‘DO NOT DAMAGE’
By Karine Asatrian
Source:
Yerkir.am
July 01, 2006
The Azeri delegation to the CoE Parliamentary Assembly is trying to
include two issues into the PACE agenda. The first issue is the massive
fires in territories adjacent to Nagorno Karabagh. The second issue
is “illegal settlement of Armenians” on the same territories. Azeris
are convinced they will succeed. Member of the Armenian delegation
to the PACE Armen RUSTAMIAN answers A1+’ s questions.
Q: The Azeris state that PACE delegates support them. Have you felt
such an attitude towards the Azeris?
A: I would not say so but I can say that some delegates who are not
familiar with the Karabagh issue listen to the Azeris propaganda. This
is the main goal of Azeri propaganda: to present distorted facts at
forums where there are no procedures for checking the validity of
presented information. In other words, they address the audience of
delegates who do not take the trouble to examine the issue in detail
and can easily be influenced by emotional statements.
Meanwhile, the nature of Karabagh conflict is such that if you do not
know the substance of the conflict the arguments put forward by the
Azeris seem to be more trustworthy, especially that no discussion of
such issues as what were the causes and what consequences, who is to
blame for them are never discussed at such forums. Azerbaijan uses
this opportunity to launch its propaganda.
Q: The Karabagh settlement process is regulated through the OSCE
Minsk Group. Why is Azerbaijan using its propaganda machine in the
Council of Europe?
A: The logic is the same. At the Minsk Group we have truly detailed
and deep discussions. OSCE has been dealing with this issue for a long
time and this is why it knows the issue at a much deeper level. This
is why the Azeris try to transfer discussion of the issue to the
parliamentary level.
The hearings at the CoE Parliamentary Assembly are rather weak in
this respect. When it comes to the actual resolutions the issue is
transferred to the Minsk Group with the understanding that if you deal
with an issue you have to take it seriously rather than discussing
it through committee sessions. You cannot avoid emotional outbursts
in committee discussions and propaganda techniques and naturally the
decisions taken do not always adequately reflect the substance of
the discussed issue.
Q: Does this mean that you consider creation of a sub-committee
dealing with Karabagh issue in the PACE would be useless?
A: No, I believe that if the goal of such a sub-committee is set as
assisting rather than hindering the activities of the Minsk Group,
then yes, Council of Europe can be involved in this issue.
Q: OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs stated today that they believe intensive
mediation mission does not make sense as long as the presidents of
the two countries do not show adequate political will to overcome
their disagreements. Do you think a settlement of the conflict is
possible without mediators, as some political analysts suggest?
A: There are different ways of conflict settlement and only one
of them is acceptable for Karabagh and I think this one has been
smoothly working for a long time. Starting from scratch and trying
to use alternative methods might not work with this conflict.
Of course, I am not against using all elements and approaches known
in conflict studies that would complement each other contributing to
the settlement of the conflict. The logic is the following: every
new interference should answer one question – does it hinder the
existing settlement process or not? ” Do not damage”, this is the
correct starting point.

DISCLOSURE OF KARABAKH TALKS DETAILS NOT LIKELY TO RESULT IN RESUMING OF WAR
Yerkir.am
July 01, 2006
Disclosure of Karabakh talks details is not likely to result in
resuming of the war, Armenian Defense Minister Serzh Sargsian said
Thursday when commenting OSCE Minks Group Co-Chair Mathew Bryza’s
latest statement.
“I don’t think something has happened that could lead to a war,”
Sargsian said. “There are no real preconditions for resuming military
actions.”
Sargsian added that Bryza had better made public the documents adopted
during and after the talks in Key West instead of “his own comments.”
“Otherwise, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs urge others to not disclose
the details of the talks to avoid emotional speculations, but they
do exactly that, ” he noted.
He also said that it is for the presidents of the two countries
to settle the conflict and the co-chairs have to accept what the
presidents would decide.

BAKU’S BELLIGERENT STATEMENTS INTENDED FOR DOMESTIC AUDIENCE – NKR DM
Yerkir.am
July 01, 2006
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs should communicate with the presidents of
Armenia, Azerrbaijan as well as the president of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic, NKR Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian has told journalists.
He has added that the co-chairs should resume the talks process to find
a peaceful solution to the conflict. He also said that the conflict
cannot be solved through using force. “It has been solved through force
once in 1994,” he said, adding that the meetings of the presidents
indicates Azerbaijan has no intention to conduct negotiations.
Commenting on Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev’s statement
that ‘ Armenians are scared of war,’ Ohanian said, “Armenians are
not scared of war; beginning from 1988 and up to the present, we have
such a defense system that are fully confident of our capabilities.”

A DANCE GROUP FROM AUSTRALIA
Yerkir.am
July 01, 2006
Q: When was Hamazgayin’s Australian “Sevan” dance group created?
A: (director of Sevan dance group Asatur HAJIAN): The dance group was
formed in 2003 with the initiative of Hamazgayin’s Sevan branch. The
mission of the branch is to contribute to the cultural life of the
Armenian community in Australia. There are 180 dancers in the group
today. The age range of dancers is 6-30 years. These are all amateur
dancers. The groups can only rehearse once a week. We usually use
music written by Armenian composers for our dance performances.
Q: Where did you receive your professional education?
A.H.: I studied in Aleppo. I was Abraham Kostanian’s student. Then
I continued my studies in Armenia with Azat Gharibian.
Q: Please tell us about your activities in Sydney. What performances
have you had there?
A.H.: Our groups have participated in a number of international
festivals.
We receive many invitation especially from foreigners. We were invited
by the Sydney Ballet to teach them an Armenian dance. Our groups have
an annual performance for the Armenian community in Australia. In
addition to this we have a number of other performances. Last year
our group performed together with Ara Gevorgian in Sydney. We also
participated in the performance of Anush Opera directed by Araks
Mansurian.
Q: How did you decide to participate in the One Nation, One Culture
Festival?
Levon Demirian: The initiative came from the Armenian office of
Hamazgayin.
Since we needed a lot of money to come to Armenia to participate in
the festival, the assistance of the Armenian community in Sydney
and our benefactors was very important. With their assistance 50
members of our dance group could participate in the pan-Armenian
festival. Participation in the festival was a good opportunity for our
young people to visit their homeland and be exposed to the Armenian
culture. I have to comment on a very painful issue. During the festival
there were many instances when our culture was presented in foreign
languages. I hope such incidents will not be repeated in the future.
Q: What was the program with which you participated in the festival?
A: We had folk dances in our program. We performed in Vanadzor,
Dilijan, Sevan, Ashtarak, Cascade and the Opera Theater. We will
perform two dances at the closing concert on June 30 together with
Ara Gevorgian which is a big honor for us. By the way, we are the
only dance group from the Diaspora that had the honor of performing
at the opening ceremony.
We have a performance in Stepanakert, Artsakh on July 2. On our way
back to Australia we have a performance in Aleppo on July 7, then
another performance in Damask on July 8, and another one in Beirut on
July 11. Hamazgayin is the organizer of all these performances. All
our expectations were justified and the kids are very enthusiastic
about their performances.
We are grateful to our dance instructor Asatur Hajian because he built
the dance group in three years. We hope we will be able to stick to
our mission of promoting our culture.
We would like to thank once again the organizers of the festival as
well as Hamazgayin for the opportunity that we had to visit Armenia
and perform here.

SUMMER SESSION OF THE OSCE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY TO START IN BRUSSELS
ArmRadio.am
03.07.2006 10:45
The summer session of the OSCE Parliamentary assembly will start today
in Brussels. Goran Lenmarker may possibly publicize his report on
the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Despite this fact, the Azeri delegates
have decided to use the session as a platform for anti-Armenian
statements. Head of the delegation Eldar Ibrahimov noted that the
discussions on “Provision of human security over OSCE territory”
will be used for this purpose.

FIRST SITTING OF THE 12TH CONFERENCE ON “THE METHODS OF SYMMETRY IN PHYSICS” TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN
ArmRadio.am
03.07.2006 10:57
The first sitting of the 12th scientific conference on “The methods of
symmetry in Physics” dedicated to the 50th anniversary of establishment
of the joint Nuclear Research Institute will be held today in Yerevan
State University.
For this purpose Director of the Institute, correspondent-member of
the RF Academy of Sciences Alexey Sisakyan has arrived in Yerevan.

CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE WORLD SUMMIT OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS
ArmRadio.am
03.07.2006 11:06
World summit of religious leaders will be held today in Moscow. The
Catholicos of all Armenians Garegin II will also participate in
the event.
Over 100 religious figures will discuss the issue of preservation of
religious and moral values in contemporary society.

DIPLOMATIC ADVISOR OF THE PRESIDENT OF FRANCE IS IN ARMENIA
ArmRadio.am
03.07.2006 11:13
June 28-July 3 Diplomatic Advisor of the President of France Laurent
Biliis paying a visit to Armenia to prepare the Year of France in
Armenia. July 3 he will meet RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MATTHEW BRYZA: US BACKS THE PRINCIPLE OF TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY
ArmRadio.am
03.07.2006 12:32
“The US backs the principle of territorial integrity, but at the
same time we believe in the right of self-determination of peoples,
declared Matthew Bryza, US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group.
“The US stands for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. We
advocate also the territorial integrity of Georgia in the Abkhazian and
South-Ossetian conflicts, as well as that of Moldova in the conflict
of Transniestria.
Simultaneously, we believe in the right for self-determination of
peoples. In case of the conflicts in Karabakh and Georgia these two
principles are contradicting each other,” Matthew Bryza declared.
“It is just in such cases that diplomacy and international mediation
are necessary. The mission of the OSCE Minsk Group is to find ways of
matching these two disparate principles,” the American diplomat noted.
Matthew Bryza declared also that he will visit Azerbaijan, Armenia
and Nagorno-Karabakh later in July.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

“MIKA” WOMEN’S CHESS CLUB ACHIEVES THE CHESS CUP OF ARMENIA
ArmRadio.am
03.07.2006 12:56
Women players of the “Mika” chess club of Yerevan won the team
of the Chess Academy of Armenia and achieved the Chess Cup, thus
gaining the right to represent Armenia at women’s European Chess
Cup. The “Mika” club comprised Grand Master Elina Danielyan, ex-world
champion Maya Chiburdanidze and another Georgian chess player Nino
Khurdziadze. The team of the Chess Academy was headed by Grand Master
Lilit Lazarian. It comprised also International Masters Siranush
Andreasyan and Lilit Galoyan.