Discussions of the Electoral Code held in the National Assembly
ArmRadio.am
18.07.2006 16:25
During the consultations called by Chairman of the National Assembly
Tigran Torosyan representatives of the Parliamentary groups and
factions continued the preliminary discussions of the amendments to
RA Electoral Code. In the result, principles of solution regarding
a number of Venice Commission suggestions were formulated.
PR Office of the National Assembly informs that he next discussion
of the Electoral Code is scheduled July 21.

EU Special Envoy for the South Caucasus to arrive in Armenia July 24
ArmRadio.am
18.07.2006 17:00
July 24-25 EU Special Envoy for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby will
be paying a visit to Armenia. Press Secretary of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs Vladimir Karapetyan informs that during the meetings
with the leadership of Armenia reference will be made to EU-Armenia
bilateral relations and the current state of settlement of the Karabakh
conflict. In the framework of the regional visit Peter Semneby is
scheduled to visit also Azerbaijan and Georgia.
To remind, Peter Semneby undertook his liabilities on March 1,
replacing Finnish diplomat Heiki Talvitie. As EU Special Representative
Semneby paid his first visit to the region in April.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Vazgen Manukyan assesses the latest suggestions of the mediator incomparably
better
ArmRadio.am
18.07.2006 17:35
“The last document connected with the settlement of the Karabakh
issue, which is more or less spoken about, is inconsiderably better,”
declared NA Deputy, President of the of the National Democratic Union
Vazgen Manukyan.
In his words, although he does not agree with the new suggestions,
but he assesses these positive as compared with the previous ones.
“None of the existing documents can suggest the resolution of the
issue,” Vazgen Manukyan assured.
In his words, the parties may make concessions in regard to
territories, refuges, economy, communications, etc., but the core of
the conflict is Nagorno Karabakh.
Therefore, if there is no agreement over this core issue, the question
cannot be resolved via signing a document. Vazgen Manukyan reminded
that the world history knows one similar case, when a territory was
taken from one party and transferred to another one, despite there
was no such will.
According to the speaker, the talks should continue, and it is useful
for Azerbaijan. According to Vazgen Manukyan, the group engaged in
the negotiations is carrying out its obligations with a great skill.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Georgy Petrosyan: Achievement of solutions possible only with participation of NKR authorities
ArmRadio.am
18.07.2006 17:45
Commenting upon the statements of made during the summit of the Group
of Eight countries in Saint Petersburg, NKR Foreign Minister Georgy
Petrosyan said in particular, “One may only welcome a statement of the
G8 countries on maintenance of the intermediary efforts of the OSCE
Minsk Group and on necessity of co-ordination of the core principles
of the conflict’s peaceful resolution.
Nagorno Karabakh has always come out in favor of peaceful resolution of
the problem and is ready to exert every effort to achieve the agreement
on establishing long-term peace in the region. Unfortunately, not
everything depends on the mediators. Considering Azerbaijan’s extremely
destructive position and its unwillingness to be in any contact with
Nagorno Karabakh it is very difficult to find an acceptable and
correct solution to date. The President of the Russian Federation
has fairly noted that Russia is not going to impose any solutions on
the parties to the conflict and that the compromise must be reached
by people. Taking into account the Russian Federation’s readiness
to become a guarantor of the agreements’ fulfillment, we remind once
again that the achievement of solutions directly concerning the future
of our country and our people is possible only with participation of
representatives of legally elected authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic, the main and the most suffered party to the conflict”.

ARMENIA ALREADY NEEDS A DEFENSE MINISTER
By HAKOB BADALYAN
Lragir.am
18 July 06
The internal political situation in Armenia is entering a rather
interesting stage, for the period of orientation of the minister of
defense is ending. On July 22 it will be over, and we will learn what
position Serge Sargsyan will have in the Republican Party. Then the
activity of all the spheres of life of Armenia may normalize because
people will stop taking interest in the plans of the defense minister
and will mind their own duties.
But if Serge Sargsyan’s membership to the Republican Party may help
restore the normal schedule of work, it will hardly be possible
to say the same about the sphere led by Serge Sargsyan. It is
possible that the defense minister will occupy a rather high post
in the Republican Party. So high that he will not be inferior to
Andranik Margaryan. They even say it is going to be the post of the
co-leader of the party. What is the point of his membership if he is
not going to have an influential lever in the party? It is true that
a post is not essential to having levers, especially in the case of
Serge Sargsyan, for in the post of defense minister he had almost
presidential power. At least, everyone in the public and political
sphere thought him to have. The same can be inside the Republican
Party. Now the situation is different, however.
Serge Sargsyan has already adopted a policy of formal
powers. Therefore, he acquired posts in the spheres of economy,
education and even sport. In other words, the defense minister
either formalized his powers or simply tried his best to acquire
these powers because if one or two years ago he could nourish the
myth about his almightiness because he was the most reliable person
for Robert Kocharyan, now everything is different. It is obvious that
Serge Sargsyan is not the only reliable person for Robert Kocharyan,
let alone the most reliable one. There is a lot of evidence to
this. The most recent evidence is Vardan Oskanyan’s speech on July
14, when the foreign minister made a speech on home policies, in
fact. And it is more notable that it happened on the day when Serge
Sargsyan announced that he submitted an application for membership to
the Republican Party. Obviously, stopping to be Robert Kocharyan’s
“favorite son” (though he may have never been such), Serge Sargsyan
had no other way out but to gain as much formal levers as possible,
which he will need for his political plans, because he cannot go on
to rely on Robert Kocharyan’s levers any longer.
The administrative-criminal resource too, reliant on the defense
minister, has already started accepting “cash” only, and wants to
make sure that the “boss” really has power, he is the formal bearer
of power. In this case, a leading post in the Republican Party is
not just a caprice or a matter of choice for Serge Sargsyan. It is
a vital necessity. In fact, it is evident that it takes the defense
minister five minutes to become a public political-party figure. And
he kickstarted the activity on July 14.
For the first time the defense minister said “why not” for the
possibility that he will be president. In other words, Serge
Sargsyan announced for the first time that he is considering
presidency. Formerly, he had not stated that he did not think about
it, of course, but now he shows that he is thinking about it.
Here it is worthwhile to recall an episode from the recent visit of
the Russian defense minister Sergey Ivanov to Armenia. When Ivanov was
answering questions of news reporters sitting beside Serge Sargsyan,
he was asked if he might be the next president of Russia.
Sergey Ivanov said he is a defense minister, and if he starts thinking
about becoming president, he would perform his duties of defense
minister badly. Serge Sargsyan probably did not hear these words
though he was sitting the closest to him.
In this respect, it might be necessary to remind this episode,
which would be useful for normal activities of the sphere of defense,
essential to the country’s security. It’s a pity the president has gone
on holiday because at the moment learning or recalling Ivanov’s words
is much more important for him. If the defense or whatever minister
starts thinking about presidency and taking definite steps in this
direction, real danger occurs that the official will start thinking
less about his or her own duties. In this very case, the sphere of
defense is concerned.
Meanwhile, it is notable that over the past few weeks the head of
the defense ministry of Armenia has attended to everything except
defense. At least, very few of his recent public speeches referred to
defense. These were mostly speeches about chess, energy, gas pipelines,
parliamentary elections, education, encouragement to businessman and
now parliamentary and presidential success of the Republican Party.
Apparently Armenia needs a new defense minister for the country to
mind its own business and Serge Sargsyan to mind his own political
business. In this sense it might be even good that the president has
gone on holiday, for Robert Kocharyan will have time to consider naming
a new minister not to waste too much time on the protocol. It is also
possible that the defense minister has already thought about his fate,
and maybe he will submit his resignation. At least the National Unity
Party, widely known to everyone, says this is a possible thing. The
supporters of Unity say a resignation would bring points of political
honesty to Serge Sargsyan. In other words, the defense minister
will retire as a hero. It is also possible that he will declare the
conflict over Karabakh as the cause of his resignation, announcing
that he is against returning lands, rather than his activity in the
party and his reluctance to politicize the army.
Hence, here is a situation, which the minister of defense can use for
his interests, publicly countering Robert Kocharyan and presenting
the president as someone who “returns the territories”.
Indeed, this step needs to be estimated deeply to find out what is more
important, the lever of the army or political dividends. After all,
it is not clear what resource the defense minister will be using to
become president: political, which is on the zero point, or military
criminal, which passed the test of time.
By the way, the army is also waiting for him to make a decision.
After all, it is equally important for the army to learn what the
defense minister will eventually be doing. Perhaps, however, we will
not be mistaken to say that it is even more important for the army
to know what the commander-in-chief is doing. Can you imagine if he
also failed to think about the country’s defense capacity? What would
the citizens of the country think about him?
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BUSINESSMEN-IN-LAW
By James Hakobyan
Lragir.am
18 July 06
The defense minister had just uttered his speech of encouragement
to businessmen when the reply of Dashnaktsutiun followed right
away. If on July 14 Serge Sargsyan conveyed to big businessmen
relying on him that what they did was not bad, on the next day the ARF
(Dashnaktsutiun) rounded up small and medium-sized business owners and
related them to Dashnaktsutiun without waiting until they would rely
on Dashnaktsutiun. On July 15 the ARF leaders set up an organization
named Ajas, including small and medium-sized businesses.
On the eve, during and after political events in Armenia the economic
resource has always been one of the main factors. This is typical of
the entire world. But there is an essential difference. In the world
or in so-called established countries the economic resource acts as
a participant and underlies the process. In Armenia it is different.
For instance, in a normal country the defense minister would rely
on the backing of businessmen rather than the businessmen would rely
on the defense minister. A defense minister has nothing to give them
except a notice. So, if he encourages their reliance on him, it means
he is going to justify their expectations by abusing his powers. In
fact, the defense minister gives this hope for the future, that he
would become a president and in the new post he would have to deal
with businessmen and would justify their hopes.
What guarantees does Serge Sargsyan have that he will become president
if he hints to big business owners that it is not bad to rely on
him? No guarantees are seen. A president is usually elected.
So, either Serge Sargsyan already knows the outcome of the election
or he misleads the businessmen for his personal aims. Every speech
calling business for reliance on one person or another rather than
the law is a misleading statement, independent from who this person
or political force is.
Frankly speaking, it is not so important whether the small
and medium-sized business owners had invited the leaders of
Dashnaktsutiun to the conference of the organization Ajas, or the
leaders had organized this conference, not openly, of course. It
is interesting why the entrepreneurs had invited only the leaders
of Dashnaktsutiun. Why didn’t they invite other political forces as
well? And most importantly, why did they invite representatives of
a political force at all?
Why does the business community of Armenia, small or big, tend to
rely on one figure or another, on one political force or another,
failing to realize their own force? Even the fact that political
forces and figures try their best to get hold of business did not make
them realize the force they represent. Whereas, having such force but
relying on some people is capitulation in one’s homeland. Force is not
skinheads or gangs of criminals, defending businessmen God knows from
what. Especially that they defend authorities rather than businessmen,
turning a businessman into a foe of the public. And the reason is
that for years on the same businessmen relied on persons rather than
the public. When they were promised bright future, avoiding taxes,
businessmen failed to realize that their future would be marred. They
did not realize that the government encouraged tax avoidance to
introduce a bill to the government later providing for prosecution
for tax avoidance.
The businessmen did not realize that their power is the law, and
the government is their servant. They did not realize this and they
served the government and some of them relied on Serge Sargsyan,
the other on Dashnaktsutiun, the third on the Republican Party, the
fourth on the opposition, the fifth on their common past, and nobody
relied on the law. Strange though it may seem, this circumstance may
also be positive, because it enables businessmen to become free from
captivity. They only need to overcome themselves and start working
under the law. In this case, they will not have to worry what will
happen to Serge Sargsyan or how many swords Dashnaktsutiun has.

Power Monopoly Strikes Oligarchs First
Lragir.am
18 July 06
“Let them return, let them advance, but let there not be monopoly in
power,” stated Vazgen Manukyan, the leader of the National Democratic
Union July 18 at the Pastark Club, answering the question on growing
activity and advance of rightists which is the same as the All-Armenian
Movement. Vazgen Manukyan says elimination of monopoly in power must
be the prime concern of businesses rather than ordinary farmers.
“After all, an ordinary farmer, who is wise enough, knows everything,
wants them to create favorable conditions for him to be able to support
his family. But the power monopoly strikes serious businesses, serious
businessmen. It strikes the oligarchs. Well, they have earned some
money in certain ways; power monopoly means that they can take away
everything from them at any moment, as it happened to Khodorkovsky,”
says Vazgen Manukyan. According to him, there is already a class of
serious businessmen, who are interested in sustainable development
of their country not to lose what they have.
“For instance, I am also against that the property be taken away
from these people. I mean something else. Communication, transports,
etc. there are questions to be revised in connection with copper
mining, there can even be a question of nationalization. In other
places, conditions need to be created immediately, new people will
emerge who will set off at the bottom and reach great outcome,”
says Vazgen Manukyan. He assures that all the oligarchs would be
reluctant to lose their property in case power changes, but the
government should operate normally, legally.
“Their income will decline a little but they will be guaranteed.
This is dangerous for them as well but they have to be in this game,
this is my impression from their words and actions,” says Vazgen
Manukyan.

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN – VAZGEN MANUKYAN CIVIL MOVEMENT
Lragir.am
18 July 06
The leaders of the National Democratic Union and Heritage Party
Vazgen Manukyan and Raffi Hovannisian initiate a non-partisan and
non-political movement, intended to return power in Armenia to people,
stated the leader of the NDU July 18 at the Pastark Club. He said
soon there will be more details about this initiative. They have
met once at Tekeyan Center, there were representatives of other
political parties as well. No press. Not because the meeting was
confidential. Simply in order to avoid political manipulations and
political conjecture. Vazgen Manukyan says the civil movement has
nothing to do with the election 2007; the authors of the initiative
want people to regain their role in ruling the country. Otherwise,
according to Vazgen Manukyan, an election may replace one party by
another without changing the situation.

PRESS RELEASE
July 14, 2006
Embassy of the Republic of Armenia
2225 R Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20008
Tel: 202-319-1976, x. 348; Fax: 202-319-2982
Email: [email protected]
Web:
Ambassador Markarian Hosts a Reception for Official Delegation From Karabakh
On June 28, 2006, Ambassador Tatoul Markarian hosted a reception at
the Embassy of Armenia in honor of Speaker Ashot Ghulian and Foreign
Minister Georgi Petrosian of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Speaker
Ghulian and Minister Petrosian visited the Washington on June
26 -28, following successful meetings in Boston and New York
earlier. In Washington, Speaker Ghulian and Minister Petrosian met
with U.S. mediator on the Nagorno Karabakh peace process, Members of
Congress, Washington-based policy and regional experts, and leaders of
the Armenian-American organizations. They held a public discussion of
prospects for Nagorno Karabakh settlement at a seminar organized by
U.S. Institute of Peace and the German Marshall Fund of the United
States.
During his welcoming remarks at the Embassy reception, Ambassador
Markarian stressed the importance of the visit by Speaker Ghulian
and Minister Petrosian, providing an opportunity to the elected
representatives of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic to present their
position on the Nagorno Karabakh peace process. In their remarks,
Speaker Ghulian and Minister Petrosian noted the significant progress
in democratic and economic reforms in Nagorno Karabakh and stressed
the firm determination of the people of Nagorno Karabakh to live in
a free, independent, and democratic state.
The reception brought together foreign diplomats, media, think tank
experts on the region, representatives of the Armenian-American
organizations and members of Washington’s Armenian community.
Earlier, on June 27, Ambassador Markarian co-hosted a reception on
the Capitol Hill honoring the Karabakh delegation, together with
the Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian issues, NKR
Representative in the United States, the Armenian Assembly of America
and the Armenian National Committee of America.

PRESS RELEASE
July 17, 2006
Embassy of the Republic of Armenia
2225 R Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20008
Tel: 202-319-1976, x. 348; Fax: 202-319-2982
Email: [email protected]
Web:
Armenia’s Independence Day to Be Celebrated in Washington With a
Special Event
The fifteenth anniversary of Armenia’s independence will be celebrated
later this year. This important milestone will be celebrated not
only in Armenia but also by the Armenian Embassies in foreign
countries. The main celebration on September 21 will coincide with
the Armenia-Diaspora Conference in Yerevan, which will draw large
attendance from the Armenian Diaspora.
On October 20, 2006, a special event, Celebrating Fifteen Years of
Independence, will be hosted in Washington, D.C. by Ambassador Tatoul
Markarian. Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian will be the keynote
speaker at this special celebration. The details and final program
of the event will be provided by the Embassy of Armenia.