Author: Mamian George

STATE AND SOCIETY SHOULD COOPERATE

Panorama.am
17:11 10/05/06

The regional development center of Transparency International Armenia
has organized a discussion today on Orhuss convention. Sona Aivazyan,
Transparency International Armenia representative said that the aim of
the discussion is to promote implementation of some of the provisions
of Orhuss convention. Armenia has ratified the convention in 2001.

As mentioned by discussion participants, Armenia will submit a report
to Orhuss committee on steps taken to implement the convention. The
committee has submitted a package of suggestions and Armenia has to
come up with a report on that to be submitted 6 month earlier before
the next meeting, which will be in May 2008.

Regular meetings are planned to make the report a real
action.

TURKEY RECALLS ITS AMBASSADORS TO FRANCE AND CANADA

ArmRadio.am
10.05.2006 14:35

Turkish Ambassadors to France and Canada have been temporarily recalled
to Ankara to hold consultations connected with the possible adoption
of the law envisaging sanctions against Armenian Genocide deniers by
the French Parliament.

Turkish media reports that the recall of the Ambassadors is
associated with the fact that both countries have recognized the
Armenian Genocide. Press Secretary of the Turkish Parliament Namk Tan
told the journalists that the Ambassadors to France and Canada Osman
Koruturk and Aydemir Erman will return to execution of their duties
after the consultations.

THE MEDIATORS WAITING FOR THE RESPONSE OF BAKU AND YEREVAN

ArmRadio.am
10.05.2006 17:36

Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet the OSCE
Co-Chairs in the framework of the recurrent sitting of the Committee
of Ministers of the Council of Europe to be held in Strasburg.

Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov declared that the mediators”
have some interesting ideas.” He noted that in the result of the
talks in Strasburg it will become clear whether there is need for
the meeting of Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Russian mediator Yuri Merzlyakov declared that the mediators expect to
hear the opinion of Baku and Yerevan about “several new suggestions”
presented last week by his French colleague Bernard Fassier during
his visit to the region.

Libération
8 mai 2006

Les historiens repartent au combat

Les signataires de la pétition “Liberté pour l’histoire” se disent
“profondément choqués” par la proposition de loi socialiste qui
entend compléter la loi du 29 janvier 2001 stipulant que “la France
reconnaît publiquement le génocide arménien de 1915”, et préconisant
la “nécessité de sanctionner pénalement la négation du génocide
arménien”. Ils mettent en garde contre la proclamation par
l’Assemblée nationale de vérités officielles “prenant une nouvelle
fois les historiens en otages”.

PRESIDENT’S UNWILLINGNESS

Panorama.am
13:50 06/05/06

Armenia tries to settle “situational issues,” NA deputy Viktor
DALLAKYAN says referring to the fact that the country lacks a policy
procedure on national security despite of being independent for
16 years.

“It means that our country has not put forward strategic, long – term
targets,” the deputy concluded in a discussion called at Izbushka
yesterday.

The incidence since 1999, let’s say October 27 or the crash of A-320
airliner, indicate that Armenia’s national security fails to function,
Dallakyan said.

He was amazed how energy, ecology, economic social security issues
are at all solved in our country.

Dallakyan recalled that in 2000 Law on National Security Principals
was developed with his own participation, which the parliament passed
in 2003.

However, president Robert Kocharyan has imposed a veto on the law
suggesting to further work on it.

The deputy was not pleased with the fact that the opposition is not
called for the discussions of national security policy procedure,
saying that they should be invited to such discussions. He also said
that non-professional are currently working on that procedure. Vahan
HOVHANNISYAN, NA deputy chairman and member of a group on national
security policy procedure was also present at the discussion but did
not express any objection.

CNN World Report
Saturday, May 6, 2006

Armenia TV
Armenian Genocide Commemoration

ANCHOR: Hundreds of thousand gathered in Armenia this week in commemoration
of the 91st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
Armenia TV’s Paul Chaderjian reports.

TRT: 2:14

:00 Yerevan, ArmeniaTV
:25 Hasmig Hovnanian, American-Armenian
:55 Vartan Oskanian, Foreign Minister, Armenia

REPORT:

This sacred monument atop a hill in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan is
called Tzitzernagapert or the Swallow’s Fortress. It is here that hundreds
of thousand gather every April 24th and throughout the year to honor the
memory of the million-and-a-half Armenians slaughtered by Ottoman Turkey
between 1915 and 1923.

HASMIG HOVNANIAN: For us April 24 is the holiest, most important day, to
remember all of the innocent people that died.

This memorial was built in the 1960’s, when the sons and daughters of those
who survived the death marches through the Ottoman deserts stood up and
transformed the Armenian people from victims to activists. Armenians around
the world began to draw international attention to the Armenian Genocide as
a crime against humanity.

VARTAN OSKANIAN: This is an acknowledged historic reality by most of the
scholarly world, and by most major media and journalists. Further, the
international political community, too, knows well what happened in 1915,
and together, we are seeking ways to enable more open discussion of why and
how the Genocide happened, and its implications for members of the world
community today – and most of all for Turks and Armenians.

Minister Oskanian says Turkey’s own democratization process has brought this
taboo topic to the surface, and that as Turkey tries to gain membership in
the European Union, it has to deal with its history, memory and identity.

OSKANIAN: The international community today considers the threat of Genocide
a very real 21st century challenge. Our responsibility, together with the
Diaspora, is to speak out against past and future uses of Genocide as a
political tool by states.

As for Armenians, parents who brought their children to the Swallow’s
Fortress say they want to build a secure and prosperous future even as they
remember the dark pages of the past.

For the CNN World Report, Paul Chaderjian, Armenia TV

# #

CNN WORLD REPORT
BROADCAST INFO

1) 04:30A GMT / 12:30P HongKong / 01:30A Buenos Aires / 14:30P Sydney /
12:30A EST
2) 02:30A GMT (Sunday) / 10:30A Hongkong (Sunday) / 11:30P Buenos Aires /
12:30P Sydney (Monday) / 10:30P EST

ETV, Egypt Dahab Bombing
IRIB, Iran Conference on QODS/Palestinian Support (VO & SOT ONLY)
FUTURE TV, Lebanon Ghazi Aad/ SOLIDE
ARMENIA TV, Armenia Armenia Genocide Commemoration
TVP, Poland March of the Living in Auschwitz (VO ONLY)
SWISS TV, Switzerland Papal Swiss Guard March to Rome
ITV NEWS, UK UK Marathon Man (St. George & the dragon) (VO ONLY)
CHANNEL J, Japan Children Meet Artists in Okinawa (VO & SOT ONLY)
CYBC, Cyprus Hasan Bulli, Cyprus’s “Jesse James”
BEIJING TV, China Pet Restaurant

# #

VLADIMIR PUTIN ORDERED RF GOVERNMENT TO RENDER ASSISTANCE TO FAMILIES OF KILLED

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.05.2006 01:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the RF
Government to render assistance to the families of those killed in
the A-320 crash, reported the press service of the Russian leader. By
decision of the Russian and Armenian Presidents mourning will be
declared in both states May 5.

DEAD BODY OF CITIZEN LOST TRACELESS IN 2005 FOUND OUT

Noyan Tapan
May 03 2006

ASHTARAK, MAY 3, NOYAN TAPAN. An information was got on May 2 from
the Police of the marz of Aragatsotn that the dead body of Mnatsakan
Gevorgian died in 1958 who was lost traceless still from November 17,
2005, was found out in Kasakh gorge, in the territory near Aparan,
called “Berd”. Noyan Tapan was informed about it by the Rescue Service
of the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration.

AZERI LEADER’S US VISIT “VERY USEFUL” – FOREIGN MINISTER

Lider TV, Baku
1 May 06

The Azerbaijani foreign minister has described President Ilham Aliyev’s
recent visit to the USA as “very useful”.

In an interview with private Lider TV’s “After the Voice” programme
on 1 May, Elmar Mammadyarov said that the three most important issues
discussed during the visit were regional security, including the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, the Iranian issue and democracy.

Speaking about the Iranian issue, which was discussed during the
visit at the initiative of the US side, the minister said that it
should be resolved only diplomatically. He noted that “there is no
need for Azerbaijan’s mediation” between Iran and the USA because
Azerbaijan had not been asked to do so.

Mammadyarov noted that he did not think threats to US economic
interests in Azerbaijan could be expected from the Iranian side in the
event of the USA starting war against Iran. Iran has always supported
Azerbaijan, for instance, on the issue of its territorial integrity in
the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, he said. He denied that such threats
had ever existed at all. Asked about Azerbaijan’s position between
Iran and the USA, the minister said that “we prioritize Azerbaijan’s
national interests in its foreign policy”.

The minister went on to say that the USA had also needed the
Azerbaijani president to pay a visit to the USA “very much” as “all
high-ranking members of the US government, except only Secretary of
State Rice, met Mr President”. He noted that unlike previously when
the USA was only interested in Azerbaijan’s oil, now the two countries
“have reached strategic partnership in their bilateral ties”. He
said that Azerbaijan had a chance to become a regional leader in the
future and that the USA therefore listened to Azerbaijan’s statements
“very carefully and with a very great interest”.

The USA’s statements that it will take all steps to resolve the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict mean that “both the US president and the
government are ready to do their best to bring peace to the region”,
Mammadyarov said.

He added that if it were not for the strong Armenian lobby in the
US Congress, the resolution of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict would
be faster.

“The Armenian lobby is now also starting to understand
that… Azerbaijan is turning into a regional leader,” the minister
said. The situation in the peace talks will change in a few years
because in three or five years Azerbaijan may not agree to what it
agrees now, he said.

AZERI PAPER SAYS KARABAKH LOW PRIORITY FOR US LEADER

Yeni Musavat, Baku
1 May 06

Text of Elsad Pasasoy report by the Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni Musavat
on 1 May headlined “Bush has forgotten about Karabakh” and subheaded
“Rasim Musabayov says that a peace deal may be signed at a G-8 summit”

The official publicity in the run-up to [Azerbaijani President]
Ilham Aliyev’s visit to the USA stressed that the visit was mainly
related to the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. However, George Bush did
not mention the loss of a fifth of Azerbaijani territories at a news
briefing although he indicated Iran, energy and democracy among the
issues discussed. The leader of the super power, who mourned over
the fabricated “genocide” of the Armenians several days before that
meeting, could have at least touched on the Karabakh problem.

One should not think that Bush has forgotten about the Karabakh
problem. Making a special reference to the wedding of Aliyev’s daughter
and wishing happiness to the bride and groom, the US president did
not speak about the number one problem of Azerbaijan, which he sees
as a friendly country.

Political analyst Rasim Musabayov has no doubts that Aliyev informed
Bush of the Karabakh conflict though the latter did not talk about
Karabakh. The expert believes that Azerbaijan’s energy importance and
Iran are priorities for the USA, while the theme of Karabakh is also
a big issue.

“Bush spoke about the issues that are important to the USA,”
Musabayov said.

Musabayov stressed that as Azerbaijan’s position on energy projects
and Iran is important to the White House, it is natural for Baku to
request Washington to provide support for its number one problem –
the Karabakh conflict in return.

“I think Ilham Aliyev asked for US support in the Karabakh issue,”
he said.

Aliyev himself admitted earlier that the USA was putting pressure on
him in connection with the Karabakh issue. Can we expect this pressure
to fall after the visit? Musabayov recalled that the Armenian press is
also writing about pressure on [Armenian President Robert] Kocharyan.

“The Armenians want to retain control of [Azerbaijani districts of]
Kalbacar and Lacin together with Nagornyy Karabakh in order to legalize
their occupation at least temporarily. I think they will not manage
to do so. In any case, they understand in America that Azerbaijan
will not sign a defeatist peace deal.”

In the political analyst’s opinion, Washington understands that
Azerbaijan will spend the money it has gained to strengthen its army
some day and start liberating its lands. Economically weak Armenia
is incapable of maintaining the status quo.

“Then, the USA or Russia would have to cover all the expenses of
the Armenian army. I do not think that they want this. In this case,
they must either bring Armenia to reason or fight Azerbaijan instead
of its enemy.”

As for the reports saying that Aliyev and Kocharyan will meet in June
after the Washington tour, Musabayov does not think that any serious
deal will be signed.

“It is true that [Azerbaijani Foreign Minister] Elmar Mammadyarov
sounds optimistic. As far as I know, Kocharyan will be called to the
USA after Aliyev. Yerevan’s use against Iran cannot be in question
in view of the presence of Russian military bases in Armenia and its
membership of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. By inviting
Kocharyan to visit, Washington may want to get him out of isolation and
get rid of [the Armenian] lobby’s pressure. But Bush does not need the
Armenian lobby’s support very much because he will not be re-elected. I
think they [the USA] may want to bring Armenia to reason. It can
be felt that the State Department is more involved in this issue
rather than the White House. First, the issue was discussed at the
meeting between Mammadyarov and [Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan]
Oskanyan. Then they talked to Aliyev, while Oskanyan ran to Moscow
and Karabakh to have talks. The heads of states will meet again if
they manage to explain the existing situation to Kocharyan. If the
two are close to sign a deal, they may be called to the summit of
the G-8 in St Petersburg to sign a document.”