KOCHARYAN RECEIVED CHAYKA
A1+
[01:12 pm] 22 September, 2006
Today Robert Kocharyan received Attorney General of the Russian
Federation Yuri Chayka.
The sides discussed the reforms in the prosecution systems of both
countries and the necessity to develop mutual cooperation.
Robert Kocharyan said that the successful experience of cooperation
of the Armenian and Russian police and special service shows that
there can be efficient cooperation in the prosecution system too.
Yuri Chayka said that during his visit to Armenia he has had agreements
with Armenian officials about further cooperation.

ROOF ABLAZE
A1+
[02:30 pm] 22 September, 2006
On September 21 at 03:10 p.m. a fire broke out in village Karbi,
Aragatsotn region. The fire was put out at 04:30 p.m. The roof of
the house of M. Haroutyunyan with an area of about 120 square meters
burnt to ashes.
At 07.38 another fire broke out in village Berdik, Ararat region. It
was put out at 08:40 p.m.
The information was given by the RA rescue service.

PEOPLE COMMENT ON INDEPENDENCE
Panorama.am
15:58 21/09/06
Armenia is celebrating its 15th anniversary of independence and the
leadership of the country has taken every effort to make the holiday
a real festivity. Various events and concerts are organized at the
communities of Yerevan. At 10.30 p.m. a salute will be fired in
Yerevan and all regional centers.
Tigran Mets Avenue was closed from Agatangeghos and Khanjyan crossroad
for traffic. Dozens of people headed to Republic Square to be present
at the military parade. The square was full of people already in the
morning and it was impossible to watch.
70-year old Hrach Basentsyan complained he cannot see and shared
his impressions from independence saying, “Everything is sold to
Russians. Is this independence?
These officials are independent but we are given only pennies to live
on. How should we live on that?”
Haikaz Grigoryan, a psychiatrist from New Jersey, USA, said, “I am
sorry Armenia is not independent financially. People are in dire
social conditions.”
19-years old Sabet Hambarzumyan is more optimistic. In her words,
our republic is a 15-year old teenager.
Little Mary is also happy about the independence.
“Independence is when Armenians are in charge of the republic. It is
when people are happy.”

“ON THE ROAD TO TRUTH AND RIGHT”
Raffi K. Hovannisian (Founder) Vardan Khachatrian (Chairman)
Panorama.am
16:40 21/09/06
The fifteen-year anniversary of Armenia’s independence is a fitting
occasion to reassess the watershed significance of sovereign
statehood. This opens before our nation vast horizons to live and
create in freedom and without shackles, to make the Republic prosper,
and to build a bright future for the generations next in line.
Armenia’s independence has other implications and lessons as well. This
liberty was achieved after a long-lasting intermission in statehood
and the sacrifice of thousands of patriots, thus further underscoring
its historic mission and modern meaning.
Real sovereignty and democracy, respect for human rights, and other
universally accepted values-which we certainly shall attain through
our united and devoted work-will turn Armenia into a cradle of civil
freedoms and equal protection, rule of law and due process, and a
country liberated from the parochial arbitrariness of ruling cliques
and extralegal permissiveness for the privileged.
The duty of building a new and strong Armenia has fallen to our
generation. We must place its cornerstone with a firmness of will,
a trueness of conscience, and a nobility of commitment so that the
preeminence of right, the letter and spirit of legal and ethical
benchmarks, and the expectation and conduct of a dignified life may
long endure.
Let us once again become the masters of our rich history and
civilizational heritage, adding our contemporary share to them and
faithfully passing them on to those yet to come. This is the paramount
order of the day.
On the occasion of this glorious anniversary for Armenia and the
entire Armenian nation, we extend our hearty best wishes to all
members and supporters of the Heritage Party and, more importantly,
to the children of Armenia the world over, whose might and mind,
in our deep conviction, will continue to discover ever-new avenues
toward the Homeland of our dreams.

ARMENIAN CEASEFIRE VIOLATION KILLS AZERBAIJANI SOLDIER
Azeri Press Agency
[ 22 Sen. 2006 10:48 ]
Armenian Armed Forces violated the ceasefire again killing Azerbaijani
Army soldier. APA’s Garabagh bureau reports Armenian Armed Forces
have broken the ceasefire more intensively recently in Agdam front.
The enemy from the positions in occupied villages of Gulchuluk and Bash
Garvand of Azerbaijani region of Agdam fired on opposite positions of
Azerbaijani Army at the night of September 20 to 21. Armenian forces
targeted Azerbaijani Army positions from the occupied Yusifganli
village of Agdam. As a result of the ceasefire violation, Azerbaijani
soldier Seyidaliyev Vusal died heroically while resisting the enemy’s
attack.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry’s press service confirmed the report
on soldier’s death. It said Azerbaijani Army soldier was killed as
a result of Armenia’s violation of the ceasefire.

SENDING A MESSAGE OF PEACE TO THE WORLD
By Nino Gvalia
Messenger.ge, Georgia
Friday, September 22, 2006, #180 (1200)
The Caucasian Chamber Orchestra is on tour
Art crosses all borders, and dares people to live in harmony and
love. It must come as pleasant news that last year the German
conductor composer and pianist Uwe Berkemer founded the Caucasian
Chamber Orchestra.
The orchestra, under the patronage of the first lady of Georgia Sandra
Roelofs, features musicians from Georgia, Armenia and Russia. As
Berkemer told The Messenger musicians are working in peace and
agreement.
“Music is the universal language and can bring people together,”
said the conductor, adding that the main purpose of the orchestra
is to send a message of peace to the world and show that Caucasian
people can work with each other without fighting, in harmony. “We
also want to popularize music by Caucasian composers, because people
internationally know very little about them,” admitted Berkemer.
When asked why he worries about this region so much, the German
musician replied that he has an intense relationship with Caucasian
people, as since 2000 he is married to a Georgian violinist. “This
region is close to my heart,” said Berkemer smiling.
At present the Caucasian Chamber Orchestra is on tour, they played
a concert in Vienna, then in Brussels and, from September 23rd, the
Caucasian musicians will participate in a festival in the south of
France. The orchestra has also various interesting plans after coming
back home. The line up looks busy: performing at the Shostakovich
Jubilee in Tbilisi on September 29th, concerts in Shida Kartli, the
North Caucasus including Vladikavkaz and Beslan, Iran and finally,
maybe even in Sokhumi, to prove once again that music can make people
forget about ethnic or political conflicts.

AZERI FM RECEIVES DEPUTY CHIEF OF U.S. EUROPEAN COMMAND
Author: V.Sharifov
Trend
Today 22.09.2006
On 21 September the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
received the Deputy Chief of the U.S. European Command, General
William Ward.
The Foreign Minister praised the co-operation between Azerbaijan
and the U.S. in the defense sector. The Minister also applauded the
bilateral bonds under the Azerbaijan’s Euro-Atlantic integration.
Mammadyarov noted the importance of the repeal of Section 907 of the
Freedom Support Act for more expansion of relationships.
General Ward voiced his satisfaction regarding the relationship
between the United State and Azerbaijan and the level of Azerbaijan’s
Euro-Atlantic policy. He estimated the current growth rate and
Azerbaijan’s future plans as ideal.
Speaking about Armenia’s belligerent policy, Mammadyarov noted its
negative aspects for the entire region. The Armenian aggression will
be discussed at the 61st session of the UN General Assembly. During
the meeting they discussed issues of mutual interests.
From: Baghdasarian

HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY ON THIS DATE:
News24, South Africa
Friday, September 22
Today is Friday, September 22, the 265th day of 2006.
There are 100 days left in the year.
Highlights in history on this date:
1499 – Turks ravage Vicenza in Italy.
1550 – Holy Roman Empire fleet captures vessel Port of Africa at
Mehedia in Tunis, naval headquarters of Turkish corsair Dragut.
1609 – The king of Spain orders the deportation of the baptised former
Muslims known as Moriscos.
1711 – Rio de Janeiro is captured by the French.
1792 – French Republic is proclaimed and revolutionary calendar goes
into effect.
1862 – United States President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation
Proclamation, declaring all slaves in the Confederate States free as
of January 01 1863.
1914 – A German submarine sinks three British cruisers in one hour
off the Dutch coast; The German cruiser Emden shells Madras in India.
1927 – Slavery is abolished in Sierra Leone in Africa.
1940 – The Vichy French governor-general concludes an agreement
that makes Indochina the largest Japanese military staging ground in
southeast Asia.
1949 – The Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb.
1955 – Hurricane Janet, the most violent Caribbean hurricane of the
season, causes almost 600 deaths around the islands.
1960 – A US Marine Corps DC-6 plane en route from Japan to the
Philippines crashes in the ocean 290km south of Okinawa. All 29
passengers are killed.
1965 – A cease-fire is declared in the war between India and Pakistan,
but both sides subsequently violate it.
1970 – Arab chiefs of state send envoys to meet with King Hussein and
Yasser Arafat to persuade them to find a way to contain the fighting
between the Jordanian Army and Palestinian guerrillas.
1974 – Official death toll in hurricane that swept Honduras is put
at 5 000.
1975 – Sara Jane Moore fails in an attempt to shoot US President
Gerald Ford outside a San Francisco hotel.
1980 – Iraqi tanks enter Iran, marking the beginning of the Iran-Iraq
War as a full-scale conflict.
1986 – Two hijackers seize Soviet airliner at Ural Mountains Airport
and kill two passengers before security agents recapture plane and
shoot the hijackers.
1988 – The government of Canada apologises for the World War 2
internment of Japanese-Canadians and promises compensation.
1989 – FW De Klerk takes over as president of South Africa.
1990 – Jordan’s King Hussein appeals to the US in a televised message
to withdraw its troops from Saudi Arabia to avert “death, destruction
and misery”.
1992 – Azerbaijani-armed forces mount an offensive against the disputed
enclave Nagorno-Karabakh.
1993 – Abkhazian rebels in Georgia shoot down second passenger plane
in two days, killing 80.
1994 – North Atlantic Treaty Organisation aircraft strikes at Serbian
targets near Sarajevo after UN troops patrolling the city came under
machine-gun and rocket fire.
1995 – America’s Time Warner Inc and Turner Broadcasting System Inc
announce a merger with Time Warner purchasing TBS in a deal valued
at $7.5bn, creating the world’s largest media company.
1996 – Typhoon Violet veers into the North Pacific after killing seven
and setting off landslides that paralysed transportation in Japan.
1997 – US President Bill Clinton, speaking at the United Nations,
announces that he will submit to the senate a treaty banning all
nuclear explosions.
1998 – Troops from South Africa and Botswana cross into Lesotho and
storm the royal palace, touching off a gunbattle with protesters.
1999 – Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes is killed and two others
assaulted in separate attacks in East Timor blamed on anti-independence
militiamen.
2001 – Pope John Paul II visits Kazakhstan and Armenia and cautions
against allowing September 11 terrorist attacks on the US to create
divisions between Muslims and Christians.
2004 – The US military drops an espionage charge against a Muslim
interpreter accused of spying at the camp for terror detainees at the
US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It is the third Guantanamo
spy case of the year to fall apart.
2005 – Bosnia’s top international official orders the Bosnian Serb
finance minister to identify the origins of illegal payments made to
the Serb Democratic Party after the party’s bank accounts were frozen
because of fraud.
Today’s Birthdays: Michael Faraday, British physicist (1791-1862);
Caroline Astor, US aristocrat of New York high society (1830-1908);
Erich von Stroheim, German director and actor (1885-1957); Louis
Botha, South African soldier-statesman (1862-1919); John Houseman,
US stage/radio actor (1902-1988); Fay Weldon, British writer (1931);
Joan Jett, US rock singer (1960).
Thought For Today: The autumn always gets me badly, as it breaks
into colours. I want to go south, where there is no autumn, where the
cold doesn’t crouch over one like a snow-leopard waiting to pounce –
DH Lawrence, English author (1885-1930).

RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT SEEKS $3BLN FOR CIVIL PLANES AFTER CRASHES
RIA Novosti
13:23 | 22/ 09/ 2006
MOSCOW, September 22 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s lower house of parliament
intends to demand $3 billion to buy new airplanes for the country’s
civil fleet, the speaker of the State Duma said Friday.
Hundreds of people have died in the last six months in three major
air crashes, and Speaker Boris Gryzlov said MPs would discuss a draft
address to the country’s leadership about the need to allocate the
money when civil aviation was discussed at a meeting October 11.
A deputy from the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, Alexei
Mitrofanov, said the money should be allocated in the wake of many
air crashes that have blighted the country recently.
“It would be right to demand up to $3 billion to buy new planes
because our planes crash one after another,” he said.
At least 170 people were killed, including 45 children, in August
when a Russian-made Tu-154 jet en route from a Black Sea resort to
St. Petersburg came down in stormy weather in eastern Ukraine. In July,
124 passengers and crew lost their lives when an Airbus crashed upon
landing making a domestic flight in Siberia.
Another 113 people died on May 3, when an Armenian Airlines plane
flying to Russia also crashed into the Black Sea.
Pilots have also been forced to make a number of emergency
landings. The latest involved a Tu-154, which was forced to touch down
in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia earlier this month after an engine failure.

EU PRESSURES TURKEY ON FREE SPEECH AND CYPRUS
By Lucia Kubosova
EUobserver.com, Belgium
22.09.2006 – 09:56 CET
The European Commission has praised a Turkish court verdict clearing
a top novelist but repeated that Ankara’s laws limiting freedom of
expression should be scrapped altogether, with commission chief Jose
Manuel Barroso saying Brussels is “not encouraged” by the latest
signals from Ankara.
Elif Shafak, one of the best-selling Turkish authors, was declared
innocent by a court in Istanbul on Thursday (21 September) after
having been charged with insulting “Turkishness” over comments on
the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 made by characters in her novel.
A commission spokeswoman welcomed the judgement as “obviously good
news” but added that the legal restrictions which sparked the court
case “aren’t in line with EU rules on human rights and freedom of
expression.”
She referred to article 301 of Turkey’s penal code which has
been criticised by Brussels a number of times and is likely to be
highlighted in a major report on Ankara’s progress in its EU accession
negotiations – scheduled for 8 November.
Following the court decision, the novelist herself said “I’m very
happy with the outcome but only on a personal basis. As long as 301
is out there and interpreted or misinterpreted like that there’ll be
many other cases like this,” she told Reuters.
Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signalled that
the government would consider changing the controversial article,
suggesting “The ruling party and the opposition can sit down together
again to discuss this issue as laws are not eternal,” according to
Anatolia news agency.
However, both Brussels and Ankara are less optimistic about the
resolution of another major problem – Turkey’s relations with EU
member state Cyprus – which could eventually cause a suspension of
its negotiations this autumn.
Mr Barroso told Euronews on Thursday “At the moment, we are not
particularly encouraged by the information which we are receiving.”
“I think Turkey needs to understand that it has to comply with its
promises and obligations. Among them are the obligations of the
Ankara protocol: that is, guaranteeing the access of Cypriot ships
into Turkish ports, these are vessels of a member state.”
Mr Barroso added the November report by his team evaluating the
country’s progress “will be honest, objective and rigorous.”
According to the European Voice, EU diplomats are currently trying
hard to avoid a “train crash” at the end of this year – as mooted
by the enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn earlier this year due to
a looming impatience by Cyprus.
The Brussels-based weekly reported that the commission would in its
report identify a list of legislation chapters not linked to customs
union issues on which Ankara could keep negotiating despite missing
the December deadline for opening up to Cypriot vessels and planes.
While Cyprus is expected to oppose this solution, France – usually
a harsh critic of Turkey – could back it, according to a French
government spokesman.
“We support all efforts to avoid this ‘train crash’ and which permit
negotiations to go ahead on the basis of good faith,” he said.