Air Temperature in July Can Reach +40C
PanARMENIAN.Net
23.06.2006 14:36 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In July the air temperature in Yerevan will be
higher than middle-statistical with 1-2 degrees, the Armenian state
hydro-meteorological center told PanARMENIAN.Net. The precipitation
will be lower than the norm. It should be noted that the raising of
the middle-statistical air temperature means raising with some 10
degrees, that is to say the temperature will reach +36-40C.

A1+
FIRES ARE ALREADY A USUAL THING
[12:48 pm] 23 June, 2006
A fire broke out today in the green area near the Abovyan street
today. Two fire-fighting vehicles were trying to extinguish the
fire. When we tried to learn the reasons of the fire from the Armenian
Rescuers Service of the Ministry of Regional Government, we were told
half in jest, “There are fires every day; you just haven’t seen them”.
According to the Rescuers Service, there were 13 suchlike fires
yesterday. Three of them were in the area near the Grigor Lousavorich
street.
The Rescuers Service claimed that the reason of the frequent fires
is the heat, the drought, as well as the carelessness of the people,
“Even a cigarette-end can cause a fire”, they added.
From: Baghdasarian

Resettlement Continues
Lragir.am
23 June 06
In 2006 116 houses will be built in different regions of the country
for people, who will decide to resettle in Karabakh. Building has
started in border villages, in other settlements building will be put
out to tender. Pavel Najaryan, the head of the Department on Migration,
Refugees and Resettlement said this in an interview with the Karabakh
Open. He also reminded that last year 8 houses were built for families
resettling in the village of Mesmna, Martuni, and over the past period
the number of children in the village grew by 15.
The head of the Department assures that people from different
countries wish to resettle in Karabakh. “Recently, people from Russia
and Central Asia have expressed likelihood to resettle in Karabakh,”
said Pavel Najaryan.
Building of houses and social infrastructure is funded by the
government, as well as benefactors. We learned from the Department
that the Armenian General Benevolent Union funds the construction
of 10 houses in the village of Berishen, Hadrut. “AGBU is likely to
build another 10 houses, a school and a medical station. The same
organization funded the construction of the school in the village of
Norashen in the same region,” said Mr. Najaryan.
The building of houses and a school in the village of Nor Ghazanchi,
Martakert, will be funded by another benefactor.

JAVAKHETI CANNOT BE TURNED INTO KARABAKH
Lragir.am
23 June 06
All Armenia should do about the issue of Javakheti is to establish
a dialogue between the Armenians of Javakheti and the Georgian
government, said Member of Parliament Shavarsh Kocharyan, the leader
of the National Democratic Party on June 23. He told news reporters
at the Pastark Club that it is unacceptable to manipulate the problem
of Javakheti in the electoral campaign in 2007 in Armenia. The leader
of the National Democratic Party says the tendency “to make Karabakh
out of Javakheti” is unacceptable. He believes that it can be very
dangerous. Shavarsh Kocharyan thinks that the only acceptable way
is the enable the relation between the population of Javakheti and
official Tbilisi to settle the problems of Armenians of Javakheti as
soon as possible. If the problems are not solved, they may give rise
to undesirable developments, says Shavarsh Kocharyan.

NEW SITUATION BEFORE 2007
Lragir.am
23 June 06
Surprisingly, the opposition does not criticize the changes to the
Electoral Code and even signed to it, said Member of Parliament
Shavarsh Kocharyan on June 23, who met with news reporters at the
Pastark Club. According to the member of parliament, this behavior of
the opposition is caused by its paralyzed state which is the cause of
their wrong approach towards the constitutional referendum. “I think it
is determined by a stage, which has not been overcome yet. It is the
paralyzed state that results from wrong behavior, wrong approaches,
the constitutional referendum,” says Shavarsh Kocharyan. According
to him, the opposition was surprisingly against the constitutional
reform, which was definitely in their interests, but agreed to the
draft Electoral Code, which is against its interests. “In other words,
they go to extremes,” says Shavarsh Kocharyan. But he is hopeful
that this state of the opposition will not last long, at least it
will not last untill 2007. “A quite new situation has occurred in
Armenia,” thinks Shavarsh Kocharyan, believing that all the forces
will sooner of later realize the new situation. Shavarsh Kocharyan
thinks that the government realized the new situation the first, hence
the political shake-up inside the government. And the opposition,
according to Shavarsh Kocharyan, both is there and is not there. He
evaluates the state of Ardarutiun Alliance similarly. By the way,
it is interesting that Shavarsh Kocharyan is in the same alliance. It
is true that inside the alliance Shavarsh Kocharyan is not considered
opposition any longer, but Kocharyan thinks, nevertheless, that he
and his party are opposition. The opposition is the political force
which gives a more real evaluation of the situation, has a more clear
vision of solutions, says Shavarsh Kocharyan, adding that he does not
think they become opposition by declaring the time of the revolution.
Nevertheless, the leader of the National Democratic Party is guided
by the principle “every cloud has a silver lining.” Shavarsh Kocharyan
thinks that the present state of the opposition will help realize and
fulfill the necessity of ideological alliances in the opposition. And
since there is not such a perception yet, Shavarsh Kocharyan is likely
to run in the election alone.

WILL NEXT PARLIAMENT CHANGE FOREIGN POLICY OF ARMENIA
Lragir.am
23 June 06
The issue of Karabakh will not be manipulated during the election
campaign in 2007, stated Shavarsh Kocharyan, the leader of the
National Democratic Party, on June 23 at the Pastark Club. He thinks
that Karabakh did not become a subject of manipulations even when the
home political situation was the tensest. However, Shavarsh Kocharyan
also thinks that the political forces must make the Karabakh issue a
matter of discussion in the campaign for the parliament but it should
not be confined to judgments about “giving up or not giving up,”
there should be a conceptual approach. Shavarsh Kocharyan thinks
it is important because he says there is necessity to change the
foreign political line of Armenia. According to the leader of the
National Democratic Party, it should be done by the next parliament.
According to Shavarsh Kocharyan, Azerbaijan makes efforts to present
Armenia to international organizations as an aggressor. The leader
of the National Assembly thinks that the reason is the policy of
Armenia on the settlement. “My opinion is that the new parliament
should make a political declaration, and it has the right to do it
under the new Constitution, which will enable protecting the efforts
of the executive power by the political will of the legislative on the
one hand, and on the other hand, will create a favorable atmosphere,”
says Shavarsh Kocharyan. According to him, the present government
of Armenia cannot change this political line because it is not
legitimate. Shavarsh Kocharyan considers the statement of the next
parliament and change of the political line possible only through a
legitimate election in compliance with European standards.

OSCE RESPONDED TO NKR FOREIGN MINISTRY’S INITIATIVE
Lragir.am
23 June 06
On June 28 the OSCE monitoring group will visit Karabakh to investigate
the cause of the fires in the border areas. The visit will take place
on the initiative of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since June
9 the Azerbaijani media have been writing that the fires in the border
areas of Karabakh cause great damage to historical and other monuments.
OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin Brichambaut mentioned that the
OSCE will draft a report on these facts.

CONGRESS OF ORINATS YERKIR WILL TAKE PLACE IN FALL
Lragir.am
23 June 06
Arthur Baghdasaryan, the leader of the Orinats Yerkir Party announced
June 23 that the economy of Armenia is oligarchic. “52, 500 companies
are officially registered in the Republic of Armenia. 100 companies
pay 70 percent of the stare budget. Whereas, small and medium-sized
enterprises pay 80 percent of the budget in the world.” “In this
country the wealth is in the hands of a group of people. In a
country where there is no free economy, there is no freely developing
small and medium-sized business, oligarchic economy cannot produce
forceful guarantees for the development of the country,” says Arthur
Baghdasaryan, and notices that another undesirable phenomenon is
reported in Armenia. “Unfortunately, power and money is concentrated,
strongmen and fraud dominate, the goal is to buy everything, control
every moving and breathing being. Considering these circumstances, we
must realize that a quadruped cannot fly. Oligarchs may become rich,
develop an oligarchic economy, common people will not taste the fruits
of economic development, because the rich will become richer and the
poor will become poorer.”
The purpose of concentration of power and money, according to Arthur
Baghdasaryan, “is an effort to create a system, and push people into
despair and say that elections are worth nothing in this country. It
is not so, and we must struggle for a normal electoral system, for
the rule of law, not the rule of money and strongmen.”
For this purpose Orinats Yerkir will start a series of political
consultations with “healthy political forces.” And in fall the
congress of the Orinats Yerkir Party will be held, and the political
priorities will be set. Details will be given in fall. For the time
being, the leader of Orinats Yerkir announces, “we will be fighting
for the victory of the good and beauty. We will be fighting against
everyone who wants to buy everything, who want to lead the country
to destruction by imposing the power of lie.”

Turkey aspires to military technology
By Selcan Hacaoglu
Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
June 23 2006
ANKARA, Turkey – For the first time ever, there are no U.S. bidders
for a major Turkish arms contract, signaling serious snags in one of
the world’s closest military-commercial partnerships.
For more than 50 years, the United States and U.S. firms have been
the main arms suppliers to Turkey, a lynchpin of NATO’s southern
flank during the Cold War. Turkey, in a rough neighborhood that
includes Iran, Iraq, Syria as well as traditional rival Greece, has
also been eager to snatch up weapons to supply its large army, which
is also dealing with a domestic Kurdish insurgency. At the heart of
the problems today are both diplomatic and technical issues rooted
in Turkey’s ambition to gain control over its military technology.
Turkey is going through a low point in defense relations with
Washington following its refusal to host U.S. troops for the invasion
of Iraq in 2003. It has actively sought out other potential arms
suppliers, making Turkey’s business less attractive for U.S.
companies. If they last, the frictions threaten to make U.S arms
companies reluctant to support Turkish lobbying efforts in Washington,
analysts and defense sources say.
Next week, firms from South Africa, Russia, France and Italy are
competing for a US$2 billion (1.6 billion euros) tender to deliver
attack helicopters to Turkey. U.S. makers Bell Helicopter Textron,
Boeing Co. and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. did not even offer proposals
after evaluating tough tender conditions.
The new bidding rules included full access to the aircraft’s specific
software codes – which the United States considers a security risk –
and a written guarantee from the provider’s government that there
will be no political obstacles to the export of the arms. However,
the U.S. government can only seek the consent of Congress for a deal
after the sale is finalized.
It was not clear whether Turks would be satisfied with an initial
letter from the government assuring them there would be no political
problems.
“As far as Boeing is concerned, some of the conditions in the tender
are such that we simply could not agree to (them), and that we felt
would make the program from a Boeing perspective very difficult,”
Greg Pepin, Vice President of Boeing Turkey said in an interview.
Pepin explained that sharing the software was problematic because
it was partly owned by other U.S. suppliers as well as the U.S.
government – and the other owners would likely balk at sharing the
technology even if Boeing were willing.
“We can’t guarantee that the U.S. government will transfer that
technology, we can talk about the technology that we own but we can’t
agree to and sign up to assuring that these other owners of technology
would do the same,” Pepin said. “That was an issue we had, we simply
cannot guarantee that.”
Turkey imposed new bidding rules last year, after it canceled a
previous tender in 2004 when a deal with Bell Helicopter Textron’s
“King Cobra,” a Turkish version of the AH-1Z Super Cobra used by U.S.
Marines, collapsed over price, technology transfer and licensing
problems.
The new rules empower Turkey to substitute alternative, probably
locally manufactured components such as weapon systems, the mission
computer, avionics and electronic warfare suites, and require the
supplier to integrate other systems or equipment built by Turkish
companies.
“The collapse of one deal is not itself a major crisis, but if
Turkey persists in seeking carte blanche from American suppliers to
substitute its own technology for theirs and asks for impossible terms,
U.S. arms suppliers will not, indeed cannot, bid for Turkey’s business,
and they will likely cease their lobbying efforts on Turkey’s behalf
with both the White House and Congress,” said Ian M. Cuthbertson,
an arms sales expert at World Policy Institute. “U.S. industry will
lose business and Turkey would lose powerful allies in Washington.”
U.S. arms companies have been lobbying for Turkey against Armenians –
who are pressing for recognition of killings of Armenians in the early
20th century as a genocide – and Kurds – who complain about Turkey’s
alleged human rights violations. Turkey’s concerns over technological
control of its weaponry increased after it faced arms blockades
from several countries because of human rights problems in its fight
against autonomy-seeking Kurdish guerrillas, while Washington demanded
Turkish progress on human rights as a condition for arms sales. Many
Turkish defense authorities also bitterly remember a U.S. arms embargo
following Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974, when Libya provided
Turkey with bombs and spare parts to operate its U.S.-made jets.
Today, Turkey is keen on having a sovereign helicopter to freely use,
mainly against Kurdish guerrillas in the rugged southeast, without
taking on the risk of outside interference in the aircraft’s mission
computer or of political obstacles from Washington to its use.
Turkey’s Defense Executive Committee might opt in its next meeting on
June 27 to choose one of the current bidders from France, Italy, Russia
and South Africa _ which lifted an arms embargo against Turkey in
2005 _ to end a decade-long search for Turkey’s next attack helicopter.
The options are Tiger of the Franco-German company, Eurocopter,
Mangusta of Italy’s Agusta Aerospace, Kamov of Russia and South
African company Denel’s Rooivalk.
“If Turkey wants to have a sovereign helicopter, this is the
opportunity,” said an official of Likom Defense, the representative
of Denel in Turkey, speaking on condition of anonymity because he
was not authorized to speak to the media.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Moscow views Baku as key player
Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
June 23 2006
The Human Rights Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of
Azerbaijan last week held a round table to discuss the role of the
Diaspora in Azerbaijani-Russian relations.
Tatyana Poloskova, head of department at the Center for International
Scientific and Cultural Cooperation (CISCC) under the Russian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, also attended the event.
Baku Sun’s Mammad Bagirov asked Ms Poloskova for her comments on the
problems facing Russia’s sizeable ethnic Azerbaijani community. –
What are the main problems facing Azerbaijanis in Russia today? –
During the round table, we agreed that Azerbaijanis really are facing
problems in Russia.
The main problem is the negative image of Azerbaijanis which has
developed in Russia. As I said at the round table, it is actually
possible to improve this image. A group of Russian and Azerbaijani
experts are going to look into the reasons for this negative image.
On the surface, the negative attitude towards Azerbaijanis in Russia
stems from the fact that Azerbaijanis have filled a certain economic
vacuum in Russia, particularly in the sphere of trade. But in fact,
there were no other contenders for this vacuum apart from Azerbaijanis.
As Russians have traditionally never shown interest in trade,
Azerbaijanis engaging in trade cannot serve as a reason for this
negative image. Yes, we have to admit that one can frequently observe
Azerbaijani vendors behaving incorrectly in Russian markets. However,
vendors representing other nationalities behave in the same way as
well. This is a special market environment.
I think one of the main reasons behind this negative image of
Azerbaijanis is their ability to compete. They are hard working,
mobile and less inclined to alcoholism. There are ways of building up
a positive image, and we are ready to work with the Azerbaijani side
on this. Why is this important for us? One of the responsibilities of
the CISCC is to accompany Russia’s foreign policies with informational
initiatives in the humanitarian field.
It is very difficult to hold a humanitarian dialogue with Baku as
long as the problem of Caucasusphobia remains in Russia. If we do not
resolve this problem, it will hinder our humanitarian relations. –
One of the problems hindering Azerbaijani-Russian relations is Russia’s
policy of double standards toward Azerbaijan. For instance, when dozens
of Azerbaijanis were killed in a market roof collapse in Moscow, Russia
did not declare mourning. But Russia did mourn Armenians killed in
a recent aircraft crash. – Yes, Russia should have declared morning
after the roof collapse in the Basmanniy market. It is difficult to
say why the Russian authorities did not do so. I think in politics
lobby systems play a greater role than states. However, I cannot say
that there is an efficient Armenian lobby in Russia today. They are
much less efficient than they might be.
On the contrary, the Azerbaijani lobby in Russia is becoming more
powerful with each passing year.
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. As strange as it may seem, Russia
reacted calmly to this. Is this a sign that the position of Russia’s
political elite is changing towards realism and pragmatism? – Reaction
always means something. Moscow realizes that Azerbaijan is a key player
in the South Caucasus region with its political, economic and cultural
potential. Russia has spiritual and religious ties with Armenia and
Georgia. But Azerbaijan is the key player because of its potential.
Therefore, one should address the key player while building relations
with the region. The reaction of the presidents is important. You may
have noticed that the issue of the Diaspora receives great attention
in the Azerbaijani-Russian dialogue. If you have such a large Diaspora
in Russia, one cannot but view Azerbaijan as the key player.