KARABAKH MINISTER COMMENTS ON MILITARY EXERCISE – ARMENIAN PAPER
Ayots Ashkar, Yerevan
19 Apr 06
Text of Vaan Vardanyan’s report in Armenian newspaper Ayots Ashkar
on 19 April headlined “The situation is calm”.
The NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh republic] defence minister, Seyran Oganyan,
gave a news conference in Stepanakert yesterday 18 April].
“A command-and-staff exercise has been held involving troops
[on 14 April]. As was the case last year, this year as well we
drew serious attention to the readiness of the senior staff of the
army. Exercises are being conducted for this reason,” Seyran Oganyan
said. He emphasized that measures were being taken to improve the
moral and psychological atmosphere and increase discipline in military
units. “I am happy and proud that the army could resolve its battle
efficiency problems and that we can ensure 100-per-cent call-up with
the participation of relevant structures and departments and all
the unions of liberating soldiers. Soldiers who fought yesterday are
ready to defend borders today as well. It takes us just over seven
hours to mobilize the reserve,” Oganyan added.
Commenting on a sharp increase in Azerbaijan’s military budget,
Oganyan said: “We always take relevant preventive measures. Increasing
the budget is one thing, using the funds correctly is quite another
thing. Our people have always been able to resolve this kind of
problem thanks to them being organized and to economic success.”
Oganyan said the situation on the border was calm. Skirmishes
often happen on the contact line but the Armenian side does not
always respond to them, he added. “The Azerbaijani side did not
attempt to advance positions this year. This process was observed
in 2003-2004. They have improved their positions on their territory,
and in some sectors they have moved close to our positions, but this
has not affected our structure.”
At the same time, Oganyan said that the Azerbaijani party had advances
their positions mainly in lowland sectors of the contact line with
the Karabakh forces. The Armenian party prevented attempts to do so
in the mountain sectors of the border.
“Today the NKR borders lie where a soldier sits in a trench. From
that place we add engineering facilities with relevant deepness and
thickness in order to provide our soldiers with trenches for tomorrow’s
battle,” Oganyan said. Since 2000 the Armenian party has been carrying
out this process in a more intensive and planned manner, he added.
The defence minister preferred not to touch on political problems
saying that he was a serviceman and did not deal with politics. He
only said that he assessed as satisfactory the Karabakh conflict
settlement within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group as the
mediators did their best. But Oganyan said Karabakh’s participation
in the settlement process was important and logical. At the moment
there is no need to deploy peacekeeping forces in the region, he said.

GEORGIAN AUTHORITIES INTEND TO QUARTER TROOPS IN AKHALKALAK
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 19 2006
AKHALKALAK, APRIL 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. With the
motivation of providing the security of withdrawal of the troops
from the Russian military base dislocated in Akhalkalak the Georgian
Ministry of Defence is going to establish a subdivision of military
police in Akhalkalak. Meanwhile, according to the information provided
by the A-Info agency, the Georgian authorities are going to quarter
a Georgian military unit in the military base after withdrawing the
Russian troops. Teymuraz Lomsadze, Georgian Deputy Minister on Issues
of Conflicts Settlement, informed about it at the meeting with a
number of employees at the Akhalkalak office of the European Center
on Issues of Minorities.

GEORGIAN ORPHANAGE OF NINOTSMINDA RESTORED
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 19 2006
AKHALKALAK, APRIL 19, NOYAN TAPAN. ARMENIANS TODAY. The building
of the Georgian orphanage of the city of Ninotsminda, Javakhk,
is capitally restored. According to the “A-Info” agency, because
of the construction works, children of the orphanage were moved to
another place that is unknown to inhabiation of Ninotsminda. But
the directoriate of the orphanage informs that after finishing the
restoration works, children will return. Besides, improvement of
conditions will create possibility to bring here other few dozens
of orphans from different regions of Georgia. The agency considers
necessary to mention that the directoriate of the orphanage refused to
accept orphans from Ninotsminda who are Armenians in origin. Children
of exclusively Georgian origin come from other regions of Georgia
live in the orphanage founded in Ninotsminda a year ago.

KARABAKH HOLDS MILITARY MANOEUVRES – ARMENIAN TV
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
19 Apr 06
[Presenter] The Nagornyy Karabakh defence army has started
large-scale military manoeuvres with the involvement of different
kinds of troops. Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan is also
attending the military manoeuvres. These are the first military
manoeuvres in Nagornyy Karabakh after incidents on the contact line
with Azerbaijan. The Karabakh defence minister, Seyran Oganyan,
told journalists about the main goal of the manoeuvres, the current
situation on the borders and new plans at a news conference yesterday.
[Correspondent] A balance of forces on the contact line between
Nagornyy Karabakh and Azerbaijan has been maintained for 12 years
already without the involvement of a third force. This shows that
the Artsakh [Karabakh] army is able to tackle its tasks, Oganyan
said. He also pointed out that the latest command-and-staff exercise
[on 14 April] had showed that the combat readiness of the Karabakh
army was at a high level.
[Oganyan] Today, it takes mobilized forces of the republic seven
hours to take their position on the front line, which shows that the
Karabakh army is capable of properly fulfilling its tasks.
[Correspondent] Measures taken on the front line are the main guarantee
of peace. Engineering facilities and military hardware ensure security
on the positions. The commander [Oganyan] is not worried about the
enemy’s [Azerbaijan’s] attempts to advance its positions.
[Oganyan] Even if they manage to occupy our trenches, they do not
know what awaits them in the depth of our defence.
[Correspondent] A programme for improving the social status of
servicemen is also aimed at ensuring peaceful service. Military
training and measures to reinforce the defence army are being continued
in Nagornyy Karabakh. The commander considers that the defence army
itself is a better peacekeeping force. Everything will be done to
reinforce the fighting efficiency of the defence army.
[Oganyan] We will do our best to overcome shortcomings in the army.
[Video showed news conference]

IRAN-ARMENIA MUST BE KEPT
Lragir.am
19 April 06
The Iran-Armenia gas pipeline cannot be given to another country,
think 71 percent of the readers of Lragir.am who took part in the
poll. They answered “no” to the question if Iran-Armenia should be
transferred to another country. During the online poll, which lasted a
week, only 2 per cent voted for transferring the pipeline to another
country. 22 percent find that the pipeline could be transferred to
another country if the controlling interest belonged to Armenia. 5
percent think that transferring the pipeline would be acceptable if
it would benefit the economy.

INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS ARE MERE PAPERS
Lragir.am
19 April 06
The demolition of Armenian khachkars in Nakhidjevan is cultural
genocide, announced MP Heghineh Bisharyan April 19, during the meeting
of the Commission on EU-Armenia Partnership. She mentioned that the
Armenian khachkars are part of the world cultural heritage. At the
same time Heghineh Bisharyan highly appreciated the role of the EU
and the European Parliament in the preservation of cultural values,
emphasizing the decision to send a fact-finding group of European
parliamentarians to the region. During the same meeting another
member of parliament Hranush Hakobyan announced that the European
parliamentarians should severely condemn the demolition of Armenian
cultural monuments and impose sanctions against Azerbaijan. Hranush
Hakobyan said doing nothing would inflict other similar crimes. Hranush
Hakobyan thinks that including the khachkars in the list of monuments
protected by Unesco would hardly prove effective. “The town of Ani is
one of these monuments, but the stones of the local Armenian churches
are freely removed,” stated Hranush Hakobyan. She finds that it is
impossible to return the lost monuments, and all Armenia can do is to
state facts, which means the international conventions and covenants
are mere papers, says Hranush Hakobyan.

57 SECTS REGISTERED IN ARMENIA
Lragir.am
19 April 06
On April 19 there was a meeting at the Hayeli Club to discuss the
problems of sects in Armenia. Sects have become rather active recently,
causing divide within families. The problem worries the Armenian
Apostolic Church, however the clergy refuse to discuss it with sects,
for according to father Mkhitar, “the issue of the millennium could
hardly be settled at the table of negotiations.” And the Apostolic
Church is not entitled to control the activity of sects which divide
the society. Which is the best way of struggle against sects then?
The head of the Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of the Destructive
Cult Alexander Amaryan suggests setting up an agency that would
control the activity of sects. Moreover, he says such an agency is
a requirements of the Council of Europe. Alexander Amaryan adds that
another stipulation of the Council of Europe is government sanctions
against sects which violate human rights.
Sects are funded from outside; “we are registering an organization
which is banned abroad,” says Alexander Amaryan. Presently there
are 350 thousand members of different sects in Armenia. 80 percent
are in Yerevan, they tend to grow in number in the adjacent rural
areas. Alexander Amaryan says it would take 2-5 years to convert
them back to the Armenian Apostolic Church. Father Mkhitar says it is
important to have a priest in each village to struggle sects. “Over
centuries Muslims have been unable to convert Armenians to Islam,
but in the past 10 years 10 per cent of Armenians deviated from the
Armenian Apostolic Church,” says Alexander Amaryan.

ENTREPRENEURS DISSATISFIED WITH THE BILL
Lragir.am
19 April 06
The bill on drugs introduced by the Health, Social and Environmental
Committee would help to solve the problems caused by the shortcomings
and gaps in the law in force since 1997, say the authors of the
bill. People engaged in drug business disagree. This dissent became
known during the April 19 hearing on the bill held by the committee
in the National Assembly.
The bill was passed on first reading, and the organizers of the hearing
said the hearing is aimed at further elaboration of the bill. In
the meantime, the importers of medicine shared their concerns, which
had been expressed before but were not accepted. Ghukas Ulikhanyan,
the director of Emergency Aid Ltd., it would be wrong not to allow
pharmacies sell medicines that are available on prescription only,
which is foreseen in the bill. “It means pharmacies will have 400 types
of medicine, compared with the present 2000, and will close down.”
Besides, businessmen suggest lifting the VAT on drugs. This tax is
imposed on drugs since January 2001. Academician Emil Gabrielyan
says in Georgia the VAT on drugs lasted for six months. “They saw
it had a bad effect and lifted it.” The approach is the same in all
the CIS countries. Either there is no VAT at all, or the tariff is
very small. In Armenia the VAT was imposed despite the experience of
Georgia. Member of Parliament Hranush Hakobyan, Chair of the Committee
of Education, Science and Culture, said the VAT first caused the
prices of drugs to go up, then brought a great profit to people in
the business of medicine.

ARMENIAN WOMEN BOUND FOR TURKEY THREATENED
Lragir.am
19 April 06
The Armenian prostitutes working in Turkey might be seen as
terrorists. It may happen after the Turkish parliament adopts
the law on struggle against terrorism, introduced by the Turkish
government. The Turkish government has included prostitution among
crimes defined as terrorism. It is a fact that a great number of
Armenian citizens practice this ancient profession in Turkey.

AS IT HAPPENED: THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
The Advertiser (Australia)
April 19, 2006 Wednesday
State Edition
A guarantee of rape, murder or theft. This was reality for the Armenian
population in Turkey, left, during World War I – a horror that spanned
decades as the government tried to obliterate a belief system and,
with that, millions of innocent lives.