Month: November 2006

“SERGE SARGSYAN IS A CORRUPT OFFICIAL”
A1+
[07:32 pm] 06 November, 2006
Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan uses his administrative and personal
means in order to reach his aims. According to Amalya Kostanyan,
Armenian representative of “Transparency International”, this
is political corruption, as according to the definition of the
organization, “abuse of the state rank with the aim of personal
benefit is corruption”.
According to the representative of “Transparency International”,
the pre-election campaign which has already started non-officially is
also political corruption. The data of “Transparency International”
claim that the most corrupt field is that of political parties.
The political control over Mass Media, fabrications during the
elections, and voting of people who are not registered in the electoral
area is also corruption, Amalya Kostanyan announced in the National
Press Club.
According to the report of “Transparency International”, the
Corruption Perceptions Index is 2.9 but our country is among those
where corruption is widespread, despite the fact that Armenia has
been realizing an anti-corruption strategic program for the last
three years. “The investigations carried out in Armenia once in every
three years since 1999 show that level corruption is rising”, Amalya
Kostanyan said.
Nevertheless, the index of Armenia is lower than that of Georgia
(2.8), Azerbaijan (2.4) and Turkey (2.8).

POLISH MARSHAL IN THE PARLIAMENT
A1+
[04:05 pm] 06 November, 2006
RA NA Speaker Tigran Torosyan has had a private conversation with
Bogdan Borusevich, the Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland.
The NA Speaker found the visit of the Marshal important within the
framework of the policy of integration into the European structures. He
mentioned that it is the priority of the foreign policy of Armenia,
and Poland has considerable experience having become member of the
EU only two years ago. Referring to the relations with the NATO,
Tigran Torosyan mentioned that the Individual Partnership Action Plan
is being realized in Armenia, and the two countries can cooperate in
this respect too.
Bogdan Borusevich, who is in Armenia for the first time, expressed
readiness to support Armenia in deepening relations with the EU and
the NATO. The Marshal found it important that the 2007 Parliamentary
elections should be held up to democratic standards as the development
of Armenia depends on it greatly. Mr.
Borusevich also found the peaceful settlement of the conflicts
important for the stability and development of the region.
The Marshal of the Polish Senate also invited his Armenian colleague
to Poland on official visit.

“MY TONGUE IS MY ENEMY”
A1+
[07:45 pm] 06 November, 2006
After the announcement of Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan about
accusations against him by Aram Karapetyan, the head of the New Times
party has made a statement.
“Every time he has to answer a serious question, he calls people
pitiable. It is obvious that he loses control more and more
often. Despite the fact that Mr.
Sargsyan and I act in the Russian political-geographic field, he
has already lost the game with his illogical steps which has created
serious ground for mental disorder.
I would like to advise Mr. Sargsyan not to forget the famous Armenian
saying ‘My tongue is my enemy'”, Aram Karapetyan said.

CROSSROAD CHALLENGES
A1+
[05:22 pm] 06 November, 2006
Which are the problems and possibilities of the region at the crossroad
of East and West? What lessons has the 15-year independence taught
us? What is the economic policy the Governments should pursuit? These
and other questions will be answered by the international conference
to be organized in Yerevan.
On November 6-9 the conference of the famous British organization
“Wilton Park” titled “South Caucasus; perception of the region and
the challenges” will be held in Yerevan. This is the first time the
conference is held in South Caucasus.
The themes of the conference are political, security, economic,
environmental, terror, social and informational issues. Another
peculiarity of the conferences organized by the “Wilton Park” is that
the discussions are not shot in order to promote sincerity.
The participants of the conference are people of different
nationalities and professions.
RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan will deliver a speech during the
opening ceremony of the conference.
Special envoy of the UK to South Caucasus, sir Brian Fall,
deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia Georgi Manchgaladze, personal
representative of the OSCE CiO, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, former
special representative of EU to South Caucasus, Ambassador Heikki
Talvitie and others will make speech in the conference.

TURKISH SHOP-KEEPER AGAINST ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
A1+
[07:50 pm] 06 November, 2006
Another attempt of rejecting the Armenian Genocide was made yesterday
in Vercelli, Italy. According to newspaper of “Azdak”, Beirut, the
exhibition of photos by Armin Vegner about the Armenian Genocide was
opened with a delay of 1.5 hours.
A little before the opening of the exhibition a Turkish shop-keeper
who lives in Italy tore away the posters, broke into the exhibition
hall and tore 5-6 photos; moreover, he beat down the Italian woman
working in the hall.
Shortly after that, the police arrested the aggressor.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WOMAN SUFFOCATED
A1+
[03:40 pm] 06 November, 2006
On November 4 the representatives of the Masis department of the
police found a dead body of a 40-year-old woman in the basement of
the Culture house behind the artificial pond near the Central Square.
The police revealed the identity of the woman – Venera Barseghyan
born in 1965. Forensic examination revealed that the woman has been
suffocated. A criminal case has been initiated.

A REASON FOR JOY
A1+
[05:31 pm] 06 November, 2006
Former Prime Minister of Armenia, rector of the Armenian-Russian
University Armen Darbinyan expressed his joy today, “I’m very glad
that a Russian company has become the owner of the telecommunication
operator in Armenia”. Last week Russian “Vympelcom” announced about
the purchase of 90% of the shares of “ArmenTel”.
Armen Darbinyan said he is sorry that in 1998 when the company was
being sold there were no Russian companies among the potential buyers.

NEW ANTIHAIL SYSTEMS TO BE INSTALLED IN SHIRAK PROVINCE
Armenpress
Nov 06 2006
GYUMRI, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS: Armenian agricultural ministry said
it will test next year a new antihail system, developed by Armenian
engineers, in Armenia’s northwestern province of Shirak. The new
system, operating on solar energy, was already tested 20 years ago in
the region of Talin. The ministry promised also to release finances
for installment of new system.
Four or five antihail stations are to be installed in the province,
each of which costs $22,000.
Scientists say one antihail system is able to protect about 80 hectares
of land under crop from hails. The system transforms hail into rain
saving crops from being damaged.
Rural communities in Shirak chosen to have stations in their territory
will have to make their input into its assembly and installation. Some
30 rural communities are located in areas targeted usually by
hails. Agricultural experts estimate that this year the province has
sustained 1.2 billion drams damages from hails.

ARMENIA DOESN’T EVEN GET A SATISFACTORY MARK
A1+
[05:41 pm] 06 November, 2006
“Corruption traps millions in poverty,” said Transparency International
Chair Huguette Labelle during the launching of the 2006 Corruption
Perceptions Index (CPI) by Transparency International (TI). It
points to a strong correlation between corruption and poverty, with
a concentration of impoverished states at the bottom of the ranking.
The 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index is a composite index that draws
on multiple expert opinion surveys that poll perceptions of public
sector corruption in 163 countries around the world, the greatest
scope of any CPI to date. It scores countries on a scale from zero
to ten, with zero indicating high levels of perceived corruption and
ten indicating low levels of perceived corruption.
“Despite a decade of progress in establishing anti-corruption laws and
regulations, today’s results indicate that much remains to be done
before we see meaningful improvements in the lives of the world’s
poorest citizens”, Mr. Labelle said.
A strong correlation between corruption and poverty is evident in
the results of the CPI 2006. Countries with a significant worsening
in perceived levels of corruption include: Brazil, Cuba, Israel,
Jordan, Laos, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and the
United States. Countries with a significant improvement in perceived
levels of corruption include: Algeria, Czech Republic, India, Japan,
Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius, Paraguay, Slovenia, Turkey, Turkmenistan
and Uruguay.
The weak performance of many countries indicates that the facilitators
of corruption continue to assist political elites to launder, store and
otherwise profit from unjustly acquired wealth, which often includes
looted state assets.
According to the report, the CPI of Armenia is 2.9 which has remained
unchanged in comparison with that of last year. If the CPI is less than
“3”, is means that corruption is wide-spread in the country.

OFFICIAL SAYS THEY ARE PREPARED FOR WINTER
Panorama.am
14:26 06/11/06
Vano Vardanyan, deputy mayor, told a briefing today that most community
streets are completely built.
Asked about Dro streets where reconstruction works were going on
right yesterday, Vardanyan said, “You are talking about the section
I did not mean.”
Vardanyan turned to be unaware whether the municipality is in charge of
reconstruction works within funds released by Lins Foundation. However
he promised to be quite prepared for winter. He said 750 tones
of technical salt and 3600 sq. meter sand is provided for that
purpose.