Those who suffered from the activity of “ArmenTel” continue to protest

ArmRadio
23.03.2006 14:30

Several groups were protesting today in front of the government
building. Dwellers of the Northern Avenue, Buzand Street and Dalma
Parks joined the residents of the area adjunct to the Tbilisi Highway
and the citizens who suffered form the activities of `ArmenTel.’

Arshak Sadoyan, who was heading the strike of the latter, declared
that the protest will continue until the government gives a
response. They met the Minster of Transport and Communication Andranik
Manukyan. The latter told the strikers that he will submit
corresponding documents to the Prosecutor’s Office and hopes that the
issue will be resolved in their favor.

Presidential Youth Award will be given to talanted children in the sphere of classical music

ArmRadio
23.03.2006 13:00

This year the Presidential Youth Award will be rewarded also to
talented children in the sphere of classical music.

During the press conference at the `Hayastan’ All-Armenian Fund Office
Rector of the Yerevan Conservatory Sergey Sarajyan informed that two
of the four compositions presented have been selected.

This year a number of works have been presented in the `Cinema and
Art’ nomination, and according to famous singer Barsegh Tumanyan, it
has been hard to make a choice. A prize of $5 000 is to be awarded in
the sphere of classical music. $ 2 500 will be awarded in the cinema
and art nomination.

NKR President will have meetings with the leadership of Armenia

ArmRadio
23.03.2006 12:34

Starting March 22 President of Nagorno-Karabakh Arkadi Ghukasyan has
been in Armenia on a working visit.

NKR Presidnet’s Press Service informs that during his visit Arkadi
Ghukasyan will have meetings with the leadership of Armenia.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Evans Will Not Be Recalled Most Likely, Armenian
Political Scientist Believes

23.03.2006 19:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ US Ambassador to Armenia John Evans
will not be recalled to all appearance as the American
diplomat has expressed not only his own opinion but
also that of two thirds of the House, political
scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan stated in a
conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his
words, the recall of an ambassador, whom Daniel Fried
called «fantastic», cannot be taken as US federal
authorities confronting congressmen’s opinion. «Thus I
suppose J. Evans will continue his service as US
Ambassador to Armenia till the end of his tenure,» the
political scientists remarked.

To remind February 19, 2005 John Evans indicated the
importance of recognition of the Armenian Genocide at
a meeting with California Armenian community members.
«I will today call it the Armenian Genocide,’ Evans
said. In the opinion of State Department officials
Evans did not have the right to make statements of the
type even in his personal capacity.

`Los Angeles Times’ turns to the issue of the Armenian Genocide

ArmRadio
23.03.2006 10:55

In its editorial under `It was a genocide’ title, the `Los Angeles
Times’ turned yesterday to the possible recall of the US Ambassador to
Armenia John Evans, reminding that he has recognized the Armenian
Genocide.

“The Department of State avoids the concept of `genocide’ not because
it does not want to argue about historic issues, but just considering
the fact of being the strategic partner of Turkey,’ the newspaper
notes.

`The time has come that we should not close our eyes on the issue and
accept the history. The Armenian case cannot be considered even
marginal. Punishing the Ambassador for telling the truth about the
events of 90 years ago would suit a monarchy using dual standards, but
not a country leading in the free world,’ the editorial of the `Los
Angeles Times continues.

Row over US ambassador’s Armenia genocide remark

The Independent – United Kingdom; Mar 23, 2006
Rupert Cornwell in Washington

Protests are growing over the possible recall of the US ambassador in
Armenia after he described the 1915 massacres of Armenians by the
Ottoman Turks as genocide. If he is recalled, it would be seen as
giving in to Turkish pressure.

Officially, John Marshall Evans remains – for the time being at least
– Washington’s man in Erevan. “Ambassador Evans is our ambassador, and
he continues … to exercise that honour and privilege,” a State
Department official said last week.

But that assurance has satisfied neither the ethnic Armenian community
in the US, nor members of Congress from southern California where the
community is centred. Their suspicion is that a successor for Mr Evans
has al ready been lined up, and he will be ordered home. Adam Schiff
and Grace Napolitano, representing districts in the Los Angeles area,
have taken up the matter with the State Department. “I expressed my
opposition to any disciplinary action being taken against the
ambassador for speaking the truth,” Mr Schiff said.

Mr Evans caused a diplomatic sensation in February 2005 when he flatly
called the massacres a genocide, during an appearance at the
University of California at Berkeley. It was “unbecoming of us as
Americans to play word games here,” he declared. “I will today call it
the Armenian genocide.”

By doing so, he became the first US official to use the loaded word in
an Armenian context. Like the Clinton administration before it, the
Bush administration has always referred to the slaughter as a massacre
or a tragedy, but not as a genocide. The circumspection is widely seen
as an effort not to upset Turkey, an important US ally in the Middle
East that shares borders with Iraq and Iran.

The stand-off follows successive efforts by Mr Schiff to introduce a
bill specifically recognising the events of 1915 as an act of genocide
– efforts that have been blocked at the White House’s behest.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian minister downplays public concern at US drug report

Arminfo
22 Mar 06

Yerevan, 22 March: Armenian public concern over the International
Narcotics Control Strategy Report by the US Department of State is
groundless, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan told parliament
today. He was commenting on mass media allegations that Armenian
officials are allegedly engaged in drug trafficking.

The minister said that the report says quite the opposite. In
particular, it says that “there is no ground to assume that any
Armenian official is engaged in drug trafficking”.

[Passage omitted: Reference to the report]

Karabakh talks should continue – Armenian premier

Arminfo
22 Mar 06

Yerevan, 22 March: Talks on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict
are continuing and have not reached deadlock yet, Andranik Markaryan,
Armenian prime minister and leader of the Republican Party, told
reporters today.

He said that negotiations on the Karabakh settlement should go ahead
as resumption of hostilities proceeds neither from the interests of
Armenia nor Nagornyy Karabakh. He stressed that one of the ways of
settling the Karabakh conflict is through official recognition of
Karabakh’s independence by Armenia. However, talks are under way for
the time being and it is premature to make serious analyses in that
respect, the prime minister concluded.

Armenian opposition slams Russian gas price rise

Mediamax news agency
22 Mar 06

Yerevan, 22 March: The current state of Armenian-Russian relations was
discussed at the National Press Club today.

MP Shavarsh Kocharyan from the opposition Justice bloc said that
“Armenia and Russia have lost mutual understanding”, Mediamax
reports. He said that the problem caused by Russia’s decision to raise
gas prices is not an economic issue but results from Moscow’s desire
to continue its dominance over post-Soviet countries. “In the
meantime, Armenia’s future lies in integration into European
organizations,” Kocharyan said.

“Armenian-Russian relations have been forming on the basis of legends
for a long time. It is necessary to end emotional relations and pursue
a pragmatic policy with regard to Russia,” the MP said.

The leader of the Armenian Progressive Party, Ovanes Ovanesyan,
believes that “the myth about Armenian-Russian fraternal relations has
collapsed”. “As long as Armenia and Russia do not establish healthy
economic and political relations, we shall permanently come across
what we have now,” he said.

The leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia, Aram Sarkisyan, said
that the Armenian authorities are to blame for this as they “have not
developed a doctrine for cooperation with Russia in due time”. “The
Armenian leadership has made itself dependent indefinitely by handing
over 80 per cent of Armenia’s energy system to Russia,” Sarkisyan
added.

Armenia to partly replace Russian border guards at its main
international airport

AP Worldstream; Mar 22, 2006

Armenia is to partly replace Russian border guards stationed at its
main international airport with Armenian frontier troops, a top
commander said Wednesday.

Under a bilateral accord between Moscow and the ex-Soviet Caucasus
Mountain nation, border guards under Russian command patrol the
country’s borders with Iran and Turkey and Yerevan airport. Armenian
forces guard the border with Georgia and Azerbaijan.

The commander of Armenia’s border forces, Col. Armen Abraamyan, said
that within one or two months, graduates of a training center
modernized with U.S financial help would be ready to take over
frontier duties at the airport.

Armenia, an impoverished landlocked nation, hosts a major Russian army
base and has been seen as one of Russia’s closest allies in the
region.

But plans by Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom to double the price
that Armenia pays for gas have angered Yerevan.

Russia withdrew its border guards last year from the Central Asian
nation of Tajikistan, where they had been stationed on the Afghan
frontier since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.