AZERBAIJAN DID NOT GIVE CONSENT TO A REFERENDUM IN NAGORNO KARABAKH
Translated by A. Ignatkin
Source: TURAN news agency (Baku), July 3, 2006
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
July 5, 2006 Wednesday
Commenting on reports in the Armenian media, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign
Minister Araz Azimov pronounced a bunch of lies all speculating on
how Azerbaijan had allegedly given its consent to a referendum in
Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the diplomat, Azerbaijan has always
promoted a nationwide referendum – all over Azerbaijan.
This is what the national Constitution specifies, and this is what
the political leadership is committed to.
Commenting on the statement of chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group on
the conflict resolution talks, Azimov said that all evaluations were
“way too early” while the negotiations were under way yet.
Azimov denounced the Armenians’ reports on the alleged special
status for the Lachin and Kelbadjar districts. Both parties need a
safe Lachin corridor that connects Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan and
Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh.
As for Kelbadjar, security of Nagorno-Karabakh may only be ensured by
presence of foreign observers or peacekeepers, and that’s what makes
the attempts on the part of the Armenians to retain control over
the districts legally groundless. Azimov spoke against unilateral
militarization of the region. Asked to comment on effectiveness of
the negotiations, Azimov said that everything depended on political
will of “the other side”.

IRAN AND ARMENIA INK SEVEN MOUS (MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING)
Armenpress
Jul 6 2006
TEHRAN, JULY 6, ARMENPRESS: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
said Wednesday afternoon Iran and Armenia have reached an agreement
to accelerate implementation of joint projects.
In a joint press conference with the visiting Armenian President
Robert Kocharian, Ahmadinejad described his counterpart’s visit to
Tehran as ‘positive’ adding also the two countries have agreed on
different cooperation fields, including legal, cultural, economic
and investment issues.
He expressed hope that the visit prove a big step in developing
bilateral ties saying he discussed with Kocharian mutual relations
and world issues apart from bilateral cooperation in different
fields. Ahmadinejad described Iran-Armenia relations as ‘historical,
friendly, sustainable and comprehensive’ and added there are a lot
of commonalities which connect both nations. Armenian president
appreciated Iran’s government and nation for their warm hospitality
as well as friendly meetings he had in Tehran.
Kocharian said there have been one hundred agreements between the
two countries so far, which prepared an appropriate ground to develop
ties. He stressed that although the two countries have cultural and
historical commonalities, but the new round of relations started just
15 years ago after Armenia became independent, and in this concern
both countries have tried hard to prepare a desirable and proper
situation to develop relations.
Iranian and Armenian officials signed up seven Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) in the fields of energy, economic and industrial
infrastructures, legal and cultural heritage cooperation on July 5. The
MoUs were signed by officials in the presence of President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad and the visiting Armenian president Robert Kocharian.
For one document, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his
Armenian counterpart Vartan Oskanian signed an MoU concerning Iran’s
development aids in the field of industrial and economic infrastructure
for Armenia.
In another MoU, Energy Minister Parviz Fattah and Armen Movsisyan
signed a cooperation agreement in the field of energy. The two
countries agreed in another document to cooperate in the field of
legal issues.
Iran’s Justice Minister Jamal Karimi-rad and Armenian Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian inked an agreement about extraditing criminals.
Dissemination of information in the field of cultural heritage was
another MoU signed up by officials from Iran’s Cultural Heritage
Organization and Armenian Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs.
Also agreement about financing electricity power line project was
signed. In the last MoU, the two countries agreed on the implementing
program of the third electricity power line between Iran and Armenia.

RUSSIAN TRANSPORT MINISTER TO MEET WITH FRENCH COUNTERPART
by Dmitri Gorokhov
ITAR-TASS News Agency
July 5, 2006 Wednesday
Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin and his French counterpart
Dominique Perben will meet in Paris on Thursday to discuss new steps
in development of bilateral cooperation in the economy sector, one
of the key ones.
The Russian minister began his working trip on Wednesday with visiting
Toulouse, Western Europe’s aviation and space industrial centre. He
met there with chief managers of the Airbus aircraft building company,
which supplied more than 4,300 planes to consumers over the 35 years
of its existence. It is a leading company on the civil aviation market.
Aside from the talks in the Transport Ministry, Levitin will meet
with the Paris airport administration and open a seminar of the
Russian-French Dialogue Association.
Among the themes of the Paris talks will be the French experience of
automatic control over speed on roads. Russia with interest studies
France’s experience in the area, the minister’s press secretary
Svetlana Kryshtanovskaya told Itar-Tass.
On the concluding day of the visit, next Friday, Levitin will present
awards in the Russian ambassador’s residence to French participants
of the search operation in Sochi, where an Armenian airline A-320
crashed last May.

RUSSIAN TRANSPORT MINISTER VISITS CENTRE OF EUROPEAN AIR INDUSTRY
by Dmitry Gorokhov
ITAR-TASS News Agency
July 5, 2006 Wednesday
Russian Transportation Minister Igor Levitin began his working trip to
France by visiting Toulouse, which is the key centre of West European
aerospace industry.
Levitin arrived in France on an invitation of his French counterpart
Dominique Perben.
In Toulouse, the Russian minister met with Airbus Company executives.
The company built more than 4,300 jets for its clients during 35
years of its activity.
At present, Airbus occupies the leading positions on the market of
commercial aviation.
Levitin plans to return to Paris late Wednesday night.
On Thursday, Levitin expects to hold talks at the French Ministry of
Transport, Infrastructure, Tourism and Marine Affairs.
The minister also plans to meet with head of the Paris airport and
open a seminar of the Russian-French Dialogue Association.
The French experience in controlling traffic speed on highways
will be among the key topics during the Paris talks, Transportation
Minister’s press secretary Svetlana Kryshtanovskaya told Itar-Tass on
Wednesday. The French experience in this sphere is of great interest
for Russia.
The visit will end on Friday, July 7.
On Friday, Levitin will give Russian awards to French participants
in a rescue operation in the beach city of Sochi on the Black Sea,
where an A-320 jet of Armenian Airlines crashed this May.
The awarding ceremony will be held in the residence of Russian
Ambassador to France.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA PRES, IRANIAN LEADERS TO DISCUSS BILATERAL RELATIONS
ITAR-TASS News Agency
July 4, 2006
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan leaves for Iran on Wednesday
for a two-day working visit. He intends to meet with Iranian leaders
to discuss a wide range of matters concerning bilateral relations,
presidential press secretary Viktor Sogomonyan has told Itar-Tass.
Armenia and neighbouring Iran, where a150, 000-member Armenian
community lives, actively interact in various spheres, in the field
of energy, in particular. The building of a gas pipeline, which is
to run from Iran to Armenia, is currently under way. A hydropower
station is projected to be built on the border river Arax, where an
Iranian company has built a wind-driven power station.

WILL AGHVAN HOVSEPYAN LEAVE FOR HARSNAKAR
Lragir.am
06 July 06
The Armenian public noticed immediately that the “fusion” of the
minister of defense and the Republican Party was sumptuous. The
allies yielded to the temptation of celebrating their initiative as
a national holiday. One of the Armenian newspapers, appearing highly
oppositionist, gladly provided its first page as a bulletin board
for Serge Sargsyan.
The first instruction to Attorney General Aghvan Hovsepyan went up
on the board: fall in with the Republicans! Moreover, his photo was
pinned to the bulletin board for the Attorney General to be sure that
the instruction was addressed to him.
In fact, the Attorney General did not hurry. It is not that easy to
play politics in the place where he was to go. Now it is time to make
a choice: Office of Public Prosecutor or politics. The allies cannot
wait. There is no time. They are going to decide the “fate of the
nation” at the Harsnakar Hotel. And they long for Aghvan Hovsepyan,
for fate cannot go without the Office of Public Prosecutor. It is
interesting whether Aghvan Hovsepyan will go to the Harsnakar. This
is not the case to ask Robert Kocharyan for permission. He has to
decide himself.

GIVE BACK OUR VICTORY!
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir.am
06 July 06
Over the past years the ruling elite of Armenia have displayed an
amazing ability to downplay and even discredit victories. Even the
victory in Karabakh has been downplayed to some degree, and it has
been discredited to a certain degree. And if this great victory of
the past several hundred years could not avoid the “skillful hands”
of the Armenian elite, it seems pointless to think about the security
of other victories.
When the men’s chess team of Armenia returned from Turin to Yerevan,
the president of the federation Serge Sargsyan modestly kept to the
second row, and often to the third row, leaving the Armenian chess
players in the first row. It seemed that the defense minister was
trying to refute the forecast that he was going to use the Olympic
victory for his political goals as an instrument of propaganda.
At that moment it really looked like that in reality Serge Sargsyan
is unlikely to use the sport victory as a political instrument.
However, “the first became the last and the last became the first”. On
July 4 the Armenian chess players were received in Stepanakert. Here
the defense minister was already in the first row, the chess players
were simply following him. The contribution of the president of the
federation to the victory is great, of course. The members of our
delegation even pointed out that thanks to him the Armenian chess
players in Turin ate outside the Olympic village not to waste energy
on standing in queues. Thanks to the president of the federation they
stayed in single rooms to prepare for the games and not disturb one
another. Who knows, queues for meals and double rooms might have been
intended to hamper the success of the Armenian team, and the minister
of defense neutralized it.
However, it is already unclear who gets the laurels, the winners of
the game or the payers for winning. Payment is last but not least,
even when it is an intellectual sport. But it is not in the first
row, especially that this is an intellectual sport, therefore it is
a little strange that the payer appears in the first row. Moreover,
if it were in Stepanakert, it would somehow be possible to say that
Serge Sargsyan was the first as a host, after all he knows the place
better and he could take the chess players around. But he started to
advance in the Bellagio, where he received the title of an Honorary
Citizen of the Center. In Stepanakert he was already both the first
and the leader. And there is a lot of time and cities until the
election. It is interesting how far ahead of the chess players Serge
Sargsyan will go, a step or two cities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IS SERGE SARGSYAN ONLY PERSON WHO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH KARABAKH?
Lragir.am
06 July 06
The victory of the men’s chess team of Armenia in Turin was an
important event for the Armenians of the world. On July 4 the champions
were received in Stepanakert.
NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan, who awarded all the players of
the team with the Medal of Gratitude, said, “After having held two
international chess tournaments in Stepanakert we can declare that
all the victories start in Stepanakert.”
“If victories start in Stepanakert, I think every Armenian must report
on his or her achievements here, as our chess players are doing now,”
said Serge Sargsyan, Minister of Defense, the president of the Chess
Federation of Armenia.
NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan also stated that three of the six chess
players come from Karabakh, two are more than Karabakhis, and Smbat
Lputyan is twice Karabakhi. “The only person who has nothing to do
with Karabakh is the president of the Chess Federation of Armenia
Serge Sargsyan,” said NKR President Ghukasyan.

WRESTLERS OF ARMENIA DEPRIVED OF MEDALS OF EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP
Noyan Tapan
Jul 6 2006
ZINATELLI, JULY 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The Europe Youth Championship of
Free-Style Wrestling finished on July 5 in the city of Zinatelli,
Hungary. All the 5 wrestlers presenting Armenia were deprived of
medals.
On July 6, the floors were given to the young wrestlers of Greco-Roman
style. Tigran Gevorgian (50 kiligrams) and Khosrov Melikian (60
kilograms) from Gyumri, Vahram Khachatrian (55 kilograms), Arman Papian
(60 kiligrams) and Arsen Jyulfakian (74 kilograms) from Yerevan and
Artur Shahinian (84 kilograms) from Etchmiadzin represent Armenia. The
Championship will end on July 9.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJANIS FAIL TO BELIEVE OSCE OBSERVERS
Lragir.am
06 July 06
Azerbaijani public officials and politicians continue manipulating
fires in the security zone controlled by the Nagorno-Karabakh armed
forces. They say they do not believe the OSCE monitoring mission,
which reports after a monitoring of the front line there are no facts
of arson. The Azerbaijanis say they do not believe the OSCE observers,
but they fail to tell whom they believe.
NKR Member of Parliament Rudik Martirosyan, Chair of the Committee
of Defense, says the Azerbaijanis burn stubble and the fire spreads
towards Karabakh. On the Azerbaijani side wheat ripens earlier, and
fire easily spreads on to the fields in Karabakh, where harvest is
collected later.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress