YUNUSOV: AFTER CONFLICT SETTLEMENT RUSSIA WILL BE FORCED OUT OF SOUTH CAUCASUS
PanARMENIAN.Net
31.05.2006 13:33 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Russian leadership and experts say Russia
is not interested in frozen conflicts, head of the Department of
Conflictology at the Baku Institute of Peace and Democracy, political
scientist Arif Yunusov stated. “In some cases I believe in sincerity
of such statements but unfortunately the line pursued by the Russian
leadership proves the opposite,” he remarked.
In Yunusov’s words, geopolitical confrontation has developed in the
post-soviet space between the western states, first of all the United
States, and Russia.
“Russia understand perfectly that after the settlement of conflicts,
for example the Nagorno Karabakh one, Russia will be forced out of
the region. It’s not a secret. Russia doesn’t possess sufficient
fund to counteract these plans. Even if it possessed such, it lacks
understanding of the necessity of spending funds for strengthening
its influence in the post-soviet republics, the Azeri political
scientist emphasized.
Yunusov is convinced that the soviet standpoint on the post-soviet
republics reigns in Russia while the frozen conflicts, including
the Nagorno Karabakh one, are an excellent factor for Russia for
maintaining influence until it becomes strong enough to re-boost its
influence in the post-soviet space, reported Day.az.

KARABAKH AND CYPRIOT CONFLICTS MAY BE SETTLED WITH CONSENT OF SIDES ONLY
PanARMENIAN.Net
31.05.2006 13:55 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia’s position is to watch and comprehend the
Cypriot and Karabakh conflicts, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Ivanov told reporters in Turkey. “These conflicts can hardly be
compared but they both can be settled with the consent of sides
only. Russia not only watches the Karabakh and Cypriot conflicts
but also assists in international efforts for their settlement. In
case with Nagorno Karabakh – within the OSCE Minsk Group framework,
in case with Cyprus – within the U.N. Security Council. In both cases
our efforts are targeted at maintenance of direct dialogue in order
to find a mutually admissible result.
The RF Foreign Minister underscored that Russia promotes development
of contacts between Northern and Southern Cyprus, first of in
the humanitarian sector, and stands for normalization of economic
interaction between the two parts of the island. “Practice proves
that contacts of the kind improve the atmosphere of the talks and
strengthen trust. The common economic space of Cyprus should serve
a basis for the further political settlement,” he said, reported the
department of press and information of the Russian MFA.

ARMENIA AND TURKEY HOLD SECRET TALKS, TURKISH SOURCES SAY
PanARMENIAN.Net
31.05.2006 14:35 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Secret talks between Turkey and Armenia, launched
after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter to Armenian
President Robert Kocharian, have failed to make any headway coming
out of their third round. A part of the third session of secret talks
was held on the sidelines of the Turkey-European Union Troika meeting
in Vienna, Austria last March. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul closely
followed the meetings with Armenian officials that were kept secret
from the media, CNN-Turk reported. Sources say that the Armenian
response reached Ankara early this month to Turkey’s suggestion
for the establishment of two committees to discuss mutual relations
wasn’t welcomed, and the answer “to the Turkish suggestions that they
received was watered down.”
The Turkish side had proposed the establishment of two committees
to simultaneously hold talks on political issues and the Armenian
Genocide. In response, Yerevan rejected the Turkish suggestions. It
underlined that scholars can debate the issue in conferences.
Nevertheless Armenia did request the revival of political talks between
the two countries. Following Yerevan’s objection to the establishment
of the two committees, including one comprised of historians from
both countries to study the Armenian genocide claims, Ankara is now
preparing for the fourth round of secret talks. Foreign Ministry
officials underlined that continued debates over the genocide claims
have “poisoned” Turkey’s relations with other countries.
Ankara will continue to exert effort to find a middle ground and
to solve its problems with Yerevan, they added, reported The New
Anatolian.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEW SPEAKER ELECTION DELAYED TO JUNE 1
PanARMENIAN.Net
31.05.2006 15:11 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The election of the new Speaker of the Armenian
National Assembly will be held on Thursday Vice-speaker Tigran
Torosian told reporters today. Besides, the deputies will elect
the chairmen of permanent parliamentary commission on defense, home
affairs and national security and of the commission on social issues,
health and ecology. “The change of the terms is conditioned by the
discussion of some legislative initiatives,” he said. To remind,
May 11 Orinats Yerkir party announced the decision to secede from the
ruling coalition over discrepancies on home and foreign policy. May
29 Artur Baghdassaryan formally left the post of the parliament
Speaker. Head of the permanent parliamentary commission on defense,
home affairs and national security Mher Shahgeldian and chairman of
the commission on social issues, health and ecology Gagik Mkheyan
also handed in resignation.

US CONGRESSMEN ASK ERDOGAN’S HELP FOR IRAN
Author: À.Mammadov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
May 31 2006
(zaman.com) – The US House of Representatives asked Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to step in to help solve the Iranian
nuclear crisis without arms.
Steny Hoyer, the second highest Democrat in the House, and Roy Blunt
from the Republican Party visited Erdogan at his office Tuesday
to discuss the isolations imposed on Iran, Iraq, the Middle East,
the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and allegations about the
so-called Armenian genocide, reports Trend.
The American representatives expressed their anxiety regarding Iran’s
nuclear program and stressed that the issue should be resolved through
diplomacy. Therefore, they asked Erdogan to play an active role in
the solution process as they also supported Erdogan’s offer to form
a commission of historians to explore the allegations concerning the
so-called genocide.
–Boundary_(ID_aGixCG0Tja3cQ5zWxu3c+w)- –

MOTTO OF SUDETEN GERMAN DAYS’ EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE-HISTORIAN
Czech News Agency
May 29, 2006 Monday
Munich, May 29 (CTK) – The motto of this year’s traditional Sudeten
German Days that will take place in Nuremberg next weekend is extremely
aggressive, the most aggressive in the history of these rallies,
German historian Martin Schulze Wessel says in the daily Sueddeutsche
Zeitung today. The motto, Expulsion is genocide, does not correspond
to historic reality, but it indicates those unclear but wide demands
towards the Czech Republic and clearly harms Czech-German relations,
Wessel says. “The expulsion is genocide – the future belongs to the
right for a homeland.” Even at the time of the Cold War the Sudeten
German Landsmannschaft rallies’ motto had never been so aggressive.
What do they mean by this?” the author asks and points out that it
is no coincidence that the German terms for genocide and expulsion
differ – they both express evil, but describe different kind of
injustice. The scientific research of genocides aroused the question
of where is the line dividing forced transfer and genocide, but only in
the case of the Holocaust of Jews and the extermination of Armenians by
Turks in 1915 it is possible to put the sign of equation between both
terms. Although the expulsion of Germans from the former Czechoslovakia
was accompanied, especially in the initial phase, by atrocities and
the deaths of tens of thousands of people were expected there was no
planned intention of physical extermination of the German-speaking
population, and the Sudeten Germans had a country that admitted them
– Germany to which they have integrated with the remarkable effort,
Wessels says. The fate of the Sudeten Germans was bad enough so why
there are efforts today to exaggerate it and put it on the level of
genocide? he asks. It is a political message, but given that the Nazis
prepared a real genocide of the Czech people since 1940 it can only
harm Czech-German relations, the says. The second part of this year’s
motto – the future belongs to the right for a homeland – can provoke
the impression that the Sudeten Germans are interested in restitution
and compensation. They still have the “return of their homeland back”
put as a goal in their programme. “If it is viewed metaphorically,
it is all right but to perceive it very specifically it can mean a
revisionist goal,”Wessels says. “To put the expulsion on the level
of genocide creates a moral reproach of the greatest calibre towards
Czechs and in connection with the right for a homeland it forms the
basis for the demands of a not quite specified revision,” he says. It
is not therefore surprising that 38 percent of Czechs believe that
it is possible for the German government to once raise the claim for
the regions that were populated by Germans in the past or to demand
the compensation and the same part of the population suspect the
Landsmannschaft of really pursuing these goals. Only four percent
of Czechs believe that the Expellees’ associations pursue friendly
contacts, Wessel says. These findings should alarm politicians
because the image of the nations is also decisive for other decisions,
for instance, about investments or language studies. Many positive
initiatives by the Sudeten Germans in Czech-German relations do not
unfortunately have any chance in this media atmosphere to win over
the persuasive slogans by expellees’ unions’ leaders, Wessel, who
is a deputy chairman of the Czech-German commission of historians
says. Sudeten German Landsmannschaft leader Bernd Posselt had
rejected his statements in an interview with the German news agency
dpa. He described Wessel as a politicising scientist who crosses his
powers. According to Posselt, modern historical science describes any
form of expulsion as genocide. The expellees do not want to lacerate
old wounds but they want to prevent similar events from being repeated
in the future.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION: “COMPANIES AND ORGANIZATIONS LIAISING WITH NK MAY FACE SANCTIONS”
Today, Azerbaijan
May 31 2006
“Northern Cyprus and Nagorno Karabakh conflicts should not be put
into the same position, because these problems are quite different
from each other,” said Emma Udwin, Special Representative of The
European Union (EU) New Neighborhood Policy Programme Commissioner.
Saying in her interview to APA that the Northern Cyprus conflict is
now at the stage of discussions, Udwin has noted its delicacy and
urgency. “It is not right to parallel these two conflicts”.
Andreas Herdina, EU New Neighborhood Policy Sectors Coordinator, has
stated that the union is not aware of EU member countries’ companies
and organizations business connections with Nagorno Karabakh.
“The European Commission can apply sanctions against those entities
if there is a fact on this case”.
Mr. Herdina has also talked for parallel negotiations with each of
South Caucasian countries in the framework of New Neighborhood Policy.
“We want cooperation to be made with all of the three countries and
we find no reasonable cause for discrimination between Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Armenia.”
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEW SPEAKER OF ARMENIAN NA TO BE ELECTED ON MAY 31
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
May 31 2006
Yerevan, May 30. /ARKA/. On May 31, 2006, a special session of the
RA Parliament is to elect the new Speaker as well as Chairmen of two
Parliamentary Commissions.
Vice-Speaker of the RA Parliament has signed a decree convening a
special session of the RA Parliament.
The parliamentary factions Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), ARF
Dashnaktsutyun and United Workers Party, as well as the deputy groups
“People’s Deputy” and “Entrepreneur” are expected to nominate Tigran
Torosyan to the post of Speaker of the RA Parliament.
On May 25, 2006, the RA parliament accepted the resignation of Chairman
of the Parliamentary Commission for Defense, Internal Affairs and
National Security Mher Shahgelsyan and Chairman of the and Commission
for Social Affairs Health and Ecology Gagik Mkheyan.

“GOLOS ARMENII” WEEKLY TO BE PUBLISHED IN ARMENIAN
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
May 30 2006
YEREVAN, May 30. /ARKA/. “Golos Armenii” weekly will be published in
Armenian beginning from tomorrow on, editor-in-chief of “Golos Armenii”
Flora Nakhshkaryan reported.
“Over the 15 years of activity, the editorial staff has received a
pile of letters with the wish to read the newspaper in Armenian. This
was the editorial staff’s desire. However, according to her,
implementation of these was impeded by numerous obstacles, first of
all, the financial one.
“Finally, though some problems have not been solved, we started
implementation of our long-standing goal. From now on the Armenian
reader will get an opportunity to read the newspaper in the native
language,” she said.
According to Nakhsharyan, the weekly will contain materials and
comments on the urgent events of the week, political and economic
life and important dates.
She added that part of the space in the newspaper will be allocated
for foreign press digest with publications reflecting processes that
are immediately related to Armenia and the region on the whole.
“It is symbolic that the first publication of the weekly coincides
with the 15th anniversary of ‘Golos Armenii’,” she said.

THE GAVAR RESIDENTS ARE PREPARING FOR A FESTIVAL
A1+
[08:22 pm] 30 May, 2006
Active rehearsals have started in the Gavar State Dramatic theatre
after Levon Qalantaryan. The staff of the theatre is preparing for
the festival which will be held on July 3.
The festival is devoted to the 80th anniversary of renowned actress
Metaqsya Simonyan and will be held in the State theatre after Gabriel
Sundukyan. The play “Mother Kuraj” will be staged by the Gavar actors.
Chief producer of the theatre Garnik Poghosyan claims that they
attached their attention mainly to the women’s characters. The
performance will be named “The women and the war.” The actors were
concerned with the success of the performance before the rehearsals.
The concern is most likely determined by the fact that we don’t act,”
noted RA renowned actress Anahit Movsesyan with regret and added
they last acted on the stage in 2005. The performance “The women and
the war” will be staged in Gavar on June 10 – 15 before being staged
in Yerevan.
TV Company “Kyavar” of Gavar.