NATO IS A “PARTNER” OF ARMENIA
A1+
[08:07 pm] 23 May, 2006
It is upon Armenia to decide how to cooperate with NATO. “NATO
doesn’t force any country to become its member and doesn’t hamper its
cooperation with other countries,” claimed Robert Simmons, special
envoy of the NATO Secretary General on South Caucasian affairs during
today’s press release.
Mr. Simmons answered various questions within half an hour and repeated
his above mentioned words several times. NATO is ready to support
Armenia in taking out the Russian military bases but “it is upon
the country to decide how long to keep them in its territory.” It
is upon Robert Kocharyan to participate in the NATO Parliamentary
Assembly or not. If NA Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan resigns for his
positive attitude towards the NATO, it is not upon Mr. Simmons to
give his evaluation of the matter either, “In any country people
may have diversity of opinions and they are free to express them,
but the Armenian Government decides its strategy itself.” Simmons
maintains that the NATO and Armenia are “partners” at present, and
such relations are profitable for the two sides. In the framework
of “partner relationship” they implement the program of Individual
partnership. The NATO representative registered positive progress in
the course of 6-month implementation.
The real evaluation will be given during the NATO session which will
be held on June 14. RA Foreign Minister and Defense Minister will also
participate in the session. By the way, Robert Simmons expressed his
hesitation on the claims of the RA officials that the RA army will
meet the NATO criteria in 2015. “it is not a university where one
has to fix a deadline,” said Mr. Simmons noting that there are the
NATO member countries which haven’t yet finished the reforms of the
defense and security fields.
While referring to the Karabakh conflict Robert Simmons stated that
NATO is not directly engaged in it but it support the OSCE Minsk
group. As for settlement of the peacekeeping forces of the NATO member
countries in the “occupied lands,” Simmons claims that it will be
probable only in case Armenia and Azerbaijan come to an agreement
on this score. By the way, Mr. Simmons didn’t understand and didn’t
want to make accurate what the Armenian journalist meant by saying
“occupied lands.” Simmons only urged that NATO doesn’t mingle with
the affairs of its member countries, let us take Turkey and Armenia
for instance, and leaves it for the member countries to settle their
affairs themselves.

ELECTIONS OF THE NA PRESIDENT MAY BE SPECIAL
A1+
[11:45 am] 24 May, 2006
“It is possible to not convene a special session and to elect a
NA President during the regular session,” head of the NA majority
Galoust Sahakyan informed “A1+”. “But as June 12 is the fortieth day
since the air crash, I think the elections of the NA President must
be special as it is an important political issue, and on June 12 the
majority of the deputies will be busy in connection with the crash.”
What has the NA Committee done during these forty days? “The NA
Committee mainly supported the work of the Governmental committee. We
also raised money. Our faction itself organized help through the
deputies. We all had friends on board, and this was the approach of
people not of deputies,” Galoust Sahakyan said.

SECOND RECORD BOX OF A-320 HAS BEEN FOUND
A1+
[12:05 pm] 24 May, 2006
Late in the evening yesterday, at about 00:45 AM the second record
box of the Armenian plane A-320 which crashed in the Black Sea on
May 3 was found from under the water. The box which recorded all the
technical data of the flight was found with the help of the underwater
cameras. It was under a half-meter layer of silt which made its
signals weak. The two boxes were 16 meters away from each other.
According to the Russian Mass Media, the deciphering of the record
boxes will reveal of the reason of the crash was the lack of fuel. RF
Minister of Transportation Igor Levitin leaves for Sochi again,
“Vesti” reports. Today it will be decided if the record boxes will
be deciphered in Russia or in France.

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS TO ARRIVE IN BAKU
ArmRadio.am
24.05.2006 10:25
The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs will arrive today in Baku in the
framework of a regional visit. This time they will be accompanied
by senior officials of Ministries of Foreign Affairs of US, France
and Russia. The delegation will comprise Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Grigori Karasin, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Daniel Fried and Director on Political Issue of the French Ministry
of Foreign Affairs Stanislas D’Labouiet. The delegation will leave
Baku for Yerevan.
During the meetings with leadership of Azerbaijan, Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh issues related to the negotiations process on
settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the further steps will be
discussed.

DISCUSSION OF THE “LAW AND THEORY OF JUDICIAL PRECEDENT” MANUAL TO BE HELD AT RA COURT OF APPEAL
ArmRadio.am
24.05.2006 10:13
On may 24 the presentation and discussion of the “Law and Theory of
Judicial Precedence” manual will be held at RA Court of Appeal.
The manual aims at introducing Armenian Judges to the major legal
principles, which lie in the basis of the legal systems in the United
States, United Kingdom and Continental Europe.
International experts from the US, Great Britain and representatives
of court system will participate in the discussion.

THE SECOND BLACK BOX OF THE CRASHED A-320 LIFTED FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
ArmRadio.am
24.05.2006 10:40
“ITAR-TASS” Agency informs that the second black box of the crashed
A-320 was extracted from the bottom of the Black Sea, representative
of RF Ministry of Transport Svetlana Krishtanovskaya said. According
to her, the second box was located 16 meters away from the first
one. Krishtanovskaya said that the works were not suspended despite
the bad weather conditions.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RA GOVERNMENTAL DELEGATION TO PAY A VISIT TO DUSHANBE
ArmRadio.am
24.05.2006 11:00
Governmental delegation headed by Prime Minster Andranik Margaryan will
pay a two-day working visit to Dushanbe to participate in the recurrent
sitting of the Council of Heads of Governments of CIS member states.
Issues related to cooperation of CIS countries in different spheres
will be discussed during the sitting of the Council.

EARTHQUAKE WAS REGISTERED IN ARMENIA AT 8:17
ArmRadio.am
24.05.2006 11:53
At 8:17 this morning an earthquake was registered on the territory of
Armenia. The National Seismic Security Service told “Arminfo” that
the 3.4 magnitude earthquake was registered 20 km to the South-West
of Tashir city. The strength reached 4-5 points at the epicenter. The
quake was felt also in Zuygaghbyur and Nalband villages, as well as
in Vanadzor and Gyumri cities.

OSCE MONITORING OF THE CONACT LINE PASSED WITHOUT ACCIDENTS
ArmRadio.am
24.05.2006 12:30
OSCE Mission carried out a planned monitoring of the contact line of
the Armed Forces of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan to the North-West
of Kuropatkino village in Martuni region of NKR.
NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs that the monitoring was
held according to the predetermined schedule and no breaches of the
cease-fire were registered.

PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN RECEIVED VAYOTS DZOR MARZPET
ArmRadio.am
24.05.2006 13:56
The results of the works carried out last year in Vayots Dzor marz
and the current deeds were discussed today during President Robert
Kocharyan’s meeting with Marzpet Samvel Sargsyan.
The parties turned to the issue of continuing the evacuation of the
residents of settlements under the threat of landslide and rockfall,
and spoke about the necessity of allocating money from the 2007 state
budget for this purpose.
The interlocutors discussed issues related to compensation for the
technical and natural disasters the marz suffered, the full reoperation
of Yeghegnadzor cannery and restoration of the irrigation system.
The Marzpet informed that the first of the two water pipelines will
be ready in June, the second one will be completed by the end of the
year. These will provide the opportunity to irrigate 7 000 hectares
of land.
Turning to the execution of the community budget, the Marzpet said
that the own revenues totaled 92 percent in 2005, and the communities
are already implementing development programs.