No change of the OSCE Minsk Group structure possible without the consent of
Armenia and Azerbaijan
ArmRadio.am
20.07.2006 13:28
“No expansion or change of the structure of the OSCE Minsk Group is
possible without the consent of the Armenian and Azeri sides,” acting
Spokesman of RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Karapetyan said,
commenting on the information disseminated by Azeri media, according
to which “Washington has launched secret talks with Moscow and Paris
on expanding the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.”
“We question the authenticity of this information,” noted Vladimir
Karapetyan, adding that the Armenian side has not been addressed with
the question.

NKR MFA refutes the Azeri reports on the violation of the cease-fire
ArmRadio.am
20.07.2006 13:46
NKR Ministry of Defenses refuted the recurrent report of the Azeri
media on the breach of the cease-fire regime.
“It is the recurrent false report, misinformation and propaganda,”
Press Secretary of NKR Ministry of Defense Senor Asratan told “ArmInfo”
correspondent, commenting on the reports of the Azeri media on the
breach of the cease-fire in the direction of Aghdam. Senor Asratyan
reconfirmed Karabakh’s commitment to the maintenance of the cease-fire
regime.

250 RA citizens and Armenians left Beirut for Syria
ArmRadio.am
20.07.2006 15:09
The Armenian Embassy in Beirut continues evacuation of its citizens
from Lebanon. Acting Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Vladimir Karapetyan informs that 5 buses are currently transporting
250 passengers to Aleppo from Beirut. Up to the Syrian border they
will be accompanied by two collaborates of the Armenian Embassy, who
will help to cross the border, considering the large accumulation of
those willing to leave Lebanon. Under normal conditions the trip from
Beirut to Aleppo takes 6-7 hours. Now it will last longer because of
the overcrowding and congestion. According to Vladimir Karapetyan,
in addition to the 250 people who have already been evacuated, names
of another 50-60 are included in the lists of the Armenian Embassy in
Beirut. Vladimir Karapetyan refuted the reports that the Israeli troops
started bombarding the Christian districts. “The Christian districts
are not being attacked. Yesterday a lorry was intentionally exploded,
and this brought about the reports on the attacks of the Christian
districts,” he noted.
In the Spokesman’s words, about 70 percent of those who left Lebanon
with the support of RA Embassy are Armenian citizens.
“The Embassy assists only those who apply the Embassy,” Vladimir
Karapetyan said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian boxer Hovhannes Danielyan celebrates his
next victory in the European Chapionship
ArmRadio.am
20.07.2006 15:40
Armenian boxer Hovhannes Danielyan of Yerevan celebrated his recurrent
victory in the European Boxing Championship held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria,
beating Jeyhun Aliev from Azerbaijan. Hrachyan Javakhyan of Vanadzor
celebrated victory over Kshishtoff Sott, Artak Malumyan of Yerevan
lost Arthur Beterbiev of Russia. Samvel Matevosyan lost to Alexander
Stretski of Ukraine.

Lebanese Armenians to be settled in Karabakh – Azeri TV
Lider TV, Baku
20 Jul 06
Armenians comprise seven per cent of the Lebanese population. According
to latest reports, 90 per cent of Armenians have already left Lebanon
for Armenia, which is in a difficult condition.
The Armenian parliament adopted a decision on 19 July to settle the
Armenians who have left Lebanon on the territory of Nagornyy Karabakh.

Armenia evacuates citizens, ethnic Armenians from Lebanon
AP Worldstream; Jul 19, 2006
More than 180 Armenian citizens were being evacuated from Lebanon
Wednesday amid intensifying fighting between Israeli forces and
Hezbollah guerillas, Armenian government officials said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Karapetian said diplomats in both
Lebanon and Syria were coordinating the pullout, with both Armenian
citizens and ethnic Armenians living in Lebanon converging on the
Armenian Consulate in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
A Syrian airliner carrying about 70 Armenians was expected in the
Armenian capital Yerevan Wednesday, he said, and more were expected
to arrive on an Armenian airliner later in the day.
About 1,200 Armenian citizens were reported to be in Lebanon as the
fighting erupted last week, Karapetian said.
Lebanon has a sizable population of ethnic Armenians, many of whom
are descendants of those who fled what is today Turkey after World
War I amid a series of mass killings. An estimated 120,000 ethnic
Armenians live in the country today _ some 50,000 in Beirut alone.
Russia, meanwhile, sent two planes to Latakia, Syria to begin
evacuating its citizens fleeing Lebanon. Buses brought more than 200
Russians to Syria on Tuesday, and about 1,000 others were to be bused
in on Wednesday and eventually flown to Moscow, officials and news
reports said.

Armenian ministry questions Azeri report of US-French-Russian secret talks
Arminfo
19 Jul 06
Yerevan, 19 July: The Armenian Foreign Ministry has questioned the
authenticity of a report by the Azerbaijani newspaper Ayna, quoted by
Radio Liberty, saying that “Washington has launched secret talks with
Moscow and Paris in order to expand the composition of the OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairs on the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict”.
“We doubt the authenticity of this report. It is impossible to
change the composition of the co-chairmen without the consent of the
conflicting parties,” Vladimir Karapetyan, acting press secretary of
the Armenian Foreign Ministry,
has told our Arminfo correspondent.
According to diplomatic sources, the Azerbaijani newspaper maintains
that the USA wants to see Britain, Germany and Turkey among the
co-chairmen. “If the negotiations are successful, the conflicting
parties will be informed about this,” the newspaper reports.
At the same time, the author of the article expressed his doubts that
the negotiations will yield results soon, since Armenia is against
expanding the format of the co-chairmen.

“Information blockade” imposed on defence minister – Armenian paper
Iravunk, Yerevan
18 Jul 06
Text of unattributed report by Armenian newspaper Iravunk on 18 July
headlined “Is the “super minister” in an information blockade?”
According to a source close to the president’s office, a political
decision has been made to restrict television appearances by [Defence
Minister] Serzh Sarkisyan and people close to him.
In fact, this decision is aimed at imposing an information blockade
on the “super minister”. According to the source, this is a special
“punishment” meted out to Sarkisyan by the presidential office.
Certainly, this does not mean that Sarkisyan will be completely
deprived of airtime on television, as some TV channels, which
are under his direct influence, can ignore the decision of the
presidential office.
Some newspapers and media organizations are also backed by the
defence minister.
But we should wait for the parliamentary election campaign and see
if TV companies treat Armenia’s “second man” the way they treated
the opposition.

Azeri president to visit Moscow on 21-22 July
Trend news agency
19 Jul 06
Baku, 19 July: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is planning to visit
Moscow on 21-22 July, the head of the foreign relations department
of the Azerbaijani presidential administration, Novruz Mammadov,
has said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
Mammadov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been inviting
the leaders of CIS countries to an informal summit for several
years now. The agenda of the meeting has not been drafted since it
is informal.
“The positive nature of such meetings is that issues of mutual
interest can be discussed during informal conversations,” Mammadov
said. He said that a range of regional and international issues might
be discussed at the summit.
Mammadov said that this meeting will be interesting and President
Putin will speak about the results of the G8 summit, which was recently
held in St Petersburg.
“It is also important to us because issues concerning the
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagornyy Karabakh conflict were discussed at
the summit,” Mammadov said.

NATO official denies making proposals on Armenian-Azeri conflict
Arminfo
19 Jul 06
Yerevan, 19 July: The president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly,
Pierre Lellouche, has described as groundless rumours the report by
a source in the Azerbaijani parliament that he has prepared proposals
for the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents on the settlement of the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, Pierre Lellouche himself has told Arminfo.
Lellouche also denied the report, which was covered by the media
in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, that he intends “to present the
conflicting parties with several ideas which will make it possible
to avoid political and other complications after the signing of a
peace agreement”.
The president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly also described as
baseless rumours the report that he intends to offer the conflicting
sides a number of economic dividends in exchange for compromises that
Azerbaijan and Armenia will make in order to solve the problem, as
well as the report about his possible visit to Azerbaijan and Armenia
this autumn. According to the source from the Azerbaijani parliament,
he will submit his “initiatives” during his visit.