Author: Vanyan Gary

TRIAL OF ANOTHER CASE AGAINST RAMIL SAFAROV TO CONTINUE ON SEPTEMBER 1ST
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 30 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 30, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The next court
sittings on case of violence towards Hungarian warders against officer
of Azerbaijani army Ramil Safarov sentenced to life imprisonment
for killing RA Armed Forces officer Gurgen Margarian with an axe
in Budapest will take place on September 1 and 5. Noyan Tapan
correspondent was informed about it by Armenian lawyer Nazeli
Vardanian, representative of the aggrieved party on the case of
murder of Gurgen Margarian and the attempted murder of another RA
Armed Forces officer Hayk Makuchian. The lawyer also informed that
Safarov has not yet appealed against the verdict of life imprisonment
without the right of pardon during the first 20 years brought in by
the Hungarian court as the text of the verdict is not ready yet.

KOHAR OUTSHINES WITH ITS GENUINE MUSIC
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 30 2006
GYUMRI, MAY 30, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. KOHAR Symphony
Orchestra and Choir of Gyumri with artistic director and conductor
Sebouh Apkarian will be participating in the context of “One Nation,
One Culture” All-Armenian Festival from 23 till 30 June in Armenia. The
official closing of the festival is entrusted to KOHAR, which will
take place on 30 June 2006, and will set the stage of the closing
event at the Republic Square of Yerevan, Armenia. End of last April,
Kremlin State Theatre witnessed KOHAR’s latest accomplishment during
two consecutive concert days. Almost 12,000 audiences were present
during these concerts, whereby KOHAR presented its trademark “All Time
Armenian Favourites” program with 150 performing artists; musicians,
choir members, soloists, dancers and a pantomime. The two-day events
were labeled by Armenian Muscovites as an unprecedented Armenian
festivity of genuine music and performance. KOHAR Symphony Orchestra
and Choir has performed in Nicosia, Beirut and Istanbul. Its “All
Time Armenian Favourites” DVD and CD is the first Armenian musical DVD
through its rendition and recording of Armenian music with interactive
and state-of-the-art features including subtitles of the songs,
which has won the International Intermedia Silver Award in Hamburg,
Germany and the “Anoush” Achievement Award during the 7th Armenian
International Awards in Hollywood, USA. The second DVD of KOHAR’s
“All Time Armenian Favourites” new program will be released by end
of this year, and will include live recordings from Istanbul and
Moscow concerts.

CHIRAC URGES SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT
Radio Free Europe, Czech rep.
May 30 2006
May 30, 2006 — French President Jacques Chirac today urged
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev to push for a peaceful settlement
of its conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.
After meeting with Aliyev, Chirac expressed support for international
mediators who last week urged all sides to compromise over the enclave,
which is inside Azerbaijan but has been controlled by ethnic Armenians
since a war in the early 1990s.
Aliyev and Armenian President Robert Kocharian have traded hostile
statements since talks between them in February in France broke down.
There has also been in increase in the number of violent incidents
along the border.
Speaking today at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Aliyev called
Karabakh “a black hole of Europe.”

A1+
ARMENIA TOPS THE LIST
[12:17 pm] 29 May, 2006
The Armenian national chess team plays successfully in the World
Chess Olympiad in Turin and has good chances of becoming champion for
the first time.
In the third round the Armenian Grand Masters beat the team of the
Netherlands 3:1 which was in the second place before that. Levon
Aronyan and Gabriel Sargsyan celebrated wins, and Vladimir Hakobyan
and Karen Asryan tied.
By the way, in the 6th round the Netherlands had beaten the main
rivals of Armenia, the team of Russia which in its turn beat Belarus
in this round 3:1.
In the 8th round our Grand Masters will play with the team of Cuba
which has 19.5 points.

RESIGNATIONS OF OYK MEMBER CHAIRMEN OF TWO NA STANDING COMMITTEES
CONSIDERED ACCEPTED ON MAY 25

YEREVAN, MAY 25, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The posts of the
Chairmen of the NA Standing Committees on Defence, National Security
and Internal Affairs and Social, Health Care, Nature Protection
Affairs are already vacant starting from May 25. At the same day
sitting of the Parliament, NA Deputy Speaker Tigran Torosian informed
that Mher Shahgeldian and Gagik Mkheyan, members of the “Orinats
Yerkir” (Country of Law) faction having occupied before the
above-mentioned posts, did not take back the written applications on
resignations presented 3 years ago, so the resignations are considered
accepted. According to T.Torosian, NA Speaker Artur Baghdasarian’s
resignation will be considered accepted if he again presents
applications after the 5-days term of his written application is
over. The above-mentioned deadline is on coming Monday, May 29, at
12:30. To recap, A.Baghdasarian’s press conference is scheduled for
13:30 of the same day, at the NA “golden hall.” Names of candidades
nominated for the vacant NA leading posts have not been announced
yet. The ruling coalition promised to define the candidates’ issue
only after officially stating the above-mentioned posts as
vacant. According to the NA regulations-law, the votion in those posts
will be implemented by a secret votion.

OSCE CO-CHAIR COUNTRIES REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSS NK CONFLICT SETTLEMENT ASPECTS
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
May 25 2006
YEREVAN, May 25. /ARKA/. OSCE Co-Chair countries representatives are
satisfied with their visit to Armenia and leave Yerevan with hopes
and expectations of progress.
“We, the representatives at the Deputy Minister level of the Russian
Federation, the United States and France, together with the Co-Chairs
and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, have
come together in this joint diplomatic mission because of the need
to promote a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and
because now is the time for the sides to reach agreement on the basic
principles of the settlement”, OSCE Co-Chair countries representatives
said in their statement read up Thursday in Yerevan for press.
“We were received by President Kocharyan and met earlier with Foreign
Minister Oskanyan. As we did yesterday in Baku, we have discussed
important aspects of a future settlement. We have worked to create
the conditions for a meeting of the two presidents in the near
future. We have stressed the belief of our nations and, more widely,
of the international community that the conflict can be solved in
no other way than a peaceful one. Both countries should, moreover,
prepare their publics for peace and not for war.
Our discussions, both today in Yerevan and yesterday in Baku, were
constructive. We met yesterday with President Aliev and Foreign
Minister Mammadyarov. Tomorrow we will return to our capitals to
brief our leaders. The Co-Chairs will, as well, brief theOSCE and
international community.
A joint mission such as this one is a special event. It must be taken
as a sign of the seriousness with which we approach the issue and,
in particular, a belief that we are at the point where a mutually
beneficial agreement is achievable. What happens now will be up
to Armenia and Azerbaijan. We leave with hopes and expectations of
the progress. We are pleased to be in Yerevan and wish to express
our gratitude to President Kocharyan and the people of Armenia for
receiving us”, the statement says.
The joint statement was read up by the Adviser to the U.S. Secretary
of State Daniel Fried, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigori
Karasin and Ambassador Pier Morel, French Foreign Ministry
Representative.

KARABAKH CONFLICT WILL NOT SOLVE SOON, BAKU THINKS
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.05.2006 16:28 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is not
predicted soon. The problem is becoming more conserved and is reaching
a deadlock, Musavat Party chair Isa Gambar stated in Baku. In his
words, foreign powers promote it.
By means of the Karabakh conflict Russia not only influences the
foreign policy of the two countries, but is also able to have impact
of government change in Armenia. In general, Russia considers conflicts
in the Caucasus as source of its influence,” he remarked.
Isa Gambar believes that Moscow is ready to resort to settlement of
the conflict only in case its peacekeeping forces are present in the
conflict zone.
“The West wants to change the status quo without Russia’s
participation, thus Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot find common points,”
he said. “Armenia states indirectly and sometimes even directly that
it is not going to step aside from its policy. Thus, settlement of
the NK conflict is not predicted in the near future,” Gambar said,
reports Day.az.

KARABAKH CONFLICT SHOULD BE SETTLED POLITICALLY
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.05.2006 15:12 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The year of 2006 is a good moment for the settlement
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict taking into account the absence
of any elections in both states, Personal Representative of the
OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk stated. In his words, the
talks are intense and many meetings including the negotiations at
presidential level took place.
The activities of the Co-chairs were rich as well. The efforts for
reconciliation of the concerned parties are obvious. However the
problem is complicated and painful. Nevertheless, the achievements
within the Prague process seem to be a good basis for further advance,”
he remarked.
Kasprzyk also noted that the conflict should be settled politically
by the Presidents taking into consideration the interests of both
nations. “Everyone should remember that the profit from peace will be
considerable for both peoples and the agreement cannot be neglected,”
he said, reported Trend.

ARMENIA NOT PARTICIPATING IN THE MEETING OF CIS DEFENSE MINISTERS IN BAKU
Author: E. Javadova
TREND, Azerbaijan
May 25 2006
Chief of Armenian Defense Ministry is not participating in the 31
May meeting of CI Defense Ministers in Baku, Trend reports quoting
Ilgar Verdiyev, acting head of press service of Azeri Defense Ministry.
Verdiyev said Defense Ministers of 10 countries are participating in
the meeting.
The meeting agenda is still unclear. Also, specific issues to
be discussed are in the air, although the meeting in total aims
at boosting military cooperation and exchanging experience among
defense ministries.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT, NATO OFFICIAL DISCUSS TIES
Arminfo
23 May 06
Yerevan, 23 May: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and the special
representative of the NATO secretary-general for the South Caucasus,
Robert Simmons, today discussed prospects for developing relations
between Armenia and NATO.
Robert Kocharyan rated highly the implementation of a partnership
plan with NATO and noted that essential progress had been recorded in
the implementation of the programme’s provisions within a short time,
the presidential press service told Arminfo.
The importance of carrying out appropriate reforms in the
Armenian defence system and strengthening democracy were noted
in this context. Looking at relations with NATO in the context of
Armenia’s integration into Europe, the president also noted that an
interdepartmental commission had been set up in Armenia recently to
coordinate work with various European structures. The commission will
regularly report to the president on its work in various fields.
“Our goal is not to fall behind the schedule but move forward rapidly
and implement joint programmes,” Robert Kocharyan said.
At the request of his guest, the Armenian president briefed him on
the latest developments in the peaceful settlement of the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict.