Panorama.am
15:44 14/04/06

LONG LIVE THE MOST UNBIASED COURT!
`The European justice delivered the right judgment in both cases: when
justifying Tehleryan and when condemning safarov,’ today at the
briefing the head of ARF grouping Levon Lazarian introduced his
position about the verdict of the Azeri murderer delivered in Budapest
yesterday. The above mentioned verdict allows the Deputy to say that
`we deal with justice on strong European basis.’
Moreover all parliamentary groups-groupings agreed to the point of
view that the verdict of Budapest Court is of moral and political
importance to us. The head of the Committee of state-legal affairs
Rafik Petrosyan did not exclude the possibility of extradition, yet he
considered it almost improbable. Moreover, he mentioned that there is
no such agreement between Hungary and Azerbaijan, and if one is signed
it will not have any backward force. /Panorama.am/

Karasin and Fassier discuss the process of settlement of teh Karabakh
conflict

ArmRadio.am
15.04.2006 13:58
Yesterday Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Grigori Karasin received
the French Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Bernard Fassier, who
arrived in Moscow after visiting Baku and Yerevan.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation informs that
the interlocutors discussed the issues of coordinating the activities
in the Co-Chairmanship format and the future steps directed at
resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

USA worried at growing Russian presence in Caucasus, congressman tells
Azeris

Ekspress, Baku 14 Apr 06
Yeni Azarbaycan, Baku 14 Apr 06
US Congressman Jim Kolbe has said that the USA is concerned about
Russia’s increasing presence in the Caucasus, Azerbaijani newspaper
Ekspress has reported.
Kolbe said at a news conference in Baku on 13 April: “My country is
concerned about Russia’s increasing military and economic presence in
the Caucasus.
The region is important to all of us. I think that the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas
pipeline increase regional independence and reduce dependence on a
country like Russia.”
Kolbe added that Azerbaijan could wait a little more for the complete
repeal of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act banning US government
aid to Azerbaijan ‘in conditions when the Karabakh settlement is not
far off’. He stressed that the US Congress could allocate funds to
Azerbaijan after a ‘political resolution’ of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict.
The newspaper added that Kolbe discussed Caspian regional developments
and Azerbaijan’s relations with its neighbours at a meeting with
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. Mammadyarov told Kolbe that the
Karabakh settlement was possible only on the basis of Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity, Ekspress quoted the Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry as saying. It added that the minister also spoke about the
need to jointly fight terrorism.
At the same time, the pro-government newspaper Yeni Azarbaycan quoted
Kolbe as saying that the USA wants a lasting and fair solution to the
conflict and that the USA would be one of the first countries to
assist Azerbaijan in rehabilitating its occupied territories.
Ekspress added that asked about reasons for Azerbaijan’s omission from
the Millennium Challenge programme, the congressman noted that the
main criteria under which countries are given aid are quality of
management and level of corruption.
“Kolbe is waiting ‘impatiently’ for the day Azerbaijan meets those
criteria,” the newspaper said.

IN KARABAKH WHEAT IS BREAD AND VIDEO PLAYER
Lragir.am
15 April 06
After the price of wheat had dropped dramatically, experts expected a
reduction of areas under wheat. The indices of winter wheat were, in
fact,causing concern. 40 per cent less wheat was sown. However, the
National Statistics Service informed that by April 10, 2006 1867.6
hectares were put under crop.
Growing by 97.7 per cent against the same period in 2005. 53.8 per
cent or 1005.5 hectares of crops is potato, 31.8 per cent or 593.3
hectares is grain and peas and beans.
Farmers say although the price of wheat dropped and the price of
diesel soared, and wheat is not profitable any more, they had to sow
wheat again though they had not been able to sell the crop. They say
only with `free’
cultivation is it possible to generate income, that is on the expense
of the state or others.
Whereas wheat is a staple crop Karabakh, it does not require much
water (only 4 per cent of land in Karabakh is irrigated), secondly,
wheat is highly demanded. In the village of Nor Maragha, Martakert
region, for instance, where about 300 people displaced from old
Maragha live, the quality of life improved thanks to wheat
production. The English teacher of the school of Nor Maragha Magdalena
Hambardzumyan said after the harvest of 2005 new TV sets, video
players and cell phones appeared in many families. There are people
who can already afford to redecorate their houses. The farmers do not
complain of abundance of land, they need a loan. Here there is
something to complain of.

Agence France Presse
13 avril 2006 jeudi 3:30 PM GMT
Hongrie: prison à vie pour un Azerbaïdjanais qui avait décapité un Arménien
BUDAPEST 13 avr 2006
Un lieutenant azerbaïdjanais, reconnu coupable d’avoir tué un
lieutenant arménien à coups de hache à Budapest lors d’un
entraînement organisé par l’Otan en 2004, a été condamné jeudi à la
réclusion criminelle à perpétuité par un tribunal hongrois.
Le juge Andras Vaskuti a estimé que Ramil Safarov, 29 ans, avait
assassiné le lieutenant arménien Gurgen Markarian, 26 ans, “de
manière préméditée, vile et inhabituellement cruelle” en le
décapitant dans son sommeil.
M. Safarov a aussi été reconnu coupable d’avoir planifié l’assassinat
d’un autre Arménien, qu’il n’a finalement pas perpétré.
La défense a fait appel du verdict.
“Safarov a tué sa victime uniquement parce qu’elle était d’origine
arménienne”, a estimé le juge dans ses attendus.
Les deux jeunes officiers participaient ensemble à un cours d’anglais
à Budapest dans le cadre du “Partenariat pour la paix” de l’Otan,
organisation dont l’Arménie et l’Azerbaïdjan sont membres.
L’assassinat, commis le 19 février 2004, avait engendré des tensions
entre l’Azerbaïdjan et l’Arménie, deux anciennes républiques
soviétiques dont chacune revendique le contrôle du Nagorny Karabakh,
une enclave peuplée d’Arméniens en Azerbaïdjan.
A l’audience, la défense a mis en avant les épreuves vécues
auparavant par le prévenu. Plusieurs des membres de sa famille ont
été tués et sa famille a dû fuir son domicile dans la ville de
Jebrail lorsque cette agglomération a été occupée par les forces
arméniennes, selon la défense.
Le meurtre de Budapest avait été attribué par l’Arménie à “l’hystérie
anti-arménienne” attisée selon elle par le gouvernement
azerbaïdjanais. Des responsables azerbaïdjanais avaient pour leur
part déclaré que le meurtrier était un réfugié victime du conflit
avec l’Arménie.
La république autoproclamée du Nagorny Karabakh, peuplée par 145.000
Arméniens et soutenue par l’Arménie, a fait sécession de
l’Azerbaïdjan à l’issue d’un conflit de six ans qui a fait, entre
1988 et 1994, près de 25.000 morts et des centaines de milliers de
déplacés.
L’Arménie contrôle depuis sept régions azerbaïdjanaises limitrophes
qui lui ouvrent un corridor vers le Nagorny Karabakh. Malgré un
cessez-le-feu signé en 1994, les accrochages armés restent fréquents
sur la ligne de contact entre les deux pays. La question du statut du
Nagorny Karabakh n’a toujours pas été résolue.

Top Manager Jailed for Heading Wrong Company
Created: 12.04.2006 14:20 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 10:01 MSK
MosNews.Com
Becoming an executive vice president of a major Russian oil company may
seem an attractive career move for any ambitious man, but in Russia the
consequences of such appointment may prove harmful. Vasily Aleksanyan was
arrested just week after becoming the top manager of the embattled oil
company Yukos and, as the man himself said shortly before his detention,
this was done after repeated warnings from law enforcers to stay away from
the wrong company.
Aleksanyan’s arrest was sanctioned by the Basmanny district court of Moscow
(which deals with most cases connected with the embattled Yukos company) on
April 7, less than one week after being appointed executive vice president
by Chief Executive Officer Steven Theede on April 1. The appointment was
unanimously ratified by the Board of Directors on April 4.
The authorities reacted quickly. On April 5 Aleksanyan’s apartment and
country house were searched and he himself was questioned by prosecutors. On
Thursday he was arrested after the move was approved by the court.
Prosecutors accuse Aleskanyan of embezzlement and money laundering. If found
guilty he may face 10 to 15 years in jail.
Under Russian law a person may be detained pending trial only after a court
of law sanctions the move.
This bought Aleksanyan some time during which he talked to journalists about
the developments in his case. Several hours before he was detained, he told
the Kommersant newspaper that he had been under surveillance and the agents
engaged in it were not even disguising themselves, but acting quite openly,
which could be seen as an act of intimidation.
He also said that law enforcers had warned him to “stay away” from Yukos.
“In an interview on March 22, the investigator told me to stay away from
this company and she said so quite openly, in the presence of my lawyer.
After I said I was not going to leave Yukos, she smiled and said it was the
first time she had seen a man who was voluntary asking to be put in jail,”
the newspaper quoted Aleksanyan as saying. “Before that, the investigators
had said I should worry about my child and about my health. They said that
my health was already not strong”.
In an official statement released the day after Aleksanyan’s detention,
prosecutors said they feared he would flee the country, and that he had
attempted to do so already. However, over the past two years Aleksanyan has
headed the legal department in Yukos, and he always turned up for
questioning at the same time as he was working in the defense team of former
Yukos CEO and key shareholder Mikhail Khodorkovsky as well as Vasily
Shakhnovsky, the head of the managing company Yukos-Moscow.
Aleksanyan denied any wrongdoing and went on a hunger strike in protest at
his detention. “Starting today I am on a hunger strike, and will only drink
water until I am released,” he has been quoted as saying by his lawyer,
Gevorg Dangyan. Dangyan has filed an appeal over his client’s arrest, saying
that it was illegal and unfounded. “None of the documents showed that I had
committed a crime and all the accusations were absolutely unsubstantiated,”
he said.
Prison authorities reacted to Aleksanyan’s hunger strike by putting him in a
punishment cell.
Gevorg Dangyan said that his client had been in the punishment cell since
April 8 for refusing to undergo a medical check-up to be carried out by the
detention centre doctors. The lawyer again said that Aleksanyan had been
refusing food and had only been drinking water.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s lawyer Mr Amsterdam, who has been expelled from
Russia, said that Western nations must share the blame for what is happening
to the Yukos managers.
“I condemn the arrest in the strongest possible terms. Western nations have
no right to wring their hands over this latest assault on the rule of law
because it is they who have tacitly legitimized it. It is the Western banks
who made a pact with the devil to force Yukos into bankruptcy and then be
first in line for the spoils,” Amsterdam told the Australian edition
Tax-News.com.

An exhibition to open at “Arshil Gorki’ Fund

ArmRadio.am
15.04.2006 11:44
An exhibition dedicated to the 102nd anniversary of famous artist Arshil
Gorki will open today at `Arshil Gorki’ Fund.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Medals and Titles for Police employees

ArmRadio.am
15.04.2006 13:36
With RA President Robert Kocharyan’s decree of 14 April, Chief of RA
Police, Lieutenant-General of Police Hayk Harutyunayan was awarded the
title of Colonel-General. First Deputy Chief of Police, Major-General
Ararat Mahtesyan and Deputy Chief of Police, Major-General of Police
Hovhannes Varyan were awarded the title of General-Lieutenant of
Police.
Head of the Chief Agency of Criminal Investigations Hayk Militonyan
was awarded the title of Major-General of Police.
On the occasion of the Police Day, Head of the Chief Department of
Investigations of Police, Major-General of Police was awarded the
title of Honorary Lawyer.
On the occasion of the Police Day, a number of Police employees were
awarded medals. Medals were awarded also to a number of other Police
workers for their contribution to Motherland.

Turkish minister says nuclear energy is a must
Anatolia news agency, Ankara
14 Apr 06

Ankara, 14 April: “Nuclear energy issue is not only a preference; it
is a must,” said Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi
Guler.
Guler held today a meeting in Ankara with 150 scientists from Turkish
Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK) on nuclear energy.
Following the meeting, Guler told reporters, “Researches of TAEK and
related departments of universities on nuclear energy have been going
on for 56 years.”
Regarding the safety aspect of the issue, Guler said that they are
working on the safest and most modern methods.
On the other hand, TAEK Chairman Okay Cakiroglu said, “We have made a
preliminary study in Sinop. We haven’t still decided on the exact
place where the nuclear power plant will be built. Inceburun region of
Sinop is appropriate in geotechnical aspect. We will make our decision
within a year.”
Recalling that they can also build a nuclear power plant for civilian
use in Akkuyu (in southern city of Mersin), Cakiroglu said, “We did
not give up Akkuyu. We can build a power plant in Akkuyu any time if
necessary.”
He added, “However, we looked for another alternative because Akkuyu
is a tourist region. Thus we chose Sinop.”
When asked how long it will take to build a power plant, Cakiroglu
said that the construction may take 60 months.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday had selected Black
Sea city of Sinop as the city where the nuclear power plant will be
built.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkish engineers criticize proposed nuclear plant
Anatolia news agency
14 Apr 06

Ankara, 14 April: The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects
(TMMOB) Ankara Branch has criticized the government’s decision to build a
nuclear power plant in Black Sea city of Sinop.
In a statement made public today, TMMOB indicated that it is impossible to
present the dirtiest source of energy (which is nuclear energy) as the “most
clean” energy.
TMMOB decided to organize a protest meeting in Sinop on 29 April, the day of
the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster.