FORMATION OF POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT PRIORITY TASK OF ARMENIA’S POLITICAL FORCES
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Aug. 16, 2006
YEREVAN, August 16. /ARKA/. Armenia has no political environment
and its formation is the priority task of all political forces of
the country, Chairman of the Self-Determination Union (SDU) Paruir
Hayrikyan stated at a roundtable of Armenia’s political parties of
similar ideologies.
According to him, many of these parties currently have fears that
Armenia’s political environment is seriously criminalized.
“Criminal manifestations in all structures of power are obvious in
Armenia. They are expressed not only in bribery, but also in violation
of citizens’ rights,” he said.
Hayrikyan believes that during elections parties must not give priority
to their wish to occupy seats in Parliament.
“It is necessary that Armenia’s political forces ensure a majority of
`popular’ seats in Parliament to counterbalance the criminal ones,”
Hayrikyan said, pointing out that they will be able to represent the
people’s will and interests.
In his turn, the member of the People’s Party of Armenia Stepan
Zakaryan pointed out that simulation of political environments has
been taking place in Armenia over the last few years.
“All the parties of similar ideologies must exert every effort to
overcome this situation and, through the public’s active support,
ensure free and fair parliamentary elections,” he said.
Attending the SDU-organized roundtable were representatives of the
People’s Party of Armenia, Democratic Party of Armenia, National
Unity Party, Law-Governed Country Party, Party of Democratic Way as
well as the Social and Democratic Party “Hnchakian”.
Parliamentary elections are to be held in Armenia in 2007.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LES ARMENIENS DU LIBAN CONTRE UNE PARTICIPATION TURQUE A LA FINUL
Agence France Presse
16 août 2006 mercredi 5:42 PM GMT
Le parti Tachnak, le plus populaire parmi la communaute armenienne
du Liban, a annonce mercredi son “refus” d’une participation turque
a la force de l’Onu renforcee qui doit se deployer au Liban sud.
“La communaute armenienne du Liban s’oppose et refuse la presence
de l’armee turque au Liban et exprime l’espoir que l’Etat libanais
refuse egalement”, ecrit le Tachnak dans un communique.
Le texte enumère les “jalons noirs” de l’histoire turque, rappelle “le
joug de l’empire ottoman subi par les Libanais de toutes confessions”,
son “occupation d’une partie” de l’île de Chypre et “le genocide
armenien que l’Etat turc continue de refuser d’admettre avoir commis”.
Le parti Tachnak juge que “l’accord de defense commun signe entre
Ankara et Israël represente une menace pour le processus de paix”
au Proche-Orient et invite la Turquie a “reviser ses calculs avant
de considerer la participation a une force internationale de maintien
de la paix”.
“Nous considerons qu’un accord du Conseil de securite de l’Onu a une
participation de forces turques a la force internationale au Liban
sud blesse la memoire collective du peuple armenien”, conclut le texte.
La Turquie est un contributeur potentiel de la Finul renforcee et
son ministre des Affaires etrangères Abdullah Gul etait mercredi a
Beyrouth pour discuter de la participation d’Ankara.
Les Armeniens qui ont trouve refuge au Liban il y a 90 ans sont bien
integres dans le pays et leur communaute, qui a droit a six sièges
au Parlement libanais (sur 128 membres), ne compte plus que quelque
120.000 personnes, selon ses responsables politiques et religieux.
–Boundary_(ID_VppSDWUjtJqmL+N92z1YBA) —

TIGRAN THE GREAT’S CITADEL FOUND IN ARTSAKH
AZG Armenian Daily
17/08/2006
August 10, The expedition “Tigranakert” of the institute of Archaeology
and Ethnology of the Academy of Sciences of Republic of Armenia
with the initiative and financing of “France-Karabagh” and “Yerkir”
Union of NGOs for Repatriation and Settlement has made astounding
discoveries. The expedition, led by the Doctor of Historical Sciences
Hamlet Petrosian, managed to find the citadel constructed by Tigran
The Great. The structure was built by huge plain stone blocks tied
to each other with the so-called “swallow-tail bounds” – an advanced
Hellenic technique. Such a complicated and advanced technique is used
here for the first time and serves as evidence for the hypothesis
of the research group, in particular that Tigranakert of Artsakh is
located at the same place as the current archaeological excavation. One
of the fenced terraces of the city, which is also constructed from
plain blocks, is also under excavation. The excavations of the urban
district and adjacent burial mounds have also been initiated.
These excavations have come to prove that Armenian identity has been
present in the lower stream of Khachenaget (former region of Aghdam)
at least since the first century B.C.
The same article in French
Le 10 août 2006, l’expedition archeologique “Dikranakert d’Artsakh” a
l’initiative de l’Union Yerkir et de France-Karabagh en partenariat
avec l’institut d’archeologie et d’ethnologie de l’academie
des sciences de la Republique d’Armenie a fait des decouvertes
etonnantes. L’expedition, menee par l’archeologue Hamlet Petrossian
est parvenue a trouver la citadelle de la ville construite par Dikran
Le Grand. La structure a ete construite par des blocs de pierres
attaches entre eux avec la technique hellenique innovatrice pour
l’epoque dite de “la queue de l’hirondelle”. Les fouilles de la zone
urbaine et des monticules adjacents ont ete egalement lancees.
Ces decouvertes prouvent que la presence armenienne est anterieure a
l’epoque de Khatchenaked (ancienne region d’Aghdam, VI-eme siècle) et
que les armeniens sont present dans la region depuis le 1-er siècle av.
J-C.
–Boundary_(ID_yG13FXJjX1yXTixN+X6oEQ)–

HRAYR AVETIAN’S STATUE OF JESUS ERECTED IN LATVIA
AZG Armenian Daily
17/08/2006
Several meters high statue of Jesus Christ was recently erected in
the town of Aglon in Latvia. Its author is Hrayr Avetian, alumnus
of the Academy of Fine Arts of Latvia. Yerkramas newspaper of
Russian-Armenians reports that it took Hrayr 6 years to turn the
Ukrainian granite into a sculpture.
The Christ’s statue will be a good decoration for annual celebration of
Assumption of the Virgin Mary on August 12-15. Following a tradition,
numerous believers gather in this Latvian town for the celebration. The
number of pilgrims this year surpassed 10 thousand.

IN THE WORLD OF ‘RADIANT’ NOVELS
By Anzhela Amirkhanian
AZG Armenian Daily
17/08/2006
Exhibition at National Gallery
“In my creations, using paints and brushes, I try to manifest the inner
beauty of the human soul. The main theme in my works is theatre and
music, art within art, reflection within reflection. I try to convey
the permanent movement present in these art forms and their monumental
significance in the interpretation of the world. The combined use of
bright colors and dark hues shows the fortes and the pianos of this
intertwined art world. The aesthetics of music, literature, theatre and
fine arts coexist with the beauty, present within each of us, input by
Mother Nature, is present in all my generes of painting. This beauty I
express through the female figures and the playful harlequins in their
bright outfits and costumes, gracefully interacting and playing out
scenes from my imagination,” painter Laura Avetisian describes her art.
Mrs. Avetisian thinks painting is the expression of a painter’s
soul. Her colorful paintings seem to full of music allowing composer
Konstantin Orbelian to say, “As a musician, I especially valued in her
works the richness and brightness of the palette, the inner pulsation,
the dramatic effects.”
Laura Avetisian was born in Yerevan. At the age of 5 she moved to
Moscow where she graduated from Art School for exceptionally gifted
children. Upon her return to Armenia, she continued her studies at
the College of Fine Arts in Yerevan, then at the Institute of Fine
Arts and Drama.
As a talented student, Laura was invited to participate in exhibitions
in different countries in Europe. During her student years her works
went as far as North America when she displayed them at the Art EXPO
in Montreal.
Currently Laura resides in Los Angeles, California.
Within the last few years Laura has had numerous solo exhibitions
in many cities of the US, such as New York, Detroit, Boston, San
Francisco and Los Angeles.
Her works are on display at prestigious galleries in Carmel and Palm
Springs, California. Several American collectors are proud owners of
Laura Avetisan’s exquisite art works.

EXHIBITION OF AMERICAN ARMENIAN ARTIST KICKS OFF
Armenpress
Aug 16 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS: Exhibition of Armenian fine artist
Laura Avetisian, based in USA, kicked off today at the Armenian
National State Gallery. At about 46 pictures of the artist are
presented at the exhibition.
Henrik Igitian, the director of the national center of aesthetics,
said that Avetisian is one of the unique artists who, living in
foreign country “was fed by the Armenian art and found herself in
the genre she has chosen.”
The head of the Armenian Artists’ Union Karen Aghamian noted that
from 1,100 members of the union only 700 are living and creating in
Armenia which affects the development of the Armenian fine art.
Avetisian participated in different exhibitions in Canada and USA,
organized her personal exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Boston,
San Francisco, Paris.
Her works are presented at the Yerevan Contemporary Art Museum,
Californian “Mission” gallery.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN DESCRIBES EURASEC NON-OFFICIAL SUMMIT AS CONSTRUCTIVE, EFFECTIVE AND INTERESTING
Armenpress
Aug 16 2006
SOCHI, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS: The leaders of the Eurasian Economic
Community (EurAsEC) countries met today at the Sochi’s “Rus” health
complex as part of the non-official summit of the members of the
EurAsEC to discuss issues on creation of legal basis for the formation
of customs union within the establishment and issues on the development
of the organization.
At a press conference which followed after the meeting Vladimir
Putin said they have discussed a wide-range of issues which are
very important for the organization and underscored the necessity of
creation of general economic system.
For the creation of the customs union the leaders signed a document
instructing EurAsEC Secretariat as well as Russia, Belarus and
Kazakhstan undertake necessary steps for the creation of legal basis
for the formation of the union. The Russian president said that the
most important achievement at the summit was that all the countries
supported the idea of creation of general energy market. A great
attention was also paid to the cooperation of EurAsEC countries in
the sphere of nuclear energy.
The participants of the summit also discussed issues on deepening
cooperation of the EurAsEC and CSTO. As a positive example of the
cooperation, Armenia’s membership to CSTO and its status of observer in
the EurAsEC was noted. Vladimir Putin thanked his Armenian counterpart
for participating in the summit and said that the cooperation of
the two organizations has serious prospect as “it is impossible to
develop the economy and deepen cooperation without ensuring security.”
During the summit a document was signed according to which Uzbekistan
has become a full member of the CSTO.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian described the summit as
constructive, effective and interesting suggesting that non-official
meetings be organized more often and wider range of issues be discussed
during them – starting from issues on cultural cooperation to economic
one. The summit will continue tomorrow.

REPORTS SAY MINISTER OF NATURE PROTECTION MAY BE DISMISSED
Panorama.am
15:11 16/08/06
“Such reports are not a surprise for me since I am trying to
close the way of those, who want to steal gold,” Artsrun Pepanyan,
minister’s press spokesman, uttered the words of Vardan Aivazyan,
minister of nature protection, currently on vacation. Aivazyan
had said so regarding a publication, which claims that he may be
dismissed. Pepanyan said the minister is going to detail the reasons
for the appearance of such reports upon his arrival in Armenia. Most
probably, the minister will be in Armenia on August 25-26, his press
spokesman said.
Reminder: Referring to Russian Trud, Aravot daily writes in its Auggust
11 issue, “The minsiter of nature protection may be dismissed for
carelles attitude to state affairs, casual relations with top public
officials, constant business trips on state funds, visits to casions
where he spends large sums of money, the origin of which may only be
guessed.”

ARMENIAN POLITICAL PARTIES SHARE CONCERNS
Panorama.am
16:47 16/08/06
Several political parties, which consider themselves as close in ideas,
gathered today at a round table to share their concerns. All parties
unanimously are concerned with the possibility to conduct free and
fair elections. They are also troubled by the existence of criminal
elements in the political field.
“Our important concerns are the cirminalization of the political
life, and active work of secret agencies,” Paruyr Hairikyan, National
Self-Determination Union head, stated. Hairikyan referred to Russian
oligarch Deripaska as saying, “We have bought all Armenian political
parties. Those, which are not bought, are morally killed.”
The member of Democratic Party is sure that the authorities will
exert pressures on the opposition, including financial pressures. He
is sure that the existing power wants to re-produce itself.
Orinats Yerkir Party Vice Chairman Mher Shahgeldyan reminded that
the upcoming elections should be around ideas and programs and not
for the sake of small group and individual interests.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP OR STRATEGIC INDEFERENCE?
ArmRadio.am
17.08.2006 12:22
“If leave everything as it is, the Armenian-Russian relations will
crack soon so that the strategic partnership of two countries can
give up for lost”, Aram Karapetyan, the chairman of the “New Times”
oppositional party, told the “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”, Arminfo reported.
According to him, having received from Yerevan everything possible in
its time, Moscow has lost any interest to Armenia. “In fact, Yerevan is
closely attached to CSTO, the Russian companies had purchase and still
purchase everything here – someone buys the plants, someone gains a
profitable building contract: Since there is no interest, there is no
understanding of what happens in this country. The situation can be
brought to the formula: strategic indifference instead of strategic
partnership”, Karapetyan says.
In his opinion, the Americans can settle down in Armenia “not with
their investments but with Pentagon radio-locating stations”. As
Karapetyan has assured the “NG”, Mathew Bryza, the OSCE MG Co-chairman,
not only perforate a new plan of the Karabakh conflict settlement
during his official visit to Yerevan, but also tested a ground for
disposal of two American radio-locating stations in the territory of
Armenia. The matter here is that Washington needs to enter Armenia
like to Georgia before that, with all the following consequences,
Karapetyan said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress