Author: Vanyan Gary

MAMMADYAROV: “FEDERATION OFFICIALS ARE TO BLAME FOR AZERBAIJANI CHESS TEAM’S FAILURE IN THE OLYMPIAD”
Today, Azerbaijan
June 6 2006
“If the Azerbaijan’s Chess Federation had been interested in our
national team’s success in the Olympiad, it would have sent an
optimal staff to Turin. However, focusing on their own interests,
the Federation officials did not do it and led our team to failure. I
regret for that,” said Shahriyar Mammadyarov, one of the two top
chess-players of Azerbaijan.
The Grand Master, double champion among youths was not involved to
the 37th chess Olympiad. He blamed the Chess Federation authorities
for the failure of Azerbaijani chess teams of men and women in Turin,
Italy. According to him, the Federation officials could have sent
stronger staff to the Olympiad even two days before the Olympiad
started.
“It was a complete fiasco for our teams if compared with last year.
Our women chess players, who won Armenian team for the first time in
the history of Olympiad, were not involved to the team this time. As
coming to our men chess players, if I were in the team, it would
have come fourth in the Olympiad. I was expected to be invited to the
team event to the last day. But it did not happen because of personal
hostility with me. I wanted to worthily represent Azerbaijan in the
Olympiad,” the chess player told APA exclusively.
Mammdyarov was satisfied with our Grand Master Teymour Radjabov’s
performance. “I congratulated Teymour on his victory. Vugar Hashimov
also played well. Rauf Mammadov and Gadir Huseynov could have scored
more points. Namig Guliyev is a good chess player but I think he was
anxious this time,” Mammadyarov said.
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MANIFESTATIONS OF NEGATIVE ATTITUDE TO ARMENIANS RUSSIA’S PROBLEM
Arka News Agency, Armenia
June 5 2006
YEREVAN, June 5. /ARKA/. Manifestations of negative attitude to
Armenians in Russia are a problem of Russia and its citizens, the
member of the Armenian National Movement, (ANM) Karapet Rubinyan
told reporters.
He pointed out that fascism and nationalism “have not so far led any
country to good.”
“If such a multinational country as Russia continues following
this way, it will inevitably face the threat of collapse and ruin,”
Rubinyan said.
Speaking of raising Armenia;s reputation abroad as one of the measures
to prevent negative attitude toward Armenians, he pointed out that
these programs cannot resolve the problem.
“In this case we have to stand up for raising the reputation of
many other countries, because manifestations of racism in Russia
are recorded by representatives of many other nations as well,”
Rubinyan said.
In this context, he pointed out that Armenians staying abroad must
themselves take measures to ensure their security.
“In particular, many of our compatriots could return to Armenia and
try to find jobs here, because their living and working conditions
in other countries cannot meet normal human standards,” Rubinyan said.
The Migration Agency, RA Ministry of Territorial Administration,
reports that a total of 833.3ths people left Armenia in 2005 against
737.8ths in 2004 According to the reference book “Labor migration in
Armenia in 2002-2005”, 50.7% of guest-workers from Armenia had jobs
in the country before going abroad. The number of guest-workers from
Armenia totals 116,000-147,000, which is 3.6%-4.6% of the country’s
population.

ARMENIAN PM SATISFIED WITH BUDGET FULFILLMENT IN 2005
Arka News Agency, Armenia
June 5 2006
YEREVAN, June 5. /ARKA/. Armenian Premier Andranik Margaryan is
satisfied with the budget fulfillment in 2005.
According to him, the budget was not 100% fulfilled under a number
of budget expenditure programs.
“However, it does not mean that these programs were not implemented.
The expenditures, made by means of the agency for government purchases
just allowed expendable funds to be decreased,” Margaryan said.
He pointed out that besides this, some programs, which were implemented
mainly in the healthcare sector due to credit funds, were not completed
in 2005. “The implementation of these programs was postponed and
completed in 2006,” Margaryan said.
“Terms for receiving some financial sources do not depend on the
government. Protraction of these tranches for objective and subjective
reasons results in incomplete implementation of these programs,”
the premier pointed out and added that such programs are not numerous.
Actual incomes of the stage budget totaled AMD 374.7bln against planned
AMD 375.2bln. At the same time, AMD 363.1bln were own incomes, and
AMD 11.6bln are official transfers received from foreign sources. Tax
incomes totaled AMD 304.3bln.
Compared to the indicators of 2004, the state budget incomes increased
by 24% or AMD 72.5bln. State budget expenditures in 2005 totaled AMD
417.5bln that is 25% higher than the indicator of the corresponding
period of the previous year.
Economic growth totaled 14% in Armenia in 2005. It exceeded the
programmatic indicator by 6%, and the indicator of 2004 – by 3.5%.
Armenia’s GDP in 2005 totaled AMD 2.244bln, and the GDP deflator
index totaled 103.2.
The level of Armenia’s GDP exceeded the indicator of 1989 by 14.1% in
2005. GDP per capita totaled $1524 in the period under report. ($1 –
AMD 426.37)

IMPRACTICABLE CHARACTER OF CALLS FOR REVOLUTION DEMORALIZES SOCIETY EVEN MORE, ALBERT BAZEYAN SAYS
Noyan Tapan
June 06 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 6, NOYAN TAPAN. One of the greatest and deepest problems
of today’s Armenia is incompleteness of its political field. Albert
Bazeyan, the Chairman of the “National Re-Birth” (Azgayin Veratsnund)
party stated about it at the June 6 press-conference. According to
him, the party headed by him continues active cooperation with other
opposing forces, and it is not excluded that the “National Re-Birth”
may enter a pre-electoral bloc with one of them.
A.Bazeyan also defined that the final decisison on this issue
will be accepted on the second sitting of the party at the end of
the current year. He stated that he considers cooperation with the
“Hanrapetutiun” (Republic) party and the Armenian National Movement
of little possibility. Bazeyan mentioned that he has never spoke
about revolution: one thing is calls about revolution, and just
another is the ability to implement these calls, especially that their
impracticable character demoralizes the society even more. According
to him, after the referendum on the constitutional amendments, the
“National Re-Birth,” in contrary to some other opposing forces,
was sure that dissatisfaction with violations at the referendum will
not increase into a revolution. At the same time, he added that the
“National Re-Birth” party stays on its former positions: the elections
were illegal, and the authorities are not legitimate. As for the
Kocharian-Aliyev meeting in Bucharest, Albert Bazeyan stated that the
“National Re-Birth” did not believe in productivity of this meeting as
well as of the previous meeting in Rambouillet: “We have no illusions
that the Armenian authorities will bend to outer pressure. The Nagorno
Karabakh problem is a national one, and we would not like that the
authorities of Armenia fail as any following authorities will inherit
that problem in already formed type.”

RUSSIAN AUDIT CHAMBER HEAD SAYS HE INITIATED MAJOR STING OPERATION
NTV Mir, Moscow
5 Jun 06
[Presenter] Today it became known that Federation Council Speaker
Sergey Mironov has asked the People’s Hural [parliament] of Kalmykia
to recall its senator Levon Chakhmakhchyan. [Kalmyk] President Kirsan
Ilyumzhinov has agreed to this request.
A couple of days ago, during a FSB special operation, marked notes
worth 300,000 dollars were found in the Kalmyk senator’s briefcase.
According to the investigators, this is only a part of the bribe,
which totalled half a million dollars. It is believed that in return
for the bribe Chakhmakhchyan arranged for documents to be removed
from the material being used in inspections by the Audit Chamber
and it is possible that this is not the only case of corruption in
this department.
[Sergey Stepashin, Audit Chamber chairman] A few days ago, on Friday [2
June] an internal operation conducted at my initiative in cooperation
with the Federal Security Service [FSB] and the prosecutor’s office
ended. Unfortunately, amongst our ranks in the Audit Chamber we found
our own miscreants and citizens involved in dirty dealing were caught
red-handed. A criminal investigation has been opened.
[At 1244 gmt ITAR-TASS added further details given about the
operation by Stepashin, which was the same operation that caught
Chakhmakhchyan. According to Stepashin, he asked FSB head Nikolay
Patrushev for help after the head of Transaero air company Aleksandr
Pleshakov complained that Audit Chamber employees had offered to
conceal the results of an unfavourable inspection in return for a
bribe of 1.5-3m dollars. Stepashin said that several employees had been
caught by the operation, including an auditor’s aide called Oganesyan,
who is Chakhmakhchyan’s son-in-law.
A second ITAR-TASS report at 0948 gmt cited the Russian prosecutor’s
office as saying that Oganesyan and another man involved in the
incident, chief accountant of the Russian-Armenian Business Cooperation
Association Igor Arushanov, had been arrested, but Chakhmakhchyan
could not be detained as he is a senator and therefore has immunity.]

ROBERT KOCHARYAN: THE PEOPLE OF NAGORNO KARABAGH HAVE IMPLEMENTED IN PRACTICE THE RIGHT FOR SELF-DETERMINATION
ArmRadio.am
05.06.2006 18:05
Turning to the Karabakh issue in his speech at the Summit of the
Black Sea Forum for Dialogue and Partnership RA President Robert
Kocharyan said, “The people of Nagorno Karabagh have implemented
in practice the right for self-determination. It was done fully
in line with the requirements of international law. Results of the
referendum on independence were later defended in the war imposed
to that people. These events developed in the timeframe of global
changes, related to the collapse of the Soviet Empire. That situation
is classical for cases of self-determination through secesion.
Now for fifteen years Nagorno Karabagh Republic continues to prove its
right for independence by own achievements in effective statecraft. A
whole generation grew up there, which watches itself as possessors
and defenders of that statehood. We believe that there is a need for
effective efforts for a full-scale integration of the Republic into
the world society.”

Panorama.am
20:23 01/06/06

YOU HUNG THE BELL, WE MAKE THE SPEECH
Today NA Vice Speaker Tigran Torosyan was not criticized either by the
authorities or by opposition after being nominated for NA Chairman.
Though the opposition said they are not going to participate in the
election, the discussion was mainly held by them. And since they had
no objections to Tigran Torosyan’s candidacy, either, the discussion
was mainly held on other topics. Deputy Hmaiak Hovhannisyan expressed
his concern with the law on alienation zones which was not adopted in
time and the constitutional court ruled that human rights are
violated.
Viktor Dallakyan said that this is the second time NA Chairman is
elected without an alternative candidate.
Torosyan was addressed a number of questions on political reform in
the country. Particularly, they were interested whether it will be
possible to hold free and transparent elections in 2007 or will it be
possible that the parliament ceases to be the attachment of the
executive branch. The questions were address with prior awareness that
Torosyan cannot answer them. Torosyan said he cannot make promises on
future and advised to judge him based on his performance during the
last 7 years. /Panorama.am/

SECRET TURKISH-ARMENIAN TALKS YIELD NO RESULTS
ABHAber, Belgium
EU-Turkey News Network
May 31 2006
Secret talks between Turkey and Armenia, launched after Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter to Armenian President Robert
Kocharian, have failed to make any headway coming out of their third
round, said media reports yesterday.
A part of the third session of secret talks was held on the sidelines
of the Turkey-European Union Troika meeting in Vienna, Austria last
March. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul closely followed the meetings
with Armenian officials that were kept secret from the media,
CNN-Turk reported.
Sources say that the Armenian response reached Ankara early this
month to Turkey’s suggestion for the establishment of two committees
to discuss mutual relations wasn’t welcomed, and the answer “to the
Turkish suggestions that they received was watered down.”
The Turkish side had proposed the establishment of two committees to
simultaneously hold talks on political issues and the Armenian genocide
allegations. In response, Yerevan rejected the Turkish suggestions,
stating that holding discussions about the “genocide” would make the
controversial issue debatable. It underlined that scholars can debate
the issue in conferences. Nevertheless Armenia did request the revival
of political talks between the two countries.
Following Yerevan’s objection to the establishment of the two
committees, including one comprised of historians from both countries
to study the Armenian genocide claims, Ankara is now preparing for
the fourth round of secret talks.
Foreign Ministry officials underlined that continued debates over
the genocide claims have “poisoned” Turkey’s relations with other
countries. Ankara will continue to exert effort to find a middle
ground and to solve its problems with Yerevan, they added.

UN JEUNE ARMENIEN TUE PAR DES EXTREMISTES RUSSES PRèS DE MOSCOU
Agence France Presse
30 mai 2006 mardi
Un jeune Russe d’origine armenienne a ete tue a coups de couteau
par un groupe de jeunes gens a bord d’un train de banlieue près de
Moscou, a annonce mardi la radio Echo de Moscou citant un avocat,
Simon Tsatourian.
Selon les temoins de l’incident, survenu le 25 mai, les agresseurs
ont attaque Artur Sardarian, 19 ans, en criant “Gloire a la Russie”,
a declare l’avocat.
Les assaillants ont ensuite stoppe le train en actionnant le frein
d’urgence et se sont enfuis.
Originaire d’Azerbaïdjan, Sardarian vivait dans une ville de la grande
banlieue de Moscou, Pouchkino.
L’Union des Armeniens de Russie a confirme le meurtre a l’AFP,
tandis que la police de Moscou s’est refusee a toute declaration,
indiquant que l’enquete se poursuivait.
Le 22 avril, un meurtre similaire d’un jeune Russe d’origine
armenienne, Bagan Abramiants, a ete perpetre dans une station de metro
a Moscou. La victime, touchee par un coup de couteau dans la poitrine,
a ete tuee sur le coup.
Me Tsatourian, qui represente la famille d’Abramiants, a estime
que, dans les deux cas, les mobiles racistes du crime “ne faisaient
aucun doute”.
–Boundary_(ID_C4nIVMCgHmdTnKMDOq9KmQ)–

RA FOREIGN MINISTER AND ADMINISTRATION OF FLETCHER SCHOOL OF LAW AND DIPLOMACY DISCUSS FUTURE PROGRAMS OF COOPERATION
Noyan Tapan
May 30 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 30, NOYAN TAPAN. RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
received on May 31 Stephen W. Bosworth, the Dean of the Fletcher
School of Law and Diplomacy of the Tufts University, Fletcher School
Professor Alan Henrikson and benefactor Aso Tavitian, the sponsor of
the program of cooperation with the RA Foreign Ministry. Expressing
satisfaction on the occasion of cooperation of the Foreign Ministry of
Armenia and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy started years ago,
interlocutors discussed future programs. The Dean informed that during
the recent years, besides diplomacy, courses of economy and trade
programs were involved in the education programs of the school. This
gave possibility to teach and re-train in the school representatives
of different state institutes of Armenia. As Noyan Tapan was informed
by the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information Department,
the Minister mentioned that training of more than 60 diplomates and
other state servicemen at the school, joint with similar educational
institutions of Europe and Moscow, is a considerable contribution for
improvement of young diplomacy of Armenia. Dean Stephen Bosworth’s
and Professor Alan Henrikson’s meeting with the RA Foreign Ministry’s
staff at the RA Foreign Ministry’s library followed the meeting.