Author: Nahapetian Lilit

“THE PLAN OF KOCHARYAN AND SARGSYAN FAILED”

Lragir.am
17 May 06

“Our society, our state is exposed to the situation in the political
sphere,” says Hmayak Hovanisyan, political scientist.

He says people’s disappointment with what is going on in the political
sphere is growing deeper. Even “the brain center Freedom House reported
how firmly the political and economic elites are connected, which
hampers democratic development, deepens antidemocratic processes
and corruption.” In this context, the political parties based on
this fusion of political and economic elites “are not political
organizations, in fact. And since the political parties are tenaciously
being ousted from the political sphere, public politics is ousted,
and the abovementioned fusion is growing deeper, the death of public
politics is imminent.”

Hmayak Hovanisyan goes on to conclude that the election 2007 will
be anti-political and predetermined by the current situation in the
political sphere of Armenia. “The plan of Robert Kocharyan and Serge
Sargsyan to politicize the business elite in a civilized way failed.”

FIRST ECHELON WITH RUSSIAN MILITARY EQUIPMENT TO HEAD FOR ARMENIA MAY 25

Yerkir
17.05.2006 15:35

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – The first echelon with the Russian military
equipment withdrawn from the 12th base in Batumi will head for Armenia
May 25, assistant to commander of the land forces of the RF Defense
Ministry Igor Konoshenkov said.

“The first echelon will include communication equipment, engineering
and rear equipment. It will be sent to Armenia May 25 to the 102nd
Russian military base in Gyumri,” he said.

According to Konoshenkov 6 echelons will arrive in Armenia in all. One
echelon will be sent to Russia. The next lot of the Russian military
equipment will be sent to Russia via Azerbaijan May 23. A part of
the equipment and armament will be transported to Armenia May 18. To
note, the Russian-Georgian agreement on the withdrawal of the Russian
military bases from Georgia was signed on March 31, 2006, reported
RIA Novosti.

ARTUR BROTHERS TAKEN TO COURT OVER HOUSE RENT
By Joseph Murimi

Standard, Kenya
May 17 2006

Artur Margaryan outside their Runda residence in Nairobi

The Armenian brothers who featured in the mercenaries saga are now
embroiled in a rent dispute with their landlord.

Mr Sammy Mutinda Musyoki has sued Artur Margaryan and Artur Sargasyan,
through their company Brotherlink International Ltd, demanding about
Sh800,000.

His application under a certificate of urgency is set to be heard by
Justice Festus Azangalala this morning at the Nairobi High Court.

In the application, Musyoki says he risks losing the money for breach
of tenancy agreement and attempts by the Armenian brothers to leave
the country. He wants them to be directed to deposit the money as
security for eventual decree in the suit.

Alternatively, Musyoki wants warrants of arrests against the two to
be issued, and they be restrained from removing their property from
the house situated on Glory Road, in Runda Estate, pending the hearing
and determination of the suit.

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 13 2006

Wrecked plane recorders retrieval to start May 16 – minister
16:37 | 13/ 05/ 2006

MOSCOW, May 13 (RIA Novosti) – The recovery of flight recorders from
the Armenian Airbus airliner that crashed off Russia’s Black Sea
coast last week, killing all 113 people on board, will start May 16,
Russia’s transport minister said Saturday.

Igor Levitin said special equipment, which is currently in the port
of Novorossiisk, would be delivered to the scene shortly. It will be
prepared for the operation in Sochi, the resort city not far from the
scene, Monday, he said.

The effort to recover the objects, believed to be the black boxes
that are crucial for explaining the cause of the crash, may take two
or three days, the minister said.

“It depends on weather conditions,” he said.

Levitin said the recorders could be at a depth of 496 meters (1,627
feet), and visibility was good enough for the recovery effort. The
distance between the recorders was reported at about five meters (16
feet).

An emergency official said earlier in the day that searchers had
received images of objects believed to be parts of the crashed
airliner from a new Kalmar deep-sea search vehicle working at the
scene to locate pieces of the wreckage and the flight recorders.

“The objects are presumably parts of the airliner. They have been
found with the same coordinates as the radio signals believed to be
coming from the flight recorders,” he said.

The Airbus, owned by Armenia’s Armavia airline, crashed in stormy
weather near Sochi on May 3.

WHICH IS BETTER, ELECTORAL FRAUD BY SKINHEADS OR TEACHERS?

Lragir.am
13 may 06

A striking tendency can be observed inside the Armenian system of
governance. Government officials multiply their positions, mainly at
the expense of the sphere of education. On May 12 Andranik Margaryan,
Prime Minister of Armenia over the past 6 years, alumni of the
Department of Cybernetics of SEU, was elected chair of the Council of
Alumni of SEU. During the meeting of the Council of Alumni Andranik
Margaryan was elected unanimously. May 12 is apparently a lucky date
for Andranik Margaryan, for six years ago this day he was appointed
prime minister of Armenia, and at that time nobody thought that
Andranik Margaryan would become the most long-lived prime minister in
the modern history of the Republic of Armenia. The prime minister, of
course, announced after a year of office that the work of a prime
minister is like that of a gladiator. It would be interesting to know
how the prime minister will characterize the position of chair of the
Council of Alumni. Considering that this is a technical university,
the prime minister will probably compare his new position to a
terminator.

After Serge Sargsyan the prime minister is the second to take up
leadership of a society of alumni. The minister of defense is the
leader of the alumni of Yerevan State University. By the number of
alumni SEU apparently is not inferior to the State University, which
is already a big benefit. But if Serge Sargsyan has taken up the
higher education system, Andranik Margaryan is gradually getting hold
of the secondary education system. He demonstratively admitted school
teachers to his political party on May 1 to demonstrate that for him a
teacher is the real worker. There is nothing left to do but to
persuade teachers that election is the real job. And this will not
take much effort.

An implicit remark that the lay-off policy was not finished or needed
revision would be enough.

On the other hand, it is commendable that the government elite of
Armenia have `taken up’ the sphere of education with such zest. Itis
commendable and reassuring. It is much better when school and
university teachers falsify the election that skinheads. While you are
trying to teach skinheads something, the OSCE has already learned
everything. Whereas there will be no need to teach teachers and
professors, they would teach others rather. Besides, itis beneficial
for the voter too. A skinhead hits, a teacher explains.

Zaman, Turkey
May 12 2006

Belgium Discusses ‘Penalizing Genocide Denial’
By Vedat Denizli, Brussels
Published: Friday, May 12, 2006
zaman.com

A legislative proposal similar to the bill pending at the French
parliament that would criminalize denial of the so-called Armenian
genocide is trying to make its way onto the agenda of the Belgium
Senate.

In the new bill presented to the Senate, Francois Roelands du Vivier
and Christine Defraigne, senators of the joint government party
Reform Movement (MR), suggested the so-called Armenian genocide be
considered within the framework of the Holocaust Law and that those
who deny the so-called genocide be punished with one year
imprisonment and fined about 5,000.

The Belgium Parliament had shelved similar bills and various
proposals after discussions last year.

Fatma Pehlivan, the only Turkish member of the Belgium Senate, told
Zaman that MR members continuously attempt to keep the so-called
Armenian genocide fresh on the agenda.

Pehlivan emphasized the bill’s acceptance is impossible, and a
general assembly approval is difficult even it passes in the
commission.

Globe and Mail, Canada
May 12 2006

The bonds of history
PATRICIA MARCHAK

acting director, Liu Institute for Global Issues

University of British Columbia — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan says he wants a bilateral academic inquiry into the mass
killing of Armenians in the early 1900s (Turkey Tried To Head Off
PM’s Verdict On ‘Genocide’ — May 11), but I can save him the
trouble. A few years ago, for a book I was then writing on genocide
and crimes against humanity, I conducted a search of the academic and
journalistic literature on the Armenian deaths of 1915-16 in the
Ottoman Empire. I found many references to the genocide, including
exhaustive histories and analyses of why it occurred, even some
sympathetic accounts of why Turks felt threatened by European
attempts to carve up the empire and Armenian attempts to get
Europeans involved.

Sympathetic accounts by non-Turks, however, did not go so far as to
pretend it was not a genocide. The only accounts that denied the
genocide were by Turks, who claimed variously that the deaths were
caused by the chaos of the First World War and by Armenian political
actions. What seems to be difficult for Turks to understand is that
the motivations (fear of political opponents, for example) do not
constitute an acceptable reason for committing genocide.

ORINATS YERKIR SECEDED FROM COALITION

Lragir.am
11 May 06

In an extraordinary meeting the political board of the Orinats Yerkir
Party decided on seceding from the coalition late in the evening
of May 11. At 12 o’clock on May 12 Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan, the
leader of the Orinats Yerkir Party, will give a news conference at
the National Assembly.

CHELTENHAM MAYOR TELLS OF AIR CRASH SYMPATHIES

Gloucestershire Echo, UK
May 9, 2006 Tuesday

Cheltenham mayor Brian Chaplin has offered his sympathies to families
of the victims of the air crash at Sochi in Russia.

Sochi has been one of Cheltenham’s twin towns since 1959.

On Wednesday, an Airbus A-320 of the Armenian airline Armavia plunged
into the Black Sea as it tried to land.

The accident claimed the lives of 113 people.

Coun Chaplin said: “It’s a concern to anyone with any compassion such
as with any tragedy like this anywhere in the world.

“It hasn’t directly affected the people of Sochi but is still
a tragedy.”

Trips to Sochi for Cheltenham residents have been organised for June
17 to 27 and the end of September.

SERGE SARGSIAN: ARMENIA EXPECTS FROM AZERBAIJAN ONLY RECOGNITION OF KARABAKH PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO LIVE FREELY

Noyan Tapan
May 09 2006

STEPANAKERT, MAY 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The President of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic Arkady Ghukasian, the Armenian Prime Minister
Andranik Margarian, the RA Defence Minister Serge Sargsian, the RA
Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepian and other high-ranking officials
laid a wreath at the Stepanakert Memorial Complex on May 9 on the
occasion of the anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic
war and the liberation of Shushi. Then they went from Stepanakert to
Shushi to attend the liturgy celebrated in St Ghazanchetsots Church.

Responding to reporters’ questions, the defence minister stated with
confidence that Karabakh has won the war, expressing his disagreement
regarding the statement that victory is half the matter and the
most difficult thing is to keep it. “If you win by 80%, it means
you have not won, you have achieved success for a short time. I
think Karabakh has won. And if there are new disas! ters, we’ll see
then…,” he noted. As regards the opinion expressed recently by
the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Co-Rapporteur on Nagorno Karabakh
Goran Lenmarker that there will be no peace without the cession of
territories, the defence minister said: “The cession of territories”
is a spacious word-combination. I am convinced and I repeat today
that there must be a peace or the solution of the problem only on the
basis of compromises and not unilateral concessions.” In his words,
today Armenia expects from Azerbaijan the same thing as 18 years ago:
Armenia expects Azerbaijan to recognize the Karabakh people’s right
to live freely. “I have no other expectation from Azerbaijan. We do
not want oil or some other thing. We just want them to understand
that the Karabakh people also has the right to live the way it wants
to.” As for the future fate of Shahumian region, Serge Sargsian
said that it depends on the negotiation process and versions of the
problem solution.