Besides, Kocharian has signed the law "On giving effect to the new Criminal Code" passed by the parliament, according to which the repeal of death penalty does not apply to people, who had committed a number of heinous crimes before the adoption of the new Code.

Head of the Jewish community of Armenia Rimma Varzhapetian emphasized there were no explicit manifestations of anti-Semitism in Armenia, "although it is already the second year that April 23 - on the eve of the commemoration day of the victims of the Armenian Genocide - young representatives of "Dashnaktsutyun" party burn the Turkish flag, on which the Star of David - the symbol of the Jewish people - appears for some reason."

May 13-16 Armenian companies will participate in the 2-nd international exposition of arms and military equipment "MILEX-2003" in Minsk, which is held under the aegis of the main defense exporter of Russia - "RosOboronExport."

"Heydar Aliyev continues taking cure at home. Nevertheless, the state of health of the president is stable and he is engaged in state affairs," Ali Hasanov, representative of the administration of Azeri president stated.

"I bend my head to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Turkey in 1915," - a representative of the Turkish delegation and German union of opponents of genocide Ali Ertem stated the other day at a measure organized by the Federation of Armenian Organizations of the Netherlands, devoted to the 88-th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

First deputy defense minister of Armenia, chief of the Headquarters of the Armenian Armed Forces Mikayel Harutyunian noted the status of Turkey's participation in the maneuvers was still being discussed: three representatives of the country may arrive in Armenia as observers.

In the words of Demetrio Volchich, "if someone says he cannot solve a conflict via peaceful means, he is not a bearer of the logic and does not share the philosophy of the EU. This refers to the Nagorno Karabakh problem, too."

The participants of the close meeting will consider the ways of settlement of the Georgian-Abkhazian, Georgian-Osetian and the Nagorno Karabakh conflicts, as well as the opportunity to restore rail communication via Abkhazia.

During his current stay in Yerevan NATO deputy supreme allied commander Europe, admiral Rainer Feist discussed the issue of participation of the Armenian military in international peacekeeping operations in the Balkans at meetings with the Armenian president, defense minister and chief of the Headquarters of the Armenian Armed Forces.

The Legislative Assembly of the largest Brazilian state - San-Paulo - has unanimously passed a law recognizing April 24 "a Commemoration Day of the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide in 1915."