CE NOT WORKING FOR FULL MEDIATION IN KARABAKH TALKS
PanARMENIAN.Net
11.04.2006 23:11 GMT+04:0
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Head of the PACE Interim Committee on Nagorno
Karabakh Lord Russell-Johnston said he thinks of the opportunity
of resumption of hostilities in the conflict zone “with great
displeasure.” Lord Russell-Johnston remarked, “creation of the NK
Committee at the PACE does not mean we work for becoming full mediators
in the talks.” “The OSCE Minsk Group has been professionally dealing
with it for over 10 years now and I do not think the CE can replace it.
Our task is to provide the necessary assistance to the OSCE MG
co-chairs,” said head of the PACE Interim Committee.
Russell-Johnston did not rule out a visit of the Interim Committee to
Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as meetings with NK representatives
this year. “We also consider the opportunity to organize a meeting
between Armenian and Azeri MPs, however speaking of concrete agreements
is early still,” Russell-Johnston said, Mediamax reports.

ALIYEV TO DISCUSS KARABAKH ISSUE IN US
PanARMENIAN.Net
12.04.2006 00:29 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to the
United States scheduled for 28 April has long been planned. During
the visit, bilateral issues between the two countries will be
discussed,” Ali Hasanov, head of the Presidential Administration
social and political department told journalists. Mr. Hasanov said
that President Aliyev will have talks with US President George Bush,
State Secretary Condoleezza Rice and OSCE MG American co-chair Steven
Mann. The Nagorno Karabakh issue and relations with Iran will be in
focus of the meetings, Hasanov said.
Hasanov also criticized the OSCE MG activities. “If Russia, France,
US shut their eyes on “Armenia’s aggression” the OSCE Minsk Group
is pointless institution then. It is natural that the United States
does not want the war to break out in the South Caucasus, neither
do we. We do not want our oil revenues to be spent on war. However,
for the sake of liberation of our territories we’ll mobilize not only
oil revenues but also family incomes. It is important to put pressure
on Armenia to prevent war,” Hasanov remarked.
The head of the department does not think that the Azerbaijan-US talks
will also focus on Iran issue. He said Iran and US will decide their
relations themselves. “This issue concerns these two countries.
We have relations with the US as well as with Iran.
Our citizens keep in touch with Iran,” he concluded, APA reports.

SAFAROV KILLING SLEEPING MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE TO BAKU
PanARMENIAN.Net
12.04.2006 00:41 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Not only Adil Ismaylov, but also Hungarian lawyers
are guilty for bad defense of Ramil Safarov. His defense was also very
badly organized at the state level,” stated Chair of the Karabakh
Liberation Organization (KLO) Akif Nagi. In his words, Hungarian
Prosecutor Veronica Kish was “influenced by Armenian authorities
and Diaspora. She openly supports them and cites facts that are not
confirmed anywhere.
Besides, it does not matter, whether the Armenian was asleep or no,”
Nagi said.
At the same time Nagi does not consider the events in the Budapest
court a failure of the Azeri party. “I would call it irresponsibility
of Hungarian judicial authorities. Besides, let Armenians not be happy
prematurely. There is still time and we still believe the court will
pass a just decision,” the KLO leader said.
To remind, during the court hearing on March 4 the prosecutor demanded
life sentence for Safarov without the right for amnesty during the
initial 30 years. The prosecutor stated the crime was committed with
special cruelty and threats the national security of Hungary.
He also emphasized Safarov was responsible at the moment of
committing the crime. In her turn Hungarian lawyer Gabriella Kaspar,
who represents interests of the Armenian party, added the murder of
Gurgen Margaryan should be considered a genocide, as it is committed
on the national ground.

COMMISSION FOR WORKING OUT NATIONAL SECURITY CONCEPT MET
PanARMENIAN.Net
12.04.2006 00:47 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The third session of the Interdepartmental Commission
for Coordinating the Working out of the National Security Concept was
held in Yerevan, chaired by Secretary of the National Security Council
and the President of Armenia, MOD Head Serge Sargsyan. According
to the Spokesperson of the Armenian MOD Head, colonel Seyran
Shahsuvaryan, during the session 250 proposals presented before were
considered. These specifically refer to the section on Challenges to
the National Security of Armenia and Ensuring It. During exchange
of views the Commission Secretariat was commissioned to edit the
proposals and include them in the concept.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT SAFAROV DEMANDS DELAY OF ANNOUNCING VERDICT
PanARMENIAN.Net
12.04.2006 01:14 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “The Budapest city court is influenced by Armenian
lobby and therefore will not pass a fair verdict regarding the
Azerbaijani officer,” Head of the Committee to Protect Ramil Safarov’s
Rights Akif Naghi said in Baku. In his words, the Committee demands
that the trial scheduled April 13 be postponed and the court staff
be replaced.
The Committee also believes that Azerbaijan’s parliamentary group
for relations with the Hungarian Parliament should leave for Budapest
as soon as possible. In addition, the Azerbaijani parliament should
hold a debate on Safarov’s case at Hungarian Parliament, a large
media group should be sent to Budapest, and his extradition should
be achieved irrespective of the verdict on him, APA reports.

GEORGIAN CHURCH PREPARES GROUNDS FOR TERRITORIAL CLAIMS TO ARMENIA
PanARMENIAN.Net
09.04.2006 GMT+04:00
Orthodox hierarchs have declared their rights to Armenian churches
located in the borderline regions of Armenia.
The newly established special commission created in the patriarchy
of Georgian Orthodox Church is aimed at proving the necessity of
passing six Armenian churches located in the Northern regions of
Armenia to the ownership of Georgia. The decision on the creation of
such a committee is viewed in Yerevan as a deliberate provocation,
which can have political consequences with a negative impact on
Armenian-Georgian relations.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ It is not the first time that Georgian Orthodox
Church asserts unconcealed claims to the property of Armenian
Apostolic Church. It is noteworthy that this time Georgians lay claim
to churches, located in the Republic of Armenia – regions of Tavoush
and Lori. What is especially delicate in this issue is the fact that
those churches are located on territories, which were included in
the map of united Georgian Republic by Georgian Mensheviks back in
1918. It was the control over Tavoush and Lori regions that caused
conflicts between Armenia and Georgia. Fortunately the rulers of
the first Georgian Republic found enough wisdom and common sense to
acknowledge the sovereignty of Yerevan over those territories. Since
then no one has publicly cast doubt on the fact that those territories
belong to Armenia.
This is why the decision of orthodox hierarchs promoting reanimation
of the closed and completely senseless discussion looks even more
unexpected.
The establishment of the “special commission” was preceded by
another demarche, which was no less provocative. Early in March,
the supreme synod of Georgian Orthodox Church made a decision on the
establishment of eparchy of Georgian Orthodox Church in Armenia. Making
the decision Georgians did not even inform Armenian Apostolic Church
or the political leadership of Armenia. “To restore historical
existence of the eparchy of Agarak-Tashir and subordinate it to the
bishop of Dmanisi with a title bishop of Dmanisi and Agarak – Tashir,
Dmanisi chair”.
This is what the synod’s decision says. Taking into account the fact
that there is not a single pious Georgian in those territories, it
is not clear for whom they are creating the new eparchy. Meanwhile,
Georgians living in Yerevan have the opportunity of holding liturgies
according to the Orthodox rite. As a gesture of good will the Armenian
Apostolic Church has given them a church, creating all the necessary
conditions. It is quite strange that the gesture was not appreciated…
There is no doubt that the synod of Georgian church made the decision
on the establishment of eparchy and creation of the special committee,
basing on the claims to Armenian churches and the approval of
Georgian political leadership. But why did the official Tbilisi need
that? Usually Georgian political scientists accuse Russian special
services in the rise of tension between Armenia and Georgia. But this
time it is quite obvious who is standing behind the attempt to involve
the two neighbor nations in a quarrel. It is especially strange that
those things happened immediately after the successful visit of the
newly appointed Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gela Bejuashvili
who gave special attention to the problem of relations between Armenian
and Georgian churches.
Nevertheless, it is not hard to find an answer to the question “Why
now?”. The problem of defining the status of traditional faiths has
been discussed in Tbilisi for a long time. Though in the multi-national
Republic of Georgia the church is detached of state, authorities refuse
to create legal base for the activities of other faiths. Especially
morbid is the attitude of Georgians to the issue of defining the
rights of the local eparchy of Armenian Apostolic Church. The issue
of the status of the eparchy presupposes determination of ownership
rights on the six Armenian churches, which ceased functioning after
the establishment of Soviet power. Orthodox hierarchs call those
churches Georgian. There is no doubt that latest demarches of the
Georgian Orthodox Church are an answer to the demands of Georgian
Armenians. It looks like the claims of Georgians to the six Armenian
churches are not accidental too. They are probably guided by the
principles “eye for eye” and “best the defense is attack”…
Under such circumstances it is getting harder and harder to believe
in the purposefulness of the planned visit of Armenian Catholicos
to Tbilisi. The issue of the visit of Garegin II to Tbilisi has
been discussing for a long time. His visit to Georgia could become
a break-through in the complicated relations between Armenian and
Georgian churches. It is worth mentioning that the last Catholicos
to visit Georgia was Khrimyan Hayrik who went to Georgia 110 years
ago. Thus, the situation is not normal: the patriarchs of two
sister nations communicate through mediators and see each other on
the funerals of their predecessors. Wishing to put an end to this
absurdity the Armenian Catholicos was ready to pay a visit to his
Georgian brother. And this is how Tbilisi responded.
“PanARMENIAN.Net” analytical department

AZERBAIJAN OPPOSES EXAMINATION OF OLD JUGHA CEMETERY BY EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MISSION
By Aghavni Harutyunian
AZG Armenian Daily
12/04/2006
Baku will give consent to the 10 member commission of the European
Parliament to examine the site of ancient Armenian cemetery of Old
Jugha, Nakhijevan, only on terms of conducting “two-sided examination”,
AzeriPress agency reports.
The president of the European Parliament has recently approved of
the initiative to send a mission to survey the site of destruction
of Armenian monuments.
Azerbaijan voices dissatisfaction with the fact that the EP decided
to entrust the mission to Armenia-EP interparliamentary committee
instead of setting an ad hoc committee.
To date, the European delegation is due to arrive in the region on
April 17-21.

RENO HARNISH DOES NOT CONSIDER US NEW PROPOSALS TO MAMEDYAROV
AZG Armenian Daily
12/04/2006
US new proposals over the Nagorno Karabakh process are not new,
US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Reno Harnish said, when answering a
question on which proposals were presented during a meeting of US
State Secretary Condoleezza Rice with Azeri FM Elmar Mamedyarov,
Panarmenian.net reports. In Harnish’s words, during the meeting only
practical matters, relating to attaining lasting and fair peace were
discussed. The US diplomat also remarked that the work during the past
two years allowed attaining a higher level and “matters like those
should be decided by presidents and peoples of the two countries.” Reno
Harnish hoped that both Armenian and Azeri peoples will defend their
leaders. In his words, besides the Karabakh topic, security, energy
matters and reforms were discussed during Washington talks.

CHARLES AZNAVOUR ARRIVES IN YEREVAN BY THE MAIDEN FLIGHT OF AIR FRANCE
AZG Armenian Daily
12/04/2006
Air France launched its activities in Armenia by its first flight
on March 27. Henry Cuny, French ambassador in Armenia, represented
the guests that arrived in Yerevan by the first flight of Air France,
namely RA ambassador in France, counselor of French President Jacques
Chirac, the representatives of the French parliamentary friendship
group. Outstanding singer Charles Aznavour also was aboard this flight.
Emphasizing the importance of opening Air France office in Yerevan,
ambassador Cuny, stated that it is of great political importance, as
the company’s activities in Armenia will contribute to strengthening
of relations between our countries. He also pointed out to the economic
importance of the newly opened office of Air France that will establish
everyday communication between Armenia and France through the flights
of the French company and ArmAvia.
“What can I say? I am not a French Armenian. I want to emphasize with
pride that I am a Frenchman with Armenian origin. I am a Frenchman by
my homeland and education, but by my spirit, heart and family relations
I am an Armenian,” Charles Aznavour stated in his speech. Though
Mr. Cuny introduced Mr. Aznavour as one of the honored first passengers
of the first Paris-Yerevan flight of Air France, Mr. Aznavour said that
he had the impression that he was the representative of Air France.
Mr. Aznavour emphasized the importance of spreading the French
language in Armenia, stating that he would like the French to be
at least the third language in Armenia, as the second language is
already Russian. “I am glad to be here,” he said in the end of his
speech and added already in Armenian: “See you soon.”

BAGRAT YENGIBARIAN EXPLAINS HIS CANDIDACY FOR MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES CHIEF’S POSITION
By Aghavni Harutyunian
AZG Armenian Daily
12/04/2006
Bagrat Yengibarian, head of the Fund of Incubator Enterprises,
has applied for the position of project director of the Millennium
Challenges among other 48 applicants. “I think there are lots of
question I am going to ask once I am called for an interview. One
thing is certain: at stake are the Fund of Incubator Enterprises and
its successful development. I will demand equivalent compensation
for that. I am applying for the position as I see great demand for
human resources. I think my career and potential can help fill the
gap and it would be wrong to stay out.”