37 HOUSES BUILT FOR THE HOMELESS
Panorama.am
13:01 19/04/06
Tomorrow an agreement is going to be signed in Mother Seat Holy
Echmiadzin by which starts the cooperation of Armenian Apostolic
Church and “International Habitat” in the work of building dwellings
for homeless and unprovided families. As we have been informed form
the information board of Holy Seat St. Echmiadzin accorfing to the
above mentioned agreement Habitat is going to hold annual ceremony
named building program “Patriarch of All Armenians Garegin Second”.
This year the latter is planned to be held from September 5-9. 37
houses will be built in RA regions for the homeless. And 37 is the
number of dioceses of Armenian Apostolic Church.

MOBILIZATION WAS HIGHLY ORGANIZED
Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
18 April 2006
The April 12 a planned mobilization was carried out. According
to Arthur Tavaratsyan, Deputy Military Commissar, the head of the
Department for Mobilization, it was intended to check the preparation
of reserve officers and the rank and file, as well as the coordinated
activity of military commissars. The latter were instructed to
mobilize the reserve and direct them to military units in an appointed
period of time. Deputy Military Commissar Arthur Tavaratsyan said the
mobilization was highly organized and well planned. “We fulfilled the
task 11 hours before the deadline, which once again proves that the
society and staffs of companies are highly responsible. Besides it is
patriotism when everyone is conscious of the importance of the problem
and appears in the required place on time,” said Arthur Tavaratsyan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

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.”