KOCHARIAN-ALIYEV NEXT MEETING MAY BE HELD BEFORE YEAREND, BAKU SAYS
PanARMENIAN.Net
06.06.2006 14:36 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “The situation at the talks over settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict continues being a peculiar pressure upon
Armenia. I believe that a basis for progress in concluding final peace
between the parties will be formed during coming talks,” stated head
of the External Relations Department of President’s Administration
Novruz Mammadov. In his words, during the summit of the Black Sea
Forum for Dialogue and Partnership in Bucharest the Azeri President
made a statement, detailing country’s latest achievements and touching
upon the Karabakh issue.
At that Mammadov noted that talks between Azeri and Armenian presidents
were held in a wide format, with participation of the OSCE MG co-chairs
and MFA Heads, as well as in tete-a-tete format. “The meeting continued
for two days: 3.5 hours on the first and over an hour on the second
day. Talks were held in a tense atmosphere,” he said. Mammadov added
that although arrangements were made over individual issues, there are
no results yet. Mammadov reported that in spite there is no specific
date for the next meeting of the two presidents, it is not ruled out
to be held before the end of 2006.

MONITORING OF CONTACT LINE BETWEEN KARABAKH AND AZERI ARMED FORCES WITHOUT INCIDENTS
PanARMENIAN.Net
06.06.2006 15:01 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ June 6 in compliance with an earlier agreement with
authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, an OSCE mission held a
planned monitoring at the contact line between Karabakh and Azeri Armed
Forces to the east of Seysulan settlement of the Mardakert region of
the NKR. Field Assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Peter Key (UK) and Jrzhi Aberle (the Czech Republic)
held the monitoring from the positions of the NKR Defense Army.
The monitoring was held in compliance with the schedule, no breaks
of the cease-fire regime were registered. However, the Azeri party
again failed to take the OSCE observers to its frontline.
Representatives of the MOD and MFA of NKR accompanies the mission
from the Karabakh side, reports the NKR MFA Press Service.

RALLIES AGAINST RF NATIONAL HOSTILITY IN BRITAIN
A1+
[02:39 pm] 06 June, 2006
more images A rally of protest was initiated by the Armenian students
of Great Britain in connection with the increase of murders, racism
combat and hatred of mankind apparent in the Russian Federation. The
site of the rally was the territory opposite the Russian Embassy in
Great Britain.
“We, the students of Great Britain, express our deepest regret on
these events and on the increase of xenophobia in Russia. We call
on the Russian authorities to take drastic measures and to punish
the initiators in order to prevent suchlike cases in future,” this
is a quotation from the students’ statement which was given to the
Russian Embassy of Great Britain. The students also claim that “the
outcome of racism and xenophobia in the recent years has been very
appalling. About 28 foreigners were murdered in 2005 and more than
402 people were beaten and attacked by the racists. They were mainly
from Caucasus and Middle Asia including many Armenians. 6 Armenians
were killed in Moscow in 2006 because of their nationality.”

ARMENIAN RUGBY TEAM HAS A CHANCE TO MOVE TO HIGHER GROUP
Armenpress
Jun 06 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 6, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s national rugby team upset
rivals from Lithuanian scoring 18 :3 to top Group B of the European
championship. In order to move to the higher Group A Armenians will
have to beat the team that will be on the bottom line of Group A.
Petros Aslanian from the Armenian Federation of Rugby, said it was
not yet clear who is going to be the rival of Armenians. Most likely,
he said, it will be Ukraine. The match is expected in late August.
Armenia’s national rugby team comprises largely French Armenians with
a lengthy record of playing professional rugby.

ARMENIA WELCOMES WINNER OF CHESS OLYMPIAD
Armenpress
Jun 06 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 6, ARMENPRESS: Thousands of Armenians and tens of senior
government officials gathered early morning on June 6 in a downtown
Yerevan Freedom square to give a hearty welcome to Armenian men chess
players who have won the gold of the Turin Chess Olympiad.
The six men are Levon Aronyan, Vladimir Hakobian, Gabriel Sarkisian,
Artashes Minasian, Smbat Lputian and Karen Asryan. They were taken
from the airport to the square and driven through the crowd by a
Soviet time Chayka car.
Addressing the crowd defense minister Serzh Sarkisian who is also
president of the Armenian Chess Federation said. “Our chess players
have managed to justify our nation’s hopes.” Thirty-three years
thousands of Armenians had been on this very square to welcome Tigran
Sarkisian, after he won the world chess championship. The today’s
welcome ceremony was followed by a concert and a firework.
The 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin ended on Sunday.
Rapid draw by the Armenian men’s team against Hungary assured it
Olympic Gold. China took Silver in the men’s section and USA Bronze.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS ARE BEING SOLVED IN SISIAN
A1+
[12:44 pm] 06 June, 2006
Cycling and photo contests were initiated in the city Sisian by the
“Sisian Development Centre” NGO with the participation of 3-17-year
old children in connection with the International Day of Environment
Protection.
According to Manvel Soghomonyan, initiator of the ceremony the best
participants will have a chance to master computer skills in the
“Sisian Development Centre” free of charge.
The environment protection issues were the theme of the roundtable
organized by the above mentioned NGO with the participation of
representatives of many interested organizations. The participants
focused on the issues of the city purification and environment
protection. There are huge piles of waste and rubbish in some parts of
the city regardless of the fact that the garbage is frequently taken
away. This question becomes more vulnerable especially in summer. They
also noted that tree-planting must be organized in the city. All the
suggestions were put down with the hope that they will be realized
one day.
TV Company “Syuni” of Sisian.

FLAWLESS POWER ALTERATION IS IMPROBABLE IN ARMENIA
A1+
[03:16 pm] 06 June, 2006
“Certain people think that pressure must be exerted on the Armenian
authorities and they should make unilateral decisions so that
the society might have a chance to recover and change the present
authorities,” claims Albert Bazeyan, chairman of the party “National
Revival” and adds that such approach is inadmissible for them as the
Karabakh conflict is all national and the representatives of each
power will inherit what we have today.
Today Albert Bazeyan who was invited to the club “Pastark” noted that
the power change is not end in itself and added, “In 2003 there was
election fraud and ballot stuffs. The power is forcibly taken today and
the President of the country is not legitimate. If the power change
is improbable they shouldn’t constantly speak of it.” He also urges
that judging from our reality flawless power is improbable in Armenia;
after the power alteration one separate power or the alliance of a
few forces cannot take the whole responsibility in their hands as the
same people who are in power today will remain and govern the country.
Bazeyan and his adherents neither predict nor wish the power change
caused by outer pressure as outer forces will not interfere into the
home affairs of our country for nothing.
Albert Bazeyan announced that they will go to the Parliament with
the Opposition representatives based on the same ideology but so far
he doesn’t want to give their names and adds that the final decision
will be made in the party assembly.

SURVEY: ARMENIA IN TOP TEN OF RUSSIA’S FRIENDS
PanARMENIAN.Net
06.06.2006 15:24 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to the returns of a sociological survey,
held by Levada-Center, the top ten of Russia’s friends includes Belarus
(47%), Kazakhstan (33%), China (24%), Germany (22%) and India (15%),
Armenia (14%), Bulgaria (10%), Ukraine (10%), France (8%) and Italy
(7%).
As of Russians’ opinion over hostile countries, the list includes
Latvia (49%), Georgia (44%), Lithuania (42%), US (37%) and Estonia
(28%). The second fide include Ukraine (27%), Afghanistan (12%),
Iraq (9%), Moldova (9%) and Poland (7%). It is significant that
Ukraine was included both among Russia’s friends and enemies, reports
Russkaya Liniya.

REDUCTION OF DOLLARIZATION IN TERMS OF HUMANISM
Lragir.am
06 June 06
The Central Bank of Armenia is likely to reduce dollarization in the
country. To put it more clearly, the Central Bank has decided to have
the population of Armenia keep their savings in drams rather than in
dollars. Frankly speaking, Tigran Sargsyan deserves a Nobel Prize for
this decision. Actually, the president of the Central Bank wants to
protect the population from the consequences of depreciation of the
dollar in Armenia. However, there is no need to hurry. However, the
humanism of Tigran Sargsyan, who is also the president of the Diocese
Council of the Ararat Diocese, seems disinterested only at first
sight. What does a cut of dollarization mean? Whatever instruments are
used, there is only one way out. Either the population should exchange
dollars for drams or the Central Bank should change everything,
so as the population of Armenia earn their income in dram amounts.
Armenia annually receives transfers of over one billion dollars,
which comprises about a quarter of the GDP of Armenia. Moreover,
this is the part of transfers that is counted, in other words, these
are transfers through banks and other systems of transfers. Transfers
in cash are also significant in amount but these are not covered in
these calculations. A significant share, or rather the greater part
of this huge amount of transfers goes to the population as income.
Hence, about a quarter of the GDP of Armenia or even more, which mostly
reflects the income of people, is accrued in drams. It appears that in
order to dramize this income the Central bank has to return economic
migrants to Armenia. But economic migrants are not an exchange rate
to be made to drift in any direction. Even if we outdo the vision for
an Armenia extending from sea to sea, and imagine economic migrants
return to Armenia and earn an income here, we cannot be sure that
this income will be in drams. Many companies in Armenia pay their
workers in dollars for different reasons. In fact, only salaries of
state enterprise workers and pensions are paid in drams, as well as
salaries of workers of some private companies. And it means that the
income of a major part of the population of Armenia is in dollars;
it is another issue whether this is legal or illegal.
At least, it is fair to get a sum in dollars earned honestly than
drams which come nobody knows from where. But this is another problem,
which is not the competence of the Central Bank. It is the duty of
law-enforcement agencies, however, it does not mean that the Central
Bank will never have to deal with it.
In the meantime, we are concerned with what the Central Bank is
concerned. It is almost certain that there is one way of reducing
dollarization of people’s savings (if there are such) in Armenia:
people will save their dollars after exchanging them for drams. It
is a surprise that the Central Bank has set such a goal, because
people anyway hurry to exchange their dollars for drams because the
exchange rate of the dollar is dropping daily. And the Central Bank
is merely trying to persuade, make or encourage those citizens, who
still are likely to keep their dollars until everything is settled,
including the exchange rate of the dollar. Moreover, this step of the
Central Bank also means that they also fear that everything will be
settled soon and little time is left, and it is necessary to collect
the remaining dollars. It is not bad. More importantly, it is not
dishonest. People will know from whom to demand the money back.

ANOTHER KOCHARYAN-ALIEV MEETING POSSIBLE BY THE END OF THE YEAR
ArmRadio.am
06.06.2006 16:40
“The situation in the negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
settlement continues to remain a peculiar pressure over Armenia. I
think than in the upcoming talks a good base will be created for
signing a final agreement between the parties,” said today Novruz
Mamedov, Head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Executive
Staff to the President of Azerbaijan.
He noted that the talks between Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
were held both in an enlarged format, featuring OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairs and Foreign Ministers, and tête-a-tête.
“The meeting continued for two days. The first day it lasted 3.5
hours, the second day it continued for over an hour. The talks were
held in an extremely tense atmosphere,” he noted, adding that although
agreements were reached on certain issues, no common result exists so
far. Mamedov reported that although no precise date of the next meeting
of Presidents has been set, it can be held by the end of the year.
–Boundary_(ID_HCDfJIKQXyj0fbNA3EKFig)–