PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
Yerevan 0033, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 58.08.77, 52.22.38
Fax: (+374 – 10) 54.38.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:
July 20, 2006
Heritage Calls News Conference: Headquarters Reopened?
Yerevan–Today the Heritage Party held its first press conference in its
offices since their being put under illegal lock on March 4, 2006, by the
management of the Paronian Theater. After months of disrupted office
operations, political persecutions, and judicial hassles–and accepting as a
legal basis the June 26 verdict of the Court of First Instance of Yerevan’s
Central and Nork-Marash communities, which went into effect on July 12–the
party’s board members, in the presence of several media representatives,
opened the office doors at noon and then proceeded inside. These doors had
been sealed for unsubstantiated reasons by marshals from the Service for
Mandatory Execution of Judicial Acts (SMEJA) on May 30, only one day after
the office’s reopening pursuant to the Court’s injunction. SMEJA and the
theater’s representatives refused to be present at the reopening of the
office. When entering the premises, the Heritage officials and the
accompanying participants in the press conference noticed that the seal
placed on the door of the office’s fifth floor had been broken and one of
the windows was open.
The opening remarks of the news conference were made by the Heritage’s
political secretary Vardan Khachatrian. “All that which the party has gone
through recently is for us merely one in a long series of phases of our
political quest for liberty, democracy, and the rule of law. This clearly
proves that the coming together of noble, ethical, and untainted forces has
no viable alternative,” Khachatrian stated.
Responding to questions posed by the members of the media, Khachatrian also
gave details about the party’s main priorities and concerns as well as the
courses of action it plans to take. In his words, the Heritage Party has
already initiated multi-level consultations to consolidate the political
field and civil society, the results of which should become more tangible by
autumn.
The press conference also touched upon the Heritage Party’s position on the
regulation of the Mountainous Karabagh conflict. In this respect, Vardan
Khachatrian underscored the imperatives of Mountainous Karabagh’s
participation in the peace negotiations and the resolution of the conflict
within the context of the supremacy of human rights. Khachatrian also
revealed that, in addition to its ten-point plan as detailed on its website,
the party will soon prepare a comprehensive analysis of the Karabagh issue
and convene a special round-table policy discussion devoted to it, “since a
just settlement on Artsakh is the most crucial challenge facing the Armenian
nation and its future,” Khachatrian concluded.
Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land. Its
central headquarters are located at 7 Vazgen Sargsian Street, Yerevan 0010,
Armenia, with telephone contact at (374-10) 580.877, fax at (374-10)
543.897, email at [email protected], and website at

SERGE SARGSIAN JOINS RPA
YEREVAN, JULY 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Serge Sargsian, RA Defence Minister,
Secretary of the National Security Council under RA President,
has become a member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA). Party
Spokesperson Arshak Zakarian informed radio Liberty on July 18 that
“Serge Sargsian’s application has been sustained: he is already a
party member.”
He said that the party’s coming congress will decide what position
Serge Sargsian will occupy in the party. RPA congress will be held
on July 22.

Press Release
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
ESTAB LISHMENT OF THE “KHATCHIG BABIKIAN FUND” IN ANTELIAS
A new Fund under the name “Khatchig Babikian Fund” has been founded
in the Catholicosate of Cilicia. The first steps of this Fund’s
establishment had been taken five years ago by Minister, Member of
Parliament and chairman of the Catholicosate’s Central Council, the
late Mr. Khathcig Babikian, esq., who had at the time consulted with
His Holiness Aram I on the matter.
The initial agreement was that the Fund will function under the
leadership of the Catholicosate of Cilicia and in coordination with
the Babikian family through a joint committee.
However, the different approaches and visions the Babikian family
had towards the Fund led the creation of two separate Funds under the
same name and the division of the Funds capital equally, between the
Catholicosate of Cilicia and the Babikian family. This decision was
taken with the clear understanding that the major goals and priorities
established by late Khatchig Babikian and conveyed to His Holiness
in written will be fully respected and implemented.
Most of the lands inherited from Mr. Babikian to the Fund have already
been sold. The sum of U.S. $ 4.500.000, which constitutes the half of
the amount generated from the income of this sale, has been stored in
a Swiss bank under the supervision of the Catholicosate of Cilicia. A
small number of lands remain to be sold.
The Fund’s capital will not be touched. The interests will be used
for the educational, cultural and humanitarian needs of the Armenian
Community of Lebanon. A special committee headed by His Holiness Aram
I will oversee the Fund’s management. The committee’s members are:
Andre Tabourian, Vosgeperan Arzoumanian and Yervant Pamboukian.
The Fund will soon announce its grants for the year 2006.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates
of the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the
history and mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer
to the web page of the Catholicosate, The
Cilician Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is
located in Antelias, Lebanon.

DEVELOPMENT AID CAN BE GEARED TOWARD CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN ABKHAZIA
by Vladimir Socor
Eurasia Daily Monitor — The Jamestown Foundation
Monday, July 17, 2006 — Volume 3, Issue 137
Georgia is preparing to exercise its sovereign right to demand the
termination of Russian “peacekeeping” operations on its territory
and their replacement with genuine international peacekeeping missions.
Concurrently, Tbilisi is redoubling efforts to unfreeze not the
conflicts as such (these are not and never were “frozen”) but rather
to unfreeze the frozen negotiations toward political settlements
in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Within this context, the role of
international donor agencies and the functions of development aid in
the secessionist enclaves requires some overall political rethinking
and adjustment of goals on the ground.
Until now, those agencies and aid programs have basically aimed
to bring at least minimal improvements to living conditions in
the conflict-torn enclaves. Rarely, if ever, was Western-funded
development assistance conceived as a tool for advancing political
resolution of the conflicts, let alone resolution on terms consistent
with Western interests. This approach should and can now begin to
change by correlating development aid programs more directly with
the goals of conflict resolution. Free from Russian influence on
their decisions, donor agencies are potentially valuable vehicles
for promoting those goals.
A new approach along these lines can now be tested in Abkhazia. For
example, international development aid can contribute significantly to
the rebuilding and resumption of operations of the railroad section
between the Psou and Inguri Rivers. A linchpin in the pre-1991
Trans-Caucasus railroad, that section was destroyed in the 1992-93
war and awaits reconstruction in a package deal that would also
provide for the Georgian refugees’ safe and orderly return to the
Gali district. Russia’s state railways company lays claim to operating
that section once it is restored.
To ensure politically neutral operation of that section, donor
agencies could facilitate the formation of a Georgian-Abkhaz joint
technical group. Georgian managers and personnel who ran that railroad
prior to 1992 were turned into refugees as a result of the conflict,
and the relevant technical documentation is in Tbilisi since those
events. Having the railroad operated by a joint Georgian-Abkhaz
group is clearly preferable to a Russian takeover that would advance
Abkhazia’s de facto incorporation into Russia.
Moreover, Russian operation of that railroad would probably involve
deployment of railway troops — a specifically Russian institution that
handles many aspects of civilian transport — to Abkhazia on the excuse
of protecting that railroad. Meanwhile, an example of Georgian-Abkhaz
technical cooperation exists at the Inguri hydroelectric power plant,
jointly and continuously operated since 1994.
Donor agencies’ strategy to promote small-scale private-sector
projects particularly in farming can also be adjusted to advance the
resolution of this conflict. In the Ochamchire district, for example,
such assistance can be channeled to joint farming projects that would
be undertaken by local Abkhaz residents and Georgian refugees who
would be returning to their homes in that district. Such projects
can promote the goal of reversing the ethnic cleansing of Georgians
— a goal that can be achieved gradually and with proper economic
incentives to both sides and is central to a political resolution
of the conflict. Also in the Ochamchire district there is need for
an inventory of Georgian-owned houses, preparatory to their eventual
rebuilding to accommodate any returning refugees.
In the Gali district, Georgian refugees have returned in fairly
large numbers to their homes in an unorganized movement that the
Abkhaz authorities could not stop. However, Abkhaz authorities
are subjecting those Georgians to various forms of discrimination
and intimidation. Those problems — as well as organized crime
in the Gali and Ochamchire districts — can best be handled by
an international police force of several hundred, not by military
peacekeeping troops, let alone by Russian Army “peacekeepers.” For
their part, donor agencies are well placed to support the provision
of Georgian-language education in Gali for the returnees’ children,
whom the Abkhaz authorities currently deprive of that right. It
is also clearly necessary at this stage to support the creation of
community representation of refugees who returned to Gali.
Ongoing demographic trends in Abkhazia would also seem to warrant an
adjustment in the aid focus and a more direct correlation of assistance
programs to conflict-resolution goals. According to broadly convergent
estimates by all sides involved, the number of resident ethnic Abkhaz
has dropped to between 50,000 and 60,000 (from an estimated 90,000
a decade ago) through social hardships and emigration. The number of
resident Armenians has slowly but steadily increased to some 55,000
and may rise further, mainly through immigration from Russia’s nearby
Krasnodar krai, where the authorities condone harassment of Armenians.
And the number of returning Georgians in Abkhazia has reached some
55,000, most of them in the Gali district.
These numbers and these proportions suggest that some political and
aid dimensions of conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction
are manageable at the local level. By the same token they underscore
the need to face up to Russia’s challenge at the international level,
first and foremost by pressing for withdrawal of Russian troops to
clear the way for local processes toward political settlement.
–Vladimir Socor

EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE ON SOUTH CAUCASUS TO VISIT ARMENIA ON JULY 24-25
YEREVAN, JULY 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Peter Semneby,
EU Special Representative on South Caucasus, will visit Armenia on
July 24-25. As Regnum IA was informed from the European Commission
mission in Armenia, the schedule of EU representative’s visit is
being worked out at the current stage. It is supposed that Peter
Semneby will meet with RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, as well as
other high-ranking officials. Issues concerning Armenia-EU relations,
as well as Nagorno Karabakh settlement negotiations will be discussed
within the framework of the visit. Peter Semneby will leave Yerevan
for Azerbaijan and Georgia.

DEZINFORMATSIYA ALIVE BUT TRANSPARENT
by Vladimir Socor
Eurasia Daily Monitor — The Jamestown Foundation
Wednesday, July 19, 2006 — Volume 3, Issue 139
Two forgeries now circulating in Europe and North America bear the
classic imprint of Soviet disinformation, presented, however, in
modern-looking packaging developed by Modest Kolerov’s department of
the presidential administration in the Kremlin.
One of these forgeries attempts to portray Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili as suffering from “psychiatric disturbances.” Handed out
discretely to Western journalists in recent weeks, this “study” is
attributed to mental health institutes with prestigious-looking titles
in six West European countries. However, the document is written in
awkward English and with occasional telltale Russianisms (“convinced
in,” “diceased.”) It purports to “diagnose” Saakashvili with various
psychiatric “syndromes” and “dysfunctions” without substantiating these
in any way, resorting instead to simple assertions and occasionally
innuendo. Significantly, no direct claim is made that any of those
six institutes ever examined or interviewed the Georgian president;
instead, their “contribution to the study” is acknowledged.
The “study’s” political goals are also apparent in the forecasts it
derives from that “diagnosis.” It warns that the Georgian president
may provoke social and military conflicts and that he tends to situate
himself in opposition to the Georgian public.
To lend credence to such predictions it patently misrepresents
Saakashvili as an insecure, “paranoid” personality; and his
public speaking style as reflecting those alleged traits as well as
difficulties of expression while under pressure. In reality, however,
this Georgian president’s defining message is one of optimism and
confidence in the nation, while his speaking style in English and
Russian makes him undoubtedly one of the most effective political
orators in today’s international arena (albeit one in which oratorical
talent is in short supply). Even as this “study” was being circulated,
the June meeting of Saakashvili with Russian President Vladimir Putin
in St. Petersburg saw a relaxed and articulate Georgian president
easily dominating his stilted Russian counterpart throughout their
lengthy joint news conference (see EDM, June 16).
Economist correspondent Edward Lucas has wittily debunked
the psychological “study” on his widely read blog
(, edwardlucas.blogspot.com).
Concurrently with the anti-Georgian “study,” a report on Transnistria
was released apparently by the same workshop or a related one, with
false attribution to seven highly reputed academics from leading U.S.
and British universities. This report backs Transnistria’s “right” to
secede from Moldova and to be granted international recognition. The
document misdescribes Transnistria as a “democratic” polity meeting
the criteria of state sovereignty under international law. It passes
over in silence Russia’s military and economic support that enabled
Transnistria’s secession from Moldova.
Some parts of this report are easily recognized as having been lifted
from an earlier report about Karabakh. Other parts are written in
awkward English. The news agency Regnum, a Kolerov outlet (he was
its founder and chief executive prior to his move into the Kremlin)
first publicized this report.
The seven purported co-authors have, in the meantime, denied any
involvement in the preparation of the report on Transnistria and
asked that their names be removed from the authors’ roster. Some
other scholars, whose work is referenced in the report’s footnotes
in distorted or misleading ways, have similarly asked for removal of
those references. Indeed, most of those names have in the meantime
disappeared from the website of the organization that sponsors
this report.
The sponsoring organization, the “International Council for Democratic
Institutions and State Sovereignty,” at , was found to
share an IP address with when it posted the
report. The bogus reference to democratic institutions and state
sovereignty reflects this Council’s function to so describe the
post-Soviet secessionist enclaves and advocate for their recognition.
Meanwhile, that same “Council,” along with something called the
“United Euro-Atlantic Forum,” has released a report criticizing
Ukraine’s cooperation with the European Union in enforcing customs
regulations against Transnistria’s “external trade.” Titles of
disinformation outlets that use misleading references to Western values
(the “Free Europe Foundation,” also propagandizing for recognition of
the secessionist enclaves, is another case) are typical of Kolerov’s
growing network of such organizations.
–Vladimir Socor

OSCE MG AMERICAN CO-CHAIR TO VISIT YEREVAN ON JULY 29
YEREVAN, JULY 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Matthew Bryza,
the American Co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group on the settlement of
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, will visit Yerevan on July 29. This
was reported by the Regnum information agency, which refers to the
Press Service of the Embassy of U.S. in Armenia.
The previous day Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadiarov
declared that Matthew Bryza will visit Yerevan and Baku “with some
new elements he wants to discuss.”

RA FM HOPES THAT KASPRCZIK’S REPORT WILL PUT END TO AZERBAIJAN’S
IRRESPONSIBLE AND ABSURD ASPERSIONS
YEREVAN, JULY 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. RA Foreign Ministry
has received the report of Andrzej Kasprczik, Personal Representative
of OSCE Chairman-in-Office, on fires in areas adjacent to NKR. NT
was informed about it by Vladimir Karapetian, Acting Head of RA FM
Press and Information Department. “We hope it will put an end to
Azerbaijan’s irresponsible and absurd aspersions,” he emphasized.
To recap, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry also reported that it has
received Kasprczik’s report and will comment upon it after studying it.

FOREIGN MINISTERS OF ARMENIA AND BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA DISCUSS ISSUES OF
BILATERAL AND INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE
SARAJEVO, JULY 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. RA Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian is in Bosnia and Herzegovina on a three-day official
visit. On July 18, he met with this country’s Foreign Minister
Mladen Ivanic.
According to the Press Service of RA Foreign Ministry, issues
of bilateral and international importance were discussed at the
meeting. It was mutually noted that relations between Armenia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina are at the stage of formation and there is
mutual interest in deepening economic cooperation, to which absence
of political disagreements between the countries contributes.
In this context the sides emphasized the necessity to create the
respective legal-contractual field between the two countries that will
promote deepening and activization of bilateral ties. The necessity to
prepare for signing some agreements being at the stage of coordination
was emphasized. They, in particular, attached importance to signing
of agreement on visits without visas for persons with diplomatic
and official passports.
The Ministers also touched upon the current situation in development
of Armenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Minister Ivanic presented
the course of overcoming difficulties on the way of development
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the peaceful process that
started with the Dayton agreement. The sides exchanged opinions
on the European direction of the foreign policy of their countries,
presented relations with EU and NATO.
The Ministers highlighted the necessity to cooperate within the
framework of international organizations. Expediency of holding
cultural events for the purpose of developing cooperation in the
sphere of culture was also touched upon.
The Ministers presented each other the latest events in their regions.
Minister Oskanian briefly presented the current stage of Nagorno
Karabakh settlement.
Vartan Oskanian invited his counterpart to visit Armenia at any time
convenient for him. Then a joint press conference of the two Foreign
Ministers was held.

ARMENIAN TEAM’S FIRST RIVAL IS ESTONIAN TEAM AT DAVIS CUP TOURNAMENT
SARAJEVO, JULY 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The tournament of third sub-group
of Davis Cup started in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Sarajevo. The national teams of 8 countries have divided into
2 groups. Teams of Armenia, Andorra, Estonia and Lithuania were
included in the first group and of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova,
Monaco and Turkey in the second group. On July 19, the Armenian
national team (Sargis Sargsian, Hayk Zohranian and Haroutiun Sofian)
competes with the Estonian team.