Karabakh leader says mediators have no new proposals – Armenian agency
Arminfo, Yerevan
25 Jul 06
Stepanakert , 25 July: “I do not think that the mediators have a
new proposal, but in any case a visit of the US co-chairman [of
the OSCE Minsk Group, Matthew Bryza,] is a good opportunity to put
forward our position to Bryza and other co-chairmen,” the president
of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic [NKR], Arkadiy Gukasyan, has told
an Arminfo correspondent in Stepanakert, commenting on Bryza’s visit
to the region, including Nagornyy Karabakh.
[Passage omitted: Karabakh wants to participate in talks]
Asked about holding a repeat referendum on Nagornyy Karabakh’ status,
Gukasyan noted that a referendum had already been held in Nagornyy
Karabakh and that its results were clear to everyone.
“If today there are guarantees that the international community
will recognize a referendum tomorrow, we could think about this,”
the Karabakh president said.

Karabakh lowers fines to make draft dodgers return home
Arminfo
25 Jul 06
Yerevan, 25 July: The Karabakh defence minister, Lt-Gen Seyran Oganyan,
has chaired a meeting of the commission on the application of the
provisions of a law regarding the citizens who did not do their
military service as stipulated by law.
The law in question gives those who are eligible to be drafted into
the army but who have dodged military service an opportunity to avoid
criminal responsibility by paying a certain amount of money into the
public purse. For many Karabakhis this opens up an opportunity to
return to their motherland without the fear of prosecution.
The Karabakh defence minister said that about 1.5m drams [3,597
dollars] had already been transferred to an account of the ministry
and that the money would be spent on the needs of the army.
Amendments have been made to the law recently, in accordance with
which the amount of the fine for each conscription year has been
reduced. Members of the commission (representatives of the defence
ministry, prosecutor’s office, law-enforcement agencies, public, etc)
believe that this move will facilitate the return of Karabakhis to
their motherland.
Some applications were considered at the commission’s meeting. In
particular, a decision was made to fine a draft dodger 900,000 drams
(over 2,000 dollars). After paying the fine, he can return home
without fearing legal punishment.

Ukrainian-US military computer exercise ends
Interfax-Ukraine news agency
25 Jul 06
Kiev, 25 July: The Rapid Trident-2006 joint Ukrainian-US computer-aided
command and staff exercise, which was held at the Centre for Simulation Modelling
of the National Defence Academy of Ukraine, has ended, the [Ukrainian]
Defence Ministry’s press service said today.
In addition to Ukrainian and US servicemen, exercise participants included
nearly 300 servicemen from 16 NATO member-states and partners, including
Albania, Austria, Canada, Lithuania, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Macedonia, the Czech
Republic, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Moldova. Representatives of the Red Cross and the OSCE joined the exercise as
observers.
The Ukrainian army was represented at the training by the 95th detached
airborne brigade and the Centre for Simulation Modelling. The USA was represented
by the National Guard of California and Florida.
The computer manoeuvres, which were held in the spirit of NATO’s Partnership
for Peace, included the preparation and conduct of a mission, in which a
multinational brigade of the coalition forces had to preserve peace in its focus
area. Its main goal was to improve interaction between the staffs and units,
make practical use of the lessons learnt from peacekeeping operations and
previous exercises and to improve understanding and cooperation between the
servicemen of different countries.
“The USA is grateful to Ukraine for jointly organizing the exercises such as
Rapid Trident that have been held over the past 12 years,” the deputy
commander of the US Army Europe, Gary Speer, said.

MICHEL PLATINI TO PAY SHORT VISIT TO ARMENIA
Armenpress
YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS: A famous French football player, Michel
Platini, will pay a short visit to Armenia on August 2. He is coming
at the invitation of Ruben Hayrapetian, the president of the Armenian
Football Federation (AFF).
Michel Platini is now vice president of the French Football Federation
and a member of FIFA and UEFA executive committees. In Armenia Platini
will attend the inauguration of a football field with artificial cover
in a Yerevan Avan district and will meet also some top government
officials.
Michel Platini was voted European footballer of the year (Ballon
d’Or) an unprecedented three times in succession, in 1983, 1984 and
1985. Platini was also voted World Soccer Player of the Year in 1984
and 1985.
On July 24 Platini announced his candidacy to become the UEFA
chairman. In the election he will face the current UEFA chairman,
the Swede Lennart Johansson.

ARMENIAN EXPERTS DOWNPLAY ISRAELI-ARAB CONFLICT’S IMPACT ON ARMENIA
Armenpress
YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS: An Armenian expert in Oriental studies
argued that the escalating situation in the Middle East is not having
and will not have any significant and direct impact on Armenia.
Nikolay Hovhanesian, the director of the Institute for Oriental
Studies, an affiliation of the National Academy of Sciences, told
Armenpress that the Israeli-Arab conflict may result in a peculiar
atmosphere to stir up serious concerns both in Armenia and the region
in general.
He said one of Armenia’s major concerns is what kind of
repercussions the conflict may have on relationships between
Armenia and the countries involved in the conflict, as well as on
Armenia’s relationships with other countries, which are behind the
conflict. “Though the escalating situation in the Middle East is
not very dangerous to Armenia, it, nevertheless, is not favorable
either. We have to evaluate the situation rightly,” he said.
He said another major reason of concern for Armenia is the fate
of a strong Armenian community of Lebanon. He said the presence of
this community may have a direct impact on Armenia, recalling the
aftereffects of the 1975-1985 civil war in Lebanon that had a tragic
impact on the Armenian community, forcing thousands of Armenians
to emigrate to Europe and USA and dwindling the community by tens
of thousands.
Hovhanesian said the escalating situation may trigger another wave of
Armenian out-emigration from Lebanon. The Armenian expert downplayed
speculations that the attack on Lebanon is part of a covert strategy
to weaken Iran’s influence in the region.
“Iran is an old, but developed nation in the region with a vast
territory and huge scientific potential and strengthening or weakening
of its influence in the region cannot be linked with Hezbollah,
Hammas or other organizations,” he opined.
He also emphasized Armenia’s relations with Iran saying this is
realized by all, including the USA, despite its strained relations
with Tehran.

ARMENIA TO BECOME MALARIA-FREE BY 2010
Armenpress
YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS: For centuries, malaria was wide spread
in many regions of Armenia, especially in Ararat valley. Intensive
malaria control measures in Soviet Armenia led to complete eradication
of the disease by 1963.
Malaria-free status was maintained till 1990s.
After 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the
situation became critical in terms of maintaining a malaria-free
status. The epidemic of malaria in 1994 was attributed in part to poor
socio-economic conditions in the country, resulting in disruption
of public health infrastructure and re-emergence of some infectious
diseases, including malaria.
In 1994, 196 malaria cases among military personnel were reported in
the country. In 1995, the number of imported cases increased to 502. In
the next year, 149 cases out of 347 were reported as autochthonous.
According to Lilit Avetisian from the health ministry, during
1997-1998, the number of reported cases (imported and autochthonous)
continued to rise, and a total of 1,156 cases were reported in 1998.
Malaria situation started to improve in 1999, when 616 Plasmodium vivax
cases were reported, of which 376 were from Masis district. In 2000,
the number of malaria cases (imported and autochthonous) continued to
decline and came to 140. There was a further decrease in the number
of reported malaria cases in 2001- 2005.
Lilit Avetisian said there is a plan of actions calling for effective
prevention and control measures to eliminate malaria completely
by 2010.

US CITIZENS THANK ARMENIAN EMBASSY IN LEBANON FOR THEIR SAFE TRANSPORTATION FROM LEBANON
Armenpress
YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS: USA citizens Andrew Lais and Marous Lais
sent a message of gratitude to the Armenian ambassador to Lebanon Vahan
Ter-Ghevondian and second secretary of the embassy Arsen Arakelian for
their assistance in organizing their safe transportation from Beirut
to Aleppo and then to Yerevan from where they flew back to Glendale.
The US citizens of Swiss descent together with their daughter, her
Armenian husband and two grandchildren traveled to Armenia on their
holiday and then decided to pay a four-day visit to Beirut.
After the military actions started in the Middle East they applied
to the USA embassy in Lebanon where they were told to register. As
native Swiss they also applied to the Swiss embassy the officials of
which told they will transport them as soon as possible.
Afterwards they learnt that the Armenian embassy and Armavia company
were transporting native Armenians to Aleppo and then to Yerevan. They
applied to the embassy and were safely transported to Aleppo, then
to Yerevan.
Andrew Lais and Marous Lais also thanked Armenian Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian for devoted and professional work of the Armenian
embassy.

VIKTOR SOGHOMONIAN: PRESIDENT POSITIVELY ESTIMATES SERGE SARGSIAN’S JOINING RPA
YEREVAN, JULY 25, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANDS TODAY. President Robert
Kocharian positively estimates the fact of RA Defence Minister,
Secretary of the National Security Council under RA President, Serge
Sargsian’s joining the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and heading
the party Board. President’s Spokesperson Viktor Soghomonian declared
this answering questions of Armenian media.
In the words of the President’s Spokesperson, “the joining of the
politician enjoying authority to RPA, as well as consolidation of
a number of other state figures is greeted and can have a positive
impact on the political sphere which is far from being perfect for
the present.”
Viktor Soghomonian also emphasized that “we deal with a positive
phenomenon, especially if we remember that over the past years we
more often witnessed processes of parties’ splits than consolidation
of different political forces or individuals around an ideology.”

VIENNA MAYOR’S OFFICE TO IMPLEMENT A NUMBER OF PROGRAMS IN GEGHARKUNIK REGION
GAVAR, JULY 25, NOYAN TAPAN. Issues relating to nature protection,
agriculture and tourism development were discussed at the recent
meeting of Gegharkunik Regional Governor Arsen Grigorian and
Foreign Relations Responsible Person of Vienna Mayors Office, Stefan
Rainer. The Austrian side planned these programs aimed at conservation
of Sevan ecological system as early as in 1999, but they were not
put into operation for different reasons.
“As programs worked out several years ago were not put into practice
for some reasons, a memorandum is to be again signed between the two
sides, their priority should be clarified,” Stefan Rainer said. It was
also mentioned that the programs will be mainly financed by Vienna
Mayor’s Office and the World Bank. Gegharkunik Governor in his turn
assured that the Regional Administration is for any program that will
contribute to economic development and poverty reduction in the region.

9 REPRESENTATIVES OF ARMENIA INCLUDED IN COMMISSIONS OF EUROPEAN BOXING UNION
YEREVAN, JULY 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The sitting of the European Boxing
Union (EBU) Executive Committee took place on July 24. Thanks to
organizations Vice-Chairman Derenik Gabrielian for the first time a
great number, 9, Armenians were included in the acting commissions. And
D.Gabrielian also became First Deputy Chairman of the Commission
of Judges.