“ARMENIAN ARMY MUST GET THERE FIRST”
A1+
[04:49 pm] 25 October, 2006
“The Armenian press sees only the dark and light sides of the
Russian-Georgian relations. The press is flooded by either pro-Russian
or pro-Georgian issues”, politician Levon Meliq-Shahnazaryan
thinks. But the attitude of Armenia, Azerbaijan and other countries
towards the Russian-Georgian relations is not less important.
“In the Russian-Georgian relations the approach of Armenia must
be moral, that is we must try to soothe tension; as for direct
interference, it must be restricted only within the framework of
the interests of our compatriots”. Mr. Meliq-Shahnazaryan is truly
concerned about who will occupy the areas after the Russian troupes
leave them. “If Turkish troupes are to be allocated there, it means
Armenian army must get there first”, he said.
Levon Meliq-Shahnazaryan does not provoke war. He has no doubts that
after the Turkish troupes come to replace the Russian ones in Javakhq,
all the Armenians will leave the territory. “If there are countries
which are ready to launch war to protect the interests of their one
or two citizens, we have more reasons to protect the Armenians of
Javakhq”, the politician said.

THE KARABAKH ISSUE IS IN THE 12TH PLACE
A1+
[05:16 pm] 25 October, 2006
International sociological organization “Gallop” has realized
interesting surveys the results of which are already made public. The
surveys were organized among RA citizens in August of the current year.
Asked the question “What must the RA Government do in order to get
the support of the people” the majority answered that they must create
new workplaces. The raise of the level of democracy is in the second
place and the raise of pensions and salaries is in the third. The
necessity to unite Karabakh with Armenia is only in the 12th place.
86% of the participants of the survey see Azerbaijan as an enemy, 80%
see opponents in Turkey, 19% find enemies in Georgia, and 12% – in
the USA. Russia is considered to be a friend by 85%, and enemy – by 5%.
Asked the question if Armenia must open the borders with Turkey if they
recognize the Genocide 39% answered positively and 57% – negatively.
As for the main problems of Armenia, 43% think it is unemployment, 26%
think it is the development of economy, 13% think it is corruption,
11% think it is democracy and human rights, 8% – immigration, 6% –
foreign affairs, and 4% – the recognition of the Genocide.

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF VISITED MILITARY BASES
A1+
[06:09 pm] 25 October, 2006
RA President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Robert
Kocharyan visited a number of military bases near the border of
Armenia on October 23-24.
The aim of the visit was to get acquainted with the military and
technical preparedness of the bases.
The President visited the training halls, followed the course of
trainings, talked with officers and soldiers and got acquainted with
their life.
During the two-day visit the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
had the possibility to learn the level of discipline of a number of
military bases and the level of military, strategic and psychological
preparedness of the officers.

CDU LEADER SAYS AZERBAIJAN MAY BECOME A NATURAL PARTNER OF RUSSIA
Panorama.am
14:52 25/10/06
Georgia gets out of Russian sphere of influence and the role of Armenia
as a strategic partner diminishes, Khosrov Harutunyan, chairman of
Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told a discussion today. In his
words, Russia will start looking for new ways of realization of its
strategic goals and in this sense Azerbaijan becomes the most natural
partner. “In the process of realization of its programs in the South
Russia will look at Azerbaijan and Iran as its possible partners,”
he said.
Speaking about the tension in Russian-Georgian relations, Harutunyan
pointed out that Georgian authorities clearly uttered their disposition
inclining towards NATO trying to oust Russia from South Caucasus. In
the words of Harutunyan, Russia was not ready for this conflict and
today Russia loses its rating in the international community – she
it looked at as a non-democratic country.

CONTEST OF YOUNG LAWYERS HELD IN YEREVAN
Panorama.am
14:56 25/10/06
The final phase of the scientific conference “Constitution on the
way of becoming a civil society” was held today in Yerevan. Young
lawyers took part in the conference who submitted written essays on
the topic. The Association of Young Lawyers of Armenia supported by
the Center of Public Development and Dialogue organized the event. The
conference aimed to raise legal awareness on constitutional reforms
and respective legislative amendments. The jury selected 6 out of 19
submitted essays. All the essay writers are students of state and
private universities. In the second phase, the finalists expressed
their opinion on the constitutional reforms in terms of their
contribution to civil society development.

ARMENIAN DEPUTY SAYS GEORGIA SLAPS IN THE FACE OF RUSSIA
Panorama.am
14:58 25/10/06
‘The behavior of Georgian authorities may be described as a slap in the
face of Russia,” Hmaiak Hovanisyan, independent deputy of the National
Assembly, told a discussion today. In the words of Hovanisyan, Georgian
threatens Russia, which is a superpower in the Caucasus. “Current
Georgian authorities try to pave their way to NATO by means of a clash
with Russia,” the political scientist thinks. However, Hovanisyan
thinks that NATO is more interested in good relations with Russia
than with rapid membership of Georgia in the Alliance.
Speaking about the position of Armenia in the context of
Russian-Georgian conflict, Hovhanesyan pointed out that our country
must consider its own interests in order not to appear in the situation
of Sahakashvili.

CHAMBER OF ADVOCATES ISSUES CERTIFICATES TO ADVOCATES
Panorama.am
15:08 25/10/06
The chamber of advocates of Armenia handed over certificates to
149 advocates today. The chamber held the first ever exams for the
qualification of advocates this year. Ruben Sahakyan, chairman of
the chamber of advocates, thanked the government of Armenia and
justice minister David Harutunyan who contributed to the conduct of
the examinations. USAID and ABA/CEELI also supported the examinations.

NEW TIMES PARTY LEADER SPEAKS ABOUT A-320 AIRLINER CRASH AND CHEWS A CHEWING GUM
Panorama.am
17:43 25/10/06
The chairman of New Times Party, Aram Karapetyan, decided to call a
press conference today and tell about his verdicts on A320 airliner
crash unveiling his secret sources about the incident. Karapetyan had
several questions which remained without answers and he is going to
forward them to the general prosecutor’s office tomorrow.
Karapetyan has these and similar questions: were there any attempts by
criminal elements to force the landing of the airliner; were there any
beatings on this ground and was the commander of the airliner beaten;
were there gold, diamond, money in big quantities on the airliner;
why the airliner did not return to Yerevan after being warned by the
air conductor; have VIP passengers been checked by security services;
did they have any arms and explosives; if yes, has any criminal case
been instituted; has any Russian-Armenian group established between
the prosecutor’s services of the two countries.
Finally, the speaker wants to know if the Russian media reports have
any real grounds which say that the reality was different but it was
not unveiled because of political reasons.
Karapetyan thinks it doubtful that another A-320 was fired several
days after Sochi incident. The party leader believes all technical
documents of Sochi A-320 were in this airplane. Karapetyan’s sources
say that this airliner has been delivering gold and drugs once in
three months. However, Karapetyan failed to name the sources saying
there are no proofs.
Karapetyan is sure the airliner pilots were not guilty in the
incident. He said they will continue investigation and come up with
their conclusions.
Tomorrow the anti-criminal movement will launch discussions on A-320
crash. Karapetyan blames the authorities for their inconsistency
in finding out the details. As reporters we must mention that Aram
Karapetyan had difficulty while speaking about the subject. No,
he was not troubled. It is really difficult to speak when you have
a chewing gum in your mouth.

UNDP AND HAYASTAN ALL-ARMENIAN FUND JOIN EFFORTS TO ALLEVIATE RURAL POVERTY IN ARMENIA
Panorama.am
19:31 25/10/06
Today, in the UN House in Yerevan, United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) and Hayastan All-Armenian Fund signed a memorandum
of understanding to closely cooperate in the area of rural poverty
alleviation in Armenia.
Ms. Consuelo Vidal, UNDP resident representative in Armenia and
Ms. Naira Melkumyan, Chief Executive of the Fund signed the memorandum.
Ms. Vidal noted in her speech: “Rural poverty alleviation is a serious
concern both for the government and the United Nations”.
Rural poverty eradication was the focus of the recently held
Armenia-Diaspora Third Conference. UNDP and Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
also participated in the conference and presented their respective
programmes in the field.
As of today, village development plans for 20 communities are already
developed with direct participation of the village inhabitants and the
local self-governance bodies, with UNDP”s assistance. UNDP’s support
will not be limited only to infrastructure, but to local projects in
the villages that generate jobs.
“We are very happy with the partnership with Hayastan All-Armenian
Fund that we formally establish today. We strongly believe that through
joining our efforts we will be able to achieve much more in our fight
against poverty in the country,” – mentioned Ms. Vidal.
Ms. Melkumyan, in her answers to the journalists” questions, mentioned:
“We and UNDP agree on the methods to be used while supporting Armenian
villages.
Namely, we tend to provide means to build houses and not ready-made
houses. That is, we want to create all the necessary conditions for
villagers to become wealthy. Only in this case we will be successful
in our endeavours.”
Currently, Hayastan All-Armenian Fund”s activities focus on improvement
of large-scale physical and development infrastructures. The Fund
has a proven track record: 138 miles (220 km) of roads, 81 miles
(130 km) of waterways, 36 schools, 3 electric transmission networks,
210 residential buildings, and 14 healthcare institutions.
UNDP is the UN”s global development network. We operate in 166
countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and
national development challenges. As they develop local capacity,
they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners..

ARMENIA PASSES TO WINTER TIME FROM OCTOBER 29
Noyan Tapan
Oct 25 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the law “On Order of
Calculation of Time in the Territory of Armenia,” from October 29,
Armenia passes to winter time: at 03:00 that day the clocks should
be put an hour back. Noyan Tapan was informed about it from the Press
Service of RA Ministry of Trade and Economic Development.