Author: Badalian Vardan

AZERI OFFICIAL SAYS NO COOPERATION WITH ARMENIA

Armenpress
Mar 16 2006

BAKU, MARCH 16, ARMENPRESS: A senior Azerbaijani official downplayed
the importance of three Armenians’ arrival in Baku to participate
in the 2nd preparatory conference for the OSCE 14th economic forum
‘Enhancing Transportation Security in the OSCE Area.’ Deputy prime
minister of Azerbaijan, Abid Sharifov, was quoted by Trend news
agency as saying the presence of three Armenian representatives at the
conference did not indicate that Azerbaijan was ready to cooperate with
‘aggressor country.”

“Armenian and Azeri representatives participate in the OSCE-organized
events in Yerevan, Baku and other countries as members of the
organization, and this cannot be regarded as Azerbaijan’s cooperation
with the aggressor,” he said.

“INHERITANCE” OFFFICE KEPT UNDER LOCK AND KEY

Panorama.am
14:32 16/03/06

“We have received no respond either from the chief Procurator or from
the Police or Prime Minister,” informed Panorama.am vice president of
“Jarangutyun” (Inheritance) party Vardan Khachatryan today. To remind,
recently they have addressed the chief Procurator of the Republic
as well as to the Head of Police in concern of their central office
being kept under lock and key.

“The road of hell is paved with good wishes,” cited the Bible
V. Khachatryan and continued, “No one is being appreciated by his words
but by his actions. In fact the central office of the party is kept
under lock at the moment. It is not serious to talk about Human Right
at the same time keeping the party’s central office and seal under lock
and key. And if the Procurators’ Office is an institution that works
objectively then it just has to come and open the door.”

US URGES BAKU TO REFRAIN FROM WAR

AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006

The United States has said the parties to Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh
conflict should stick to a negotiated settlement, despite the
fruitless outcome of talks between the Azeri and Armenian leaders,
which was followed by Azerbaijan’s threats to launch war to solve
the long-standing dispute.

The resumption of military action will not solve the problem even
in 20 years, said the US co-chair of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group,
Steven Mann, who visited Baku, along with the US Department of State
Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried,
to discuss the Garabagh problem with the top Azerbaijani leadership.

Addressing a news conference upon the results of the visit, Mann
said that although the presidential talks in Rambouillet, France
in February yielded no results, the peace process continues and the
sides are seeking to continue the talks.

“There are issues of concern for both parties that are reflected in
their positions. But the resumption of hostilities would be a tragedy
for both countries. No war will lead to a solution either now or in
20 years.”

The mediator also said that for the conflict to be solved, each side
should be ready to “answer important questions”. “At the same time, in
considering the military option, Azerbaijan should take into account
other factors, such as the importance of energy projects that will
bring profits to the country,” Mann said. The co-chair continued
that both the US government and the international community supports
a settlement strictly through peace talks. “America is cooperating
with Azerbaijan and Armenia and deems both as friendly nations.”

Asked why the U.S. has not duly assessed Armenia as aggressor,
Mann said such terse questions are frequently asked by Azerbaijanis
as well as representatives of the Armenian Diaspora in the United
States. “But we do not intend to take any sides on these issues and
urge the parties to give preference to peace talks,” Mann said.

Touching on Armenian president Robert Kocharian’s recent statement
that his country may recognize independence of the self-proclaimed
Upper Garabagh republic, the mediator said he is not in favor of
such speculations at the current stage in the negotiations, as such
statements “do nothing to facilitate solving the problem”. Assistant
Secretary Daniel Fried said that during the Baku meetings, Azerbaijan
decisively defended its national interests with regard to the conflict
resolution. “However, our discussions proceeded in a serious and
constructive manner,” he said. Fried has met with President Ilham
Aliyev, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov as well as opposition
representatives. “The conclusion we came to is that Azerbaijani
representatives have put forth a strong and resolute stance on the
issue,” the Assistant Secretary said. He reiterated that both parties
to the conflict are interested in solving the protracted dispute. “We
have concluded that Azerbaijanis want to return to their homeland. We
therefore believe that this must happen soon, as a war would prove
disastrous for everyone,” Fried said. The American official, who is
expected to visit Armenia next, said he would hold intense talks on
the Garabagh conflict with its officials as well. He declined to cite
any details, but said he would lay out certain initiatives. The news
conference was also attended by the US ambassador in Baku Reno Harnish.

POLICE ARREST MAN IN CEMETERY PLOT SCAM
By Fred Ortega, The Leader

Burbank Leader, CA
March 15 2006

Burbank man is accused of cheating 10 local residents out of $65,000
by selling them phony plots at Forest Lawn Glendale.

DOWNTOWN — A Burbank resident who fled to Armenia after allegedly
bilking 10 area victims out of $65,000 by selling them fake plots
at Forest Lawn Glendale is back in the Southland and in custody,
authorities said Sunday.

Robert Ovsepyan, 35, was taken into custody by Armenian law enforcement
authorities on March 8 , said Det. Tigran Topadzhikyan of the Glendale
Police Department. Two members of the FBI’s Fugitive Task Force,
which worked with Glendale detectives in tracking Ovsepyan down,
flew to Armenia’s capital of Yerevan over the weekend and brought
the suspect back to the Southland Saturday night, officials said.

Ovsepyan arrived Saturday night at LAX, and was interviewed Sunday by
Glendale Police detectives, Officer John Balian of the Glendale Police
Department said. The investigation into Ovsepyan, who began working
for Forest Lawn Glendale in 2004, began in October when Forest Lawn
officials contacted Glendale Police after receiving several calls
from residents inquiring about their plots, Topadzhikyan said.

“Starting in November 2004 he sold plots to 10 families,” Topadzhikyan
said. “He received payment in cash from the families and provided
them with contracts and receipts, but he never turned the money over
to Forest Lawn.

When the families did not receive paperwork back from Forest Lawn
they contacted Forest Lawn and were told that there was no record of
those purchases.

The fraudulent plot sales allegedly made by Ovsepyan, a naturalized
U.S. citizen born in Armenia, totaled $65,000, Topadzhikyan said.

By the time investigators tried to find Ovsepyan to question him
about the sales, he had already left the country, Topadzhikyan said.

The Glendale Police then began working with the FBI and State
Department to try to track him down. After forwarding their leads to
Armenian authorities, police in that country easily found the fugitive,
Topadzhikyan said.

“He had overstayed his visa, so he was there illegally,” he said,
adding that in addition to the Glendale charges, Ovsepyan was wanted
on a federal warrant for unlawful flight from prosecution.

Ovsepyan was booked at Glendale City Jail at 8 p.m. Saturday on nine
counts of grand theft, one count of theft from an elder and one count
of embezzlement, Topadzhikyan said. He is being held on $300,000 bail
and is scheduled to appear in Burbank Superior Court on Tuesday.

While there are some ways for people to protect themselves from
scammers, this situation was different because Ovsepyan worked for
a reputable mortuary firm, Balian said.

“He took advantage of the situation and in one case, the victim was
more than 70 years old and she gave him all of her savings,” he said.

“He was actually an employee and got these people to trust him.

Forest Lawn has been around for many years and when you go to buy a
plot from them, you don’t think you are going to get scammed.”

Most victims, all of them Armenian, also knew Ovsepyan through
family and friends back in Armenia, which added to the trust factor,
Topadzhikyan said.

Efforts to reach Forest Lawn representatives on Sunday were
unsuccessful. Ovsepyan’s arrest could not have happened without
the seamless cooperation of law enforcement agencies at the local,
federal and international level, Topadzhikyan said.

“This sends a message that if you commit a crime in one jurisdiction,
you can’t just flee somewhere else and hope to not get caught,”
he said. “You can run, but you can’t hide.”

THE TEAM OF QARAMYAN IN THE UEFA CUP QUARTERFINALS

A1+
12:53 pm 16 March, 2006

The team of the Armenian central midfielder Artavazd Qaramyan,
“Rapid” from Bucharest, reached the UEFA Cup 2005-2006 quarterfinals.

In the second match of the 1/8 finals the Romanian club lost to
“Hamburg” by the overalls 1:3, but the first match was won by “Rapid,
“who will continue the struggle in this prominent contest.

Let’s remind you that Artavazd Qaramyan had an injury during the match
“Rapid” – “Hamburg” and did not play for a month. Now he is already
recovering and he will probably participate in the second match of
the quarterfinals. The opponent of “Rapid” is not known yet, as the
second matches of the 1/8 finals haven’t finished yet.

Noyan Tapan
Mar 15 2006

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CONTINUES WITHOUT ARMENIAN CHESS-PLAYERS

YEKATERINBURG, MARCH 15, NOYAN TAPAN. Two tours are already over
in the chess women’s championship being held in the Russian city of
Yekaterinburg. 16 out of 64 participants of the competitions being
held by the “Knockout” contest rules will continue to play. The
representatives of Armenia aren’t among them. In the second round
grand master from Yerevan Elina Danielian was defeated by one of the
strongest Russian chess-players, Alexandra Kostenyuk, with a score
of 0 to 2. Before this, after being defeated in the first round,
the other representative of Armenia, Lilit Mkrtchian, was left out
of the competition.

BELARUS: A CASE OF ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
By Gwynne Dyer, a London-based independent journalist
whose articles are published in 45 countries

AZG Armenian Daily
15/03/2006

The ten million citizens of Belarus don’t go to the polls until 19
March, but the outcome is already certain: Alexander Lukashenko will
win a third term as president. Most other governments in Europe,
which see him as the continent’s last dictator, will express their
dismay and claim that the election was unfair.

They will be right in the sense that the opposition has been
mercilessly harassed and that the counting of the votes probably
won’t meet international standards.

But they will be wrong if they really think that Lukashenko would
have lost a fair election.

“It is necessary…to take a stand against this post-Soviet autocrat
and his efforts to totally suppress what remains of independent
initiatives in Belarus,” said former Czech president Vaclav Havel
last year, but Lukashenko does not see autocracy as a bad thing. As
he told Belarusian radio early this month: “An authoritarian ruling
style is characteristic of me, and I have always admitted it.

Why?…You need to control the country, and the main thing is not to
ruin people’s lives.”

Belarus has more policemen per capita than any other country in
the world, and a few of Lukashenko’s harshest critics have simply
“disappeared”. Opposition politicians are regularly beaten up or
imprisoned, and people can go to jail for up to two years simply for
openly criticising the president. It is an ugly, petty, oppressive
regime that is reminiscent in many ways of the old Communist tyrannies
— but Lukashenko has won two elections and a referendum in the past
dozen years, all with more than 70 percent of the vote.

He didn’t win them just by stuffing ballot boxes, and although
many people in Belarus feel intimidated by his rule, if they really
constituted an outraged majority then the tool for their liberation
is readily available. In the last five years, disciplined crowds of
non-violent protestors have overthrown similar “post-Soviet autocrats”
in several other post-Soviet states. If the problem is just unfree
elections and intimidation, why don’t Belarusians get rid of their
faintly Chaplinesque dictator that way?

The answer is to be found in the results of an international
opinion poll that was published last week by the Social Research
Institute (TARKI) in Budapest. The survey was conducted last year
in eleven central and eastern European countries that were ruled by
Communist tyrannies for at least a generation until the revolutions
of 1989-91. The only country where a majority of the people polled
preferred the “democratic” systems (some real, some sham) that they
have lived under since then was the Czech Republic, where 52 percent
actively supported democracy and only a small minority longed to have
Communism back.

In most of the former Soviet-bloc countries the nostalgia for Communist
rule was strong, peaking at 38 percent in Bulgaria and 36 percent in
Russia (where only 13 percent favoured democracy). But this is hardly
surprising when you consider that the most people’s experience, in
most of these countries, was that the end of Communist rule brought
a steep fall in living standards and a sharp rise in insecurity and
inequality. For Russia, it also brought the loss of a centuries-old
empire, the “exile” of tens of millions of Russians as minorities
in newly independent countries, and a huge decline in the country’s
power and influence in the world.

These things are not what normally accompanies democracy
elsewhere. They happened in central and eastern Europe partly because
the social and economic costs of converting from a centrally-planned
economy to a free market were bound to be very high, and partly because
the former Communist elite seized the opportunity to “privatise”
the state’s former assets (i.e. almost everything) into their own
pockets. It was an experience that has given democracy a very bad
name in the former Soviet bloc, and only time and the rise of a new
generation will erase these attitudes.

And here we have Belarus, where a former collective-farm manager who
was legitimately elected to power in 1994 halted the privatisation
process before it had properly got underway. Lukashenko has preserved
both the good and the bad elements of the Communist system almost
unchanged (except that the actual Communist Party no longer rules). So
there has not been the same crash in living standards in Belarus,
and there is none of the soaring inequality and unemployment seen in
almost all of its neighbours.

There are also no free media, and secret police everywhere, and
the drab conformity typical of late-period Communist states, and
occasional state violence against “dissidents”. But Lukashenko would
probably have won a majority of the votes honestly in every election
and referendum he has held.

Why has it happened this way in Belarus and not elsewhere? Partly pure
chance, but Belarus was also an ideal candidate because it has a very
weak national identity (most people there actually speak Russian).

There is little of the nationalism that helped most other former
Soviet countries to persevere with the changes, and many Belarusians
would be happy to be reunited with Russia. But even there they would
have to undergo many of the painful changes that they have avoided
by choosing to live in this time warp.

Sooner or later they will have to go through them anyway, but not
yet. Not in this election.

REP. PALLONE CALLS FOR PARITY IN ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN MILITARY ASSISTANCE

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 09 2006

WASHINGTON, MARCH 9, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Congressman Frank
Pallone (D-NJ), Co-Chairman of the Armenian Issues Caucus, took to the
floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on March 7 to criticize the
Administration’s “breach of an agreement struck between the White House
and Congress in 2001 to maintain parity in U.S. military aid to Armenia
and Azerbaijan,” reported the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA). The Bush Administration recommended last month, in its Fiscal
Year 2007 budget, that Azerbaijan receive significantly more military
training and hardware than Armenia. The President also proposed
cutting U.S. economic aid to Armenia from last year’s appropriation
of $74.4 million to $50 million, a nearly 33% reduction. The New
Jersey Congressman explained to his House colleagues that, “a lack
of military parity would weaken ongoing peace negotiations regarding
Nagorno Karabakh.

Furthermore, I believe that any imbalance will contribute to further
instability in the region if military parity is not achieved.” He
added that, “failing to respect the parity agreement undermines the
role of the U.S. as an impartial mediator of the Nagorno Karabagh
conflict.” Representative Pallone closed his remarks by noting that,
“in the coming weeks I will advocate to the Foreign Operations
Subcommittee to restore military parity, to increase economic
assistance to Armenia, and to provide for humanitarian aid to the
people of Nagorno Karabakh. It is incredibly important to reward our
allies and to send a message to Azerbaijan and Turkey that ethnically
charged genocides, illegal blockades of sovereign nations, and the
constant harassment of the Armenian people will not be tolerated.” “We
want to thank Congressman Pallone for his longstanding leadership in
educating his colleagues about the important U.S.

interests served by our assistance program to Armenia, direct aid to
Nagorno Karabagh, and the other Armenia-related provisions in the
Foreign Operations bill – most recently and notably – the need for
maintaining parity in U.S. military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan,”
said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

“We also want to express our appreciation to Congressman Knollenberg
for his work, within the Foreign Operations Subcommittee itself,
generating vital support for maintaining military parity and other key
provisions of special concern to the Armenian American community.” The
President’s proposal for Freedom Support Act aid is $50 million for
Armenia, $28 million for Azerbaijan, and $58 million for Georgia. His
Foreign Military Financing proposals are $3.5 million for Armenia,
$4.5 million for Azerbaijan, and $10 million for Georgia.

The White House’s recommendation to Congress for International
Military Education and Training is $790,000 for Armenia, $885,000
for Azerbaijan, and $1,235,000 for Georgia. The Foreign Operations
Subcommittees of the Senate and House Appropriation Committees
are currently reviewing the President’s proposed budget and are
each drafting their own versions of the FY 2007 foreign assistance
bill. The agreement to maintain parity in U.S. military aid to Armenia
and Azerbaijan was struck between the White House and Congress in
2001, in the wake of Congressional action granting the President the
authority to waive the Section 907 restrictions on aid to Azerbaijan.

EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY OPENS IN UN ARMENIAN OFFICE

Noyan Tapan
Mar 09 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 9, NOYAN TAPAN. An exhibition of photos and women
artists’ works dedicated to the International Women’s Day opened at
the UN Armenian Office on March 7. This was organized by the joint
efforts of the UN Armenian Office and the Association of Diplomates’
Wifes. The UN Development Program’s “Gender and Policy in South
Caucasus: Georgia and Armenia” program supported implementation of the
display titled “Creative Synthesis” of more than 30 paintings, gobelins
ann other works of women artists. 60 best works of the three painters,
Albert Babelian (Armenia), Sanan Aleskerov (Azerbaijan) and Natella
Grigalashvili (Georgia) are presented in the photo display titled
“Women of South Caucasus” presented by the UN Development Fund for
Women (UNIFEM). 12 photos having been presented in the UNIFEM 2006
regional annual calendar are among the above-mentioned works. UN
Resident Coordinator Consuelo Vidal and Chairwoman of the Association
of Diplomates’ Wifes Nani Oskanian were present at the opening of
the exhibition and addressed welcome speeches to the participants.

LYCOS-ARMENIA GIVES CERTIFICATES TO 35 STUDENTS OF YEREVAN STATE
UNIVERSITY AND YEREVAN STATE ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY

YEREVAN, MARCH 9.ARMINFO. Lycos-Armenia handed certificates to 35
students of the Yerevan State University and the Yerevan State
Engineering University, today.

Robert Chaplin, general director of LYCOS-Armenia, informed that this
arrangement is held in Yerevan for the second time already. The
students learnt Java, JavaScript, Web Technology, OOP, MySQL, PHP ¨
Flash programs at the courses initiated by Lycos-Armenia. Chaplin
informed that 17 graduates of the last year’s classes are already the
employees of their company, while 20 gradutes work for Sourcia. The
officials of the company stated that LYCOS-Armenia proved to be a
succesfully working branch for LYCOS-EUROPE.

It’s worth mentioning that LYCOS-Armenia opened computer rooms at the
Yerevan State University and the Yerevan State Engineering University
with the assistance of DEG, the German Public Fund.