OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs To Arrive In Baku

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS TO ARRIVE IN BAKU

ArmRadio.am
24.05.2006 10:25

The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs will arrive today in Baku in the
framework of a regional visit. This time they will be accompanied
by senior officials of Ministries of Foreign Affairs of US, France
and Russia. The delegation will comprise Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Grigori Karasin, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Daniel Fried and Director on Political Issue of the French Ministry
of Foreign Affairs Stanislas D’Labouiet. The delegation will leave
Baku for Yerevan.

During the meetings with leadership of Azerbaijan, Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh issues related to the negotiations process on
settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the further steps will be
discussed.

61,967 Armenian Citizens Apply For Deposit Compensation

61,967 ARMENIAN CITIZENS APPLY FOR DEPOSIT COMPENSATION

Noyan Tapan
May 22 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The process of filing applications to
receive compensation for deposits made with the Savingsbank of the
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic before June 10, 1993, finished
on May 12. 61,967 Armenian citizens have applied for compensation,
presenting 137,481 saving books.

According to the PR Department of the RA Ministry of Labor and
Social Issues, the lists of citizens eligible for compensation will
be published in the third quarter of 2006, after which the payment
process will start. Prior to it, the database of applicants has to be
clarified by comparing the family benefit database of the ministry
with the information in deposit cards of the Savingsbank. To recap,
only members of the families, which were continuously in various
social groups to receive a family benefit from July 1, 2005, to
April 1, 2006, are eligible for compensation. The payment priority
is determined based on a social group.

Shushi Foundation Expects Donations From Armenians To Restore Town’s

SHUSHI FOUNDATION EXPECTS DONATIONS FROM ARMENIANS TO RESTORE TOWN’S MONUMENTS

Armenpress
May 23 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 23, ARMENPRESS: The Shushi Foundation and the Haypost
company (Armenian Post) have signed an agreement to help efforts to
restore the town of Shushi in Nagorno-Karabakh and its cultural and
historical monuments. Under this agreement every Armenian can transfer
a symbolic sum of 500 Drams (a little more than one US Dollar) to the
Foundation’s account, approving that way the Foundation’s initiative.

Bakur Karapetian, an author who is also the manager of the Foundation,
said his Foundation, established in 2000, has registered and
mapped around 525 monuments in the town and its outskirts. He
said architects have measured about 220 buildings dating back to
18 and 19 centuries. Karapetian said Shushi is the only Armenian
town that has been preserved since the 19-th century and therefore,
‘its atmosphere and colors should be preserved,’ which in turn could
promote development of tourism in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Karapetian went on to say that Shushi can become at the same time a
place where Christian and Muslim civilizations and cultures can meet,
because Shushi was also a place where the Muslim Shia culture met
with Christian culture. He said one of the town’s mosques was already
repaired. Karapetian said his Foundation wants also to set up a center
to study the history of the struggle for Karabakh independence. The
Foundation was able to materialize part of its ideas only thanks
to donations.

Under the agreement Haypost offices will accept transfers and send
them on the Foundation’s account once in a fortnight. Names of people
donating their 500 drams will be placed on the Foundation’s website.

Armenians in Diaspora can also join the initiative.

They can find information how to do it by visiting

www.Shoushi.am.

Head Of General Headquarters Of Ukrainian Armed Forces To Pay Two-Da

HEAD OF GENERAL HEADQUARTERS OF UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES TO PAY TWO-DAY OFFICIAL VISIT TO ARMENIA ON MAY 24

Noyan Tapan
May 22 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. On May 24, the delegation led by
Colonel-General Sergei Kirichenko, Commander-in-Chief and Head of
the General Headquarters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, will pay a
two-day official visit to Armenia.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by Colonel Seyran Shahsuvarian, RA Defence
Minister’s Spokesperson, meetings with Mikael Haroutiunian, Head of
the General Headquarters of RA Armed Forces, First Deputy Minister of
Defence, and Tigran Torosian, RA NA Vice-Speaker, are planned within
the framework of the visit.

The delegation will visit the memorial of the Armenian Genocide,
the Humanitarian Mine-clearing Center, the Military Institute
after RA Defence Minister Vazgen Sargsian. The delegation headed
by S.Kirichenko will also visit the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin,
where it will be received by Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin
II. Late in the evening of May 24, a ceremony of signing documents
will take place at the Reception House of RA Defence Ministry, which
will be followed by the joint press conference of the Heads of General
Headquarters of the two countries.

Andranik Margarian: RPA Must Become Assembly Place For People Led In

ANDRANIK MARGARIAN: RPA MUST BECOME ASSEMBLY PLACE FOR PEOPLE LED IN THE NAME OF STATE’S PROSPERING AND BY NATIONAL IDEOLOGY

Noyan Tapan
May 22 2006

ARMAVIR, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. “We do not want to make the party a
school, it will become such an assembly place where people will be
who will be led in the name of the state’s prospering and by the
national ideology,” Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia, RA
Prime Minister Andranik Margarian stated at the May 20 meeting with
RPA members at the Armavir Culture House. “Our goal is to strengthen
the party, completing our party’s rows just with such people,” he
emphasized. Andranik Margarian gave RPA membership cards to inhabitants
of Armavir newly joined the party’s rows. Republicans of the marz of
Armavir, representatives of the marz and city authorities were present
at the meeting. Mekhak Mkhitarian, a member of the “Orinats Yerkir”
(Country of Law) party, a NA Deputy was also present at the meeting.

Russia Is Bringing Out Military Possessions From Batumi

RUSSIA IS BRINGING OUT MILITARY POSSESSIONS FROM BATUMI

Source: Vremya Novostei, 19 May, 2006
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
May 22, 2006 Monday

Withdrawal of the Russian military equipment from Georgia is still
being carried out. As it was declared to “Vremya Novostei” by Second
in Command of the Group of the Russian troops in Transcaucasia,
Vladimir Kuparadze, the first in this year echelon with property of
the 12th Batumi base will come out from Georgia on the 25th of May.

On the whole, this year along this route Batumi-Gymri in Armenia,
where the 102nd Russian base is deployed, will follow seven echelons.

(…)

This year Georgia will be given five units of the Group of the Russian
troops in Transcaucasia, including two units in Adzharia (these are
the former sanatorium of the Air Defense forces in settlement of
Makhindzhauri and a town of the artillery troops in Batumi). Before
the Russian bases are finally closed, and this will be in 2008, the
Russian military men in Adzharia can use according to the agreement,
together with the Ministry of Defense of Georgia, training area
Gonio. But the Russian military men said that the Georgian side under
different pretexts doesn’t allow them to use this training area.

Search continues for crashed Armenian plane’s flight recorders

Agence France Presse — English
May 21, 2006 Sunday 2:08 PM GMT

Search continues for crashed Armenian plane’s flight recorders

Russian officials continued searching Sunday for the black box flight
recorders of an Armenian plane that crashed off Russia’s Black Sea
coast more than two weeks ago, but warned that they might be stuck in
the mud under the sea bed.

A submersible vessel was being used to search for the flight
recorders of the Airbus A320 that crashed on May 3, but “it is not
ruled out that they have sunk into the silt,” the ITAR-TASS news
agency quoted an official at the search headquarters as saying.

“If examination of the surface of the sea bed doesn’t yield results,
the underwater work will be reoriented to searching in the boggy
silt, which will significantly hamper the work,” the official said.

All 113 people aboard the plane died when it crashed on its approach
to the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Eighty-five of the victims were
Armenians, many of them on family visits.

The flight recorders are thought to lie at a depth of 500 metres
(1,600 feet) below the surface of the water.

Specialists from France have been called in to help with the search.

As of May 10, 51 bodies had been recovered.

Armenian-German intergov consultations to be held in Yerevan

Armenian-German intergovernmental consultations to be held in Yerevan

ArmRadio.am
20.05.2006 11:55

Armenian-German intergovernmental consultations of financial and
technical cooperation will take place today and tomorrow in
Yerevan. It is particularly envisaged to discuss issues of energy,
health, mortgage market and promotion of small and medium-sized
businesses.

>From the Armenian side the Intergovernmental Commission is co-chaired
by Minister of Finance and Economy Vardan Khachatryan. The German
co-chair is the Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development Rolf
Baldus.

NKR Pavillion Worked Till End Of Moscow Exhibition

NKR PAVILION WORKED TILL END OF MOSCOW EXHIBITION

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 19 2006

As it has already been informed, a group of Azeris held a protest
rally at the exposition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic during
the International Tourist Exhibition titled “Tourism and Rest 2006”
conducted in the Moscow Exhibition Centre “Gostiniy Dvor” requiring
forbidding the NKR presentation.

While commenting on the incident at the DE FACTO Information-Analytics
Agency’s request, Director of the Karabakh agency for development
of tourism Sergey Shahverdyan stated it was a provocation. He said
about 15 young men dressed in shirts with inscriptions “Stop Armenian
Aggression” picketed the NKR pavilion raising the Azeri national
flags and chanting anti Armenian slogans.

Sergey Shahverdyan highly estimated the measures undertaken by the
exhibition’s organizers, having noted “they did not surrender to
intimidation and did not suspend the presentation”. He mentioned with
satisfaction that despite the Azeris’ demands the Karabakh pavilion
was not closed and worked till the end of the exhibition. According to
Sergey Shahverdyan, “the Azeris’ trick became a peculiar publicity of
the Karabakh exposition, as it drew more visitors”. On the outcomes
of the exhibition the NKR participants received the organizers’
diploma. Sergey Shahverdyan stated 40 countries and 80 regions
of Russia had participated in the exhibition and stressed the NKR
participation in such a representative exhibition was of extreme
importance. In his words, “not production, but the country is
advertised” at the exhibitions of the kind. Director of the Karabakh
agency for development of tourism added the Nagorno Karabakh would
take part in the Moscow International Tourist Exhibition in 2007.

JACQUES GUYON: Encore Une Loi Qui Fait Une Histoire

JACQUES GUYON: ENCORE UNE LOI QUI FAIT UNE HISTOIRE

Charente Libre
18 mai 2006

Une fois encore, les historiens se retrouvent en butte a cette
tentation qu’ont les parlementaires de vouloir instaurer une histoire
officielle, erigee en verite intangible et a laquelle on ne peut que
se soumettre.

Et voila a nouveau les historiens remontes comme des pendules
contre les parlementaires ! Hier c’etait contre ceux de l’UMP qui
avaient vote la loi finalement ravalee sur l’aspect positif de la
colonisation. Aujourd’hui, c’est contre des deputes socialistes qui ont
pris l’initiative de deposer une proposition de loi visant a instituer
des sanctions penales contre la negation du genocide armenien.

Une fois encore, les historiens se retrouvent en butte a cette
tentation qu’ont ces temps-ci les parlementaires de vouloir instaurer
une histoire officielle, erigee en verite intangible et a laquelle
on ne peut que se soumettre au risque de sanctions penales. Cette
tentation très totalitaire – l’histoire officielle a de tout temps ete
l’apanage des dictatures – se pare une fois encore de plus ou moins
bons sentiments. Il s’agirait de lutter contre le negationnisme. Sauf
que ce negationnisme-la vient d’abord, et depuis 1918, du gouvernement
turc. Sauf que si on entend depuis quelques semaines les menaces
de retorsion economique d’Ankara, personne ne peut imaginer une
seconde que c’est cette loi qui va lui faire changer sa lecture
de l’histoire. Si ce pays reconnaît les massacres de centaines de
milliers d’Armeniens, il refute le terme de genocide.

Dès lors, on imagine mal qu’un jour la justice francaise condamne
(comme le prevoit le texte depose ce matin a l’Assemblee) le Premier
ministre turc, Recep Erdogan, a un an de prison et 45 000 euros
d’amende… Par contre, la loi du 29 janvier 2001 par laquelle l’Etat
francais (comme ensuite le Parlement europeen) a reconnu ces massacres
comme le premier genocide du XXe siècle, est largement suffisante pour
amener Ankara a plus de realisme: il suffit de lier l’adhesion de ce
pays a l’UE a cette condition. Il est d’ailleurs piquant que ce soit
du parti socialiste, qui pourtant milite pour l’entree de la Turquie,
que vienne cette initiative… Pour ce qui est des profanations
de monuments armeniens ou autres actes inadmissibles commis sur
le sol francais, il existe un arsenal juridique suffisant pour les
sanctionner sans qu’une nouvelle loi vienne epaissir notre maquis
juridique. Dès lors, on ne peut que s’etonner de cette initiative
parlementaire qui ne fait qu’en rajouter a la judiciarisation
actuelle et ne peut qu’encourager la victimisation galopante et les
surenchères communautaires. A moins precisement que les voix de la
forte communaute armenienne de France aient un tout autre echo a la
veille des elections de 2007. Si cette loi etait votee, nul doute que
les historiens de demain y verraient comme une loi… de circonstances.

–Boundary_(ID_4+7U6byb9QwuA2a77bb vWQ)–