Author: Vardapetian Ophelia

“ARTIFICIAL” PARTIES HAVE NO FUTURE IN THE POLITICAL SPHERE

A1+
[07:21 pm] 23 May, 2006

“He says that he cannot work in the Opposition without any shame. Then
why did he become a member of the party. A party must realize its work
everywhere,” Paruyr Hairikyan, head of Union for Self-Determination
(USD) informed “A1+” while referring to the recent events connected
with OYP.

He is sure that the Coalition doesn’t exist any more as its memorandum
was signed by three political forces one of which has already quitted
it. Head of Union for Self-Determination has his personal approach
on the frequent changes in Armenian political and party sphere. “The
majority of Armenian parties don’t have their ideology,” claims
Paruyr Hairikyan classing OYP among such parties and illustrating the
failure of setting up another such “artificial” structure, Artashes
Geghamyan’s party.

Asked whether United Labor attempting to replace OYP in the Coalition
doesn’t resemble an “artificial” party and whether it won’t be
doomed to the same failure, Paruyr Hairikyan answered, “I doubt
whether the party wants to enter into the Coalition or it is forced
to do it. A party is a union of adherents. But this is not obvious
in their case. We can feel some menace today. Parties are pre-state
structures. And in case a state is weak it speaks of its parties’
weakness too.”

By the way, Paruyr Hairikyan supports Arthur Baghdasaryan in one
thing. He is right in accusing the Opposition of not wanting to unite
and of its “ambitions.” According to Paruyr Hairikyan the fact that the
opposition cannot unite is also determined by the work of the agents.

Hairikyan is going to suggest the Opposition a program of joint
work. According to the head of USD they should set up a common
structure which won’t be a political party in any case. 1 – 3
representatives of political powers will be involved in it. But
Hairikyan is sure that his offer will be turned down.

DILNET SERVICE IMPLEMENTS GRANT PROGRAM ON TOURISM DEVELOPMEMT IN DILIJAN

Noyan Tapan
May 22 2006

DILIJAN, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. With the aim of developing tourism in
the city, the Dilnet Service NGO (Dilijan) has created a website which
contains information about local sights, rest houses, food facilities,
infrastructures and other information of interest to tourists. The NGO
chairman Ashot Hovhannisian told NT correspondent that they published
500 pocket reference books for tourists. Dilnet Service received
a 2.56 mln dram grant (about 5.7 thousand USD) from the Center of
Social Dialogs and Development in order to publish reference books
and create a website, as well as to do other work envisaged by this
7-month grant program.

TO COOPERATE OR NOT TO COOPERATE?

Lragir.am
23 May 06

Tbilisi remains a center of regional cooperation and contacts. The
ombudsmen of Abkhazia and South Osetia have meetings here. Armenian and
Azerbaijani political and public figures prefer to meet in “neutral”
Georgia. Besides the tolerance and commitment to dialogue that Georgia
displays, regional meetings bring considerable financial inflows to
Georgians. Thousands of people are employed in Georgian NGOs fostering
cooperation, promotion of democracy and other political aims.

On May 19 the international conference entitled Evaluation and
Effective Management of Conflicts ended in Tbilisi. From Karabakh
the director of the Civic Action Center Albert Voskanyan participated
in this conference. The representatives of 6 countries of the region
participated in the conference.

Another meeting of almost the same format took place in Tbilisi in the
framework of the UN program of global partnership for the prevention
of armed conflicts. The representative of Karabakh, the coordinator
of Helsinki Undertaking 92, participated in the meeting.

The past month was marked by the statement of the Azerbaijani NGOs
that they would cooperate with only those Armenian organizations which
will recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. This statement
did not receive a serious response from Armenians, perhaps because
it was nonsense. Cooperation under the auspices of international
organizations went on; however, even the Azerbaijanis are ashamed to
say whether their Armenian partners have recognized their territorial
integrity. Or maybe meetings in Paris are not counted?

WILL HAKOB HAKOBYAN MANAGE TO DIVIDE REPUBLICANS?

Lragir.am
22 May 06

Member of Parliament Hakob Hakobyan, People’s Deputy Group, has
taken up the job of nominating the leader of the Republican faction
Galust Sahakyan as speaker of the National Assembly. Galust Sahakyan
announced May 22 that if he is nominated, he will reject.

Galust Sahakyan said the Republican Party will nominate their
candidate, and on the upcoming days he will nominate our candidate
which is not going to be him. He also denies the possibility
of becoming deputy speaker. Despite Galust Sahakyan’s attitude,
Hakob Hakobyan is nevertheless likely to persuade the leader of the
Republican faction.

“Within the upcoming five days we’ll be trying to negotiate with
Galust Sahakyan, and to find out how many members of parliament would
endorse the candidacy. We’ll try to see the correlation and try to
nominate,” says Hakob Hakobyan, ignoring that his step is against
the intention of the Republican faction, which is likely to nominate
Tigran Torosyan. Hakob Hakobyan thinks Galust Sahakyan will rule
better the parliament, which is going through a transition.

“In other words, in private talks many people suggest nominating Galust
Sahakyan as speaker. But when there is a political decision, personal
decisions are set aside,” says Hakob Hakobyan from Echmiadzin. He
assures that the nomination of Galust Sahakyan is his personal
initiative, and the People’s Deputy Group has not discussed this issue.

ARF TO GET NEW POSITIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT

Armenpress
May 19 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS: A TV boss closely affiliated with
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) has agreed to quit his
job which he said he loved very much in return for a seat in the
parliament, it emerged today.

Gegham Manukian, chief of Yerkir Media TV, will replace Levon
Mkrtchian, a former head of the ARF parliament faction, who was
appointed by president Kocharian new education minister after Sergo
Yeritsian from the embattled Orinats Yerkir of parliament speaker
Arthur Baghdasarian was forced to resign.

Gegham Manukian was on the ARF slate when it contested the 2003
parliamentary elections.

Deputy parliament chairman Vahan Hovhanesian from the ARF, who
heralded the news today, agreed that Mkrtchian’s appointment has
boosted ARF’s presence in the government but added that it has also
increased its share of responsibility. Hovhanesian said his party
expected to take up some other top government positions, vacated by
Orinats Yerkir’s members.

US DIPLOMAT EXPECTS GARABAGH AGREEMENT ‘IN COMING WEEKS’

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 18 2006

Baku, May 17, AssA-Irada
Washington believes Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents may sign a
peace agreement in the coming weeks to end the conflict over Upper
(Nagorno) Garabagh, said Anne Derse, the nominated US ambassador
in Baku.

It is currently a crucial time for the negotiating process and
additional opportunities have emerged to resolve the dispute this year,
Russian ITAR-TASS news agency quoted the diplomat as saying.

Commenting on the possible use of military action to settle the
dispute, she said any use of force by either side at the moment could
have tragic ramifications.

The parties failed to agree upon the issues of principle during
the latest talks held by the two leaders in Rambouillet, France in
February, which was followed by Azerbaijan’s threats to resort to
military action.

ENTRANCE TO ALL ARMENIAN MUSEUMS TO BE FREE ON MAY 18, INTERNATIONAL DAY OF MUSEUMS

Noyan Tapan
May 17 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Like in the whole world, International
Day of Museums will be marked in Armenia on May 18. The entrance to
all museums of Yerevan and regions will be free for all visitors on
that day. As Anahit Galstian, Head of Museums and Libraries Department
of RA Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs, said in her interview to
Noyan Tapan correspondent, at present 110 state and non-state museums,
house-museums and reserve-museums work in Armenia, 60 of which are
under the protection of the state and 30 under the protection of
the communities. The rest of the museums work under the patronage of
individual citizens or organizations. In spite of numerous obstacles
the museums had in the recent years, they continued to work. Some
museums closed but new ones opened instead of them. According to
A.Galstian, on the occasion of the International Day of Museums
Armenia has joined 3 international actions, the most interesting
of which is the “Museum Night” action announced on May 20. Subject
events accompanied by musical programs will be organized from 5:00 pm
to 1:00 am on May 20 at all state museums. These actions are aimed
at development and protection of museums. The International Day of
Museums has been marked in Armenia since 1978.

MICROSOFT OFFICE OPENS IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan
May 17 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The official ceremony of opening the
Yerevan Office of the Microsoft company took place in Yerevan on May
16. According to the company’s information, so far, Microsoft has
opened its representative offices in such CIS countries as Russia,
Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Microsoft’s Deputy
Regional Chairman for Central and Eastern Europe Vahe Torosian said
that the company management made this decision, taking into account
a high level of knowledge in the spheres of high technologies,
engineering, mathematics and physics in the regional countries,
particularly in Armenia. “We should try to develop a powerful,
healthy and competitive system of information technologies in
Armenia,” he noted. According to him, one of Microsoft’s first
undertakings in Armenia will be translation of the operation system
Windows XP into Armenian and making it available to consumers in
late summer 2006. Microsoft has such a problem as protection of
intellectual property rights, particularly, unlicensed use of its
software. V. Torosian said that in this respect they encounter serious
problems in all CIS countries, including in Armenia where up to 90%
of the software used are unlicensed.

PACE RAPPORTEUR ON MONITORING OF CULTURE MONUMENTS IN SOUTH CAUCASUS EXPECTED
Author: R.Abdullayev

TREND, Azerbaijan
May 17 2006

PACE rapporteur on monitoring of the state of culture monuments in
South Caucasus, British MP Edward O’hara will visit Baku on 28 May,
the CE information office in Baku told Trend.

During the visit to last by 31 May as part of his tour of the region
O’Hara will also visit Armenian and the occupied Azerbaijani territory,
including Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Earlier, MP Rafael Huseynov, the Azerbaijani parliamentary
representative to the PACE, told Trend that that the first part of
the visit will be dedicated to study of the state of Azerbaijani
culture monuments in Armenian territory.

TURKISH AMBASSADOR RETURNS THIS WEEK
by Jennifer Campbell, The Ottawa Citizen

The Ottawa Citizen, Canada
May 17, 2006 Wednesday
Final Edition

Turkish Ambassador Aydemir Erman is returning to Canada by Thursday
at the latest. Although news reports claimed he’d been recalled to
Turkey, the ambassador was actually summoned home for consultations,
not recalled, which has considerably more charged implications in
diplomatic circles.

Canada, observers will remember, recalled its ambassador to Iran
in 2004 when the Iranian officials abruptly stopped the trial of
Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, who was charged with the murder of
Montreal photojournalist Zahra Kazemi.

That said, the move wasn’t taken lightly, said Yonet Tezel, counsellor
at the Turkish embassy in Ottawa. Mr. Erman went home for “very
high-level consultations” after Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared
that the First World War killings of Armenians by Turks constituted
genocide. Turkey also called home its ambassador to France to protest
a French bill that would make it illegal to deny what it called the
“Armenian Genocide.”

“This is a serious thing,” Mr. Tezel said, adding that it’s not often
that Turkey summons an ambassador home for such consultations. In
fact, he said it had never happened with the country’s Canadian
envoy. He said the ambassador’s consultations were “constructive
and comprehensive.”