WHO WILL REPLACE RUSSIAN TROOPS IN JAVAKHETI?
Lragir.am
14 June 06
Shirak Torosyan, the chair of Javakhk Association, says the people of
Javakheti protesting against the withdrawal of the Russian military
base are concerned about their security. He stated this June 14 at
the Pastark Club. Shirak Torosyan says the withdrawal of the Russian
military base is the problem of Russia and Georgia, and should be
settled by them. The chair of Javakhk Association says the Armenians
of Javakheti are concerned about the security gap that emerged after
the withdrawal of the Russian military base. Shirak Torosyan says the
presence of the Russian military base makes the Armenian population
of Javakheti feel more secure, therefore they are concerned about
who is going to replace the Russian troops.
Shirak Torosyan thinks that the presence of the Georgian military
force in Javakhk is unacceptable, for history showed that Georgian
soldiers do not behave properly, giving rise to problems with the local
population. “In other words, the presence of the Georgian troops will
be constantly threatening by skirmishes. This is evident.
If the NATO forces are stationed, it arouses concern that NATO member
Turkish troops may arrive here. This uncertainty worries the people
of Javakheti more than their unemployment,” says Shirak Torosyan.
According to him, the Russian military base was employment and a source
of income for many of them, but unlike the economic consequence that
the Armenians of Javakheti may solve through economic migration or
farming, the problem of security will persist.

WHICH PARLIAMENTARY FORCE WILL REPRESENT INTERESTS OF JAVAKHETI?
Lragir.am
14 June 06
Generally associations of compatriots should not become involved
in politics, but the circumstances are a little different, said the
chair of Javakhk Association Shirak Torosyan June 14 at the Pastark
Club. The circumstance is naturally the same association led by him,
because there is an issue of Javakheti. Therefore Javakhk Association
is not free from politics. Moreover, its chair is a member of the
Hzor Hayrenik Party. Hence, in the parliamentary election 2007 Shirak
Torosyan and his political party can rely on the support of about 300
thousand Javakheti Armenians living in Armenia, especially considering
the anxiety of the Armenians of Javakheti that the lawmakers of
Armenia have never raised the question of Javakheti.
The leader of Javakhk Association does not hide that the members of
their association want Hzor Hayrenik to represent the interests of
Javakheti in the next parliament. This political party is distinguished
by its moderate stance on the issue of Javakheti and is really
aware of its problems, because the leaders of the party come from
Javakheti. It is evident, however, that Hzor Hayrenik is one of the
few political parties which try to take up the issue of the Javakheti
Armenians. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation has been the most
active political party so far. The ARF is more active and also more
radical. Dashnaktsutiun often sets forward the question of sovereignty,
even independence. This is done even at the party leaders’ level.
We will get a full picture if we recall the point of view of an ARF
leader about “the third front.” Hence, the ARF can be the main opponent
of Hzor Hayrenik for 300 thousand votes of Javakheti Armenians living
in Armenia. Especially that these political parties have opposite
visions for the settlement of the issue of Javakheti.
The evaluation of Dashnaktsutiun’s approach given by Shirak Torosyan,
the chair of Javakhk Association and a member of the Hzor Hayrenik
Party, shows that competition will become more intensive.
The evaluation is in the form of a question. “If they are concerned
about the issue of Javakheti, why did they fail to raise it in the
parliament?” asks Shirak Torosyan.

MCHUGH COMMENTS ON THE REVALUATION OF THE DRAM
Lragir.am
14 June 06
One of the reasons of revaluation of the Armenian dram is money
transfers from Russia in dollars. James McHugh, the representative
of the IMF to Armenia, expressed this point of view June 14, reports
ARKA News Agency. He also forecast an increase in transfers in the
second half of 2006. According to McHugh, the revaluation of the
Armenian dram is in the context of the growing price of the Russian
oil. Besides, McHugh thinks that another reason of revaluation of the
dram is the increase of foreign investments in the Armenian economy.
Finally, McHugh mentioned that the weakening dollar is another cause of
revaluation of the dram. If anyone was so patient as to read through
the evaluations of James McHugh, it should be emphasized once again
that James McHugh is the representative of the IMF to Armenia.
It is necessary to underline this because after reading this people
might think that McHugh has been appointed press secretary of the
president of the Central Bank of Armenia.

THE ATTITUDE TOWARDS ELECTION FALSIFIERS ISN’T UNITED
Anna Israelian
Aravot.am
13 June 06
The parliament began discussing drafts an hour and a half before its
working day yesterday.
The deputies were discussing the agenda all day long, and took 20
minutes breaks before voting. The adoption of the agenda has become a
”difficult process” by the NA deputy chairman Vahan Hovhannisian’s
description because ”Justice” was trying for the third time to put
into agenda its initiations about forming the NA temporary commissions
examining the infringements in 2003 elections and constitutional
referendum. ”We offer the formation of these commissions in the
following way; to invite the chairmen of all electoral commissions
and ask them for explanation, – the secretary of “Justice” group
Victor Dallakian said and reminded. – The PACE has proposed to form a
parliamentary commission in connection with the referendum. And those
who tell tales about European values, let them vote for to these two
commissions”. While the RPA fraction leader Galust Sahakian has said
that they will vote against. Aram Gaspari Sargsian marked in this
way the fact that the parliamentary majority has negative attitudes
towards the initiation on making responsible the election falsifiers;
” We should suppose that either those deputies are going for the
following falsifications or the majority will be responsible for
all which will happen in elections 2007. Tigran Torosian and Vahan
Hovhannisian were declaring that these would be last elections; if
we tried to rig the elections again it would be the most shameful
situation for us. And now how do you mark that they try to prevent
the falsifications, punish the falsifiers, and the majority is again
against?” The NA chairman Tigran Torosian replied to that question
mentioning that he shared the anxiety about the coming elections;
”Yes, we, first of all for our country and naturally as the obligation
of our country towards international organizations must hold the coming
parliamentary and next elections corresponding to all international
standards”. But the NA chairman produced as a technical reason that
even if these issues were included in the great agenda, they would
be discussed only in autumn session. ”I think there is no time for
the commission work”. DPA leader Aram Sargsian noticed that even if
that commission acted in autumn; ”we’ll manage to display clearly
our attitude towards the falsifiers. Maybe we wouldn’t have any other
result but everybody would understand that falsification was a crime
and it was punishable”. Victor Dallakian affirmed that the mater
should be voted for including in the agenda. But before voting he
“played a trick” as he described it late. The “Justice secretary took
a break for 20 minutes then he proposed to postpone for a month the
mater of including into agenda the formation of the commission. The
proposal was refused by voting as 55 members hadn’t voted, including
the oppositionists. Then Victor Dallakian declared that the issues
of forming the commission are already included in the agenda, as the
proposals of postponing it weren’ t adopted. A long dispute started
between “Justice” and NA chairmen. Tigran Torosian alluded that
Vahan Hovhannisian missed the NA code allowing voting the mater of
postponing. The ULP group leader Gurgen Arsenian asked for a break,
after discussion Vahan Hovhannisian admitted his mistake; ”That
voting doesn’t have juridical consequences”. And he put for voting
the mater of including the initiation of forming the commissions in
the agenda. 12 members were for, including the NA leaders. 85 members
didn’t vote, the oppositionist deputies, too who were continuing to
insist that the mater of commissions was already in the agenda, so
they wouldn’t take part in the illegal voting. Thanks to all these
the amendments in the law ”About State taxes” wasn’t included
into agenda.
–Boundary_(ID_pL/4Nhbg4unZ67E/yQnI3g)–

THEY AREN’T INTERESTED IN THE NA, KARABAKH AND DOLLAR
Aram Abrahamian
Aravot.am
13 June 06
If you think that the Armenians worry about the NA chairman’s
resignation, the current failure of Karabakh negotiations in Bucharest
or Dollar inflation, you are mistaken. Anyway, according to the APR
Group phone polling /from 7-9 of June among 652 Yerevan citizens/
our citizens aren’t interested in it.
The sociologists have asked the citizens to mention the most important
events of last period and 37% of them first of all mentioned the
victory of Armenian chess players in the Chess Olympiad in Turin, 24,8%
mentioned the crash of A320 airbus, 22,9% mentioned Andre’s success
in Eurovision. The above-mentioned political or ”political-economic”
events have gathered less than 5 %. And even the violence used against
Armenians in Russia are in the first place for 5,4%. I wouldn’t hurry
to accuse people of being “heartless” or “lumpened”.
Maybe the reason is that people became sure during 15 years that
they don’t have any lever for having influence on the policy and
being interested in a thing which has no connection with you, isn’t
reasonable at least. By the way mentioning the reason of considering
important the chess players and Andre 54,8% and 19, 5% of citizens
said that it was the proud and honor of the Armenian nation. It is
also important that 92,5% of citizens who consider important Andre
belong to feminine gentle.
We asked APR Group tube interested what Yerevan citizens think of
violence used against Armenians in Russia. First of all we should
mention that 35% wasn’ t informed about it or wasn’t engaged in
that problem. And the opinions of the reasons of that violence were
different. 27,8% citizens think that it is a policy which Russia
carries out, 19,8% is sure that those are accidental cases, 16%
refer it to Russian chauvinism and 15,1% think that it is a slander
addressed by other countries against Armenian-Russian relations.
Some citizens being very sorry for those incidents anyway suppose
that it will help repatriation and some part of the eldest generation
remembered that they had met Russian chauvinism since the Soviet
period. And indeed, I myself living first 30 years of my life in Soviet
“international” period heard ” Armyashka” word at that time.
–Boundary_(ID_0j1lr51tbnyq33e+qWOZIA)–

ANNUALLY AZERI CRIMINAL GROUPINGS IN RUSSIA ASSIGN $50 MILLION FOR MURDERS OF ARMENIANS
Yerkir
14.06.2006 12:55
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – “Annually Azeri criminal groupings assign $50
million for the organization of murders of Armenians,” Russia FM’s
Advisor for Nationalities in 1999-2001 Vsevolod Maryan stated during
round-table discussions dedicated to the crimes committed in Russia
through national hatred.
In his words, the situation should be given a straightforward
account. “The reports of press are a tiny part of what’s really going
on. At least 3000 Armenians were killed in Russia during recent ten
years,” Maryan said.
In his opinion, the crimes through national hatred originate from the
collapse of the USSR. But if at that times they were spontaneous,
now “they are organized by a ruling grouping, not only Russian but
the Azeri one as well.” ” Anyone, rich or poor, can fall victim to
nationalist policy in Russia. It will concern not the “persons of
Caucasian nationality”, as Yuri Lujkov (the Mayor of Moscow) called
them, but Armenians,” Vsevolod Maryan considers.
He motivates it by the fact that “while Armenian honestly earn money
Azeris establish contacts with powerful structures in Russia”. That
is why the killed Caucasians turn out to be Armenians. “Armenians
are deliberately killed in Russia in order to drive the last nail
into the coffin in the South Caucasus,” Vsevolod Maryan resumed,
reported IA Regnum.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY PREPARING FOR RECOGNITION OF ‘UNRECOGNIZED’
Yerkir
14.06.2006 12:52
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – “A new atmosphere, where the recognition of
independence of unrecognized states becomes admissible, is being
created via the statements of international experts,” NKR President’s
Advisor for Foreign Affairs Arman Melikyan said. In his words,
the international community is preparing for the recognition of the
“unrecognized”.
“One should not think it refers to all the unrecognized existences
in the post soviet space. Each phenomenon should be thoroughly
examined. In case with Transdniestria I can say that some forces in
the United States are interested in its recognition.
I do not rule out that some agreements were achieved at the G8
level or between Russia and the U.S. Not always that analogs meet
our interests. We should bear in mind that a difference can be
decisive. That is why consistent work should be carried out for
achieving our goals,” he remarked.
The NKR Presedent’s Advisor also remarked that a state can be
recognized by a single criterion – its capability. “We should first
of all proceed from our own potential. Nagorno Karabakh has formed
an independent state and is building a democratic and open society.
We got through hardships and I affirm we are a formed independent
state. Two states have formed on the territory of the Soviet
Azerbaijan. One, the Azerbaijani Republic, enjoyed the support of
the international community.
The other, Nagorno Karabakh, had to overcome numerous
obstacles. Meanwhile, it’s quite obvious which state advanced in
democracy building and any comparison between Azerbaijan and Nagorno
Karabakh is irrelevant. The society in Azerbaijan is completely
suppressed by the ruling top and dissent, to put it mildly, is not
welcomes there.
The situation in Karabakh is quite different. We stand very good
chances for positive development,” Melikyan underscored. At that, he
said, one should not attach epoch importance to such conclusions. “In
reality, no one expect us can assess to what degree correct we build
our internal state relations,” Arman Melikyan concluded, reported
De-Facto.

CREW TO BLAME FOR A-320 CRASH, SPECIALISTS CONSIDER
PanARMENIAN.Net
14.06.2006 14:05 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The faults of the crew have become the reason for the
A-320 crash in the Black Sea, Moscovsky Komsomolets newspaper reports
according to an anonymous source in the investigating committee.
The decoding of the flight recorders showed that the pilots “have
lost spatial orientation” in bad weather conditions. It was also
ascertained that the pilots had taken a too big list when making the
second turn by order of the flying control officer. These factors,
specialists say, led to the catastrophe.
Earlier equipment breakdown or lack of fuel were presented as versions
of the crash. The official results will be announced in several
days. Now the specialists of the International Aviation Committee
try to find “smooth” wordings to make the accusations less sharp.
To remind, on May 3 night Airbus-320 owned by Armavia national carrier
crashed in the Black Sea 6 km away from Adler airport killing all of
113 people aboard, including 6 children and 8 crewmembers. Among them
were 26 Russian citizens, one Ukrainian and one Georgian citizen, while
the rest were Armenian citizens. The flight recorders were withdrawn
from the seabed. The committee consisting of specialists from France,
Armenia and Russia deal with their decoding, reported Lenta.ru.

ARMENIANS OF JAVAKHK AGAINST KARS-AKHALKALAKI RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION
PanARMENIAN.Net
14.06.2006 14:13 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Kars-Akhalkalaki railway is the result of the
Georgian-Turkish relations. It’s good for Javakhk, since the project
promises work places and consequently the way out of the deadlock,”
chairman of “Javakhk” friendly association Shirak Torosian stated in
Yerevan. “However we are against the construction of this railway,
since it conflicts with the interests of Armenia,” he underscored.
According to Torosian, the absence of investments in the economy of
the region is conditioned by the breaks in power supply and complete
absence of infrastructure. “No single serious businessman will invest
in an unprofitable region. Business in Javakhk is divided between
clans. The Georgian authorities make use of the situation and incite
them against each other. This policy lets Tbilisi assure that there
is no political tension in the region but only internal clannish
struggle,” he remarked.

AGO GROUP SATISFIED WITH OUTCOMES OF ARMENIAN AND AZERI FMS MEETING
PanARMENIAN.Net
14.06.2006 14:10 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “We are glad that by the totals of the meeting of
the Azeri and Armenian FMs the conditions for continuation of talks
on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement have been preserved,”
said Ronald Wegener, the head of AGO group at CoE Council of Ministers
said in Baku June 14. Wegener said the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict was one of top priorities on the day agenda. Alongside,
the German diplomat said, “The meeting of the Ministers lasted more
than 4 hours and was very tense.
They also touched upon the preparation of the Presidents’ meeting.” Mr
Wegener also remarked that the Karabakh problem was discussed at
yesterday’s meeting of the Ago Group delegation with Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev, reported Trend news agency.