AZERBAIJAN RETURNS THREE CIVILIANS TO ARMENIA
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Aug. 17, 2006
YEREVAN, August 17 /ARKA/. Three civilians were returned to Armenia
from Azerbaijan with the support of the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC press service reported that this took
place on the road between the Armenian city of Ijevan and Azerbaijani
city of Kasakh.
By request of the Armenian and Azerbaijani governments, the ICRC on
its own initiative rendered assistance with the transportation of
these people, acting as a neutral mediator.
The ICRC representatives visited the hostages before their return to
make sure that they were going to the homeland voluntarily.
Since 1992, the ICRC has rendered assistance in returning 659 people
to their homelands. The ICRC will continue to render assistance if
needed.

ARA HOVSEPYAN ASSIGNED EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF “MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE ACCOUNT – ARMENIA” FOUNDATION
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Aug. 17, 2006
YEREVAN, August 17 /ARKA/. Ara Hovsepyan was assigned Executive
Director of Millennium Challenge Account – Armenia Foundation, Deputy
Minister of Finance and Economy David Avetisyan told journalists today.
He said that Hovsepyan’s nomination was approved at a sitting of the
Millennium Challenge Account administrative board.
Avetisyan reported that 48 nominations were put forward for this post;
however, more than half of them did not meet the official requirements.
“Ara Hovsepyan is really a strong contender and fitted most for this
post,” Avetisyan said.
In his turn, Hovsepyan expressed gratitude for the trust in him,
and pointed out that he realizes the whole responsibility that this
post imposes on him.
“The program of the Millennium Challenge Account Corporation in Armenia
is a unique opportunity to improve the infrastructure in the Armenian
regions,” he said.
Ara Hovsepyan holds a Master’s Degree of the Oxford University and the
American University of Armenia. He worked as a representative of the
British Ministry of Development in Armenia, and also at the Department
of International Organizations of the Armenian Foreign Ministry.
On March 27, 2006, Armenian Minister of Finance and Economy Vardan
Khachatryan and Executive Director of the American Millennium Challenge
Account Corporation John Danilovich signed an agreement in Washington,
DC.
According to the agreement, the corporation will give Armenia
$235.65mln loan for five years for implementation of projects on
restoration of irrigation systems and regional roads.
The Millennium Challenge Account Corporation was founded at the
beginning of 2004 under the U.S. State Department program, aimed at
developing economy and poverty reduction in the world.

SECOND ALL-ARMENIAN EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCES KICKS OFF IN ARMENIA
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Aug. 17, 2006
YEREVAN, August 17. /ARKA/. The second all-Armenian Educational
Conferences kicked off in Armenia. In Yerevan on Thursday during
the opening ceremony, the RA Minister of Science and Education
Levon Lazarian said that the conference would be of great practical
importance, especially taking into consideration the fact that it’s
immediately before the Armenia-Diaspora forum.
He said that the conference was mainly aimed consistent elaboration and
introduction of necessary principles and criteria in the all-Armenian
educational system.
“We do not strive to work out common standards for schools of all
Armenian communities of the world, however the fact that we have a
common goal, which we can embody in tasks and graphics is evident”,
Lazarian finds.
He emphasized that during the conference participants will discuss
main issues, which worry representatives of Armenian schools of
Armenia and Diaspora.
“The agenda of the event includes, particularly the issue of teaching
Armenian Studies at school, problems of language policy in the system
of secondary education, the necessity of creating a department of
West-Armenian Language in the Yerevan State University and Armenian
on-line school”, he explained.
In his turn head of the Diaspora relations department of RA Ministry of
Science and Education Hrach Tadevosyan emphasized that 150 directors
of schools, lycees and educational centers from 23 countries of the
world, namely from Russia, Georgia, Karabakh, USA, Argentina, Canada
and France take part in the event.
The second All-Armenian Educational Conference is being held in
Tsakhkadzor Armenian resort city from August 18 to 20.
The first such conference was held in Armenia in 2004. Such event’s
are aimed at unifying the potential in the sphere of education in
the scope of the Armenia-Diaspora cooperation, specifying dominant
directions of the educational sphere, joint and systemized elaboration
of programs on timely issues and search for solutions, as well as
rendering practical assistance.
The third Armenia-Diaspora Forum is scheduled for September 18-20,
2006.

EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMS ON STATE SINGLE EXAM TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN YEREVAN IN AUTUMN 2006
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Aug. 17, 2006
YEREVAN, August 17. /ARKA/. In autumn 2006, an experimental program on
state single exam will be held in Yerevan, Vanya Barseghyan, director
of Estimation and Test Center adjunct to the RA Ministry of Science
and Education told journalists after his meeting with directors of
secondary schools of Armenia.
He said that the program would be implemented in several communities
of Yerevan and one region, information about which would be provided
later.
“All projects of preparation work have been already worked out and
soon the process will begin “, he said.
Barseghyan finds that a state single examination is quite expedient,
since future entrants will be able to pass only one exam in their
chosen subject and not two, as it was before (at school and at
university – ARKA). He emphasized that all principles of the single
exam had been worked out and they are assumed to be under accurate
control.
Barseghyan informed that applications for participation in the single
exam would be received at schools and later on handed in to the Center
and the exam itself would be conducted by regional examination centers.
In November-December 2005, an experimental state single exam was
held in Shirak region of Armenia. Exams were in Armenian language
and Literature, Foreign Language, Mathematics and History of Armenia.
4481 pupils of higher classes from all 153 secondary schools of Shirak
region took part in the experiment.

AZERBAIJAN REPATRIATES THREE ARMENIANS
By Armen Dulian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug. 17, 2006
Azerbaijan on Thursday repatriated three Armenian nationals that
were detained last month after straying into Azerbaijani territory
in uncertain circumstances.
Citing the Azerbaijani Ministry of National Security, the Trend news
agency reported that the handover was arranged by the International
Committee of the Red Cross and took place in the westernmost section
of the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier, which is close to Georgia.
The Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman, Colonel Seyran Shahsuvarian,
confirmed the information, saying that all three men are civilians.
“They had accidentally crossed into Azerbaijan,” Shahsuvarian told
RFE/RL. He said two of them entered Azerbaijani territory via Georgia
but could not give further details.

RUSSIA ENDS TRANSFER OF MILITARY EQUIPMENT TO ARMENIA
By Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug. 17, 2006
Russia was reportedly completing on Thursday the transfer of military
equipment from one of its two Soviet-era bases in Georgia to Russian
troops stationed in Armenia.
Russian news agencies said a convoy of 13 military trucks and armored
vehicles left the Russian base in Akhalkalaki, southern Georgia, early
in the morning and was expected to cross the Armenian border in the
afternoon. Russian military officials were quoted as saying that it
is the 12th and last batch of military hardware and other equipment
sent to Armenia since the start of a gradual Russian pullout from
Georgia last May.
Under a Russian-Georgian agreement signed earlier this year, Moscow is
to close the bases headquartered in Akhalkalaki and the Georgian Black
Sea city of Batumi by the end of 2008. Most of the tanks and other
heavy weaponry of the Akhalkalaki facility are due to be transported
to Russia by rail via Azerbaijan.
Unlike Georgia, Armenia is a member of the Russian-led Collective
Security Treaty Organization and regards Russian military presence
as a key element of its national security doctrine. Yerevan has made
it clear that Russian troops will remain on Armenian soil in the
foreseeable future despite its growing military ties with NATO and
the United States in particular.
The Russian military had moved military equipment from the
Armenian-populated Georgian town to its larger base in Gyumri,
northwestern Armenia, even before the agreement. The shipments sparked
protests by Azerbaijan which feared that it could be transferred to
the Armenian military and thereby change the balance of forces in
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Russian officials have assured Baku
that the materiel is meant for the Gyumri base only.
Russia’s reluctant pullout raised fears of an upsurge in tensions
in Akhalkalaki and other parts of Georgia’s impoverished Javakheti
region which is mainly populated by ethnic Armenians. The Russian
base has long been Javakheti’s largest employer. There have been no
reports of major unrest there in recent months.

YEREVAN MIGHT LEAVE NAGORNO-KARABAKH TALKS
Interfax, Russia
Aug. 17, 2006
YEREVAN. Aug 17 (Interfax) – Armenia might leave negotiations on
Nagorno-Karabakh if Azerbaijan initiates a discussion of the issue
at the UN, Armenia’s representative in the UN Armen Martirosyan told
the Svododa radio.
Martirosyan reminded reporters that last year Armenia and Azerbaijan
reached an agreement that the Nagorno-Karabakh problem will be
solved exclusively in the format of the Minsk group of the OSCE,
whose co-chairmen are Russia, France and the U.S., and that Baku will
not try to take the Karabakh issue to the UN.
Azerbaijan, however, recently sent a letter to UN, he said.
He said that Azerbaijan in its letter tried to initiate a discussion
of the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh at the UN, and, in particular, was
calling on the UN to “help in recovering the territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan.”
“If Azerbaijan persists in calling for a discussion of Nagorno-
Karabakh at the UN, and attempts to push for a vote on issues related
to Nagorno-Karabakh at the UN, Armenia may leave negotiations,”
he stressed.

BRINGING THE DANGERS OF THE HOLOCAUST, GENOCIDES TO YOUTH
By Harpreet Dipak
General Romeo Dallaire
Western News, Canada
Aug. 17, 2006
Imagine being a high school teacher having to speak to your students
about the atrocities of the Holocaust, or the Armenian and Rwandan
genocides. It’s a tremendously overwhelming experience since the
magnitude of such events can’t be easy to explain.
This past week, 40 teachers from across Canada have been taking part
in the third annual General Romeo Dallaire Genocide Institute at
Western, sponsored by the Holocaust Literature Research Institute
at Western. Through forums, guest speakers and special sessions,
educators hope to gain valuable teaching techniques they can bring
to their classrooms.
For General Dallaire, the Force Commander of UN Assistance for Mission
Rwanda, the Institute carries an ambition aimed at helping teachers
apply certain methodologies and ways of teaching.
“We want to awaken students to how the international community and,
on the other side, extremism, can lead to crimes against humanity of
horrendous levels,” Dallaire explains. He portrays the institute as
an information tool that is part of a larger ideology of respect for
others and avoidance of conflict.
Recognizing the complexities of the content being brought to
students in today’s classrooms, Dallaire says for teachers, the
five-day institute offers time for discussion, questions and plenty of
reflection. Participants have an opportunity to develop their current
skills and learn new methods through classroom-based activities.
Mike Farley, a Grade 12 World Issues teacher at Western Tech in
Toronto, says this past year his students have been learning about
the atrocities of genocide.
“We looked at the genocide in Rwanda and that had a very powerful
affect on me and the students, so I thought I’d like to learn more
about genocide in general…the institute seemed like a good fit,”
says Farley.
To teach his class, he used tools from a resource kit including
an online simulation called PAX Warrior. This model recreates the
environment during the genocide and students make various decisions,
ironically, as General Dallaire. Farley also showed the Dallaire
documentary Shake Hands with the Devil to help his students understand
the scale of events.
Once the intensive one-week training is complete, the challenge will
be for the teachers to applying these new methods when they return to
their classrooms in the fall. Farley already anticipates alternative
ways he will approach his curriculum.
“When I’ve been teaching about Rwanda, I kind of went into it
completely blind. It was very interesting, but I didn’t really have
any background in studying it at all,” he says. “Here I am sitting
through this week with some of the foremost experts in genocide,
including General Dallaire.”
Although initially overwhelming, Farley has found the forums engaging
and has gained more confidence with his own knowledge and approach.
Aris Babikian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee
of Canada, has been working with the Armenian community to reach
out and sensitize the public to such tragedies. He credits the
institute with providing necessary training for high school teachers
in accomplishing this.
“If teachers are not aware about the details, about the psychological,
social, collective and individual effects of these events on humans and
society, students won’t be able to learn about this,” says Babikian. He
hopes the program will expand in the future to reach a larger number
of teachers across the country.
Dallaire is hopeful the five-day training session, which wraps up
August 18, will allow the teachers to convey his own experiences
of humanity, consequence and strength to students across Canada for
years to come.
“I think we’re breaking new ground here in providing this
capability…what we hope is to be able to move it now to the next
step, formalize our structure and make it that much more available
across the country,” he says.

WASHINGTON BACKS TURKISH TROOP PRESENCE IN LEBANON
The New Anatolian, Turkey
Aug. 17, 2006
The U.S. on Tuesday backed the possible deployment of Turkish troops
in the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon but also stressed
that it’s a decision Ankara has to make based on its national interests
and own foreign policy guidelines.
In a move to encourage Turkey in this issue, U.S. Assistant Secretary
of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch also expressed
Washington’s great confidence in the Turkish military, citing his
country’s experience in working with Turkey in such peacekeeping
operations.
Welch made the remarks at a press conference when asked about the
U.S.’ position on Turkey’s potential contribution to the force and
the reasons for Ankara’s cautious stance on deploying Turkish troops
in the region.
“We consider that the first most important step to be taken now for
implementation of the UN resolution is that the parties observe a
cessation of hostilities. Second, the United Nations rapidly should
form the new elements to be added to the existing UN Interim Force in
Lebanon [UNIFIL] so that those are prepared as quickly as possible
to deploy into Lebanon to help UNIFIL do its job pursuant to this
new resolution,” Welch said while listing other reasons for Turkey
to send the troops.
“The present resolution authorizes the composition of a new and
enhanced UNIFIL. A second resolution is out there as a possibility
should it be necessary to have an additional mandate for United
Nations activity. But presently there’s sufficient legal authority
under international law to do what is necessary to make the new force,”
he added.
Armenian lobby urges Bush to block Turkish troop deployment
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) yesterday urged
U.S. President George W.Bush to block Turkey deploying troops in
Lebanon in a letter sent to the president.
The letter, which is signed by the head of ANCA (an umbrella Armenian
lobby which gathers various radical Armenian groups) Ken Hachikian,
claimed that the deployment of Turkish troops in the region would be
contrary to the U.S.’ national interests and would undermine efforts
to ensure permanent peace in the region.
Reiterating the Armenian genocide claims, ANCA also claimed in its
letter that the Ottoman Empire ruled the Middle East for centuries
through violence. “Turkey’s presence in Lebanon will only make the
situation in the region worse,” the letter also asserted.
There’s a sizable Armenian minority living in Lebanon.
In related news, the Greek lobby the American Hellenic Institute
has also reportedly sent letter to the White House against a Turkish
contribution to the peacekeeping force.

AZERBAIJAN TO ATTRACT OVER $1B. TO ROAD BUILDING IN 2006-2008
Author: S. Aliyev
TREND, Azerbaijan
Aug. 17, 2006
A presentation of projects being implemented, and projects to be
implemented in the sector of road building was hold at the Ministry of
Transport of Azerbaijan Republic today.Javid Gurbanov, the Head of the
Department of Road Building of Yolnagliyyatservis of the Ministry of
Transport of Azerbaijan Republic told that at present there are about
30,000 km of highways in Azerbaijan. 17,326 km out of the 18,799 km
highways of common use belong to the Ministry of Transportation,
2,661 km of highways are under of the Armenian occupation on the
territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, 1,473 km belong to the State Company
of Nakhavtoyol, and the other highways belong to municipalities,
different transportation managements, and enterprises, Trend reports.
J. Gurbanov also pointed out that at present the indicator of
development of roads in the country is on the lower level. Today
works aimed at changing of this indicator are carried out.
1st category roads (dual-dual highways) make up just 1 per cent
(175 km) out of the total volume of roads of common use in the country.
“About $5 b. are needed for the reconstruction of roads of the
country”, pointed out the Head of the Department.
According to the Department, since 1998 till August 2006 $78,04 m
have been spent on the road building of the country as credits of
different international financial institutions. $20,2 m were spent in
2005.$16,93 m had been spend over the seven months of this year. The
share of Azerbaijan in the total volume of means being spent on
the road building since 1998 till August 2006 makes $12,63 m. This
indicator in 2005 was $2,12 m. Over the seven month of this year the
share of Azerbaijan in the road building makes up $3,14 m.
According to forecast in 2006-2008 $1 b. are expected to be invested
as credits to the road building in the country (124,7 m in 2006,
$399,3 in 2007, and $545,4 m in 2008). The share of Azerbaijan in
the road building projects is expected at the volume of $238,887 m.
($20,247 m in 2006, $95,21 m in 2007, and $123,43 in 2008).