ALEXANDER MOROZEVICH AGAIN IN THE LEAD IN MONTE CARLO TOURNAMENT

Noyan Tapan
Mar 27 2006

MONTE CARLO, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. Three tours have remained to the
end of the “Amber” chess tournament proceeding in Monte Carlo with
participation of 12 strongest grand masters. After 8 tours, Alexander
Morozevich is at the top of the tournament table. He gained 11 out of
16 possible points. Vishvantan Anand (India) is in the second place
with 10.5 points, Francisco Valekho (Spain) in the third place with
9.5 points. Representative of Armenia, world cup-holder Levon Aronian
plays rather unevenly in the Monte Carlo tournament. He has 7 points
and shares the 9-10th places. The tournament participants have a rest
on March 27 and will hold the games of the 9th tour the next day,
first by “blind” then quick chess rules.

ARMENIAN FOOTBALL CUP TOURNAMENT STARTS

Noyan Tapan
Mar 27 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The first games of 1/8 final tour of
Armenian Football Cup 15th Tournament were held on March 25-26. Their
results are the following: “Gandzasar” (Kapan) – “Mika-2” (Ashtarak)
3 to 1, “Pyunik-2” (Yerevan) – “Banants-2” (Yerevan) 1 to 0, “Ararat”
(Yerevan) – “Ararat-2” (Yerevan) 4 to 0, “Shirak” (Gyumri) – “Hay Ari”
(Yerevan) 0 to 1. The return games will be held on April 1-2.

ARTASHES MINASIAN AND SIRANUSH ANDREASIAN ARE CHAMPIONS OF ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Mar 27 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The regular republican chess tournament
of men and women finished on March 24 at the Chess Player’s House
of Armenia.

Grand master Artashes Minasian was recognized winner at the men’s
struggle, getting 7 points from 9 possible ones. This is already
the 6th victory of A.Minasian in the republican tournament. Young
international masters Arman Pashikian and Tigran Kotanjian also
played successfully, they got correspondingly 6 and 5.5 points and
won the 2nd and 3rd places. By the way, they two completed the norm of
grand masters. Young international master Siranush Andreasian won the
champion’s title of the women’s tournament for the first time, getting
7 points of the 9 possible ones. Grand master Nelli Aghinian became the
second prize-winner with 6.5 points, and international master Lilit
Galoyan became the 3rd prize-winner, having 6 points. A.Minasian
and S.Andreasian also got the right of participating in the world
olympiads in the staff of the national team of Armenia.

AGENDA OF PACE SESSION TO START ON APRIL 10 INCLUDES TWO ISSUES DIRECTLY RELATED TO ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Mar 27 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The spring session of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will be convened on
April 10-13 in Strasbourg. Unlike other sessions, it will last
4 days because Easter will be celebrated on April 14 in European
countries. Tigran Torosian, Head of the Armenian delegation in PACE,
Vice Speaker of the RA National Assembly, stated this at the March
27 press conference. According to him, there are two issues directly
related to Armenia on the session agenda: the state of refugees and
displaced persons in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and the human
rights of the armed forces members. Boris Tsilevich, PACE deputy
from Lithuania, is the rapporteur on the first issue. Discussions
on the report will be held at the plenary sitting on April 13. The
issue was ready to be put on the January session’s agenda, but was
not put since the agenda had already included too many issues. The
rapporteur on the second issue is Alexandr Arabajiev, representative
of Bulgaria. Although the draft resolution of the rapporteur is not
directly related to Armenia and the country is not indicated here,
the armed forces’ state in the Council of Europe member states is
presented in various points of the rapporteur’s memorandum. Point 35
of the memorandum is dedicated to Armenia and contains data on the
situation in the Armenian armed forces in 2001-2003. According to
T.Torosian, the draft was submitted to the RA Defence Ministry for
examination. If some inaccuracy is found regarding the report facts,
the Armenian side will ask the rapportuer to make his memorandum more
accurate, since there is no mechanism for changing the memorandum of a
rapporteur, unlike a draft resolution or a draft recommendation. The
head of the Armenian delegation noted that there are other issues
of interest on the agenda, particularly the report on fight against
corruption and poverty in the CE member states. The issues to be
urgently put on the agenda have not been specified yet. The decision
about it will be made during the discussion of the agenda.

The speaker also presented the upcoming visits to be paid to Armenia
by PACE official representatives. Particularly, the visit of the
rapporteur on the state of women in the three South Caucasian countries
– Russian deputy in PACE Vera Oskina to Armenia is scheduled for
April. The rapporteur on the issue of missing persons in the three
South Caucasian states – Dutch deputy Leo Platvoit will visit the
region in May-June. The date of the visit of representatives the
PACE Monitoring Committee – co-rapporteurs on Armenia has not been
specified yet. T. Torosian said that in all likelihood the visit will
be paid in August.

EU: ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE KARABAKH PROBLEM BY FORCE TO HAVE GRAVE CONSEQUENCES

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.03.2006 19:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The European Union will directly participate in
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, EU Special Representative
for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby stated. “Resolution of conflicts
in the South Caucasus will be one of the EU’s priorities. This is a
signal for a deeper engagement of the organization in the settlement
of problematic situations,” he said in an interview with RFE/RL. In
his words, he has “a slightly stronger mandate on involvement in
frozen conflicts.” The EU representative acknowledged that both
Armenia and Azerbaijan are facing serious difficulties in terms of
their domestic opinion. “What may be necessary is to try to work with
public opinion in the two countries to convey the message that neither
side has anything to gain from playing on time,” he said. “Armenia
will continue to be isolated if a solution is not found.

And in the case with Azerbaijan where there are forces that argue
that the country will gain economic strength and thereby also military
it is necessary to send a clear message that an attempt on the Azeri
side to resolve the conflict by military means will have very serious
consequences. It may not be successful in the first place, and it
will also seriously damage Azerbaijan in terms of its investment
climate and reliability as a partner.”

AZERI DEFENSE MINISTRY’S STATEMENTS ON CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS BY ARMENIAN SIDE FALSE

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.03.2006 19:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian side is tired of refuting the Azeri
fabrications on the ceasefire violations, RA Defense Minister’s
Spokesman, Colonel Seyran Shahsuvaryan told PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter. In his words, all the statements by the Azerbaijani Defense
Ministry are false. To remind, the Azeri MOD press service reported
that “March 26 at 3.15-7.35 p.m. the Armenian units periodically
fired upon the emplacements of the Azerbaijani armed forces and the
village of Mazamli.”

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 10) 517 163
Fax: (374 10) 517 301
E-Mail: [email protected]
March 27, 2006

His Holiness Karekin II Receives UN Resident Coordinator

On March 15, His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians,
received Ms. Consuelo Vidal, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident
Representative to Armenia. It was the first visit of Ms. Vidal to
the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

His Holiness welcomed Ms. Vidal to the center of Armenian spiritual
life, congratulated her on her appointment and wished her a productive
tenure in Armenia. The Catholicos reflected on the long-standing
successful cooperation between the Republic of Armenia and the United
Nations in the spheres of rural development, healthcare and fostering
democratic governance.

During the meeting, the Pontiff of All Armenians also presented the
facts surrounding the willful and deliberate destruction of tens
of thousands of Khatchkars (Stone-Crosses) in Julfa (Nakhijevan),
stating that these acts of intolerance are crimes against culture and
religion which affect all of humanity. His Holiness urged Ms. Vidal
to pursue this matter further through the appropriate UN agencies,
since UNESCO had been notified on numerous occasions in the past few
years of the danger facing these historic Armenian Christian monuments.

Ms. Vidal thanked His Holiness for the reception and assured him
of her readiness to be of assistance to the Armenian Church and the
Mother See at all times.

##

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BAKU: NEXT KOCHARIAN-ALIYEV MEETING MAY BE HELD IN MAY

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.03.2006 20:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The next meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani
Presidents Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliyev may be held in May 2006,
head of the department of external relations at the Azeri president
administration Novruz Mamedov informed. In his words, unlike the
Rambouillet meeting the next one may take place within the framework
of an international event, reported ANS Azeri TV Channel.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BAKU GOING TO AMEND POLICY ON KARABAKH ISSUE

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.03.2006 21:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that
“Armenia’s non-constructive position on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement forces Baku to amend the policy on the issue.” “We adhere
to the peaceful negotiations but they however have not yielded any
result yet. Under such conditions we have to reconsider our policy,”
Aliyev said. Delivering a speech at the ceremony of handing the
combat banner, opening of the museum and monument to Heydar Aliyev
at the Academy of the Ministry of National Security Ilham Aliyev
noted that “Azerbaijan’s position on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
is unchangeable – the territorial integrity of the country should be
restored.” At that he added that the potential of the peaceful talks
has not been exhausted yet. “Armenia should know that we can solve the
problem by force any moment,” Aliyev said. He noted that Azerbaijan
is increasing its military budget every year and this tendency will
be maintained. “Expansion of the defense budget is the sovereign
right of each state. This is a natural process in a country whose
sovereignty was infringed and which experiences a military conflict,”
the Azerbaijani President stated.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IDEAS SOUNDED BY NOVRUZ MAMEDOV ON KOCHARIAN-ALIYEV MEETING IN MAY MERE GUESS

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.03.2006 21:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The ideas sounded by head of the department of
external relations at the Azeri president administration Novruz Mamedov
on the meetings of Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliyev in May are merely
a guess. As PanARMENIAN.Net came to know >From an authority, even
the date of the meeting of the Foreign Ministers was not determined
at the latest meeting of the OSCE MG Co-chairs.

To remind, today Mamedov stated that the next Kocharian-Aliyev meeting
can be held this May. In his words, unlike the Rambouillet meeting the
next one may take place within the framework of an international event.