Greeks want Azerbaijan’s written commitment on not recognizing
Northern Cyprus
22 March 2006 [23:54] – _Today.Az_
() Problem caused by the flight
from Azerbaijan to Northern Cyprus on June 27 last year has remained
unsolved.
International Crisis Group (ICG) representative in Baku, Vugar Gojayev
told APA that ICG has come to this conclusion after meeting with
parliamentarians from Brussels and the Greek Cyprus.
“I remind that this flight directly influenced the talks between
Azerbaijan and the EU and delayed the talk process for 3 months. Talks
with Armenia and Georgia were also suspended as the talks were held
simultaneously. When representatives came to Azerbaijan from the EU,
Azerbaijani side said that agreement was reached with the Greece and
the problem was settled. But ICG’s observations show that the problem
has remained unsolved.”
He said that the Greek Cyprus would vote against approval of action
plan between Azerbaijan and the EU.
“The Greek Cyprus worries that Azerbaijan will recognize the
independence of Northern Cyprus after approval of action plan between
Azerbaijan and the EU. So, Greece stipulates that official Baku
should undertake commitment never to recognize the independence of
Northern Cyprus Turkish Republic and not to implement flights to
there.”
The Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Taghizade told APA that Cyprus
was not discussed at the talks held in Brussels on March 6.URL:
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March 22, 2006
York U beauty wins Miss Universe Canada
By The Canadian Press
Alice Panikian of Toronto was selected Miss Universe Canada 2006,
defeating 48 other hopefuls Tuesday night, March 22, at the
Montreal casino. (Pierre Vidricaire/Sun Media)
MONTREAL (CP) — Alice Panikian of Toronto was selected Miss Universe
Canada 2006, defeating 48 other hopefuls Tuesday night at the Montreal
casino.
The 20-year-old York University student takes over the tiara from
Natalie Glebova, who went on to win the Miss Universe pageant in
Thailand last year.
More: See photos from pageant
“It’s surreal. I think I’m dreaming,” Panikian said, checking her
pulse.
The judges rated the young women on poise, confidence, intelligence,
physical fitness and beauty as they modelled in swimsuits and evening
gowns and made impromptu speeches.
Glebova said Panikian, who also took the Miss Photogenic prize, will
give Canada a strong candidate for the Miss Universe crown for a
second year in a row.
“She’s gorgeous. Absolutely stunning,” the past queen said.
Three Quebecers were among the 10 finalists, but none made the top
five.
The title of Miss Universe Canada allows the winner to travel the
world in defence of a favourite cause. For Panikian, it will be HIV
and AIDS prevention in Africa.
“(AIDS) is very preventable. With education we can save a lot of
lives,” she said.

A1+
SHAVARSH KOCHARYAN HAS THE KEY TO FAIR ELECTIONS
03:25 pm 22 March, 2006
Leader of the National Democratic Party Shavarsh Kocharyan has
processed a program together with the NGO `Democracy’. According to
Kocharyan, in case the program is put into execution, it will be
practically impossible to tamper with the elections. Shavarsh
Kocharyan has not doubt about the efficiency of the control
program. He represented the program which is at present being
discussed in OSCE.
If the program is ratified, during the 2007 elections two foreign
observers will be present in every electoral area. They will be
present since early in the morning until the end of the calculation.
According to Kocharyan, about 4000 observers are needed. `4000 is a
large number, but there are countries, where more than ten thousand
observers have been sent; for example Ukraine’. According to
Kocharyan’s calculations, the expenditures for one observer are about
1000 USD, and for 4000 observers – four million USD.
The other issue refers to inner control: every polling station must
have a computer, and no one in the station can access the computer. It
is connected to the server and has its `twins’ in the OSCE office and
in the Central Electoral Committee. `That is to say, interference is
practically impossible’. Every station has its computer with different
accessories. First – every ballot box has a bug on it which states the
hour, minute and second and number of voting. Second – All the polling
stations have cameras and monitors which shoot the whole process of
voting. Third – when the passports are checked, they are immediately
photocopied and scanned and thy remain in the memory of the computer
to avoid their double use.
Everything is connected to the net and every citizen can surf in the
internet and watch what is going on in the station he is interested
in, as what is shot in the station is not for the archive but for
online broadcasting.
According to Shavarsh Kocharyan, the program will cost about 2.5-3
million USD, including tutoring.

A1+
RESIGNED AND APPOINTED
06:04 pm 22 March, 2006
By the decision of the RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan, Gagik
Vardanyan has been resigned from the post of the RA deputy Minister of
Commerce and Economic Development.
By another decision of the Prime Minister Arayik Grigoryan has been
appointed RA deputy Minister of Commerce and Economic Development. In
2001 through 2005 he was director of the commercial farm «Urartu».
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1+
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
NO RECTOR WAS ELECTED
08:54 pm 22 March, 2006
During 8.5 hours the voters did not manage to elect a rector for the
Yerevan State University. In the third phase too none of the
candidates collected the necessary amount of votes: Aram Simonyan had
20 votes for, and Gagik Ghazinyan – 36, which is only one vote shy of
the necessary amount. 11 voters voted against everyone, and three
ballots were announced invalid.
The elections will take place in 50 days – on May 15.
RECTOR OF THE YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY WILL BE ELECTED IN THE THIRD
PHASE
Since midday till now the session hall of the central building of the
Yerevan State University is full of people. The reason is the election
of the rector of the University.
There were four candidates: vice rector of the University Aram
Simonyan, Dean of the faculty of Mathematics Gegham Gevorgyan, Dean of
the law faculty Gagik Ghazinyan and Dean of the faculty of physics
Samvel Haroutyunyan. 50% of the voters were representatives of the
Government and the Ministry of Education and Sciences, and the other
half were representatives of the University professors and
students. Of the 72 electors two were absent: NA deputy Speaker Tigran
Torosyan who is participating in the CE works and Dean of the oriental
studies faculty Gourgen Meliqyan who is in hospital.
The session was closed. The journalists followed the course of events
from the corridor trying to guess what is going on on the other side
of the doors. During the session the candidates made speech about
their plans and answered the questions of those present.
«It is meaningless to speak about any support before the electoral
process. The atmosphere was fine today», Aram Simonyan said. The
voting took place after the break. As a result Aram Simonyan had 21
votes for, Gegham Gevorgyan – 16, Gagik Ghazinyan – 28, and Samvel
Haroutyunyan – four. One of the electors voted against all the
candidates. The first two candidates reached the second phase. But now
that the second phase has finished the rector has not been elected
yet. Gagik Ghazinyan has 32 votes, and Aram Simonyan – 23. 7 votes
were invalid, and 8 people voted against everyone.
By the way, one of the members of the University Governing Council
mentioned, «Everything is fabricated. They are simply playing a
game». One of the student added, «There has been no physical
pressure upon the students, but there has been psychological
pressure».

Panorama.am
18:44 22/03/06

MULTI-STAGE ELECTIONS STILL GO ON IN YSU
Not long ago the second stage of elections of rector ended in Yerevan
State University. Yet, it had no results. None of the two candidates
managed to collect 37 necessary votes. 22 members of HEI Management
Council voted for pro-rector Aram Simonyan, and 32 votes were in favor
of the dean of the department of law Gagik Ghazinyan. 9 members voted
against either candidate, 7 ballot-papers were invalidated.
At the moment the 3rd stage is in the process.
Thus, we are the witnesses of just another multi-stage election in
YSU. To remind, the mother University had an experience like this ago
when electing President of Students’ Council 2 years. /Panorama.am/

Panorama.am
15:55 22/03/06

NA PROVED ITS VALUE
To everybody’s surprise today the NA passed a number of laws discussed
yesterday.
When the illuminated indicator board represented the number of the
registered Deputies (95) the leader of the session NA Speaker Arthur
Baghdasaryan asked each of the Deputies to press their button. After
the request of the NA Speaker the illuminated indicator board
registered the proper number: 90. However, today the native Deputies
passed a number of draft laws including the draft laws about making
changes in the laws `About Advertisement’, `About State Dues’, `About
Police’, `About Privatization of State Property’ etc. /Panorama.am/

Panorama.am
15:52 22/03/06

V. HOVHANNISYAN SAD BECAUSE OF BITTER REALITY
`At the moment there are a great number of unfinished buildings in
Yerevan which spoil the view of the city.
Will this law have a recourse power as a result of which the
institutions will be punished? ‘ NA vice Speaker V. Hovhannisyan asked
member of NA Permanent Committee of state-legislative affairs Vostanik
Maroukhyan during the discussion of the draft law about making changes
in the law about `Responsibility for violations in city building
field’ in the NA today.
`It cannot be used,’ V. Maroukhyan answered. And according to the
draft law a due technical control is to be set in building field.
`Everyone builds whatever he wants, everyone adds as many balconies as
he wants,’ NA Speaker mentioned in his speech. Moreover, he suggested
fixing a fine of three hundredfold of the average salary. `I think our
Constitution is too gentle in this case,’ concluded his speech
A. Baghdasaryan. The voting of the draft law will probably be held
tomorrow. /Panorama.am/

SILENCE OF DEFENSE MINISTER PROLONGS INDEFINITENESS
Lragir/am
23 March 06

Although Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan had announced in early
February that two or three weeks later he would decide on running for
parliament, he still keeps silent, though almost two months have
passed instead of two or three weeks. Some analysts explain the
silence of the minister of defense in the context of aspirations to
presidency; Serge Sargsyan keeps silent and will not support any party
because he needs the support of all the political parties to become
president. On March 22, answering the questions of journalists, the
defense minister replied to this question, but his reply did not
reveal anything about his decision.
`Frankly speaking, there are such different comments that I sometimes
wonder how many Nostradamuses there are in our society, who know
everything, but unfortunately I do not know anything,’ said Serge
Sargsyan.

>From the Los Angeles Times
EDITORIAL
It was genocide
March 22, 2006
JOHN EVANS IS THE U.S. ambassador to Armenia, as of this writing. But he
probably won’t be for long. Evans, a career diplomat who was selected to
receive an American Foreign Service Assn. award last year for his frank
public speaking, irked his superiors at the State Department by uttering
the following words at UC Berkeley in February 2005: “I will today call
it the Armenian genocide.” For that bit of truth-telling, Evans was
forced to issue a clarification, then a correction, then to endure
having his award rescinded under pressure from his bosses, and finally
to face losing his job altogether.
What happened in Armenia in 1915 is well known. The Ottoman Empire
attempted to exterminate the Armenian population through slaughter and
mass deportation. It finished half the job, killing about 1.2 million
people. Yet the State Department has long avoided the word “genocide,”
not out of any dispute over history but out of deference to Turkey,
whose membership in NATO and location between Europe and Asia make it a
strategic ally.
It is time to stop tiptoeing around this issue and to accept settled
history. Genocide, according to accepted U.N. definition, means “the
intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious group.” Armenia is not even a borderline case. Punishing an
ambassador for speaking honestly about a 90-year-old crime befits a
cynical, double-dealing monarchy, not the leader of the free world.
Turks point out that their Ottoman ancestors considered it treason to
side with Russia at the outbreak of World War I, as many Armenians did.
But the massacres were also fueled by Muslim animosity toward a
Christian minority. When then-U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
Henry Morganthau protested the bloodletting, he received a telling
response from Mehmed Talaat, the interior minister in charge of the
anti-Armenian campaign. “Why are you so interested in Armenians anyway?
You are a Jew, these people are Christians,” Talaat said. “Why can’t you
let us do with these Christians as we please?”
For Armenians who escaped the killing and came to this country,
inadequate recognition of their history is crazy-making. Rep. Adam B.
Schiff (D-Burbank), whose district includes the heart of the Armenian
diaspora, keeps introducing a bill to officially recognize the genocide,
only to see congressional leadership quash it each year, under pressure
from the State Department.
Some nations, thankfully, are stepping where Congress fears to tread.
The European Parliament last year passed a nonbinding resolution asking
that Turkey acknowledge the genocide as a precondition for joining the
European Union. The Turkish government, typically, was infuriated, yet
it still desperately wants to join the EU.
One day, the country that was founded as a direct repudiation of its
Ottoman past will face its history squarely, as part of a long-overdue
maturing process. Some day before then, we hope, the State Department
will too.
_____
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Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times