ANOTHER ILLEGAL CHAIRMAN? …AND THAT IS RADIK MARTIROSOVICH
Panorama.am
16:34 17/05/06
Today Radik MARTIROSYAN, YSU former rector, academician was elected as
the president of National Assembly with 46 of votes. 27 academicians
voted against and 6 ballot papers were considered invalid.
His rivals Lenser Aghalovyan received 35 votes and Eduard Ghazaryan
-36.
So, the talks that Radik Maritorisyan was promised this position
by the ruling authorities upon his resignation of the rector’s post
proved to be reality.
Once again an illegal president is going to rule the Academy
of Sciences. The point is that according to the Law on State Non
-commercial Organizations the presidents of such organizations should
not be above 65.
“There is no age limit in any country. The president of the academy
has another status,” closed the issue the newly elected president.
Yuri SARGSYAN, Rector of Engineering University does not see
any contradictions between the election procedures and academy
charter. Although it was clear that he himself did not put his
candidacy because he is above 65. Academician Anri NERSISYAN, on the
other hand, notices contradictions between the law and AS charter. “I
don’t know why they recall it only now,” he said.
Another academician Rafael GHAZARYAN said he would prefer either
Lenser Aghalovyan or Eduard Ghazaryan.
“They are young and have contributed a lot to the academy,” he said.
The newly elected president stated that there are going to be
reductions in the academy. He refuted the rumors that election bribes
were given out. “I don’t have money to give out,” he said. Lenser
Aghalovyan, on his own turn, doubted that academicians would take
bribes “no matter how hungry they are,” he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WE ARE GOING TO APPLY TO INTERNATIONAL COURT
Panorama.am
16:56 17/05/06
The Armenian foreign ministry on behalf of the government expressed its
support to the experts on Armenian genocide working within the World
Armenian Congress. “Our dispositions were very seriously discussed
for the first time,” Ara Abrahamayan, the Head of World Armenian
Congress told reporters today.
In his words, in the course of three years the experts have come up
with proposals but no conclusions have been drown yet. Abrahayman
could not say either when such conclusions will be reached.
Several experts have suggested applying to the international court
but that is not going to be soon.
The experts are ready for court procedure and have developed 200
questions which may be asked during interviews.

DIASPORA TEACHER IS WORRIED – ARMENIANS LOSE THEIR FACE IN DIASPORA
Panorama.am
17:49 17/05/06
“The new generation of the Armenian nation is under the danger of
losing its identity. It’s strange they want to become American,
European…” Levon Ananyan, the Head of Writers’ Union told a
discussion on Diaspora, Schools and Identity.
The main speaker of the discussion was Karapet DAKESYAN, a 35 years old
teacher from Melkonyan School in Cyprus. The teacher raised concerns
on the Armenian people losing their identity abroad.
He expressed his concern that Armenian language is not preserved in
Diaspora. Some parents oppose teaching Armenian at schools saying
that they are forcing their children to study Armenian.
According to data presented by Dakesyan, 8000 Armenian students go
to school at Lebanon Armenian schools.
3000 of them go to foreign schools. “If a child wants to make a career
later, he must go to foreign school,” Dakesyan said. He called the
state to keep the issue in its attention.

“WE DO NOT DISPOSE OF INFORMATION ON PRESENCE OF AZERI PRISONERS OF WAR IN ARMENIA”
Panorama.am
18:21 17/05/06
The International Committee Of The Red Cross Armenian Mission
Delegate Catherine Patronoff Stated In An Interview With De Facto
Information-Analytics Agency
The Azeri mass media have been recently discussing the issues referring
to prisoners of war, hostages and persons reported missing during
the Karabakh conflict.
Alluding to Azerbaijan State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages
and Missing Persons, various data have been made public about the
quantity of the citizens of Azerbaijan, who are allegedly in “the
Armenian captivity”. According to the latest statements, there are
4600 prisoners, including babies, in the Armenian captivity. And yet
it is stressed that the International Committee of the Red Cross does
not make efforts to free the people.
DE FACTO Information-Analytics Agency appealed to the International
Committee of the Red Cross Armenian Mission delegate Catherine
PATRONOFF to receive the impartial information on the issue painful
for both parties.
– Mrs. Patronoff, does the information disseminated by the Azeri mass
media on presence of 4600 Azeri prisoners in the Armenian captivity
correspond to reality?
– Publications concerning presence of the Azeri prisoners in Armenia
and Nagorno Karabakh, as well as the Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan
appear regularly.
The International Committee of the Red Cross cannot confirm the
information. I have heard about tens, hundreds of prisoners; however,
it is the first time I have heard about 4600 Azeri prisoners. I believe
the publications’ authors confuse the notions “a prisoner” and “a
person reported missing”. State Commissions in Azerbaijan and Armenia
deal not only with the problems of prisoners, but those reported
missing, perhaps, it is for that reason that the muddle has appeared.
The International Committee of the Red Cross’s mandate assumes work in
the conflict zone during hostilities; however, it goes on working after
concluding an armistice as well. The ICRC has been working in Armenia
and Azerbaijan since 1992. We take guidance from the principles of
the international law, first of all basing ourselves on the Geneva
conventions, to which Armenia and Azerbaijan acceded as well. The
Delegation is working in various directions; one of the main goals is
visiting prisoners of war and participation in their repatriation as a
neutral mediator. Since 1992 our organization has participated in 656
repatriations of prisoners of war or civil persons. The representatives
of the Delegation regularly visit the places of imprisonment. I
would like to repeat that we have no information on presence of the
Azeri prisoners here, in Armenia. I was more surprised learning that,
allegedly, there are babies in the Armenian captivity. It means that
the babies or their mothers were taken prisoners not long ago.
However, we do not dispose of the information.
– How successful is the cooperation between the ICRC and the Armenian
side, in part, State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and
Missing Persons, developing?
-We constantly cooperate with the leadership of Armenia. We have
admission to all the places of imprisonment, the Armenian authorities
do not hamper our activity, and we can visit the prisons any time.
We collaborate, in particular, with Ministry of Defense of Armenia
on the issues referring to funding facts concerning those reported
missing, exchange and verify the lists. Sometimes there are variances:
the names mentioned in the lists of the Ministry of Defense are
not in our lists. In such cases we contact with the families of
the persons reported missing and suggest that we should form a
questionnaire. According to the Geneva conventions, the country’s
leadership must take steps to define the people’s fate, and our
organization promotes settlement of the issues. We also meet with
the representatives of various ministries to resolve a number of
humanitarian issues.
As for the cooperation between the ICRC and RA State Commission on
Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, I should remark we
have made no advance recently.
– How many Armenians are there in the lists of missing persons,
according to the ICRC data?
– According to our data, there are about 350 missing persons from
Armenia and some 350 citizens from Nagorno Karabakh. I would like to
note that we cannot guarantee absolute accuracy of the data, as the
questionnaires are being formed till now, as not all the relatives
of the missing persons applied to the Red Cross in time, so there
may be some difference in figures.
Actually, it is not important how many persons have been reported
missing from one or another party. We go on working to solve the
problem. By the end of the year the ICRC plans to start working on
collection of physical characteristics, identification data of those
reported missing. It is very important for the Commissions on Prisoners
of War, Hostages and Missing Persons to jointly resolve the problem,
cooperate and exchange information.
From: Baghdasarian

RA FOREIGN MINISTER VARDAN OSKANYAN TO LEAVE FOR STRASBOURG
ArmRadio.am
18.05.2006 10:27
RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan will leave today for Strasbourg
to participate in the 116th session of the Committee of Foreign
Ministers of the Council of Europe. Together with his counterparts
the Minister will meet today Terry Davis, the Secretary General of
the Council of Europe. The meeting will be dedicated to the future
status of Kosovo. In Strasburg Vardan Oskanyan is scheduled to meet
also his Azeri counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov and the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairs. The way the process of settlement of the Karabakh conflict
will be known after this meeting, since after the failed Rambouliet
meeting the talks have found themselves in an uncertain deadlock.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE TO BE DISCUSSED AT THE PARLIAMENT OF FRANCE
ArmRadio.am
18.05.2006 11:03
The Socialist Party of France intends to present today a bill on
penalizing the 1915 Armenian Genocide deniers to the consideration
of the Parliament.

“BOOK EXPO AMERICA” EXHIBITION-SALE TO START IN WASHINGTON
ArmRadio.am
18.05.2006 11:20
“Book Expo America” exhibition-sale of books will start today in
Washington. The Armenian national association of publishers will
also participate in the event. About 120 Armenian books, including
publication about the Armenian Genocide will be presented.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SEMIFINAL OF THE “EUROVISION-2006” TO BE HELD IN ATHENS
ArmRadio.am
18.05.2006 12:11
The semifinal of the “Eurovision-2006″ song contest will be held today
at the Olympic Stadium of Athens, meant for 18 spectators. Armenia
will be represented by best singer of the year Andre, who will present
a song titled ” Without your love.”

AMBASSADOR OF KUWAIT HANDED CREDENTIALS TO RA PRESIDENT
ArmRadio.am
18.05.2006 13:35
Today the newly appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Kuwait to
Armenia Majdi Ahmad Ebrahim Al-Daffi (seat in Tehran) handed his
credentials to RA Presidnet Robert Kocharyan.
The President underlined the necessity of expanding the relations with
Arab countries, thus emphasizing the role of Kuwait in this context.
Turning to the relations between the two countries, the interlocutors
noted that there is considerable potential for collaboration. They
attached importance to immediate business contacts and exchange of
information in the de velopment of economic ties.
The Ambassador thoroughly presented the situation in Kuwait and the
regional developments.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SENATORS SARBANES AND BOXER QUESTION US AMBASSADOR DESIGNATE TO AZERBAIJAN
ArmRadio.am
18.05.2006 14:30
US Ambassador Designate to Azerbaijan Anne Derse responded to questions
by Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Paul Sarbanes on a series
of US policy concerns focusing on Azerbaijan’s belligerent attitude
toward Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh, as well as the Administration’s
budget request, which would break military assistance parity to Armenia
and Azerbaijan, reported the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA).
In response to a question by Senator Sarbanes expressing concern about
the Bush Administration’s Fiscal Year 2007 budget request which would
provide over 40% more military assistance to Azerbaijan than Armenia,
Ambassador Designate Derse defended the decision, stating that “we
do not believe that the slight differences in military assistance
. . . undermine prospects for peace or send the wrong message.”
In response to Senator Sarbanes’ question on efforts toward regional
economic integration in the Caucasus, Derse noted that the “opening
of the border between Turkey and Armenia would contribute to the
economies of both countries,” but made no reference to the 18-year
Azerbaijani blockade of Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh. Derse did,
however, make specific mention of recent efforts to build a railway
line connecting Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, stating “because the
proposed railway would bypass Armenia, and thus not be beneficial
to regional integration, we have no plans to support such a railway
financially.
Derse noted that “the future status of Nagorno Karabakh is a matter
of negotiations between the parties.” She stressed that both the
Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been forewarned that “any
attempt at a military solution to the conflict would only deepen its
tragic impact.”