Month: November 2006

ROBERT KOCHARYAN: ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT COMMITTED TO MAKE SYSTEM CHANGES IN SOCIETY
ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
This year the Armenian Government has proclaimed a new priority that
will result in system changes in the society, Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan said while speaking at the Bertelsmann Foundation
in Berlin, Thursday.
The press service of the Armenian President reports Kocharyan as
saying that Armenia has launched a large-scale program to develop rural
areas. Presently, there is a big gap between Yerevan and the regions
and so, the Government has mobilized own resources and has applied to
Diaspora structures for undertaking joint efforts to improve living
conditions in Armenian villages. This will stimulate the youth to
develop their regions, towns and rural communities, Kocharyan said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ROBERT KOCHARYAN: ARMENIA IS RICH IN HUMAN RESOURCES
ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
Armenia is not rich in natural resources but is generally known for
its rich human resources, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said
while speaking at Bertelsmann Foundation in Berlin, Thursday.
The press service of the Armenian President reports Kocharyan to
point out that the Armenians are generally known for their diligence
and enterprise, for their keen interest in organizing their own
businesses. In order to fully employ this potential, the Armenian
authorities should create favorable conditions for businessmen and
protect investments, particularly, by liberalizing economy and trade
regime, encouraging competition and minimizing state interference in
business, Kocharyan said.
He noted that serious changes have taken place in Armenia’s economy.
85% of GDP is due to private sector, of which 40% due to small and
medium business. “We are especially proud of this figure,” Kocharyan
said. He noted that middle class is taking shape in Armenia and this
is having a serious influence on people’s vision of their future. Of
course, there are still problems, tax and customs administration still
need improvement, anti-corruption measures should be intensified. And
the Government is actively working in this direction, Kocharyan said.

ROBERT KOCHARYAN: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN ARMENIA’S GDP STRUCTURE MAKE UP 2%
ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
The information technologies in Armenia’s GDP structure make up 2%
already, RA President Robert Kocharyan said in his yesterday’s speech
in the Bertelsmann Fund in Berlin.
As the Presidential press-service told ArmInfo, R. Kocharyan has
called armenia’s achievements in IT sphere a competitive advantage,
on which the reforms are based and which an evidence of a high level
of the population’ s education. “Meanwhile, we fully recognize that
it would be impossible to use this advantage without serious changes
in our educational sector and in science. Therefore, Armenia takes an
active part in the Bolonian process, bringing its educational system
to conformity with the European standards”, the President noted. He
underlines that Armenia is developing now a strategy of large-scale
reforms in the area of fundamental and applied science.

ROBERT KOCHARYAN: RESOLUTION OF CONFLICTS SHOULD NOT BE REGARDED AS PRECONDITION FOR ESTABLISHING DIALOGUE AND COOPERATION
ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
Armenia attaches great importance to regional cooperation, RA President
Robert Kocharyan said in his yesterday’s speech in Bertelsmann Fund
in Berlin.
Armenia attaches great importance to regional cooperation. We believe
that the resolution of conflicts itself should not be regarded as
a precondition for establishing dialogue and cooperation. Rather,
the regional cooperation should be watched as a great trust-building
measure, aimed at resolving existing disagreements.
It is obvious, that unresolved conflicts hamper the process
of natural development of the South Caucasus. That is why we
are committed to the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabagh
conflict. OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs works hard to bring closer our
positions. Unfortunately, despite active negotiations underway, there
is little room for optimism. Our principle stand is that the people
of Karabagh have implemented their right for self-determination. It
has been done in full compliance with the international law. Many
currently independent states came into existence after former empires
perished. Independence of Nagorno Karabagh was attained at the time
of collapse of the Soviet Union. Moreover, it was the time of the end
of the grand ideological divide. Nagorno Karabagh has never been a
part of independent Azerbaijan. Through a successful construction
of its statehood Nagorno Karabagh Republic has proved its right
for existence. It regularly conducts democratic presidential and
parliamentary elections. We witness the development of the civil
society. A generation has already grown up, which considers itself to
be the embodiment and safeguard of that statehood. We do not recall
any case of a nation willingly putting it down independence it has
been enjoying for over 15 years. No one has intention to do it in case
of Karabagh. We speak about irreversible changes that took place in
the people’s mentality, R. Kocharyan said.

NEW GENERATION PASSPORTS TO BE ISSUED FOR ARMENIAN RESIDENTS FROM FEBRUARY 2007
ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
Passports of the new generation will be issued to Armenian resident
form February 2007, Alvina Zakaryan, Head of the Passport-Visa
Department of Armenian Policy, said at the press-conference today.
She pointed out that the centralized system of passport printing is
being tested. It is planned that the new passports will start being
issued for children and teenagers starting from the next week.
Ministry of Transport and Communication will maintain a special
connection with regions of the republic from January 2006. Through
it all necessary data on residents will be passed to Yerevan head
office for issuing the passports.
A. Zakaryan says that the new passports will have a better protection
system. Photos on this passports will be printed out on a color-printer
and not glued as it was previously. It is done according to the
international standards.
The new-model passports will be automatically given to those whose
passport expires. The new passports will also have the 10-year
validity term. People whose passports are still valid can prolong
them for the next 5 years without changing it for the new one.

GEORGIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY REFUTES INFORMATION BY AZERI MASS MEDIA
ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
At the request of ArmInfo, the Georgian Foreign Ministry Department for
Press and Information, refuted the statement by Azerbaijani Mass Media.
Thursday, some Azerbaijani Media spread information that 60 Georgian
scientists- members of the National Assembly of Georgia applied
to President Saakashvili for recognition of Georgian genocide by
Armenians. Azerbaiajni agency Trend reports the Georgian scientists
as stating that “in 1993 military formation “Baghramyan” together
with Abkhazians fought against the Georgian army. As a result, the
Georgians residing in Abkhazia were killed. Before the settlement
of Armenians in Javakheti, Georgia, by Tsarist Russia, there were no
Armenians in this region. However, now Javakheti is indicated as part
of Armenia. Armenians present the Georgian monuments as their own.
All this has a systematic nature. That is why, it should be considered
a genocide of the Georgian people.” According to the given statement,
Ambassador of Georgia to Azerbaijan Zurab Gumberidze has allegedly
stated that Georgian scientists had definite grounds for such
statement.
However, at the request of ArmInfo, the Georgian FM Department for
Press and Information stated that Georgian Ambassador to Azerbaijan
has not made such statement. In this connection, the Georgian Embassy
in Azerbaijan has already come out with a relevant statement. The
press-service of the Georgian Embassy to Azerbaijan told ArmInfo
that on November 16, Trend agency and other media spread information
on the statement by Ambassador Zurab Gumberidze on the application
of Georgian scientists to President Saakashivili for recognition of
Georgian genocide by Armenians. The press-service reports that the
statement by Ambassador Gumberidze was misinterpreted. The Ambassador
stated that he has no official information in this connection. The
Ambassador said he was informed of this information in Mass Media.
Hence, the Ambassador could not say that the scientists had grounds
when raising the question of Georgian genocide by Armenians, the
press-service reports.

EMBASSY OF TURKEY TO SLOVAKIA DEMANDS TO DISMANTLE KHACHKAR DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On the initiative
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, the Embassy of Turkey
to Slovakia addressed to the Bratislava Mayor’s Office and district
heads of Petrzalka with a demand to dismantle the khachkar (cross
stone) dedicated to the Armenian Genocide which is placed on the
right riverside of Danube.
As the Noyan Tapan correspondent states from Bratislava, the
editorial staff of the “Plus One” daily addressed to the OSCE and
Armenian community chairman, Advisor to the RA Foreign Minister Ashot
Grigorian, asking to explain the meaning of that application of the
Turkish Embassy to Slovakia.
As Ashot Grigorian, the Chairman of the Armenian community of Slovakia
explained, the Embassy of Turkey demands to dismantle the khachkar
placed in honour of the Slovakia National Council’s adoption of
the 2004 resolution condemning the Armenian Genocide. The khachkar
was presented to Bratislava by the Nig-Aparan Compatriotic Union
of Armenia, in the person of its Chairman, RA Prosecutor General
Aghvan Hovsepian. The permission for placing the khachkar was given
by the Bratislava Mayor, and works of placing and improvement of its
surroundings were done by representatives of the local community,
on the initiative of the community chairman A.Grigorian.
“This noise made round the khachkar is a wonderful mean to again remind
citizens of Bratislava about the Armenian Genocide and the Slovakia
Parliament’s adoption of the resolution condemning it,” A.Grigorian
said, adding that “not only press of Slovakia will touch upon this
sensational news, but also we, heads of the Armenian community and me,
also as the Foreign Minister’s Advisor, will demand explanation from
the Turkish Embassy with the help of press and will make an attempt
of debating to prove absurdity of their demands.”

THE STRANGEST GOVERNMENT CANADA HAS SEEN IN A LONG TIME
By Jeffrey Simpson
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
November 17, 2006 Friday
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court slaps the Harper government’s
wrist over proposed new methods of vetting judges.
Rona Ambrose, the beleaguered Environment Minister, gets a thumbs-down
internationally for Canada’s poor greenhouse gas emissions record.
The Prime Minister has an off-again, on-again meeting with the head
of the world’s rising power, China, as if there should be any doubt
that China is, well, sort of important.
It’s been quite a week or so. Is there anybody else, or any other
country, the Harper government might like to annoy? These little
episodes offer windows into the strangest government Canada has seen
in a long time.
The government is occasionally capable of striking, but thoughtful,
decisiveness, as when Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, with Prime
Minister Stephen Harper’s obvious backing, killed income trusts.
This decision was exactly right, if a little late. Sure, the government
had to eat crow, having campaigned against any change, but corporate
Canada’s desire to pay as little tax as possible was getting out
of hand. The Liberals knew this while in power, wobbled before the
“senior’s lobby” and caved.
Contrast that Flaherty/Harper decisiveness with just about every other
file where sideways motion, or no motion at all, seems the order of
the day. In Parliament, almost everything is partially or completely
held up by the minority situation.
The government got its budget bills passed, and that’s about it. The
Action Plan on the environment is dead on arrival. The “tough on crime”
bill contains some elements moving swiftly, but the rest is going
nowhere. The overwrought Accountability Act dragged on in the Senate
and has been sent back to the House. The bill limiting Senate terms to
eight years remains in the Senate, where the Liberals are in control.
More significant than the parliamentary delays, which are to be
expected in a minority government, is how little the government
has put before Parliament. For a government that arrived in office
ostensibly bursting with new ideas, the agenda is sparse indeed.
The government had its famous five points. Four were acted upon swiftly
(the Patient Wait Times Guarantee is dying of its own stupidity),
after which it seemed to run out of gas. The famous non-issue, the
“fiscal imbalance,” has gone nowhere. The government sent aloft all
sorts of trial balloons about how to handle the non-issue, without
settling on a course of action.
Climate change has been a nightmare. The government was absolutely
right in stating Canada could not meet its Phase One commitments;
it was also entirely correct to blame the Liberals for this this.
Instead of presenting an aggressive Phase Two plan, it emitted the
Action Plan that should have been called a Non-Action Plan. Having
been panned at home and abroad, the plan became an international joke
and a domestic political liability. Officials are madly phoning around
outside the government to see how it can be beefed up.
On research and innovation, a file completely ignored in the party’s
campaign manifesto, the government is casting about for what to do.
On postsecondary education, universities and provinces are scratching
their heads trying to discern Ottawa’s intentions.
On Indian Affairs, the government scrapped the Liberals’ Kelowna
accord, without offering a different strategy. In foreign affairs,
the government is literally at sea, treating China like a miscreant
schoolboy, stupidly slapping Turkey over the 90-year-old Armenian
“genocide” (then kissing and making up), tying Canada’s Middle East
policy to Israel, and spurning a meeting with Europeans lest they
criticize Canada’s climate change record.
A curious inability to move forward, coupled with a prickly
defensiveness but occasional decisiveness, characterizes the
government.
The main reason: a centralization of power in the Prime Minister’s
Office that exceeds anything Ottawa has seen – and that’s saying
something.
This isn’t the friendly dictatorship, but rather a cold one.Everything,
down to letters-to-the-editor, has to be cleared with the PMO.
There’s no delegation to ministers because, with a few exceptions,
the Prime Minister doesn’t trust them. Relations with the press are
awful, a situation entirely of the PMO’s making.
The control-freak mentality over communications and policy produces
a curiously constipated government that picks fights too easily and
has a surprisingly thin agenda.
No wonder this week’s Decima Research poll found the Conservatives
trailing the Liberals, leaderless and often hypocritical as they have
been, in all provinces but Alberta.

TURKEY BREAKS OFF MILITARY CONTACTS WITH FRANCE
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
November 16, 2006 Thursday 8:54 AM EST
Turkey on Thursday broke off military contacts with fellow NATO member
France in protest against a proposed French law criminalizing denying
that Turkey committed genocide during the First World War.
According to Turkish media sources quoting military chief Ilker Basbug
in Ankara, high-ranking visits will no longer take place between the
two countries.
Last month, deputies in the lower house of the French parliament,
the National Assembly, voted by a large majority in favour of a bill
that would make it a crime to deny that Turkey committed genocide
against the Armenian people more than 90 years ago.
The Turkish parliament condemned the move as a blow to freedom of
speech and warned it would hurt French-Turkish bilateral relations.
While Turkey admits that massacres took place, it vehemently denies
that the deaths of Armenians during the war were part of a planned
genocide.

US OFFICE OF DEFENSE COOPERATION PROVIDES ENGLISH LANGUAGE LAB FOR ARMENIAN AVIATION INSTITUTE
Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
The US Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) announced the
opening of the new English language laboratory that it provided to
the Armenian Aviation Institute. This is the second English language
laboratory that the ODC, through its International Military Education
and Training program, has provided to the Aviation Institute, and the
third that it has provided to the Armenian Ministry of Defense. US
Charge d’Affaires Anthony F. Godfrey and General Mayor Melkonyan
participated in the ceremony. During the event, Charge d’Affaires
Godfrey noted that this facility will be integral to helping Armenian
officers and soldiers learn English – an essential component of helping
Armenia’s forces work together with the forces of other nations in
international coalitions.
The new English language laboratory, which was installed by US
contractor Dal Media Solutions, can facilitate 15 students at a time.
It is equipped with student workstations with headphones, and the
instructor can further use a desktop computer with Internet access,
televisions, CD players, and DVD/VHS players to help students learn
English. The U.S. ODC has also provided English language instructor
training to Lieutenant Irene Arakelyan and Lieutenant Artak Pandunts,
who will work to further increase the quality of English language
training at the Institute.
The new lab will help fulfill the joint goal of the US ODC and
the Armenian Ministry of Defense to centralize English language
instruction standards for Armenian officers, non-commissioned officers,
and soldiers at the Aviation Institute. The ODC plans to upgrade both
English language laboratories at the Aviation Institute in 2007 so
that each student workstation is equipped with a laptop computer that
will be networked to the instructor’s computer to further diversify
the resources that are available at the Institute.
The US Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) in Armenia works to foster
U.S. government and industry assistance in the Armenian defense
sphere. The US ODC works for the US Chief of Mission in Armenia and
the US European Command, located in Stuttgart, Germany.