HMAYAK HOVHANNESIAN CAN’T EXPLAIN ACTIONS OF SERGE SARGSIAN
AZG Armenian Daily #139, 26/07/2006
Opinion
Today, the Republican Party of Armenia follows the example of the
Communist Party that used to rule in Armenia within 70 years. Hmayak
Hovhannesian, deputy, political expert, expressed this opinion
today at “Pastark” club. He believes that the multi-party system
exists in Armenia only de-jure, while in fact, the Republican Party
rules Armenia. He stated that the latest developments in the RPA
didn’t contribute to growth of its rating. “On the contrary, Serge
Sargsian’s membership to the party, as well as that of a group of
oligarchs of half criminal character have decreased the rating of
the party, as the people hate all of them,” he said. Hovhannesian
added that one shouldn’t compare Serge Sargsian with PM Vazgen
Sargsian. “V. Sargsian realized the importance of changing his
image, isolated the oligarchs from the political processes and began
cooperating with Karen Demirchian’s party. The oligarchs wouldn’t dare
to interfere with the political developments in the times of Vazgen
Sargsian. As for Serge Sargsian, he activates the participation of
the oligarchs in the political life of the country,” he said. At
the same time, he added that he can’t find any explanation to the
illogical steps of Serge Sargsian. In the beginning he thought Sargsian
wanted to cooperate with the intelligentsia, becaming the head of
the Yerevan State University’s Scientific Council. But, at present,
Hovhannesian is bewildered why Serge Sargsian’s decision to join
RPA. Hovhannesian said that whatever goals Serge Sargsian attains,
the results may be quite negative, as the atmosphere of mistrust
and hatred may grow tenser after that. Such a hard inner political
situation is in the interests of the super powers, particularly USA,
Russia, Iran and EU. He emphasized that the membership of Serge
Sargsian and a group of oligarchs to RPA anyway strengthened the
positions of the Armenian opposition on the eve of the elections,
as the people’s hatred to the ruling political party is growing.
As for the Nagorno Karabakh settlement, He added that taking into
consideration the present geopolitical situation, Azerbaijan can
restart military actions in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
in autumn 2006, expressed his
opinion on a press conference at ‘Pastark’ club Hmayak
Hovhannisian,Parliament deputy and political scientist. He also told
about the probability that the USA will help Azerbaijan because of
the situation in Middle East and the contradictions between Azerbaijan
and Iran.
By Tamar Minasian

SALE OF 90% OF ARMENTEL SHARES IS LIKELY TO COMPLETE IN LATE AUGUST
AZG Armenian Daily #139, 26/07/2006
Economy
It is expected that the sale of 90% of ArmenTel shares will be
completed in late August. OTE headquarter informed about this,
today. According to the source, the board of OTE company didn’t make
any official statements about the terms of the sale. “But there are
all grounds to suppose that the sales results will be known already
in end August,” it stated. The Russian mass media informed that 90%
of ArmenTel shares will be sold to the Russian “AFK Sistema” and VTEL
Holdings / Knightsbridge Associates the international consortium.
By Ara Martirosian

DOCUMENTARY FILM ABOUT SEA EXPEDITION OF “CILICIA” VESSEL SHIP TO BE SHOWN IN MOSCOW
AZG Armenian Daily #139, 26/07/2006
Culture
The presentation of “Travel in Seven Seas” documentary film dedicated
to the sea expedition of “Cilicia” vessel ship will be shown on
August 1, 2006, within the framework of Armenia’s year in Russia,
in Moscow based “Rolland” movie-theatre. It’s worth mentioning that
the ship is an exact copy of the Armenian Middle Age ships belonging
to the Armenian Cilicia Kingdom. The vessel ship has already arrived
from the Great Britain to St. Petersbourg to continue its voyage down
the Russian rivers.
By Tamar Minasian

DEPUTY MINISTER SAYS ONE THIRD OF ARMENIAN POPULATION POOR
Panorama.am
14:01 25/07/06
A three-day seminar on monitoring and evaluation of income generation
and employment programs in Armenia launched in Yerevan today. The event
was organized by the ministry of foreign affairs, ministry of social
security and UN economic and social commission in Asian-Pacific region.
Artsvik Minasyan, deputy minister of employment and social affairs,
informed the present that a national report is developed by a group
of experts aimed to outline the development trends of Armenia within
the context of poverty alleviation as well as programs on employment.
The report says incomes are not evenly distributed in the country. The
needy sector of the population has very limited opportunities. “Poverty
is still a major problem for Armenia with 34% of population being
poor,” deputy minister said. In other words, 1 mln people are poor
and 200 000 of them live in dire needy conditions. The experts of the
report recommend creating well-paid jobs. The report also suggests
reconsidering the program on poverty alleviation which the government
approved in 2003. In A. Minasyan’s words, social security system also
needs improvements. /Panorama.am/

AIRPORT ZVARTNOTS OVERCOMES FUEL CRISIS
Panorama.am
18:50 25/07/06
The second dispatch of fuel to airport Zvartnots has already crossed
the Armenia border and will soon arrive to its place of destination,
Gevork Abrahamyan, press spokesman of Armenia International airports,
told Panorama.am.
In his words, Mika Armenia Trading will dispatch about 2,5 thousand
tones of fuel to the airport. The airport received the same quantity of
fuel last week. G. Abrahamyan says the airport has overcome the fuel
crisis and airliners get necessary quantity of fuel. The airport had
ordered 13 tones of fuel to its main supplier, Mika Armenia Trading.
Note: airport Zvartnots faced fuel crisis in early July with airliners
not being able to make direct flights to their destinations. The plans
landed to the nearest airports to get supply of fuel./Panorama.am/

A-320 Crashed Over Pilot-in-Command Fault
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.07.2006 13:13 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The inadequate actions of the pilot-in-command caused
the crash of A-320 Armenian jet. As reported by the chief department
of the civil aviation, this is the conclusion made by the members of
the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC).
The investigation showed that when landing the plane at a height of 340
meters stopped reducing altitude and made a right turn simultaneously
gaining height. When making the turn and gaining some height the
pilot-in-command switched off the robot pilot and proceeded to
landing with complete absence of control over the horizontal and
vertical bents.
The co-pilot did not have control over the parameters essential for
landing either. As it was found out later the actions of the crew
were not coordinated and sufficient to stop landing.
According to the IAC conclusion, there was no fault with the
engines and systems of the jet. The amount of fuel was sufficient to
successfully end the flight, reported Novosti Armenia.
To note, the Interstate Aviation Committee completed the decoding of
the record boxes June 17.

Azerbaijan Was Major Aggressor in Karabakh Conflict
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.07.2006 13:25 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenians of Karabakh have the right to decide their
future, Vice-speaker of the UK House of Lords, Baroness Caroline Cox
stated in Yerevan. In her words, Azerbaijan was the major aggressor
in the Karabakh conflict and committed serious crimes against human
rights when perpetrating ethnic cleansings of Armenians in Karabakh.
“I cannot advise what to do, the people themselves should decide
what the most important thing for them. I just support any action
that could lead to the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,”
she said, reported Novosti Armenia.

259 People Evacuated from Lebanon to Armenia
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.07.2006 13:36 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 259 people, half of them Armenian citizens, have
been evacuated from Lebanon so far, RA MFA Acting Spokesman Vladimir
Karapetian told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, planes
of Armavia national carrier made four flights from Aleppo (Syria)
to Yerevan. 54 people arrived in Armenia from Tel Aviv (Israel). “We
have received no other appeals from Armenian citizens or Armenians
in Israel yet,” Karapetian remarked.
To note, the Armenian community of Lebanon numbers some 120 thousand
people, most of them living in Beirut.

Georgia Not Going to Conduct Military Operations in Kodori
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.07.2006 13:57 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs hopes
that the international community will with understanding react to
the measures undertaken for introducing order in the Kodori canyon,
says the statement issued by the Georgian Foreign Ministry.
“Taking into account the complicated situation in the Kodori canyon,
the Georgian MFA underscores that the government should first of all
protect the interests of the residents of the Kodori canyon… The
Georgian authorities exclude any possibility of conducting a military
operation on the territory and call upon the local inhabitants to
obey the law,” the statement says.
“The Georgian government also rules out any spreading of the police
operation onto the territory de facto controlled by Abkhazia…
Presently the Georgian Foreign Ministry holds consultations on the
situation with the representatives of the U.N. and other concerned
organizations, reported Novosti Georgia.
In should be noted that commander of Georgian military unit of Monadire
(Hunter) Emzar Kvitsiani proclaimed insubordination to the Georgian
parliament, since Georgian Defense Minister Urakli Okruashvili plans
to take the Kodori canyon by storm. Kvitsiani sent his message to
the Abkhazian government as well. To remind, Kvitsiani was Eduard
Shevardadze’s plenipotentiary for the region in 1999-2004.

U.S. State Department Communicating Evans’ Recall with Turkey
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.07.2006 15:00 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In yet another troubling development concerning
the controversial nomination of Richard Hoagland to serve as
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, Department of Justice records have revealed
that the State Department has misled the U.S. Senate regarding its
communications with the Turkish government concerning the February
2005 public affirmation of the Armenian Genocide by U.S. Ambassador to
Armenia John Marshall Evans, reported the Armenian National Committee
of America (ANCA).
In a letter, dated June 28, 2005 written on behalf of Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice to Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), the
Ranking Democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
the State Department denied that the Turkish government had even
approached the Administration on this issue. However, official
Foreign Agent Registration filings by the Turkish government’s
registered foreign agent, the Livingston Group, document that, in
the days following Ambassador Evans’ February 19, 2005 remarks, one
of Turkey’s agents communicated on at least four different occasions
with State Department officials concerning the envoy’s statement and
his subsequent retraction.
“With each new revelation, we see more clearly the corrosive
impact that the Administration’s complicity in Turkey’s denial is
having on our own core values as Americans,” said ANCA Chairman Ken
Hachikian. “This latest failed attempt by the State Department to
mislead the Senate adds to the many compelling reasons to block the
confirmation of a new Ambassador to Armenia.”
Consistent with the pattern of unresponsiveness that has come to
characterize the Administration’s actions on the Hoagland nomination,
the only answer the State Department chose to provide in response
to Senator Biden’s four questions was a misleading one. His other
inquiries – including an official request for an explanation of why
Ambassador Evans was being replaced prematurely – remain unanswered.
On June 23rd, as part of Ambassador Richard Hoagland’s confirmation
process to replace Amb. Evans in Yerevan, Senator Biden wrote a letter
asking Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a series of questions
including the following: “Has the State Department received any
communication – written, electronic, or spoken – from the Turkish
Government concerning Ambassador Evans?”
Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs Jeffrey T. Bergner
responded on behalf of Secretary Rice with the following assertion:
“Please be assured that allegations that the U.S. is removing
Ambassador Evans under pressure from the Government of Turkey
are simply untrue. The Government of Turkey has not approached the
Administration on this issue, and the United States and Turkey engaged
in no diplomatic exchanges related to this matter.”
However, Justice Department filings by the Livingston Group reveal
that a day after Amb. Evans’ statements on the Armenian Genocide were
publicized in an ANCA-San Francisco press release dated February
24, 2005, a Turkish agent communicated with the State Department
concerning his statements. On February 28, 2005, one business day
after the agent’s first phone call, Ambassador Evans issued his
first public retraction – noting that his mention of the Armenian
Genocide was made in a private capacity. Later that same day, the
Livingston Group reported three additional calls between one of
Turkey’s agents and State Department officials including the Deputy
Chief of Mission-designate at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara to discuss
Ambassador Evans’ retraction. The very next day on March 1, 2005,
Ambassador Evans issued a public correction of his retraction –
removing entirely any mention of the Armenian Genocide.