Category: News

Le Télégramme
20 juillet 2004
Le Pavillon arménien
L’ensemble Bert d’Erevan en Arménie, a envahi la scène du Pavillon
dimanche soir.
L’ensemble Bert d’Erevan en Arménie, a envahi la scène du Pavillon
dimanche soir. Le public, bien que peu nombreux, a assisté à un
spectacle bien rodé et d’une élégance rare.
Au Pavillon, on pouvait voir les regards d’un public émerveillé par
la grce des danseuses et danseurs arméniens. Cependant, la salle
n’était qu’à moitié pleine pour ce groupe d’Arméniens à la réputation
internationale.
Un spectacle étonnant
Le spectacle représentait bien cette culture. Le public pouvait
sentir, par l’interprétation de cette troupe, à la fois la souffrance
d’un peuple et l’amour de celui-ci pour la vie. Les danses fougueuses
et aguichantes amenaient le public dans un folklore inconnu et
pourtant si rassurant.
Un public réduit
Un petit bémol est, cependant, à noter. Le public ne s’est pas
déplacé en masse pour applaudir ces artistes de classe
internationale.
Seulement 500 personnes étaient en effet présentes dans ce Pavillon,
qui pour la première fois depuis le début du festival, paraissait
bien vide.
GRAPHIQUE: Photo, Legende: Les artistes arméniens, de la troupe Bert
D’Erevan se sont produits devant un public restreint, mais ravi de la
représentation.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES PROPOSAL OF MILITARY ACCORD WITH POLAND
Arminfo, Yerevan
22 Jul 04
YEREVAN
The government of Armenia has approved a proposal to conclude an
agreement “On cooperation in the defence field between the governments
of Armenia and Poland”.
The conclusion of the agreement will help develop Armenian-Polish
relations, exchange experience within the framework of NATO’s
Partnership for Peace programme, form and operate multi-functional
military units and support international peacekeeping and humanitarian
missions, including upgrading military medicine, armament and military
hardware.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

US ENVOY PLAYS DOWN AZERI CONCERN AT EQUAL AID TO BAKU, YEREVAN
ANS TV, Baku
22 Jul 04
(Presenter in studio) Washington does not think that the issue of
equally treating a member of the anti-terror coalition, Azerbaijan,
and Russia’s closest strategic ally, Armenia, is important enough.
(Correspondent over footage of Washington, the White House, US
Ambassador to Azerbaijan Reno Harnish) The US ambassador to
Azerbaijan, Reno Harnish, has described as unfounded the Azerbaijani
government’s concerns over the US Congress’s decision to provide equal
military assistance to Azerbaijan and Armenia.
We are conducting military exercises with Azerbaijan in the Caspian
Sea and are training Azerbaijani officers. By and large, military
assistance is not hugely important, Interfax-Azerbaijan news agency
quoted the ambassador as saying.
By saying this, the ambassador indirectly confirms that Congress has
indeed allocated equal assistance to Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Let’s recall that Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, who
is currently visiting the United States, has described as surprising
the allocation of equal assistance to Azerbaijan, an active member of
the anti-terror coalition which sends its peacekeepers to different
hotbeds, and Armenia, which supports the coalition only in words.
According to Reno Harnish, the issue raised by Mammadyarov is part of
US-Azerbaijani military cooperation. The diplomat added that the
American administration supports the idea of increasing Azerbaijan’s
contingent in Iraq.
Incidentally, the chairman of the Azarbaycan Milli Istiqlal Party,
Etibar Mammadov, issued a statement today in connection with
Azerbaijani peacekeepers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
If Washington really treats Baku and Yerevan equally, then Azerbaijan
should reconsider its involvement in the anti-terror coalition in such
dangerous places as Iraq and Afghanistan, end quote.
Ayaz Mirzayev, ANS.

US ENVOY TO ARMENIA WARNS AGAINST RESUMPTION OF HOSTILITIES IN KARABAKH
Arminfo
22 Jul 04
YEREVAN
A resumption of hostilities in the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict will be
disastrous for the whole of the South Caucasus, and there will be no
winner in this war, which is obvious to all the sides to the conflict,
the outgoing US ambassador to Armenia, John Ordway, told a final press
conference today.
He said it is high time to switch from big declarative statements to
an immediate settlement process. At the same time, the US diplomat did
not agree with the fact that the OSCE Minsk Group has lost its
significance and the sides to the conflict can resolve the problem
independently.
The latest events, frequent visits to the region by the cochairs,
their meetings with the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents and other
factors show that the OSCE Minsk Group intends to resolve the Nagornyy
Karabakh problem with the help of the political will of the sides to
the conflict.
“There can be absolutely different opinions about the settlement, I
have not conducted an opinion poll, but one thing is indisputable –
all the sides to the conflict are interested in establishing security
and prosperity,” the US ambassador to Armenia said. The longer the
unsettled conflict drags on, the greater is the danger that the
hostilities will resume.
At the same time, Ordway said that despite this, the current status
quo is better than a resumption of the hostilities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

US ENVOY THANKS ARMENIA FOR ANTITERRORIST EFFORTS
Arminfo
22 Jul 04
YEREVAN
The outgoing US ambassador to Armenia, John Ordway, has described the
three years of his work in Yerevan as successful and is certain that
over this period, relations between Armenia and the USA have been
developing dynamically.
However, during the final press conference that was held today, he
said that Armenia’s relations with the USA should not be compared with
Armenia’s relations with other countries. It is possible to speak
about the efficiency of Yerevan’s complimentary foreign policy only
when talking about one country at a time, he said. “The
Armenian-American relationship has always been developing dynamically
in various spheres and I believe that it will continue to develop
successfully in the future as well,” Ordway said. He especially
thanked Armenia for its assistance to the USA in the fight against
international terrorism.
Bilateral military cooperation has also been developing successfully
during his tenure as a US ambassador to Armenia, he said, citing US
military assistance to Armenia, Armenia’s corporation with the state
of Kansas in the area of civil defence, Armenian peacekeepers’
participation in Kosovo operations and Armenia’s successful
cooperation with NATO. “As a member of NATO we can only welcome
that. In the future, Armenian peacekeepers’ participation in the Iraq
mission cannot be ruled out,” Ordway said.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADER MEETS DIASPORA IN LOS ANGELES
Arminfo
22 Jul 04
YEREVAN
A government change in Armenia has to be made only peacefully, Stepan
Demirchyan, leader of the Justice opposition bloc, said today during
his meeting with the Armenian community in Los Angeles. Demirchyan is
taking part in an international forum of leaders in Boston.
Rumours that the Armenian opposition has exhausted its potential are
wide of the mark. Even in summer the opposition did not go on holiday
and has been intensively preparing for the struggle against the
authorities this autumn, he said.
Demirchyan again touched on the issue of mass falsifications during
the 2003 presidential and parliamentary elections. Speaking about the
Armenian authorities’ fight against corruption, he said that this
struggle can be effective only after fair elections are held in
Armenia because people who have rigged the elections are not capable
of fighting corruption.
The authorities’ allegations about an unusually high economic growth
are also not true, he said, since this economic growth has not
reflected on the living conditions of the country’s population. “If
several people in Armenia have become very rich and have filled their
pockets, this does not mean that there is economic growth or that the
social welfare of the citizens has improved,” Demirchyan said.
During the 2003 presidential election, the Armenian community of Los
Angeles supported Demirchyan.

ARMENIA FOREIGN MINISTER BLAMES AZERBAIJAN FOR OBSTRUCTING REGIONAL PROGRESS
Arminfo
22 Jul 04
YEREVAN
Armenia wants to coordinate its actions with Georgia in integration
into Europe, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan told a press
conference today with Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili
at the end of her visit to Yerevan.
He said that political relations between the two countries are very
good and can be further improved during the rapprochement with
European structures. “It would be better if we took a single position,
so to speak, acted in unison”. However, Azerbaijan is getting in the
way of this, the minister believes. “There are regional tasks and the
main obstacle to their implementation is Azerbaijan. However, Georgia
and we shall try to coordinate our actions, and if Azerbaijan wishes
to join in, it can do so,” the Armenian foreign minister said.
Speaking about Armenian-Georgian economic relations, Oskanyan said
that those issues will be debated during Prime Minister Andranik
Markaryan’s upcoming visit to Tbilisi.

US ENVOY TO ARMENIA DENIES WORKING AGAINST IRAN
Arminfo
22 Jul 04
YEREVAN
“Working as a US ambassador to Armenia, I did not perform a so-called
anti-Iranian task at all,” the outgoing US ambassador to Armenia, John
Ordway, told a final press conference today while speaking about the
construction of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline.
He said that he had not issued any harshly-worded statements regarding
the gas pipeline. At the same time, he said that US actions concerning
Iran are dictated by the sanctions that stem from the Iran law
approved by Congress which has not been repealed yet. “However, I did
not perform any anti-Iranian task in Armenia during my tenure,” John
Ordway said.

HEALTH MINISTRY TRYING TO STOP INFECTIOUS DISEASES FROM GETTING INTO ARMENIA
Arminfo
21 Jul 04
YEREVAN
Cases of malaria have lately been registered by the sanitary services
of Armenian districts bordering on Azerbaijan.
Artavazd Vanyan, chief of the state epidemiological and hygiene
inspectorate of the Armenian Health Ministry, told an Arminfo news
agency correspondent that flies from the neighbouring republic are
presumably spreading the disease, and epidemiologists are unable to
fight the natural migration of the insects.
At the same time, the inspectorate is developing an action plan which
will make it possible to control the epidemiological
situation. Sanitary and quarantine services will soon be set up at the
customs checkpoints on the border with Georgia and Iran, including at
the airports, to check the medical certificate of every citizen
entering and leaving Armenia in order to find out whether they carry
or not infectious diseases.
Armenian citizens who wish to leave the country must be vaccinated
against a number of diseases they might contract abroad.
These measures will be productive in preventing bird flu, malaria,
cholera and other diseases that have affected many countries of the
world from getting into Armenia, Vanyan said.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT MAKES DECISION TO ESTABLISH STATE NONCOMMERCIAL
ORGNAIZATION “NATIONAL EXPERT LABORATORY”
YEREVAN, JULY 22, ARMINFO. Today the Armenian Government made a
decision to establish a state noncommercial orgnaization “National
Expert Laboratory” attached to the National Academy of Science of
Armenia.
The Governmental Press-Service told ARMINFO that the decision is
motivated by an agreement of cooperation in the law-enforcement sphere
earlier signed between the USA and Armenia, by control over drugs, as
well as by the RA Law On state noncommercial orgnaizations. The
Government also made a decision to provide a three-storeyed building
(1.092 sq/m) to the new organization. The building earlier belonged to
the state noncommercial orgnaization “Scientific Center for Soil
Science, Agrichemistry and Melioration after G.Petrossyan.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress