300 KARABAKH CITIZENS REGISTERED IN ARMENIA FOR DECEMBER 10 REFERENDUM

Armenpress
Dec 07 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS: Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh
refrained from setting up a polling station in Russian Moscow for
its citizens who will be asked on December 10 to go to the polling
stations to cast ballots in a constitutional referendum.

A deputy foreign minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, Mayis Mailian, cited
instances of fierce Azeri protests over cultural events organized by
Karabakh authorities in Moscow lately. "Just imagine what Azeris in
Moscow would do should we try to set up a polling stations there,"
he said to Armenpress.

He said the majority of Nagorno-Karabakh citizens outside their
country are in Russia and in Armenia.

Raya Nazarian, the press secretary of the Central Election Commission
of Nagorno-Karabakh, said a polling station will open at the permanent
representation of Karabakh in Yerevan. She said 300 Karabakh citizens
have already registered there.

Seven international organizations and nine local ones have registered
with CEC to watch the December 10 referendum which will be covered
by 55 Armenian and foreign journalists.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KOCHARIAN REVIEWS THE DISASTER AREA

Armenpress
Dec 07 2006

GYUMRI, DECEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS: President Kocharian who traveled
today to the town of Gyumri, the capital of northwestern province of
Shirak, to commemorate victims of the destructive 1988 earthquake,
met with city officials to review the problems of the city that had
been nearly razed to ground 18 years ago and what had been done to
overcome these problems.

Hray Karapetian, head of the urban department of the municipality,
said the priority was to provide still thousands of homeless families
with apartments.

According to local authorities, 4,000 families are homeless and almost
half of them still live in what are called domiks (shacks).

Karapetian said in recent years 17,000 domiks were removed from the
town after their inhabitants received new apartments. Some 875 million
drams were released by the government to promote a housing certificate
program which enables homeless families to buy apartments in the
town. The government has earmarked 163 million drams to help homeless
families of the province living in rural areas next year. Overall the
province will receive next year about 1.8 billion drams for various
urban projects.

President Kocharian also went to see the town’s swimming pool that
was built on Hayastan Fund’s money.

Before the quake the town had two pools.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RA FOREIGN MINISTER VARTAN OSKANIAN AND AGO GROUP MEMBERS MEET IN STRASBOURG

AZG Armenian Daily
08/12/2006

On December 6, RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met with Ago Group
members of CE Committee of Ministers.

It’s worth mentioning that this structure observes the process of
Armenia’s fulfillment of commitments to the CE. The Press Service of RA
Foreign Ministry informed that Mr. Oskanian dwelt on the current stage
of the Nagorno Karabakh peace process and the nation-wide referendum
for adoption of NKR Constitution scheduled for December 10 at the
meeting. He also touched upon the preparations for the parliamentary
elections in Armenia. Ago Group members drew the attention of Mr.

Oskanian to the issues concerning the coming elections; in particular,
they emphasized the importance of carrying out relevant reforms to
the Electoral Code and the specification of electoral lists.

LACHIN’S RETURN OR REFERENDUM AREN’T "THE UNSETTLED POINT" IN THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS
By Aghavni Haroutiunian

AZG Armenian Daily
08/12/2006

In the interview to "Day.az" agency, Elmar Mamediarov, Foreign
Minister of Azerbaijan commented on in his recent statement in which
he said that there is only one issue concerning the main principles
of the Nagorno Karabakh settlement that remained unsettled in the
negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In Particular, he said
that he wished he could have done that any time he wanted, but he
needs to keep the details of the negotiations in secret, taking into
account the feelings of the Armenian and the Azeri peoples, though
there become less unsettled points.

In this context, Mamediarov emphaszied the importance of unvailing
the secret details of the negotiations, " as a movement of liberating
the territories and returning the refugees in the future." He added
that when the common agreement is achieved, the theme of the agreement
will be widely discussed, as no long term agreement will be achieved
without the concent of the society.

In response to the question whether "the unsettled issue" concerns
the deadline for the referendum for the status of the Nagorno
Karabakh. It’s worth mentioning that the Armenian side demands
5 years for that, while the Azeri side insists on 15 years. As
for returning Lachin region to Azerbaijan as the second variant,
Mamediarov rejected that. Thus, the so called "unsettled point" that
hinders the negotiations concerns neither the returning of Lachin
nor the referendum that may be held in 5 or 15 years.

Mamediarov also touched upon the GUAM statement concerning the
coinstitutional referendum in Nagorno Karabakh. It’s worth mentioning
that the GUAM member states didn’t support the referendum. According to
Mamediarov, there is a contradiction between the negotiation process
and the referendum. Besides, he expressed doubts that the Armenian
side is cincere.

Perhaps, we need to remind to Mamediarov that Ilham Aliev and
he himseld do not negotiate with the political subject where the
constitutional referendum will be held on December 10.

ARMENIA IS LESS CORRPUPTED THAN LATVIA AND LITHUANIA
By Aghavni Haroutiunian

AZG Armenian Daily
08/12/2006

"Gelup" service research displayed that Armenia is the 69-th in
the list of most corrupted states with 82 of 100 points. Russia and
Ukraine are on the 96-rd place, Georgia -31-st. It is notworthy that
Armenia is less corrupted than Latvia (81-st place) and Lithuania
(100-th). Finland, New Zeland, Denmark, Singapore and Saudi Arabia
are in the first ranks.

BRONZE MONUMENTS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MELTED
By Agavni Harutiunian

AZG Armenian Daily
08/12/2006

Two persons, suspected in stealing the bronze monument of the Armenian
Genocide were arrested in France.

Radio Liberty reports that the bronze monument weighting 300 kilograms
was melted so as to be sold as scrap. The crime was commited in two
days after the law about denying the Genocide was adopted in France.

The investigators do not believe in the criminals’ explanaitions of
their motivation.

TURKEY TO OPEN AT LEAST ONE SEA PORT AND AIRPORT FOR CYPRUS
By Hakob Chakrian

AZG Armenian Daily
08/12/2006

Referrring to the European diplomates, the television of Finnland
informed about this without specifying which sea port and airport
will Tirkey open for the Republic of Cyprus. The source informed that
taking into account this factor, the European Union will reconsider
its position concerning the negotiations for Turkey’s membership.

Yesterday, "CNN-Turk" emphasized that no official statement was made
concerning the abovementioned information. While the Foreign Ministry
of Turkey neither denied that nor confirmed the information.

Its’ worth mentioning that taking into account Turkey’s negative
attitude to the issue of opening its sea-ports and airports to Cyprus,
the European Commission decided to freeze the membership negotiations
with Turkey on 8 points.

TWO REGIONAL GOVERNORS RESIGNED

A1+
[04:37 pm] 07 December, 2006

Governor of Lori region Henrik Kochinyan and Governor of Armavir
region Albert Heroyan have been resigned today from their posts
according to the Government decision.

By the way, early in the morning Henrik Kochinyan left for Spitak
together with his administration in order to pay a visit to the
monument to the victims of the earthquake. As for Albert Heroyan,
according to our information, he gathered his co-workers and said
good-bye to them.

It is noteworthy that both of them are members of the Republican party.

The Government gives no information about the causes of the decision.

"ARMAN BABAJANYAN IS DISCRIMINATED AGAISNT"

A1+
[04:54 pm] 07 December, 2006

"Arman Babajanyan’s punishment is too severe", announces the advocates
of the editor-in-chief of newspaper "Zhamanak Yerevan". They rendered
a press conference today in order to inform that the trial in the
Court of Appeal in not held legally.

Avoiding military service is no more a crime. Instead, those people
can be fined. "On November 30 Arman Babajanyan paid 1 million AMD for
avoiding 10 general mobilizations. The issue was to be discussed by
the committee headed by Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan who has not
done it yet. The decision is usually made within month: two months
have already passed" said advocate Hayk Alumyan.

The other advocate, Zaruhi Postanjyan, visited Serge Sargsyan who
promised to discuss the issue. "From the moment of making the payment,
the RA authorities were to cease the prosecution. This proves that
at present the imprisonment is illegal", the advocates underlined.

Let us remind you that Arman Babajanyan has been sentenced to 4 years
imprisonment for avoiding military service and document fabrication. At
present the case is in the Court of Appeal.

SOCIAL DISASTER THREATENS "THE DISASTER ZONE"

A1+
[05:01 pm] 07 December, 2006

18 years after the earthquake, despite the promises of the officials,
the concept of the "disaster zone" is still actual in Armenia. This is
what the readers of the website of "A1+" think. 52% of the participants
of the poll think that the living conditions are poor in the "disaster
zone". 153 readers have answered the question "Has the phrase "disaster
zone" been forgotten 18 years after the earthquake?" The rest of the
votes have been distributed as follows:

Yes, it has. The "disaster zone" has been fully restored – 8%

The "disaster zone" was partly restored – 25%

Nothing has changed – 10%

Undecided – 4%

The new poll question of the website is "What do you think about the
results of the December 10 Constitutional Referendum in NKR?"