Category: News

FIVE ARMENIAN ENTERPRISES MIGHT GO TO RUSSIA AS STATE DEBT REPAYMENT
RIA Novosti, Russia
June 2 2004
YEREVAN, June 2 (RIA Novosti) – The seventh session of the
Armenian-Russian interparliamentary commission for co-operation
considered the passing of five Armenian enterprises to Russia within
the state agreement “property in exchange for debt.”
According to Russian co-chairman of the commission and Federation
Council member Nikolai Ryzhkov, the implementation of this agreement
involves some problems.
“The first and the main problem is the incompatibility between the
two countries’ legislations. The enterprises are already the Russian
property but are operating in the Armenian legislative field. Besides,
there are technological problems,” noted Ryzhkov.
The Russian co-chairman expressed the hope that a special
intergovernmental commission would soon gather for a session to
address these problems.
The intergovernmental agreement signed on July 17, 2002 on transferring
the property as part of Armenia’s state debt to Russia to the sum of
$93 million provides for passing 100% of shares in the Mars plant,
three Yerevan research institutes of computers, automated control
systems, materials science, and also the property complex of the
Razdan thermo power station, to the Russian side.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT BELIEVES THERE IS NO POLITICAL CRISIS IN HIS COUNTRY
RIA Novosti, Russia
June 2 2004
YEREVAN, June 2 (RIA Novosti). There is no political crisis in the
country as government bodies are duly performing their functions,
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said at a news conference in
Gyumri, the former Leninakan.
“There is a conflict between the government and the opposition
and the latter has refrained from a civilized form of fight,” the
president said.
According to the Armenian head of state, if the Armenian parliament
were unable to make decisions “there would be a crisis indeed a way
out of which is fixed in the country’s Constitution.”
“Such a situation is not available. There is a clash between the
opposition and the government indeed – but is any other country devoid
of it? The question is whether conflicts take a civilized shape. And
since the performance of the parliament and the government is quite
productive – the budget is being executed, debts haven’t grown and
the country is reporting a steady economic growth this means that the
opposition may or may not return to the parliament, yet life will go
on,” Kocharyan stated.
Commenting on opposition rallies, the president labelled them as
“Brazilian series”. “They are so much alike that the events could
well be canned,” he said.
The opposition has been staging unauthorised protests gathering
thousands of people in Yerevan to demand that the Armenian president
resign since April 9.

Book Review: Learn to speak fenugreek
New York Daily News
June 2 2004
Armenian cuisine – which combines the flavors of the Mediterranean with
Persian and Russian cooking – is the subject of an intriguing new book
by Victoria Jenanyan Wise, “The Armenian Table” (St. Martin’s Press,
$29.95). The signature ingredients for this style of cooking are herbs
such as fenu­greek and tarragon, and such seasonings as orange flower
water. To get to know them, the author takes us on a comprehensive
tour of the typical Armenian pantry. First, though, there’s an
interesting chapter on the homelands of the Armenian people, maps and
all, followed by shopping hints and descriptions of frequently used
foods. Wise discusses the assorted extracts, spices, herbs and fresh
produce she uses in her kitchen to turn out such dishes as mussels
in tomato-onion broth, spicy meatballs in tomato-cilantro sauce and
bulgur pilaf with chickpeas and spring onions. A chapter on yogurt
includes instructions on how to make yogurt, called madzoon, and a
variety of drinks such as jajik (yogurt with cucumber), yogurt cheese,
yogurt bechamel and tanabour, a yogurt and barley soup with mint and
parsley. There are some fine recipes here that you’re not likely to
find elsewhere, including a fresh fava bean salad with string cheese
and chive oil, Armenian moussaka with lamb, potatoes and a yogurt
bechamel, and an Armenian rata­touille that’s generously seasoned
with fresh marjoram and paprika. If you’re looking for a new cuisine
to explore, this is very satisfying.

Quick Guide: The OSCE
BBC News
June 2 2004
Flags of member nations at the OSCE HQ (Picture: OSCE)
Membership: 55 nations
Headquarters: Vienna, Austria
Budget: 185.7m euros (2003)
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE,
aims to prevent conflict and manage crises in Europe, the Caucasus
and central Asia.
The organisation is based in Vienna, Austria, but many of its 3,500
staff work in the field. The OSCE is particularly active in the
countries of the former Yugoslavia and in the republics of the
Caucasus.
The organisation’s mandate is broad. It aims to promote democracy and
human rights and to resolve regional conflicts. To this end it
encourages political, social and media reforms.
The OSCE has no peacekeeping contingents, but may call on the
resources of other international bodies, including the UN and Nato.
Background
The OSCE’s forerunner, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in
Europe (CSCE), was set up in 1972 as a forum for dialogue between
nations. It brought Nato and Warsaw Pact countries to the meeting
table.
Moldova: OSCE monitors removal of Russian arms (OSCE/Neil Brennan)
In 1975 the CSCE produced the Helsinki Final Act. The signatories –
from East and West – promised to respect basic freedoms and human
rights and to recognise Europe’s post-war borders.
At the end of the Cold War, the CSCE became a fully-fledged
organisation and provided the framework for reducing conventional
armed forces in Europe.
The organisation adopted its present name in 1994 to reflect its more
permanent structure.
Members, decision-making
The OSCE has 55 member states. These are drawn mainly from Europe,
the Caucasus and Central Asia. The United States and Canada are
members of the OSCE.
All OSCE members have equal status within the body. Decisions are
reached by consensus, except in the case of “clear, gross and
uncorrected violations” of OSCE commitments by a member country.
Member states fund the running of the organisation and its missions.
Structure
Summit Conference: Leaders of member states meet once every two or
three years to map out the OSCE’s priorities
Ministerial Council: The OSCE’s main governing body meets annually,
except in a Summit Conference year; it comprises foreign affairs
ministers of member countries
Permanent Council: Undertakes the day-to-day running of OSCE
activities; comprises permanent representatives of member states who
meet once a week
Leaders
Chairman-in-office: The position is held by the foreign affairs
minister of a member state for a one-year term. The incumbent has
overall responsibility for the organisation.
Secretary-general: Responsible for managing OSCE operations, the
secretary-general is the representative of the chairman-in-office.
OSCE on the ground
Albania: A substantial OSCE presence aims to promote democracy, human
rights and media freedom.
Monitors on Georgia-Chechnya border (OSCE/Alexander Nitzsche) Armenia
and Azerbaijan: The OSCE is working for a political settlement between
Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region. It
has monitored elections in both states and maintains offices in their
capital cities.
Belarus: The OSCE has repeatedly clashed with President Alexander
Lukashenko after it condemned as fraudulent elections which he won in
2001. The OSCE office in Minsk undertakes projects related to the
body’s principles.
Bosnia: An OSCE mission aims to strengthen the legal system and
de-segregate the education system.
Central Asia: The OSCE maintains offices in the capitals of Uzbekistan,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. The OSCE monitors
elections in the region. It has warned that a failure to develop
democracy will make Central Asia more vulnerable to extremism. The
OSCE has criticised human rights standards in Turkmenistan.
Chechnya: The organisation has urged a political solution to the
conflict and has expressed concerns about the climate of violence and
the lack of independent media in the republic. In 2002 Russia refused
to renew the mandate of the OSCE’s mission.
Elections in Kosovo: OSCE is committed to democracy-building
Croatia: An OSCE mission advises on democratisation and human rights.
Georgia: The OSCE urges a political resolution to the status of the
breakway Georgian republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. OSCE
monitors are in place on the Georgia-Chechnya border.
Kosovo: As part of the UN Mission in Kosovo, a large OSCE presence is
involved in democracy-building and human rights monitoring. The OSCE
police school trained more than 6,000 officers for Kosovo’s new,
multi-ethnic police force.
Macedonia: Originally set up in 1992 to prevent the Balkan conflict
from spreading, the OSCE mission expanded following the 2001 conflict
between ethnic Albanian rebels and government forces. The
organisation has trained a new multi-ethnic police force.
Moldova: The OSCE is working for a political settlement between
Moldova and the breakaway Trans-Dniestr region.
Macedonia: 2001 conflict prompted the OSCE to boost its presence
Serbia and Montenegro: The federation was admitted to the OSCE in
2000, eight years after the old Yugoslavia was suspended during the
war in Bosnia. An OSCE mission based in Belgrade has set the
promotion of democratisation, human rights and media freedom as its
priorities.
Ukraine: The OSCE runs projects on media freedom, military and legal
reform.

Built to Last: A Georgian Armenian’s house plans for eternity
By Vahan Ishkhanyan ArmeniaNow reporter
ArmeniaNow.com
28 May, 2004
(from Akhalkalak, Georgia) In the Georgian town of Akhalkalak,
Serozh Hakobyan is one of those rare people who have apartments in
two worlds. The one for this life is on Rustaveli St. The one for
the next life is in the Akhalkalak cemetery.
He tells a visitor: “I am both in this world and in the other one.” And
he takes every guest to show them his grave.
Serozh says he’s ready to go … Next to his family, his grandmother,
grandfather, mother and father, he has built his and his wife’s graves,
a polished stone with a portrait of the couple and their birth dates,
Hakobyan Serozh 1932 and Hakobyan Manushak 1933. All that remains
are death dates, a carving task assigned to their only child,
their daughter.
“Since I didn’t have a boy, I thought I myself would make my grave,
so that it’s not hard for my daughter,” Serozh says. “Since I could
afford it, I made one for me and my wife. My wife agreed with me,
saying it’s better this way, so that we don’t have to bother our
child. Why should she be troubled because of us later?”
Making a grave is a man’s job. He has to go find a stone, give it
to a master, follow how they’re polishing it, find a painter to
carve from photos properly and he has to bargain with everyone. In
1994, when he had some money saved, Serozh did all that’s required
for a grave. And, allowed the privilege of choosing how he will be
eternally remembered, he carefully chose a painter from Yerevan to
do the tombstone portraits.
In his town, plenty of others know their final resting places. But
the others are next to graves that have already been filled, most
with the remains of a spouse, before the survivor’s name was carved
next to the deceased.
But Serozh’s grave is totally empty, ready for a house warming.
“This is my permanent apartment, we are guests here, our main apartment
is here, buddy,” says Serozh looking at the black gravestone.
The 72-year old former taxi driver isn’t in any hurry to take up
residence, but says when that time comes, well, so be it.
“Whatever’s there it’s there, whatever’s not, it’s not,” Serozh
says. “I can only say if you’re an honest man, your soul will be
in peace.”
Serozh says he believes in God and follows all the church ceremonies
like Easter, baptism, sacrifice and etc. He always keeps icons in
his pocket.
“Icons of Mother Mary, of my Lord the Christ have always been in my
pocket and thank God that after driving a taxi for 45 years I haven’t
had any trouble. I’ve met all kinds of people in my car but haven’t
seen harm from any of them.”
Since retiring from the taxi business, Serozh has been a pensioner. He
get 15 lari (about $7.50) a month, which of course is not enough
for survival. So now he trades at the Akhalkalak market selling
sieves and other little things.
Doesn’t he get closer to the death by building himself a grave and
isn’t he afraid of dying?
“Of course not, buddy,” laughs Serozh. “Whether it gets you closer
or not, whether you’re afraid or not, when the time comes for you
to die, you’ll die. The main thing is to live as long as you can,
humanly, decently, with respect. If you like people, people will like
you. Otherwise, if you’re born, you have to die. If you live for 100
years you have to die, if you live for one year, you have to die … ”
On Easter and All Saints Day and other church holidays, all the family
visits the graves of Serozh’s parents to eat, drink and honor the dead.
One day when his grandchildren visit his “eternal apartment”,
they’ll see an inscription saying that Serozh’s tombstone is “from
grandchildren”.
It’s ok if grandchildren didn’t make it, they were too small, how could
they,” Serozh says. “But those who pass by will know that this man
had respect and honor, since his grandchildren had built his grave.”

Azeri ANS TV suspends BBC broadcasts, but ready to continue cooperation
ANS TV, Baku
1 Jun 04
[Presenter in studio] The news bulletins of the BBC Russian service
will no longer be rebroadcast by ANS CM. Both companies have kept
their word.
[Correspondent over video of ANS office] As of today, the BBC
Russian broadcasts through ANS CM radio have been suspended on
Azerbaijani territory. The ANS independent broadcasting and media
company has taken this step in connection with the position of the
BBC’s morning programmes on Azerbaijan. We should remind you that
the ANS CM radio station had repeatedly sent letters of warning to
the BBC that the morning programmes of this service of the BBC and
the programmes by producer Mark Grigoryan are distorting the truth
about the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. It was said that if Mark
Grigoryan is not taken off the air by 31 May, the transmission of
the Russian service will be suspended on 1 June. So it was suspended.
The BBC also regrets this decision. But at the same time, Hamid
Ismayilov, head of the BBC’s South Caucasus and Central Asia Service,
stressed that ANS is a democratic and independent channel.
Vahid Mustafayev, head of the ANS group of companies, made the
following comment on the decision: ANS had played a great role
in setting up the BBC’s Azerbaijani service. For this reason, we
will continue our cooperation. We suspended the transmission of the
Russian-language programmes because these programmes are run by an
Armenian producer which seriously worried Azerbaijani listeners.
I should note that the BBC leaders have accepted this step with
understanding, end of quote.
Ayaz Mirzayev, ANS.

Azeri private radio scraps some BBC relays in protest at “biased” reports
BBC Monitoring research
2 Jun 04
The Baku-based Azerbaijani commercial FM station ANS CM has suspended
transmission of BBC programmes in Russian to Central Asia and the
Caucasus at 0700 local time (0200 gmt). On 1 and 2 June, the BBC output
was replaced by continuous music and station identification jingles.
A statement by the company, ANS CM, which has been rebroadcasting BBC
World Service output for the last 10 years, said it had stopped the
transmission because of what it called the biased BBC reporting on
the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. The BBC denied the accusations and
expressed regret over the decision. In a statement, the BBC said that
it has remained committed to providing fair, impartial and balanced
coverage of events in the region.
ANS TV, operated by the same company as the radio station, reported on
1 June that ANS CM radio would not broadcast the Russian programmes
in Azerbaijan because “the morning programmes of this service of the
BBC and the programmes by producer Mark Grigoryan are distorting the
truth about the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict”.
A deadline of 1 June was reported on the air by ANS TV on 24 May,
by which the BBC was to have addressed the issues raised by ANS in
letters sent to the BBC since 6 April.
ANS TV has carried regular criticism since 12 May about BBC Russian
programming for the region and BBC web pages in Russian which dealt
with the 10th anniversary of the cease-fire in the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict. Similar critical reports were aired to a lesser extent by
some other Baku-based commercial TV stations. Azerbaijani press and
news agency reporting of the affair has been more muted.
On 31 May the head of the presidential administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev,
told Azartac news agency that a visit by a BBC correspondent
to Nagornyy Karabakh, without the permission of the Azerbaijani
authorities and in violation of Azerbaijani laws, had caused some
discontent. However, since freedom of the press is protected in
Azerbaijan, he said it would be unacceptable to take sanctions against
the radio station or to take it off the air.
ANS CM radio on 102 FM did rebroadcast the BBC Azeri Service at 1700
gmt on 1 June as scheduled. The dedicated BBC FM relay for Baku on
103.3 FM, which carries BBC World Service in English, the Central
Asia and the Caucasus Service in Russian and Azeri, as well as the
BBC Turkish Service and some British domestic programming, continued
to operate as scheduled.

Russia to remain Armenia’s “major” arms supplier, officer says
Interfax news agency, Moscow
1 Jun 04
Yerevan, 1 June: Armenia plans to increase defence spending in 2005,
the country’s Defence Minister and Security Council secretary, Serzh
Sarkisyan, has said.
Serzh Sarkisyan spoke after the parliamentary session on the execution
of the 2003 budget.
Armenia will spend about 85m dollars on defence in 2004, a 7-8 per cent
rise from the year before. The Armenian army uses mostly Russian-made
weapons and military hardware.
A source in the country’s Defence Ministry told Interfax that Russia
will remain Armenia’s major arms supplier.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian speaker stresses parliamentary cooperation with Iran
IRNA news agency, Tehran
1 Jun 04
Moscow, 1 June: Armenian National Assembly Speaker Artur Bagdasaryan
on Monday [31 May] called for expansion of Iran-Armenia parliamentary
cooperation.
He made the remarks in a meeting with Iran’s outgoing Ambassador to
Yerevan Mohammad Farhad Koleyni.
At the meeting, Bagdasaryan appreciated Koleyni’s efforts to promote
mutual cooperation during his mission in Armenia, expressing hope
that the mutual cooperation will further broaden in the future.
Koleyni, for his part, termed recent years as a period for deepening
of ties between Tehran and Yerevan.
He expressed hope that cooperation in commercial, economic, cultural
and educational areas will further develop between Iran and Armenia.
The two sides, in the meeting, exchanged views on various issues
related to mutual cooperation and regional developments.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHO ARE THOSE FIGHTING AGAINST CORRUPTION?
A1 Plus | 17:56:33 | 02-06-2004 | Official |
Robert Kocharyan signed a decree on establishing a Council for
Corruption Prevention.
Armenian PM was nominated the Council Chair. Parliament Vice-Speaker,
Head-Minister of Government staff, Justice Minister, President’s
Councilor, General Prosecutor, Chairs of Central Bank, State Committee
for Defense of Economic Competition, and Parliament Counting Chamber,
and Head of Control Service of Armenian President are the Council
members.