”Haylur” program of H1 TV Company informs that NATO Secretary General declared invalid the maneuvers that were to be held in Baku. The decision was made because Azerbaijani Embassy in Georgia had refused to grant visas to the Armenian officers and the Armenian military men returned to Armenia instead of partaking in NATO exercises. {BR} Protest actions in Azerbaijan continue until now....

Today Armenian Parliament Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan has received the members of the delegations for people’s management subcommittee of Security of Civil Development Commission of NATO PA and NATO’s Partnership Committee of Political Commission. {BR} Armenia is a NATO PA associated member. It has been participating in NATO projects since 1994 and numerous examples of successful cooperation...

One of these days the implementation of Armenia’s CE commitments and the 2 resolutions, Terry Davis’ report on Karabakh and the issue on returning the refugees to their places of residence will be discussed in CE Commissions. {BR} Arthur Baghdasaryan finds Armenia must appear jointly on Karabakhi problem. He also thinks that Coalition must give a common appraisal to Opposition boycott,...

Today the Armenian Parliament Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan announced that he is for Opposition’s return to Parliament. But he isn’t going to take any steps for that. {BR} Mr. Baghdasaryan doesn’t even want to listen about discussion of the issue over making a change to the Law on “Referendum” and conducting a Trust Referendum. He announced it’s untimely and senseless...

Before the autumn opening of Parliament session Parliament Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan held a press conference and announced that the issue over unseating MPs in Opposition won’t be discussed this week. Parliament Speaker is against unseating MPs in general. {BR} According to Mr. Baghdasaryan, the problem is to be settled in a political way. He thinks one must not forget the legal aspect of...

National Unity party leader Artashes Geghamyan said Friday if any of opposition parliamentarians is stripped of his mandate, his party’s MPs will put down their mandates.{BR} In his words, the responsibility for that will be borne by Robert Kocharyan and his supporters. No changes were made in the party’s strategy. The party keeps demanding punishment for those guilty of the April persecutions...

Another item on the National Assembly session preliminary agenda expected to spark fear debates in Parliament is the bill on guarantees for legal entities’ depositions in banks.{BR} It is known that Land of Law, one of the ruling Coalition parties, won the election on a platform promising to return people their soviet-era deposits while Republican Party heading the Coalition was opposed to that...

Issue on stripping opposition MP of their mandates is put at the top of Armenian National Assembly’s fall session by closed vote on condition of anonymity.{BR} It is hard to predict how the fate of opposition legislators will be decided. Each of MP will be voted separately. Whether those opposition MPs retaining their seats in parliament will rejected their mandates in solidarity with their...

Two packages of constitutional amendments proposed by Galust Saakyan, an MP of Republican Party, one of the ruling Coalition parties, and Arshak Sadoyan, an MP from the Opposition, are included in upcoming parliamentary session agenda.{BR} On Friday, Armen Harutyunyan, the presidential representative on constitutional issues, answering the questions journalists put to him in National Press Club said...

On Friday, Armenian National Assembly’s proper commission decided to consider Ardarutyun and National Unity opposition fractions MPs’ abstentions unacceptable.{BR} At the same time, constant absence of Levon Sargssyan, a well-known tycoon, from parliamentary sessions was taken with clemency. It is remarkable that he has appeared in National Assembly’s building only two or three...

Correspondent: What can you say about post-revolutionary Georgia? A.R.: There was no any development in the republic before the revolution while now dramatic changed is seen in different areas. Hope came to people. Struggle against corruption and organized crime started. Georgian communities overseas began to participate in political life. Money pocketed once was seized though there is still a question...

”The real democracy can’t be a donation by the western states. It must be achieved through a struggle”, MP Arshak Sadoyan, Chair of National Democratic Bloc, announced. {BR} He finds the way of gaining democracy by forming groups of democrats ready to fight. This initiative of Sadoyan is not treated seriously in the bloc, and he has to launch the matter alone. Mr. Sadoyan thinks...

Constitution version introduced by MP Arshak Sadoyan has been entered in the Parliament agenda with a positive conclusion. “All the misfortunes in our country, including October 27, issue from that we have one royal throne, which possesses high responsibility towards the society and super commissions to settle the personnel issues the way its wishes and to secure the super personal interests”,...

At today’s conference ARF Bureau member Levon Mkrtchyan has appreciated deeply the speech Iranian President had made in the Armenian Parliament the day before. According to Mr. Mkrtchyan, President Khatami introduced one of the most accessible variants of the democracy model. {BR} Levon Mkrtchyan also referred to the statements regarding Nagorno Karabakh conflict Iranian President had made at...

Security was today’s topic for seminar of National Citizens’ Initiative. Under the report introduced by Kiro Manoyan, Political Executive of National Committee /Hay Dat/ Armenia’s Office, Armenia has a significant role in keeping the balance of the security systems in the Southern Caucasus. {BR} He thinks, Georgia has the problem of maintaining the territorial integrity, Azerbaijan’s...

Paruyr Hayrikyan, Chair of National Self-Determination Union, has today met journalists. September 21 – Day of Independence was the topic of the discussion. {BR} Mr. Hayrikyan calls upon celebrating September 21 in due course. He thinks that day has never been treated properly. Hayrikyan doesn’t direct his challenge to the present Government alone, which according to him, mainly consists...

Government decision on sending sappers, doctors and drivers to Iraq is to be put on Armenian National Assembly floor soon. MP from the opposition Victor Dallakyan commenting on that fact expressed his negative opinion. He reminded that there is Armenian community in Iraq and Armenia’s presence there can put at risk not only Iraqi Armenians but also our republic’s population. In his...

Artarutyun, 16-party opposition bloc, convened a session on Wednesday to set a date for previously announced conference. The conference is scheduled for September 17. {BR} Opposition parties not included in the bloc will join the conference.

On Wednesday, Iranian president Seyed Mohammad Khatami was received also by Armenian National Assembly speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan.{BR} MPs from the opposition were present at the meeting despite they keep boycotting parliament sessions. The leader of Ardarutyun opposition bloc Stepan Demirchyan explained the opposition lawmakers’ presence as tribute of respect for the president of this neighboring...

Russian Security Agency announced a reward of 10 million USD for the information that could track down sinister Chechen terrorists Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basaev.{BR} They committed series of terrorist acts on different spots across Russia throughout last few years.

At Wednesday’s news conference, one of Armenian journalists wanted to know president Khatami’s opinion about recent terrorist act in Beslan, North Ossetia, and asked what steps can be taken to prevent terrorist threat in the future. “Unfortunately, certain terrorists try to attach religious slant...

At a joint news conference held immediately after Armenian-Iranian negotiations, Armenian president Kocharyan and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Khatami expressed their satisfaction with the results of the negotiations.{BR} Kocharyan said he was happy about course of negotiations and the results reached and expressed hope that relations between the two states will deepen. Khatami, in turn, said...

Amount of 5 million USD will be targeted for refugees’ needs under a state program, said Armenian National Assembly speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan said Wednesday at his meeting with the UN and Noway refugee committees’ officials Peter Nicolaus and Tim Strait.{BR} The sum will be spent for providing refugees with apartments and jobs, he said. The parliament speaker also said computer centers...

On September 7, the OSCE Mission held a regular monitoring of the Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan armed forces’ contact-line in the east of the Martouni region. {BR} From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring mission was led Field Assistants of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office’s Personal Representative Miroslav Vimetal(Czechia) and Yurgen Schmidt (Germany). The monitoring...