KARABAKH PEOPLE ABOUT RETURNING KARVACHAR
Lragir.am
03 July 06
People in Karabakh have a very negative attitude towards proposals
involving return of territories. They were deeply shocked to hear the
foreign minister of Armenia Vardan Oskanyan say that “we will give”
Karvachar after the referendum.
The reporter of the Lragir.am asked the opinion of citizens on this
announcement in Stepanakert.
G. Sahakyan, 73: “Apparently, the minister did not study the map
properly. How does he imagine life in Karabakh without Karvachar?
Would he live in Karabakh without Karvachar?”
Svetlana, 43: “Perhaps they are hopeful that Baku will reject the idea
of referendum and Karvachar will remain ours. But what if they agree?”
Andrey Ghulyan, pensioner: “Most inhabitants of Shahumyan, who remained
in Karabakh, live in Karvachar. What will their fate be?”
“Frankly speaking, I am surprised at Oskanyan. Who gave him the right
to speak on our behalf? He has never lived and will never live in
Karabakh, will he?”

RUSSIAN EMBASSY TO ARMENIA COMMENTED ON ATTITUDE TOWARDS ARMENIANS
Lragir.am
03 July 06
On June 3 the Embassy of Russia to Armenia issued a press release
that the cases of xenophobia reported in Russia are not typical of
Russia only. Besides, the embassy offers their condolences for “a
series of offences involving violence against Armenians”. In fact,
5 Armenians were killed as a result of offenses involving violence.
Actually, the Russian embassy refutes information in some Armenian
media and statements by separate people that the Russian law
enforcement agencies are being passive, as well as accusations of
complicity against some government agencies: “This information,
independent from its purpose, is not based on reliable facts and
verified information, and is not helpful for the traditional friendship
between our countries.”
The Russian embassy considered it necessary to note that Armenians are
involved in all the spheres of life in Russia, they are represented
in the federal agencies, local governments, are successful in economic
activities, free in national public and cultural activities.
Who knows, maybe the success of Armenians arouses envy and xenophobia
in the head of the Russian skinhead. Besides, nobody in Armenia
disagrees that the Armenians are involved in all the spheres of
life in Russia, they are represented in the federal agencies, local
governments, are successful in economic activities, free in national
public and cultural activities. It is only said that by some strange
coincidence Armenians are being killed in Russia.
And the Russian Embassy simply stated that we are old friends and
there are cases of xenophobia in other countries as well.

US CONGRESSMEN DEPLORE AGGRESSIVE ANTI-ARMENIAN POLICIES OF BAKU
Editorial
Yerkir.am
July 01, 2006
Nagorno Karabakh National Assembly Speaker Ashot Ghulian and NKR
Foreign Minister GeorgyPetrosian spoke at the “Karabakh Conflict:
Prerequisites of Peace ” event held at the United States Institute
of Peace.
As reported by REGNUM news agency, Ashot Ghoulian and Georgy Petrossian
presented the official position of the NKR on the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict focusing on the history of the conflict and the current
stage of the peace settlement.
The NKR Parliament Speaker presented the legal and historic grounds
of the proclamation and establishment of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic stressing their correspondence to the international norms
and experience.
Speaking of the situation in the region, Ashot Ghoulian noted that
the NKR regarded with comprehension to the vital interests of the
USA and other countries in the South Caucasus but at the same time
it anticipated understanding of its interests from these countries.
In his speech, the NKR Foreign Minister stressed that the current
format of the negotiations does not reflect the real point of the
conflict as the Azerbaijani party refuses to negotiate with Nagorno
Karabakh.
Thus, Georgy Petrossian noted, since 1988 Azerbaijan has transformed
the possibility of the legal solution of the problem to an enduring
ethno-political conflict. The NKR delegation answered the attendants’
various questions.
Then, in the U.S. Congress, the NKR Parliament Speaker and Foreign
Minister had a meeting with Ranking Member of the House Foreign
Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, Congresswoman Nita Lowey.
In the course of the talk, the NKR delegation presented the current
social-economic state in the republic, the achievements connected with
the development of democracy in Artsakh and the last developments in
the process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.
According to the NKR MFA, in the evening, in honor of the
NKR delegation, a reception took place in Capitol in which the
U.S. Congress members, RA Ambassador to the USA Tatoul Markarian, NKR
Permanent Representative in the USA Vardan Barseghian, leadership of
the Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian National Committee of
America, Congress staff members, journalists, members of the Armenian
Diaspora took part.
Congressmen Frank Pallone, Joe Knollenberg, Edward Roys, Caroline
Malony, Adam Shiff, Bred Sherman, who heartedly greeted the NKR
National Assembly Chairman and Foreign Minister, delivered speeches
at the event. Condemning the aggressive anti-Armenian policy conducted
by Azerbaijan, the Congress members confirmed readiness to contribute
to the establishment and development of the NKR.
In their speeches, the Nagorno Karabakh officials expressed gratitude
to the U.S. Congress and American people on behalf of the people
of Artsakh for adherence to such eternal values as freedom and
democracy as well as for the humanitarian aid rendered to Nagorno
Karabakh. “Artsakh knowingly chose the way of freedom and democracy and
no obstacles will turn it from that way”, the NKR NA Speaker summed up.
After the event, the NKR delegation met with Co-Chairs of the
U.S. Congress of Armenian Friendship Group, Congressmen Frank Pallone
and Joe Knollenberg.
The participants of the talk touched upon issues related to the current
social-economic state in the NKR, development of democracy in Artsakh,
assistance rendered by the USA to the NKR and the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement.

WHAT DOES KARABAGH HAVE TO DO WITH THIS?
By Gayane Movsessian
Yerkir.am
July 01, 2006
The statements made by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Mathew Bryza
can be aimed at anything but the settlement of Karabagh conflict.
Had the State Department representative been working towards the
settlement of the conflict he would have hardly publicized such
fragmented information about the principal provisions of the so-called
‘framework agreement’.
In fact, the American co-chair succeeded in causing another wave of
militaristic hysteria in Azerbaijan. The Azeri President Ilham Aliyev
stated at a meeting with representatives of the Azeri military,
“Azerbaijan has lost its hope for international mechanisms of
conflict settlement. In this situation Azerbaijan must modify its
foreign policy.”
Head of the Azeri President’s administration Novruz Mamedov was
even more explicit in his statement, “If Armenia does not accept
the highest degree of autonomy for Karabagh offered by Azerbaijan,
we will have to liberate our territories with armed forces.”
If, as Washington’s official and unofficial representatives assure
us, US’s priority in the region is stability and security, it is very
difficult to understand why the framework agreement does not contain
such vital provisions that would guarantee the peaceful settlement of
the conflict, in other words why aren’t there any provisions committing
the sides to exclude the possibility of resorting to force? This
question is addressed to the Minsk Group and OSCE in general. The
inconsistency of the mediators on this issue allows Azerbaijan to
act like a bully threatening the peaceful settlement process.
At the same time, the mediators’ behavior leads to the conclusion that
such manipulations are in their interests because they create the
necessary environment for their maneuvers. The American co-chair’s
attempt to tie the Karabagh settlement with the normalization of
Armenian-Turkish relations is even stranger.
Such statements, if they reflect Washington’s official position,
arouse suspicions as to whether US is really exerting efforts to
convince Turkey to open the border with Armenia with no preconditions
for the benefit of regional cooperation.
One gets an impression that Yerevan’s readiness for mutual concessions
is perceived not only in Ankara and Baku but also in the White House
as an expression of the Armenian side’s weakness while Azerbaijan’s
and Turkey’s exaggerated ambitions are perceived as appropriate.
However, we should pay attention to the fact that Mathew Bryza’s
statement was made on the same day when the meeting of leaders of
the CIS Collective Treaty and Eurasian Economic Cooperation member
states was taking place in Minsk. The statement was made on the eve
of the G-8 summit for which USA and Russia are heading with a number
of unsettled issues.
It’s not a coincidence that only three weeks before the summit the
Russian President Vladimir Putin started speaking about arms control,
conflicts in the region and their settlement, Russia’s relations with
Japan and USA, as well as its relations with the CIS. Russia will
not support the ultimatum against Iran. It will participate in peace
building mission in the Caucasus. Russia sees itself as a mediator
in the dialog of civilizations. These were the main messages sent by
the Russian President.
The principles for conflict settlement must be universal and must be
based on the norms of international law and the principle of respect
for the interests of all sides engaged in the conflict, Putin stated
stressing that isolation of any state is unacceptable and citing the
examples of Kosovo, Cyprus, South Caucasus and Transdniestre.
The Russian President further stated that Russia is directly
involved in settlement of a number of conflicts and will continue
its involvement deriving from a position it considers appropriate
for itself. “I would like to stress that we will continue our peace
building mission despite the obvious provocations that we have to
counter so often,” Putin stated.
Commenting on Russia’s relations with the CIS Putin noted, “I
believe the time has come to accept the principles that prevail
in international economy and trade, principles based on sober
calculation. We do not question the CIS countries’ right to act
independently both domestically and internationally.
However, this means that we also have the right to determine our
own road”.
The issue of Russia’s relations with USA was raised in a very explicit
manner. President Putin spoke about “containment”, “Cold War” and even
“clash of civilizations”
According to Putin, Russia is worried by the unpredictability of global
development at a time of “modernization of the entire architecture
of global security”. This is why the goal of Russia’s foreign policy
to “break the dangerous tendencies” and not to allow “an inertia of
past approaches”.
Russia’s position is that it does not need any confrontations. This is
why Russia will not participate in any alliances and will support all
initiatives aimed at development of inter-civilizational dialog. It
is obvious that this statement was addressed to all participants of
the G-8 summit in Saint Petersburg.
Against this background we have Washington’s gesture towards Baku,
” Azerbaijan is the leading force and the guarantor of the security
in the region”.
Such statement indicate not Washington’s appreciation of the success
of democratic reforms in Azerbaijan but a confirmation of the fact
that Azerbaijan is fully included into US’s geopolitical spectrum
whose strategic interests in the Caucasus, according to Bryza, lie
in three directions: energy, security and democratic reforms.
Everything seems to be clear regarding the issue of energy: Kazakhstan
has already joined Baku-Tbilisi-Jeyhan pipeline and now US hopes
to expedite oil export from the Azeri Caspian to the international
market since the “European gas market is facing a crisis. One cubic
meter of gas costs up to 45 dollars and the gas imported from Ukraine
and Russia is not sufficient.”
The situation with democratic reforms is more complicated: because
of lack of progress in this respect the Azeri delegation’s mandate
to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was questioned
these days.
Therefore, Mr. Bryza’s attempt to diminish Armenia’s accomplishments
in the sphere of democracy cannot have any results. He stated, “We
hope to see a chain of democratic reforms in Armenia like the one we
hope we are witnessing in Azerbaijan.” This obviously has nothing to
do with democracy. Washington is openly hinting that US wants to see
Armenia in the domain of American, and not only American interests
and plans. It is not a coincidence that many political leaders in
Armenia noted that the present developments are very similar to the
situation in February 1998.
As to security issues, Washington’s position that “all conflicts
must be settled based on the territorial integrity of the countries
in the region” is wrong since it means settlement of the conflicts
based on the interests of just one side of the conflict. This can by
no means ensure peace and stability in any region, especially in the
South Caucasus. We have already gone through such an experience.
Presidents of CIS states will also participate in the G-8 summit in
Saint Petersburg. Will President Kocharian meet his Azeri counterpart
during the summit? This will become clear only after Mathew Bryza’s
visit to the region and the meeting of Armenian and Azeri foreign
ministers. These meetings will most likely take place in the coming
two weeks.

BAKU USES PACE FLOOR TO FALSELY ACCUSE ARMENIA
Yerkir.am
July 01, 2006
Armenian National Assembly Speaker and head of Armenian delegation
to PACE Tigran Torosian han has met with Council of Europe Secretary
General Terry Davis to discuss Azerbaijani delegation’s aggressive
stance at the PACE.
Torosian said the Azeris have been using the PACE floor to falsely
accuse Armenia, in particular, charging Armenia of setting fires to
forests in the regions around Karabakh.
“For a week already the Azeri delegation keeps on stating that
Armenians set fire to the forests along the border of Nagorno
Karabakh,” Torosian said. ” The mildest assessment I can give to this
show is cheap political gambling. I will explain why. Three years ago
Nagorno Karabakh authorities being concerned over the fires at the
near-border pastures proposed Azerbaijan to work out joint mechanisms
for prevention of fires. Azerbaijan did not response to the proposal.
The difference of the positions of NKR and Azerbaijan on the matter is
obvious. While Baku was setting up clamor NKR Foreign Ministry June
15 requested the Office of the OSCE CiO’s Personal Representative
to hold a monitoring to assess the real situation and refute false
accusations advanced by Azerbaijan.
The OSCE mission has been examining the near-border territories
for several days but found nothing what could prove Azerbaijan’s
statements.
Unfortunately, spreading hatred and invented accusations – these are
the methods Azerbaijan uses when discussing any matter. For this
purpose they are even ready to falsify the CoE documents. This is
nothing but disrespect for the PACE and the CoE principles.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘DO NOT DAMAGE’
By Karine Asatrian
Source:
Yerkir.am
July 01, 2006
The Azeri delegation to the CoE Parliamentary Assembly is trying to
include two issues into the PACE agenda. The first issue is the massive
fires in territories adjacent to Nagorno Karabagh. The second issue
is “illegal settlement of Armenians” on the same territories. Azeris
are convinced they will succeed. Member of the Armenian delegation
to the PACE Armen RUSTAMIAN answers A1+’ s questions.
Q: The Azeris state that PACE delegates support them. Have you felt
such an attitude towards the Azeris?
A: I would not say so but I can say that some delegates who are not
familiar with the Karabagh issue listen to the Azeris propaganda. This
is the main goal of Azeri propaganda: to present distorted facts at
forums where there are no procedures for checking the validity of
presented information. In other words, they address the audience of
delegates who do not take the trouble to examine the issue in detail
and can easily be influenced by emotional statements.
Meanwhile, the nature of Karabagh conflict is such that if you do not
know the substance of the conflict the arguments put forward by the
Azeris seem to be more trustworthy, especially that no discussion of
such issues as what were the causes and what consequences, who is to
blame for them are never discussed at such forums. Azerbaijan uses
this opportunity to launch its propaganda.
Q: The Karabagh settlement process is regulated through the OSCE
Minsk Group. Why is Azerbaijan using its propaganda machine in the
Council of Europe?
A: The logic is the same. At the Minsk Group we have truly detailed
and deep discussions. OSCE has been dealing with this issue for a long
time and this is why it knows the issue at a much deeper level. This
is why the Azeris try to transfer discussion of the issue to the
parliamentary level.
The hearings at the CoE Parliamentary Assembly are rather weak in
this respect. When it comes to the actual resolutions the issue is
transferred to the Minsk Group with the understanding that if you deal
with an issue you have to take it seriously rather than discussing
it through committee sessions. You cannot avoid emotional outbursts
in committee discussions and propaganda techniques and naturally the
decisions taken do not always adequately reflect the substance of
the discussed issue.
Q: Does this mean that you consider creation of a sub-committee
dealing with Karabagh issue in the PACE would be useless?
A: No, I believe that if the goal of such a sub-committee is set as
assisting rather than hindering the activities of the Minsk Group,
then yes, Council of Europe can be involved in this issue.
Q: OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs stated today that they believe intensive
mediation mission does not make sense as long as the presidents of
the two countries do not show adequate political will to overcome
their disagreements. Do you think a settlement of the conflict is
possible without mediators, as some political analysts suggest?
A: There are different ways of conflict settlement and only one
of them is acceptable for Karabagh and I think this one has been
smoothly working for a long time. Starting from scratch and trying
to use alternative methods might not work with this conflict.
Of course, I am not against using all elements and approaches known
in conflict studies that would complement each other contributing to
the settlement of the conflict. The logic is the following: every
new interference should answer one question – does it hinder the
existing settlement process or not? ” Do not damage”, this is the
correct starting point.

DISCLOSURE OF KARABAKH TALKS DETAILS NOT LIKELY TO RESULT IN RESUMING OF WAR
Yerkir.am
July 01, 2006
Disclosure of Karabakh talks details is not likely to result in
resuming of the war, Armenian Defense Minister Serzh Sargsian said
Thursday when commenting OSCE Minks Group Co-Chair Mathew Bryza’s
latest statement.
“I don’t think something has happened that could lead to a war,”
Sargsian said. “There are no real preconditions for resuming military
actions.”
Sargsian added that Bryza had better made public the documents adopted
during and after the talks in Key West instead of “his own comments.”
“Otherwise, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs urge others to not disclose
the details of the talks to avoid emotional speculations, but they
do exactly that, ” he noted.
He also said that it is for the presidents of the two countries
to settle the conflict and the co-chairs have to accept what the
presidents would decide.

BAKU’S BELLIGERENT STATEMENTS INTENDED FOR DOMESTIC AUDIENCE – NKR DM
Yerkir.am
July 01, 2006
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs should communicate with the presidents of
Armenia, Azerrbaijan as well as the president of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic, NKR Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian has told journalists.
He has added that the co-chairs should resume the talks process to find
a peaceful solution to the conflict. He also said that the conflict
cannot be solved through using force. “It has been solved through force
once in 1994,” he said, adding that the meetings of the presidents
indicates Azerbaijan has no intention to conduct negotiations.
Commenting on Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev’s statement
that ‘ Armenians are scared of war,’ Ohanian said, “Armenians are
not scared of war; beginning from 1988 and up to the present, we have
such a defense system that are fully confident of our capabilities.”

A DANCE GROUP FROM AUSTRALIA
Yerkir.am
July 01, 2006
Q: When was Hamazgayin’s Australian “Sevan” dance group created?
A: (director of Sevan dance group Asatur HAJIAN): The dance group was
formed in 2003 with the initiative of Hamazgayin’s Sevan branch. The
mission of the branch is to contribute to the cultural life of the
Armenian community in Australia. There are 180 dancers in the group
today. The age range of dancers is 6-30 years. These are all amateur
dancers. The groups can only rehearse once a week. We usually use
music written by Armenian composers for our dance performances.
Q: Where did you receive your professional education?
A.H.: I studied in Aleppo. I was Abraham Kostanian’s student. Then
I continued my studies in Armenia with Azat Gharibian.
Q: Please tell us about your activities in Sydney. What performances
have you had there?
A.H.: Our groups have participated in a number of international
festivals.
We receive many invitation especially from foreigners. We were invited
by the Sydney Ballet to teach them an Armenian dance. Our groups have
an annual performance for the Armenian community in Australia. In
addition to this we have a number of other performances. Last year
our group performed together with Ara Gevorgian in Sydney. We also
participated in the performance of Anush Opera directed by Araks
Mansurian.
Q: How did you decide to participate in the One Nation, One Culture
Festival?
Levon Demirian: The initiative came from the Armenian office of
Hamazgayin.
Since we needed a lot of money to come to Armenia to participate in
the festival, the assistance of the Armenian community in Sydney
and our benefactors was very important. With their assistance 50
members of our dance group could participate in the pan-Armenian
festival. Participation in the festival was a good opportunity for our
young people to visit their homeland and be exposed to the Armenian
culture. I have to comment on a very painful issue. During the festival
there were many instances when our culture was presented in foreign
languages. I hope such incidents will not be repeated in the future.
Q: What was the program with which you participated in the festival?
A: We had folk dances in our program. We performed in Vanadzor,
Dilijan, Sevan, Ashtarak, Cascade and the Opera Theater. We will
perform two dances at the closing concert on June 30 together with
Ara Gevorgian which is a big honor for us. By the way, we are the
only dance group from the Diaspora that had the honor of performing
at the opening ceremony.
We have a performance in Stepanakert, Artsakh on July 2. On our way
back to Australia we have a performance in Aleppo on July 7, then
another performance in Damask on July 8, and another one in Beirut on
July 11. Hamazgayin is the organizer of all these performances. All
our expectations were justified and the kids are very enthusiastic
about their performances.
We are grateful to our dance instructor Asatur Hajian because he built
the dance group in three years. We hope we will be able to stick to
our mission of promoting our culture.
We would like to thank once again the organizers of the festival as
well as Hamazgayin for the opportunity that we had to visit Armenia
and perform here.

SUMMER SESSION OF THE OSCE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY TO START IN BRUSSELS
ArmRadio.am
03.07.2006 10:45
The summer session of the OSCE Parliamentary assembly will start today
in Brussels. Goran Lenmarker may possibly publicize his report on
the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Despite this fact, the Azeri delegates
have decided to use the session as a platform for anti-Armenian
statements. Head of the delegation Eldar Ibrahimov noted that the
discussions on “Provision of human security over OSCE territory”
will be used for this purpose.