Robert Kocharian Went on Short Leave
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.07.2006 12:55 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Robert Kocharian left on a short
leave today, the RA leader~Rs press office told PanARMENIAN.Net. The
RA President will spend his vacation in Armenia.

Moscow Not to Impose Any Solution either on Yerevan or Baku
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.07.2006 13:02 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “I think that we will – in fact, I’m sure we will
touch on the Nagorno Karabakh issue. Especially since most of the
G8 countries are involved in attempts to find a solution to that
conflict,” Russian President Vladimir Putin stated at a briefing
yesterday. “President Chirac is very closely involved in those efforts,
President Bush as well, and others also. We would very much like
to see Armenia and Azerbaijan find a mutually acceptable solution.
Insofar as the Russian Federation is concerned, I can stress once
again our position, which consists in not imposing any solution
either on the Azerbaijani side or the Armenian side. The nations,
those two nations, must reach a compromise themselves. But of course
the Russian Federation and other G8 countries as well are prepared
to act as guarantors when it comes to the implementation of whatever
agreement is reached,” the Russian President said.

Ceara State of Brazil Recognized Armenian Genocide
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.07.2006 13:22 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The legislative council of State of Ceara, Brazil,
passed a bill which recognizes April 24 as the Day of the Armenian
People. The Armenian Genocide victims will be hence commemorated on
this day. The Governor of Ceara ratified the bill, reported the RA MFA
press office. The bill introduced by PRONA party member Joan Batista
da Silva was passed unanimously. Ceara is the second Brazilian state
after San Paolo to have officially recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Azerbaijan Jeopardizes Karabakh Peaceful Process
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.07.2006 13:58 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The wordings “both sides” and “two sides” that occur
in the Vienna statement of the OSCE Minsk Group arouse surprise. Three
sides in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict have been recognized in the
OSCE documents long ago,” says the article PanARMENIAN.Net received
from former OSCE MG Russian Co-chair Vladimir Kazimirov.
The Russian diplomat reminded that the U.S. and France assumed the
role of mediators in early 1997, however Russia was a co-chair state
earlier and acted as an independent mediator. “Chairs and Co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group used to change. A scope of settlement principles
was worked out long ago. The activities of the mediators base on the
maintenance of ceasefire achieved in 1994 with Russia’s mediation,”
he said.
Vladimir Kazimirov is convinced that the settlement should not
be started with the liberation of the seized territories. “The
Co-chairs mention the stability and guarantees of the peaceful
process in passing. Refusal of all the parties in the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict from any attempt to use force should become the
prior principle of settlement. It needs international authentication,
to all appearance by the U.N. Security Council,” the article says. In
the opinion of the OSCE MG former Co-chair it’s mostly Azerbaijan who
jeopardizes the peaceful process at the background of failures in the
war. “It’s obvious. Militaristic statements, calls to armament race
and revenge, stirring up of hatred towards Armenians prove this. It
should also be noted that Baku rejected the mediator’s proposal very
often. Azerbaijan’s positions and arguments should be thoroughly
examined. Baku should be discouraged from the wish to settle the
matter by force and blood,” Vladimir Kazimirov said.

15 PEOPLE START WALKING MARCH FROM GYUMRI TO SHUSHI
Armenpress
GYUMRI, JULY 17, ARMENPRESS: A group of 15 people started on July
15 a ten-day walking journey from Armenia’s second-largest town of
Gyumri to Shushi in Nagorno-Karabakh. The march is organized by the
Gyumri municipality and Art company.
The distance between Gyumri and Shushi is 510 kilometers. Participants
of the march want to cover it in ten days, making 50 km a day. Artiom
Tumanian, the chairman of ART company, said the goal is to consolidate
contacts between the two towns, to encourage sport, culture and
art contacts.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES PROMISE ASYLUM TO LEBANESE ARMENIANS
Armenpress
YEREVAN, JULY 17, ARMENPRESS: Armenian authorities promised today
ethnic Armenians from Lebanon the status of ‘temporarily protected
persons’ if they arrive here and ask for it.
Gagik Yeganian, head of a government-affiliated department on refugees
and migrants, said to Armenpress that Lebanese Armenians can ask the
department for asylum, a status that allows them to carry out social,
economic and cultural activity in Armenia.
The asylum is given for a period of 12 months, but it can be
extended. Yeganian said this procedure is effective also with regard
to ethnic Armenians in Iraq. Since 2003 some 391 Iraqi citizens have
been granted asylum in Armenia, the bulk were Iraqi Armenians.
According to various estimates, Lebanon has some 60,000 strong
Armenian community.

Karabakh committee pushes for being party to peace talks
Aravot, Yerevan
14 Jul 06
14 July: “Armenian President Robert Kocharyan is not authorized to
sign any deal or agreement on behalf of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic
[NKR], which has not been recognized by or de jure annexed to Armenia,”
a statement of the organizational committee in defence of the NKR
said yesterday.
The organization also expressed discontent with the methodology of the
OSCE Minsk Group to settle the Nagornyy Karabakh and condemned the
work of Armenia’s diplomatic services “whose inaction has distorted
the essence of the conflict”.
The authors of the statement also demanded that the format of the
[OSCE] Budapest summit, in which the NKR acted as an equal party to
the negotiations, should be restored.

Baku ready to keep on talking on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement
TREND, Azerbaijan
July 16 2006
Trend 17/07/2006 01:14
Azerbaijan is ready to keep on talking for peaceful settlement
of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Trend reports quoting Azeri Foreign
Minister Elmar Mamedyarov.
He said in the event of necessity Azeri officials, in particular
Mamedyarov himself, might meet in any place and discuss peaceful
settlement. “But the meeting should not pass with no use. There should
be some result, we shall feel our advancement”, minister said.
Commenting co-chairmen statements ‘now initiatives are for the
parties’, Mamedyarov said ‘co-chairmen are appointed to offer the
parties some proposals and coordinate their positions’. He also said
unless there was a necessity in co-chairmen, official Baku would have
conversed with Armenians independently and solved this matter long ago.
“I am optimistic in this matter. Earlier or later, this problem will be
solved. But we want it to be solved faster, as there are many refugees
and IDPs in Azerbaijan who are willing to get home. I believe we will
solve the problem, peacefully or not”, concluded Mamedyarov.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Trapped dancers desperate to flee
Border Mail, Australia
July 17 2006
MEMBERS of an Australian dance troupe stranded in Lebanon are waiting
desperately for the Federal Government to come up with an escape plan.
The 45 young performers and 36 parents and supervisors travelling
with the Sevan Dance Group are bunkered in their Beirut hotel as the
Israeli military continues its bomb attacks on the Lebanese capital.
Prime Minister John Howard yesterday flagged the Federal Government
was working as quickly as possible on a plan to evacuate the group,
and any other stranded Australians, by ferry to Cyprus.
The Sydney-based Armenian dance troupe’s leader, Asadour Hadjian,
has been in regular phone contact with his sister in Australia and
assured her all of the group are safe.
But his sister, Betty Marashlian, said the troupe was desperate to
escape Beirut.
Mrs Marashlian said her brother had been told Australian officials
in Beirut were still working on a plan.
“The officials told everyone to put everything in their handbags and
to forget about their luggage,” she said.
“He said they told us yesterday they will have a plan but it’s not
clear yet.
“They are all afraid. They want to come back home.
The dance troupe performed in Beirut last Tuesday and was meant to
fly out to Sydney last Thursday, but Israeli bomb attacks closed
the airport.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Andzhey Kaspszik wrote 7-page note on arsons on occupied Azeri grounds – Foreign Minister
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
July 14 2006
Author: E.Huseynov
Andzhey Kaspszik, personal representative of acting chairman of OSCE,
has written a 7-page note on arsons taken place on occupied Azeri
grounds,Trend reports quoting Elmar Mamedyarov, Foreign Minister
of Azerbaijan.
Mamedyarov said he had talked to Mr Kaspszik, who said he had
submitted this document to OSCE chairman Karel de Gucht, and Azeri
Foreign Ministry will receive it in the beginning of the next week.
Minister said Kaspszik’s field assistants had lead a monitoring on
occupied grounds, after which Kaspszik himself performed a monitoring
around Agdam.
“This is a sign. Nobody will write notes for fun”, Mamedyarov said,
disproving Armenia’s insinuations on not finding any arsons on occupied
grounds during the monitoring.
“Such arsons are an environmental catastrophe and serious steps shall
be taken to prevent this in the future”, Minister added.