LIKELIHOOD OF RETURN OF MIGRANTS DIMINISHES DAY BY SAY, SAYS ARA ABRAHAMYAN
Lragir.am
16 May 06
On May 16 the meeting of the Board of the World Congress of Armenians
is going on in Yerevan, discussing the activity of the organization in
the past two years and future plans. The congress was initiated in 2003
by the leader of the Union of Armenians of Russia Ara Abrahamyan. He
says that over the past two years the congress did considerable work,
but the key issue of the meeting of the board is the future.
“The core issue is to establish an organization which would enable
working out a national policy. It is the Armenian ideology. It is one
of the key concerns,” says Ara Abrahamyan. He underlines the importance
of development of a youth branch of the Congress, for the youth is the
future. Another key issue, according to Ara Abrahamyan, is to establish
branches of the Congress all over the world, including an organization
of West Armenians, which would operate under the World Congress.
“It is very important to define the relations between Armenia
and the Diaspora to have definite devices. The Diaspora-Diaspora
relations, as well as the Diaspora-Diaspora-Armenia relations are
of core importance. It is important to set up an economic Diasporan
organization to improve people’s social condition. It should be
established in Armenia, of course, with the help of the Diaspora,
all together, to create conditions, jobs for economic migrants to
get back, because later it will be impossible to have them back,
for they will have been integrated in those countries,” says Ara
Abrahamyan. According to him, if we fail to create and implement such
a program now, later the return of migrants will be very doubtful.

ARTHUR BAGHDASARYAN BEST EUROPEAN OF THE YEAR
Lragir.am
16 May 06
The title of Best European of the Year of the European Movement Armenia
was conferred on the Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Arthur
Baghdasaryan. The award was delivered to Arthur Baghdasaryan by the
Secretary General of the European Movement Henrik Kroner. During the
ceremony Arthur Baghdasaryan stated that European integration is the
best path of development for Armenia. “All the members of the EU must
cooperate in pursue for democracy, solidarity and freedom.”
Besides Arthur Baghdasaryan, the European Movement conferred the
award Best European Contribution on the Yerevan Marine School Hayas
for the symbolic voyage of the Cilicia Ship, as well as awards on
the Building Company Kanaka for development in the town of Spitak,
compliant with the European standards, and Le Café de Paris for
fostering economic cooperation between Armenia and Europe.
Arthur Baghdasaryan said Armenia will continue to fulfill the
obligations assumed before the Council of Europe and commitment to
the New Neighborhood Policy of the European Union, because “a freely
developing economy and society can produce more than the government
policies altogether.”
–Boundary_(ID_2/VNH8pmnG4W00ROHVQn6 Q)–

IT IS 16 YEARS PUPILS HAVE LESSONS IN HALF-DARK WAGONS IN VILLAGE OF DITAVAN, TAVUSH REGION
Noyan Tapan
May 16 2006
NOYEMBERIAN, MAY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The 8-form school of the village of
Ditavan, Tavush region, has 50 pupils, but the one-storeyed school
building is too small and since 1990, 3 wagon-houses also have been
serving as classrooms.
One wagon-house is used as a canteen. As form master of primary school
Nunik Ghazarian said in her talk with Noyan Tapan correspondent,
these wagon-houses are dark and the pupils of the primary school
complain that they do not see the letters well. It is very hot in the
wagon-houses in winter and they have to air the classroom 10 times
during a lesson. Due to lack of a gymnasium the lessons of physical
culture are held in the school corridor in winter.
According to school headmaster Armen Hakhverdian, they have repeatedly
promised to build a new building for the school in the past years,
even a territory near the school was allotted for this purpose but
the construction has not started.

FLIGHT SAFETY IN ARMENIA IS ZERO
Lragir.am
16 May 06
The Ardarutiun Faction of the National Assembly has reconsidered its
three-year-old proposal to set up an ad-hoc committee to study the
situation in the aviation of Armenia, stated Tatul Manaseryan May 16.
He says after the crash of A320 near Sochi the proposal has become
more urgent. Under the current geopolitical situation aviation is not
just a means of transportation for Armenia but a key and strategic
sphere, the development of which determines the development of
the other sectors of the economy. At the same time, the civil and
military aviations guarantee the country’s security and particularly
the economic security. In the meantime, Tatul Manaseryan says the
government does not pay due attention to aviation.
“There is zero word and figure on aviation in the state budget.
An entire sphere is left out of the budget. Whereas our aviation
can supply 1.5-2 budgets,” believes Tatul Manaseryan. Probably the
lack of governmental care makes the civil aviation to think about
the secondary instead of the primary. Instead of thinking about
legislative provisions it is busy spending another grant. According
to Manaseryan, Ardarutiun consulted the veterans of the Armenian
aviation, Dmitri Atbashyan and others, worked out an air legislation,
which was disapproved by the government, and the General Department
of Civil Aviation promised to work out its own project but it has
done nothing over the past 9 months.
This is not the worst thing, however. Tatul Manaseryan believes that
aviation cannot suffer losses. He states that in Yerevan they spend
10.5 million dollars to repair 1800 meters of runway, whereas in
Dushanbe they spend 2 million on the repair of 3000 meters of runway.
“They write down exaggerated numbers to show that they allegedly suffer
losses.” This is no less concerning. If in the Soviet Union 80 percent
of passenger transportation was carried out by the Armenian aviation,
now foreign airlines hold 70 percent. The remaining 30 percent is
carried out by the Armenian Armavia which, in fact, belongs to the
Russian Siberia Airlines and does not pay profit tax to the Armenian
state budget.” The opposition member of parliament is not against
private capital, however, he insists that control and regulation must
be the monopoly of the government.

OPPOSITION IS NOT A ROOM THAT CAN BE LOCKED UP
Lragir.am
16 May 06
During the hours that followed the resignation of Speaker Arthur
Baghdasaryan, the attitude of the opposition towards his announcement
to become opposition was negative. Now Arthur Baghdasaryan is not
met with slings and arrows, at least. Grigor Harutiunyan from the
Ardarutiun Alliance, reminding about controversies between Robert
Kocharyan and Arthur Baghdasaryan, states that the opposition is not a
room, where they can accept or turn out whoever they want, or lock the
door with a key. People are considered pro-governmental or opposition
judging by their political activities. People assess this or that
political force. “We may cooperate with Orinats Yerkir on certain
issues.” Another member of Ardarutiun Tatul Manaseryan informs that
the parliamentary opposition will not participate in the election of
the new speaker of the National Assembly. “The opposition can see no
point in nominating a speaker, because everything had been decided in
couloirs. In other words, there is no need to act as a fool. We need to
prepare for the processes more seriously.” The opposition is not likely
to idle, especially that “a formally pro-governmental force is coming
to join the opposition which is going to be rather diverse.” Tatul
Manaseryan thinks that the processes underway inside the coalition
show, on the one hand, that their defiant bearing is no more effective.
“Unhealthy processes cannot last long. There is going to be a crash
somewhere. This is the beginning of the end.” On the other, hand,
they show that this defiance still has some way to go. “I cannot tell,
however, where they will reach,” said Tatul Manaseryan.
Republican Rafik Petrosyan thinks that the reason for Arthur
Baghdasaryan’s resignation was his interview with the German
newspaper. The speaker of the National Assembly told the reporter of
this newspaper that Russia cannot be an obstacle on the way of Armenia
to NATO and Europe. “Under Article 55 of the Constitution of Armenia
the country’s foreign policy is led by the president.” It should be
noted that Arthur Baghdasaryan had expressed an opinion which he
had expressed several times long before this interview, including
in Russia. Rafik Petrosyan insists that the speaker of the National
Assembly should not have stated that Russia cannot obstruct. “They
do not speak with great powers in such a language. This should
have been done more mildly, diplomatically.” In other words, Rafik
Petrosyan agrees with Arthur Baghdasaryan, simply he disapproves the
way of expressing one’s own opinion. There is nothing else to do but
wait for the resignation of Rafik Petrosyan. By the way, he thinks
there were other points on which Arthur Baghdasaryan and Robert
Kocharyan disagreed. In the meantime, the Republicans were against
the resignation of Arthur Baghdasaryan. Not because they take care
of the Orinats Yerkir. Simply the “burden of the Republicans thus
becomes heavier.”

MAIN GOAL OF WORLD ARMENIAN CONGRESS IS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND PROSPERITY OF ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
May 16 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The main goal of the World Armenian
Congress is economic development and prosperity of Armenia. World
Armenian Congress President Ara Abrahamian declared this at the
sitting of WAC Board held on May 16 in Yerevan. At the sitting they
gave account on the work done by WAC over three years since the
day of the organization’s constituent congress. “Issues of economic
development, which means creation of new jobs, increasing the incomes
of the population, growth of its prosperity, have always been in
the center of attention of WAC,” A.Abrahamian mentioned. According
to him, creation of new jobs will give an opportunity to return to
the homeland to Armenians who have left for foreign countries to
earn money. In his opinion, unless this is done within the coming 10
years, later the issue of return of the Armenians will become more
complicated due to change of the ethnic consciousness of the growing
generation. Another important task of WAC is creation of an effective
mechanism of investments, consolidation of economic and political
resources of the Armenians spread all over the world. A.Abrahamian
regretted to say that only a limited circle of Diasporan Armenians
takes part in assistance to economic development of Armenia. “Remember
the words of Catholicos Vagzen I that for Armenia it is more important
that one million Armenians invest 1 dollar each than 1 person invest
one million dollars,” WAC President said.
A.Abrahamian informed about the active work of WAC aimed at development
of bilateral economic relations with a number of countries and first
of all with Russia. At the same time, according to him, development
of democratic processes is imperfect yet and there are no necessary
conditions for entrepreneurial activity in Armenia. It was mentioned
that the Armenian authorities provide insufficient assistance to
the activity of WAC. A.Abrahamian expressed hope for more active
assistance of the Armenian authorities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IT IS POSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND RATS ABANDONING THE SHIP
Lragir.am
16 May 06
On May 16 oppositionist Grigor Harutiunyan and pro-governmental Rafik
Petrosyan debated the reason and consequences of secession of the
Orinats Yerkir Party from the coalition.
Of course, deviations during the debate prevailed over the topic.
Grigor Harutiunyan once again announced that “the Karabakh clan led
by Robert Kocharyan, which has absolutely nothing to do with the
people of Karabakh, and mostly includes Armenians, tampered votes,
plundered the state property,” etc. Rafik Petrosyan, naturally,
disagreed, “We created the coalition to build Armenia.”
With regard to the problems the Orinats Yerkir Party is facing
Doctor Rafik Petrosyan stated that “it is possible to understand
the rats abandoning the ship. They pursue their interests, they
want to remain in power. The National Assembly is a roof; they want
to be protected.” As one who received a high mark for one’s own
invention, Grigor Harutiunyan reacted immediately, “It means that
I am right. There is a clan system in Armenia, and it is the clan
that determines politics, not the political forces.” In other words,
the businessmen became members of Orinats Yerkir formally to enter
the National Assembly. Exactly like Rafik Petrosyan’s son.
“After becoming member of Orinats Yerkir in 2003 my son has not had
any relations with the party.” Probably, in the nearest future he
will secede from the Orinats Yerkir Party if he has not seceded yet,
the son of Rafik Petrosyan; thereby the father secures the son. In the
nearest future it will become clear where Rafik Petrosyan’s son will
appear, and the father is against accession of those members of the
Orinats Yerkir Party who left the party, like rats abandon the ship,
to the Republican.
The speakers admit that the phenomenon of rats abandoning the ship
is typical of the Armenian reality, and all the political parties,
which have lost or have not lost power, are facing it. Moreover,
Rafik Petrosyan assures that the political parties Bargavach Hayastan
and Miavorum Hanun Hayastani are attempting at winning over the
Republicans. “Nobody has left yet,” says Rafik Petrosyan.

ELECTION OF NEW SPEAKER IS A GAME
Lragir.am
16 May 06
The opposition must not take part in the election of the new speaker
of the National Assembly, stated the leader of the National Democratic
Union, Member of Parliament Vazgen Manukyan on May 16. He says it is
his personal opinion, adding that the election of the new speaker of
the National Assembly is the game of Robert Kocharyan who is likely
to appoint someone whom he would control.
With regard to the rumors that the opposition may nominate Victor
Dallakyan or Artashes Geghamyan, Vazgen Manukyan says there can always
be such rumors, and different names can be given.

THE MOST FAVORABLE SITUATION FOR DASHNAKTSUTIUN
Lragir.am
16 May 06
The leader of the National Democratic Union Vazgen Manukyan said
May 16 to news reporters at the Pastark Club that the current home
political situation is favorable for Dashnaktsutiun.
“In every difficult situation the first defender, be it electoral
fraud, or the problem of Orinats Yerkir, Dashnaktsutiun stands flagship
and imparts it with a national, state, political coloring.
The Republican Party tries not to impart it with such coloring,
it says guys, let us live quietly. Dashnaktsutiun imparts it with
certain coloring. This is dangerous. It politicizes the unlawful
situation we are in now,” says Vazgen Manukyan.
He says the words of Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan uttered May 15
on Liberty Radio were frank. The prime minister said it is difficult
to be opposition and run a business. Vazgen Manukyan says it is
already positive that at least the prime minister frankly confesses
the situation.

OPPOSITION IS FERMENTING
Lragir.am
16 May 06
The controversies inside the government, the coalition seemed to
be going to cheer up the opposition. The opposition, however, keeps
silent, and no actions are taken. “I think there is a rule here.
After the referendum there a strong surge rose, and internal
fermentation followed. One cannot be always alert. These developments
will surely affect these internal processes, developments, the rest,”
says Vazgen Manukyan.
Vazgen Manukyan says there a change in the country is absolutely
necessary, therefore, the social movement does not have an
alternative. According to the leader of the National Democratic Union,
only a social movement can lead to a change. “In other words, this
movement should become so powerful as to make people in power to
start thinking about their future, like in 1990. In fact, there was
a movement, and there was the Central Committee, there was dual power
and the existing situation was, in fact, formed through an election,
and imparted with a legal force,” says the leader of the National
Democratic Union. According to him, only this path will lead to a
change of power in the election 2007. But if the country fails to
reach a condition of social uprising, Vazgen Manukyan considers it
pointless to run for election; at least he says so on behalf of the
National Democratic Union. And the leader of the National Democratic
Union still does not say whether they will again ally with Ardarutiun
or some other force, because it is not certain yet whether they will
run for parliament or not.
According to Vazgen Manukyan, if a social movement develops but fails
to achieve a change of power, it is possible that the Georgian model
will work, but if both fail, the social movement will “skip 2007
and go to 2008.” One thing is certain, according to Vazgen Manukyan,
that there must be a change, that it cannot be achieved by a couple
of parties, and the electoral system does not work in Armenia.