LEBANESE-ARMENIANS DEMAND NOT TO INCLUDE TURKISH FORCES IN PEACEKEEPING CONTINGENT
By Ruzan Poghosian
AZG Armenian Daily
29/08/2006
In a message to the international mass media Armenian deputies of
the Lebanese parliament, Jean Aghasapian, Yeghik Tchertcherian,
Hagop Gasartchian and Serge Tursargisian, have praised the actions
of the Lebanese government and its head Fouad Siniora underscoring
the latter’s ability to defend the state’s utmost interests in
difficult conditions. In the meantime, on behalf of the Lebanese
Armenian community deputies called on the government not to include
Turkish forces among the international peacekeeping contingent bound
to deploy in the south. They emphasized that Lebanon is a country
where different communities coexist, and everyone has to respect
each community’s feelings. In this regard, the deputies reminded that
Lebanon’s Armenian community was formed due to the Armenian Genocide
carried out by Turkey in 1915. Actions of the Turkish army have left
cruel memories in the Armenian people and that inspires distrust
towards Turkish soldiers. In view of this circumstance, the deputies
demand that the government respects feelings of the Lebanese-Armenians
and not to include Turkish forces among the peacekeepers.

SLOVENIAN LEADER URGES EU TO CONTRIBUTE TO KARABAKH PEACE – AZERI TV
ANS TV, Baku
28 Aug 06
Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek has expressed the hope that the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be
resolved peacefully.
Meeting his visiting Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Ljubljana
on 28 August, Drnovsek said the EU should contribute to the peaceful
settlement of the conflict.
The two presidents also discussed political and economic relations
between their countries.

SCHOOLS TO DEVELOP THEIR THREE-MONTH PROGRAM
Panorama.am
15:15 28/08/06
Some 9081 schoolchildren were registered to go the first class at the
secondary schools of Yerevan against 10873 of the last year. The first
class schoolchildren will be divided into junior and senior groups
according to their date of birth. Textbooks will be distributed among
them free of charge. They will go to school 6 days a week since “it is
not possible to cover the curriculum in 5 days,” Kamo Areyan, deputy
mayor, told reporters. The municipality decided to allow schools to
develop their “three month programs” which will be submitted to the
municipality for funding.

DANGEROUS PRODUCTION UNITS INVITED TO REGISTER
Panorama.am
15:37 28/08/06
The state is going to fine Mika Armenia Company in the amount of
1 million Armenian drams for failing to register within Technical
Security National Center.
Ashot Petrosyan, the head of the center, sarcastically welcomed the
management of Mika Armenia to register.
This requirement is stipulated by law, which says that dangerous
production units have to register within the abovementioned center by
September 1. In case they fail to do so, a fine of 1 million Armenian
drams will be imposed on them, which will turn into 2 million Armenian
drams at a later date. After it, the production unit will be closed.
Petrol feeling stations, carrousels, swimming pools, cranes, elevators
and some others are considered as dangerous production units. The
center does not have information on the number of such productions.
Therefore, it is hard to control the registration requirements. The
center says they have forwarded requests to communities to inform
about such productions but the communities say they do not have any,
the center head claims.
Twelve fatalities were reported in the course of one month due to
unsafe operations.

SOME 20,000 PEOPLE TO BECOME MEMBERS OF ELECTION COMMITTEES
Panorama.am
16:17 28/08/06
Some 19,697 citizens of Armenia may become members of election
committees, Tsovinar Khachatryan, press spokeswoman of Central
Electoral Committee, told Panorama.am. The Election Code requires that
election committee member pass trainings and receive certificates
before they can participate in elections as committee members. Some
36383 citizens have applied for such certificates but only half of
them received them. Citizens have been especially active in Yerevan.
Some 10013 people applied for training but only 6860 could pass the
test.

ANNAN CRITICIZES ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH ON CEASEFIRE
By Sam F. Ghattas
Associated Press Writer
Christian Broadcasting Network, VA
Aug. 28, 2006
CBNNews.com – BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) – U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
faulted both Israel and Hezbollah on Monday for not living up to key
sections of the cease-fire resolution, while two more countries took
steps to provide troops for an expanded peacekeeping force to secure
the truce.
Germany, meanwhile, hinted it was negotiating a prisoner swap.
Sitting beside Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, Annan demanded
Hezbollah return two captured Israeli soldiers, whose July 12 abduction
touched off the 34-day war, and said Israel must lift its air and
sea blockade of Lebanon.
Although Annan was critical of both sides, he also said the agreement
provided a chance for a long-term peace. As the cease-fire held for
the 15th day, neither side looked like it wanted to resume large-scale
hostilities.
But the U.N. chief cautioned the road ahead would be long, and pledged
the international community’s support. As part of that support, Italy
and Turkey moved to join the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern
Lebanon.
Annan also said the U.N. force, which is to grow to 15,000 soldiers,
will not try to disarm Hezbollah guerrillas.
“Down the line … there will have to be disarmament, but it’s up
to the Lebanese government and people to resolve themselves,” Annan
said. “The (peacekeepers) are not going to go house to house searching
for weapons. This is not their responsibility.”
Annan was booed by residents as he toured the devastated Dahiyeh
neighborhood in the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut. He
was greeted by giant posters with photographs of Hezbollah chief
Hassan Nasrallah and one that had a caricature of Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice with vampire’s teeth and blood dripping from
the mouth.
The U.N. chief, accompanied by Saniora and a Hezbollah legislator,
walked for about 50 yards before the protest became noisy and
unfriendly. Annan got back into a car, which drove slowly through
the assembled residents with security men running alongside.
Geir Pedersen, Annan’s personal representative, was pushed into
another car in the motorcade by a bodyguard after some in the crowd
mistook him for Jeffrey Feltman, the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon.
Earlier, Annan issued an unexpectedly blunt assessment of the
cease-fire and its implementation by Israel and Hezbollah.
“It’s a fixed menu. … It’s not an a la carte menu where you choose
and pick,” he said at the end of the first day of his 11-day Mideast
swing that will include stops in Iran and Syria, the main backers
of Hezbollah.
It was not known what Annan would discuss with the leaders of Syria
and Iran, but it would be extremely difficult for Lebanon to disarm the
Shiite guerrillas of Hezbollah without the agreement and participation
of those two governments.
Israel responded quickly and negatively to Annan’s call for an end
to the blockade, which is intended to keep arms from being shipped
to Hezbollah.
An official in the office of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reiterated
that the blockade will remain until the international force takes up
positions along Lebanon’s borders and entry points. He said Hezbollah
continues to try to smuggle weapons into the country.
“Once the international forces are fully in place and they’re able
to prevent the smuggling of weapons to Hezbollah, there will be no
need for the air and naval blockade,” said the official, David Baker.
Although aimed at Hezbollah arms shipments, the blockade also is
hindering shipments of food, fuel and other goods to Lebanon.
Annan has said the Lebanese army could handle policing the Syrian
border on its own and it would be unprecedented for a peacekeeping
force to be deployed along a border shared by countries that have not
been at war. Syrian President Bashar Assad has said the deployment
of international troops would be considered a “hostile” act.
In Israel, Olmert announced an inquiry into the war, hoping to dispel
criticism among Israelis that the army and government bungled the
campaign. But he ignored demands for an independent probe with the
authority to dismiss top officials.
His decision was likely to enrage critics who say Olmert and other top
officials should be the focus of the investigation, not overseeing it.
Israel has said a resolution of the conflict must include the release
of the two soldiers captured by Hezbollah militants in a cross-border
raid that triggered the conflict last month.
Israel’s foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, said that unless the issue
of the two soldiers was resolved, “the whole thing is of little
significance.”
“Our sovereignty has been infringed and if this resolution does not
make that good, then we still have this problem,” she said in Germany.
Livni’s talks in Germany included discussion of efforts to get the
soldiers released, German Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler said.
Germany has mediated past prisoner exchanges between Hezbollah
and Israel.
“It is well known that Germany has possibilities … to help free
these captured and kidnapped Israeli soldiers,” Erler said.
Annan said in Beirut that as a first step, the captured soldiers
could be transferred with Red Cross involvement to the government of
Lebanon or a third party, and offered U.N. assistance if required.
Meanwhile, Italy’s Cabinet approved sending 2,500 soldiers to the
peacekeeping mission, and the government approved a $38.4 million
aid package for Lebanon.
“In the coming hours we will initiate the complex logistics for the
deployment of the Italian forces in the region,” Foreign Minister
Massimo D’Alema said.
Earlier, the Italian Defense Ministry said a naval task force was
already being assembled to move about 1,900 soldiers to Lebanon. They
were to include marines and engineering specialists and be off the
Lebanese coast by Friday.
Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO and a country with close ties
to both Israel and Arab states, took a step closer toward joining
the peacekeeping force. Turkey has not said how many troops it could
send, but the presence of Muslim soldiers in the force is regarded
as crucial to gaining its acceptance in Lebanon.
Turkey’s Cabinet called Monday for sending troops to Lebanon and said
parliament would be convened soon to vote on the measure.
But in Lebanon, the spiritual leader of the Armenian Diaspora,
Catholicos Aram I, released a statement calling Turkish participation
in a peacekeeping mission “morally unacceptable.” Armenians want
modern Turkey to recognize atrocities committed by its Ottoman
predecessors. The Armenians estimate they lost 1.5 million people in
massacres or forced marches in Word War I.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

U.N. CHIEF DEMANDS HEZBOLLAH RELEASE 2 CAPTIVES
Gainesville Sun, FL
Aug. 28, 2006
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan demanded Monday that Hezbollah
release two captured Israeli soldiers to the international Red Cross,
and that Israel lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon.
Also Monday, Turkey’s Cabinet voted to send peacekeepers to southern
Lebanon, becoming the only Muslim country that has relations with
Israel to propose deploying troops. Turkey’s Parliament will convene
later this week or early next week to debate becoming part of an
expanded U.N. force.
Italy’s Cabinet, meanwhile, approved sending 2,500 troops to take
part in the expanded U.N. peacekeeping mission.
Visiting Beirut on the first leg of an 11-day Mideast tour, Annan
said he was renewing his “call for the abducted soldiers to be free,”
and urged Hezbollah to transfer them to the Lebanese government
“or a third party” under the auspices of the international Red Cross.
“We, the U.N., will be prepared to play a role if we are required to
do so. And I offer our services,” he said.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora led Annan on a tour of Beirut’s
southern suburbs, an area ravaged by Israeli airstrikes during the
34-day war. Hundreds of Lebanese shouted pro-Hezbollah slogans and
booed him as he toured the rubble-strewn streets. The crowd mobbed
Annan’s heavily guarded motorcade, and security agents ran along both
sides of the vehicles.
Annan urged Israel Monday to lift its blockade on Lebanon. “I’m
working with them and a number of international partners to see to
it that this is done,” he said.
Israel has said a resolution of the conflict must include the release
of the two soldiers captured by Hezbollah militants in a cross-border
raid that triggered the conflict last month.
“So long as this issue with the two soldiers is not solved, the whole
thing is of little significance,” Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said
in Germany. “Our sovereignty has been infringed and if this resolution
does not make that good, then we still have this problem.”
France, saying the European Union did not do enough to end the
“devastating” conflict, urged Israel to lift its air and sea blockade
of Lebanon, which has kept out all but a trickle of supplies.
Annan met with Mohammed Fneish, one of two Hezbollah ministers in
Saniora’s Cabinet, in the first direct contact with the guerrilla
group during the U.N. chief’s Lebanon visit.
Annan also met separately with Saniora and Parliament Speaker
Nabih Berri, who serves as Hezbollah’s de facto negotiator. The
secretary-general said the Lebanese government assured him it would
“faithfully” implement the cease-fire resolution.
“We have a chance now to have a long-term cease-fire and a long-term
peace (in Lebanon), and we all need to work together and this is the
purpose of my visit here,” Annan said.
But Annan cautioned that the road ahead would be long, and pledged
the international community’s support.
“There is lots of work to be done. We are now entering the stage
of recovery and reconstruction,” he said. “I assured Speaker Berri
that the U.N. and international community will want to work very,
very intensively with the parties to ensure that they do implement
the resolution to the fullest, and that we have long-term peace in
this region.”
Annan also was expected to visit Israel, and Hezbollah’s main
supporters, Syria and Iran, during his 11-day tour.
The resolution ended 34 days of fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli
forces on Aug. 14. It calls for deployment of 15,000 peacekeepers
in southern Lebanon and an equal number of Lebanese troops to patrol
the border region when Israel withdraws.
The Italian government on Monday also approved a $38.4 million aid
package for Lebanon, and authorized spending for the peacekeeping
mission of $239.1 million until Dec. 31.
Earlier Monday, the Defense Ministry said a naval task force was
already being assembled to transport to Lebanon some 1,000 troops,
including marines and engineering corps specialists.
The task force, led by the Giuseppe Garibaldi aircraft carrier, is
scheduled to set sail Tuesday from a southern Italian port and reach
the Lebanese coast on Friday.
On Friday, the European Union pledged 6,900 troops _ the core of the
proposed 15,000-member force.
The United States, the European Union and Israel also were pressing
for peacekeepers from Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO, and
a country with close ties to Israel and Arab countries. A growing
number of Turks, though, oppose sending troops who could face danger
and be seen as supporting Israel against fellow Muslims.
“In principle, we’ve decided to join the U.N. peacekeeping mission,”
government spokesman Cemil Cicek said. “We will call on the parliament
to meet in the shortest time.”
Cicek added that it was “out of the question for the mission to be
directly responsible for disarming Hezbollah. Turkey won’t be part
of such an effort. We’ve made that clear, so there is no point of
us hesitating.”
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who holds a ceremonial post but
wields considerable influence in the country, came out strongly against
the deployment on Friday, saying it was not Turkey’s “responsibility
to protect the interests of other countries.”
Turkey ruled Lebanon for 400 years during the Ottoman Empire and many
Turkish officials want their country to have a say in an area that
they regard as their country’s backyard.
The large Armenian population in Lebanon has loudly protested Turkish
involvement. Armenians say up to 1.5 million Armenians died or were
killed over several years during World War I as part of a genocidal
campaign to force them out of eastern Turkey.
In Germany, which has mediated past prisoner exchanges between
Hezbollah and Israel, German deputy foreign minister Gernot Erler told
ZDF television that a meeting between Livni and German intelligence
chief Ernst Uhrlau would include discussion of efforts to get the
Israeli soldiers released.
“It is well known that Germany has possibilities … to help free
these captured and kidnapped Israeli soldiers,” Erler said. “There
are also earlier cases and experiences that we can use.”
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier denied that German officials
were already making contacts to free them.
“There has been no request either from the Israeli or the Lebanese
side,” he added.

337 PRISONERS AMNESTIED IN ARMENIA
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Aug. 28, 2006
YEREVAN, August 28. /ARKA/. 337 prisoners have been amnestied in
Armenia on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the country’s
independence. Fifty prisoners’ terms have been reduced.
Press Secretary of the RA Ministry of Justice Anahit Voskanyan reported
that the amnesty applies to the people that committed crimes before
June 1, 2006.
She also said that the information on the amnestied prisoners is as
of August 18, 2006.
“However, the number of amnestied prisoners will not rise, because
the amnestied groups are clearly determined. The process will last
until September 30,”she said.
On July 7, 2006, the RA Parliament made a unanimous decision announcing
amnesty.
Most of the prisoners included in the amnesty are persons sentenced
to three years, persons subjected to punishment not involving
imprisonment, as well as persons subjected to conditional punishment.
In certain cases, people sentenced to 5-10 years will be amnestied
as well.
The perpetrators of serious and grave crimes will not be amnestied.
The last amnesty was announced in Armenia in 2001, on the occasion
of the 1700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity in Armenia.

ARMENIAN NA SPEAKER MEETS WITH CATHOLICOS GAREGIN II
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Aug. 28, 2006
YEREVAN, August 28. /ARKA/. Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Tigran
Torosyan and Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II discussed the
drafting of a bill on relations between the Armenian State and the
Armenian Apostolic Church.
The bill is being discussed on the basis of a relevant article of
the Armenian Constitution after it was amended.
Garegin II expressed hope that the drafting and adoption of the
bill will regulate relations between the Church and the State and
settle the issues related to state ceremonies with the participation
of high-ranking clergymen, spiritual education of society, use of
symbols of the Armenian Church.
In his turn, Speaker Torosyan pointed out the Armenian Church’s role
in the people’s spiritual life, as an integral and important part of
Armenian integrity. He pointed out the importance of adopting the bill
to resolve problems of improving social life during the post-Soviet
period and moral upbringing of society.
“Ensuring freedom of conscience and worship in our country and the
activities of religious organizations within law, we must distinguish
the Armenian Apostolic Church as an all-important element of the
national system of values,” Torosyan said.
According to him, the bill is supposed to define the mission of the
Armenian Church.
The sided reached an arrangement about joint discussions of the bill.
According to Article 8.1 of the RA Constitution, the Republic of
Armenia recognizes an exceptional role of the Armenian Apostolic Church
as national Church in the Armenian people’s spiritual life, development
of national culture and preservation of national identity.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN CENTER OF INTERREGIONAL COOPERATION ENHANCES ARMENIA’S REPUTATION IN RUSSIA
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Aug. 28, 2006
YEREVAN, August 28. /ARKA/. The activities of the Russian-Armenian
Center of Interregional Cooperation contribute to the enhancement of
Armenia’s reputation in Russia, Director General of the Center Henrik
Bakunts told reporters.
“The Center publishes the Russian-language newspaper “Ararat-Info-Most”
in Russia, an international newspaper for the CIS countries,” he
said. Bakunts added that the potential of the Armenian people is thus
being made known to the Russian public.
Among joint measures Bakunts included a forum with the participation
of leading Russian and Armenian scientists, publication of a catalogue
and an exhibition of scientific and technical innovation projects
in Russia and Armenia, as well as the release of electronic English,
Armenian and Russian self-taughts.
The Russian-Armenian Center of Interregional Cooperation was founded in
July 2005 with the assistance of the leaders of the RF Federal Assembly
and RA National Assembly. The Center is carrying out its activities
in medical and biological, scientific and technical, humanitarian and
interregional fields. The Center’s goal is ensuring the involvement
of scientists, cultural workers, businessmen, economists in the
implementation of programs of mutual assistance in professional
and social activities in Russia and Armenia, implementation of
jo0int projects and accumulation and dissemination of experience of
cooperation in Armenian and Russian regions.
On August 23, 2005, Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Tigran Torosyan,
commenting on the reforms of the Parliament staff and particularly
on the liquidation of the Russian-Armenian Center of Interregional
Cooperation, stated that the Armenian Parliament cannot be a donor
for NGOs.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress