communications and Information Technologies Ali Abbasov
said on 10 June. The issue was discussed during Ahmadov’s official
visit to Iran in early June.
“After the talks it was decided to set up a special commission to
investigate the matter,” Abbasov stressed.
Abbasov was invited to Iran by Iranian Minister of Communication and
Information Technology [Seyyed Ahmad] Mo’tamedi. The two sides held
talks on information and communication technologies and discussed
regulating common communication lines and broadcasting in border
areas and other issues.
The minister said that the Iranian programmes, as well as the
Armenian ones from Nagornyy Karabakh, are being illegally broadcast
in Azerbaijan. Abbasov said: “The broadcast of Armenian channels will
be prevented to a certain extent following the commissioning of a
new TV tower in Agsu [in central Azerbaijan],” Abbasov noted.
Together with the executive authorities of Baku the ministry is
planning to install sensors on top of skyscrapers to ensure a
better transmission of TV and phone signals often hindered by the
newly-constructed tall buildings.
“All these problems will be resolved after the expansion of digital
TV in Baku soon,” Abbasov said.

DO NOT DRINK JUICE IN THE STREETS
| 13:51:04 | 13-06-2005 | Social |
«The juice sold in the streets in poisonous», said deputy mayor of
Yerevan during today’s briefing and asked the representatives of Mass
Media to asked the residents of the city on behalf of him not to drink
juice in the streets. It turns out that the municipality has no means
to regulate or prohibit the selling of «dangerous» types of meals,
as according to the deputy mayor it is the problem of the communities
and the police.
As for what is poisonous in the juice, the municipality health and
social security administration head Armen Soghoyan commented on
it. According to him, last year the Health Ministry anti-epidemic
administration carried out investigations and found «harmful
viruses» in them. Besides, they are not always clean, and, which is
most important, the people selling juice are not always in good health.
Asked the question if the same juice sold in big markets will cease
to be harmful he answered, «The same juice sold in big markets will
cease to be poisonous as both the food and the shop-assistants are
checked regularly».
Although the municipality in mainly content with the course of the
works against street commerce, still they confess that there much
to do. According to the city mayor, in the streets only flowers and
ice-cream can be sold, and coffins and suchlike staff can be sold
only in the area near cemeteries.
–Boundary_(ID_EQJFxfaKZ9UJPI5EDZz3pg)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Zaman, Turkey
June 11 2005
Baghdassarian: We also Have Problems with Diaspora
By Tuncay Kayaoglu, Cihan News Agency
Published: Saturday 11, 2005
zaman.com
Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Turhan Comez, who made a
3 day unofficial visit to Armenia, met with Armenian Parliamentary
Speaker Arthur Baghdassarian.
Baghdassarian said during the 45 minutes meeting that he is one of
the politicians that would like the relations of the two countries to
be developed. Baghdassarian said that even they have problems with
the Armenian Diaspora and added that there is no demand for land from
Turkey in the Armenian constitution. Comez emphasized the importance
of the fact that there is no demand for land from Turkey and added
that the events in 1915 is in the historians’ arena, therefore, only
they should investigate it. Comez sent the good wishes of Turkish
Parliamentary Speaker Bulent Arinc to Baghdassarian and presented him
a book about the Silk Road and some Turkish ceramic dishes. Comez
also met with Armenian Deputies for dinner yesterday (June, 10).

POP: PICK OF THE WEEK
The Independent – United Kingdom; Jun 11, 2005

System of a Down The most vital and inventive metal band in the world
right now finish off their UK conquest with a headlining slot at the
Download Festival plus a few more big venues. Emerging in the late
1990s, they soon became a word-of-mouth sensation with their brave
chord changes, even wilder vocals, and an underlying Armenian folk
lilt battling with alternative rock and post-gothic influences. By the
time of their second album, 2001’s Toxicity, they had fully realised
their trademark of politically passionate metal. They even managed to
trump that effort with the new Mezmerize album which was recorded at
the same time as companion piece Hypnotize, the anticipated release of
which comes at the end of the year. On stage they’re an intense
one-of-a-kind proposition and support at the arena dates comes from
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster. Download Festival, Donington
Park, tomorrow; MEN Arena, Manchester, Tue; SECC, Glasgow, Wed

Jerusalem Post
June 11 2005
Armenia wants US help with Turkey border dispute
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON
Armenia’s foreign minister urged the United States to become more
involved in settling his country’s dispute with Turkey, especially in
persuading Turkey to reopen its border and resume normal trade with
its landlocked northern neighbor.
The Turks closed the border in 1993 during Christian Armenia’s
six-year war with another Muslim neighbor, Azerbaijan.
“The United States is active in this, but we would like to see them
more engaged,” Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said Friday after a
meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
“I believe the United States can be more assertive on the border
matter. Not other matters, but on the border.”
Turkey closed the border after Armenian-backed troops from
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly Christian Armenian enclave ruled by
Azerbaijan when Armenia and Azerbaijan were Soviet republics, moved
into other parts of Azerbaijan, seized towns and approached the
Iranian and Turkish borders. A 1994 truce largely ended hostilities,
but a final settlement has not been reached.

Armenian citizen charged with espionage in favour of Azerbaijan
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
9 Jun 05
[Presenter] An engineer named Andrey Maziyev is being charged with
espionage in favour of Azerbaijan. His trial started at the court of
first instance in Yerevan’s Malatia-Sebatia community today. The
prosecution is represented by Prosecutor-General Agvan Ovsepyan.
According to the bill of indictment announced at the trial today,
Armenian citizen Maziyev has handed over various types of information
about the domestic political and economic situation in Armenia and the
Nagornyy Karabakh Republic to the Azerbaijani special services over
the last five years. Maziyev has been convicted of hooliganism before.
[Correspondent over video of trial] Andrey Maziyev was born and
educated in Armenia. He has also been convicted of hooliganism
before. His relations with Arayik in prison played a great role in his
future life. After his release from prison in 1999, at the request of
his friend Arayik, Maziyev took advantage of his Russian origin and
tried to take the letter to Arayik’s relatives in Naxcivan
[Azerbaijan]. The Azerbaijani law-enforcement bodies arrested Maziyev
on the Azerbaijani-Georgian border when they saw that he is an
Armenian citizen and released him only after they received Maziyev’s
written agreement to cooperate with the Azerbaijani special services.
[Maziyev speaking in Russian with Armenian voice-over] At that moment,
I did not understand what I was doing. My only thought was to escape
from the law-enforcement bodies. Since I signed the agreement,
employees of the Azerbaijani National Security Ministry have been
following me. They threatened my family if I refused to cooperate with
them.
[Correspondent] Apart from that, Maziyev handed over information about
the domestic political and economic situation in Armenia and Karabakh,
about the military-industrial complex and the situation in the
army. He also helped the Azerbaijani National Security Ministry
prepare terrorist acts against the Armenian president.
Maziyev worked as an engineer at Zvartnots airport, knew the area
around airport very well and took photos of the president’s return
from a visit, the landing of his plane, helicopters guarding the
territory of the airport, the president and his escort. He handed over
the photos to the Azerbaijani special services.
During this period, engineer Maziyev managed to change not only his
speciality, but also his surname several times, for example, Frolov
and Kuzin. The Azerbaijani special services gave him an old Soviet
passport under the surname of Maziyev so that he could freely visit
[Azerbaijan’s] Qazax District. It became clear that the Azerbaijani
special services are very mean even in paying for such useful
services. They paid only 150-180 dollars for his services during each
visit. Maziyev paid only 18 visits.
Witnesses were also interrogated. The court of first instance of
Yerevan’s Malatia-Sebatia community will continue the trial on 13
June.

AZG Armenian Daily #106, 10/06/2005
Armenian pilots released
CREW CAPTAIN ASHOT KARAPETIAN: WE HAD NO HOPE TO GET OUT OF THAT HELL
Armenian Captives of Equatorial Guinea Returning Home Tomorrow
Six Armenian pilots jailed for 14-24 years at notorious Black Beach prison
of Equatorial Guinea are coming back home tomorrow. Crew captain Ashot
Karapetian, second pilot Samvel Darbinian, navigator Samvel Matchkalian,
flight engineers Razmik Khachatrian, Suren Muradian and Ashot Simonian were
released on June 8.
After a night at a hotel in capital city of Malabo, our pilots, who spent 15
months in the prison of this authoritarian country, will return home via
Zurich and Moscow. In a phone conversation with daily Azg from Malabo
captain Ashot Karapetian said that all crewmembers are in normal health and
thanked all those who spared no effort to get them out from the Black Beach.
“We are very thankful to Catholicos of All Armenians, Ara Abrahamian, Robert
Kocharian and the Armenian nation. We are saved from captivity at the cost
of their great efforts. One should know the morals and manners of that
country to understand our situation. It’s not important in this country
whether one is guilty or not”, Karapetian said.
The captain confirmed once again that all of the pilots are enjoying good
health, “We’ve misses Yerevan; counting minutes”. The Armenian crew together
with citizens from other countries was convicted of a coup attempt in
Equatorial Guinea to overthrow the president.
Andranik Mihranian and Karen Galstian, representatives of chairman of World
Armenian Congress Ara Abrahamian left for Malabo bring the pilots back.
Informing daily Azg from Malabo, Mihranian said that the pilots had caught
malaria and the disease was not stamped out completely.
“They faces expressed joy, they were surprised, annoyed somehow dispirited
because the 15 months in jail left its trace”, Mihranian said. Abrahamian’s
representatives met the pilots at the entrance of Justice Ministry. “When we
were in one room with the deputy prime minister and the ministers of
security and justice, the first word captain Karapetian uttered was that
they had no connection with coup d’etat attempt. He said that they are not
guilty therefore they have not compromised Armenia”, Mihranian said.
“The Justice minister, who kept the passports of the pilots, was waiting for
our visit. There was an agreement for releasing the Armenian pilots but
talks between Ara Abrahamian and Guinean ambassador to Moscow carried on
till the last moment. The ambassador is the son-in-law of the country’s
president and he was the main mediator. In Malabo the security minister, the
president Ngumena’s uncle, was in charge. The fate of Armenian pilots was
mainly in their hands and we negotiated with them”, Mihranian said.
Mihranian did not want, as he said, to open the brackets over the phone
because “it’s a sensitive issue, perhaps we can say more later on”. “The
security minister reminded that there was a number agreements between the
ambassador and Mr. Abrahamian and asked how they are proceeding. We said
that they are in force and were primarily fulfilled. At the justice
minister’s office we met the representative of RA Foreign Ministry who
arrived in Malabo to validate the extradition. Guinean authorities would
gladly hand the Armenian pilots over to us but considering the fact that
they were Armenian citizens had to observe the official side”, Mihranian
said.
On Behalf of Ara Abrahamian Mihranian thanked President Nguema and the
high-ranking officials. In my speech I said that the process of the pilots’
release was the result of great work that was carried out by the chairman of
World Armenian Congress who created favorable and necessary conditions for
the release. The Pope’s letter, interference of top UN officials, the letter
of Russia’s foreign minister created the political ground for the President
of Equatorial Guinea to grant the pardon”, Mihranian said.
By Tatoul Hakobian

YOUNG DIPLOMATS CONFERRED ON FIRST DIPLOMATIC DEGREE IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, JUNE 7. ARMINFO. Young diplomats were today conferred on
First Diplomatic Degrees at the Armenian Foreign Ministry. Besides,
they ceremonially sworn in.
The press-service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry informs ARMINFO
that Minister Vardan Oskanyan congratulated young diplomats on this
occasion. It should be noted that 12 young diplomats won a contest for
admission to the system of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia in November
2004. Then, they successfully overcome 6 months of probation period
and were conferred on degrees of diplomatic attache.

KRQE, NM
June 6 2005
Albq. Holocaust museum wants better space

ALBUQUERQUE — New Mexico’s Holocaust and Intolerance Museum in
Albuquerque is housed in a modest storefront in the city’s downtown.
The museum wants to move to a much large location downtown —
although no site has been selected.
Museum president Andrew Lipman says the goal is to move in two years.
Lipman says the museum will soon receive $985,000 that was approved
by the 2005 Legislature.
That will help plan, design, buy and equip a new museum.
Museum founder Werner Gellert says exhibits reflect American Indian
genocide and Armenian and Greek genocide as well as the Holocaust and
the Bataan Death March of World War Two.
Gellert hopes the new site will have room to honor the five million
non-Jews also killed by the Nazis.

A1plus
| 14:33:08 | 06-06-2005 | Economy |
DONORS LIKE THOSE WHO ARE DEVOTED
Will the involvement of the Trans Caucasian countries in the EU «New
Neighbors Program» contribute to their membership in the structure or vice
versa? The question sounded during the 7th annual meeting of the heads of
the Commerce and Development Black Sea Bank, but there was no answer.
«We have been interested in the region for the last 14 years», said
representative of the European Committee Andreas Papadopoulos. By the way,
high-ranked officials of Black Sea region countries, as well as
international financial structures take part in the two-day events.
Papadopoulos represented those financial profits anticipated from the
program for the Trans Caucasian countries.
«Free commerce, access to the European market, free transportation of
capital and work power, sensible macro economical policy», he enumerated.
And what does the EU expect in return? «Devotion to the program», the EU
representative informed.
RA Finance and economy Minister Vardan Khachatryan informed the
representatives of 11 countries and different international organizations
that Armenia holds a policy of open doors. A report full of numbers was
represented about the economical growth in the country for the last 4 years.
«We have a steady macro economical growth, rapidly developing economy,
legislation contributing to investments, and working power», enumerated Mr.
Khachatryan. The latter also found important the regional cooperation and
the opening of the border with Turkey.
The representatives of Turkey also participated in the meeting.