INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION DECLINES BY 3.3% IN GEGHARKUNIK MARZ IN 2005
Noyan Tapan
May 17 2006
GAVAR, MAY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the reports of industrial
enterprises of Gegharkunik marz, as well as based on the assessment
of operation of the small enterprises not included in the monthly
statistical monitoring, industrial production of 14,832.2 mln drams was
manufactured in current prices in Gegharkunik marz in 2005. Sales made
8,919 mln drams, including sales in CIS countries – 113.5 mln drams,
in other countries – 0.2 mln drams (about 444 USD). According to Hakob
Badalian, Head of the Regional Agency of the RA National Statistical
Service, a 3.3% decline in industrial production was registered in
the marz in 2005 compared with the previous year.

STATE COMISSION ON PRISONERS OF WAR, HOSTAGES AND MISSING PEOPLE REPORTS
Today, Azerbaijan
May 17 2006
The State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons
regards widespread recently in mass media by the coordinator of the
“International working group on release of POWs, hostages and missing
citizens” in Azerbaijan messages on arrest of the persons released
from captivity and, ostensibly, prosecution of relatives of the persons
sent to the third countries, as the action directed on public opinion.
The questions connected with citizens, taken in captivity as a result
of aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan and sent to the third
countries (concerning their biographical particulars, addresses
of parents, the countries in which they are sent and so forth),
are known to the State Commission, other corresponding bodies, and
also parents. We inform, that the said persons, quite possibly, were
sent to the third countries with their consent according to norms of
the international humanitarian law. Parents of the persons taken in
captivity were pursued in connection with the fact of their sending
to the third countries neither by the State Commission nor other
corresponding bodies, and now such steps are not undertaken. We remind,
that according to the Constitution of the Azerbaijan Republic, close
relatives of any person who have made this or that act, cannot be
pursued and made answerable. The Azerbaijan Republic with respect
concerns to the supreme principles of law and human rights and
protect them.
We inform, that from 1381 persons taken in captivity and hostages as
a result of aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan and released
subsequently, only 20 persons have been involved in the criminal
liability. The specified persons have been punished not in connection
with the fact of capture and hostages, and for the concrete criminal
actions accomplished in captivity against the Azerbaijan Republic
and its citizens.
The majority of the mentioned persons have been arrested not after
release, but later some years when their criminal actions have come
to light. If the given persons and their relatives were pursued,
they would be arrested right after release from captivity. In spite
of the fact that it was informed on the appeal to the Commission on
pardon in connection with release of arrested 7 persons, nevertheless,
the Commission has informed, that the given question was not discussed.
The State Commission cooperates with some international organizations,
including the “International Working Group on Release of POWs,
Hostages and Missing Citizens in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict”, IWG, created in 1997, while carrying out of search work
and performance of other problems it faces, realization of activity
in Armenia and on our occupied lands.
IWG is managed by Bernhard Clausen (Germany), Svetlana Gannushkina
(Russia) and Paata Zakareishvili (Georgia) with financial support
of the German Fund of Henry Bell. The State Commission positively
estimates the objective approach of IWG co-chairman from Germany
Bernhard Clausen to search work and the questions connected with
destiny of the missing, and the work done by them for achievement of
result. At the same time, IWG coordinator for Azerbaijan satisfies
only with the statements calculated on public opinion, trying to
build its work in the given context. Its divergence is shown since
2001 when it has started to work as the coordinator.
It causes concern that during his group visit to Armenia and on
the occupied Azerbaijan territories he does not lift the questions
connected with citizens of Azerbaijan fact of capture and hostages
of which is known, and we consider, that during the said visits his
work was limited only to support of co-chairmen. It is obvious from
IWG reports covering the given period. During cooperation the State
Commission prefers observance of ethic standards, reminding at the
same time that it is proxy to make objective estimation to any act
pursuing the purpose to confuse public opinion, AzerTAg reports.
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ARMENIAN LEADER NOT TO ATTEND NATO PA SESSION
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 17 2006
Armenian President Robert Kocharian has refused to attend the session
of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly due in Paris May 26-30, the Assembly
told Armenian media.
The source quoted Kocharian’s spokesman Viktor Sogomonian as saying
that the decision is explained by the president’s busy work schedule.
“During the session, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs [mediating
settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno)
Garabagh] are to visit the region. Moreover, the event will overlap
with the holidays in Armenia,” said Sogomonian.
The NATO PA president Pierre Lelouche earlier invited the Azeri and
Armenian leaders to participate at the spring session.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LAVROV: RUSSIA SPEAKS FOR STRENGTHENING NEIGHBORLY RELATIONS IN THE BLACK SEA REGION
Regnum, Russia
May 17 2006
Issues of Russia’s chairmanship in the Organization for Black Sea
Economic Cooperation (in May-October 2006), as well as problems of
intensifying and raising effectiveness of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation Secretariat have become main issue of a meeting between
Sergey Lavrov with Secretary General of the organization Leonidas
Khrisantopulos, who assumed office on May 1, REGNUM is told in the
Russian embassy in Armenia.
During the meeting, Sergey Lavrov confirmed Russia’s adherence to the
principal policy of strengthening neighborly relations and stability
in Black Sea region, providing favorable conditions for trade and
economic cooperation. Russia is also interested in implementing within
frameworks of the organization initiatives on practical cooperation, in
particular, in transports or engineering, as well as in other fields,
the minister noted. According to him, Russia is persistent in pursuing
a policy in the Organization for Black Sea Economic Cooperation to
implement projects on renewing regular service between ports of the
Black Sea, extending cooperation in power engineering by connecting
electricity supply networks of the region and promote synchronization
of functioning of electricity supply networks of East and West Europe,
coordinated developing of transport corridors around the Black Sea,
particularly, highways.
An agreement was reached at the meeting about close cooperation of
the Russian foreign ministry and the secretariat in implementing
action scheduled for Russia’s chairmanship in the Organization for
Black Sea Economic Cooperation.

RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN TYCOON IN KOCHARIAN U-TURN
By Shakeh Avoyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 17 2006
Ara Abrahamian, the politically active Russian-Armenian tycoon,
appeared on Wednesday to have reconsidered his critical attitude
towards Armenia’s leadership after holding what he described as a
“very good” meeting with President Robert Kocharian.
Abrahamian, who publicly criticized the authorities in Yerevan just
hours before the meeting on Tuesday, said Kocharian promised to
support his World Armenian Congress (WAC) and take into consideration
his views on political and economic developments in Armenia.
“He listened to us very attentively and promised to help,” he told a
news conference. “We addressed those differences which we have had,
to varying degrees, with the [Armenian] Foreign Ministry and the
government in general and found mechanisms for working together. It
is time to work together.”
A statement on the meeting released by the Armenian president’s office,
said Kocharian “welcomed the fact that the Congress’s initiatives are
becoming more Armenia-oriented and acquiring a truly pan-Armenian
quality.” Kocharian has previously voiced skepticism about WAC’s
ambitious plans to serve as an umbrella structure for all major
Diaspora organizations around the world.
Addressing a WAC gathering in Yerevan on Tuesday, Abrahamian complained
that the Moscow-based organization, which was set up in 2003 with
the Russian government’s apparent backing, has failed to fulfill its
mission not least because of the Kocharian administration’s lukewarm
attitude towards its activities. He also decried “glaring shortcomings”
Armenia’s political and economic systems.

KOCHARIAN ‘WILL BECOME PRIME MINISTER AFTER RESIGNATION’
By Ruzanna Stepanian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 17 2006
President Robert Kocharian will be replaced by Defense Minister
Serzh Sarkisian and become prime minister after completing his second
five-year term in office in 2008, a controversial lawmaker reputedly
linked to the Armenian authorities claimed on Wednesday.
Hmayak Hovannisian presented to journalists what he called a scenario
drawn up by Armenia’s two most powerful men for the approaching
parliamentary and presidential elections. Under that scenario, he said,
Sarkisian will contest and secure victory in both polls, due in 2007
and 2008 respectively, on the ticket of the governing Republican Party
of Armenia (HHK) led by the current prime minister, Andranik Markarian.
“After the parliamentary elections Serzh Sarkisian will become prime
minister and Andranik Markarian speaker of the National Assembly,”
Hovannisian said. “What will Robert Kocharian do? Who else is to occupy
the post of prime minister when Serzh Sarkisian becomes president of
the republic?”
The Armenian constitution bars incumbent presidents from holding
the post for a third consecutive term and Kocharian has so far left
no indication that he will try find a legal loophole for contesting
the 2008 presidential ballot. But meeting with university students in
Yerevan last November, Kocharian admitted that he will not be averse
to continuing to run government affairs in a different capacity. “Who
is better than I in terms of knowledge, experience, hard work and
resilience?” he declared.
Some local analysts and politicians have speculated over the past
year that Kocharian is aiming for the post of prime minister, which he
had occupied for about a year before being catapulted to the Armenian
presidency in March 1998.
In Hovannisian’s words, helping Kocharian become prime minister is
the main mission of the ambitious Prosperous Armenia party that was
set up recently by Gagik Tsarukian, an influential “oligarch” close
to the ruling regime. He claimed that the authorities will ensure that
Prosperous Armenia, the HHK and another pro-establishment party linked
to Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian have an absolute majority in
the next parliament. Parliament speaker Artur Baghdasarian and his
Orinats Yerkir party have been forced out of the ruling coalition
because their far-reaching political ambitions endangered realization
of that scenario, said Hovannisian.
The Kocharian administration has assured the West that the upcoming
elections will be more democratic than the ones held until now. Such
assurances are brushed aside by opposition leaders who maintain that
Armenia’s post-Soviet history of electoral fraud will continue as long
as the Kocharian-Sarkisian duo remains in power. Some oppositionists
have threatened to boycott next year’s legislative vote, saying that
the authorities may have already predetermined its outcome.
They will likely take Hovannisian’s predictions seriously. The
ostensibly independent parliamentarian has a history of scandalous
defections from political parties opposed to successive Armenian
governments. He was elected to the current National Assembly from
the electoral list of the opposition National Unity Party (AMK)
in May 2003 but quit it a year later for still uncertain reasons.
AMK leader Artashes Geghamian has repeatedly accused Hovannisian
of secretly collaborating with Sarkisian, a view shared by other
politicians and journalists. Hovannisian, however, has flatly denied
this.

CANADA-TURKEY SPAT WON’T AFFECT NATO OPERATION
Embassy, Canada
Canada’s Foreign Policy Newsweekly
May 17 2006
Last week’s diplomatic storm over Stephen Harper’s use of the term
‘genocide’ will not affect Canada’s relations with the Turkish head
of NATO’s Afghan mission, but it does signal a policy shift.
The Turkish-Canadian spat over Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s comments
recognizing the Armenian genocide two weeks ago will not spill over
into Afghanistan where a senior Turkish diplomat presently occupies
the position of NATO’s top Civilian Representative to Afghanistan,
according to the Turkish Embassy in Ottawa.
Despite Ankara’s withdrawal last week from NATO military exercises
in the Canadian province of Alberta, Turkey’s leading NATO role
in Afghanistan with Canada will not be affected, says Yonet Tezel,
Counsellor at the Turkish Embassy.
“Our contribution is still going on and it is above our relations
with Canada,” says Mr. Tezel.
NATO is scheduled to take over military operations from the U.S. in
Afghanistan in the summer.
Mr. Tezel also says Turkey is not likely to pull out its most senior
diplomat, Hikmet Cetin, who is NATO’s Civilian Representative to
Afghanistan.
With 825 troops, Turkey has the third largest contingent in
Afghanistan, after Germany and Canada. Its role is considered important
because it is also the only Muslim country with troops in Afghanistan.
In what may signal a decrease in tensions between Canada and Turkey,
Mr. Yonet also says Turkish Ambassador Aydemir Erman is expected to
return to Canada this week. Turkey called its envoy to Canada back to
Ankara for consultations on May 6 in protest of Mr. Harper’s comments.
Mr. Harper became the first Canadian prime minister to utter the word
‘genocide’ in recognizing the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians in
Turkey in 1915. The statement also marks a major shift in Canadian
foreign policy towards Turkey, which also temporarily withdrew its
ambassador to France as a result of an impeding vote in the French
parliament that would make it a crime to deny the that genocide was
committed in Armenia.
But while it withdrew its envoy from Paris, the Turkish government
also sent a delegation to meet French legislators on the issue. It did
not do the same thing in Canada. Mr. Tezel says the circumstances are
totally different, hence the type of reaction to the French situation.
“The situation is philosophically and intellectually unacceptable,”
Mr. Tezel says of France’s decision to make it a crime to deny that
genocide was committed in Armenia.
Kim Nossal, Professor and Head of Political Studies at Queen’s
University in Kingston, says Mr. Harper’s decision acknowledging
that genocide was committed against Armenians was likely made to
send a message that the Tory government is different from the former
minority government.
“[Mr. Harper] wanted to signal that his government is different from
the Liberal government, which actually talked a lot about human rights,
but did nothing,” says Mr. Nossal.
“It was a clear and conscious set of reasoning on this,” he says.
“All you have to do is think about the Liberals and Darfur and you
can ask ‘Where were you then?'”
[email protected] g.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2 006/may/17/turkey/

ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER PROPOSES MICROSOFT TO PARTICIPATE IN DIGITEC-2006 EXHIBITION TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN IN AUTUMN
Noyan Tapan
May 17 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian Prime Minister proposed
that the Microsoft Company should participate in the events to be
held within the framework of IT Month in September-October 2006,
including in the international exhibition Digitec 2006. Andranik
Margarian made this proposal on May 16 when receiving Microsoft Deputy
Chairman Vahe Torosian, accompanied by the company’s Director General
in CIS countries Sergyush Viza, Director for Business Management
and Strategy Paul MacLeston and the newly appointed Director
of the Microsoft Armenia Office Grigor Barseghian. A. Margarian
welcomed Microsoft’s willingness to assist with development of the
Armenian IT sector. Underlining the need for the most extensive use
of information technologies in various sectors of the economy, the
prime minister attached importance to the full presentation of the
company’s production and services in Armenia. Stressing the need for
creation of Microsoft Windows Vista/Windows XP/ MS Office software
versions in Armenian, the completion of which is scheduled for 2007, A.
Margarian at the same time expressed his concern about the issue of
translation of Armenian terms: according to him, most computer terms
do not have their equivalents in Armenian. He said that the Armenian
government expects Microsoft to make these terms accessible in the
Internet in order to allow various sections of the society to express
their opinion about these terms’ use in translation, as well as the
government expects Microsoft to take appropriate measures in order to
involve as many citizens as possible in this discussion. Vahe Torosian
considered it as a great honor that he, an Armenian, will be useful
for Armenia by offering the capacities of Microsoft – the company he
represents for the purpose of developing the country’s economy. He
expressed a high opinion about qualified Armenian experts of the IT
sector, pointing out that intellectual potential allows to fulfil
Microsoft’s innovation-based ideology.
According to the RA Government Information and PR Department, during
the meeting the sides addressed the problem of copyright protection
in Armenia, particularly the use of unlicensed packages of Microsoft
software, as well as the company’s participation in implementation
of educational programs in Armenia, the fulfilement of the idea of
e-government and some other issues of mutual interest.

HAGVERDIYEV: “EVERY FOREIGN COMPANY NOT FULFILLING ITS INVESTMENT DUTIES WILL BE ELIMINATED CONTRACTS WITH GOVERNMENT”
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 17 2006
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is in negotiations
with Open Joint Stock Company (OJSC) Azerbaijan Investment Company
to take part in its projects.
Ogtay Hagverdiyev, Chief of Financial Credit Policy Department in
The Cabinet of Ministers, told APA that the government is willing
to cooperate with every financial institute who want to take part in
Investment Company projects.
The Department Chief has also stated that foreign financial
institutions’ means share 11% in GDP now.
“Azerbaijan ranks at high places in CIS for little foreign debts.
Foreign debts get threatening when they approximate to 40% in GDP.
Our enemy Armenia has about 52% foreign debts in GDP,” he said.
Mr. Hagverdiyev has also told that the government currently considers
problem with companies not fulfilling their investment duties.
“Some companies do not follow their contract duties. For instance,
Fondel Metal Company went against the obligation to invest $1 billion
in Azeraluminum. There is the same situation with Barmek too,”
Hagverdiyev added.
On his words, investigation over Barmek’s activity show that Barmek
has not only followed its investment duties, but has also failed in
accumulation and there are some unsolved problems such as technical
losses. The chief warned foreign companies in Azerbaijan on this case.
“Every foreign company not fulfilling its investment duties will be
eliminated contracts with government”.

TODAY 14 YEARS PASSED SINCE OCCUPATION OF AZERBAIJAN’S LACHIN REGION BY ARMENIANS
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 17 2006
Today 14 years have passed since Azerbaijan’s Lachin region was
occupied by Armenians. Lachin is situated in the south-west of
Azerbaijan, on the border with Armenia.
It was established as an administrative region in 182603 hectares
of territory in 1930 (APA). According to statistics of 1989, there
lived 51,6 thousand people and according to 2003 statistics it had
68.1 thousand people. The highest top of the region is Gizilboghaz
Mountain (2823 m). There are Jura-Anthropogenic deposits in the
region. The Hakari is the largest rive in Lachin. It has fertile
sorts of soil. There are bushes, lawns and broad-leaved mountain
forests. After becoming displaced persons, the regions’ population
has settled in 53 populated areas.
Azerbaijan’s Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry there are natural
springs Turshsu-, Galaderesi, Aghanus, Khirmanlar, Tigig, Tursh-tigig,
Nureddin (have high yielding), Naghdali and Hajikhanli.
Rare historical and architectural monuments, Garagol State Reserve
and other preserves in Lachin are in Armenia’s occupation now. There
are three mercury beds-Narzanli, Chilgazchay, Saribulag (with total
reserves of 1124 tons), Hochaz marbled limestone, two tuff beds
(Aghoglan, Ahmadli) wit total reserves of 5125 cubic meters, Lachin
limestone beds with total reserve of 4457 tons, Novruzlu clayey bed
with total reserve of 998 thousand cubic meters, Gushchu pumice-stone
beds (2144 thousand cubic meters), Yukhari Hakarichay sand-gravel
beds (15 794 thousand cubic meters) and other mineral deposits in
the region.
Lachin has 33285 hectares of forests reserve lands, 26647 hectares
are forest, which constitutes 80.05%.
The Ministry has found out that Armenians cut red oak trees in Pijanis
and Hajishamli forest and sold to France for making tuns for brandy
production. Old nut trees in the region are also being cut and sold
for Iran for furniture production.
In Hajilar-Sadinlar village, Armenians have cut 65 hectares of forest,
burnt houses and destroyed graveyards.