  |
|
|
home news banks cultural criminal dipcourier products subscribe |
TURKEY IS NOT GOING TO ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA BEFORE SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT MARCH 26. ARMINFO.-TURAN. Turkey is not going to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia until the Karabakh conflict is settled with due regard for Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty, the speaker of the Azeri parliament Murtuz Aleskerov told the Azeri MPs after his talk with the Turkish ambassador to Baku.
Aleskerov quieted the MPs' concerns about the recent congratulatory
message of Turkish President Ahmed Necdet Sezer to his Armenian
counterpart Robert Kocharyan. He reassured them that Turkey has not
changed its policy on Armenia.
ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT DISCUSSES BILL ON MASS MEDIA
MARCH 26. The Armenian Parliament discussed today the bill on mass media as well as related changes to the Civil Code, the Code of Administrative Violations and the law on state duty. According to Armenia's Deputy Justice Minister Ashot Abovyan, the current law on mass media was adopted in 1991 but now that Armenia has joined the CE it needs serious revision. The bill abrogates the procedure of media registration, this implying no responsibility for issuing, publishing and spreading information with no preliminary registration. All the country's media are equal and free. They act on the basis of legality and pluralism. Information in Armenia is not subject to censorship.
The bill has one single requirement: a media must have information on
its sources, there whereabouts, on the circulation and dates of its
articles. Dissemination of information can be limited only in case of
martial law, threat to national security and state of emergency as
well as by a court decision if an article contains secret information
or propagates illegal actions. A journalists is not obliged to
disclose his source, unless a court rules that his article contains
criminal iformation or infringes on somebody's interests.
NATIONAL PRESS CLUB DEMANDS EXCLUSION OF MASS MEDIA BILL FROM
PARLIAMENT'S CONSIDERATION
MARCH 26. Armenia's National Press Club has organized a procession and a picket in front of the Armenian National Assembly, demanding exclusion of the "antidemocratic" bill on mass media from the Parliament's consideration. The action was supported by the staff members of the newspapers "Aravot" (The morning), "Haykakan Zahmanak" (The Armenian Time), "Iravunk" (The Right), "Aizhm", "Aib-fe", "Orran" (The Cradle) and "The Fourth Estate", as well as of the "Noyan Tapan" News Agency. The organizers of the action demand discussion and adoption of the bill on mass media only after the parliamentary elections scheduled for May 25, which will prevent pre-election speculations. According to representatives of the National Press Club, an agreement on postponement of the Parliament's discussion of the bill was reached both with Government representatives and with Parliament members, but their have not kept their word. The organizers of the action stated that the reason why the bill has been included in the Parliament's agenda is early adoption of a law that will restrict freedom of speech in Armenia. Representatives of the National Press Club have informed foreign diplomatic missions in Armenia and the Council of Europe of the Armenian Parliament's intention to adopt an "antidemocratic" law on mass media.
The National Press Club also urged the Armenian Parliament to reject
the bill. Editor of the "Haikakan Zhamanak" newspaper Nikol Pashinian
stated that on the threshold of the parliamentary elections the
organizers of the action will hold a campaign against the Parliament
members that will vote for the bill. "If Armenia's authorities
declare a war on us, we take up this challenge and will without fail
win this fight," Pashinian said. He pointed out that most of the
proposals for improvement of the bill presented by Armenia's mass
media have not been accepted. According to him only two of 11 pages
of the bill deal with the rights and freedom of Armenia's mass media,
while the other nine list numerous restrictions to their activities.
CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF ARMENIA CONSIDERS APPEAL OF PRESIDENTIAL
CANDIDATE, PPA LEADER STEPAN DEMIRCHYAN
MARCH 26. The Constitutional Court of Armenia (CC) considered today the appeal of the presidential candidate, Leader of the People's Party of Armenia (PPA) Stepan Demirchyan against the results of the March 5 Presidential runoff election. The press-service of the Constitutional Court told ARMINFO that the reporters on Stepan Demirchyan's appeal are the CC members, Alvina Gulumyan, Michael Sevyan and Hrant Nazaryan. The respondent at the CC hall to the above appeal is the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia.
Three experts of CE Venice Commission, as well as the members of the
OSCE observer mission Richard Chambers (Great Britain) and Maria
Fariella Laoks arrived in Armenia to participate in today's working
discussion of the Constitutional Court dedicated to the issue of
consideration of Stepan Demirchyan's appeal.
CIS DID NOT PROVIDE IRAQ WITH WEAPONS
MARCH 26. Chairman of the Russian parliamentary Committee for CIS and Compatriots' Relations Andrey Kokoshin considers hardly probable that the weapons of the Soviet and Russian production could appear in Iraq from any of the CIS countries.
"It is very doubtful that the weapons of the Soviet and Russian
production which, according to the statements of the U.S. State
Department, allegedly were sent to Iraq from the Ukraine or any other
CIS country though such kinds of hints have been repeatedly dropped
by some western mass media recently," Kokoshin stated. According to
him, in a number of CIS countries the control of arms shipments and
military equipment has been seriously effected recently which could
be ensured round the official authorities
NO HUMAN VICTIMS RECORDED IN ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN IRAQ
MARCH 26. The Armenian community in Iraq has not yet sustained human losses as a result of hostilities in Iraq. The Spokeswoman of the Armenian Foreign Office Dzyunik Aghajanian reported that no member of the Armenian community had been killed by March 25. She pointed out that the Armenians are unwilling to leave their homes now. She added that everything depends on further developments. Aghajanian once more pointed out that Armenia is ready to receive Armenian refugees from Iraq. The country can also receive foreign citizens that will be willing to arrive in Armenia for temporary residence. The Armenian community in Iraq has received this information. Aghajanian reported that the Armenian Ambassador to Syria has been instructed to find out if there are Armenians in the refugee camps in Jordan and inform them of Armenia's readiness to receive them.
Commenting on the contradictory reports on turkish forces' intrusion
into the north of Iraq, Aghajanian pointed out that, according to
the Turkish Foreign Office the bringing in of Turkish forces to Iraq
is aimed at preventing refugees from crossing the Turkish border. At
the same time Aghajanian pointed out that one more factor may
exacerbate the situation in Iraq, which arouses concern. Aghajanian
pointed out that there is an Armenian village in the northern regions
of Iraq, and the issue of the villagers' emigration is currently
under discussion. "If they express a wish to arrive in Armenia, we
will do our best for their accommodation," Aghajanian said.
SCHOOL-CHILDREN FROM SAMTSKHE-JAVAKHETI TO TAKE PART IN SCHOOL
COMPETITION IN ARMENIA
MARCH 26. School-children from the Georgian region of Samtskhe-Javakheti, which is populated by Armenians, will take part in the school competition that is to be held in Armenia. It is the second year that school-children from Samtskhe-Javakheti will have the right to take part in the school competition Armenia. A qualifying round has finished in Akhalkalaki: four school-children will represent the region at the mathematics competition. As regards physics, chemistry, biology, geography, history, the Armenian, Russian, English, French, and German languages, three pupils in each of the subjects will represent Samtskhe-Javakheti. JAPAN INTENDS TO RESORT TO HELP OF ARMENIAN SPECIALISTS MARCH 26. Armenian specialists intend to take part in the Japanese program for development of IT industry. The Director General of the Armenian-American company "Viasphere-technopark" Aram Vardanian stated during the meeting with the Japanese delegation, which is in Armenia. According to him, this five-year program aimed at development of IT industry, implementation of which supposes turning Japan into a world leader in this sphere. "As a deficit of specialists on applied mathematics and physics in observed in Japan, and we'll try to attract orders on this program and implement them with the help of our specialists", Aram Vardanian said. HEADLINES OF 26 MARCH
ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTS SEVERAL BILLS
|
