Alarm centers established in industrial enterprises of Armenia
ArmRadio.am
08.07.2006 13:25
Alarm centers have been established in a number of industrial
companies under the regional “Prevention of industrial disasters”
program financed by Germany. In case of emergency the centers will
issue alarm signals.
Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry
of Environmental Protection Ruzanna Davtyan told “Armenpress” that
under the program disaster prevention systems will be elaborated
and implemented particularly in industrial enterprises built on the
banks of Kur and Araks Rivers. The program costs 800 000 Euros. The
first phase will be completed in September.

11.3 % of Georgians trust President Mikhail Saakashvili
ArmRadio.am
08.07.2006 13:40
July 5 the Tbilisi based Russian “Free Georgia” newspaper published
the results of the survey conducted by the Scientific Center for
National Strategy of the Tbilisi State University after Ivane
Javakhishvili. The survey was carried out among 1500 people over
Georgia. 11.3 percent of the interviewee trusts Presidnet Mikhail
Saakashvili. The rating of other political figures is lower. 7.81
percent trusts Republican MP Levan Berdzenishvili, 7.3 percent favors
member of the “Democratic Front” Party Koba Davidashvili, another
7.14 percent supports ex-Foreign Minister Slome Zurabishvili.
Although President Saakashvili enjoys the greatest trust among the
population, only 12.3 percent of the interviewee is going to cast
their vote in his favor in the presidential elections. Only 14.65
will vote for Mikhail Saakashvili.

Goran Lenmarker selected chairman of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
July 7 2006
[ 07 Jul. 2006 20:45 ]
Elections to Parliamentary Assembly were held in today’s meeting of
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly summer session which was conducted in
Brussels. Swedish parliamentarian Goran Lenmarker has been selected
OSCE PA chairman.
Azerbaijani delegation member participating in OSCE PA session,
Eldar Ibrahimov has informed APA. According to him, Lenmarker has
been selected among the 5 candidates to this post. It should be noted
that, Georgian parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze was also among
the candidates to OSCE PA post. It should be noted that, Lenmarker
has been appointed OSCE PA reporter on Nagorno Garabagh since 2002,
visited the region, met with conflicting sides and presented report
related to the conflict./APA/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Scientific conference dedicated to the investigation of the historical
heritage of Shushi started in Stepanakert
ArmRadio.am
08.07.2006 15:00
Scientific conference dedicated to the investigation of the
historical-cultural heritage of Shushi city, the prospects of
activities in this direction, revival of religious-educational
traditions of this ancient city of Karabakh, reconstruction of
the infrastructures damaged during the war opened in NKR capital
Stepanakert.
“Arminfo” correspondent informs from Stepanakert that the event was
attended by the delegation of Katoghike Church and the delegation of
Armenian businessmen headed by the Mayor of Yerevan Yervand Zakharyan.

92 films representing 58 countries presented at Golden Apricot Festival
ArmRadio.am
08.07.2006 15:30
July 10-15 Golden Apricot third International Film Festival will be
held in Yerevan. Like the first two the festival will be held under
the slogan ” Armenia: A Crossroad of Civilizations and Cultures.” 92
films out of 280 presented were selected to participate in the contest
screenings. These films represent 58 countries. According to the Press
Service of the Organization Committee of the Festival, well-known
figures of the world cinema from over 10 countries – Russia, Canada,
France, US, Spain, Germany, Chile, Belgium, Turkey and Italy – will
take part in the cinema forum. Contest films will be nominated for
Fiction Film, Documentary and Armenian Panorama.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri official rules out Karabakh’s involvement in peace talks
Azadliq, Baku
8 Jul 06
A spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has said that Nagornyy
Karabakh cannot be a party to the Azerbaijani-Armenian talks, the
Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq has said.
In response to Karabakh speaker Ashot Gulyan’s remark that Azerbaijan’s
agreement to hold a direct dialogue with Nagornyy Karabakh would
demonstrate Azerbaijan’s desire to resolve the conflict, Tahir
Tagizada, press secretary of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry,
said that “at present Nagornyy Karabakh cannot be a party to the
talks. The international community knows very well who the parties
to the conflict and to the talks are”, Azadliq reported.
Tagizada said that Baku could work with the Azerbaijani and Armenian
communities of Nagornyy Karabakh after the restoration of the ethnic
composition of the region that existed before the conflict.
“As for the proposal to involve Nagornyy Karabakh in the talks and
[the programme director of the International Crisis Group] Sabina
Freizer’s words that ‘if the co-chairs do not want to do anything,
the parties themselves should resolve the issue’, they come from
internal political needs and are not constructive,” Azadliq quoted
Tagizada as saying.

Ethnic Azeris protest at Armenian president’s visit to Iran – Baku agency
Azerbaijani news agency APA, Baku
7 Jul 06
7 July: Ethnic Azerbaijani poets, writers and cultural figures living
in Iran have sent an appeal to Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad,
Said Muganli, editor of Yarpaq newspaper published in Iran, has
told APA.
Muganli said that in the letter, the intellectuals expressed their
outrage at the visit to Iran by Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
and at the signing of a major energy agreement between the two
countries. Muganli also said that on 6 July the police dispersed a
rally staged by Azerbaijanis in front of the Armenian embassy in Iran
in protest against Kocharyan’s visit to Iran. The rally demanded that
Kocharyan immediately leave Iran.
[Passage omitted: Details of Kocharyan’s visit to Iran]

‘Insulting Turkishness’ case reopens against bestselling author
Guardian Unlimited; Jul 07, 2006
A decision in Istanbul’s seventh high criminal court this week has
reopened the prosecution of bestselling Turkish novelist Elif Shafak
on charges of “insulting Turkishness”. She faces a maximum jail term
of three years if convicted.
The charges were brought under Article 301 the Turkish criminal code,
which was also used in the prosecution of Orhan Pamuk earlier this
year. The charges were reportedly based on remarks made by a character
of Armenian ancestry in her novel, The Bastard of Istanbul – the
character describes the death of Armenians during the first world
war as a genocide. The case was thrown out last month after Shafak
argued that the book was a work of literature and that comments made
by fictional characters could not be used to press charges against
an author.
But following a complaint filed by Kemal Kerincsiz, a member of a group
of rightwing lawyers known as the Unity of Jurists, the seventh high
criminal court has overruled the decision not to proceed, reigniting a
process that could end with jail sentences for Shafak, her publisher,
Semi Sokmen, and her translator, Asli Bican.
“The situation in Turkey has changed since the introduction of
Article 301 last year,” Sara Whyatt, director of the Writers in
Prison Committee at International PEN, told the Guardian today. “One
has seen mainstream writers such as Orhan Pamuk, Perihan Magden and
Elif Shafak being prosecuted.
“It seems to me that these prosecutions are being driven by a rightwing
element within the Turkish judiciary, which is concerned about the
Turkish application to join the EU,” she added.
Whyatt did not expect Shafak’s case to be resolved quickly. “So far
nobody has been convicted under Article 301,” she said, “but I think
the trials are intended to harass and intimidate these writers and
journalists. They often take many months and many hearings, often
accompanied by violence inside and outside the courts. Elif Shafak
is at the beginning of what could be a long and painful process.”
She expressed dismay at recent events in Turkey – more than 60
writers and journalists have faced trial in the past year, many under
Article 301: “International PEN is calling for this prosecution to be
halted, and for the laws that allow for writers and journalists to be
prosecuted, simply for their writing, to be removed once and for all.”
Writer and translator Maureen Freely, who attended the trial of
Orhan Pamuk earlier this year, described a campaign of choreographed
intimidation against writers and their supporters. “These prosecutions
are all being targeted by bands of disciplined fascists.
Although the police who are there have now undertaken to protect the
defendants, they first and foremost protect the fascist agitators and
give them an opportunity to harass and intimidate all those who have
gone to support fellow writers or observe the trial, both inside and
outside the court house.”
She compared the atmosphere in Istanbul to Germany in 1935. “People
are getting a lot of intimidation,” she said. “This is very sinister
and you have to ask, in a country which is ably governed, why this
is being allowed to happen.”
Freely pointed to a resurgence in academia and the arts, and a
willingness to examine a wide range of subjects that have been
taboo: “There is a dynamic group of writers, academics, feminists
and publishers, some of whom have mixed ethnic backgrounds, who are
exercising their democratic rights to explore these issues.”
These efforts were under-reported in the western media, which chose
to focus on the forces reacting to it, she said. “It’s a bit scary,”
she added, “but I’m impressed by what people are writing, singing and
publishing, and I just want to ensure that they are able to continue
to do so.”
A date has not yet been set for Shafak’s trial.

TREND, Azerbaijan
July 8 2007
Cooperation of Azerbaijan with NATO was highly assessed
Source: Trend
Author: R.Abdullayev
08.07.2006
On July 7, the two-day international seminar of NATO “Implementation
of Partner Action Plan against terrorism (PAP-T): participation
and contribution of partner-countries to operations of NATO against
terrorism” was completed in Baku. The meeting brought together 50
representatives from 32 countries around the world, Trend reports
with reference to the public relations center of the National Security
Ministry of Azerbaijan.
The minister of national security of Azerbaijan lieutenant-general
Eldar Mahmudov delivered a speech at the conference, noting that the
effective cooperation between NATO and Azerbaijan has been continuing
for more than 12 years. Besides, he pointed out that the appearance
of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev at the final session of NATO
Parliamentary Assembly is the indicator of the strengthening and
expansion of the cooperation of sides.
Mahmudov highly assessed the Individual Cooperation Action Plan of
Azerbaijan and NATO, which was confirmed according to the order of
Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev dated August 3, 2005. Irrespective
of the continuation of the aggression by Armenian side against
Azerbaijan, social-economic development allows to strengthen the
role of official Baku in the regional and international arena. All
these permitted to strengthen the position of Baku in the settlement
of Armenian-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenia should
understand the real situation, told Mahmudov.
The deputy prime minister of Azerbaijan Ali Hasanov greeted the
participants of the seminar on behalf of the Cabinet of Ministers of
Azerbaijan Republic.
The representatives of NATO highly assessed the efforts of Azerbaijan
in organizing the seminar. It was stated that Azerbaijan is an
active participant of the antiterrorism coalition, and the position
of official Baku in this process was highly assessed.
On the second day of the seminar, a video-conference with Headquarter
of the North-Atlantic Alliance was held. During the video-conference,
the NATO secretary general assistant on defense planning John
Chalstone expressed his gratitude to Azerbaijan for highly conducting
the seminar.

Modeling A-320 Flight over
PanARMENIAN.Net
07.07.2006 18:10 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) finished
works on modeling the last flight of A-320, which crashed, reported
Press Secretar4y of the Central Board of Civil Aviation of Armenia
Gayane Davtyan. In her words, Airbus SAS company has modeled the
flight with participation of aviation authorities of Armenia and
Russia, as well as specialists of the Research and Analytic Bureau
of France. Specialists of the commission managed to model the flight
by means of a trainer and by comparing data of parameter and sound
recorders.
According to Davtyan, new important information is found as a
result. These will be compared with the data already available. After
that the Interstate Aviation Committee will present the final
conclusion to the commission. Professional discussion of IAC
sub-commissions will be finished July 10. Deputy Chief on Flight
Security Inspection of Central Board of Civil Aviation Gagik Galstyan
represents Armenia during the modeling works, reports Novosti-Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress