“NEW NEIGHBORHOOD” PROGRAM OUTLINES INTERRELATIONS BETWEEN US AND
RUSSIA IN SOUTH CAUCASUS, ARMENIAN EXPERT CONSIDERS

YEREVAN, JULY 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The “New Neighborhood” EU program
peculiarly outlined the interrelations between the US and Russia in
the South Caucasian region. Stepan Safarian, coordinator of studies of
the Armenian Center for National and International Studies, declared
this at the July 1 seminar organized by the center and dedicated to
Armenia’s role in the region. In his estimation, in the “New
Neighborhood” policy the American strategists gave Europe only the
role of a spreader of western, namely, democratic values, as well as
participation in oil projects. At the same time, Americans prefered
not to give Europe the right to solve issues of security in this
region. Stepan Safarian mentioned that cooperation between the US and
EU was more activized over the recent years than Russia was able to
use the contradictions between the EU and US. According to the expert,
some western analysts consider that Russia’s influence in the South
Caucasus is preserved owing to presence of a number of conflicts, the
solution of which can be a pretext in ending of a “Big Game” supposing
ousting of Russia from the South Caucasus. According to S.Safarian,
it’s worth considering the “europeanization” of such conflicts as
Dniester and Georgian-Abkhazian in the very context. He assured that
at present the issue of “europeanization” of Karabakh conflict is also
being considered in European structures. He mentioned that in this
respect Armenia should strive for using its potential of
“europeanization”.

ARARAT BRANDY FACTORY HOLDS SOIREE OF “5 SENSES”

YEREVAN, JULY 1, NOYAN TAPAN. An event entitled “5 senses” dedicated
to 5 human senses – hearing, smell, touch, sight and taste – was held
by the Ararat Brand factory at the Golden Palace Hotel in Yerevan. The
duduk master Jivan Gasparian, saxophonist Didier Malier and guitarist
Patric Miheure performed during the first part “Hearing”. Famous
French perfumer Bertrand Du Chauffour created an aroma of dreams
“Ambroisie” at the request of L’arrisan Parfumeur for “Smell”. Arsen
Avetisian’s sculptural invention specially made for the Ararat Factory
was presented during “Touch”. “Sight” featured Zaven Khachikian’s
exhibition. The guests had a chance to taste unique salads of Nubar
Jivanian during the “degustation” part of the soiree.

Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
July 6 2005

City cops crack jewellery heist; gang of 4 held
By a staff reporter

6 July 2005

DUBAI – A well-planned and professionally executed jewellery heist by
a gang of four went sour when the Dubai Police cracked the case and
arrested all of them.

The gang, comprising three Armenians and a Russian, committed the
robbery on Friday, and had planned to flee the country after shipping
the stolen goods in a second-hand car they had bought to carry out
the Dh2.4 million operation, Brigadier Khamis Mattar Al Muzainah,
Director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation, said
yesterday.

Giving details of the modus operandi of the gang, he said the four
broke into the shop at Al Maktoum road through an unshuttered window
on the upper floor on Friday, when the establishment was closed for
the weekend. The gang believed that since the theft would not be
discovered till Saturday, they would have sufficient time to flee the
country with the booty of jewellery, sun glasses and watches of
reputed international brands. They broke open a steel chest but did
not find any cash in it.

After committing the theft, the gang put into action part two of
their plan, buying electrical equipment and car spare parts to use
the cartons to stash away the booty with the hope that this would
hoodwink the authorities at the port since they had genuine receipts
for the goods purchased. They had even gone through the paper work to
ship the car out of the country. The gang intended to substitute the
goods in the cartons with the booty subsequently.

As the gang had expected, the crime was discovered only on Saturday
and reported to the police at around 9am. Police investigations
revealed that the heist was carried out by a professional gang, and
that the shop must have been cased earlier.

In all, 243 watches, 180 sun glasses and a whole lot of jewellery was
stolen, which was totally valued at Dh2.1 million.

`Immediately, a team of policemen who had specialised in this kind of
robbery was formed to investigate the case, and within 24 hours, the
team could identify the gang. They were identified as Moshoja
Markosiam, Artak Ablian, Vijein Fakhtanj and David Robert. It was
found out that they were on a visit visa and were residing in a
resort in a neighbouring emirate and using a rented car,’ Brig Khamis
said.

Once the police were sure of their investigations, they moved in,
with the cooperation of the police force in the neighbouring emirate,
and arrested the gang of four from the resort.

Dubai police stopped the shipment and the car was brought to the
department and searched. The steel chest was hidden in one of the
cartons with the stolen goods in it.

Lt-Col Ibrahim Khaleel, Director of the Criminal Investigation
Department said the gang initially denied the crime, but subsequently
confessed when confronted with evidences.

What is intriguing is that their passports indicate that this was
their first visit to the country, and the police believe that they
could not have carried out such a professional job without doing a
proper recce of the shop, which couldn’t have been done in just two
days. The authorities have sought further information from the gang
members’ countries, and are quite sure that this would help in
unravelling this mystery.

The four will now be handed over to the Public Prosecution for
further action.

Schweizerische Depeschenagentur AG (SDA)
SDA – Service de base français
5 juillet 2005

Grand Conseil vaudois Le génocide arménien formellement reconnu

Lausanne

Lausanne (ats) Le Grand Conseil vaudois a formellement reconnu mardi
le génocide arménien. Il l’avait déjà fait indirectement en 2003.

La résolution adoptée n’engage toutefois que le législatif, le
Conseil d’Etat estimant cette démarche inappropriée.

“Les divergences portent sur la forme plus que sur le fond”, a assuré
le conseiller d’Etat Jean-Claude Mermoud devant le plénum. Le
gouvernement vaudois “préfère faciliter la tche de la conseillère
fédérale Micheline Calmy-Rey”.

En outre, cette démarche n’a plus vraiment de sens, puisque le
Conseil National a reconnu le génocide arménien en décembre 2003,
estimait le Conseil d’Etat. Le gouvernement vaudois proposait au
législatif cantonal d’en rester là.

M. Mermoud a rappelé que la prise en considération de ce postulat en
2003 avait provoqué le report du voyage en Turquie de la cheffe de la
diplomatie. “Les sensibilités sont encore à vif”, a-t-il souligné.

“Contre l’oubli”

Les parlementaires ont refusé de s’aligner sur la position de
l’exécutif. La résolution a été acceptée par 86 voix contre 35 et 25
abstentions. Elle indique simplement que “le Grand Conseil du Canton
de Vaud reconnaît le génocide du peuple arménien de 1915 et honore la
mémoire des victimes”.

Cette démarche n’est pas dirigée contre le peuple turc ni contre les
autorités actuelles de ce pays mais contre l’oubli, ont souligné
plusieurs orateurs. “Le devoir de mémoire est pénible, il ne
s’enclenche pas sans impulsion extérieure”, a commenté le radical
Jean-Claude Rochat, citant l’affaire des fonds en déshérence pour la Suisse.

MARMARIK RESERVOIR DESIGN WORK COMPLETED

YEREVAN, JUJY 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The Marmarik reservoir design work has
been completed. According to the director of the Irrigation Systems
Development Program’s Implementation Office Adibek Ghazarian, the
project is now under examination of the experts of the RA Ministry of
Urban Devepment who will present their conclusion next week, after
which a tender to choose the constructing organization will be
held. A. Ghazarian said that 9 mln USD needed for the reservoir’s
construction has been provided by the World Bank. It is envisaged to
complete the construction work in 30 months, which will make it
possible to irrigate 5 thousand ha of land. The reservoir was built on
Marmarik – the right tributary of the Hrazdan River in 1970. Yet it
has never been used, since on the first day of tests, the “body” of
the dam moved. It is envisaged to demolish the dam and build a new
one.

REPAIRS OF KECHUT AND YEREVAN RESERVOIRS TO START THIS YEAR

YEREVAN, JULY 1, NOYAN TAPAN. It is envisaged to start this year
repairs of the Kechut and “Yerevan Lake” reservoirs. According to the
director of the Irrigation Systems Development Program’s
Implementation Office Adibek Ghazarian, the World Bank has provided a
loan of 6.8 mln USD for repairs of these and another 16 small
reservoirs. To recap, the most accident prone and the biggest
reservoirs of the country have been completely repaired within the
framework of the WB-funded 30-mln-dollar program on safety of the
Armenian reservoirs. The techical state of the remaining 60 ones was
examined and classified according to the degree of accident proneness.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RESIDENTS OF 2 ARMENIAN VILLAGES OF BORZHOM REGION HOLD REGULAR ACTION
OF PROTEST AGAINST “BRITISH PETROLEUM”

AKHALKALAK, JULY 1, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The residents of
Armenian villages of Tapatsghur and Molit of Borzhom region organized
a regular action of protest against the “British Petroleum” (BP)
company that ordered the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil
pipeline, stopping the pipeline’s construction on June 28. In the
villagers’ affirmation, those carrying out the pipeline’s construction
didn’t completely pay them the compensation in connection with
building the pipeline through the village territory. In particular,
it’s envisaged to use a territory with a width of 66 meters instead of
former 44 meters in the village of Molit at the full length of the oil
pipeline. Tapatsghur village residents consider that they need the
respective revenues from the village budget in order to use the
sand-pits in the village territory. Georgy Papuashvili, Georgian
Minister of Environmental Conservation, arrived in the region in
connection with the incident and promised to help the villagers in
getting the compensation. According to the A-Info agency, the
residents of the village of Ghado of Akhalkalak region also have such
a problem.

RA STATE BUDGET REVENUES FROM PROFIT TAX INCREASE BY 71.2% IN
JANUARY-MAY

YEREVAN, JULY 4, NOYAN TAPAN. In January-May, 2005, the profit tax
revenues of the RA state budget grew by 71.1% to 18.9 bln drams (about
41 mln USD). According to the RA National Statistical Service, in the
months under review, VAT increased by 20.8% to 52 bln drams, the
excise tax – by 8.7% to 14 bln drams. The income tax grew by 28.1% to
9.1 bln drams in the period under review, the simplified tax – by 7%
to 2.7 bln drams, while the fixed payments – by 14.6% to 5 bln
drams. The amount of customs duty revenues grew by 39.5% to 6 bln 98.8
mln drams. Other tax revenues of the state budget increased by 138.6%
in January-May and made 1.4 bln drams.

RA PRESIDENT SIGNES DECREE ON CONVENING SPECIAL SESSION ON JULY 6

YEREVAN, JULY 4, NOYAN TAPAN. On July 2, RA President Robert Kocharian
signed a decree on convening a RA NA special session on July 6,
2005. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA President’s Press Office,
a dozen of draft laws and more than six dozens of drafts on making
amendments and additions to laws are put on the agenda of the
session. Two international agreements will be presented to
ratification at the special session.

RA STATE BUDGET REVENUES IN JANUARY-MAY EXCEED INDEX OF SAME PERIOD OF
2004 BY 27.2%

YEREVAN, JULY 4, NOYAN TAPAN. In Janury-May, 2005, the RA state budget
revenues grew by 27.2% on the same period of last year and made 131.5
bln drams (about 297.7 mln USD), with tax revenues increasing by 24.2%
to 111.3 bln drams and nontax revenues – by 71.3% to 11 bln 860.1 mln
drams. State duty revenues fell by 4.8% to 5.8 bln drams in the period
under review. According to the RA National Statistical Service, in the
first five months of 2005, the state budget expenditures made 122 bln
762.9 mln drams, which exceeded the respective index of last year by
22.5%. The surplus of the budget made 11 bln 676.2 mln drams in the
same months.