Author: Jabejian Elizabeth

PACE STANDING COMMITTEE SITTING OPENING IN BELGRADE

armradio.am
23.05.2007 10:02

Speaker of RA National Assembly, Head of the Armenian delegation to
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Tigran
Torosyan will participate in the sitting of the PACE Standing
Committee, which is starting in Belgrade today.

In the framework of the sitting Leo Platvoet will present reports
on the missing persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and the
observation of the May 12 parliamentary elections in Armenia.

YOUNG PEOPLE WILL FIGHT SECTS

KarabakhOpen
22-05-2007 11:34:00

The representatives of the youth organizations arrived in Gandzasar
for a meeting with Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan with proposals on how
to fight sects. Over 50 young people took part in the meeting, who
discussed all the proposals on prevention of spread of sects. There
were different proposals. Some said the best method is to provide
information on sects and the treat they pose (for instance, through
brochures). Others said the priests of the Armenian Apostolic
Church should get in touch with the pasture more actively. There
were proposals on revising the way of teaching history of religion
at schools.

There were other proposals as well, which Pargev Martirosyan promised
to study. It was decided to set up a youth council to coordinate
further activities together with the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The construction of churches in some areas was discussed as
well. According to the pastor of the Artsakh Diocese, construction
of churches is slow due to the lack of funding. He appreciated the
benefactors who finance the construction of churches in different
parts of the country.

At the end of the meeting, the participants wrote a call for unity,
which will stay at Gandzasar Monastery.

AGREEMENT ON COOPERATION SIGNED BETWEEN STUDENT COUNCILS OF ARMENIAN STATE AGRARIAN AND ARTSAKH STATE UNIVERSITIES

Noyan Tapan
May 22 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. An agreement on cooperation was signed on
May 22 between student councils of Armenian State Agrarian University
and Artsakh State University. It is aimed at promoting establishment
of close contacts between students of the two Universities, as well
as exchange of students.

Mentioning efficiency of bilateral cooperation of seven years, Rector
of Armenian State Agrarian University Arshaluys Tarverdian said that
this is already third visit of Artsakh university students to the
Agrarian University, during which they are given a possibility to get
acquainted in detail with various faculties, library, laboratories
of the University.

"Currently students studying for master’s degree and post-graduate
students from Artsakh State University also study at the Agrarian
University, which can be also considered as a result of close
cooperation between the two Universities," the Rector said. He
expressed the hope that henceforth new level of cooperation will
enable to deepen contacts not only in educational and scientific
spheres, but also in issues of organization of consultation and
inter-university student events.

Chairman of Management Board of Armenian State Agrarian University
Manvel Badalian and Chairman of Artsakh State University Trade Union
Rudik Aghabekian mentioned in their speeches that over the several
past years contacts between the higher education institutions were
strengthened not only with the efforts of lecturers’ staff, but also
by close cooperation among students.

The Armenian State Agrarian University gave two thousand books to
the library of Artsakh State University.

INTER-CULTURE CENTRE TO HIRE TRAINERS IN AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA ARMENIA

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
May 22 2007

Georgia, Tbilisi / Òrend corr N. Kirtskhalia / The Inter-Culture
Centre (IZ – Vienna) is looking for expert trainers in Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Armenia in order to implement the ‘South Caucasus –
Part of Europe’ project.

According to data provided by the Georgian Internews office, the
experts should have professional skills in the media (press, radio
and TV journalism, photography), experience in work with youths,
fluent English and an ability to work with multinational groups.

Two experts are required from each of the countries. They will
take part in the first meeting in Vienna to be held in June, 2007,
hold a youth workshop in their countries together with Austrian and
Lithuanian trainers and three independent workshops. The new trainers
will accompany the group of workshop participants from their country
to Austria and Lithuania and will attend common workshops with the
participation of Austrian, Lithuanian, Armenian, Azerbaijani and
Georgian representatives. They are expected to develop an education
campaign.

The purpose of the campaign is to increase the interest of world’s
community in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, what will promote
mobilization of large-scale assistance to the region. Persons
interested may submit their applications to [email protected]

–Boundary_(ID_jpOwpqtpQ hrr8DiweI6d8w)–

EVENTS DEDICATED TO LAST BELL TO BE HELD ON MAY 25

Noyan Tapan
May 21 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. Events dedicated to the Last Bell will be
held at 12:00, May 25, at Yerevan’s comprehensive schools. As Yerevan
Deputy Mayor Kamo Areyan stated at the May 21 press conference,
a concert dedicated to the Last Bell will be held on that day in
Freedom Square. Variety singers, dance groups will take part in the
concert. In his words, instructions have been given to RA Police,
prefects’ offices, Ambulance service to maintain public order properly
on that day in Yerevan.

In K. Areyan’s words, the Mayor has warned headmasters of comprehensive
schools not to permit organization of luxurious school-leaving parties
and collection of big sums for that purpose. It was mentioned that
if such cases are registered, the headmasters will be dismissed.

Belgrade: PACE President on official visit and Standing Committee
meeting

Strasbourg, 21.05.2007 – On the occasion of Serbia’s six-month
chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s executive body, the Committee of
Ministers, the President of the Council’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE),
René van der Linden, will make an official visit to the country on 23
May, followed by a meeting of the PACE Standing Committee on 24 May.

During his visit, the President is due to meet with President Boris
Tadic, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and Foreign Affairs Minister
Vuk Jeremic. Discussions are expected to focus on the country’s
chairmanship in the 47-member organisation, further integration of
Serbia, co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the issue of Kosovo.

The Assembly’s Standing Committee – which acts in the name of the
Assembly between sessions – will hold an exchange of views with Mr
Jeremic. The committee is also due to debate reports on monitoring of
commitments as regards social rights, respect for the principle of
gender equality in civil law, the capture of carbon dioxide as a means
of fighting climate change and missing persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Georgia. Deputy Secretary General Maud de Boer-Buquicchio will
attend the meeting.

Other meetings organised in Belgrade on 23 May include the PACE Bureau,
which is due to to draw up the draft order of business for the coming
Assembly session from 25 to 29 June, as well as a Parliamentary Round
Table on "The role of parliament in promoting gender equality and
combating domestic violence" <; –
as part of the Council of Europe campaign against domestic violence – in
the framework of a PACE/EU joint initiative to support parliamentary
institutions in Serbia and in Montenegro. The Serbian version of the
photo exhibition "Break the silence on domestic violence" will be
inaugurated on 24 May at 1 pm in the Sava Centar.

Note to Editors

Press conferences
– Wednesday 23 May, 12.45 pm (Hyatt Hotel): press conference by PACE
President René van der Linden on his official visit

– Thursday 24 May, approx. 10.30 am (Sava Centar): press conference by
the Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic and PACE President

Meetings
– Thursday 24 May, 9.00 am-1.30 pm: Standing Committee (Sava Centar,
Room 1A) OPEN TO THE PRESS.
– Wednesday 23 May, 9.00 am-1 pm: Round Table on "The role of parliament
in promoting gender equality and combating domestic violence" (National
Assembly) OPEN TO THE PRESS.

– Wednesday 23 May, 4 pm: PACE Bureau (National Assembly, Small Hall)
NOT OPEN TO THE PRESS.

Draft agenda
< genda/EAgenda070524.pdf> (PDF)

Working Documents
< istingSession_E.asp?selCriteres=3Dsession&IDSe ssion=3D218>

Contacts
Angus Macdonald, (in Belgrade on 23 and 24 May), mobile: +33 6 30 49 68
20
Monika Lajhner, Council of Europe Office in Belgrade, mobile, +381 62
278 378
PACE Communication Unit : +33 3 88 41 31 93

PRESS RELEASE
Parliamentary Assembly Communication Unit
Ref: 327a07
Tel: +33 3 88 41 31 93
Fax :+33 3 90 21 41 34
[email protected]
internet:

The Parliamentary Assembly brings together 318 members from the national
parliaments of the 47 member states.
President: René van der Linden (Netherlands, EPP/CD); Secretary
General of the Assembly: Mateo Sorinas.
Political Groups: SOC (Socialist Group); EPP/CD (Group of the European
People’s Party); ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe);

EDG (European Democratic Group); UEL (Group of the Unified European
Left).

PanARMENIAN.Net

Bill penalizing Armenian Genocide denial may be introduced in Dutch
parliament
21.05.2007 13:58 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A bill penalizing the Armenian Genocide denial may
be introduced in the Dutch parliament again by initiative of a
Christian Union member. The legislation also calls for criminal
punishment for denial of the Holocaust and Rwandan Genocide.

Some members of the ruling coalition as well as D66 party remarkable
for its pro-Turkish stance oppose the bill. The D66 party was even
renamed by the population into T66 party, where T stands for Turkey.

Christian Democrats and Socialists are likely to support the
initiative, the Armenian Public Television reports.

ARKA news Agency, Armenia
May 18 2007

RUSSIA AIMS TO CONTINUE SUPPORTING SIDES OF KARABAKH CONFLICT IN
FINDING COMPROMISE SETTLEMENT

YEREVAN, May 18. /ARKA/. Russia aims to continue supporting the sides
of the Karabakh conflict in finding a compromise settlement, says the
Press Service of the Russian Embassy in Armenia in connection with
the forthcoming visit of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
to Azerbaijan.
The current state of the Karabakh peace process is also to be
discussed during the visit, the press release says.
The principled stance of Russia on Karabakh remains unchanged, and
Russia would be ready to support the settlement option acceptable for
the involved parties and be the settlement guarantor in case a
compromise agreement is made," the Embassy representatives said.
The Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation is invited by the
Azerbaijani side to visit Baku on May 21-22 2007. N.V. -0–

Azerbaijan case raises fears for oil supplies
By Isabel Gorst in Moscow

FT
May 15 2007 03:00

Two brothers – a former government minister and a prominent oilman –
go on trial today in Azerbaijan charged with corruption and plotting a
coup, in a case that has raised questions about the security of oil
supplies out of the Caspian region.

Farhad Aliyev, the former minister of the economy, is accused of tax
evasion, embezzlement, abuse of power and conspiring to overthrow
President Ilham Aliyev (no relation). His brother, Rafiq Aliyev, the
former chief executive of Azpetrol, the country’s main petrol
retailing and oil transport company, faces charges of tax evasion and
of an attempt to smuggle cash out of Azerbaijan.

The case has attracted concern in Europe and the US about government
abuse of human and property rights in Azerbaijan, which is growing
increasingly important both as a source of oil and as a transit route
for energy supplies to the west.

The US administration has in the past faced allegations that it has
turned a blind eye to human rights abuses in oil-rich countries.

Azpetrol became the subject of a tax investigation immediately after
the arrest of Rafiq Aliyev in 2005 – a move observers say has
parallels with Moscow’s dismantling of Yukos, the oil company
bankrupted by tax claims. Azpetrol has since been divided up among
investors who, local traders say, are loyal to the Azeri leadership.

In a further echo of Yukos’s case, Azpetrol’s former owners are taking
the Azeri government to international arbitration under the Energy
Charter Treaty, to which Azerbaijan is a signatory.

Foreign traders say the oil transit business in the Caucasus has
become more complex since Azpetrol changed hands.

The region houses strategic pipelines and railways transporting
growing volumes of Caspian oil exports to the west. Caspian producers
seeking new oil export outlets are concerned at Azpetrol’s
stranglehold on an oil terminal feeding into the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean.

Both men have been held in solitary confinement since October 2005 and
are denying all charges. They have been detained without trial for
longer than is allowed under Azerbaijan’s criminal code.

Supporters of Farhad Aliyev say the former minister’s outspoken
criticism of poverty and corruption in Azerbaijan posed a threat to
the government in the run-up to parliamentary elections in late 2005.

Elton Guliyev, a lawyer defending Farhad Aliyev, said: "This case is
political. Investigators are taking orders from above. The trial will
be unjust, prejudiced and one-sided."

CHARGE D’AFFAIRES OF U.S. EMBASSY IN ARMENIA: THERE ARE NO PERFECT ELECTIONS IN THE WORLD

arminfo
2007-05-18 13:06:00

Charge d’Affaires of U.S. Embassy in Armenia: there are no perfect
elections in the world

"The statements of the Department of State and the USA Embassy in
Armenia expressed the U.S. position", Charge d’Affaires of the US
Embassy in RA Anthony Godfrey told journalists in response to the
question on preliminary results of May 12 parliamentary election
in Armenia.

"We welcome these election as improvement on the way of perfection
of the election process. We expect for the completion of the process
of calculation and detailed examination of violations during the
election, as well as of court examination, if necessary", A. Godfrey
said. According to him, there are no perfect elections in the
world. They are imperfect even in the USA.

However, the trust with respect to the election process is great in
US, therefore, the people are sure that investigation will be carried
out in case of falsifications and the guilty will be punished, the
Charge d’Affaires said.

"I welcome the statement of President Kocharyan saying active
investigation of all the sounded charges will be carried out by the
relevant authorities", A. Godfrey said.