ATTEMPT TO SOLVE KARABAKH ISSUE BY FORCE MAY RESULT IN INTERNATIONAL ISOLATION
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.05.2006 15:08 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia’s stand is that Azerbaijan and Armenia should
agree over the option of settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
between themselves.
An attempt to solve the conflict by force by any party can result in
international isolation, Head of the Russian MFA Fourth Department
Andrey Kelin told Azeri journalists when touching upon the Karabakh
conflict.
In his opinion, the Karabakh and Abkhaz conflict are
different. “Abkhazia was de facto established as an independent
formation and cannot join Georgia, while Karabakh is another matter,”
Andrey Kelin said, refraining from answering the question on the
status of Karabakh.
A columnist of the Zerkalo Baku-based newspaper writes that Azerbaijan
should hardly delude itself over Russia’s stand on Karabakh. “It
should be taken into account that the international community is ready
to support any option of settlement of the NK conflict, including
that not taking into account the territorial integrity principle,”
the edition writes.

NKR: RESPECT OF PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION CORNERSTONE OF CONFLICT SETTLEMENT
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.05.2006 15:27 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The MFA of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic released
a statement on the referendum on independence in Montenegro. The
statement specifically says, “The holding of the referendum on
independence in Montenegro and readiness of the international community
to recognize the returns is a positive fact.
We are convinced that respect of peoples’ right to self-determination
is a cornerstone of conflict settlement and tool to establish political
stability.
Thereupon, it is expedient to remind that disrespect of NK
people’s right, who voted at referendum held on December 10, 1991
for independence, was a basis for further military aggression by
Azerbaijan.
Further neglect of NKR people’s right to self-determination during
settlement of the Azeri-Karabakh conflict, as well as right for
conditions that will ensure its political independence, economic and
military security, will postpone the prospect of finding a mutually
acceptable solution and establishment of lasting peace in the region.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EUROPEANS AGAINST TURKEY’S ACCESSION TO EU
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.05.2006 15:34 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to a survey among 97500 Europeans, 52%
were against Turkey’s accession to the EU. Only 37% of respondents
believe that the geopolitical location and market economy of Turkey
will promote soonest accession. Most respondents are worried by the
fact that the percentage of poor is higher in Turkey than in other
European countries, as well as that most population are Muslims. 48%
of participants of the survey do not see any need to expand the EU
composition and consider accession of new members incorrect. In their
opinion, the EU can be enlarged only with the joining of Norway and
Switzerland, Day.az reports.

OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS TO MAKE COMMON STATEMENT IN YEREVAN
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.05.2006 14:12 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian met with OSCE
Minsk Group Co-Chairs Yuri Merzlyakov, Steven Mann and Bernard Fassier,
as well as Russian Deputy FM Grigory Karasin, US Assistant Secretary
of State Daniel Fried and Political Affairs Director of the French
MFA Stanislas de Laboulaye. The same day the mediators and official
representatives of the OSCE MG states will meet with Armenian President
Robert Kocharian. As the US Embassy in Yerevan told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter, this evening the co-chairs will make a joint statement.

EXPERT: MONTENEGRO MAY NOT BE EXAMPLE FOR KARABAKH
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.05.2006 14:19 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The referendum in Montenegro cannot be applied to
Nagorno Karabakh, head of the Department of Turkey of the Institute
of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Doctor
Ruben Safrastyan told PanARMENIAN.Net. In his words, Azerbaijan will
never recognize the independence of NKR as different from Serbia,
which agreed with the referendum returns.
May 21 a referendum on independence was held in Montenegro. The
Montenegro independence block collected 55.5% of constituency votes,
while the supporters of preservation of the common state got 44.5%
of votes.

DEFECTORS FROM ORINATS YERKIR FORM NEW GROUP
Armenpress
May 25 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS: Ten parliament members who have defected
from the embattled Orinats Yerkir party of the outgoing parliament
chairman Arthur Baghdasarian, have formed a new parliamentary
non-partisan group, it emerged today. Only one defector, Melik
Manukian, refused to join the group which its founders named
“Businessman.”
All of the ten deputies are wealthy businessmen.
They defected from Orinats Yerkir’s parliament faction just in few
days, hastening Baghdasarian’s resignation and his party’s pullout
from the governing coalition.
One of the defectors, Grigor Margarian, was elected head of the group.
Under the existing National Assembly statutes, a non-partisan
group must have at least ten deputies in order to have an official
status. The 131-member assembly has already one such group, the
People’s Deputy, that holds 16 seats.

GURGEN ARSENYAN’S TAX BURDEN IS RELIEVED
Lragir.am
24 May 06
On May 23 the National Assembly of Armenia voted down the bill on a
cut in the lump-sum tax on imports of cigars to Armenia. The bill,
which was adopted on the first reading, was introduced by Member
of Parliament Mnatsakan Petrosyan, United Labor Party. The address
of this legislative action was not accidental because the import of
cigars to Armenia is the business of the leader of the United Labor
Party Gurgen Arsenyan. The bill provides for a cut in the lump-sum
tax from 1.5 million drams per 1000 cigars to 550 thousand drams.
Obviously, Gurgen Arsenyan took a legislative action on tax allowances
for himself, which is approved by the majority of the parliament,
at least on the first reading.
Most probably, this is part of the recent deal between the United
Labor Party and the government. The government guarantees softer
conditions on the import of cigars, and Arsenyan agrees to vote for
the legislative actions of the government, somehow filling in the gap
in the coalition. Of course, in return for this the United Labor Party
has also been granted the posts of two deputy governors, one deputy
minister and one minister, but Gurgen Arsenyan apparently knows that
government posts are not stable, whereas he will be importing cigars
for a longer period, having the guarantee of the law. The evidence to
the reliance of Gurgen Arsenyan on import of cigars is the building
in the park in front of the conservatoire, which is said to become a
Cigar Club, reported to belong to Gurgen Arsenyan. In this context,
it is possible that besides arrangements with the government and
government’s instructions the members of parliament had a more
serious motive to vote for more convenient conditions on the import
of cigars. The members of parliament have probably heard about the
Cigar Club, and they are probably hopeful to get an invitation to
the opening night and even try free and quality cigars. Besides,
they probably also expect that with lowers costs on import Gurgen
Arsenyan will sell cigars at a cheaper price, and they will smoke
a good deal of cigars. And we may be sure that he will do, because
Gurgen Arsenyan has already announced once that he is ashamed of
getting excess profit. Although it is also possible that this feeling
has become habitual for Arsenyan, and it may not force him to lower
the price of this product along with the cut in tax on this product.

A PERSON ABANDONING A POLITICAL PARTY WILL ABANDON A STATE
Lragir.am
24 May 06
The leader of the National Self-Determination Union Paruir Hayrikyan
thinks that the secession of the Orinats Yerkir Party from the
coalition and resignation of some members of parliament from the
Orinats Yerkir faction was not strange; moreover, it was predictable
and expected: “each party determines its place.”
On May 24 the leader of the NSDU said he could discern other dangers
behind the recent developments. “The strange thing about it is that
the members abandoned the political party, and the society considers
it a regular thing. Nobody fears that this departure, denial, desertion
is something that should be criticized.”
Whereas this is dangerous for the nation, because “the political
parties are proto-states, a party affiliate is supposed to have an
orientation, and if a person easily deserts the political party, the
same person may easily desert the state.” It is a serious concern and
alarm for the NSDU. “The so-called political parties apparently do
not exist. These are balloons, as people say,” notes Paruir Hayrikyan
and forecasts that if the Republican Party quit power, “a much worse
thing would be awaiting it.”
“If there are no political parties, but certain groups of people take
part in the life of our state under the label of political parties, who
is then leading life of our state? What can be awaiting a nation, whose
political will is accompanied by such disgraceful behavCors?” alarms
the leader of the NSDU.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHERE IS THE 108 MILLION DRAMS?
Lragir.am
24 May 06
Member of Parliament Victor Dallakyan, Ardarutiun Alliance, proposed
to set up an ad hoc committee to study the state of the Armenian
civil aviation. He managed to gather only 26 signatures instead of
the 44 required for including the question in the agenda. While Victor
Dallakyan promises to launch another effort during the next meeting on
June 12-16, the Audit Chamber of the National Assembly carried out an
audit of the General Department of Civil Aviation in 2005. By the way,
the 2005 report of the Audit Chamber is on the agenda of the National
Assembly, but it is not discussed due to the recent political battles.
The Audit Chamber found out that the GDCA failed to transfer the means
that were not spend in the fiscal year, over 1 million dollars, to the
state budget. Hence, the government decision 216 N was violated. In
2003-2004 the government did not make any decisions on accrual and
use of extra-budget funds, and the Ministry of Finance did not give an
approval. The GDCA received financial assistance from other companies,
a total of 108 million drams. This money was spent without drawing
up a bill of quantities, without a government decision, which is a
violation of the RA Law on the Budgetary System.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BLACK BOXES ARE NOT THE END. THE HARDEST THING IS TO TELL THE TRUTH
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir.am
24 May 06
Will the black boxes of the Armenian plane help to reveal the causes
of the plane crash? The recorders have already been retrieved from
the sea bottom and sent for deciphering. In fact, the most difficult
and the most important thing is done, and the only remaining thing
is to decipher the information and tell the society the real cause
of the death of 113 people. The location and retrieval of the black
boxes caused a cheer-up. On the other hand, this process was rather
ambiguous. The first recorder was found on May 22, whereas two or
three days before the Russian minister of transport, the co-chair of
the Armenian-Russian Intergovernmental Committee Igor Levitin, who
led the search team on the first days of the search after the crash
in Sochi, announced that the black boxes might not be found at all,
and the radio transmitter could have simply come off the recorder.
However, soon after this statement the black boxes were located
and lifted from the sea bottom within two days. The Russian ORTV
even broadcast a story about the achievement of the Russian search
equipment. The experts were even photographed against the black
boxes, with a content smile, as if what they had found was a treasure
of pirates rather than the only evidence to the crash, which took
113 lives.
Was Igor Levitin in such despair as not to bear it any more and
announce while the search was underway that it was impossible to
retrieve the black boxes? Why did he form an atmosphere of despair
instead of inspiring hope? Usually government officials do the opposite
thing, especially the representatives of the Soviet School.
They prefer hiding the truth till the end, regarding it as danger
against the government system. Independent from the sphere, truth
is believed to endanger the leadership, and it was surprising that
Levitin and other Russian officials preferred telling the truth that
the black boxes might not be found. Weren’t their words true?
This suggestion is supported by the fast, even very fast location
and retrieval of the black boxes. Those days of uncertainty ended
up in the settlement of the issue within 48 hours. The search team
suddenly realized that the recorders could be stuck in mud and began
clearing the mud.
All this would be very encouraging if it were not that surprising.
Why did Levitin make such a statement if he was not aware of the
details of the search? And generally it is difficult to explain why
on those days the Russian officials did not hesitate to make official
statements on the plane crash, with the context of impossibility
of revealing the real cause of the crash. What happened that the
recorders were all of a sudden retrieved? What changed? As long ago
as May 18 the leader of the Nor Zhamanakner Party Aram Karapetyan
announced in Yerevan that something had changed. Karapetyan said,
however, that something had changed, and the recorders would not be
retrieved. If they lifted the recorders from the bottom, it means
something changed twice, and Aram Karapetyan did not manage to inform
the Armenian society or maybe he did not know.
It is difficult to say how many times within the past two weeks, but
it is evident even without Aram Karapetyan, that something changed,
nevertheless. The Russian mass media are still stressing the shortage
of fuel. Again they refer to an anonymous source. In this case,
however, putting forward a new suggestion or refreshing the old one
is mere hastiness. Once the black boxes were found, it is not correct
and decent to start circulating new guesses and ideas when soon the
information of the black boxes will be deciphered. If deciphering
failed, it would be justified to resume guesses but currently it
does not seem to be rewarding. It is notable that over the past
days, when the search was underway, no guesses were made. And their
comeback shows that the situation has changed. If it is the retrieval
of the black boxes, this change should have retained the silence and
created an atmosphere of expectation. Whereas the opposite occurred,
which suggests that the retrieval of the black boxes was the result
of a change.
In this situation it becomes more urgent to find out what had
changed. This may even give a more real picture of the plane crash
than the black box data. Why did they first put forward suggestions
leading to the mistake of the pilot, whereas now they have returned
to the shortage of fuel. Why is Igor Levitin going to represent the
Russian side to the committee, whereas the Armenian side will be
represented by Gagik Galstyan, an air safety investigator of the
Department of Civil Aviation. Are the other, higher officials busy?
Are they busier than Levitin, or is the political schedule in Russia
less tough? Why had the investigators of the Armenian Office of
Attorney General returned from Sochi before the search was over. Was
money a problem to keep two investigators there for two months or
maybe there were not enough people to plant trees in Armenia?
It seems that the hardest thing was to find the black boxes, and the
data of the black boxes would bring peace to the souls of victims and
their families. The hardest thing, however, is going to be telling
the truth, for the only harder thing is hiding the truth.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress