Month: October 2006

ARMENIA 101ST ON PRESS FREEDOM RATING

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.10.2006 13:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia was the 101st on the annual Press Freedom
Rating by Reporters without Borders. In the opinion of creators of the
rating, the freedom of press record of Armenia has deteriorated. Thus,
e.g. Armenia was 90th in 2003-2004. However, as compared with past
year, Armenia raised one point in the rating. Meanwhile, Russia is
147th. North Korea has the worse record (168th). Turkmenistan is the
167th and Eritrea is 166th. The media is most independent in Finland,
Island, Ireland and Netherlands.

RESIDENTS MAY APPEAR IN THE STREET
Armenouhy Minasyan

A1+
[02:03 pm] 24 October, 2006

Over hundred homeless families of Gyumri may be deprived of their
temporary dwelling places on the eve of winter. At present the families
live in country district behind the Shirak Hotel.

Under the court decision, the residents’ cottages, belonging to
Shirakshin organization, have been put into action to pay back the
715 million debt of the organization which was found insolvent by
the court.

The action was scheduled on October 11 but it was cancelled because
of the claimant’s absence.

The freelance experts claim that each cottage in the disputable area
costs 2 million 100 thousand AMD. Five people live in 400-square-meter
cottages, thus in case each family pays 500 thousand AMD, and they
may become the owners of the cottages. But none of the families can
afford to buy the shabby cottages.

Fearing the possibility of appearing in the streets, the residents
appealed to higher institutions, even the Municipality of Shirak marz.

The last hope is that in case there are no buyers in the actions the
price of the cottages will decrease 20 percent, and the residents
will be able to but the cottages themselves.

PARIS HOPES FOR OSKANIAN-MAMMADYAROV MEETING TO LEAD TO PROGRESS IN KARABAKH ISSUE

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.10.2006 13:04 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azeri President Ilham Aliyev will pay a state visit
to France in January 2007, the French MFA reported upon completion
of the talks between French FM Philippe Douste-Blazy and his Azeri
counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov. Economic relations between the two
countries are raising and French enterprises pay much attention to
the Azeri market.

Past year the bilateral trade turnover increased three times, making
some 500 million Euros. Philippe Douste-Blazy hoped for the impending
meeting of Armenian and Azeri FMs to promote progress on the way of
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, reports ITAR-TASS.

MIGS VERSUS TERRORISTS
by Igor Yelkov

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
Source: Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Moscow issue), October 20, 2006, p. 10
October 23, 2006 Monday

Russian fighters returned the "hijacked" AN-26 to Ukraine

LIEUTENANT GENERAL AITECH BIZHEV, DEPUTY COMMANDER OF RUSSIAN AIR
FORCE, REPORTED ABOUT RESULTS OF EXERCISES OF THE UNITED AIR DEFENSE
SYSTEM OF THE CIS; The training taking and hijacking of a military
cargo airplane AN-26 from the Ukrainian airport of Borispol became
the most breathtaking episode of the military exercises of the united
air defense system of the CIS.

The training taking and hijacking of a military cargo airplane AN-26
from the Ukrainian airport of Borispol became the most breathtaking
episode of the military exercises of the united air defense system
of the CIS.

Ninety-seven airplanes of the military aviation of Russia, Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Ukraine
participated in the staff command exercises. Lieutenant General
Aitech Bizhev, Deputy Commander of the Russian Air Force, called the
"hijacking" of AN-26 from the airport of Borispol the most interesting
episode.

Bizhev said: – Our fighters took off from the airdrome near Kursk
intercepted and guided this airplane to the border of Ukraine and
handed it over to Ukrainian fighters for landing on the departure
airfield.

In the course of the exercises two Russian airplanes of long-range
radar surveillance A-50 provided for surveillance of airspace above
a huge territory.

Lieutenant General Bizhev explained that one A-50 operated in the
area of Mozdok providing for command of the crews of interceptors
being on duty on the air base in Armenia. The second A-50 was in the
area of Minsk and commanded Belarusian fighters.

Neither the interceptors nor the crews of air defense missile systems
performed real combat launches. Pilots and missile crews performed the
entire cycle of homing and killed conventional targets of the probable
enemy, according to the general, "with assistance of electronic shots."

General of the Army Vladimir Mikhailov, Commander of the Russian Air
Force, summed up the result: – The united air defense system of the
CIS grew better than the air defense system of the Soviet Union. We
preserved all command posts that existed on the territory of the Soviet
Union. We control the situation not only on the territory of Russia but
also on a territory even bigger than the territory of the former USSR.

Mikhailov added that very soon the united air defense system of the
union state of Russia and Belarus would be legalized by documents.

According to participants, in comparison to previous exercises skills
of both pilots and air defense command bodies of Uzbekistan grew
significantly. Uzbek airplanes performed seven flights.

Non-participation of Georgia was another peculiarity of the
exercises. In any case, according to Russian experts, even in the
time when Georgia participated in such exercises its air defense
system was inefficient. Nonetheless, we preserved direct channels
of communication with the Georgian Air Force command post. According
to General Bizhev, "Our systems fully view the entire airspace above
Georgia up to Turkey."

ARMENIAN OFFICIALS LOOKING AT ESTONIA’S HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

Baltic News Service
October 23, 2006 Monday 3:07 PM EET

Health officials and experts from Armenia are about to get familiar
over the next two weeks with the reforms carried out in the Estonian
health care system, first and foremost the with introduction of the
system of family doctors.

The training program for the Armenians who will be in Estonia from
Oct. 23 to Nov. 4 is arranged by the Praxis center for political
studies and it will include presentations of Estonia’s health care
policy, legislation and structure of the health care system, comparing
the periods before and after 1998, along with the health insurance
system and the promotion of the skills of medical workers.

The presentations will be made by representatives from the Social
Affairs Ministry, the National Health Insurance Fund, Tartu University,
Jarva County Government, the Social Affairs and Health Care Board
of Tallinn, the Estonian family doctors association and the patients
association, spokespeople for Praxis said.

The Armenians also will look at family practices in Tartu and the
Jarva County.

AUSTRIAN TURKISH CANDIDATE STIGMATISED FOR GENOCIDE´DENIAL

AUSTRIA TODAY
October 23, 2006 Monday 7:36 PM (Central European Time)

A Turkish-origin candidate for a seat in the Austrian parliament
has been threatened since he denied the so-called Armenian genocide
in a statement in a newspaper in Vienna. Mustafa Iscel, candidate
for Austrian People´s Party (OeVP) in the general elections held on
October 1, said that he had been threatened by Armenian lobbies in
Austria and Germany after he told Austrian daily Die Presse that no
Armenian genocide existed.

Iscel also printed a flyer that read "Vote for us if you do not want
the Armenian bill passed" during the election campaign. "People from
both sides were killed in this historical event. Independent historians
are needed to clarify the issue and politicians should not be involved
in such issues," he told the newspaper. Iscel went on to say that
Armenians would threaten him till he resigned from his party, also
pressuring the OVP to remove him from the list of candidates. Late in
September, three Turkish candidates were expelled from their parties in
the Netherlands due to their refusal to accept the so-called Armenian
genocide, ahead of general elections to be held on November 22. The
Christian Democrat Appeal and Labor Party of the Netherlands removed
three Turkish-origin politicians from their lists of candidates to
run for a seat in the parliament after they refused to admit that
Turks committed genocide against Armenians during the World War I.

–Boundary_(ID_WdGBfuvB9k4f8FKW6dKWdw)–

BELARUS PM THANKS ARMENIA FOR SUPPORT
By Shakeh Avoyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 23 2006

Belarus’s visiting Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky thanked Armenia
on Monday for supporting his country, increasingly ostracized by
the West for its poor democracy and human rights records, in the
international arena.

"Belarus supports Armenia in international affairs and we thanked
Armenia for supporting Belarus in international affairs," Sidorsky
said after holding talks with Armenian leaders on the first day of
his official visit to Yerevan.

Although Sidorsky did not elaborate, he seemed to be alluding to
Armenia’s refusal to join the United States and the European Union
in condemning the authoritarian regime of Belarusian President
Aleksandr Lukashenko. Official Yerevan has repeatedly sided with
Russia in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and
other international bodies to vote against resolutions criticizing
Lukashenko’s intolerance of dissent and reported human rights abuses.

Lukashenko, known for his tough anti-Western rhetoric, faced renewed
international criticism as recently as last March over his handling of
a controversial presidential election which OSCE observers denounced
as undemocratic. President Robert Kocharian reportedly congratulated
him on his hotly disputed reelection.

Meeting with his Belarusian counterpart, Prime Minister Andranik
Markarian said Armenian-Belarusian ties have been cemented by what
he described as a "warm personal rapport" existing between the two
presidents. "Cooperation between the two states and the two governments
is proceeding very well," Markarian told an ensuing news conference. "I
am very satisfied with our negotiations."

The talks appeared to have focused on bilateral economic ties, with
the two premiers praising a steep increase in Armenian-Belarusian
trade reported by them in the last few years. But they both admitted
that its volume remains modest in absolute terms.

Markarian and Sidorsky said nothing about ongoing military cooperation
between the two ex-Soviet states aligned in the Russian-led Collective
Security Treaty Organization. Armenia and Belarus are bound by
bilateral agreements that allow for mutual arms supplies.

Belarusian Defense Minister Leonid Maltsev reaffirmed his country’s
interest in the developing "mutually beneficial" military ties with
Armenia as he visited Yerevan in December last year. According to
Kocharian’s office, Maltsev and Armenian leaders discussed "prospects
for deepening" those ties.

ARMENIAN GROWTH ‘SUSTAINABLE WITHOUT KARABAKH PEACE’
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 23 2006

Armenia’s economy can continue to expand at double-digit rates without
a near-term solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the outgoing
head of the World Bank’s office in Yerevan said on Monday.

But Roger Robinson cautioned that continued rapid growth may not be
sustainable unless the Armenian authorities improve the rule of law,
strengthen the judiciary and spend more on healthcare and education.

He also admitted that the dramatic strengthening of the Armenian
dram might reflect negatively on the country’s "very strong economic
performance."

According to official statistics, Armenian growth is on track to
remain in double digits for a sixth consecutive year, with Gross
Domestic Product increasing by 12.5 percent during first nine months
of this year. The Armenian government acknowledges that the growth,
largely driven by a construction boom, has primarily benefited Yerevan
and surrounding areas.

In an interview with RFE/RL, Robinson said he has seen a "significant
change in the quality of life" in the country since taking over the
World Bank office in the Armenian capital nearly five years ago. "I
think it has affected the majority of the population," he said,
pointing to government data showing that the proportion of Armenians
living below the official poverty line fell from 56 percent to 34.6
percent between 1999 and 2005.

"Can this be sustained over the next five or ten years? I believe
it can be," Robinson said, adding that this will require deeper
"institutional reforms" that would improve governance, tax and
customs administration as well as the overall business environment in
Armenia. He also stressed the need for increased government spending
on education and other public services.

Asked whether the growth can be sustainable without a settlement of
the Karabakh conflict, Robinson said, "It is possible."

Many Western policy-makers and analysts have long asserted that
Armenia’s economic development hinges on the reopening of its borders
with Azerbaijan and Turkey, something which they believe would make
the landlocked country far more attractive to foreign investors and
reduce high transportation costs incurred by Armenian exporters.

French President Jacques Chirac subscribed to this belief during a
state visit to Yerevan last month, telling Armenians that "only a
lasting and just peace will allow your people to turn their hopes
into reality."

In Robinson’s words, the growth rates registered by Armenia in recent
years have taken Western donors by surprise. "I have to say that I
have been surprised every single year that I’ve been here," he said.

"If you asked me last year if I would project 12.5 percent GDP growth
this year, I would say no. If you asked me the year before if I would
be projecting double-digit growth in 2005, I wouldn’t.

"Even some of us that know the country and the economy quite well
are all surprised by the rate of growth."

Still, the World Bank official, who has helped to allocate hundreds
of millions of dollars in low-interest loans to Yerevan, insisted
that Karabakh peace, is a "necessary and good thing to sustain the
growth in the future." "I think that’s a given," he said.

Robinson also reiterated the World Bank’s strong endorsement of the
Armenian authorities’ monetary policies that have come under public
scrutiny amid the continuing appreciation of the national currency,
the dram. Government critics allege that the authorities have
"artificially" boosted the dram’s value by over 40 percent since
December 2003 to enrich government-connected importers and siphon
off a large of part of massive cash remittances from Armenians
working abroad.

The Armenian Central Bank strongly denies any exchange rate
manipulation, insisting that the dram’s strengthening is the result
of a surge in the volume of those remittances. The bank’s under-fire
chairman, Tigran Sarkisian, said last week that the construction boom
has also been responsible for the exchange rate fluctuation.

"I believe that the foreign exchange market in Armenia is very free,
very open, and I do think that it reflects the real flows of foreign
currency," said Robinson. "I don’t think there is much doubt about
that."

Local manufacturers complain that they increasingly have trouble
competing with imported goods and selling their production abroad.

This might explain why Armenia’s net exports fell by more than 6
percent while imports rose by 16 percent during the first nine months
of 2006.

Robinson admitted that the stronger dram could slow down Armenian
growth, but said its impact on the economy should not be overestimated,
arguing that local firms should cope with the situation by boosting
their productivity. "There are many firms in Armenia … that are not
operating at 100 percent of capacity," he said. "There is probably
a lot of productivity gains and efficiency gains that could be made
in the Armenian producing sector."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SWISS MINISTER WANTS TO LEGALISE GENOCIDE DENIERS

European Jewish Press, Belgium
Oct 23 2006

BERN (EJP)— Switzerland’s justice minister has called on the Swiss
government to reverse a law which makes historical revisionism illegal.

Minister Christoph Blocher is on a campaign to change the law,
according to the Neue Zuercher Zeitung (NZZ) newspaper – even if it
will impinge upon the sensitivities of minority groups, including
the country’s Jewish communities.

Blocher claims that freedom of expression is more important than
protecting the sensibilities of minority groups, NZZ wrote.

Blocher just returned from a trip to Turkey where a public discussion
of the Armenian genocide is de facto punishable by a court of law.

Upon his return home, Blocher said that he believes that Swiss laws
needs to be a beacon for other nations.

As far as the minister is concerned, a ban on free speech in Turkey
has made an effective public discussion of the Armenian genocide and
Kurdish issues there impossible. In effect, he claims that widening
the possibilities for freedom of speech in Switzerland might entice
other countries to do the same.

International relations

The minister, however, is also disgruntled because he claims that
such a law is an impediment on Switzerland’s relationship to other
countries.

Article 261 of the Swiss criminal code punishes genocide-denial.

Currently, anybody is punishable in Switzerland if they "deny,
belittle, or relativise genocide or crimes against humanity,"
NZZ wrote.

Because of this law, Swiss lawmakers who travel abroad are required
to discuss this topic with their counterparts in those countries
which have been accused, by the global community, of genocide.

Blocher’s trip to Turkey is a case in point. He believes that his
having been required to bring up the topic of the Ottoman Empire’s
Armenian genocide with his Turkish colleagues will have created
unnecessary friction during his meetings in the Eurasian nation.

However, the minister’s failure to guarantee that two Kurdish
activists, held in Switzerland would be extradited to Turkey has also
put a damper on Swiss-Turkish relations, in recent years.

Holocaust denial

The minister is apparently very much aware that a change in the law
will only entice Holocaust deniers to question the existence of gas
chambers as well. "I do not want that an opinion cannot be uttered
only because someone will be offended by it," the minister said.

According to the minister, the definition of genocide needs to be
decided by historians. "A debate on the subject, however, will have
no basis if diverse opinions are banned," he said.

According to NZZ, the minister made this very point to his Turkish
colleague, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek. In response, Cicek told
Blocher that Turkey would allow an international historian commission
to research the topic of the Armenian genocide and Kurdish matters.

The Turkish government had already announced its intention to form
a commission in the past. However, no commission has been set up,
to-date. Armenia and Turkey do not hold diplomatic relations. The
Armenians fear that a Turkish commission would be mostly composed of
revisionist minded historians, NZZ writes.

Although several of Blocher’s meetings were strained by the talk of
the Armenian genocide, the minister does believe that his meetings
have "created a giant step towards an improvement" in Switzerland’s
diplomatic relationship to Turkey.

The reason for the two nations’ extremely strained relationship is
Switzerland’s blocking of a Turkish request for the extradition of two
activists of the banned Kurdish Communist Party. The Kurds (Turkish
citizens) are protected under Swiss law because their extradition to
Turkey, which has historically curbed Kurdish freedom of expression,
is contradictory to Swiss law – something that Blocher would like to
see changed.

During his trip to Ankara, Blocher did say that he would make
every effort to have the Swiss legal code changed in order to make
an extradition easier. In other words, he hopes that the Turkish
government would eventually follow suit and allow the Kurdish political
opposition the opportunity to speak its mind, publicly.

However, the extradition will certainly not happen anytime
soon – because not only would Swiss codes need to be changed,
via parliamentary propositions and a general referendum. However,
Turkish laws would also need to be amended.

Most political parties have shown their dismay at Blocher’s proposal
– in particular because the Swiss law only went into effect in 1994
after years of debate and compromise.

The Swiss Ombudsman against Racism, Georg Kreis, told NZZ that
Blocher’s statements would make everyone believe that the law
places sole attention on the Armenian genocide. Kreis went further
to criticise Blocher’s promise to his Turkish colleagues in regards
to the Kurdish Communist Party.

Blocher’s visited Turkey in order to commemorate the 80th anniversary
of the Eurasian country’s civil code which was modelled after that
of Switzerland.

ERDOGAN RECEIVES PES MEMBERS

Turkish Press
Oct 23 2006

ANKARA – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received higher
consultative group of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in Ankara
on Monday.

The meeting between Erdogan and the PES group co-chairmen –Finnish
Parliament Speaker Paavo Lipponen and Greek main opposition PASOK
leader George Papandreou– lasted for more than one hour in the Prime
Ministry building.

After the meeting, Papandreou told reporters that they had a positive
meeting with Erdogan, stating that they discussed freedom of thought,
religious minorities and Cyprus issue in the meeting.

Sources said that Lipponen criticized the French bill (aims to
criminalize denial of so-called Armenian genocide) in the meeting,
noting that he did not approve the bill. Lipponen stressed that
they would work for Turkish-EU relations not to be affected by the
mentioned bill whether or not French parliament enacted it.

On the other hand, PES group headed by Lipponen attended a dinner
hosted by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

The PES delegation is expected to leave Turkey tomorrow.