PRESENTATION OF THE BOOK ON ARMENIAN PAINTINGS TO BE HELD IN CYPRUS
ArmRadio
22.03.2006 11:50
After completing a successful trip of seven cities in the US and
Canada last year, organised by the Tekeyan Cultural Association, art
historian Mayda Saris, art director of the bilingual Armenian-Turkish
language weekly AGOS newspaper of Turkey, has been invited to Cyprus
by the Hamazkayin Cultural and Educational Association Cyprus Oshagan
Chapter, to promote her latest art book, Armenian Paintings: From the
beginning to the Present. The book presentation and lecture will take
place on Friday, 24th Marchat the Utudjian Hall, Nicosia.
The groundbreaking 262 page book with more than 400 illustrations
explores Armenian art from ancient to modern times. The author gives
a comprehensive overview of the origin of the Armenian people, their
folklore, lifestyle, culture, art and faith, which has been a source
of inspiration for the Armenian artists and architects throughout
centuries.

CANADIAN ARMENIAN DELEGATION MEETS WITH PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER
ArmRadio
22.03.2006 10:52
A Canadian Armenian delegation, led by the Primate His Eminence
Bagrat Galstanian, met with The Right Honorable Stephen Harper in
his Parliament Hill office on Tuesday March 21, 2006.
The Primate congratulated the Prime Minister on his recent election,
and thanked him for actively supporting the passage of Bill M-380
by the House of Commons in 2004, which recognized the Armenian
genocide. He also presented a letter from His Holiness Garegin II,
Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.
“We highly appreciate this important action” said the Vehapar in his
letter to the Prime Minister, referring to Bill M-380, “and appeal
to you to condemn all similar atrocities throughout the world that
are directed against the well-being of man.”
“We look forward that during your term in office, there may be further
tangible cooperation between Canada and the Republic of Armenia,
leading to official diplomatic representation in Yerevan,” added
His Holiness.

US-SPONSORED BORDER GUARD TRAINING CENTRE OPENS IN ARMENIA
Mediamax news agency
22 Mar 06
Yerevan, 22 March: A training centre of the Armenian border troops,
renovated with money provided by the US government, opened in Yerevan
today.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, US ambassador to Armenia John
Evans stressed the importance of the centre in ensuring the reliable
protection of the Armenian borders and preventing the illegal
transportation of dangerous cargoes and smuggling and trafficking,
Mediamax reports.
According to the diplomat, “the operation of the centre meets the
interests of the Armenian people and the international community”.
The USA invested a total of 214,000 dollars in the renovation of the
centre’s building.
Armen Abramyan, commander of the Armenian border troops, said that
the USA has been supplying Armenian border guards with transport and
technical control facilities, state-of-the-art radio stations and
computers since December 2001.
The building of the Bagratashen checkpoint on the Armenian-Georgian
border was opened in May 2005 with the assistance of the US
government. The construction of a barracks at the Gogavan checkpoint
on the border with Georgia will be completed in the near future.
An official statement released by the US embassy said that “several
groups of Armenian border guards have already attended one- and
two-month courses in preparation for replacing Russian border guards
at Zvartnots airport.” At the same time, Armen Abramyan said that
not all of the Russian border guards at the airport will be replaced,
Mediamax reports.
Mediamax recalls that under bilateral agreements, Armenian and Russian
border guards are jointly protecting Armenia’s border with Turkey
and Iran. Russian, not Armenian, border guards have been working at
the checkpoint Armenia at Zvartnots international airport in the past
few years.
Mediamax notes that the head of the Russian Federal Security Service’s
Border Directorate in Armenia, Lt-Gen Sergey Bondarev, said in January
2006 that Armenian and Russian border guards started to serve jointly
at the checkpoint Armenia. Bondarev said that “joint work has already
proved its efficiency”.

GEORGIAN GOVERNMENT INTERESTED IN INFLOW OF ARMENIAN CAPITAL: GEORGIAN AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 20 2006
YEREVAN, March 20. /ARKA/. The Georgian Government is interested in
the inflow of the Armenian capital to the Georgian market, Georgian
Ambassador to Armenia Revaz Gachechiladze told reporters.
According to him, tendencies of expanding Armenian-Georgian economic
relations have come into being over the last time.
“Introduction of such Armenian products as ‘Noyan’ juices, ‘Sigaron’
company’s and ‘Ararat-cement’ company’s production into the Georgian
market is a graphic evidence of it,” he said. Gachechiladze emphasized
the fact of the construction of a hotel in Kobuletti (Georgia’s
district) by an Armenian construction company.
“My mission in Armenia is to strengthen friendship and cooperation
between our countries,” the Ambassador said.

THE POLICE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY TO RESPECT HUMAN RIGHTS
A1+
07:02 pm 21 March, 2006
“The law foresees punishment for the police in cases of torture
and violation of human rights as well as for the cruel attitude
and the insulting cases of human dignity,” this is a quotation from
the bill concerning the changes and additions on the RA “Law on the
Police.” The secretary of the “Justice” fraction Victor Dallakyan
liked this quotation and reminded the “barbarous events” which took
place on the night of April 13 on Baghramyan Avenue, he also gave the
names of the journalists who were tortured by the police and informed
that nobody was punished for that “ferocity”.
The police general Ararat Mahtesyan answered that remark and said
that the police acted in the “realm of the law.” He claimed that
they had warned the protestants twice to open the way and not to hold
the traffic. “Yes, at 2 a.m. they wanted to open the streets for the
schoolchildren,” said Victor Dallakyan.
In the bill concerning the changes of the “Law on the Police” the
actions of the police are firmly stated.
There are many interesting formations in the bill which may sound
exotic to us, for instance, “While realizing their duties the police
must be guided by the necessity to protect human and citizens’
rights stated in the RA Constitution, by the principle of egality,
by the regular realization of liabilities. It may also pursuit other
purposes stated by the law.”
The deputy of the “Justice” fraction Tatul Manaseryan mentioned that
the necessity of equality is firmly stated in the law but there
is nothing mentioned about the means of punishment. For example,
let’s take Demirtjan Street where the dwellers can’t rest the whole
day because of the noise made by the cars of the president’s guard
especially the signaling after the midnight. “The president of the
country, whoever it may be, must obey the law,” reminded Tatul
Manaseryan and added that the foreign citizens are also equally
responsible in front of the law who seem to be privileged in our
society. The deputy brought the example of the Embassy cars mentioning
that the inspectors turn pale seeing them. “Today our inspectors learn
how to behave while stopping diplomatic cars in the presence of the
Ambassadors or other officials.” By the way, in Article 5 of the “Law
on the Police” it is written ,”The police must give a chance to people
under custody to use their right of lawyer’s service and must inform
their relatives about their arrest within 3 hours from the moment of
taking them to the police station.” Victor Dallakyan was a little
concerned by the idea of keeping the citizen in the police station
for 3 hours. As for Mahtesyan he thought that they can’t inform the
relatives in 3 hours as they may face the “problem of the telephone.”
Let’s mention that during the discussion of such a vital matter there
were only 8 deputies present in the hall.

THE ISSUE OF THE BUZAND DWELLERS WAS CANCELLED FOR 2 WEEKS
A1+
07:47 pm 21 March, 2006
The Human Rights Protector Armen Harutunyan deserved the explicit
affection of many journalists, court workers and ordinary citizens
today in the Constitutional Court. After the first break of the CC
session the citizens came up to the Protector, even embraced with
him saying o lot of words of praise in his address.
The first Ombudsman Larisa Alavrerdyan was also in the CC but the
people deprived of their houses were not so much interested in her
personality. We asked Mrs.
Alaverdyan to comment on the strategy of the present Protector and
whether she was glad to see the warm attitude of the citizens towards
Armen Harutunyan.
“I always say “Give a person a chance to work,” as for the criticism
I shall have time to return to it,” answered Larisa Alaverdyan.
In today’s CC session Armen Harutunyan could not persuade the
Government and the Chairman that the constructing projects in Kentron
district were realized against the provisions of the RA Constitution
and the international norms. The Minister of the Justice who is at
the same time the Government representative thinks that the 99% of
the citizens who complain of the constructions undertaken in Kentron
complain of the compensation money.
The new assistant and the representative of the chairman Gevorg Mheryan
had nothing to say on this score. While making his speech and answering
the questions he stuck to the Articles of the Protector’s application,
repeated those Articles for a few times and insisted on the same thing-
the provisions in question are fully legal and constitutional.
The CC did not finish the hearings of the application.
It was decided to cancel the hearings for two weeks, to invite
international experts who will say their conclusions on a number of
controversial juridical formations.
Meanwhile the Government representative also wanted to add the issues
requiring experts’ interpretation and was obliged to present the paper
according to which the executive body deemed the “Construction of
Kentron” number 1 income. This decision of the Government has never
been published.

FOREIGN MINISTRY WARNS DEPUTIES ABOUT THEIR ACTIVITIES ABROAD
New Anatolian, Turkey
March 20 2006
The Foreign Ministry yesterday warned deputies to brief Turkish
diplomatic missions beforehand about their possible special contacts
and organizations in foreign countries, so that problems that may
arise can be minimized or prevented.
The warning came in direct link to rallies held in Berlin and Lyon,
France over the weekend to protest the recognition of Armenian genocide
claims in European countries, events which risk souring Turkey’s
diplomatic relations with the two key European Union countries.
The Turkish Parliament also sent the same warning to political party
groups saying that although the persons who make arrangements of
special meetings or organizations are widely known in Turkey, they
might have negative reputations outside of the country. The latest
reference was a thinly-veiled one toward Dogu Perincek, the leader
of the Labor Party (IP), although there was no specific name in
the statement.
It was underlined in the warning that if the deputies inform Turkish
representations before their planned visits and meetings, the problems
coming from these events might be reduced to a minimum level.

GEORGIAN OMBUDSMAN DISCUSSES RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN TSALKA
Prime News Agency, Georgia
March 21 2006
Tbilisi. March 21 (Prime-News) – The Tuesday session of the Council
on Ethnic Minorities of the Ombudsman’s Office of Georgia was
dedicated to the recent developments in the town of Tsalka of the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region.
MP Van Baiburt, Zinaida Bestaeva, State Minister for Civil integration
and Davit Darchiashvili, Executive Director of Open Society Georgia
were attending the session.
According to Sozar Subari, Ombudsman, it is necessary to facilitate
dialogue between the parties. The murder in Tsalka was a pure crime,
but the following developments made it clear that that there are
serious problems in the region with regard to relationship of the
different ethnic groups, that might stir ethnic conflicts. That factor
makes attention by the government and society more necessary.
MP Van Baiburt said that some problems with regard to relation of
different ethnic groups definitely contribute to the ongoing tension.
He also surveyed the problems with regard to governance and said that
the tension must be eradicated by the central government, as the local
residents of Georgian origin do not discredit ethnic minorities in
the region.
The members of the Council also discussed negligence by the
Establishment, saying that the local population of the region lives in
extremely harsh economic conditions and there are no state programs
implemented in the region that could contribute to civil integration
of the ethnic minorities.
The members of the Council said that the issue on language for
record keeping was one of the most urgent. According to them, special
programs must be elaborated to sea to teaching of Georgian language
to the local residents, but it can take 5 or 10 years.
The representative of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Georgia
also discuss the murder of the young man of Armenian origin in Tsalka
and said that the law enforcements are doing their best to eradicated
violation of human rights for ethnic reasons and are ready to cooperate
with the Office of Ombudsman.
The members of the Council on Ethnic Minorities are to visit the
region, which is mainly populated with Armenians, and will study the
issue on the spot.

RAISE OF GAS PRICE WILL CAUSE INSIGNIFICANT INCREASE OF ENERGY TARIFFS (ARMENIA)
Regnum, Russia
March 21 2006
Increase of natural gas price will cause insignificant increase of
energy tariffs for domestic users, only on $0.8 or 15%, stated Deputy
Head of Public Services Regulation committee of Armenia Nikolai
Grigoryan on March 21. He said that Armenian power plants produce
only 25% of the country’s energy, so raise of cost price will not
lead to serious increase of gas price for the population.
As a REGNUM correspondent informs, Grigoryan noted that Hrazdan power
plant already presented its application in the committee that must be
considered before June. And because Hrazdan and Yerevan power plants
will suffer losses, the committee will revise energy tariff in the
beginning of 2007.
In his turn, MP Manuk Gasparyan said that Hrazdan power plant is
Russian property, and Armenia must cease using its energy. “They
can export their energy to Georgia, Iran, but we don’t need such
expensive energy,” he said. According to Gasparyan, Russia must
modernize Hrazdan power plant to lower the price.
It should be notes, that Hrazdan power plant has been transferred to
Russia in the framework of an Armenian-Russian inter-governmental
agreement on Armenian debts repayment. Russia bought Hrazdan power
plant for $31. It is the only way to supply energy from Armenia
to Georgia.

THE EU AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS
Today, Azerbaijan
URL:
March 21 2006
/
To guarantee its own security, the EU must become more engaged in
resolving the conflicts in the South Caucasus lest they ignite into
full-fledged wars in Europe’s neighbourhood.
“Conflict Resolution in the South Caucasus: The EU’s Role”, the latest
report from the International Crisis Group, examines the EU’s efforts
to address tensions over Nagorno Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia,
and points out how the EU can do more.
“Greater engagement is a challenge Brussels has only just begun
to address”, says Sabine Freizer, Crisis Group’s Caucasus Project
Director. “There have been a few promising steps, but there is a long
way to go”.
Thus far, others have taken the lead in promoting conflict settlement
in the region, but over a decade of negotiations led by the UN in
Abkhazia, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) in Nagorno Karabakh and South Ossetia, have not produced
comprehensive peace agreements. With its reputation as an “honest
broker”, access to a range of soft and hard power tools, and the lure
of greater integration into Europe, the EU has a greater role to play,
and offers added value to compliment the UN and the OSCE.
To avoid instability on its borders, the EU seeks a ring of
well-governed countries around it. It is further interested in the
South Caucasus to ensure access to Caspian oil and gas, develop
transport and communication corridors between Europe and Asia, and
contain such threats as smuggling, trafficking and environmental
degradation.
As the EU is unlikely to offer membership to Georgia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan any time soon, it must identify innovative means to
impose conditionality on its aid and exercise influence. European
Neighbourhood Policy Action Plans are being finalised. These offer
a chance for the EU to enhance its role especially if the peaceful
resolution of the conflicts are defined as commitments.
The new EU Special Representative should observe ongoing negotiations
for the Abkhazian, South Ossetian and Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts. The
Commission has allocated significant funding to rehabilitation in
South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It should assess how it can start doing
more in and around Nagorno Karabakh.
“The EU is trying to define its role in a new neighbourhood which is
neither at war nor at peace”, says Nicholas Whyte, Director of Crisis
Group’s Europe Program. “If the EU fails to implement its strategic
vision for a secure neighbourhood, its credibility in the region, and
generally vis-a-vis Russia and the U.S., will suffer. More troublingly,
if the South Caucasus conflicts continue to deteriorate, the EU may
find itself unprepared for responding to wars among its neighbours”.