Author: Kafian Jirair

Statue of Komitas to be unveiled in Canada
By Hovhannes Yeranian

Yerkir/Arm
24 June 05

Yerkir informed in one of its previous issues that the Pan-Armenian
Educational and Cultural Union had announced a competition for
preparation of a bronze statue of Komitas to be set up in the public
park in Quebec.

The competition was truly international – 36 participants from Lebanon,
Italy, Georgia, Canada and Armenia participated in it. 12 works were
short listed and the selection committee members in Yerevan, Montreal
and Quebec made their final decision.

Sculptor Samvel Ghazarian’s work was announced the winner in the
competition. On this occasion, we interviewed sculptor Samvel Ghazarian
and director of Pan-Armenian Educational and Cultural Union Armenian
office Lilit Galstian.

Samvel Ghazarian is one of the most talented and unique sculptors
in Armenia Only one of his works, a tuff-stone statue of Adam and
Eve, is located in Yerevan while many of his works are in Bishkek,
Tashkent, Samarqand and Moscow.

These are all monumental works. His small works are exhibited in many
galleries including the Armenian National Arts Gallery and Tretyakov
Gallery in Russia. His works have won prizes at the international
biennale in Ravenna. Samvel Ghazarian does not speak much about his
own works and this is by no means false modesty. Lilit Galstian who
chaired the jury committee spoke about the winning sculpture.

“I should say that I am very happy that the opinions of selection
committee members in Yerevan, Quebec and Montreal coincided. There
were no disagreements regarding the winner. Samvel fully deserves this
success. His Komitas statue combines all the features of the Armenian
spiritual person, great artist and true patriot,” Galstian says.

Since Samvel Ghazarian was not much eager to speak about his
own work, our conversation mainly touched on the Armenian art and
culture in general. When asked what his preferred working materials
were, Ghazarian answered, “I have two favorite materials ‘stone and
bronze. Marble is of course the king of stones’. Ghazarian has taught
at the Institute of Fine Arts in Yerevan for 12 years. We asked him
to share his opinion on the recent changes in Yerevan.

“Criticizing has become a very easy and convenient approach. However,
making mistakes is equally easy. In Yerevan we do not have lack of
something; rather we have some things in excessive quantities. Our
city is not too big and so many architectural efforts are simply
tasteless in this context.” I don’t think we need new statues.

I could easily refuse any of my statues if I knew that it would be
set up at the expense of cutting down trees. If you ask me which is
the statue that is needed most in Yerevan, I will say it’s the Diary
of Nzhdeh. This is an architectural complex that is devoted not to
one person but to his ideology. The scripture of King Argishti was
thrown out. Maybe we need to have Nzhdeh’s words in our city.”

Associated Press Worldstream

June 25, 2005 Saturday 8:01 AM Eastern Time

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Europe; Britian; Scandinavia; Middle East; Africa; India; Asia; England

Azerbaijan’s president says higher defense spending linked to
relocation of Russian weapons

BAKU, Azerbaijan

President Ilham Aliev said Saturday that the ex-Soviet Caspian Sea
nation was increasing its defense spending in response to the
relocation of Russian weapons from Georgia to Azerbaijan’s rival,
Armenia.

Even though Moscow said weapons would remain under Russian military
control and would not be turned over to Armenia, the redeployment
“requires adequate steps,” Aliev said in a speech before military
school graduates.

“We have undertaken such steps, having increased our military
spending, which will continue to grow in the future,” Aliev said. He
said Azerbaijan’s military spending was set to increase from US$175
million in 2004 to US$300 million this year.

“Our army is the strongest in the Southern Caucasus,” Aliev said. “We
have achieved superiority and will continue to strengthen it.”

Azerbaijan is locked in a tense dispute with neighboring Armenia over
the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The mountainous region inside
Azerbaijan has been under the control of ethnic Armenians since the
early 1990s, following fighting that killed an estimated 30,000
people.

A cease-fire was signed in 1994, but the enclave’s final political
status has not been determined and shooting breaks out frequently
between the two sides, which face off across a demilitarized buffer
zone.

Russia said it had redeploy the weaponry to Armenia under pressure to
speed up its military withdrawal from Georgia. Despite Russian
assurances that the move wouldn’t destabilize the region, Azerbaijan
has remained strongly critical of the relocation.

Aliev also said Saturday that Azerbaijan will also work to strengthen
its relations with NATO.

Azerbaijan has taken part in NATO’s Partnership for Peace program and
it has presented a plan that would further foster cooperation with
the alliance, “bringing Azerbaijan-NATO relations to a new level,”
Aliev said.

A1plus

| 14:42:49 | 25-06-2005 | Politics |

POLAND’S MODEL THE BEST

Semi-presidential system of state government supposes that the government
should enlist the trust of the parliamentary majority. Consequently the
parliament should take part in formation of the government to efficiently
apply domestic and foreign policy’, special of constitution right Vardan
Poghosyan says. In the states of Eastern Europe the parliament is given a
particular role in the formation of the government. In Slovenia, Bulgaria,
Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro the Prime Minister and Ministers are
elected by the parliament. Another model is applied Romania and Croatia. In
these states the President proposes a nominee for the post of the Prime
Minister after holding consultations with the parliamentary factions.

In Romania the President proposes a candidature after consulting with the
party possessing most seats in the parliament or in case there is not such,
with all the parties presented in the parliament. If after the first
nomination the parliament rejects the government program, the President is
entitled to dissolve the parliament.

In Lithuania the situation is a bit different. The parliament appoints the
Premier and confirms the government program. If after the submission of the
program the Seimas does not issue and decree during 30 days or the
government program is not ratified twice in 60-day term the President can
declare of extraordinary elections. The new Seimas with the support of 3/5
votes can initiate extraordinary presidential election. The President is not
empowered to dissolve the Seimas if the latter does not confirm the nominee
for the post of Prime Minister. The constitutional and legislative power of
Lithuania follows one simple principle – President should propose a nominee,
who will receive support of the parliament. The Seimas can be dissolved only
in case it fails to ratify the government program.

Vardan Poghosyan considers that the Polish Constitution gives the most
precise definition for the process of government formation. `If the Sejm
does not ratify the candidature of the Prime Minister, who is appointed by
the President, and the program submitted by him, the Sejm in entitled to
dissolve the government. If the Sejm does not have the majority, the
President appoint the government proposed by the `minority’. If the newly
formed government received the vote of no confidence, the Sejm is subject to
dissolution.

On Vardan Poghosyan’s opinion, the Polish model is the best one for Armenia,
as it in the best way expresses the logic of the semi-presidential
government system.

Victoria Abrahamyan

RUSSIAN LANGUAGE TEACHERS RETRAINING 8-DAY COURSES BEGIN IN SECONDARY
SCHOOLS OF STEPANAKER (NKR)

STEPANAKERT, June 22. /ARKA/. Russian language teachers retraining
8-day courses began in secondary schools of Stepanakert. According to
ARKA’s reporter in Stepanakert, the project is funded by “Russian
Community of NKR” NGO and organized by the Karabakh branch of the RA
National Institute of Education. The Chairman of the community Galina
Somova mentioned the importance of the campaign from the standpoint of
more quality teaching of Russian in Nagorno-Karabakh. The trainings
are held by leading specialists of Russian from Armenia. A.H. -0–

Azeri opposition leader, Turkish foreign minister discuss ties, regional
policy

Azadliq, Baku
21 Jun 05

Excerpt from unattributed report by Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq on
21 June headlined “Ali Karimli met Abdullah Gul in Turkey”

The chairman of the PFAP [People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party], MP Ali
Karimli, who is visiting Turkey, met this country’s foreign minister
Abdullah Gul in Istanbul yesterday [20 June]. Journalists were not
allowed to attend the meeting.

The meeting focused on Turkish-Azerbaijani relations and Ankara’s
participation in regional democratic processes, Ali Karimli told
journalists after the meeting.

Karimli said that he had open and fruitful discussions with the
Turkish foreign minister whom he has known for a long time.

“I knew Abdullah bay [form of address] as an active politician with
democratic views even before the AKP [Justice and Development Party]
came to power. I knew in advance that he would assist us in developing
Azerbaijani-Turkish relations and democratizing Azerbaijan.

“The meeting first of all focused on relations between our
countries. We talked about the further development of these relations
and the necessity of the two countries’ work in co-ordination with
each other maintaining similar positions on the Karabakh issue, the
‘Armenian genocide’, integration into Europe and problems in the
Middle East,” Karimli said.

Karimli said that he had also briefed the Turkish foreign minister on
the struggle of the PFAP and its allies for restoring democracy in
Azerbaijan. The PFAP chairman drew Gul’s attention to the fact that
the November parliamentary elections was a chance for Azerbaijan.

“We do not want to miss this chance. I also told esteemed Gul that we
wanted Turkey to be actively involved in this process and in general,
Ankara should develop its Caucasus policy.

“In turn, Gul promised to closely watch the Azerbaijani parliamentary
elections to ensure that they are democratic and develop Turkey’s
policy on Azerbaijan,” Karimli said.

[Passage omitted: Karimli and Gul to meet again in Ankara in a week,
the former to deliver a speech on the situation and prospects for
democracy in Azerbaijan at a conference in Istanbul]

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
June 20, 2005, Monday

CHIEF OF THE ARMENIAN GENERAL STAFF ACCUSES AZERBAIJAN OF VIOLATING
THE CFE TREATY

Colonel General Mikhail Arutyunian, chief of the Armenian General
Staff has accused Azerbaijan of violating the CFE Treaty. According
to a top-level military man, “Azerbaijan has 50-100% more tanks and
100-125% more artillery units than is allowed under the treaty.”
General Arutyunian says Azerbaijan’s protests are groundless with
regard to relocation of Russian arms from military bases in Georgia
to the 102nd Russian Military Base in Armenia. In his words,
redeployment of the Russian arms won’t shift the balance of forces in
the region. “Russia won’t hand the arms over to Armenia but provide
its base in Armenia with extra armaments,” the general noted.

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, June 17, 2005, p. 5

RIA Novosti, Russia
June 20 2005

Russia eases Azerbaijani concerns over military hardware in Armenia
10:21

MOSCOW, June 20 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has managed to ease
Azerbaijan’s concerns over the withdrawal of Russian military
hardware from Georgia to Armenia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said
yesterday.

While speaking to a news program on national television’s Channel
One, he said that Russia had explained to its “Azerbaijani friends”
that the equipment and hardware would be located at a Russian
military base. “So the change to the balance of forces in the region
that some people are worrying about will not happen,” he said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told the same program: “We realize
that arms will be transferred to the Russian base, and they will not
be given to the Armenian Armed Forces.”

Nevertheless, he said, Azerbaijan planned to increase military
spending expenditures by $70 million by the end of the year so that
no one could have any security fears.

Aliyev said he hoped that some of the new armaments would be bought
in Russia.

Pan Armenian News

ILHAM ALIEV DECIDED TO GET RID OF ARMENIANS WORKING FOR AZERBAIJAN SPECIAL
SERVICES

The political leadership of Azerbaijan ascribes the failures in the
activities of secret services of Azerbaijan to Armenians working for the
State Security Office.

By the order of the new minister of the State Security Office Eldar
Mahmudov, several employees were dismissed from their posts. Dismissals
touched upon only those who had the slightest traces of Armenian origin.
Among people dismissed there were also officers.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to Aliev’s propaganda only in Baku there are
currently 30 thousand Armenians who are “full citizens of international
Azerbaijan”. Actually, in Baku there are people of Armenian origin. They are
mainly children from mixed marriages. Those people have long ago forgotten
about their origin and have finally assimilated with the population of
Azerbaijan. But even this factor does not save them from discrimination. The
order of the minister of State Security is an open and gross violation of
human rights. It is hard to call healthy a society where it is quite normal
to dig in the family tree of a citizen and dismiss him or her because of
discovering some ancestor whose surname ends in “yan”. This phenomenon
should certainly attract the attention of European structures and
organizations since Azerbaijan has certain obligations towards them.

It is noteworthy that such things did not happen during Heidar Aliev. In one
of his interviews former minister of State Security Office Namik Abasov
admitted that in the staff of his ministry there were people with Armenian
origins. Abasov said that he had no intension to dismiss them because they
were conscientious and devoted workers. According to Abasov their dismissal
would mean discrimination towards people who were faithful to their
motherland. The new leaders of the State Security Office appointed not long
ago by Ilham Aliev, back their decision with a strange argument. “We live in
Azerbaijan and the presence of people with Armenian origin in the State
Security Office is impossible”, said the head of the public relations
department of the ministry Arif Babayev. This is the style of Adolf Hitler
who yet ten years before the opening of Osventsim started to dismiss Jewish
born people working in law-enforcement structures.

It is absolutely obvious that the decision to dismiss people having Armenian
origins is dictated not at all from considerations of national security, but
from cheap populism and striving to justify failures in work. Since the
appointment of Eldar Mahmudov nothing has changed for the better in special
services of Azerbaijan. The minister decided ascribe the problems in the
system of secret services to Armenians working there. Armenians are
remembered when there are objective difficulties. Things were like that also
two years ago during the riot of cadets in an elite military college. At
that time all the blame was put on one of the college’s directors who had an
Armenian born mother-in-law. When the construction works of
Baku-Tbilis-Jeyhan oil pipeline slowed down, the problem was ascribed to
some Armenian who worked in the Greek subcontract company. When PACE
criticized Azerbaijan for non-observance of democracy norms, Baku
propagandists asserted that it was the blame of reporter Andrea Gross who
was not objective for having worked as an assistant to a Swiss deputy who
was connected with Armenians. When Europe raised the question of Azeri
political prisoners the local press ascribed that to Leyla Yunus, saying
that she was interested in the discreditation of Azerbaijan because her
beloved mother-in-law was half Armenian. After all this, there will be to
surprise at if Azeris blame Armenians for the last year’s Tsunami in
Indonesia or the earthquake in Turkey…

17.06.2005, “PanARMENIAN Network” analytical department

A LOT OF PROBLEMS WILL BE SOLVED IN SPHERE WITH PASSING THE LAW ON ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION, RA JUSTICE MINISTER ASSURES

YEREVAN, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN. After passing the RA Law on Electronic
Communication, a lot of problems will be solved in the sphere,
Armenian Justice Minister David Harutyunian stated at the discussion
of the draft law on June 17. At the same time he did not rule out
the possibility that the application of the law may lead to some
controversy among various departments, which in turn will cause
the necessity to make amendments and additions to the law. The
Ministry of Justice started to develop the draft law as far back as
2000. It was passed by the National Assembly in the first reading
and is expected to replace the RA Law on Communication adopted in
1998. According to D. Harutyunian, the main purpose of the law is
specify the distinction between the functions of the executive power
and the communication sphere regulatory bodies. It is envisaged that
the main 6-7 regulatory powers will be reserved for the government,
while the remaining functions will be transferred to the Public
Services Regulatory Commission on January 1, 2006. D. Harutyunian noted
that in connection with ArmenTel’s monopoly, an attempt was made to
regulate the operation of the wire infrastructures. Some contradictions
between the provisions of the draft law and ArmenTel’s license were
pointed out as well. According to the minister, if for this reason
some problems with the company arise in the future, these problems
will discussed separetely. As regards the definition “the tariffs
shall be reasonable and fair” the draft contains, the minister said
that it is intended to ensure the maximum possible competition in the
sphere which will decrease the tariffs. The discussion was organized
by the initiative Partnership for Open Society.

Armenian minister notes ‘certain progress’ in Paris talks on Karabakh

Interfax
June 18 2005

Yerevan, 17 June: Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers Vardan
Oskanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov discussed in Paris on Friday [17 June]
a number of issues related to the current stage of the settlement of
the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, the Armenia Foreign Ministry press
service has told Interfax.

The co-chairmen of the [OSCE] Minsk Group for the settlement of
the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict attended the ministers’ meeting,
the report said.

“A certain progress has been achieved in one of the main issues of
the Karabakh settlement,” Oskanyan said.

The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers have held a series of
talks for a settlement of the conflict since the second half of the
year 2004 which is known as the Paris process.