Interfax
May 5 2004

Azerbaijan, Armenia to resume talks on Nagorno-Karabakh

Baku. May 3 (Interfax-Azerbaijan) – The foreign ministers of
Azerbaijan and Armenia are due to meet on May 12 to consider
proposals on settling the conflict between the two countries over the
Azerbaijani Armenian-speaking enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“There are definite ideas on which we will exchange opinions. The
co-chairmen of the Minsk Group of the OSCE [Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe] will also state their opinion on this
issue,” Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told reporters
in Baku on Monday.

The Minsk Group is a mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Mammadyarov said the Group co-chairmen would be present at his
meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian, to be held in
Strasbourg, France.

The meeting would be held “in the context of the negotiations that
the two presidents have held,” Mammadyarov said in reference to a
meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents, Ilham Aliyev
and Robert Kocharian, during an economic summit in Warsaw on April
28.

Mammadyarov denied allegations that Nagorno-Karabakh talks between
special representatives of the presidents of the two countries have
been suspended.

“I can say that the special representatives will also be in
Strasbourg,” he said.

Mammadyarov and Oskanian will meet during a session of the Council of
Europe Committee of Ministers.

Charlotte Observer , NC
May 5 2004

Armenian Church of America

A building of its own is on the way

ABOUT THE CHURCH

Meets at: St. John’s Episcopal Church, 1623 Carmel Road. Phone: (704)
541-6952. Web site: Meets once each month,
consult Web site for schedule. Next worship service is May 16, 1:30
p.m. Average attendance: 120.

A BUILDING OF THEIR OWN

The church began meeting in 1996, holding worship services twice each
year. The church now holds a worship service each month, led by a
priest who travels from New York City.

Lena Kupelian Neau, chairman of the Parish Council and Building
Committee, said a recent donation will soon allow them to become a
full parish with a building of their own.

“On Thanksgiving Eve, we got the news from the Diocese that a
benefactor had agreed to fund our entire complex on our property at
Park Road and Park South. Construction is scheduled to start this
month and we hope to open our doors in January. Once we become a full
parish, we will have a full-time priest and can have weekly services.
We also hope to hold lectures and classes so that the public can come
and learn more about our country (Armenia) and our culture,” Neau
said.

ANCIENT TRADITIONS

Neau said the Armenian Church dates back to A.D. 301. Orthodox
services incorporate ancient traditions. Hymns and liturgies are
conducted in Armenian and English. Sermons generally elaborate on the
day’s scripture reading.

On Saturday mornings, the church offers Armenian language classes at
9 a.m. and folk-dance classes at 11 a.m.

Outreach is directed toward Charlotte’s Armenian community, helping
them to assimilate into the city. The church will hold its annual
picnic at noon on June 6 at William Davies Park. Cost is $15 for
adults and $7 for children younger than 12. The public is invited.

RALLIES AND MARCHES IN ARMENIA TO BE REGULATED BY LAW

05.05.2004 13:33

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian President signed the bill On Rallies,
Meetings, Marches and Demonstrations earlier adopted by the parliament. In
the words of the Armenian minister of Justice David Harutyunian, the
parliamentarians completed the bill on the basis of the OSCE proposals. In
part, the bill strictly limits the subjectivity of the power and court
bodies for sanctioning such measures. In case the representatives of the
state structures illegally hinder mass actions, administrative or criminal
proceedings can be initiated against them. The period of providing
permissions for the actions as well as for appeals against the court’s
decision have been shortened. Besides the plenipotentiary bodies should
provide alternative time or place for the actions planned. The bill taboos
to hold mass meetings at the distance of 150 meters from the constructions
of state and strategic importance as well as near community facilities. To
note, the Armenian opposition stated the project as “repressive” as the
adoption of it by the parliament became one of the reasons for breaking off
the dialogue with the authorities on normalization of the internal political
situation.

A1 Plus | 15:21:35 | 05-05-2004 | Economy |

WORLD BANK TO ARMENIA

On Tuesday, World Bank approved three credit projects on Armenia.

Under the first of them, Armenia’s State Sector Modernization program, the
WB allocates 10 million 150 thousand USD.

The WB offers another $23 million for water-supply needs. The credit will
make water supply in Armenian provinces more effective, but drinking water
problem will remain unsolved for at least four years, says the head of WB
Yerevan office Roger Robinson.

The Bank has also pledged 1 million 74 thousand USD for Armenian Agriculture
Reform program implementation.

Total amount of the money the World Bank has already credited to Armenia
makes 789 million 9 thousand USD.

A1 Plus | 14:14:30 | 05-05-2004 | Politics |

PROSECUTOR OFFICE SEARCHING WRONGDOERS

Police has already wrapped its investigation into the last month’s violence
against journalists and handed it over to Yerevan’s Prosecutor Office, said
the Prosecutor General Office’s official Gurgen Abrahamyan on Wednesday.

He declined to confirm or deny the information, according to which Deputy
Armenian Police Chief Hovhannes Varyan had been formally charged in
connection with the incident, saying further investigation would give
answers to all questions.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1 Plus | 13:22:36 | 05-05-2004 | Politics |

ROBERT KOCHARYAN RESTRICTS PEOPLE RIGHTS

President Kocharyan upheld Tuesday the law on procedure of rallies,
demonstrations and marches passed by Armenian National Assembly.

It should be noted that European experts have taken the bill negatively
because of the many restrictions it contains.

Banned Radio Liberty supports Armenian opposition, activist tells paper

Aravot, Yerevan
4 May 04

“A foreign radio station has become the mouthpiece of the Armenian
opposition,” a representative of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation-Dashnaktsutyun [ARFD] bureau, Grank Markaryan, has
announced in Tehran. When you watch Armenian Public TV, it seems that
everything is OK in the country. When you listen to Radio Liberty, it
turns out that Armenia is ruled by dictatorship and people are being
arrested and beaten and that the overall situation is bad”.

To recap, Radio Liberty was banned from broadcasting in Armenia by the
country’s authorities back in 1994 on the pretext of the station being
the mouthpiece of Dashnaktsutyun.

Azerbaijan opposes foreign investment in Karabakh – Armenian TV

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
4 May 04

The Azerbaijani authorities are concerned about the situation with
foreign investments in Karabakh. According to sources in Azerbaijan,
the country’s government is unhappy with the fact that the Tashkent
office of the South Korean Daewoo Ltd has signed an agreement on
cooperation with the company Artsakh Karabakh Telecom.

Baku thinks that the Artsakh-South Korean cooperation agreement is a
violation of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. It called on the
Uzbek authorities to undertake measures to cancel this cooperation
agreement.

A1 Plus | 17:05:00 | 05-05-2004 | Politics |

EDIK BALAYAN: ARMENIAN TERRITORIES MUST BE GIVEN BACK

“We demand the issue of liberation of Getashen, Martunashen and other
Armenian villages to be raised during negotiations over Karabakhi conflict”,
Shahumyan-Getashen patriotic union’s leader Edik Balayan said at a news
conference held Wednesday.

He said in 1991, 20,000 Armenians had been driven from Karabakh-bordering
territories.

In his words, 17,000 people driven from their homes have taken refuge in
Armenia and face innumerable problems here. They are deprived of normal
living conditions, he said.

“We have no intention to cede our territories and will keep on struggling to
get them back”, Balayan said.

A1 Plus | 17:50:51 | 05-05-2004 | Politics |

ARMENIAN CHURCH’S CRACK-DOWN ON SECTARIAN PROPAGANDA

Armenian Apostolic Church’s Ararat Diocese authorities said Wednesday an
agreement is reached with Moscow and Nairi cinemas, according to which
before each show of the Passion of Christ movie the audience will be warned
that people outside the cinemas, who offer to discuss Christianity-related
issues are numbers of sects and have nothing in common with Armenian
Apostolic Church.