Armenia-Russia Commodity Turnover Increased Twice
PanARMENIAN.Net
12.07.2006 17:51 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ June 12 the Co-chairs of the Russian-Armenian
intergovernmental committee on economic cooperation Igor Levitin and
Serge Sargsyan met in Yerevan to discuss the outcomes of the work
carried out during the initial half of 2006. The parties referred
to the agreement signed by Gazprom and the Armenian government on
Gazprom’s engagement in the energy projects in Armenia as well as
cooperation in communication and information technologies field.
Igor Levitin remarked that during the period of January-April 2006
the commodity turnover between the two states made $130.3 million
and increased almost twice against the last year index. Export has
grown with 135.7 % and reached $107.1 million. Import has grown
with 9% and totaled in $23.2 million. Levitin and Sargsyan noted the
importance of perfection of the normative-legal basis. A protocol was
signed upon completion of the meeting. The recurrent sitting of the
Russian-Armenian intergovernmental committee will be held in Moscow
October 200

Azeri Justice Ministry Going to Press for Safarov’s Extradition
PanARMENIAN.Net
12.07.2006 17:55 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Azeri Justice Ministry intends to inquire the
Hungarian Ministry of Justice about the possibility of extradition of
Azeri lieutenant Ramil Safarov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment
for the murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan. According to
head of the department of international legal cooperation at the
Azeri Justice Ministry Zaver Gafarov, the process will start after
the consideration of the appeal on Safarov’s verdict. In Gafarov’s
words, the appeal will be issued within the frames of the European
Convention of 1981 “On legal assistance between the CoE member states”
and will be considered this fall, reported Day.az.
To remind, the Budapest Court sentenced Azeri officer Ramil Safarov to
life imprisonment for the murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan
on February 19, 2004. Both officers were taking an English course
within the Partnership for Peace NATO program in the Hungarian capital.

Armenian and Azeri NGOs Should Communicate without Any Terms
PanARMENIAN.Net
12.07.2006 18:08 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Let’s fancy that one of the Armenian NGOs has
recognized the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. This cannot
change anything,” Azeri writer and publicist Alekper Aliyev said when
commenting to PanARMENIAN.Net on the statement of some Azeri NGOs
which are ready to cooperation with those Armenian non-governmental
organizations which recognize the “territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan”.
“If we are prohibited from communicating the Azerbaijani authorities
should formally ban communication. If we are not, it’s not serious
to take into account a statement made by a group of NGOs,” he
remarked. “Even if someone in Armenia recognized the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan it should not be taken seriously,” Alekperov
added.

There Will No Be Balkanization of Karabakh Conflict
PanARMENIAN.Net
12.07.2006 18:31 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ There will be no balkanization of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, since the deployment of peacekeeping forces in
the region is the topic of far away future, ARF Bureau’s Hay Dat and
Political Office Director Kiro Manoian told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.
In his words, such scenario of the conflict settlement is not supposed.
To note, the OSCE MG proposal maintains a provision on deployment of
peacekeeping forces in the conflict zone.

UK Ready to Support Turkey’s EU Bid
PanARMENIAN.Net
12.07.2006 18:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Newly appointed British Foreign Secretary Margaret
Beckett said on Tuesday that there are many European Union member
states ready to do their best for Turkey to successfully proceed
with its EU membership talks. Delivering a speech at Johns Hopkins
University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
(SAIS) in Washington, D.C., Beckett evaluated debates about a possible
“train crash,” as put by European Enlargement Commissioner Olli
Rehn, during Turkey’s negotiations with the Union over the Cyprus
stalemate. Underlining there can be a variety of problems for all
candidate states during negotiations with the 25-nation bloc, Beckett
said, “However there’s no doubt that there’s a tremendous goodwill
among member states for talks with Turkey to lead to an agreement.” “I
hope there isn’t a train crash during Turkey’s negotiations with the
EU over the Cyprus issue, or any other issue,” said Beckett, assuring
Ankara of the EU’s goodwill for talks with Turkey and underlined that
this isn’t only Britain’s position, reported The New Anatolian.

BRUSSELS DEMANDS RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE FOR TURKEY’S ADMISSION TO EU
AZG Armenian Daily #130
13/07/2006
Foreign Political Developments
The Committee for Foreign Affairs at the European Parliament is going
to consider “Turkey’s progress on its path to EU membership process”
in the course of the July 12 sitting. The Armenian Federation of Europe
informed that the European Parliamentarians should make the conclusion
of the report elaborated by deputy Camiel Eurlings (Netherlands)
concerning the application of about 343 amendments by Turkey.
According to the source, many of the members of the main European
political groups call for including the issue “on the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide in 1915” and “on unblocking borders with
Armenia without any preconditions” as preconditions for Turkey’s
admission to the European Union.
It’s worth mentioning that Turkey should also settle the issue of the
Kurds and improve the human rights situation, as well as the national
minorities issues in the country for entering EU.
By Nana Petrosian

MEETING: TIGRAN TOROSIAN MEETS WITH FOREIGN MINISTER OF LEBANON
AZG Armenian Daily #130, 13/07/2006
Tigran Torosian, Speaker of RA National Assembly, met with Fawzi
Salloukh, Foreign Minister of Lebanon. The sides touched upon
the prospects for development of the Armenian and Lebanese inter
parliamentary relations.
The Press Service of RA National Assembly informed that Mr. Torosian
emphasized the importance of the relations between Armenia and
Lebanon not only from the viewpoint of the historical background but
also by the fact that at present there is a large Armenian community
in Lebanon. Mr. Torosian expressed satisfaction with the relations
between Armenia and Lebanon, emphasizing the importance of the balanced
position of this country in the Nagorno Karabakh issue. The sides
stated in the meeting that the Armenian-Lebanese economic relations
have great potential for development.
In his turn, Ambassador stated that the countries should deepen the
inter parliamentary relations and promised that the newly-elected
parliament will also shape MP friendship groups with Armenia. He
added that Lebanon condemns any form of genocide. As for the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict settlement issue, he emphasized the importance of
peaceful settlement acceptable for all of the sides in conflict.
By Nana Petrosian

HAROUTIUNIAN BELIEVES POLITICAL FORCES OF ARMENIA ACT
WISELY AFTER PUBLICATION OF NAGORNO KARABAKH
SETTLEMENT PRINCIPLES
AZG Daily #130, 07/13/2006
OPINION
The publication of Nagorno Karabakh settlement elements by Bryza,
OSCE MG Co-Chair, was an attempt to exert pressure on presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan for fast settlement of the conflict. Khosrov
Haroutiunian, leader of “Christian-Democratic Union,” said this at
July 11 press conference.
He said the OSCE MG first of all tried to exert pressure on Armenia,
taking into account the coming elections. Haroutiunian added that the
co-chairs should press Baku, as the very Azerbaijan doesn’t agree with
their suggestions. He expressed confidence that the co-chairs will not
leave the negotiations, as the new military actions are neither in the
interests of the international community nor in the interests of the
sides in conflict. He added that Bryza merely aimed to represent the
negotiation points to the peoples of the sides in conflict, first
of all to NKR people. He emphasized that the political forces of
Armenia acted quite wisely after the publication of the settlement
elements. At the same time, he added that quite a new situation is
shaped in the negotiation process that requires activation of the
parliament’s role in that process.
He added that the negotiation format will not be changed, stating
that in case the format is changed, Baku will have to negotiate with
NKR. Besides, the said that the current negotiation process will
hardly have any considerable impact on home political processes of
Armenia. He added that at present both Armenia and NKR stated they
are ready to consider the suggestions of the OSCE MG Co-Chairs as
grounds for continuation of the negotiations, but these suggestions
turned out to be unacceptable for Azerbaijan.

ARFD DISAPPROVES BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR NAGORNO KARABAKH
SETTLEMENT ELABORATED BY OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS
AZG Daily #130, 07/13/2006
OPINION
ARF Dashnaktsiutiun party disapproves the basic principles for Nagorno
Karabakh settlement suggested by the OSCE MG Co-Chairs. Kiro Manoyan,
Chairman of ARF” Dashnaktsiutiun party, said this at “Hayeli” club.
He said that the positive part in the suggestion of the OSCE MG
is the point on holding referendum for the status of NKR. This
means that Azerbaijan will have to get accustomed to the idea that
Nagorno Karabakh will have a status and they will stop talking of
any autonomy. But the party doesn’t like the fact that from the very
beginning of the negotiations both the Armenian and NKR authorities
treated the regions under the control of NKR Armed forces as “something
they have to give back.” Agreeing for the referendum, the Armenian side
doesn’t make any big concession. At the same time, he said that they
could have preserved the territories. Manoyan stated that his party
is mostly concerned about the stability in the country and that’s why
they are going to declare their position to everyone. He added that
Matthew Bryza, OSCE MG Co-Chair, made his statement, trying to change
the impression from his meeting with Speaker of Azeri Parliament and
Azeri Foreign Minister in Washington. Manoyan stated that Bryza didn’t
properly estimate the situation and interfered with spheres that are
out of the OSCE plenipotentiaries, particularly, the Armenian-Turkish
relations and the democratic processes in Armenia. That’s why his
statements had negative effect, he said.
Manoyan’s opponent, Hmayak Hovhannesian, member of RA Parliament,
stated that the tactics of Armenia in the negotiations was always
based on the intolerance of Azerbaijan to any concessions and that
was quite a successful one. But the Armenian side always stated about
its readiness to make concessions, that’s why they demand more from
Armenia. Besides, the Armenian society, as compared with the Azeri one,
is prepared for the concessions, as it feels the negative impact of
the unsettled conflict, he said.
The parties also touched upon the recent statement of Sabina Fraizer,
representative of the International Crisis Group, who said that the
situation around the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement is close
to a critical one. Manoyan said one shouldn’t impart much importance
to the statements of such NGOs. While Hovhannesian said that the
importance of such statements shouldn’t be underestimated, as ICG
is closely connected to the US State Department. He added that the
US State Department tries to find out what the public opinion is on
probable impacts of certain consequences of this or that settlement
plans through such statements.
By Gohar Gevorgian

SHOP OWNERS GO FOR RIOT TO SECURE THEIR PLACE OF WORK
Panorama.am
16:42 12/07/06
All shops were closed today at Barekamutiun subway. The shop owners
went out for riot to secure their place of work. The community head
of Arabkir has set the deadline of July 20 to evacuate the place for
capital reconstruction purposes.
Hovhannes SHAHINYAN, Arabkir community head told Panorama.am that
the site will be under construction for 3-4 months. After that, the
traders may come back, he said. The community head admits that it is
a big blow to their family budgets but promises better place of work
in 3-4 months. The subway will be modernized with the infrastructure
to comply with the standards of fire and rescue services, as well as
epidemiology hygiene inspection norms.
According to community sources, community budget has AMD 1,5 mln in
income from the subway shops. About 80 economic entities trade in
the mentioned site. The capital reconstruction of the subway will
cost $300-400 thousand, the community says./Panorama.am/