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07/21/2006
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1. Karabakh: Agreement on General Principles Possible in 2006
2. ARS Central Executive Issues Appeal on Lebanon Crisis
3. ARS of Western USA Elects New Executive Members
4. Kocharian Cancels Moscow Trip ‘Due To Illness’
5. Georgian Leader Stays away from CIS Summit in Protest

1. Karabakh: Agreement on General Principles Possible in 2006

YEREVAN (YERKIR)–The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution process is very
different in 2006 than in 1997, before the resignation of then president Levon
Ter-Petrosyan, said Giro Manoyan, political director of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation Bureau, during a press conference Friday.
"I believe that the first President meant that Armenia will not have to
choose. In 2006 some form of an agreement on general principles is possible at
best. However, the inadequate conduct of Azerbaijan will bring to naught all
efforts of the mediators and the international community," Manoyan said.
The ARF leader underscored that in case an agreement reached by Armenian and
Azeri presidents regarding the security of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic did
not serve the interests of the Armenia people, the ARF will appeal to the
state
leaders for explanations "in accordance with the law."
Speaking about the idea of changing the format of the talks, which issues
from
Azerbaijan, Manoyan stressed, that it was merely a desire of official Baku,
which is not a decisive one in this issue.
"The format of the OSCE Minsk Group for the resolution of the Nagorno
Karabakh
conflict remains the same. At least for the near future," he remarked.
Deputy Foreign Minister of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Masis Mayilian met
Thursday with the Field Assistant of Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Gunter Folk.
The Karabakh Foreign Ministry press service told Armenpress that during the
meeting Folk presented a report of the Office of the Personal
Representative of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office on skirmishes, which took place in the border
areas.
As was announced earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appealed to the
Office of the OSCE Personal Representative Chairman-in-Office with a
request to
conduct a monitoring in border region in order to provide a proper assessment
of the situation and to address Azeri accusations regarding wildfires in the
areas.
The OSCE mission conducted a series of visits in the border region, as a
result of which a corresponding report was prepared, which concluded that the
Azeri side was to blame for the arsons.
At present the document is being studied at the Karabakh foreign ministry.
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs from Russia, the US and France, who are the
only international body spearheading efforts to end the Karabakh conflict, are
scheduled to meet in Paris in early August to decide on their next steps,
Russian cochairman, Yury Merzlyakov, was quoted by Trend news agency as
saying
in an exclusive interview.
He said the objective of the meeting is to hold consultations on the results
of a tour to the region conducted by the recently appointed US cochairman
Matthew Bryza.
Merzlyakov said for the time being it was not clear whether they would
adopt a
resolution after meeting in Paris or whether they would discuss organization
of the next round of meetings between the conflict sides.
"We will resolve this issue as soon as we meet. I don’t know what kind of
conclusions the US co-chairman may have arrived at. Before our meeting in
Paris he will have had more contacts, he will talk to both presidents and in
all likelihood he will have some conclusions," he said.
According to some reports, Bryza will pay a two-day visit to Nagorno-Karabakh
on 29th of July from Yerevan and then he is to leave for Baku for talks from
July 31 to August 1.

2. ARS Central Executive Issues Appeal on Lebanon Crisis

WATERTOWN–The Armenian Relief Society Central Executive Board issued an
announcement Thursday urging its members and the community to support the
Armenian community of Lebanon through contribution as the Israeli attacks on
Lebanon continue. Below is the text of the announcement:
While the precarious situation of the Iraqi-Armenian community still
remains a
source of concern and worry, the Diaspora has come face to face with a new
calamity which threatens one of the solid pillars of Armenian presence in the
Middle East. The Armenian community of Lebanon — whose odyssey during the
long
and devastating Civil War is still fresh in our minds — again, faces an
immediate threat of disruption and decimation.
The on-going brutal assault on Lebanese cities and population, perpetrated in
plain view of the international community, has stunned the world with its
disproportionate scope and multiplicity of targets, causing countless civilian
casual-ties. Leaders of world opinion have already condemned the
indiscriminate
destruction of Lebanon’s infrastructure and demand an immediate cessation of
all military action, while the conflict continues with no sign of remission.
Fellow Armenians, today, the school buildings and athletic fields of our
community in Bourj Hammoud are full of Lebanese refugees fleeing the zones of
armed conflict, while the ARS Boulghurjian Socio-Medical Center in Beirut is
treating hundreds of people who are casualties of this deadly conflict.
As in the past, this time also, the Armenian Relief Society calls on our
sup-porters and all caring Armenians to render the necessary humanitarian
assistance to our beleaguered people in the conflict zone. You can do this by
sending your tax-exempt donations for the "ARS Lebanese Relief" to your local
ARS affiliate’s office.
In these catastrophic days for the hospitable Lebanese people, let us show
the
world that we are cognizant of our commitments towards all those whose
generous
hospitality, 91 years ago, granted new life and prosperity to our homeless
multitudes, decimated, starved and brutalized by the 1st genocide of the past
century..
ARS, Inc. Central Executive Board

3. ARS of Western USA Elects New Executive Members

The Armenian Relief Society of Western USA’s 86th Regional Convention took
place at the Radisson Hotel in Whittier, California from July 13 to 16. The
Convention elected the following member for a two-year term on the Regional
Executive: Sonia Peltekian, Seda Khojayan, Sona Bostanian and Nvart Mooradian.
The Regional Executive members whose two-year term ended were: Angela Savoian,
Rita Hintlian, Nanik Kupelian and Maral Nashalian-Arsenian.The Regional
Executive members who will continue to serve for another year are: Karine
Barikian-Setian, Rose Altounian, Kristine Keshishian, Hourig Aintablian and
Adrine Postoyan.

4. Kocharian Cancels Moscow Trip ‘Due To Illness’

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–President Robert Kocharian abruptly canceled his
participation in an unofficial summit of former Soviet republics in Moscow on
Friday because of what his office described as a respiratory illness.
A statement by the presidential press service said he was diagnosed with an
"acute viral disease of respiratory tract" and could therefore not fly to the
Russian capital. No other details were reported.
The statement was issued less than 24 hours after an official confirmation of
Kocharian’s participation in a two-day meeting of the presidents of the
Commonwealth of Independent States which was due to start later on Friday. He
was also scheduled to hold a separate meeting with Russian President Vladimir
Putin on the sidelines of the summit.
Kocharian, 51, is known as a sporty person who likes swimming, skiing and
playing other sports on weekends and holidays. Incidentally, the presidential
administration announced on Monday that he went on a "brief vacation" which it
said will be spent in an unnamed Armenian resort. It is not clear if he caught
the reported disease there.
The Armenian leader was previously reported ill in February 2002 when he
underwent surgery in a Yerevan hospital after suffering from acute
appendicitis.

5. Georgian Leader Stays away from CIS Summit in Protest

MOSCOW (AP)–Leaders of several former Soviet republics were due in Moscow on
21-22 July for an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States,
but the planned talks were overshadowed when Georgia’s president abruptly
canceled plans to attend.
President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia had wanted to meet with Russian
President Vladimir Putin for a private meeting on the sidelines of the
gathering to discuss rising tensions over Russia’s perceived support for
separatists in his nation.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, another leader who has sought to
lessen
Russian influence and turn his country toward the West, also decided not to
attend the two-day meeting.
A Georgian Foreign Ministry official who was organizing Saakashvili’s visit
said he would not go because the busy summit schedule would not allow for a
substantive meeting with Putin. The Kremlin never confirmed that Putin would
hold separate talks with the Georgian president.
Talks with Putin were "the main reason for the president’s trip" to Moscow,
Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Merab Antadze told Georgia’s Rustavi-2
television.
He said Russian and Georgian officials had agreed a visit would be planned in
the near future.
Georgia’s parliament recently passed a resolution calling for the withdrawal
of Russian peacekeepers whose presence in two separatist Georgian regions,
South Ossetia and Abkhazia, is one of a host of irritants between the two
nations. The parliament resolution was widely seen as a bid to strengthen
Saakashvili’s position in talks with Putin.
Russian authorities, who accuse Georgia of planning provocations as a pretext
for a forceful takeover of South Ossetia, warned this week that Moscow would
use all means at its disposal to protect its peacekeepers and citizens in the
separatist provinces – where most residents have Russian passports.
Created amid the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the 12-nation,
Russian-dominated CIS has been criticized by its own members as ineffective
and
torn in recent years by the rise of Westward-leaning leaders in Georgia and
Ukraine and Moldova’s reorientation toward the West. Russia, meanwhile, has
shored up ties with authoritarian Central Asian nations.
Yushchenko’s spokeswoman, Iryna Gerashchenko, said he would not attend
because
of his country’s political situation.
Ukraine has been embroiled in political crisis since Yushchenko’s
Russian-backed rival for the presidency in 2004, Viktor Yanukovych, came out
ahead in March parliamentary elections, and the president has been
deliberating
about how to respond to parliament’s effort to make Yanukovych prime minister.
Turkmenistan’s President Saparmurat Niyazov was to stay away from the summit,
as he has repeatedly in the past, and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov’s
plans
were uncertain.
The informal summit was expected to include dinner at a waterside restaurant
in an upscale Moscow suburb and a visit to the track for a horse race dubbed
the Russian President’s Cup.
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