Author: Navasardian Karapet

MIKA celebrate their Armenian Cup success (Hakber)MIKA
add to cup collection
Monday, 29 May 2006

FC MIKA have won the first Armenian Super Cup in their
history after beating league champions FC Pyunik 3-2
at the Republican stadium in Yerevan.

Decisive contribution
Armen Shahgeldyan, who scored the only goal in MIKA’s
Armenian Cup final win against Pyunik, opened the
scoring for MIKA after 17 minutes and then set up his
side’s second six minutes later, providing the pass
for Vardan Hovhannisyan to drive the ball into the net
from 18 metres.

Third time lucky
Agvan Lazarian pulled a goal back for Pyunik before
Shahgeldyan won and converted a penalty in the second
half to put the game out of Pyunik’s reach. Levon
Pachadzhan scored again for Pyunik but they could not
complete a comeback leaving MIKA to celebrate their
first Super Cup win in three attempts.

Armenpress

RUSSIA TO OBSERVE AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM SUPPLY CONTRACT WITH IRAN

ST. PETERSBURG, MAY 26, ARMENPRESS: Russia will
observe its commitments to supply Tor-M1 air defense
systems to Iran, its defense minister Sergey Ivanov
said Friday.
“The contract was signed and we need time to
fulfill it. It will be fulfilled if nothing unforeseen
happens,” he was quoted by Itar-Tass as saying.
Ivanov, who is also deputy prime minister, said the
Tor M1 was designed for operation at medium, low and
very low altitudes and “could not be used in
hypothetic terrorist activities.”
At the end of 2005, Russia signed a $700-million
contract on supplies of 29 Tor M1 air defense systems
to Iran. Despite strong criticism from the United
States, Russia has maintained that the systems could
be used only to protect Iranian air space.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT AND OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS DISCUSSED KARABAKH SETTLEMENT PROSPECTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.05.2006 18:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian met
with representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries,
specifically co-chairs Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Steven Mann (US)
and Bernard Fassier (France), as well as Russian Deputy FM Grigory
Karasin, US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried and Represetative
of the French MFA Pierre Maurel.

Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej
Kasprzyk was also present at the meeting, reports the Press Service
of the Armenian leader.

During the meeting the interlocutors discussed principles and
approaches of the current stage of the process of settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict, as well as exchanged views over prospects
of solving the issue.

CONGRESS OF UNION OF RUSSIA’S ARMENIANS OPENS IN MOSCOW

ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 25 2006

MOSCOW, May 25 (Itar-Tass) – The third congress of the All-Russia
public organization Union of Armenians of Russia has opened at
President-Hotel in Moscow on Thursday. Three hundred delegates from
different corners of the country participate in the congress.

According to ambassador of Armenia to Russia Armen Smbayan,
“remarkable is not the very meeting of today, but the fact that
the Union is the most successfully functioning and really acting
organization.” “Five years have already past since the time of its
foundation,” the diplomat recalled. “Over this time we have managed
to prove that the Union of Armenians plays an important role both in
Russia and at the international level.”

According to different estimates, from 10 to 12 million Armenians
are living in more than 70 countries of the world. The most numerous
diaspora of Armenians beyond Armenia is in Russia – some 2.5 million
people. Armenians have been living in the Russian land since ninth
century. Comprising a part of multinational Russian society, they are
making a great contribution in the development of Russian science,
culture and industry.

To bring numerous Armenian communities together and make them a real
political and economic force, it was decided to create a public
organization – Union of Armenians of Russia. Big businessman
and philanthropist Ara Abramyan was the initiator of the union’s
creation. At present he is the president of the organization. Vice
speaker of the State Duma Arthur Chilingarov and political scientist
Andranik Migranyan were also among the initiators.

AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA SHOULD TAKE RESOLUTE STEPS FOR RESOLVING NK PROBLEM – DANIEL FREED
Author: R.Abdullayev

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
May 24 2006

The sides should take resolute steps for the final solution of
Nagorno-Karabakh problem. However, the final clarification of the
situation existing in the negotiation process will be possible only in
late this week, Trend reports quoting the interview of the assistant
of the USA state secretary Daniel Freed to ATV television.

Daniel stressed that it was his third visit to Baku over past 6
months. “My goal is to find a peaceful solution variant to Karabakh
problem. Every resident of the region has the right to desire peace
and it needs to realize this desire in the nearest future,” told
Freed noting that for this purpose, it needs to take exact steps at
the state level.

“The Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and Armenian president Robert
Kocharyan may resolve the problem peacefully,” noted Freed.

UNITED LABOUR PARTY TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY IN EXECUTIVE POWER

Noyan Tapan
May 24 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. The United Labour Party (ULP) finds that
the “Orinats Yerkir” (Country of Law) party, being considered as an
opposing field, may serve a great and important service to the affair
of settlement of the legislative life of Armenia, assisting adoption of
legislative initiatives of higher quality. Gurgen Arsenian, the head of
the United Labour Party and the parliamentary faction stated about it
at the May 23 sitting of the RA National Assembly, expressing gratitude
on behalf of the party and himself to NA Speaker and “Orinats Yerkir”
party Chairman Artur Baghdasarian for the three-years joint work.

He also expressed an opinion on behalf of the ULP that the existing
political mosaics of Armenia does not threat the political stability of
the country in any way, but just the opposite, strengthens and fastens
it. “We also state that we undertake some responsibility within the
framework of solution of those problems which we stated during the
process of defending RA President Robert Kocharian’s pre-electoral
program,” Arsenian mentioned. According to him, till now the ULP made
use of legislative means and now it undertakes responsibility towards
means of the legislative power, what, in the opinion of the party,
will assist wider possibilities of implementing the above-mentioned
pre-electoral programs.

IRANIAN GOVERNMENTAL DAILY CLOSED DOWN OVER INSULTING CARTOON

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
May 23, 2006 Tuesday 10:21 AM EST

The governmental daily newspaper Iran was closed down Tuesday over
an insulting cartoon against the country’s ethnic

Azeri population, the news agency ISNA reported.

The press supervising commission ordered the temporary closure of
the daily due to what it called “provoking cartoon.”

The Azeris comprise more than 25 per cent part of the Iranian
population and mainly live in the north-western provinces bordering
the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkey but also in other cities such
as in the capital Tehran.

The Azeris, whose main language is very close to Turkish and therefore
are referred to in Iran as Turks, dominate most of the commercial
centres in Iran but have always been branded by Persians as naive
and dull.

In line with Persian jokes on the alleged naivety of Azeri Turks,
the daily Iran last Friday carried a cartoon on which a boy was
frightened by seeing a cockroach and therefore shouting cockroach in
Farsi, but the cockroach asked the boy in Azeri dialect “what?”

Although the Iran daily has already apologized for the cartoon and
the cartoonist already fired, still protests by Azeris throughout Iran
have continued during the last three days. Even the Iranian parliament
referred several times to the insult as “efforts to disintegrate the
Iranian people.”

The Iran daily is affiliated to the state news agency IRNA and hence
controlled by the government and under direct supervision of the
press department of the Culture Ministry.

As the Azeris are Muslims and even follow the Shiite wing of
Islam, they are not classified as minority like Jews, Armenians
or Zoroastrians.

Many Iranian officials, including the head of the Iranian Atomic
Energy Organization Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh, are Azeris.

DELEGATION OF NOYEMBERIAN PAYS ONE-WEEK VISIT TO ATHENS

Noyan Tapan
May 22 2006

NOYEMBERIAN, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The delegation of the city
of Noyemberian of the marz of Tavush, headed by Mayor Seryozha
Amiraghanian, left for capital of Greece Athens for one-week
visit. Representatives of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Supreme Body of Armenia and territorial organization are among the
delegation staff. Just on the ARF initiative, friendly ties were
established 5 years ago between Noyemberian and Virona suburb of
Athens. Virona community populated by many Armenians gave computers
to educational institutions of Noyemberian, diagnostic equipment to
medical institutions, a park of the Armenian-Greek friendship was
built in the city.

VLADIMIR KAZIMIROV: BACK DISCUSSIONS AND DEBATES, NOT DISGRACEFUL COMMENTS
Tatul Hakobyan

“Radiolur”
22.05.2006 17:25

May 20 the Pyotor Burdikin, Russian Charge d’Affair in Baku, was
called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan. Deputy
Foreign Minister Khalif Khalifov expressed his complaint over
“the latest intentional statements” of Vladimir Kazimirov, Former
Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group on the Karabakh conflict,
Head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Presidents Office
Novruz Mamedov said at a briefing today. He called attention to ”
Kazmirov’s statements about the Presidnet of Azerbaijan, which are
far from being diplomatic.” Particularly, the question refers to
Kazimirov’s statement that Aliev’s “military rhetoric distorts the
moral foundations of the society, exerts pressure over the psychology
of the young generation.” “Such statements about the leader of a
country are not permissible and exceed the limit of diplomatic ethics,”
Mamedov complains.

As it is known, May 17-19 the former Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group Valdimir Kazimirov was in Yerevan to participate in the
scientific conference on “The dialogue of Civilizations” organized
by the World Armenian Congress.

Commenting upon the response from Baku, Vladimir Kazimirov said in his
interview to “Radiolur” correspondent, “The question has two faces:
first, since 2000 I have been a resigned diplomat and whatever I
say, I express my personal opinion, which has nothing to do with the
opinion of official Moscow.

Secondly, the reporter of “Panarmenian” Agency was not recording
the interview, but was working with a pencil. When the material was
issued, I asked to withdraw it from the website since the reporter
had understood many things incorrectly.”

Kazimirov refused to comment on the complaints of Baku. “It is a
question, which does not concern me and should be addreesed to Baku. I
back discussions and debates and I oppose making disgraceful comments,
This is all I can say.”

DM OF AZERBAIJAN HAD A VISIT FROM COMMANDER OF AIR FORCE OF NATO
Translated by Anastasia Zanina

Source: Information agency “Trend”, 19 May, 2006
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
May 22, 2006 Monday

Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan Safar Abiyev received Commander of
the Air forces of NATO in Europe William Tom Chobbins. (…) During
the meeting, Safar Abiyev remarked that Azerbaijan is working
closely with NATO and the USA. Cooperation with NATO is successfully
continued in accordance with the Plan of the activity of individual
partnership. Touching upon the existing military-political situation
in the region of Southern Caucasia, the Minister remarked that
the main reason of non-settlement of peace and stability is the
Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict. (…) In his turn, General W.T.
Chobbins remarked progress in cooperation of Azerbaijan with NATO.

During the meeting, there was an exchange of opinions realized
concerning the perspectives of military cooperation of the USA and
Azerbaijan, the integration into European structures, activity of
Azerbaijan within the framework of antiterrorism coalition and other
questions. (…)