AZERI DM SAYS HIS GOVERNMENT WANTS PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT
Armenpress
May 31 2006
BAKU, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS: Azerbaijani defense minister Safar Abiyev
said his government wanted a peaceful solution to the Karabakh
conflict. Abiyev was quoted by Trend news agency as saying that
possibilities for peaceful settlement of the conflict did not run
out yet.
“Now is the time to take up a principled and objective stance- to
recognize Armenia as aggressor, to demand that it respect international
laws and pull out its troops from occupied Azerbaijani territories,”
he was quoted by Trend as saying.
He said the people of Azerbaijan will never out up with occupation
of their land and will apply all ways to restore its territorial
integrity stipulated by international laws. Abiyev made the remarks
while addressing a CIS Defense Ministers Council meeting in Baku.
Armenia refused to send defense minister Serzh Sarkisian to Baku to
attend the meeting because Azeri authorities failed to guarantee
the security of the Armenian delegation. The Armenian ministry of
defense said in a statement it has been informed by the Moscow-based
Secretariat of the Council that the Azeri authorities have refused
to guarantee the security of the Armenian participants.

ARMENIA JOINS QUIT AND WIN ANTI-SMOKING CAMPAIGN
Armenpress
May 31 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS: Armenia joined an international
anti-smoking campaign, Quit and Win, in 2004. The campaign is held
once in every two year in all big cities of the planet . In 2004 some
100 countries and more than 1 million participated in it.
In 2004 in Armenia 450 people responded to the call to quit smoking
and 111 managed to resist the temptation to smoke doing the campaign’s
span , but only 35 quit smoking for ever.
This year the anti-smoking campaign was held from May 2 to May 29
and out of 588 smokers 25 resisted the temptation and after passing a
special test they reached the final stage . Some of the winners were
given precious presents. Two, a male and a female, will also travel
to Finland to take part in an international prize winning event.
However, according to Armenian doctors, the number of smokers in
Armenia is on the constant rise Some experts estimate that more than
half of all males are smokers. They say the number of smoking women
also increases, the bulk of them in Yerevan.

BURNS SUPPER AND THE BRITISH EMBASSY HELP MOTHERS AND CHILDREN IN GEGHARKUNIK AND LORI MARZ
Armenpress
May 31 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS: The British Embassy in Armenia held a
press conference today to mark the handover of funds raised at the
2006 Burns Supper to the beneficiary, Project Nova.
This year the 8th annual Burns Supper raised AMD 9 Million ($20,000),
for the purchase of much needed medical equipment for the Martuni
Community Maternity Hospital in Gegharkunik Marz. The purchase of
the equipment will be arranged by Project NOVA, which will receive
the money on behalf of the beneficiary on the day of press conference.
Through its partner, Project NOVA, will provide an E150 Breeze
Ventilator to the Martuni Maternity hospital. There are approximately
1100 babies delivered in this hospital each year of which about 120
need intensive care.
Martuni Maternity Hospital also looks after women with complicated
pregnancies both from the Martuni and the Vardenis regions of
the marz. This donation will provide the necessary intensive care
facilities on-site so that there will no longer be a need to refer
babies and pregnant women to clinics in Yerevan.
Additionally, a small portion of this donation will be used to renovate
an ultrasound device in Alaverdi Maternity Hospital to upgrade the
diagnostic capacity of the clinic. The 2006 Burns Supper raised
funds through the sale of the tickets and through an auction on the
night. The impressive amount raised was due to the generous support
of sponsors: HSBC bank, the Marriott Armenia hotel, the Yerevan Brandy
Factory, Hovnanian International and British Airways.
The embassy said it was also very grateful to the generous prizes
offered in the auction by the following companies: London-Yerevan
insurance company, Tufenkian Rugs, Artbridge cafe, Hugo Boss, Davidoff,
First Floor arts salon, Dolmama restaurant, Phoenicia restaurant,
Arena bowling club and Litte medical center.
The Burns Supper was started by close friends of Burns a few years
after his death in 1796 as a tribute to his memory. For about 200
years on or around his birthday, January 25th, Scots both at home and
abroad remember Robert Burns enjoying a traditional Scottish meal,
the drinking of Scottish whiskey and the recitation of works by,
about, and in the spirit of Robert Burns.
This year the USAID-supported Project NOVA began its work in Kotayk
and Gegharkunik Marzes to strengthen access to maternal and child
health services among rural populations.
The project collaborates with the maternity hospitals, outpatient
women’s consultations and rural primary health care facilities to
reinforce their capacity to offer higher quality of life. Project
activities include training, equipping and upgrading rural health
posts and strengthening the overall management and supervision of care.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN STUDENTS TO FIGHT FOR ECOLOGY
Panorama.am
17:12 31/05/06
About 40 students from different regions of Armenia will participate
in the solution of nature protection challenges in the regions
of Armenia. Today Forest Armenia public organization summed up
long-term projects which were launched in December 2004. During that
time, a number of seminars were held and 4 out of 12 public ecology
organizations were selected to conduct seminars and training courses
for totally 150 students. According to Mher Sharoyan, coordinator
on relations with public organizations, at the end of the project
most active 40 students were selected who will cooperate with the
selected public organizations and local government units to raise
environmental challenges at the government through their donors.

FROM ARMENIA TO COLUMBIA IS ONE STEP IF YOU HANG THE FLAG UPSIDE DOWN
Panorama.am
17:33 31/05/06
Today NA extraordinary session discussed the draft law “On state
flag of Armenia.” The draft was submitted by the Ministry of Culture
and Youth Affairs on behalf of the Armenian government. NA decided
to give a rapid solution to the draft with all three readings to be
concluded today.
NA session started with 99 deputies but during the discussion of the
draft law only some 20 deputies were left. NA deputy Viktor Dallakyan
expressed his concern saying that he cannot understand those deputies
who have initiated this extraordinary session but are not present
during the discussion of the draft law.
V. Dallakyan was asked two compare this government-initiated draft with
the one proposed by Orinats Yerkir. “It is not within parliamentary
ethics that the draft proposed by Orinats Yerkir is not discussed
any more. It would be better to have it as an alternative,” he
said. However, he prefers the one submitted by the government though
it has its shortcomings as well. V. Dallakyan thinks that the flag of
Armenia should be stuck on the cars of the Armenian president, prime
minister and NA Chairman. He has suggested that in the parliament.
NA plans to finish the discussion of the draft and adopt it as soon
as tomorrow.

MICROPHONE WENT INTO ANDRE’S MOUTH IN SEMIFINAL
Panorama.am
16:20 31/05/06
During the semi-final of Eurovision, the microphone went into Andre’s
mouth that’s why the singer missed several lines of the song. “Many
people thought that I was so confused that I forgot the lines but it
is not so,” the singer told a press conference today. As the singer
told earlier, some among the audience heard neither the music nor the
voice. Besides, the dance partly disturbed his breathing. According
to Andre, the best voice was ensured during the performance of the
singers from Greece and Cyprus.
Andre thinks that this should not be end for hard work, as the
competition evaluated neither vocal nor voice merits but god knows
what. “The Finn came to tease the competition but as you saw they
won the contest,” Andre says.
Andre tries to get rest after the contest. In Athens as well he was
a lot in nature and did not read newspapers. Speaking about Turkish
score of 10 votes, Andre mentioned that he was not surprised. He thinks
not only the Armenian community abroad helped him to win but also
other nationals. He is discontent with the votes from Scandinavian
countries which considerably decreased his score. To the question
who he would like to see in Eurovision next year, Andre said, “Let
go the one who is the most deserving.”

ARMENIAN OMBUDSMAN TO DEAL WITH HERITAGE CASE
Panorama.am
14:53 31/05/06
Yesterday evening the leader of Jarangutiun (Heritage) party Raffi
Hovhannisyan addressed a letter to Human Rights Ombudsman which ,
according to Armen Harutunyan, reported about a crime case. Such
complaints-applications are forwarded to respected bodies, Armen
Harutunyan said. However, according to R. Hovhannisyan they have
been to all concerned instances concerning the case of the closing
the party office.
On May 29 by the ruling of Kentron and Nork-Marash community first
instance court and in the presence of law-enforcement bodies, the door
of the office was opened and the keys handed to party representatives.
The court ruling was based on R. Hovhannisyan’s civil lawsuit. 24
hours after the office was opened, the law enforcement bodies again
closed it. According to Raffi Hovhannisyan, “this act is illegal,
unfair and does not comply with court decision.”
Today A. Harutunyan said he is going to forward the information to
prosecutor’s office and promised to monitor the case.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MONITORING ON YEREVAN MUNICIPALITY HELD
Panorama.am
14:27 31/05/06
Liberalization Processes Monitoring National Center (LPMNC) is engaged
in public work to promote transparency of municipal activities. The
monitoring is conducted with “Yerevan municipality public monitoring”
project which has won a tender organized by the presidential order,
costing AMD 3 mln. The monitoring specialists are surprised with open
and welcoming attitude of the municipality employees “The opinion
that municipality is a close structure does not meet the reality,”
Lusine Margaryan LPMNC head told a press conference today.
The monitoring is conducted in 4 main fields. It answers to the
following questions: how are auctions on land conducted; how does the
system of “one window” work; what is the state of state subsidies in
health care; what takes place in the educational system. The project
responsible persons have held meetings with health care and education
employees. They have discovered that school councils fail to meet
their functions at school. They have also unveiled money fraud and
corruption at schools.
More miserable situation is observed at health care policlinics. The
quality of health care has sharply gone down despite of increased
state subsidies.
The monitoring specialists have also studied “one window” system
newly introduced at the municipality.
“Until yesterday the municipality web page posted only one news. This
is a new structure and should be supported,” Lusine Margaryan says.
The monitoring responsibles failed to receive information on
auctions of land. They have been told that it is huge pile of
information.

PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW WHAT QUESTIONS TO ADDRESS TO OMBUDSMAN
Panorama.am
14:03 31/05/06
Summing up his 100 days in office, human rights ombudsman Armen
Haroutunyan said that 770 complaints were received during that time,
550 of which in written form. “There are not many complaints from the
regions, only several dozens,” he said. He is, however, sure that the
low number of complaints from the regions is connected with technical
problems. It does not mean that people in the region have nothing to
compain on human rights.
In the words of the ombudsman, 3 months are not long enough to make
statistical analyses. So, he prefered to bring statistics after
6 months. However, he said almost half of the complaints are not
related to his authority. Therefore, they are just ignored.
A. Harutunyan also said that most letters do not address a specific
public official but name the structure in which he/she works. However,
the ombudsman assured that they send official letters to the mentioned
structures to solve the issues raised.

VLADIMIR KARAPETIAN: IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS REFERENDUM REMAINS RECOGNIZED AND CIVILIZED WAY OF EXPRESSING PEOPLE’S RIGHT
Noyan Tapan
May 31 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 31, NOYAN TAPAN. “We greet the decision of Chernogoria
authori ties and people to create an independent state. We congratulate
and wish success to the people of Chernogoria in the issue of building
their statehood,” Vladimir Karapetian, Acting Spokesperson of RA
Foreign Ministry, declared commenting upon the results of the May
21 referendum held in Chernogoria at the request of mass media. RA
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson emphasized that in this peaceful
divorce Armenia especially attaches importance to the fact that the
Chernogoria people’s right of self-determination was expressed through
a referendum, “which is a proof that in the international relations
the referendum remains a recognized and civilized way of settlement
of such issues and expressing the people’s right.”