AZERIS OF CANADA HELD ACTION AT ARMENIAN EMBASSY IN CANADA
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.04.2006 22:15 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ March 31 some 60-70 Azeris held a rally at the
Armenian Embassy in Ottawa. They cried out slogans condemning the
“pogroms in Khojalu” and Armenia’s aggressive policy. They also
asked the police to convey a letter explaining the aim of the action
to the Embassy officials. For his part, Armenian Charge d’affaires
in Canada handed the ralliers the documents informing of the real
events in Khojalu as well as the recent statement on Khojalu by Armen
Martirosyan, Armenia’s permanent representative in the UN, reported
the Horizon, the Armenian newspaper published in Canada.

OSCE MINSK GROUP LIKELY TO VISIT REGION IN MAY
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.04.2006 22:47 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 2006 has just begun and there is hope to settle the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict till the end of the year, OSCE Minsk Group
Russian Co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov told PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In
his words, consultations between the mediators for the determination
of the date of the Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs’ meeting will be held
in the near future. “The fact is that the schedules do not coincide
and it’s difficult for us to agree on a certain place and date of the
meeting. April 7 Armenian Foreign Minister will be in Moscow while
Azerbaijani Minister will be visiting Washington.
Nevertheless I think the OSCE Minsk Group will visit the region in
May. Then we can agree on the Ministers’ meeting,” Yuri Merzlyakov
said. He also added that French Co-chair Bernard Fassier is likely
to visit the region in April.
As for the regular meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents,
the Russian mediator said it’s premature to speak of it yet. “The
meeting of the Presidents should be properly prepared and this demands
time,” he said.

MILITARY SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT WILL BE CATASTROPHIC
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.04.2006 22:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Military settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict will be a catastrophe, OSCE Minsk Group Russian Co-chair Yuri
Merzlyakov told PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words the conflicting
parties should exert every effort to prevent hostilities. According
to Merzlyakov, tension of the situation by Azerbaijani will not bring
to good. “We should aspire for peace and the potential of peaceful
resolution has not been exhausted yet,” he underscored.

NKR FM POSITIVELY ASSESSED DARTMOUTH GROUP EFFORT FOR KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.04.2006 23:02 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Nagorno Karabakh Foreign Minister Georgy Petrosian
received the delegation of the American-Russian working group of the
Dartmouth Conference on regional conflicts lead by Harold Saunders
and Vitaly Naumkin, who arrived to the NKR within the regional visit
framework. The meeting participants discussed the draft framework
peaceful agreement compiled upon the outcomes of 9 rounds of the
dialogue between the societies of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno
Karabakh by the Dartmouth Conference initiative. During the meeting
the parties presented the principal ideas and principles that lay
in the basis of the document. In their opinion, the draft framework
does not offer decisions. It is targeted at the establishment of a
settled dialogue between the conflicting parties.
For his part, the NKR FM positively assessed the effort of the
working group for the conflict settlement. He specifically noted the
participation of Karabakh in the negotiation process. Georgy Petrosian
underscored that the mediators and the international organizations
concerned should realize the moral responsibility for the maintenance
of armistice in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict region.

NKR MOD: KARABAKH DIDN’T VIOLATE CEASEFIRE
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.04.2006 23:13 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The statement of the Azerbaijani Defense Minister
on the ceasefire violation is a recurrent lie, NKR Defense Ministry’s
department of information and propaganda, colonel Senor Asratyan told
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, the Karabakh side commenced
fire neither in Fizuli nor in Ghazakh direction. “The reports of
the Azeri side are false,” Asratyan said. To remind, the Azerbaijani
Defense Minister informed that “April 2 a soldier of the Azeri armed
forces was killed as result of ceasefire violations.”

ARMENIA TO RENDER ASSISTANCE TO IRAN
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.04.2006 23:23 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian government is going to render assistance
to Iran that was shocked by an earthquake March 31, reported the RA
government’s press service. By RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan’s
order Minister of Territorial Administration Hovik Abrahamyan met
with Iranian Ambassador to Armenia Alireza Haqiqian. During the
meeting the Minister conveyed to the Ambassador RA Prime Minister’s
condolence and asked to clarify what kind of aid Iran needs.

ARMENIA CONSIDERS PROVIDING AID TO EARTHQUAKE-STRICKEN IRAN
Armenpress
April 3 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS: The government of Armenia is considering
provision of humanitarian assistance to Iran to help it overcome
heavy consequences of March 31 earthquake.
The government said territorial minister Hovik Abrahamian was
instructed by prime minister Margarian to meet with Iran’s ambassador
in Armenia, Alireza Haghighyan, to convey his condolences and specify
what kind of assistance Iran needs. More than 70 people have been
killed and some 15,000 families have been made homeless by a series
of strong earthquakes and aftershocks that rocked western Iran early
Friday morning.

ONE-WINDOW PRINCIPLE PROVES EFFECTIVE AT YEREVAN MUNICIPALITY
Armenpress
April 3 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS: Suren Koshetsian, chief of staff at
Yerevan municipality, said today 4,915 applications and other papers
were received in the first three months of this year through the
so-called ‘one window’ system, introduced last year in the municipality
to reduce red-tape. He said the number of received papers was 23
percent more from a year ago.
He said after examining the applications and complaints the
municipality issued 7,135 instructions and only 0.86 percent of
them were not fulfilled. He said the municipality was working to
correct a set of shortcomings mentioned by president Kocharian in
his meeting with municipality staff. He said there is also a hotline
telephone number for Yerevan residents to complain about the poor
work of officials.
He said two officials of the municipality will visit Budapest, Hungary,
to learn its experience in handling one-window system principle.

KARABAKH PM SAYS PEACE TALKS PROCEED NORMALLY
Armenpress
April 3 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS: The prime minister of Nagorno-Karabakh,
Anushavan Danielian, described efforts to resolve the Karabakh conflict
as ‘normal,” saying everyone understands it is a complicated problem
that cannot be resolved in an overnight.
He said the cautious optimism of international peace-brokers does
not necessarily mean that the dispute could be settled this year. He
said the OSCE Minsk group cochairmen from the USA, Russia and France
are most likely engaged in serious preparation for the next round
of talks after meeting in Washington and Istanbul in March. He then
argued that resolution of the Karabakh conflict may be applied as a
model for ending other conflicts.
He also shrugged off a last week statement by Azeri foreign minister
Elmar Mamedyarov that Baku was ready to negotiate with Karabakh
Armenians if they acknowledged they are citizens of Azerbaijan,
describing it as ‘unserious’.

ICRC PRESIDENT VISITS THE SOUTHERN CAUCASUS
A1+
[01:32 pm] 03 April, 2006
Geneva (ICRC) – Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has arrived in Azerbaijan for a
two-day visit at the invitation of the Azerbaijani government. This
visit will be followed by visits to Georgia and Armenia. The ICRC
president will hold talks with the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham
Aliyev, the president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, the speaker
of the Georgian parliament, Nino Burjanadze, the prime minister of
Georgia, Zurab Noghaideli, and various members of the governments of
the three countries.
The talks are expected to focus on missing persons and their families,
the conditions of people detained in relation to the unresolved
conflicts of Nagorny Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia and other
humanitarian issues. Training of the Armed Forces in international
humanitarian law and its application will also be discussed. In
addition, the ICRC president will make visits to ICRC-supported
projects in the field.
During his visit to the Southern Caucasus, the ICRC President will
meet the presidents of the Azerbaijani Red Crescent and the Georgian
and Armenian Red Cross Societies.
The ICRC has maintained a constant presence in the Southern Caucasus
since 1992 assisting and protecting people and communities affected by
the armed conflicts of the region. The organization currently focuses
on establishing the fate of missing persons and helping their families,
visiting people in detention, and protecting and assisting the civilian
population living close to areas still affected by the conflicts.
The ICRC’s activities in the region also include programmes to
control the spread of tuberculosis in prisons, promote international
humanitarian law and build up the capacities of the local Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies.