KOCHARIAN NOT TO VISIT WASHINGTON
Arka News Agency, Armenia
April 25 2006
Yerevan, April 25. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharyan is not
expected to pay a visit to Washington, Hamlet Gasparyan, Press
Secretary of the RA Foreign Office, told ARKA, commenting on a report
by the Turkish newspaper “Zaman”, which referred to RA Deputy Foreign
Minister Arman Kirakosyan.
“The conclusion made from Arman Kirakosyan’s statement is the result
of mistranslation,” he said.
During his interview with the “Zaman” correspondent, Robert Kocharyan
was not speaking of a planned visit to Washington after his Azerbaijani
counterpart Ilkham Aliyev’s visit to the USA, but of a possibility
of such a visit in the context of very good relations with the USA,
Kirakosyan said.

NAGORNY KARABAKH BUILDS UP ITS MILITARY POTENTIAL
Translated by Anastasia Zanina
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
April 24, 2006 Monday
The military maneuvers which took place the other day showed the
increased skills of the soldiers of Karabakh
On the 20th of April there was the final phase of the command and
staff training which were held by the Defense Army of unacknowledged
Nagorno-Karabakhskaya Republic (NKR). As it was reported by
its Commander Sejran Ogayan, “The main task of command and staff
training became the improvement of the ability of the authorities to
command the organization and to carry out military operations”. In
his turn, head of the press-service of the Ministry of Defense of
Nagorno-Karabakhskaya Republic Lieutenant Colonel Senor Asratyan
specified that the training were carried out in accordance with
the plan of military training for 2006. Asratyan also reported that
“the objective of this event of the military purpose was to define
the level of military education of the Armed Forces in the process
of bringing them in the state of full war alertness, to improve the
administration of troops and coordination of their actions during
the defensive and counteroffensive operations”.
Asratyan underlined that it was very important during this training
to check the alertness of mobilization recourse to supplement military
personnel of troops within necessary time limits.
“Results of the initial stage of training showed that the military
personnel and the mobilization recourses of the republic are in the
state of fulfilling the tasks set before them and to demonstrate a
high level of military education”. As it was said by Seyran Oganyan,
the army of Karabakh is the most efficient and sui juris on the
whole post USSR territory. As a basis of the military training the
experience of the former USSR army was taken. In the Armed Forces of
NKR there are the same regs, courses of shooting and driving.
Military training and maneuvers are taken on the regular basis,
and not only active troops but also mobilization resources are being
got to them. In the AF of NKR there is no system of respites, as it
is in Russia, and every young man at the age of 18-20 years has to
serve for two years in the army. One quarter of the budget of the
country is spent on the Defense of the country. On the entire area of
250 kilometers of Karabakhsko-Azerbaijan boarder there are military
subdivisions, which are ready at any minute to hold off an attack of
an adverse side.
The servicemen of NKR study in the military institutions of Armenia,
Russia and other republics of the former USSR. The Part of the men who
serve on the contractual basis in the Army of the Ministry of Defense
of KNR is relatively low- 20-22 percents. Though, they have separate
subdivisions where only professionals serve. Material stimuli are
also very important. Lieutenants of the up-front in KNR get 150-170
USA dollars. Contract soldiers get 60-70 dollars. (In the Republic
an average salary is 25-30 dollars). Sergey Ogananyan thinks that
at present there is no need to employ peacekeepers in the zone of
the conflict.
“The best peacekeeper and the guarantee of keeping peace in the
conflict zone is the Army of NKR”, he has recently declared to the
journalists. Commenting upon the declarations of the Azerbaijan
authorities concerning the possible solution of the conflict by
means of military force, Oganyan said that the objective of these
declarations is the fortification of the position of Azerbaijan
authorities within their country.
Still, the situation may reach the point when we will have to carry
out preventive treatment. I do not want to speak about the possibility
of preventive attacks, though, I can say about a number of measures
which will prevent the possible threat”, underlined Oganyan.
These declarations of Oganyan testify to the fact that in case the AF
of Azerbaijan start preparing for active was actions, the Armenian
side will probably start carrying out preventive strikes in the
form of air attacks, missile attacks and so on. It seems like the
Armenian authorities do not take into account the military potential
of Azerbaijan. Speaking about the increase of military budget of
Azerbaijan, Oganyan remarked that “one thing is to build up military
capital, another thing is to use in the effective way the resources
the means you have”.
Oganyan also declared that NKR is actively equipping its boarders.
“Our boarders are safely equipped, engineering, missile equipments
are included here. Besides, not only staff, but also supernumerary
units of the direct-action have been existed for three years already”.
Speaking about the perspectives of Karabakh reconciliation, Oganyan
remarked that the two sides must be ready for compromises.
Nevertheless, NKR will fight for every centimeter of its territory.
And we are sure that the result of this process of conflict
reconciliation should be either recognition of independence of NKR,
or, as can be considered to be a dream of every Armenian, recognition
of Nagornuy-Karabakh to be the part of Armenia”, he underlines.
Information:
The military budget of Azerbaijan in 2006 was 600 millions USA dollars,
Armenia-150 millions USA dollars
Gdp of Azerbaijan is 12.6 billions USA dollars
Gdp of Armenia is 4.3 billions USA dollars
According to the data of the western resources, the military number
of AF of Azerbaijan is as follows
Military personnel – 69,900 (men)
Tanks – 259 (units)
Armored combat power (ACP) – 328
Artillery (122 mm and higher) – 303
Combat aircraft – 49
Attack helicopters – 15;
In Armenia it is a little bit less
Military personnel – 5,200(men)
Tanks – 102 (units)
Armored combat power (ACP) – 218
Artillery (122 mm and higher) – 225
Combat aircraft – 6
Attack helicopters – 9;
Meanwhile in Karabakh greater force is concentrated
Military personnel – 20,000-25,000 (men)
Tanks – 316(units)
Armored combat power (ACP) – 324
Artillery (122 mm and higher) – 322
Multiple artillery rocket system – 44
As we can see, the economic-military potential of Azerbaijan is much
higher than the counter side. In case of the military actions between
Armenia and Azerbaijan arise, the special military factor in the
future may be the circumstance that Baku has considerable resources
to supply petroleum, oil, lubricants, which are absent in Armenia.
The destruction of material stocks of petroleum, oil, lubricants and
so one will lead to the considerable decrease of military potential
of Armenian side. Though, mountain-woodland area, a high level of
moral spirit of Armenians may sustain to the active defense, including
partisan methods. Experts remark that in the process of the possible
military actions for NAgornuy Karabakh the conquest of it by the
Azerbaijan side is possible. The detention of this republic in the
frames of Azerbaijan State for along period of time is unlikely to
carry out.

OPINION: WHO WILL STAND UP NEXT?
by Charles E. Richardson, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.
The Macon Telegraph (Georgia)
Distributed by Knight/Ridder Tribune News Service
April 25, 2006 Tuesday
Apr. 25–Some events in human history are just too painful to remember,
but remember them we must, or they lose importance. This week is
Holocaust Memorial Week, a time to reflect on what happened between
1933 and 1945.
Why is it important to commemorate something that occurred more
than 60 years ago? Can’t we all just get along now? Some say what
happened to 6 million Jews and at least 5 million others in places like
Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka
has no bearing on civilization today, that the Holocaust, after all,
was an aberration, a blip in time. Was it?
The Nazis didn’t hold a patent on genocide. The list of countries
where mass killings have taken place is staggering: Cambodia, Armenia,
Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Kosovo and Burundi, just to mention a few.
Unfortunately genocide happens so often we have trouble defining it.
In the Darfur region of Sudan, thousands have been hunted down and
killed, but the U.N. doesn’t want to use the word, as if calling it
something different will make it go away.
After more than six decades we are still exploring the motivations
behind the Nazis’ desire to kill people, even some Germans, who didn’t
fit their vision of perfection. But there are others who kill for
tribal and religious reasons, or just because they have the power
and can get away with it.
Fortunately, the “Greatest Generation” fought back the Nazi threat,
but that generation of American is disappearing at an alarming rate.
There’s a member of that generation, Lamar Taylor, who calls me most
days. He just had a birthday, but since I don’t want to give it away,
I’ll just say he’s in his 90s. If this country were attacked he’d
run them over with his wheelchair, but who else will have the guts
to stand up next time? If you look around, we’re too busy worrying
about the next American Idol winner to care.
Sunday I went to hear a man speak who’s just a little younger than
Lamar. Columbus Juvenile Court Judge Aaron Cohn was the featured
speaker at a Yom Ha’Shoah (Day of the Holocaust) Commemoration
on Sunday.
Judge Cohn was born March 3, 1916. You do the math. He received a
law degree from UGA 68 years ago. He’s been a juvenile court judge in
Columbus for 41 years, and to hear Rabbi Larry Schlesinger tell it,
Judge Cohn is anything but a push over in his court.
Cohn volunteered for the Army in 1940 and was a combat operations
officer in the 3rd U.S. Calvary under Gen. George S. Patton. He spent
27 years as an active and Reserve member of the military. During the
European campaign he was decorated four times.
All of that is important. But what sticks out most in his mind is the
day he walked into Ebensee, Austria, a sub-camp to Mauthausen in May
1945. He saw the emaciated bodies of survivors and bodies stacked up
waiting for cremation beside bones of others who were murdered.
Judge Cohn was at Congregation Sha’ arey Israel to remind us not
to forget.
But why remember? The Nazis are gone and what they did will never
happen again, right?
Judge Cohn brought first-hand knowledge of walking into a death camp
61 years ago next month. The images are seared in his memory, no less
graphic with the passage of time. He understands how quickly mankind
forgets the lessons of the past.
He knows we still go on crusades. That innocent people still die.
Sitting back, there are those who think: As long as it’s not happening
to me, it’s OK. Those types of people lived in 1940s Germany, too,
and they live with us today.
The Nazis convinced an entire country that it had a “Jewish problem.”
Now nations call it “ethnic cleansing,” as if there were something
clean about it. People aren’t victims anymore but “collateral
damage.” Now in the name of security, people who were once freer
accept encroachment of their remaining liberties.
That’s why Judge Cohn was here, to help us recognize the symptoms of
a sick society and give us courage to stand up and do something about
it, just like he and others of the Greatest Generation did more than
40 years ago.
Charles E. Richardson’s columns appear Tuesday and Sunday. He can be
reached at [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
or 744-4342.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GLOBAL GOLD TO INVEST $7.1 MLN IN ARMENIAN GOLD DEPOSIT IN 2006-2007
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire
April 25, 2006 Tuesday 12:47 PM MSK
Global Gold Mining will invest $7.1 million in the Tukhmanuk gold
deposit in northern Armenia in 2006-2007, the U.S. company’s regional
director, Ashot Pogosian told Interfax.
The company will invest $3.8 million in operations and $3.3 million in
exploration, he said. The deposit will be open-cast mined for the first
two years, and then the company will switch to deep mining, he said.
He also said the project must undergo an environmental impact study
and technical assessment.
Pogosian said that a contract will hopefully be signed in May and
operations at the deposit will begin. The deposit will only be mined in
summer due to the harsh local climate, and ore will then be processed
at a nearby beneficiation plant for the rest of the year.
Tukhmanuk has proven reserves of 8 tonnes of gold and is potentially
the country’s second largest gold deposit after the Sotk field, said
Global Gold chief geologist Genrikh Mkrtchian, who is also a member
of the State Mineral Reserves Commission.
The company plans to mine about 150,000 tonnes of ore over two years
and produce about 800 kg of gold and 2,400 kg of silver, he said.
The open-cast mine will employ about 90 people, and the beneficiation
plant will have about the same number of workers.
The plant will use gravitation technology, without chemical substances,
so it will have minimal environmental impact, Mkrtchian said. This
deposit was operated on a trial basis two years ago, when about 930
tonnes of ore were mined with average gold content of 6.61 grams
per tonne.

KOCHARIAN SEES NO LINKS BETWEEN INTENSIFICATION OF NK RESOLUTION PROCESS WITH SITUATION AROUND IRAN
Author: S.Ibrahimli
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 25 2006
Armenia President Robert Kocharian stated on 25 April that he does
not see any relations between the intensification of the process of
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution and the situation around Iran,
Trend reports citing Mediamax.
The Armenian president said it a joint briefing with the Lithuanian
President Valdas Adamkus, whoc arrived in Yerevan on 25 April.
Kocharian stated that he does not feel any pressure by the United
States in the process of resolution. The Armenian President underlined
that the American, Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group came out of the unified position and coordinate their activities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CIS SPLIT AT MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
By Vladimir Socor
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
April 25 2006
The meeting of ministers of foreign affairs of the Commonwealth of
Independent States member countries, held on April 21 in Moscow,
exposed a profound split in the organization. Ukraine, Moldova,
Georgia, and Azerbaijan formed a common front on issues of shared
concern, opposing Russian policies directed against their interests.
The four countries are members of the GUAM group, though they did
not act in that capacity at the conference.
The Ukrainian delegation, led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Borys
Tarasyuk, led this group of independent-minded countries in the debate
on most economic and political issues of concern to them.
Russia, with the support of loyalist or neutralist countries
whose interests are not involved in those issues, rejected the four
countries’ initiatives with a high-handedness that can only exacerbate
the differences at upcoming high-level CIS meetings.
Georgia and Moldova submitted separately prepared statements about
Russia’s ban on imports of their wines and other agricultural
products on the Russian market. Describing the ban as politically
motivated, abusive, and unwarranted, the statements underscored the
“massive economic damage” inflicted on the two countries. Georgia
and Moldova regard the ban as an “unfriendly action” by the Russian
government, are asking the Russian government for explanations, and
are challenging the Russian agencies involved — mainly the Consumer
Protection Inspectorate — to show cause for this action. The Ukrainian
delegation lodged its own complaint about recent Russian restrictions
on the import of a wide range of Ukrainian agricultural products on
the Russian market.
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov handled those
grievances at the concluding press briefing with a dismissive reference
to “some kind of declarations” made during the conference.
He warned by Georgia and Moldova against “politicizing” the issue,
as this “will not facilitate a solution.” Russia takes the position
that the issue should be discussed at the level of technical agencies.
Thus, Moscow seeks to evade political responsibility for a measure
undoubtedly ordered by high political authorities. Georgia, Moldova,
and Ukraine intend to raise the issue again at the upcoming CIS
meetings of prime ministers (May 25) and of the heads of state
shortly thereafter.
The Russian side also blocked Ukraine’s proposal to discuss the
creation of a CIS Free Trade Zone at the conference. The proposal,
nominally endorsed by Russia as well, is almost a decade old and
no member country seriously expects Russia to actually implement
it. In Ukraine, however, the proposal has become topical again
in connection with the Russia-planned Single Economic Space
(Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan, with Ukraine invited to become a member).
Some groups in Ukraine (not only within the Party of Regions) want the
country to join the Single Economic Space in one form or another — a
move that would compromise Ukraine’s European aspirations. On the other
hand, Ukrainian proponents of integration with the European Union cite
the proposal for a CIS Free Trade Zone as potentially advantageous to
Ukraine as well as compatible with the country’s progress toward the
EU. However, Ukrainian attempts to discuss the free-trade proposal
with Moscow shatter against the resistance of Russian protectionist
interests. Thus, the Moscow conference strengthened the view that the
CIS is, at best, useless to member countries generally and, at worst,
actually detrimental to their interests.
A proposal to discuss the “frozen conflicts” at the conference was
also blocked by the Russian side. Ukraine took the lead in submitting
this proposal with the support of Moldova, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.
The obstruction by Moscow and its allies will strengthen the case for
internationalization of the existing “peacekeeping” and negotiating
frameworks on Transnistria, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia, as well as
underscoring the value of American efforts to settle the Karabakh
conflict.
Ukraine asked the conference to prepare a proposal for the upcoming
CIS summit to express its attitude to the 1930-33 famine and genocide
in Ukraine (the Holodomor). However, the Russian side orchestrated
a procedural move that eliminated the proposal from the agenda.
Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan voted with Russia
against the proposal. Armenia, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan
abstained. Moldova, Georgia, and Azerbaijan voted with Ukraine.
According to Lavrov at the concluding briefing, discussion of the
Holodomor would have “politicized” a historical issue. Lavrov argued
— as Russian Ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin also did in Kyiv — that
Russians and other Soviet citizens suffered equally in Soviet times
and it would therefore be inappropriate to single out any people in
this regard.
This argument is heard regularly from Moscow about the Baltic
states as well: “It was a common pain in the Soviet Union.” Such an
argument constitutes the ultimate expression of a social culture
of collectivism. It also overlooks, first, the fact that Moscow
organized the famine and deportations in Ukraine, the Baltic states and
elsewhere; and, second, that the Kremlin today is actively discouraging
the attempts to come to terms with Soviet Russia’s own totalitarian
recent history. While refusing to assess the actions of the Soviet
regime, Russia at the same time claims prerogatives as the legal
successor of the USSR.
The Moscow conference was to have discussed a CIS Executive Committee
report on implementing decisions on CIS reform, adopted by the
heads of state at the August 2005 summit in Astana. A corresponding
Russian proposal envisaged setting up a high-level group on “measures
to enhance the effectiveness of the CIS.” Neither initiative was
mentioned after the conference. In his conclusions, Tarasyuk was
scathing about the CIS: “not a normal international organization,”
“unresponsive to situations that are most sensitive to member states,”
“useless,” and “has no future.”
(Interfax, Itar-Tass, Moldpres, Imedi TV, April 21, 22)

PROTESTORS DEMAND RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
CBS 2, CA
April 25 2006
(CBS) LOS ANGELES About 1,000 people protested outside the Turkish
Consulate Monday, blasting Turkey and others who deny the Armenian
genocide occurred.
The Armenian Youth Federation organized the protest, one of many
events held Monday to remember the arrests, mass deportations and
executions of Armenians that began on April 24, 1915, with arrest of
200 community leaders.
An estimated 1.5 million Armenians died between 1915 and 1923 in the
waning days of Turkey’s Ottoman Empire.
In West Hollywood, flags were flying at half-staff to honor the
Armenian victims.
The Turkish government says allegations of genocide have never been
proven.Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy, in response to the Public
Broadcasting Service documentary “Armenian Genocide,” said last week
that “Armenian allegations of genocide have never been historically
or legally substantiated.”
The West Hollywood City Council has passed a resolution “condemning
the human rights violations of the Turkish government,” according to
City Councilman Jeffrey Prang’s office. The resolution was introduced
by Prang and Councilwoman Abbe Land.
The LAPD estimated that about 1,000 protesters were taking part in the
consulate protest on Wilshire Boulevard, according to Marjon Mobasser,
a spokeswoman for the department.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS MEMORIAL DAY
UN Observer
April 25 2006
2006-04-24 | Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan’s Message on Genocide
Victims Remembrance Day
Dear Compatriots,
Each year on April 24, Armenians in Homeland and Diaspora bend their
heads before the memory of several thousands of our victims who fell
a prey to Genocide perpetrators. Organized and committed at a State
level by the Ottoman Turkey in 1915, not only did this crime, which
was actually directed against the whole civilized mankind, fail to
be prevented, but it escaped official recognition and condemnation
facilitating in this way the recurrence of new genocides.
n_centre_8/official_news_en.php?&date=11458188 00

BAKU TO REVIEW NEW GARABAGH PROPOSALS
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 25 2006
Baku, April 24, AssA-Irada
The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group brokering settlement to the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict have made new
proposals concerning two issues that were not agreed during the latest
round of talks between the two countries’ presidents in Rambouillet,
France in February, officials said.
The suggestions serve to moving forward the negotiating process,
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said. He said it is too early to
say whether or not Baku will accept the proposals, but termed them as
“interesting”.
“We are evaluating the ideas and will state our own suggestions in
this regard,” the minister told ATV channel.
Mammadyarov stressed that these issues will also be discussed during
President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to the United States, which starts
on Tuesday.
He reminded that the OSCE mediators are due to meet in Moscow on May 2,
followed by their visits to the region.

COURT EXTENDS CUSTODY TERM FOR STUDENT WHO KILLED ARMENIAN MAN
by Alana Kudzoyeva
ITAR-TASS News Agency
April 25, 2006 Tuesday 02:48 PM EST
Moscow City’s Cheryomushki district court has extended for another
three days a custody term for a 16-year-old general school student,
who killed a young ethnic Armenian at a downtown metro station
Saturday night.
The extension of custody term means that the prosecutors have another
three days for formulating official charges against the suspect.
Sources indicate that the prosecutors may simultaneously reformulate
the accusation of murder, which the teenager is suspected of.
His lawyer strongly denied reporters’ requests to comment on the
situation.
The incident occurred at around 17:50 Saturday, when a group of
twelve young people was standing on the platform and awaiting one
more of their friends. At that moment, another group of six or
seven youngsters got out of a train bound for southeast Moscow,
and a scuffle between the two groups broke out.
In the course of fighting, Vagan Abramiants, a 17-year-old student
of the Moscow University of Management, received a stab wound in the
chest and died on the spot.