“CILICIA” VESSEL SHIP WARMLY WELCOMED IN LITHUANIAN KLAIPEDA PORT
By Tamar Minasian
AZG Armenian Daily
06/07/2006
“Cilicia” Armenian vessel ship arrived in the Lithuanian Klaipeda
port to leave for Stockholm from there. Zory Balayan, famous Armenian
writer and public figure informed about this.
The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia had established very close relations
with the Baltic states. Lithuania was no exclusion. The Armenian
merchants and craftsmen settled down in Lithuania many centuries
ago. But “Cilicia” arrived in Klaipeda not only paying tribute to our
ancestors. The sailors decided to arrive in this port as three of the
crew members served in the army in the Baltic states and visited this
port for many times.
According to Mr. Balayan, the Klaipeda based newspapers covered the
arrival of the ship in the port very well. Besdies, the local Armenian
community members organized a warm welcoming meeting for the sailors of
“Cilicia.” Konstantin Motenov, head of “Lloyd’s Register” international
classification organization for registration of vessel ships, gave
a certificate to “Cilicia,” according to which the Armenian ship may
sail all the seas and the oceans of the world. Mr. Balayan informed
that “Cilicia” will leave for Stockholm from Klaipeda.

“BAZE DAYS IN ARTSAKH” PAN ARMENIAN YOUTH FESTIVAL TO BE HELD IN NKR IN END JULY
AZG Armenian Daily
06/07/2006
“Baze Days in Artsakh” Pan Armenian youth festival will be held
in NKR on July 26- August 1. Over 200 people will participate in
the festival. Artur Soghomonian, head of the festival, said this at
today’s press conference. He said that they have discussed the idea
of holding the festival in NKR for many times during the meetings of
the Armenian youth.
Earlier, the festival has been held in Yerevan, Dilijan and
Tsaghkadzor. Nine teams will represent the summer festival,
five from NKR, two from Armenia, one from Javakhk and one from
Diaspora. Soghomonian stated that they have enlarged the program of the
festival including new creative competitions. It is planned that the
participants of the festival will meet with NKR President, NKR Prime
Minister and Speaker of NKR National Assembly. It’s worth mentioning
that RA Government allocated AMD 112 million for the festival, while
the Pan Armenian Youth Fund allocated additional AMD 5 million.

IGOR LEVITIN TO MEET WITH MANAGERS OF “AIRBUS” BEFORE FINAL REVEALING OF CAUSES FOR A-320 CRASH
AZG Armenian Daily
06/07/2006
Igor Levitin, RF Transport minister, will meet with the managers of
“Airbus” company in france. He will also meet with the French experts
and rescuers who worked at the place of the A-320 crash. It’s worth
mentioning that on July 3, the French experts carried out the modeling
of the last flight of A-320 airbus.
Gagik Galstian, an Armenian expert, was also present at the modeling
works. The decoded records of the plane’s black boxes helped to
restore the duration of the plane’s last flight.

NEW US AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN THINKS STAGE BY STAGE SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT NECESSARY
Yerevan, July 4. ArmInfo. New US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ann Darcy
thinks it necessary settling the conflict over Nagorny Karabakh stage
by stage. Trend reports the Ambassador as making this statement
when presenting her credentials to Azerbaijani Foreign Minister
Elmar Mamedyarov. The source reports, the given way of settlement
provides for “liberation of Azerbaijani territories from occupation
and return of refugees and forced migrants before determination of
Nagorny Karabakh’s status.”

ARMENIAN SPOKESMAN SAYS AZERI COUNTERPARTS “UNAWARE” OF PEACE TALKS CONTENT
Arminfo
4 Jul 06
Yerevan, 4 July: The reason of contradictory statements by the
Azerbaijan side is that they are uninformed about the content of
the talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, Vladimir
Karapetyan, acting press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry,
told Arminfo. Karapetyan was asked to explain the contradictory
statements by Azerbaijan’s deputy foreign minister and Foreign
Ministry spokesman about the principles of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict settlement.
“Indeed, the Azerbaijani side has made contradictory statements
and commentaries in the past few days. In reality, everything is
simple: in their second statement, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen
presented conflict settlement principles being discussed and their
assessments. Probably the reason of such contradictory statements is
that the mentioned Azerbaijani diplomats are unaware of the content
of the talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents,”
Karapetyan said.

KARABAKH MINISTER CONFIRMS TIES WITH OTHER CIS REBEL REGIONS
Arminfo
3 Jul 06
Stepanakert, July 3: “The Nagornyy Karabakh republic [NKR] does
not abandon its partners. We are building our policy taking into
consideration our own interests and the peculiarities around the
situation in Abkhazia, South Ossetia and the Dniester Moldovan
republic,” Nagornyy Karabakh’s foreign minister Georgiy Petrosyan has
told journalists, commenting on the establishment of a community in
Sukhumi “For Democracy and Right of People” and Nagornyy Karabakh’s
intention to carry out an independent policy to achieve recognition
of its independence.
“Our colleagues from the Dniester Moldovan republic, Abkhazia and
South Ossetia understand the position of the NKR very well. The NKR
foreign ministry is following very attentively the processes and
also the developments and the settlement processes of the relevant
conflicts. We are regularly communicating at various levels, exchanging
information and carrying out multilateral and bilateral consultations,”
Petrosyan said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KOCHARYAN CALLS FOR PROMOTION OF TEHRAN-YEREVAN TIES
Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran
July 6 2006
Visiting Armenian President Robert Kocharyan Wednesday evening called
for promotion of Tehran-Yerevan ties.
Kocharyan, during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki Wednesday evening, said the two countries’ close cultural and
historical bonds as well as common interests have paved the ground
for expansion of mutual ties.
The Armenian president praised the achievements of the Islamic Republic
of Iran in various fields.
He expressed the hope continuing consultations between the two
countries’ officials will further strengthen ties, encourage opening
of joint ventures and raise the volume of trade exchanges.
Turning to prospects of Tehran-Yerevan ties, Mottaki said the two
countries have numerous potentials to open up new areas of cooperation.
Holding joint commission sessions and more consultations will help open
new opportunities for cooperation in line with their mutual interests,
the Iranian foreign minister said.
Mottaki stressed implementation of agreements already inked by the
two countries.
“We are hopeful the two sides will be able to implement projects that
have been sidelined by adopting effective strategies.” President
Kocharyan arrived in Tehran at the head of a high- ranking
politico-economic delegation for a two-day official visit Wednesday
morning.
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, Minister of Energy Armen Movsisyan
and Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Kirakosian are accompanying the
Armenian president in this visit.

MARINA DOLGOPOLOVA: BELARUS AND ARMENIA DEVELOP DYNAMIC POLITICAL DIALOGUE
Yerkir
05.07.2006 14:59
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – The Belarusian-Armenian relarions are actively
developing in all the fields, Belarusian Ambassador to Armenia Marina
Dolgopolova stated during a solemn reception dated to the Independence
Day of the Republic of Belarus.
The event was attended by Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian,
parliament leaders, members of the President Administration and supreme
state bodies, representatives of business circles, intelligentsia,
Belarusian Diaspora and heads of diplomatic missions.
In a welcoming speech Marina Dolgopolova said this day is the
most important holiday for Belarus and its people. In her words,
a dynamic political dialogue is developing between Armenia and
Belarus. Considerable progress was achieved in trade and economic
cooperation. In part, the commodity turnover between the two states
has increased 6 times against the index of 2000. During the initial
five months of the current year trade turnover increased 1.5 times
and exceeded $9.1 million, reported Belta news agency.

PROPOSAL OF AZERBAIJANI DELEGATION TO PA OSCE
Ïðaâî Âûaîða, Azerbaijan
Democratic Azerbaijan
July 6 2006
Reportedly a member of Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary
Assembly of the OSCE, Chairman of MM Commission for Human Rights,
Rabiyyat Aslanova attended the PA OSCE summer session which was held
in Brussels, recently Azerbaijani delegation raised the question
concerning punishment of Armenia for committed crimes by the OSCE.
R. Aslanova said that recently the sessions of the PA OSCE Committee
for Security and Political Issues, Committee for Economic Issues,
and Committee for Human Rights were held. “These arrangements were
focused on Reinforcement people’s security in the space of the OSCE.”
56 Member States of PA OSCE attended the discussions. They stated that
the security won’t be ensured if territorial integrity of the OSCE
Member States has been violated or aggression committed,” informs
member of Azerbaijani delegation.
At the same time, the sessions discussed a number of issues. R.
Aslanova’s speech here was devoted to the national minority related
issues: “Regarding to destiny of Azerbaijanis expatriated from
Armenia, I underlined that this fact per se means the violation of
security. Thus, we included this issue to agenda and demanded to
punish Armenia.”
Eldar Ibrahimov and Fattah Heydarov spoke at the Committee for Economic
Issues, told about important economic projects being realized in
Azerbaijan. Furthermore, Chief of Azerbaijani delegation, Bahar
Muradova, and Azay Guliyev attended the Permanent Committee for
Security & Political Issues. “6 out of 16 our proposals made to the
Resolution to be adopted by the Permanent Committee for Security &
Political Issues, have been adopted. All of them concern regulation
of conflicts and OSCE activity,” informed MP.
–Boundary_(ID_EwFRGcoJq3ZuoDViFCB43A)–

“ECHO”: CAN ARMENIA START WAR FIRST?
Kh. Gasimova, N. Ramizoglu
Ïðaâî Âûaîða, Azerbaijan
Democratic Azerbaijan
July 6 2006
Accordingly to experts, such variant must be ruled out as the countries
that invested South Caucasus will not allow such provocations.
Armenia will not be able to start the war first as it would be the end
for this country. It was the statement made by head of press service
of the Defense Ministry, Ramiz Melikov, for “Echo”, on commenting
recent statement of vice speaker of the parliament of Armenia, Vaan
Ovanesyan concerning taking “steps” to prevent the threat to Armenia.
In interview for “Aravot”, Ovanesyan stated that “if Azerbaijan
declares openly that it needs time out to strengthen attack, then,
it would be wrong to provide time for it”. “If we see that Azerbaijan
not only threatens but turns into real threat for us, we should think
about our own steps”, he said. At the same time, Ovanesyan refused
to explain what steps he meant.
Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan holds that at this stage Armenia
even cannot think of military operations against Azerbaijan. “Famous
Azerbaijani poet, Samad Vurgun, wrote that before death comes, goat
bothers herdsman. World knows Armenian as aggressor, and it cannot
take such step to worsen its image. As for Azerbaijani military forces,
they must be ready to repulse attacks of enemies”, Melikov emphasized.
Milli Mejlis deputy, Vakhid Ahmadov, shares this opinion. He and group
of deputies recently visited one of military units on front line. He
doubted that Armenia can start the war first. “While all leading
countries and international organizations insist on regulation of this
conflict this year, such turning-point is impossible. Leading countries
are interested in security of South Caucasus and it is not surprising,
as they invested economy of the region”, parliament member said for
“Echo”. At the same time Akhundov doesn’t deny that Armenia may give
way to provocations. “Armenia knows that it is in no-go”. Though he is
sure that in case of attack against Azerbaijan on the part of Armenia,
our army can manifest its forces to prevent provocations on the part
of neighboring country.
Military expert, Uzeir Jafarov, holds that Ovanesyan’s statement
shouldn’t be taken seriously. He believes that it is another attempt
of Armenian politicians to present desirable thing as real one. “To
admit it was possible several years ago, as there were opportunities
and prerequisites for the start of military operations. Taking into
consideration the fact that economic project Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan is
realized in the region, I don’t think Azerbaijan or Armenia can be
given chance to start military operations”, Jafarov said for “Echo”.
Though accordingly to expert, Azerbaijan has moral and legal right
to declare war to Armenia. Armenia occupied Azerbaijani territories
and this fact is recorded in 4 UN resolutions. “We have right to start
military operations. Nobody can use economic and legal sanction against
Azerbaijan. Last statement of OSCE Minsk group co-chairmen once again
proves that we just waste time, and no progress is observed in peace
talks on regulation of Nagorni Garabagh conflict.
At the same time Armenia refuses to return Lachin, Kalbajar regions”.
He said. Expert holds that in near future there will be
no prerequisites for military operations. Though, he holds that
Armenians attempt to do something in frontline regions. “But if any
attempt of Armenia causes war, then separatist will face repulse”,
expert concluded.
–Boundary_(ID_qNnDmxo8B3TTlABcLBZYvw) —