NAGORNO KARABAKH IS NOT A TRANSIT ROUTE OF DRUG TRAFFICKING
Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
17 April 2006
Recently NKR Foreign Minister Georgy Petrosyan and NKR Police Chief
Armen Isagulov sent a letter to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State
Anne Petersson, the head of the Bureau of International Narcotics
and Law Enforcement Affairs. ” Highly appreciating and commending the
contribution of the United States to the establishment of democratic
values in international relations, as well as the consistent efforts
of the American co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group for the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict, we would like to draw your
attention to an issue, which is of utter importance for Nagorno
Karabakh Republic. Unlike the previous years when the elucidation
of the Karabakh government helped to reach a mutual understanding,
in the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2006 Nagorno
Karabakh and the territories it controls were defined as transit
route of drug trafficking. Being convinced that these invented data
were extended by Azerbaijan, which has adopted falsification and
slander against the Armenian party to the level of state policy, we
disagree with the inaccurate information used in such a authoritative
report, especially that the government of Karabakh have applied to
relevant international organizations for a number of times to send
an independent monitoring group to Nagorno Karabakh to monitor the
situation on the spot. Obviously, by such false accusations Azerbaijan
want to have the international community admit Nagorno Karabakh as an
outlawed and uncontrollable territory. Thereby we assume responsibility
to assure you that Nagorno Karabakh is not a transit route for drug
trafficking not only because of a lack of a developed transport system
but also primarily due to the effective preventive activity of the law
enforcement agencies of NKR.” The letter contains facts proving the
abovementioned arguments. “First of all, we consider it necessary to
remind that since May 1994 the government of NKR has guaranteed the
ceasefire without any peacemaking forces, completely controlling the
front line between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan
and the border area. The letter of the NKR Foreign Minister and Chief
of the Police states that the Office of the Personal Representative of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office will also deny criminal facts or actions,
which regularly and fully monitors the front line, hence exercising
international control over the conflict area of NKR. It is mentioned
in the letter that in late February and late March 2005 the OSCE
fact-finding mission, including over 30 diplomats and experts from
different countries, visited Karabakh with the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs. “The OSCE fact-finding mission prepared a significant
report, based on a meticulous monitoring of the areas controlled
by NKR, which contains no such negative facts. With regard to this
we emphasize the commitment of the government of Nagorno Karabakh
Republic to promoting democratic values and a peace settlement
of the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, pursuing the international
recognition of NKR and fulfilling their function of government and
guaranteeing the security of their citizens for about 20 years,”
states the letter of NKR Foreign Minister Georgy Petrosyan and
Police Chief Armen Isagulov. A copy of the letter was sent to the
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair
Stephen Mann, Director of the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP) John Walters.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AVETIK ISAHAKYAN’S MONUMENT TO BE ERECTED IN BEIRUT
ArmRadio.am
17.04.2006 16:22
April 6-9 the second all-Armenian forum of writers, featuring 51
authors from Armenia, was held in Beirut.
According to the President of the Union of Writers of Armenia Levon
Ananyan, one of the important outcomes of the forum is that Avetik
Isahakyan’s monument will be erected in the center of Beirut in the
nearest future. A youth literary fund will be founded to publish
textbooks for Diaspora- Armenian educational establishments.
The whole revenue for the exhibition-sale held in the framework of
the forum will go to the all-Armenian literary fund.
At the end of the forum Aram A Catholicos of the Great House of
Cilikia awarded Levon Ananyan with a “Saint Mesrop Mashtots” order.

LEVON ANANYAN: THE DAY THE BUILDING OF THE UNION OF WRITERS IS DEMOLISHED, I WILL RESIGN
ArmRadio.am
17.04.2006 16:10
“The day the building of the Union of Writers is demolished, I
will resign,” declared President of the Union of Writers of Armenia
Levon Ananyan in response to the recent publications in the press,
according to which the building of the Union of Writers is going to
be destroyed and a new elite building will be constructed in its place.
Where did this news come from? As it is said, there is no smoke
without fire. In 2005, when Levon Ananyan was reelected President
of the Union of Writers, the building was also talked about. It was
concluded that the building was small.
Levon Ananyan opposes the idea of constructing a multistory
building. However, this issue is still in the stage of discussion.
Another publication that irritated Levon Ananyan says that only old
writers let for Lebanon to participate in the all-Armenian forum
of writers.

MINISTERS RATTLED BY GAZPROM’S ADVANCES
Lragir.am
17 April 06
The Financial Times published information April 16 that the UK
considered changing its merger control regime this year to block a
potential takeover of Centrica, the UK’s biggest gas supplier, by
Gazprom of Russia, a move that remains an option to thwart any bid
that threatens energy security. Alan Johnson, the trade and industry
secretary who has been a vocal critic of protectionism in the US and
Europe, was briefed with other ministers in February on the legal
changes required to allow them to block a rumoured bid by Gazprom
for Centrica, the Financial Times has learnt.
The problem was no policy had been formulated to deal with a move by
Gazprom into the UK market.
The standard policy on potential takeovers was clear – the government
removed itself from mergers in 2003, when the Enterprise Act came
into force, delegating decisions on almost all deals to independent
competition authorities.
The UK has made a virtue of this lack of political interference,
which has allowed several utilities to be taken over by European
Union companies with no political discussion and barely a murmur of
public dissent.
Alan Johnson, trade and industry secretary, used a speech to the
British Chambers of Commerce this month to boast of Britain’s open
energy market. “Downing Street’s electricity is supplied by a French
company, the water is supplied by a German company and there is
a choice of four gas suppliers, three of whom are foreign owned,”
he said.
But should this laissez faire approach to foreign takeovers extend to
Gazprom? A takeover of Centrica, which owns British Gas, or Scottish
Power, another rumoured potential target, could have competition
implications.
Malcolm Wicks, the energy minister, warned this year that the UK’s
liberalised market was “not about creating a big oligopoly”. It would
look “a bit odd if, in a few years’ time, this market resembles a
monolithic oligopoly with a few companies state-owned but not by
Britain,” he told The Observer.
Ministers’ concern focused instead on the implications of a Gazprom
takeover for security of supply. The gas company’s decision earlier
this year temporarily to cut off supplies to Ukraine was seen by some
as politically motivated. The prospect – however seemingly remote
– of Russia using ownership of a UK gas supplier to try to exert
political influence rang alarm bells in Whitehall.
The UK’s increasing dependence on gas imports has moved such
geopolitical threats to energy supplies sharply up the political agenda
since 2003, when the government’s energy review largely ignored the
issue. The review of energy policy now under way has put security of
supply centre stage. Asked by MPs this year about central issues for
the review, Mr Johnson cited “this geopolitical question”. “Where are
the oil reserves? Where are the gas reserves? Can we be sanguine about
the future if…? A large amount of our gas will come from countries
which are perfectly stable … but these are issues which have grown
in importance,” he said.
P.S. It is the right moment to recall our reality. Our energy suppliers
are part by part taken over by Gazprom, and each time defining the
takeover as the century’s deal, the RA government did not even utter
a word about the energy security of Armenia. If a developed country
such as U.K. is cautious in relations with Gazprom, it is already a
forceful argument.

ARAB REPUBLIC OF SYRIA CELEBRATES THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF ITS INDEPENDENCE (ANALYSIS)
Armen Manvelyan
“Radiolur”
17.04.2006 15:30
Today the Arab Republic of Syria is celebrating the 60th anniversary
of its independence. To note, this historic fact was preceded by a
long national-liberation war, which came to and end on April 17, 1946
with complete withdrawal of French troops from Syria. Before that,
for 25 years Syria was under political and military control of France.
It should be reminded that in 1920 the League of Nations decided
to give the mandate of Syria to France. However, discontent with
this decision, the people of Syria stirred up a number of rebellions
against the invaders, the most powerful of which was the 1925 revolt,
when the rebels even managed to enter capital Damascus. However,
the revolt was viciously pressure by French troops.
Nevertheless, the powerful national-liberation movement forced France
to recognize in 1941 the independence of Syria. Notwithstanding all
this, 5 more years of struggle were necessary to reach complete
withdrawal of French troops from the country. It is the day of
withdrawal of the French troops that Syrians celebrate as Independence
Day.
Generally, turning to Armenian-Arab ties, we should note that
the relations with the Arab Republic of Syria are of particular
importance for the Armenian nation. During the 1915 massacres in
Osman Turkey thousands of Armenians survived thanks to our Syrian
friends. The role of Syria is invaluable also in the further formation
and development of the Armenian community in the country. Armenians
became citizens of Syria, enjoying all the rights the native people
of the country had. Perhaps, this is the reason that explains the
fact of establishment of warm friendly relations between independent
Armenia and Syria. We can say that the centuries-long Armenian-Arab
ties and friendly relations were best expressed just in the sphere of
Armenian-Syrian relations. In needs to me mentioned that Syria was one
of the first countries to recognize and establish diplomatic relations
with Armenia. In the future Armenian-Syrian relations continued to
develop dynamically both in political and economic spheres. Today we
can state that despite the existing good relations, official Yerevan
and Damascus have still much to do to raise the relations between
the two countries to the level of friendly relations between the
two peoples.
There is still a great unused potential of political and economic
development between the Republic of Armenia and the Arab Republic
of Syria.

RALLY IN ATHENS DEDICATED TO THE 91ST ANNIVERSARY OF TEH ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
ArmRadio.am
17.04.2006 14:35
April 15, several hundreds of people held a rally dated to the 91st
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The action participants demanded
the Genocide recognition from Turkey.
They marched from the central square of Athens towards the Turkish
Embassy.
At the end the demonstrators burnt a Turkish flag.

NA CHAIRMAN RECEIVED TEH AMBASSADOR OF UKRAINE TO ARMENIA
ArmRadio.am
17.04.2006 14:30
On April 17 Chairman of the National Assembly Arthur Baghdasaryan
received Alexander Bozhko, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Armenia.
The Ambassador familiarized the NA Speaker about the Parliamentary
elections and the latest political developments in Ukraine and
informed that in the result of the elections it is expected to sign
an extensive coalition agreement, which will coordinate the activities
of the parliament and the government.
The parties attached importance to the accomplishment of the
interparliamentary agreement signed during Arthur Baghdasaryan’s
official visit to Ukraine.
Stressing the importance of overcoming the post-election difficulties
in the internal political field, the Chairman of the National Assembly
congratulated the creation of the orange coalition and told that
it will promote the reinforcement of stability in the country and
deepening of democracy.

OUR DEAD HAVE NAMES WORLDWIDE CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ANNIVERSARY
Yerkir
17.04.2006 12:36
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – A number of representatives of the Armenian
Diaspora addressed 9 million Armenians worldwide to start Our Dead
Have Names campaign.
The call specifically says, “On April 24, 2006, the Armenian community
will commemorate the Armenian Genocide of 1915 which was perpetrated
by the Young Turk government of Ottoman Empire. This will be the 91st
commemoration. 90 too many! Historical revisionism by the State,
which has overstepped its boundaries since 2005 (when the Republic
of Turkey began negotiations for entry in the European Union), is
drowning us out and thereby prolonging Armenocide.
In turn, our sons and daughters should not have to struggle to make
the Turkish State recognize the ignominy of the Genocide inflicted on
our people. Their future should be normal and happy within a society
that has made peace with itself. This is why we are making a solemn
call to the whole community so that every one of its members can
witness the drama that has affected them personally on 1915.
We are asking men and women from all continents to stand vigilant,
as the memory of the Martyrs is decried, as unprecedented violence
is being inflicted on the sons and daughters of the survivors of
the Armenian Genocide, and as the very existence of our identity,
symbolized by the vestiges of our culture, is being willfully wiped
out. Today, Armenians are the target of the denial of the crime
of which their parents were innocent victims. Scorned, bruised,
exasperated, but nevertheless Armenian, we have to tell the world, once
and for all, that the time for geopolitical procrastination has passed.
We are not claiming to be victims, but protesters for simple
justice. The first of these is to allow us to pay respect to our
graveless parents’ remains. We will do this on April 24, as we
have done every year since 1916. In the absence of burial sites,
enables every one of us to write in the names of
those who lost their lives on our ancestral soil.
Once this has been done, another task will be invoked: to insure the
permanent recognition of the Genocide of the Armenian people and
the inevitable consequences of recognition. Just like a petition,
the recording of the names of the victims will become a recognized
document render to the United Nations, the only institution whose
competence in this area is acknowledged by Turkey.”

FOOD SHOULD BE UNDER MORE CONTROL
Editorial
Yerkir.am
April 14, 2006
Hrayr Karapetian, secretary of the National Assembly’s Armenian
Revolutionary Federation faction and the chairman of the NA group that
deals with consumer rights, recently raised the issue of violations
of the consumers’ right in the sector of food.
Speaking on April 11 at the National Assembly, Karapetian noted
that some food products in the Armenian market do not comply with
the Armenian legislature: some products lack necessary labeling in
Armenian, or labeling is incomplete.
Karapetian said, “The group and the non-governmental organization
protecting the consumer rights call the attention of the authorities on
these issues and demand taking measures to ban products with incomplete
or absent labeling. Also, we demand more control for securing relevant
certificates at retail stores.”
The NA members also demanded that the street trade be halted and
exercise more control over the conditions of the products in terms
of temperature and hygiene.
The statement was also co-signed by the Consumers Rights NGO.

PRIVATIZATION MAKES SENSE IF IT RESULTS IN INVESTMENTS
By Karine Mangassarian
Yerkir.am
April 14, 2006
This week’s parliamentary discussion of the report on implementation
of the state program on privatization for 2001-2003 was so heated
that it soon turned into an opportunity to sort out the relations
between parties.
In the aftermath of two-day discussions the political forces presented
their positions on the report and the privatization processes in
Armenia.
Head of ARF’s parliamentary faction Levon Mkrtchian voiced his concerns
over the discussions in the parliament.”The discussion of the 2001-2003
report turned into a discussion of the overall privatization policies
implemented in Armenia over the past years.
I am sure that if this discussion were held some other time and not in
2006, a pre-election year, we would avoid such emotional outbursts,”
Mkrtchian said. He informed that similar reports were presented for
1994-1995, 1996-1998, 1998-2000 and some political forces represented
in the present parliament voted for these reports.
“When the privatization process was launched in Armenia several
ideology-based parties believed that the privatization policies should
be implemented based on approaches grounded on socialist ideas and
active intervention of the state.
At that time the liberal approach was selected and implemented. We
don’t see any significant difference between the policies implemented
in 1990’s and in 2001-2003. Moreover, 2004 inspires some hope for
positive developments,” Mkrtchian noted. He presented the following
examples.
In 2001-2003 117 entities were privatized and the budget revenues from
privatization amounted to 2.9 billion drams while in 2004 67 entities
were privatized but the budget revenues amounted to 2.7 billion
drams. Mkrtchian believes this means that the state administration
and policies tend to focus on certain issues and principles.
What should the National Assembly be concerned about? First of all,
it is the clarification of the legislative framework. Mkrtchian
believes the purpose of privatization is not the price for which
a given entity is privatized but the program based on which it is
privatized and the ways how that program is implemented.
“We have to monitor implementation of such programs. If we observe
tendencies whereby investment programs are not implemented we must
demand that clear-cut measures are undertaken. Several privatized
entities must be demonstratively taken back from new owners who do
not fulfill their obligations.
We have to differentiate between the processes of privatization and
alienation of property. We have to determine our further political
actions,” Mkrtchian noted suggesting that the National Assembly’s
relevant committee should hold hearings to evaluate the privatization
policies, assess the present situation and determine its future
directions.
Then the political forces will be able to present their approaches
because there are some tendencies that cause their concern. Mkrtchian
pointed to one of them: some entities, even functioning enterprises
are subjected to alienation through artificial bankruptcy.
“If we want to assess the present situation to be able to determine
our future actions let’s have hearings. Our faction can present
some proposals because we are truly happy that some political
parties grounded on liberal values return to socialist values and
start accepting what we were saying in the beginning of 1990’s,”
Mkrtchian stated.