ARTHUR BAGHDASARYAN WAS RECOGNIZED EUROPEAN OF THE YEAR
A1+
[08:26 pm] 15 May, 2006
International NGO “European Movement” awarded NA President Arthur
Baghdasaryan the title of the “European of the year” in Armenia. Only
three members of the Orinats Yerkir were present at the ceremony –
Mher Shahgeldyan, Samvel Balasanyan and Hovhannes Margaryan. After
the ceremony Baghdasaryan was congratulated by the members of his
party and several foreign members of the NGO.
Arthur Baghdasaryan announced that he is thankful for the award and
claimed that Armenia has no alternative to European integration.
Let us remind you that Arthur Baghdasaryan had said the same in an
interview to a German newspaper which became one of the reasons of
his resignation.

THE COALITION DOES NOT HAVE PROBLEMS OF ENLARGEMENT
A1+
[08:37 pm] 15 May, 2006
“The coalition does not have problems of enlargement”, head of the
Republican party faction Galoust Sahakyan informed “A1+” today. “There
is no need to introduce a new political power to the coalition. It
present it consists of two parties only and we have taken up the
responsibility to realize the principles of the coalition till the
end. Naturally, we will cooperate with the other powers more actively”,
this way Mr. Sahakyan tried to change our opinion that no power would
like to join the coalition before elections.
At present Tigran Torosyan is the main candidate for the post of the
NA President. But head of the National Democratic Party Shavarsh
Kocharyan has doubts about the final decision. “Before the coming
elections it would not be favorable for the President to have the Prime
Minister and the NA President members of the Republican Party”. If we
take into account the fact that the Republican party acts under the
support of Serge Sargsyan, we can say that Robert Kocharyan would no
like to have absolutely Republican authorities.
According to Galoust Sahakyan, it is the Republican party who must
decided who will be President of the NA for the coming year. “The power
which forms the political majority decides its future actions itself.
There won’t be problems with the Revolutionary Federation as it is a
classical experienced party and I don’t think the existing resolutions
can be negative for them”.

“AGENTS” OF THE PARTY “NEW TIMES” ARE REVEALING THEMSELVES
A1+
[08:13 pm] 15 May, 2006
Two days ago Arsen Amirkhanyan, the head of the Malatia-Sebastia
regional structure of the party “New Times” announced that he is
leaving the party and is to take about 100 members of the party
with him.
According to Arsen Amirkhanyan, after that the NTP youth and women’s
structures will be dissolved.
Today the NTP deputy head, the administrative representative and the
heads of the youth and women’s unions rendered a press conference
in order to announce that the information does not correspond to the
reality. The representatives of the party said that 25 days ago Arsen
Amiryan ceased to be head of the Malatia-Sebastia regional structure
by the decision of the party. Still, this does not mean that he was
eliminated from the party. They informed that they are waiting for
the revelation of facts after which they will resort to measures.
During the press conference a note was made public according to which
deputy head of the NTP Alexan Minasyan applied to the Police Malatia
department in order to learn why Arsen Amirkhanyan had been summoned
to the police. It turned out that Arsen Amirkhanyan’s name is involved
in a real estate bargain.
This was enough for the party concerned with the “clarity of its
members” to repudiate one of that very members. As for the question
why the party repudiated him so easily, Alexan Minasyan explains by
the words of Aram Karapetyan, leader of the party, “There are agents
(insiders) in the party.” Aram Karapetyan had promised to make
the list of the agents public but he hasn’t done so by now. Today
Minasyan mentioned that there is no need to tell their names as one
of them revealed himself today. By the way, according to Minasyan’s
calculations there are about 14 “agents” in the NTP.
During the press conference the heads of the youth and women’s unions
of the party claimed that they will keep working, and Alexan Minasyan
added that the party administration has not received any applications
about leaving the party.
By the way, the members of the party underlined that Arsen Amirkhanyan
used to be in the Communist party first after which he got transferred
to the Constitutional Right Union prior to coming to the NTP.
And if he finds a new political power now, it will be his 4th party.

PASSIONS SOOTHED IN THE YSU
A1+
[08:47 pm] 15 May, 2006
During the elections of the Yerevan State University rector which took
place in the University hall Aram Simonyan was elected rector. 41 of
the 72 members of the University Council voted for him. Dean of the Law
faculty Gagik Ghazinyan received 24 votes, four people voted against
both candidates and one member was not participating in the elections.
“The election was held in a friendly atmosphere, following all the
corresponding rules. 50 days is a good period for people to revise
their decisions”, President of the YSU Council, Defense Minister
Serge Sargsyan said. Let us remind you that on March 22 none of the
candidate received the necessary amount of votes.
Immediately after the results were announced Gagik Ghazinyan left
the University and we failed to learn his opinion.
And rector Aram Simonyan answered all the questions of the journalists,
“I think the election was held in a democratic atmosphere. I was
content with the March 22 elections, and I am content now. No,
actually I did not expect that I would be elected”. He was not worried
by the fact that the President of the Council is Serge Sargsyan,
“I think his presence is good for the University. He knows that we
have expectations for him”.
After the previous elections several changes were introduced into the
council. On May 11 by the decision of Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan
seven members of the Council were changed according to the 5th part
of the 77th article of the RA Law. The President of the Council said,
“This question is not intended for me as I am not responsible for
the changes. But I must say that the changes correspond to the law
and questions are improper here”.
It is noteworthy that during the previous elections Gagik Ghazinyan’s
votes prevailed and he was not elected because of one vote only.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KARAPETYAN REJECTED THE OFFER TO OCCUPY THE POST OF THE NA PRESIDENT
A1+
[09:00 pm] 15 May, 2006
After Arthur Baghdasaryan announced about his resignation Ambassadors
of several Western countries expressed desire to meet head of the
NA “Democratic Delegate” faction Karen Karapetyan. According to
our sources, the meetings have taken place, but we failed to find
out the theme of conversation with the Ambassadors. We checked the
information in the secretariat of the faction, but we again we were
not given information about the theme.
We also managed to find out that Karen Karapetyan has been offered
the post of the NA President which he turned down. The coalition
decided to elect Karapetyan at least as deputy President of the NA
but this offer was turned down too. According to our information,
the negotiations with Karapetyan are still continuing.
“If the offer to join the coalition were made 1-2 years ago, it
would be accepted. But as far as there is only a year left until
the new elections, joining the coalition now would mean to take
responsibility for the whole period. It is a matter of calculation”,
NA deputy Shavarsh Kocharyan told “A1+”.
According to head of the Republican Party faction Galoust Sahakyan,
“the problem is not the time but the character and principles of the
people.” He confessed that he would like Karen Karapetyan to become
President of the NA.
And still, Shavarsh Kocharyan is content with the fact that the
political powers think about their future, “By now the authorities
were sure that they will decide the fate of the future Parliament
but now they have doubts. This is a positive change.”
Let us remind you that the faction “Democratic Delegate” is the second
power in the Parliament after the Republican Party. De jure it has
16 deputies, whereas de facto it has 17.

PUBLIC OFFICIALS OFFER A SURPRISE TO TRADESMEN
Panorama.am
13:43 15/05/06
Yerevan municipality officials accomplished their plan in prohibiting
street trade after their visit to central streets and avenues of
the city.
At this point they are going to offer surprises to tradesmen on the
streets, Arman SAHAKYAN, deputy mayor, told a briefing today. “We
organize inspections together with Yerevan municipality trade and
service department and police officers,” he said.
They confiscated ice cream and juice boxes in the second phase of
the inspection. About 217 sites were inspected by May 1, violations
recorded in 165 of them. The city authorities fined the tradesmen in
the amount of 4 mln 507 thousand drams as a result of checks. Most
of the money ran from Kentron and Arabkir communities.
Despite of what the deputy mayor says, passers-by notice that street
trade continues in Yerevan streets.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DIDN’T DEPUTY MAYOR KNOW?
Panorama.am
14:24 15/05/06
Yerevan deputy mayor Arman SAHAKAYAN confessed in a press conference
today that city authorities have no intention to eliminate underground
trade. “On the contrary, Yerevan as many other cities, must have trade
centers at such places,” he said. Perhaps the reason is that both
municipality and local administration are interested in such trade
as they bring profits. Another question is in what sanitary-hygienic
conditions those trade centers are.
According to the deputy mayor, studies are conducted on
sanitary-hygienic conditions of underground trade shops with respective
reports submitted.
The deputy mayor also said that food is prohibited in underground
places. Most probably he has never been to the underground pass of
Barekamution metro station where all kinds of smells of food trade
can be felt.
Garbage is collected right near those shops. All other underground
passes are in similar conditions.

ELECTIONS OF YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY RECTOR CONTINUE
Panorama.am
17:16 15/05/06
The administration board of Yerevan State University (YSU) holds
elections of the rector of the university which yielded no results
on March 22. This time two candidates are nominated: the dean of law
faculty Gagik Kazinyan and pro-rector Aram Simonyan. There are some
hopes that this time the university will have its rector. 71 members
out of 72 of the administration board were present. Mesrop Arakelyan,
former YSU rector was absent.
Several prominent figures left the board on May 13, among them David
Arutunyan, Minister of Justice, Alexan Arutunyan, chairman of the board
of public TV, Gevorg Poghosyan, Director of Sociology Institute, Levon
Ananyan, chairman of Writers’ Union, Viktor Martirosyan, Director of
National Institute, Arsen Karapetyan, archbishop Ashot Khachatryan and
Stepan Yenokyan. The vacancies were soon filled. Former Board member
Stepan Yenokyan, a student, have been called to army recently. He voted
for G. Kazinyan in the last elections. Yenokyan’s draft is in no way
connected with the elections, David Hairapetyan, YSU Administration
Board Secretary told Panorama.am.

NOR JAMANAKNER READY FOR “A SOFT BLOW”
Panorama.am
17:47 15/05/06
The leaders of Nor Jamanakner (New Times) Party chose “regular
provocation against the party” as a heading for a press conference
today. This heading was a reaction to “high” statements made by one
of the party unit heads, Arsen Amirkhanyan. Amirkhanyan told a news
conference on May 13 that he is going to leave the party and several
youth and women units of the party are going to break up.
4 members represented New Times today in a news conference trying to
assure that the break up of the party does not meet the reality. On the
contrary, the leadership has become more organized after provocative
speeches of Arsen Amirkhanyan.
According to A. Minasyan, vice chairman of New Times, Amirkhanyan
did not leave the party on his own but was dismissed. “25 days ago
Amirkhanyan was dismissed from his post,” he said. According to him,
Amirkhanyan took part in a fraud deal connected with sales and purchase
of a flat based on which he was dismissed.
He made public the letter from the police saying that materials are
collected against Arsen Amirkhanyan.
The speakers also said that they only dismissed him from the head of
Malatia Sebastia unit and not from the lines of the party. However,
he himself made the first step and left the party.

NO INTERNAL POLITICAL CRISIS
Panorama.am
18:40 15/05/06
According to Defense Minister Serj Sargsyan, internal political crisis
did not happen in the political field followed by recent steps taken
by Orinats Yerkir. “No program can be a dogma. Any program is subject
to change. We will try to adapt those program to the Armenia reality,”
S. Sargsyan said.