DAVID NALBANDIAN RANKED THIRD BY TENNIS ASSOCIATION
Armenpress
YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS: With 3,185 points, the
Argentinean-Armenian tennis-player David Nalbandian is the third
highest ranked by the Professional Tennis Association.
The list is topped by Roger Federer of Switzerland with 7,260 points,
the winner of the Wimbledon, followed by Rafael Nadal of Spain who has
5,125 points. Ivan Ljubicic from Croatia is fourth with 3, 125 points.

KOCHARIAN AWARDS BEST ATHLETIC FAMILIES
Armenpress
YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS: President Robert Kocharian traveled
today to the resort town of Tsakhkadzor for a ceremony of awarding
three Armenian families which were recognized winners of a national
competition called ‘The Best Athletic Family.”
The first prize of 500,000 drams (about $1,200) was given to the
Shahbazians family from Yerevan, the second and third prizes of 400,000
and 300,000 drams respectively went to a family from Armavir province
and from Yerevan.
The event was held for the third consecutive time.
This year 86 families from Armenia and one family from Nagorno-Karabakh
competed for the prizes. The youngest participant was a five year-old
girl and the oldest was a 48-year-old man. Both received special
prizes of the president.
After giving the awards Kocharian said the competition is designed
as an event to cement traditional Armenian values and advertise
healthy life-style.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GEORGIAN RESORT TOWN TO HOST UNIQUE ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN DANCE FESTIVAL
Armenpress
YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS: Around thirty dance groups from Armenia
and Georgia will be dancing from July 12 to July 18 in the Georgian
resort town of Kobuleti on the Black Sea coast that has become a
popular place for Armenian holiday-makers.
The unprecedented festival will bring together almost 500
dancers. Vanush Khanamirian, chairman of the Union of Armenian Dancers,
said the festival is a unique and unprecedented display of friendship
of two neighbor nations.
He said there will be no awards, neither winners nor losers. He
said it is going to be simply a festival of dance to show the best
Armenians and Georgians are proud of.

OSCE OFFICE ORGANIZES TRAINING ON ALTERNATIVE SENTENCING IN ARMENIA
Armenpress
YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS: A four-day training course for personnel
of the Armenian Justice Ministry’s division for the execution of
alternative punishment began on July 10 with the support of the OSCE
Office in Yerevan and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions
and Human Rights.
“The introduction and implementation of alternative sentencing
options is a serious step towards building a humanitarian system of
penal sanctions,” said Silvia Pogolsa, human rights officer at the
OSCE Office.
“This course is an essential part of the criminal justice reform,
and will help provide basic knowledge and the skills to implement
alternative punishment.”
Some 70 Justice Ministry staff, judges and prosecutors will discuss the
existing national legislation, alternative sanctions, the supervision
of conditional sentences, as well as international standards and best
practices. Rait Kuuse, Head of the Probation Division of the Estonian
Justice Ministry, will share his country’s experience in the field.
Increased awareness-raising and capacity building among justice
administration personnel was one of the recommendations of the
assessment on alternative sentencing in Armenia, supported and
implemented by the OSCE Office in 2005.
The division for the execution of alternative punishment under the
Justice Ministry was established in 2005, following the adoption of the
new criminal code which introduces an “alternative” sentencing option.
The organizers will prepare a report on key areas for improvement,
based on discussions at the training course and recommendations from
participants and experts.

“LOSERS” ROUND UP. SERGE SARGSYAN AND ARKADY ASK EACH OTHER FOR HELP
By MELIK AVANYAN
Lragir.am
11 July 06
Usually when a politician has no more to tell the society, there
is nothing he can do but to start performing tricks. Minister of
Defense Serge Sargsyan, who has found himself in a similar situation,
decided from out of nowhere that he must get hold of the post of the
next president of Armenia.
Since this person perfectly knows his abilities, authority and
resource, he also knows the real outcome of the upcoming presidential
election, where he is sure not to get anything. So he knows that he
lost in the very beginning, therefore he decided to cheat the nation
again by hindering elections in Armenia. In other words, he wants
to replace elections by some other event, where he can beat everyone
and first of all the Armenian public.
Most probably, someone has told him that the political sphere can be
replaced by a chessboard to manipulate all the symbols and round up
the bulk of the political (i.e. criminal) elite under his flag. Serge
Sargsyan believed in the wonderful effect of political technology.
Most probably, however, he believed that the Club of 50 Loyal Officials
is able to replace elections in Armenia with a game of cards with
Serge Sargsyan’s 100 percent victory.
The debut was good. The talented Armenian chess players did not let
him down in the Chess Olympiad. Real mysticism. It seemed to Serge
Sargsyan that the political world was replaced by a chessboard. And
there is only one thing to do – to play cards on that chessboard.
And the game started. The victory on the Chess Olympiad was declared
“the beginning of victories”. In other words, the native and foreign
criminal was let know that it is high time to become members of Serge
Sargsyan Club.
The corrupt Armenian officials and criminal businessmen started
creeping towards this club. They moved on but with a feeling of fear,
hiding behind one another. They do not believe that the political
sphere can be replaced by a chessboard. Moreover, they do not believe
that it is possible to play cards on a virtual chessboard and win.
They want a more simply thing. For instance, they want Robert Kocharyan
to bless Serge Sargsyan’s plans. Or they want the great powers to
guarantee the game.
But they are waiting in vain. Nobody gives guarantees. This is bad
for Serge Sargsyan, for it means that nobody believes in him, and
especially his chess-card game. Even the headquarters of the Harsnakar
Hotel fails to help. If this goes on, he will have to think about
his future seriously. But Serge Sargsyan appears to have decided to
think out everything beforehand. Observing the tradition, he decided
that as long as everyone in Armenia and the world ignore his efforts,
he will take up unification of chess and Karabakh.
Especially that a “comrade” of his is sitting in Karabakh, who is
also seriously thinking about his fate and has been criticizing Robert
Kocharyan for a long time now.
Serge Sargsyan needs to display to everyone that not only the
chess champions but also the president of Karabakh Arkady Ghukasyan
personally with his “army” are beside him. After all, someone may
believe and be amazed by his greatness and power. Therefore, on
September 4 they rounded up in September. What can the champions do?
They cannot refuse their sponsors. Where are they supposed to know
that they are being used as pawns in another chess game? They went to
see the country of their ancestors and provided an opportunity for
Ghukasyan and Serge Sargsyan to perform tricks with chess symbols
together.
The “comrades” performed these tricks perfectly. The slogan “the
beginning of all victories” was expanded and declared as “all our
victories begin in Karabakh”. Whose victories? It is clear whose
victories, of course, not those of the chess players. The problem is
not only the slogans, of course. Besides, it does not matter that the
Karabakh army has a lot to do on the front. This is something to be
done on the move.
It is clear that tricks with symbols will be performed in the future
as well. It is also clear that serious talks and acts will take place
behind these tricks, for neither Sargsyan nor Ghukasyan have anything
to say, especially to people, to convince them in their potential
helpfulness. Everyone already knows everything. The image of these
figures is also well known, as well as their desire to replace the
world by themselves and their wish to get everyone accept this.
In fact, human brazenness has no limits. What are these people busy
with at a moment when Karabakh is facing the danger of resumption of
war, and the publics of Armenia and NKR are exhausted by corruption
and indifference of their leaderships? Did they really imagine that
they could fool everyone? Did they believe that the world is based
on their wishes? If they did, it means they need special attendance.
Never mind that everyday these important persons are reported to make
criminal economic and political deals with foreign figures. Never
mind that the national interest of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh
has been turned into a means of getting the support of governments
of foreign countries. But when they are trying to persuade people
that this will last long and will last with their connivance, as the
OSCE co-chairs announced, our imagination is wearing thin. Instead,
the wish and ability to punish these “shameless” people by law have
occurred. Just like the formers were punished. There always comes a
time when there is no need to waste energy on “protocol”.

FOR DASHNAKTSUTIUN STABILITY IS DEARER THAN LAND
Lragir.am
11 July 06
With regard to the settlement of the Karabakh issue Armenian diplomacy
has proceeded from the presumption of intolerance of Azerbaijan since
1998, said Hmayak Hovanisyan July 11 at the Hayeli Club, who discussed
the present state in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict with
ARF member Kiro Manoyan. Hmayak Hovanisyan believes that this tactics
has led to an unfavorable situation for Armenia and Karabakh.
Kiro Manoyan says forecasts on possibility of settlement in 2006 were
optimistic but groundless. The ARF representative, however, disagrees
with this evaluation about a deadlock. Kiro Manoyan thinks that the
dominance of the principle of self-determination in the settlement
after 1998 is thanks to the Armenian diplomacy. The ARF member
believes that the mediators recognize the fact of self-determination
of Karabakh, and eventually Karabakh will unite with Armenia.
According to Manoyan, this is the reason why Armenia represents
Karabakh to the talks.
However, the ARF member does not always agree with the Armenian
diplomacy. Kiro Manoyan considers clarity on status and Armenia’s
willingness to return territories insufficient. But when the moment
of returning territories comes, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
will prefer stability to territories “to keep what we have”.
Kiro Manoyan says if the Armenian president signs an agreement on
territories, they will oppose proceeding from the law. They will
not demand resignation of the head of state under the law, however,
in case Robert Kocharyan tries to return the territories. “We will
demand putting the question to a referendum,” says Kiro Manoyan,
implying the problem of territories. He says Dashnaktsutiun has never
violated and will not violate an important principle – stability –
under any government.
The ARF member says, however, that the Karabakh issue is equally
important for them. It is so important that the ARF is ready to secede
from the coalition if it is required.
Considering this, Hmayak Hovanisyan suggests renaming Armenian
Revolutionary Federation Armenian Stability Federation.

RUSSIANS DID NOT WARN US
Lragir.am
11 July 06
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan told news reporters July 11
that Armenia is in constant contact with the Russian party to
settle the problem of closing the checkpoint of Verin Lars on the
Russian-Georgian border. By the way, the Russian party closed the
checkpoint for repairs. Vardan Oskanyan declined to say whether the
Russian party had warned its strategic partner that the checkpoint
would be closed and repaired within a period. He mentioned instead
that 17 of the Armenian trucks crowded in Verin Lars crossed the
border in the territory of South Ossetia, however the Georgian side
emphasized that it is an exception and will not repeat. As for the
actions of Armenia, the minister declined to say anything.
By the way, Vardan Oskanyan announced that Robert Kocharyan did not
discuss the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline with the president of Iran.

LIBERATED TERRITORIES IN NKR CONSTITUTION
Lragir.am
11 July 06
“Unfortunately, neither official Yerevan nor official Stepanakert treat
the liberated territories duly,” Kiro Manoyan, ARF representative
in charge of political affairs and Hay Dat, stated July 11 at the
Hayeli Club. Expressing the standpoint of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation, he said they even propose setting down the dominance of
NKR over these territories in the NKR Constitution. In the meantime,
Yerevan and Stepanakert view these areas as an object of compromise
in the Armenian and Azerbaijani negotiations, states Kiro Manoyan.
The ARF member assures that these territories cannot be conceded,
and Armenia should concede something else. Kiro Manoyan hints at
the agreement of Armenia to hold a new referendum on the status of
Karabakh. According to Kiro Manoyan, it is a compromise, for Karabakh
has already held a referendum and established its will.
Kiro Manoyan says the fault of the Armenian side is that NKR and
Armenia have announced on the level of defense ministers that
they are ready to concede territories. These statements did not
produce any results, says Kiro Manoyan. He says the fact that the
self-determination of NKR is on the table of negotiations may be
considered a result, but “it is highly disputable,” says Kiro Manoyan.

CHANGE OF STATUS QUO A POSSIBLE PRECONDITION OF WAR
Lragir.am
11 July 06
Sabine Freizer is a representative of an influential but merely a
non-governmental organization and her words should not be accepted as
absolute reality, said Kiro Manoyan, ARF July 11 touching upon the
statement of the representative of the International Crisis Group.
Freizer said fruitless negotiations may cause the war to ignite. Kiro
Manoyan says there is always possibility of war, but it does not
depend on Freizer’s statements.
Political scientist Hmayak Hovanisyan advises not to be that
indifferent towards Sabine Freizer’s statements because the
organization she represents has close relations with the U.S.
Department of State. Hmayak Hovanisyan says they often release
information for the societies through NGOs.
The political scientist thinks that Freizer, in fact, repeats Levon
Ter-Petrosyan’s idea that if the talks stop, the war is inevitable. “I
personally think that these are speculative announcements,” said
Hmayak Hovanisyan, saying that an unnecessary change of the status
quo may be a possible precondition of war.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE DOCUMENT IS ACCEPTABLE FOR ARMENIA
Lragir.am
11 July 06
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan does not exclude that the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue will be discussed in G8 Summit in St.
Petersburg. He does not think, however, that Robert Kocharyan and
Ilham Aliyev will be invited to meet. “If there were serious progress
in Bucharest, they would be invited,” stated Vardan Oskanyan July
11. According to Vardan Oskanyan, the statement of the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairs that they cannot come up with new proposals does
not mean that the Minsk Group-mediated process is over. “Simply the
co-chairs want to say that this is the balanced synthesis of what
the presidents and ministers have been discussing over the past two
years.” Vardan Oskanyan believes that the document is not ideal for
anyone and is acceptable for everyone who wants to reach the settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue on the basis of a compromise.
The chairmanship of the European Union has been assumed by Finland.
Vardan Oskanyan said the representative of Finland will visit Armenia
to discuss the plans of the EU New Neighbors Policy. Finland is likely
to adopt an action plan over the first two months. “I hope that it
will be so, and another country’s obligations will not impact our
relations with the EU.”