OSCE MEDIATORS REGRET ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN FAIL TO REACH AGREEMENT
Mediamax news agency
6 Jun 06
Yerevan, 6 June: The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen today described the
peaceful settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict as “urgent and
achievable”, the mediators today said in a statement on the results
of the meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in
Bucharest on 4-5 June, Mediamax reports.
“The co-chairmen continue to keep to the opinion that a peaceful
solution is urgent and achievable and that 2006 remains a comfortable
‘window’ for such progress. The co-chairmen continue to consider
that the main principles of the settlement, which they identified and
submitted to the conflicting parties, are a basis for the settlement
that meets the interests of both sides. The co-chairmen regret that
the parties have not reached agreement on these principles yet,”
the statement reads.

ARMENIAN, AZERI PRESIDENTS FAIL TO AGREE ON CONFLICT – BELGIAN REPORT
De Standaard website, Groot-Bijgaarden
6 Jun 06
Text of unattributed report, entitled “Still no peace agreement
even with De Gucht’s mediation”, published by Belgian newspaper De
Standaard website on 6 June
Despite intensive mediation by, among others, Karel De Gucht –
[Belgian] foreign minister and chairman of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) – the presidents of Armenia
and Azerbaijan reached no agreement yesterday on the “frozen conflict”
concerning Nagorno-Karabakh. Robert Kocharian of Armenia and Ilham
Aliyev of Azerbaijan talked to each other at length in the margins
of the Black Sea Summit in the Romanian capital, Bucharest.
Nagorno-Karabakh – one of the most militarized regions in the world –
lies in Azerbaijan, but, since a civil war at the beginning of the
nineties, it has been de facto an autonomous republic controlled
by the ethnic Armenian majority. Both parties are under increasing
international pressure to reach a comprehensive agreement.
De Gucht said after two intensive meetings with the two presidents in
Bucharest that they both know that they must carry on, and that the
international community expects progress. “But, for the present, they
continue to see more the risks than the opportunities of an agreement.”

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT URGES KARABAKH’S INTEGRATION INTO WORLD COMMUNITY
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
6 Jun 06
[Presenter] Bucharest or another Rambouillet. After the 4 June meeting
that lasted for more than three hours in Bucharest, the face-to-face
meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, Robert
Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev, continued on 5 June. The meeting lasted
for one hour.
The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group hope that these meetings will
make it possible to make progress on the settlement of the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict. They said that the meetings were held in a good
atmosphere. After yesterday’s meeting, the presidents were expected to
make a statement on the results of the talks, but they left Bucharest
without saying anything to journalists. Prior to the second round
of the negotiations, Kocharyan and Aliyev spoke about the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict in their speeches at the Black Sea summit.
The Armenian president insisted on the Karabakh people’s right to
self-determination, while his Azerbaijani counterpart defended his
country’s territorial integrity. The Armenian president said that
in fact, the Karabakh people have already exercised their right to
self-determination and it is necessary to try to fully integrate
Nagornyy Karabakh into the international community.
[Kocharyan, speaking in English with Armenian voice-over] I would like
to briefly touch on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict and our view of
its resolution. The people of Nagornyy Karabakh have in fact exercised
their right to self-determination. This has happened in line with norms
of international law. The results of the referendum on independence
were also supported during the war that was thrust upon them. These
events happened during the downfall of the Soviet Union. This is
a classic example of independence by means of secession. Now the
Nagornyy Karabakh republic has been continuing to prove its right to
independence with its achievements in the establishment of statehood
in the last 15 years.
A new generation is growing in Nagornyy Karabakh and they regard
themselves as defenders of this statehood. We are sure that it is
necessary to make an important attempt to integrate this republic
into the international community.
From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA ANNOUNCES NO PROGRESS IN KARABAKH TALKS WITH AZERBAIJAN IN ROMANIA
AP Worldstream
Jun 06, 2006
Armenia’s foreign minister said Tuesday that talks between the Armenian
and Azerbaijani leaders had made no progress toward a settlement of
the dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, but that the countries’
top diplomats had instructions to continue negotiations.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliev discussed the long-standing conflict on the sidelines of a
Black Sea summit in Bucharest, Romania, on Monday.
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian told state television that the talks
had been conducted “in a normal atmosphere, but they did not succeed
in registering progress and giving a positive impulse to solving the
problem of the Karabakh conflict.”
Still, he said that he and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov had orders to try to find points on which they could
bring the two countries’ positions closer.
Nagorno-Karabakh is inside Azerbaijan but populated mostly by ethnic
Armenians, who have run it and seven contiguous districts since an
uneasy 1994 cease-fire ended six years of full-scale war. There are
sporadic border clashes.

PAWN QUEENS
By Caroline Davies and Malcolm Pein
The Daily Telegraph/UK
Filed: 07/06/2006
It was a most unorthodox opening move for a grandmaster intent on
vanquishing his opponent, but then this was on a dance-floor and not
a chessboard.
When Danny Gormally, 30, one of Britain’s leading chess players, spied
his Armenian rival and the world’s No 3 at the Turin Chess Olympiad
jiving with a beautiful chess queen, usual tactics were abandoned.
In a spectacular strategic blunder, Mr Gormally allegedly moved in
with clenched fist and sent Levon Aronian, the 23-year-old Armenian
national hero, sprawling.
As gambits go, it was to prove one of the worst. Not only did
Mr Gormally sacrifice both his dignity and place in the team,
but the following day found himself at the wrong end of a beating
as Mr Aronian’s hot-headed team-mates weighed in with a forceful
counter-attack.
Yesterday Mr Gormally, a professional player, was at his Durham flat
refusing to discuss the incident. The rest of the chess world was,
however, abuzz.
According to insiders, the catalyst for this whole sorry affair was
the appearance on the dance floor of attractive Australian female No
3, Arianne Caoili, 19, whom Mr Gormally’s team-mates believed him to
be fond of.
Neither shy nor retiring, Miss Caoili, of Filipino descent and who
aspires to be a professional singer, is clearly intent on enjoying
life. Her website lists her likes as “getting up to no good”, “fine
food and fine boys”, “Edward Norton and Johnny Depp” and “Pina coladas,
vodka, red wine, Kahlua, dwarfs and the odd Cuban cigar”.
Apart from improving her chess, which she has been playing since she
was five, her ambitions include earning “giant gobs of money”.
Clearly a party girl, she had a reputation, according to one source
on the chess circuit, “for coming back at 2am and waking people up,
then having recharged her batteries, leaving again at 5am”.
Mr Gormally is understood to have been in e-mail contact with her
prior to the Olympiad. However, he is not alone in being drawn, if
drawn he is, by her allure. For Miss Caoili is currently voted No 7
in the Top Ten Women’s Chess Beauty Contest on a website dedicated to
the charms of chess’s female finest in terms of looks if not always
in terms of rankings.
Lest anyone decry the site for being sexist, these women actually
apply to be on it, submitting their often risque photographs and
urging surfers to vote for them. Among them is Maria Manakova, a
32-year-old Serbian grandmaster, who has posed nude for magazines
and turned up at tournaments in skimpy clothing and towering heels.
She is currently at No 9 in the beauty contest. Another chess beauty,
though she has not chosen to take part in the contest, is Russia’s
Alexandra Kosteniuk, 21, currently No 3 in the Women’s World Chess
rankings, who became a grandmaster at 14 and is now a model whose
photograph has graced many a magazine cover. All of which rather
belies the traditional view of chess.
The Gormally incident took place at the “Bermuda Party” at the
nightclub, Hiroshima Mon Armour, one of many parties hosted during
the Chess Olympiad.
>From accounts that have emerged, most agree that Mr Gormally punched
Mr Aronian for innocently dancing with Miss Caoili.
Allan Beardsworth, the England team captain, said the following day
the England team promptly apologised.
It was hoped that a diplomatic incident could be averted, and all
could get on with the business of playing chess.
However, Armenia may be a small country, but it’s big on chess. And Mr
Aronian enjoys a similar level of hero-worship to, say, David Beckham.
Mr Gormally’s second strategic blunder was taking tea with some
team-mates on the pavement outside a cafe.
Had he not been so visible, perhaps Mr Aronian’s aggrieved colleagues
would not have found him. But, find him they did with one taking a
swing at Mr Gormally.
It was left to Jon Speelman, an England grandmaster who speaks Russian,
to intervene and calm the situation down.
Mr Gormally subsequently left the tournament and returned home.
Yesterday Mr Speelman was reluctant to elaborate on his role as
peace-maker. “I think it is a somewhat unfortunate story. Happily
there was more or less closure without anybody being hurt and I am
very grateful for that,” he said.
Mr Beardsworth was of a similar opinion. “I feel sorry for Danny. I
feel sorry for the whole incident. I feel sorry for the sport” he said,
stressing that Mr Aronian had been an innocent victim.
“The Olympiad is a very friendly event where nationalities from all
around the world come together. It’s just a great shame that this
one will be remembered for one little punch in a nightclub.”
One source said: “The Armenians won the Gold Medal so it didn’t affect
them too much.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ASAF HAJIEV: NO SENSE IN SPEAKING ABOUT ECONOMIC COOPERATION BEFORE KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
ArmRadio.am
07.06.2006 16:40
“Without the settlement of the Karabakh conflict it is senseless to
speak about cooperation between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” said Asaf
Hajiev, Head of the Azeri delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, Milli Mejlis Deputy, who is in
Armenia to participate in the 27th sitting of the PABSEC. “After the
resolution of the issue we should cooperate since we are neighbors,”
he said, adding that the President of Azerbaijan confirms “there will
be no economic cooperation while there is war.”

VARDAN OSKANYAN RECEIVED THE AMBASSADOR OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
ArmRadio.am
07.06.2006 17:18
June 7 RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan received the newly appointed
Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Republic of Armenia Enver
Khalilovich (seat in Moscow). The latter handed the copied of his
credentials to Minister Oskanyan.
Vardan Oskanyan congratulated the Ambassador on appointment and wished
success in carrying out his high mission.
Minister Oskanyan noted that the relations between Armenia and Bosnia
and Herzegovina are at the initial stage of development. He emphasized
the importance of establishing a legal field between the two countries,
which will promote the deepening and activation of existing ties. The
interlocutors attached importance also to the cooperation within
international organization.

EDUARD TOPCHYAN AWARDED THE TITLE OF RA HONORED ART WORKER
ArmRadio.am
07.06.2006 17:28
With President Kocharyan’s decree of 6 June Head of the State
Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia, Chief Conductor Eduard Topchyan
was awarded the honorary title of RA Honored Art Worker for his
considerable contribution to the development of classic performance
art and on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the orchestra.

VARTAN OSKANIAN TO PAY AN OFFICIAL VISIT TO UKRAINE
ArmRadio.am
07.06.2006 17:38
June 19 RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian will pay an official
visit to Ukraine, Spokesman of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs Vasily Filipchuk reported. In his words, talks and meeting
with Ukrainian top leadership are planned during the visit. A
number of urgent issues of bilateral cooperation are to be discussed,
specifically ways to expand trade and economic cooperation, interaction
within international organizations, as well as European integration. In
Filipchuk’s words, special attention during talks with Ukrainian
authorities will be paid to settlement of “frozen conflicts in the
South Caucasus,” reports Novosti-Ukraina.

ARMENIA JOINED THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR BUSINESS AND PARLIAMENTARISM
ArmRadio.am
07.06.2006 18:08
During the meeting with Armenian journalists on the occasion of
Armenia’s becoming member of the International Association for Business
and Parliamentarism Deputy Speaker of the European Parliament Edward
Scott McClellan declared he does not see any reason why Armenia should
not become an EU member. He added, “I am open to Armenia’s, as well as
Russia’s membership to the European Union when the proper time comes.”
Edward Scott McClellan coordinates the parliamentary cooperation of
states included in the New Neighbors Program and countries of the
Mediterranean Basin.
Today Armenia became the 17thmember of the International Association
for Business and Parliamentarism. According to member of the
coordinating body Vahan Hovhannisyan, the major aim of the structure is
to match the national legislations of other countries to the European
one. The coordinating council includes Deputies from all groups and
factions of the National Assembly. Members of the coordinating council
have no right to engage in lobbyist activity.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress