PACE TO DISCUSS SOUTH CAUCASUS DRAFT STABILITY PACT
PanARMENIAN.Net
07.11.2006 17:17 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Members of the PACE Standing Committee will
discuss the Stability Pact in the South Caucasus in San Marino
November 17. PACE President Rene van der Linden will take part in
the conference.
The draft Stability Pact in the South Caucasus will be introduced at
the meeting. Political Affairs Committee Rapporteur Adrian Severin
(Romania) will make a report on the issue. The draft was adopted by
the Political Affairs Committee October 5, 2006, reports Trend.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSKANIAN DOES NOT HAVE MUCH EXPECTATION FROM MEETING WITH MAMMADYAROV
PanARMENIAN.Net
07.11.2006 17:44 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian will leave for Brussels
without “much expectations” but “with certain interest” to have a
recurrent meeting with his Azeri counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov within
the process of settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. “There
are some issues subject to discussion on the agenda and I am going
to Brussels without much expectations but with certain interest,
always hoping that we will be able to make positions closer this time
and create conditions for a meeting of the Presidents this year,”
Oskanian told RFE/RL. The Armenian and Azeri FMs will meet in the
Belgian capital November 14.

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY TERMS A WEEKLY’S REPORT AS “BLATANT LIE”
Armenpress
Nov 07 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian defense ministry
has denied today a report placed by the weekly Iravunk, run by the
Constitutional Right Union opposition party, which claimed as if
the ministry’s governing board had convened an emergency meeting on
November 4 to discuss defense minister Serzh Sarkisian’s political
agenda.
A brief press release by the defense ministry, disseminated today to
all Armenian media outlets, said the report that appeared in today’s
issue of the weekly, was inconsistent with reality.
The ministry said no emergency meeting had been held on November 4. It
said also the report in the weekly claiming this was ‘a concoction
and a blatant lie.”
The ministry’s press release said, ” The defense ministry has said
on various occasions and many times that the Armenian army is an
apolitical body that does not meddle in political processes.”

OTE HAS NOT OFFICIALLY PRESENTED ARMENTEL BUYER TO ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT YET
PanARMENIAN.Net
07.11.2006 17:35 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ OTE Greek company has not presented official
documents on selling 90% of ArmenTel telecommunication company shares
to Russian VimpelCom, Armenian PM Andranik Margaryan stated today. In
his words, “the parties still continue the talks and the Armenian
Government will make comments only after the OTE officially presents
the buyer,” reports Mediamax.
From: Baghdasarian

‘BLACK GARDEN. ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN BETWEEN PEACE AND WAR’ BOOK DISCUSSED IN YEREVAN
By Hakob Chakrian
AZG Armenian Daily
08/11/2006
“Black Garden. Armenia and Azerbaijan between Peace and War” book
by the British journalist Thomas de Vaal was recently discussed
in Yerevan, Monday. The discussion was initiated by the Yerevan
Office of the British Institute for War and Peace Reporting. The
first edition of the book was published in Russian last year, while
at present, the translations in Armenian and Azeri languages are
ready for publication. The book is based on over 100 interviews with
representatives of the sides in the Karabakh conflict. In the course
of the discussion, Thomas de Vaal stated that half of his efforts
were directed to studying the origins of the conflict. According to
him, one of the conclusions is the fact that it was hard to avoid
the conflict in the conditions of the Soviet Union. Moreover, the
author didn’t agree with the people’s people’s opinion that Moscow is
involved in the conflict. He believes that the origin and development
of the Karabakh conflict testifies to the weakness and not to the
strength of the Kremlin. He added that Gorbachev had not been capable
of handling the issue. The author emphasized that Karabakh conflict
became the first stone in the big avalanche of problems that occurred
to the USSR and led to its collapse. Besides, he stated that the
level of hostility between Armenians and Azerbaijanis is still high,
particularly, from the Azeri are very hostile.
However, de Vaal stated that if one tries to consider the two nations
more deeply, one can see that the two nations have more things in
common. To ground his words he pointed out the Sadakhlo market. The
British journalist denied the idea of ancient hatred between the
two nations, saying that it arose only after the certain historical
developments in the 20th century.
He also drew attention to the certain level of the Armenian and Azeri
presidents’ responsibility to their compatriots. Thus, according to
him, the presidents meet, hold good meetings, and when they return
home they represent everything in quite black and white tones. In
connection with this, Thomas de Vaal emphasized the importance of
using the experience of the older generations who still remember the
years of coexistence, as compared with the younger ones who see the
situation in stereotypes, not knowing each other.
In conclusion, the author emphasized that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
is not like those that people need to wait for settlement for years.

TURKISH APPROACH TO EXHIBITION OF ARMIN WEGNER’S PHOTOS
By Susanna Margarian
AZG Armenian Daily #213
08/11/2006
Photographs of Armin Wegner that are considered documents of the
Armenian Genocide were exhibited in Vercelli, Italy, yesterday. An
unpleasant incident accompanied opening of the exhibition. A Turkish
resident of Italy attacked and tore down the exhibition bills, then
entered the gallery and broke and tore 5 exhibits. The Turk also
attacked the Italian female guide then toppled over a table with
literature for visitors. According to Azdak newspaper, the police
soon after detained the lawbreaker.
Reportedly, the Italian channel 5 covered the exhibition and the
incident. It also touched on Roman Popes who had contributed to the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

‘WE FAILED TO REACH SUCCESS IN NK REGULATION THIS YEAR’
By Ara Martirosian
AZG Armenian Daily
08/11/2006
At the meeting with the Armenian community representatives of
Kazakhstan, president Robert Kocharian touched upon Nagorno Karabakh
regulation talks pointing out that he does not have big optimism
over this issue. “If there is hope” after the foreign ministers’
upcoming meeting the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will likely
meet. “I have an impression that we failed to reach success this year”,
president Kocharian stated.

‘BUILDING MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT FOR TOWN PLANNING EXHIBITION LAUNCHES IN YEREVAN
AZG Armenian Daily
08/11/2006
The opening ceremony of the seventh specialized exhibition of the
Iranian Republic in Armenia “Building Materials and Equipment for
Town Planning” was took place recently, on November 4 in the Yerevan
K. Demichyan’s Sport- Concert Complex.
Levon Aharonian, the Director of the Iran-Armenia Chamber of Commerce,
stated in his speech during the opening ceremony that building
materials, sanitary engineering, electrical appliances, furniture
of about 20 companies of the Iranian building industry were going to
be exhibited at the exhibition till November 10. In particular, the
production of ALVAN, KNAUF GATE, GAPEX, KHORASAN ELECTRIC Companies,
which have already gained the attention and the trust of the Armenian
construction companies will be displayed at the exhibition. In
his turn, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Iran
to Armenia, Ali Reza Haqiqian, added that that the exhibition is
directed to introduce the Armenian and Iranian businessmen to each
other He emphasized that the collaboration of high ranked officials
and businessmen of Armenia and Iran will certainly lead to the opening
of new economic spheres in both countries. Meanwhile, the RA Energy
Minister, the cochairman of the Armenian-Iranian Intergovernmental
Commission, Armen Movsessian, said that a real progress is being
observed in the Armenian-Iranian relations in the course of the recent
years. The Commission, the work of which is aimed at the formation of
a legal field for the two neighboring states, plays a significant role
in it. As for that, A. Movsessian emphasized that the Commission’s
activity is mainly fixed on the development of Armenia-Iran economic
relations. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia
to Iran, Karen Nazaryan, said, in his turn, that the diplomatic
representations in two countries spare no efforts to contribute to
the development of Iran and Armenia trade-economic cooperation. He
also expressed hope that organization of such exhibitions will have
long-term prospects.

CC UPHOLDS THE CLAIM OF THE OPPOSITION
A1+
[06:54 pm] 07 November, 2006
While discussing the amendments to the RA Electoral Code (EC),
it was decided to involve judges in the electoral commissions. The
decision was made when Arthur Baghdasaryan was still the Speaker of
the National Assembly.
The decision of the NA was motivated by the fact that the
representatives of the electoral commissions must be from the bodies
which enjoy popularity in Armenia.
Thus, we can assume that judges are popular in Armenia. It is
noteworthy that this provision of the EC contradicts the RA
Constitution adopted in 1995 and amended in 2005.
The NA (at the head of Tigran Torosyan) has again neglected Article
98 of the RA Constitution and didn’t change the provision according
to which judges are involved in the election commissions.
This gave the Constitutional Court (CC) a perfect ground to review
the compliance of the decision with the RA Constitution.
Today Shavarsh Kocharyan, Na deputy and Hrayr Tovmasyan, deputy
chairman of “Democracy” NGO, presented the interests of oppositional
26 deputies in the CC.
Hrayr Tovmasyan referred to the impossibility of engaging judges into
the electoral commissions.
First of all, he referred to Article 98 of the Constitution according
to which, “Neither the judge nor the member of the CC can be engaged
in business, hold posts in State or Local Self-Government bodies
and commercial organisations not connected with their ranks with
the exception of pedagogical and creative activity.” He also stated
that the post of the member of the Precinct Electoral Commissions
has nothing to do with the judge’s jurisdictions. The Central and
Precinct Electoral Commissions are state bodies and the post of a
member of electoral commission is a state post.
Hrayr Tovmasyan is convinced that the involvement of judges into
the electoral commissions will destroy both the judicial and the
electoral systems.
The respondent was Ashot Khachatryan, head of the NA
legislative-analytical board.
Mr. Khachatryan agreed that there are certain obvious contradictions
between the CC and EC but illustrating the international practice
said that there are a lot of countries in the world where judges are
involved in the electoral commissions.
Gagik Haroutyunyan, Head of the RA CC, brought the example of Georgia.
Provided all judges are involved in the commissions they will, not
be enough as there are 179 acting judges in Armenia but they need
180 in the commissions.
CC found the involvement of judges into the electoral commissions
anti-constitutional.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

“THERE IS NO POINT IN HOLDING ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA”
A1+
[08:44 pm] 07 November, 2006
Forty-one deputies of the RA National Assembly will be elected by
majoritarian system and 90 deputies – by proportional system.
This ratio is stipulated by the Electoral Code, and the RA political
powers have agreed to it.
But the NA presently considers a draft law proposing 100-percent
proportional system. There is a general concern that in case the
bill is passed, it will pave ground for the legislative initiative
of 100-percent majoritarian system. The website of “A1+” held polling
and tried to find out which system our readers approve of. 21 percent
of those surveyed were for the 100-percent proportional system and
6-percent – for the 100-percent majoritarian system.
Over 5 percent of the participants supported mixed type electoral
system, mainly majoritarian one, and 6 percent were for the mixed type,
mainly proportional one.
Two percent of the polling participants couldn’t give a definite
answer. The most striking is the fact that 60 percent of the
participants assume that “There is no point in holding elections
in Armenia.”
Over 499 people participated in the polling.
Now we offer our readers to answer the following question; “Will
“Millennium Challenges” Cooperation render assistance to Armenia?”
Reminder, Freedom House has called on “Millennium Challenges” not
to render assistance to Armenia as the latter doesn’t ensure the
protection of political and civil rights.
On November 8 the presidium of “Millennium Challenges”Cooperation
will choose all the governments which can apply for assistance in 2007.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress