ARMENIA’S GOLDEN RULE
by Malcolm Pein
The Daily Telegraph (LONDON)
June 6, 2006 Tuesday
A COUPLE of 2-2 draws were enough to give Armenia the gold medals
for the first time at the 37th Chess Olympiad. They needed to play
just a few moves in their final match against Hungary to secure the
four draws they required.
China tried to put pressure on in the 12th round by defeating the
Czech Republic 3-1 and Russia overcame Cuba by the same score, but
the Armenians, seeded third, have been just too good. As well as
Levon Aronian’s fine performance on board one, Gabriel Sargissian
playing on board five scored an astonishing 8/9 and then, when his
team needed him to be solid, he drew his last four.
Russia’s misery was complete when they were defeated 3-1 by Israel,
a team of ex-Russians or, in the case of Boris Gelfand, Belarussian.
Israel’s victory was not good enough for a medal. China’s win over
the Netherlands gave them silver and the United States won bronze on
tie-break after scoring 3.5 against Norway. Michael Adams led England
to wins over Iran and Serbia and a respectable 19th place.
Final scores: 1 Armenia 36/52; 2 China 34; 3-4 US, Israel, 33;
5 Hungary 32.5; 6-10 Russia, France, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Spain 32;
19 England 30.5; 52 Scotland 28; 56 Ireland 27.5; 90 Wales 25.

CHESS GENIUS CHECKED RIVAL WHO MOVED AGAINST HIS “QUEEN”
by Jennifer Sym and Ayshea Buksh, PA
Press Association Newsfile
June 6, 2006 Tuesday 3:10 PM BST
A British chess grandmaster may face action from the game’s ruling
body for making a jealous move against a top player for dancing with
a stunning Australian contestant, the team captain said today.
In a surprise manoeuvre in the seemingly-sedate world of chess,
Danny Gormally’s behaviour towards Levon Aronian at the World Chess
Olympiad in Turin seems to have been sparked by the Armenian star’s
jiving with Arianne Caoili.
The Briton was said to have previously met and been emailing Caoili,
the 19-year-old Australian number three, but his dancefloor antics
at the tournament’s Bermuda Party led to retaliation from Aronian’s
teammates.
The World Cup winner’s supporters hit Gormally when he popped out
for a coffee the following day before they knew an apology had been
proffered, English team captain Allan Beardsworth confirmed.
Gormally, 30, from Durham, is ranked sixth in Britain, and subsequently
left the Olympiad early of his own volition.
Mr Beardsworth said: “The bottom line is this is just a little incident
in a nightclub where unfortunately Danny probably had a drink too
many and obviously saw someone dancing with a girl he liked and either
hit or tried to hit them.
“The guy he tried to hit was the world number three.”
The British player, he said, was “gutted” when he awoke the following
morning to realise what he’d done: “He knows he shouldn’t have done
it and knows he wouldn’t have done it normally.
“Danny is a nice, normal guy. When he woke up and realised he’d done
something really stupid, he knew he had to leave. We didn’t get into
any debate about what we wanted to do. He said `I must leave’. He
was so upset and I then arranged it all.”
Mr Beardsworth subsequently apologised to the Armenian delegation
and their star player the morning after the incident at the Hiroshima
Mon Amour nightclub.
“I found the head of the delegation and the translator and had a good
chat. He was fine with it, he rang Aronian up and he was glad I had
been in touch.
“We apologised then and the next day when I saw Levon we shook hands
and he was great. He realised it was just a drinking incident,”
he said.
However, while the apologies were being accepted, Aronian’s teammates
spotted Danny and “unfortunately gave him a punch or two”, said
Mr Beardsworth.
But he added: “Once they knew I had already apologised they came to
find me to apologise back to me. It was all very friendly.”
The English team subsequently came 19th in the biennial tournament,
up from 2004’s 30th place. The Armenian team won the Olympiad.
A captain’s report would be sent to the the English Chess Federation,
he said, and he would be “surprised if the ECF didn’t do something”.
“I think something has to be done. In two years’ time and four years’
time, people will remember this happened …. but what’s needed,
who knows?”
Mr Gormally – described by the team as “England’s newest Grandmaster”
and a “welcome addition to the Olympiad team” – declined to be
interviewed when contacted by the Press Association.
A spokesman for the Chess Federation in the former Soviet republic
said: “The Armenian Chess Federation does not want to give any details
on the subject. You must refer all inquiries to the British Chess
Federation. Goodbye.”
Denis Jessop, president of the Australian Chess Federation, said: “If
the Australian Chess Federation were to receive an adverse report about
the incident, the ACF Council would consider it but I do not see it
likely that any action would be taken in the absence of such a report.”
A spokesperson for the World Chess Federation (FIDE) said: “FIDE has
not received any official report of such an incident. Therefore we
cannot comment on this matter.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IN PARLIAMENT TOMORROW
Press Association Newsfile
June 6, 2006 Tuesday 6:04 AM BST
[parts omitted]
Westminster Hall:
9.30am
Backbench debates on:
Defence Ministry treatment of Gurkhas, opened by Bob Russell (Lib
Dem Colchester)
Hull to York transport gateway, opened by Graham Stuart (C Beverley
and Holderness)
Prospects for peace in Middle East after Israeli elections, opened
by Iain Wright (Lab Hartlepool)
Genocide in Armenia and Assyria, opened by Stephen Pound (Lab Ealing N)
Defence Ministry search and rescue services, Andrew George (Lib Dem
St Ives).

A-320 FLIGHT RECORDERS TO BE DECIPHERED IN 1.5-2 MONTHS
by Yekaterina Kalinina
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
June 6, 2006 Tuesday 01:14 PM EST
It will take 1.5-2 months to decipher information from flight recorders
of the Armavia A-320 jet that crashed near Sochi on May 3 and killed
113 people onboard, Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said in
St. Petersburg on Tuesday.
“The two-month deadline we have suggested is quite realistic. The
deciphering of the flight recorders keeps to the schedule,” he said.
Conversations between the Armenian crewmembers are being translated.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EFFORTS TO CONCILIATE STANDS TAKEN AT AZERBAIJANI-ARMENIAN SUMMIT
by Viktor Shulman
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
June 6, 2006 Tuesday
Efforts to conciliate Karabakh settlement positions were taken at the
Bucharest negotiations between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and
Armenian President Robert Kocharian on June 4-5, Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Elmar Mamedyarov told the press in Baku on Tuesday.
“It is hard to say how much the efforts have succeeded,” he said.
The presidents held most of their negotiations without intermediaries,
the minister said. “This is a positive process, which will eventually
bring results,” he said. A Karabakh economic development program may
be a possible solution, and the Azerbaijani government can set up a
special fund for that purpose, the minister said. However, the plan
can be fulfilled if members of the Azerbaijani community come back
to Karabakh, he said.
Mamedyarov hinted that a Karabakh referendum is not on the agenda.
Judging by his cautious statements, the Karabakh status has not been
coordinated either.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NO HEADWAY ON KARABAKH SETTLEMENT AT BUCHAREST MEETING
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Military Newswire
June 6, 2006 Tuesday 11:52 AM MSK
A recent meeting of Armenian President Robert Kocharian and his
Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Bucharest did not make
any progress toward a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian told journalists.
“In spite of a good atmosphere, no progress was made,” Oskanian, who
accompanied the Armenian president during his visit to Bucharest, said.
“At their recent meeting in Bucharest, the presidents could not resolve
the issue, the same issue they failed to resolve during their meeting
in Rambouillet, France, in February, although the Russian, French
and U.S. co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group presented proposals
discussed in Rambouillet, but in a slightly different format,” he said.
“The fact that the two countries’ presidents ordered their foreign
ministers to continue taking steps to bridge the gap between their
positions on the issue is already an achievement,” the minister said.
During their February meeting in France, Kocharian and Aliyev failed
to reach an agreement on the main principles of the settlement.

ANOTHER TRAIN WITH COMBAT MATERIEL LEAVES GEORGIA FOR RUSSIA
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Military Newswire
June 6, 2006 Tuesday
Another train, carrying Russian arms and materiel being withdrawn
from Georgia, left the Georgian Tsalka railway station on Tuesday,
Deputy Commander of the Russian Task Force in Transcaucasia Colonel
Vladimir Kuparadze told Interfax-Military News Agency.
“The train, carrying ten T-72 MBTs, spare parts and other equipment,
belonging to the Russian 62nd military base, deployed in Akhalkalaki,
went through the customs on Monday, and left for Russia at 9 a.m.
Moscow time (0500 hours GMT) on Tuesday,” Kuparadze said.
“The train will go through Azerbaijan, which has signed an agreement
on transits of Russian military cargo with Russia,” he added.
Kuparadze said that it was the sixth train, loaded with military
hardware, to leave Georgia. Three other trains, carrying hardware of
the 62nd base left for Russia earlier, and two more trains, loaded
with materiel of the 12th base, left Batumi for Armenia to equip the
Russian 102nd base.
He also pointed out that a convoy of 20 wheeled vehicles would leave
Akhalkalaki for Armenian Gyumri on Thursday to equip the 102nd base.
“In addition to that, 40 other wheeled vehicles would be sent to
Gyumri from Batumi by train,” Kuparadze said.
Russian military bases are to be withdrawn from Georgia by 2008.

REPLACEMENT OF OSCE MG US CO-CHAIR TAKEN AMBIGUOUSLY BY MOSCOW
PanARMENIAN.Net
06.06.2006 15:31 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group being appointed
to another office in the heat of Karabakh talks was taken ambiguously
by Moscow.
Russian temporary Charge d’Affaires in Azerbaijan Peter Burdykin
regretted over Mann’s appointment to another office. In the Russian
diplomat’s words, Mann “defended interests of the US and is an expert
on matters of Azerbaijan and Armenia. A replacement like that at the
moment of Armenian and Azeri Presidents’ meeting is not a very good
step.” We remind that OSCE MG US co-chair, State Department Special
Representative for Eurasian Conflicts Steven Mann is appointed Deputy
Assistant State Secretary for Central and South Asia, reports Day.az.

ALEXANDER RAHR: ARMENIA HEADS FOR BECOMING CLOSER TO WEST IN FOREIGN POLICY
PanARMENIAN.Net
06.06.2006 15:57 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Program Director at the Korber Center for Russia/CIS
Studies Alexander Rahr speaking of prospects for Asian states and
Armenia joining a union state stated in an interview to DW-WORLD.DE the
following, “A number of integration initiatives can be and are being
implemented in the post-soviet space, for example, the Collective
Security Treaty Organization. I admit unification based on common
economic interests or security interests.”
“However, political reintegration of post-soviet republics is
unlikely. Today many CIS states are more interested in becoming closed
to the West, while in the long-term prospect the political role of
China will also increase. As of Armenia and other Transcaucasian
republics, in their foreign policy they have headed for becoming
closer to the West and first of all the US long ago,” Rahr noted.

ARMENIA CONCERNED OVER MURDERS OF ARMENIANS IN MOSCOW
PanARMENIAN.Net
06.06.2006 16:06 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Via the Spokesperson of the Russian MFA Yerevan has
expressed concern over latest murders of ethnic Armenians in Moscow,
Armenian Deputy FM Gegham Gharibjanyan stated in a conversation with
journalists. In his words, the issue is rather serious. “Officers
of the Armenian Embassy in Moscow hold meetings and I believe the
matter will be discussed at these. We should do our best to avoid
such incidents in the future,” the Armenian Deputy FM said.
Gharibjanyan also remarked that addressing the issue in the plane
whether they are Armenian citizens or not is incorrect. “I intend to
discuss the issue with Russian Deputy FM,” he remarked. He said the
matter does not concern Russian state structures supporting nationalist
organizations. At that the Armenian Deputy FM underscored that the
issue of ethnic discord is present in many countries with cheap labor
force, reports IA Regnum.