WHY DIDN’T OSKANYAN AND MAMMADYAROV MEET?

A1+
[02:54 pm] 06 December, 2006

"The return of Lachin and the referendum are not those issues which
block the negotiation process", said Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov in an interview to day.az referring to those two issues
which are not agreed yet.

As for which are those issues, Mammadyarov did not state, "I would
do it with pleasure, but the problem is that the fewer the uncleared
issues are, the more careful we must be taking into account the
sensitiveness of the Armenian and Azeri societies", he mentioned
hinting that after the final agreement the new variant of settlement
will become subject for public discussions.

Why didn’t Oskanyan and Mammadyarov meeting within the framework of the
two-day meeting of the OSCE Foreign Ministers? Mammadyarov answered,
"I had met my Armenian colleague earlier, after the Minsk meeting of
the Presidents. The Armenian side asked for time in order to analyze
the situation. As far as I understand, they do not have an answer,
that’s why there is no meeting".

During the meeting Mammadyarov voiced doubts as to the sincerity
of the wish of the Armenian side to settle the conflict. According
to the Azeri Foreign Minister, if the Armenian side had that wish,
there would not be a constitutional referendum in Karabakh. "As far
as I understand, the international structures will not accept the
results of the referendum. It is a waste of efforts, time and nerves
which can negatively affect the process of peaceful settlement of
the conflict", said Mammadyarov.

OSCE MINISTERIAL MEETING’S STATEMENT ON NAGORNO KARABAKH ISSUE
By Aghavni Harutyunian

AZG Armenian Daily
07/12/2006

As a result of the Brussels sitting of the OSCE Ministerial
Council a statement on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict was adopted. In
particular, the OSCE Foreign Ministers emphasized the following: "We
are encouraged that negotiations in 2006, facilitated by the Co-Chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group and supported by the OSCE Chairman in Office,
have brought the sides closer to agreement on the basic principles for
the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, says the Statement
of Nagorno-Karabakh for the OSCE Ministerial Meeting. We welcome the
support of the leaders of the G8 to these efforts, expressed at the G8
Summit in St. Petersburg in July. We urge Presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan to redouble their efforts in the coming year to finalize
these basic principles as soon as possible. Besides, they stated that
they call on the sides, with the assistance of the international
community, to extend co- operation to conduct an environmental
operation to suppress the fires in the affected territories and to
overcome detrimental consequences. These measures can constitute
significant steps toward restoring confidence between the sides. The
OSCE is available to assist, they emphasized. They also expressed
they continuing support for the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman in Office and his mission to the region and particularly for
their efficient assistance to the environmental Assessment Mission
and for their ongoing monitoring of the cease-fire. "We regret that
incidents along the front lines continue occasionally to result in
loss of life on both sides to adhere strictly to the cease-fire,"
the statement stretched.

It’s worth mentioning that Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia,
emphasized the importance of achieving the agreement of the sides for
the settlement of the conflict, taking into account the each side’s
position in the negotiations. At the same time, Lavrov stated that the
settlement of the conflict through military actions is unacceptable and
once again emphasized the importance of peacekeeping and negotiating
formats.

CONCERT SABOTAGE EFFORT BY AZERIS FAILED
By Aghavni Harutyunian

AZG Armenian Daily
07/12/2006

A group of Azeris tried to sabotage "The Voices of Artsakh" concert
organized by the Union of Russian Armenians and the Armenian Embassy
in Russia on December 4. REGNUM news agency reports that the efforts
were neutralized by the police of Moscow and the concert, to which
1500 people were present, lasted successfully for 3,5 hours.

NEVERTHELESS POPE MENTIONED THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Hakob Chakrian

AZG Armenian Daily
07/12/2006

The Pope is not the Person to be Blamed

The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Turkey ended on December 1, but
its consequences and rumors are still insinuated both in Vatican and
Turkey, as well as in the whole West. One of the hottest points of
the High Pontiff’s visit was his meeting with Patriarch Mesrop II
Mutafian. Before the meeting NTVNSNBC announced that the Pope was to
mention the past tragedies of the Armenian people, but not mention
the word "genocide".

When the meeting began CNN-Turk reported that the Armenian Patriarch
of Constantinople welcomed the Pope with the following words: "The
peace dialogue of the Armenian and Turkish peoples is a virtue and
our expectation". An article by CNN, published on the "Haytert" (The
Armenian Newspaper) website, corrected the information previously
published by "Anadolu" agency: the Patriarch marked the peace
dialogue between the Armenians and the Turks not a "virtue" but
"vital necessity".

As CNN-Turk and Anadolu did not report anything of the Pope’s reply
to the Armenian Patriarch Of Constantinople, "Azg" daily came to
conclusion that the meeting was arranged to fail and published a
corresponding article on December 2.

The speech of the Pope was also neglected by the Turkish press and the
central television. Such attitude of the press seems quite natural,
and of the public television – amusing, as only the Turkish National
TV Channel and the "Anadolu" agency were authorized to illustrate
the Pope’s visit to the Armenian Patriarchy of Constantinople.

Official messenger of the patriarchy "Lraber" published the November
30 speech of the pope with considerable delay. Lraber’s publication
was copied by Haytert, aslo controlled by the Patriarchy. Indeed,
the statement by NTVNSNBC proved true – Benedict XVI mentioned the
events of 1914-1916, but did not mark them as genocide. That is why
the Patriarchy failed to respond to the Pope’s speech.

According to "Lraber", at the Constantinople Patriarchy Pope Benedict
XVI welcomed the Armenian Apostolic community and aslo sent his
"brotherly welcome" to Catholicos Karekin II and whole the Armenian
Apostolic Church. He expressed his gratefulness to God that the
Armenian have passed their Christian heritage throughout numerous
generations in spite of harsh testimonies, of which an example are
the tragic events of the past century.

Protractions with the publication of the Pope’s response also confused
famous lawyer Mark Kirakosian, who published an article in ABC-News,
blaming the Pope of missing the opportunity to express his position
about the Genocide.

"Die Welt" says that Benedict XVI was warned not to mentioned the
Genocide by the "Armenian Bishop of Istanbul", taking into account the
scandals in the Turkish society about the visit. It is also notable
that Catholic believers, who are over 1 billion in the world consider
the Pope unmistakable. Probably, that is why the Pope did not ask
excuse of the Muslims in connection with the Prophet Mohammad cartoons.

Therefore it seems obvious that blaming the "Unmistakable" Pope
would only harm the process of worldwide recognition of the Armenian
Genocide, provoking enmity of the Roman Catholic Church.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GALLUP: IN WORLD CORRUPTION RATING ARMENIA OCCUPIES 69TH PLACE

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.12.2006 17:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Gallup service has published world corruption
rating. Residents of 101 countries were asked to answer two simple
questions, "Is corruption widely spread in the government of your
country" and "Is corruption widely spread in business structures
acting in your country". Gallup’s rating is based on 100-point scale,
where 0 is the minimal possible level of corruption and 100 is the
maximal possible level.

The "purest" countries occupying the first 10 places are Finland (12
points), Denmark and New Zealand (21 points), Singapore (22 points),
Saudi Arabia (25 points), Great Britain, Norway and Switzerland
(36 points), Australia (37 points) and Sweden (39 points).

The United States occurred in the 19th place (59).

Post-soviet countries are placed in the following way: Uzbekistan
(18th place, 54 points), Belarus (26th place, 63 points), Georgia
(31st place, 68 points), Estonia (37 place, 71 points), Armenia
(69 place, 82 points), Kyrgyzstan (78 place, 84 points), Moldova and
Latvia (share the 88th place with 89 points), Russia and Ukraine (93rd
place, 90 points), Lithuania (the last, 101 position, 94 points). For
further comparison, France (26th place, 63 points), Iran (29 place,
65 points), Japan (30th place 66 points), Afghanistan (34 place, 69
points), Germany (48th place, 75 points), Israel (84 place, 87 points).

Simultaneously people were asked to estimate the level of his/her
confidence towards the government (where corruption is low, the
confidence is high) and assurance, that tenacious efforts can provide
personal prosperity (where higher corruption, less people believe in
that). Alongside, in the countries with less corruption people estimate
the level of individual liberty higher, the Washington ProFile reports.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OMBUDSMAN’S OFFICE DRAWS ATTENTION TO SCHOOLS FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Armenpress
Dec 06 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS: The monitoring and rapid reaction
group of the Armenian office of human rights defender has found that
a school in a Yerevan district for children with hearing problems
lacked sanitary facilities and needed urgent repair.

Silva Markosian, an aide to the Armenian ombudsman, said virtually alls
schools for children with special needs in the country face serious
problems, aggravated by instances of violation of children’s rights.

She said the group pays regular inspection visits to military units,
special schools, prisons and old people’s homes. She said conditions
in prisons have improved a little and the bulk of complaints of the
convicts was about ‘unjust court verdicts.’

ARMENIAN DAILIES SEEK WAYS TO OVERCOME PAPER SHORTAGE

Armenpress
Dec 06 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS: A pro-government daily Hayots Ashkhar
will be printed by Noyan Tapan printing house for almost a decade
after the biggest Tigran Mets printing house that prints about 30
magazines and newspapers said it will suspend newspaper printing from
December 8 because of running out of paper.

The chief editor of the daily, Gagik Mkrtchian, said they will have
to cut the print-run by half because Noyan Tapan charges two times
more. A representative of another semi-official daily Hayastani
Hanrapetutyun said they have not taken concrete steps yet to seek an
alternative printing house.

Gind printing house, which prints several independent newspapers and
magazines, has agreed to print the independent daily Aravot.

On December 4 the chief manager of "Tigran Mets" printing-house Vrezh
Markosian said it will suspend newspaper printing from December 8
because it has run out of paper. The printing house will most likely
resume newspaper printing on December 16 when fresh batches of paper
are expected to reach Armenia. The paper is to come on a ferryboat
from Ukraine’s Ilichevsk bound for Georgian Poti.

The printing house used to bring paper by trucks through the Upper
Lars border check point on the Georgian-Russian border, but it was
closed by Russians for repair in summer and has not been competed yet.

TWO SUSPECTS OF GENOCIDE MONUMENT THEFT ARRESTED IN PARIS

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.12.2006 14:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Two suspects were arrested for stealing the monument
to the victims of the Armenian Genocide in France. According to
investigators, conceivably the suspects had stolen the 300-kg bronze
monument with the portrayal of Armenian alphabet and fused it for
sale. The 29-year-old and 26-year-old two suspects were arrested in
a suburb of Paris after committing a theft of bronze pipes, RFL/RL
"Liberty" reports. The investigators do not believe that the motives of
theft can be political. The crime took place two days after the French
Parliament approved the bill, which supposes criminal punishment for
denial of the Armenian Genocide.

IN 2007 EU WILL GRANT ARMENIA 21 MILLION EUROS

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.12.2006 14:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In 2007 in the framework of European Neighborhood
Policy Armenia will be granted 21 million euros against 17 million
which was given this year.

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Bayburtyan said that wholly the
ENPI (European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument) budget during
the period of 2007-2013 provides 12 billion euros for realization of
programs, which is on 32% higher the current budget.

The Deputy Minister mentioned that the ENPI budget for Eastern Europe
would make up 3.64 billion euros. The countries of Mediterranean
Sea will get 3.34 billion euros. Speaking on Armenia-EU Action Plan
he pointed out that in Armenia priority-driven reforms concern to
the strengthening of political structure, assistance to economic and
social development, to establishment of civil society and to regional
co-operation and conflict solution. Answering to the question why in
the budget of 2007 the Armenian government has not foreseen means for
eurointegration, Mr. Bayburtyan said, that Action Plan was approved
on September 13 and just there was no time for the inclusion of the
above mentioned elements in the budget, IA Regnum reports.

SARGSYAN: DEEPENING ARMENIA-NATO PARTNERSHIP IS NECESSITY

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.12.2006 15:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today the Secretary of National Security Council,
Minister of Defense of Armenia Serge Sargsyan met with Per Eklund ,
the newly-appointed head of of Eurocommission delegation in Armenia.

Congratulating the diplomat with new appoinment, Serge Sargsyan
expressed hopes on further effective and close partnership, RA
Defense Minister’s Spokesman, colonel Seyran Shahsuvaryan told to
PanARMENIAN.Net.

In Armenia-EU relationship describing as essential the inclusion
of RA in the program of European Neighborhood Policy, the head of
defense administration underlined the importance of Action Plan,
approved on November 14. He also introduced the guest with the work of
the commission on coordination with EU structures, which works under
the supervision of the president of RA. On Per Eklund’s request the
minister also presented the reforms in armed forces, which also are
carried out in the framework of Armenia-NATO Individual Partnership
Action Plan (IPAP). Speaking on the relationship of Armenia and NATO,
Serge Sargsyan pointed out that the deepening of cooperation is a
necessity and was aimed at resisting threats, and those relations were
one of the elements of Armenia’s National Security. Touching upon
the issue of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, Per Eklund
remarked that EU had always underlined the importance of peaceful
solution of the problem.