DOCTORS VISITED ASKERAN
Laura Grigorian
Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
18 April 2006
In the frame of a program of the Ministry of Health on April 12 a group
of leading doctors visited the town of Askeran to provide free medical
aid to people living in the town and the adjacent villages. There had
been a similar visit to Shushi. A senior official of the NKR Ministry
of Health Karineh Alexanian said besides the main purpose of these
visits the group of doctors conducts trainings for the local medical
workers. The group included a general practitioner, two pediatricians,
a neurologist, an ENT doctor, an ophthalmologist, a surgeon and a
specialist of endocrinology. Karineh Alexanian said the group did not
include a dentist and a heart doctor, because the local hospital has
these medical specialists. On that day 127 patients were examined,
14 by the general doctor, 14 by the specialist of endocrinology,
16 by the neurologist, 20 by the surgeon, 17 the ENT doctor and 10
by the gynecologist. “We had expected more patients, but many people
were unable to get to the town.
Nevertheless, there were a number of patients from villages,” said
the head of the group. The hospital of Askeran had announced about
the visit of doctors, and when they arrived many people were already
waiting for them. Karineh Alexanian said there were patients who had
not seen the doctor on time and needed hospital care. Some of them were
hospitalized, others needed examination by a specialist. There were
shortcomings in child health care. The patients who needed an operation
on the eye were advised to go to the republic hospital. There were a
number of patients with hearth diseases and therapeutic patients. ”
People were satisfied with the visit of the doctors. Such visits
are necessary, and the ministry is trying to make these visits more
frequent,” said Karineh Alexanian. Next the doctors will visit the
village of Chartar, Martuni region in late April.

HOUSEWARMING IN MARTAKERT
Goyamart
Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
18 April 2006
The problem of housing of army servicemen is being solved more
effectively.
Only in the past three months about 90 families of servicemen were
provided with apartments, not only in Stepanakert but also in the
regions of the country. Recently a block of 24 apartments was opened
in the town of Martakert. At the ceremony were present Defense Minister
Seyran Ohanian, representatives of the Army Command, the administration
of the region, as well as the families of servicemen.

MEMORIAL TO THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE PROFANED IN LYON
ArmRadio.am
19.04.2006 17:35
Monday April 17, 2006, seven days before the commemorations of the
Genocide of 1915, the steles of the Armenian Memorial set up in the
town of Lyon (France), which must be inaugurated by President Jacques
Chirac, were profaned with inscriptions of insults.
“Following the official opening of the memorial on April 24 a criminal
case may be launched to reveal and punish the guilty,” Director of
the European Armenian Federation Hilda Tchoboyan said in her phone
talk with “Radiolur” correspondent.
The vandalism against the memorial to the Armenian Genocide in Lyon
escalated a great noise in the Armenian community.
“Yesterday representatives of the community invited a press conference,
attended by a great number of journalists,” Hilda Tchoboyan told.
By the way, the Socialist Deputies of the French Parliament brought a
new suggestion to add a point on “Punishing Genocide Deniers” in the
Law on the Armenian Genocide.

PAPER REPORTS ELECTORAL FRAUD IN ARMENIA
Aravot, Yerevan
18 Apr 06
Text of Aram Abramyan’s report in Armenian newspaper Aravot on 18
April headlined “Dynamics of impudence”.
According to the head of a local polling station [name withheld],
[Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan gained 12 per cent of votes at
his polling station during the first round of the 2003 presidential
election. But on orders from above they changed the result to 60 per
cent. Only 60 people participated in the constitutional referendum
of 2005 at the same polling station, but they reported that 1,649
people said “yes” to the reform. In some other country this would be
considered to be a sensation, but not in Armenia. Here from Robert
Kocharyan to a street cleaner nobody doubts that this is true and
not only at this polling station.
Here the dynamics of the authorities’ impudence are interesting. I
think that 12 per cent gained by the president in 2003 is not a bad
sign. In a country like Armenia, where 80 per cent of the population
are displeased with their social status, a president who is elected
for the second term could not gain more than 12 per cent of the vote.
But in this case the difference between the real and invented figures
is fivefold. But in the case of the constitutional referendum it is
27.5 times. First, if only 60 people out of 2,000 turned out to vote,
this means that people are absolutely indifferent to the constitutional
reform. In this case the authorities do what they want. Second, our
opposition should have found the person who rigged the polls instead
of recalling its representatives from polling stations.
Today, if our prosecutor’s office is clever enough, it should
immediately report to the Council of Europe that it has finally
punished the person who committed electoral fraud. It should also
punish [name withheld] so that others do not dare to tell what they
did when rigging elections.
But certainly, this is not so much important. What is important is
that US ambassador to Armenia John Evans liked the constitutional
referendum in Armenia and he considered it to be almost democratic.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

INSTITUTE OF POLITICAL RESEARCH ESTABLISHED ADJUNCT TO THE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE
ArmRadio.am
19.04.2006 17:15
“An institute of political research has been established adjunct to
the Office to the President,” declared Garnik Isaghulyan, Advisor
to the President on issues of National Security, Head of the newly
created institute.
The institute is a state structure, which will be financed from state
budget and will prepare political research materials for the President,
government and Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs. However,
it can carry out paid researches for other structures – political
parties and politicians.

THERE ARE CANDIDATES OF THE OPPOSITION OF THE RA PRESIDENT AND PRIME MINISTER
Naira Mamikonian
Aravot.am
19 April 06
But those candidates don’t know anything about it.
Blocs and formats of the opposition field “Justice”, “17+” etc. seems
to have exhausted themselves after Constitutional referendum of
last year. Now the opposition looks for new “formats”, the union of
right powers, civil movement etc. It became known lately that a new
public organization would be formed in the near future. According
to some information that new organization which consists of some
politicians of “17+” format, try to form a new format on the eve
of upcoming parliamentary elections. And the members of the format
will be famous figures in the “17+” format. The oppositionists are
going to form a new format the core of which will be two politicians
famous in the society; the NDU leader Vazgen Manoukian and “Heritage”
leader Raffy Hovhannisian.
These two politicians can lead the people. It is even spoken that it
will be an ideal version if V. Manoukian and Raffy Hovhannisian join
in the coming parliamentary and why not, presidential elections as
the candidates of the RA President and Prime Minister. Yesterday we
tried to find out how these conversations are true and whether such
a close collaboration is possible between above -mentioned parties.
The secretary on political issues of “Heritage” party Vardan
Khachatrian said that it is too doubtful. “I can’t say, there are
such certain discussions.
There have been contacts in general”. As regards V. Manoukian he
said that information about possible bloc between his party and
R. Hovhannisian’s are from the sphere of fantastic, especially when
it is too late to speak of those elections. “These are unserious
conversations”. Anyway Mr. Manoukian said; “There are different
correlations inside the opposition. Speaking of the elections is
meaningless now but there are discussions of different configurations
among the oppositionists. There are discussions in which I take
part. I can’t say anything more.”

DELEGATION OF EU-ARMENIA PARLIAMENTARY COOPERATION COMMISSION AT RA PRESIDENT’S OFFICE
ArmRadio.am
19.04.2006 18:00
Today President Robert Kocharyan received the participants of the
8th sitting of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Commission.
Stressing the importance of rapid ratification of the Individual
Partnership Plan with Armenia in the framework of the European New
Neighbors Policy, Robert Kocharyan said that it will provide the
opportunity to have more coordinated relations with the European
Union and to move forward.
At the request of the members of the EU delegation, the President
presented the latest developments in the negotiations on peaceful
settlement of the Karabakh conflict and Armenia’s approaches.
The parties turned to the events around Iran and to issues of
Armenian-Turkish relations. The President noted that Armenia’s position
is distinct: our country is ready to establish relations with Turkey
without any preconditions.
The interlocutors stressed the importance of deepening the
democratization process in Armenia, and conduct of elections
corresponding to European standards.

“BAKU-SHUSHI” HIGHWAY – PRIMARY DIRECTIONS OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN AZERBAIJAN?
ArmRadio.am
19.04.2006 17:46
Representatve of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan Faik
Gurbanov declared today that “Baku-Shushi” highway is considered one
of the primary directions of tourism development in Azerbaijan.” He
declared this today at the opening of the “Tourism and Voyage”
exhibition.
“After freeing from Armenian occupation this direction will certainly
become primary,” Gurbanov said, noting that “the list of historic
and cultural monuments on the occupied territory of Azerbaijan has
been created.”

NEW BOOKS WILL HELP TO UNDERSTAND ARF BETTER
Yerkir
19.04.2006 17:14
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – “I think these books will help those who want
to understand the Dashnaktsutiun better,” Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (ARF-Dashnaktsutiun) Bureau representative Hrant Margarian
said at the presentation of new books about the ARF held on Wednesday
at the Bureau headquarters.
The books presented were: “Bibliography of the Armenian Revolutionay
Federation,” in 4 volumes, Ararat Hakobian’s “The Parliament of Armenia
and Political Parties in 1918-1920,” “ARF Figures Answer People’s
Questions,” Nikol Aghbalian’s “Thoughts on ARF,” Gevorg Khudinian’s
and Ararat Hakobian’s “The Latest Efforts to Distort the ARF History.”
Margarian said these books are mostly aimed at the youth. “But
the issues raised in the books are aimed at all the sectors of the
society,” Margarian added. “The books contain assessments of various
periods of the ARF activities, including the present times.”
National Assembly’s ARF faction leader Levon Mkrtchian noted that the
goal to publish these books was to familiarize our people with the
ARF. “Each of the 115 years of the ARF history is described in press,
book series, and today, we are continuing this tradition,” Mkrtchian
said. “Every generation passes on the ARF values to the next; we will
pass them on to the next generation.”
Artashes Shahbazian of the ARF Armenia Supreme Body’s Promotion Group
mentioned the books will be given as gifts to the participants of the
presentation, and later be donated to Armenian libraries. The books
will also be available at bookstores.

DESECRATED ARMENIAN MEMORIAL: “UNACCEPTABLE”
NOUVELOBS.COM
19.04.06 ¦ 14:08
The League of the rights of the Man as well as Nicolas Sarkozy
get indignant forbidden registrations found on the memorial of the
Armenian genocide.
On March 18th, French-Turkish associations against the memorial of
the Armenian genocide scrolled(marched past) in Lyon ( AP)
L e memorial of the Armenian genocide of Lyon was desecrated on Monday,
bring back(report) two Armenian organizations in different communiques.
” There was no genocide “, cries out a registration quoted at the same
moment by the Committee of defence of the Armenian cause ( CDCA) and
the council of coordination of the Armenian organizations of France
( CCAF). The association for the Memorial of Lyons of the Armenian
genocide ( MLGA) raised a complaint on Tuesday against X to know the
authors of the desecration undergone by the monument in some days
of the inauguration fixed on April 24th, according to the president
of MLGA.
Remembrances
Expressing their “indignation”, both organizations wish that the
authors of this desecration are found and judged.
The CDCA asks besides that ” everything is implemented(operated)
to assure(insure) the safety(security) of the remembrances of next
April 24th on the whole French territory “.
The memorial of Lyon must be inaugurated on April 24th of this year,
date in which is commemorated, every year, the Armenian genocide
committed in Turkey in 1915.
Indignant reactions
The League of human rights ( LDH) expressed on Wednesday, April 19th
” its indignation “.
In a communique, the LDH calls back(reminds) ” his(her,its) approval
of the law of January 29th, 2001 by which France recognized publicly
the Armenian genocide of 1915 and opposes to any attempt aiming at
denying the horror of this crime against humanity “.
Home secretary Nicolas Sarkozy judged for his part, on Wednesday,
April 19th, “unacceptable” the registrations concerned the memorial.
In a message sent on Wednesday to Jules Mardirossian, president of the
Association for the memorial of Lyons, home secretary considers that
” this crime of violence, expressing the negationism and the hatred,
is unacceptable “.
” His(her) author, or his authors, must be austerely punished by the
justice of our country “, adds Nicolas Sarkozy, who assures(insures)
the Armenian community of its ” whole solidarity “. He reminds that ”
the Republic expressed herself with force, by the law of January 29th,
2001 according to which: ‘ France recognizes publicly the Armenian
genocide of 1915 ‘ “.
So, asserts home secretary, ” the authorities of the Republic will
not accept that the law is scoffed “.
–Boundary_(ID_BDdEoZs9w8Kdzlkus3+3Ug)–