Month: April 2007

ARMENIAN-CAPTURED AZERBAIJANI SOLDIER’S MOTHER SENDS ONE MORE LETTER TO HER SON

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 11 2007

The parents of Samir Mammadov, Azerbaijan soldier captured by Armenian
Armed Forces met the representatives of International Committee of
the Red Cross office in Azerbaijan today. Samir Mammadov’s uncle
Vidadi Mammadov told APA that they expressed their anxiety to the
ICRC representative on the fact that his nephew had not written a
letter to his family last month.

"We expressed our complaints on the activity of the ICRC mission in
Armenia. Huan Carlos said Committee’s representatives will soon meet
Samir and ask him to write a letter to his family".

According to soldier’s uncle, Huan Carlos said the captured soldier
did not complain on his health. Samir Mammadov’s mother asked ICRC
representatives to deliver her letter to his son.

Azerbaijani soldier Samir Mammadov has been captured by Armenian
forces on December 24, 2006

INSUFFICIENT ELABORATION OF THE IMAGE OF ARMENIA REMAINS ONE OF THE BASIC OBSTACLES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM

Mediamax Agency, Armenia
April 11 2007

Yerevan, April 11 /Mediamax/. The basic obstacles to the development
of tourism in Armenia are the discrepancy between the local tourism
service and the international standards, the unbalanced price policy,
as well as the insufficient elaboration of the image of the country.

Mediamax reports that the Deputy Minister of Trade and Economic
Development of Armenia Ara Petrosian said this, speaking during
the two-day conference "Increase of competitiveness of the Armenian
tourism sector", launched in Yerevan today.

The main aim of the conference is to familiarize the specialists,
working in the sphere of tourism, with the results of the research,
during which the variants of turning Armenia into an attractive
tourism object were being considered.

Special part in the program is devoted to the Armenian Diaspora of
the USA, as, according to the research, 52% of the representatives
of the given Diaspora, plan to visit Armenia in the course of the
nearest 5 years.

"Tourism is developing in Armenia. In 2006, 380 thousand people visited
our country, this year their number, most likely, will reach the point
of 400 thousand. Nevertheless, we still have to solve many problems",
Ara Petrosian stated.

The head of the Union of tour operators of Armenia Araik Vardanian
stressed the importance of licensing of the Armenian tourism companies
and hotels, by means of conferring them "stars".

The organizers of the "Increase of competitiveness of the Armenian
tourism sector" conference are the Armenian Ministry of Trade and
Economic Development, The U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID) and the Armenian Tourism Development Agency.

SERGEY IVANOV’S VISIT TO YEREVAN TO BECOME A NEW IMPETUS FOR FURTHER DEEPENING INTERACTION BETWEEN ARMENIA AND RUSSIA

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 11 2007

Multisided interaction between Armenia and Russia has recently livened
up. The viewpoint was expressed at RA PM Serge Sargsian’s meeting with
a Russian delegation headed by RF First vice Premier Sergey Ivanov,
who had arrived in Yerevan the day before on a working call.

In the course of the meeting Sergey Ivanov congratulated Serge Sargsian
on his new assignment and voiced confidence that Armenian-Russian
relations would go on successfully developing.

In his turn RA PM stated he was confident Ivanov’s visit to Yerevan
would become a new impetus for further deepening interaction between
the two states in various spheres.

In the process of discussions the interlocutors expressed satisfaction
with the stirring up of multisided interaction between Armenia and
Russia. Sergey Ivanov noted active work was being carried out in
the issues of economic, scientific and technical cooperation, in
the frames of which the issues of interrelations in trade, economic,
transport, energetic and other branches were being considered. The
Russian Premier expressed hope all the urgent tasks would be discussed
within the frames of his visit to Yerevan. RA PM also underscored
interaction in the sphere of policy and economy was developing well
between Armenia and Russia, at the same time the issue of transport
communications still remained one of the most painful problems.

Serge Sargsian also touched on the issue of usage of five Armenian
enterprises given to Russia by the agreement "Property on Account of a
Debt", noting the Armenian party was ready to ensure all the conditions
necessary for the problem’s rapid solution. In this context Sergey
Ivanov mentioned it was necessary to find commercially effective
resolutions.

In the course of the meeting the parties also considered the outlooks
of the further development of bilateral cooperation in power
engineering, including atomic power engineering and the spheres
of connection, transport, military and technical interaction,
Novosti-Armenia Agency reports.

ARMENIA PM AGAINST NATO MILITARY BASE IN TRANSCAUCASIA

ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 11 2007

YEREVAN, April 11 (Itar-Tass) – Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan
on Wednesday came out against the deployment of a NATO military base
in Transcaucasia.

"New demarcation lines will add nothing to security of our region,"
the prime minister noted at a joint news conference with Russia’s
First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov.

"If Russia reduces its military presence in the region, it does not
mean that others must step it up," Sarkisyan emphasized.

TURKEY TO PURSUE TALKS WITH GAZ DE FRANCE

Al-arab online, UK
April 11 2007

Turkey has not suspended talks with Gaz de France over the Nabucco
pipeline project which would bring Caspian gas to Europe, Turkish
Energy Minister Hilmi Guler told reporters on Wednesday.

Senior Turkish energy officials had said last week talks with the
French company had been suspended in protest at a French bill on the
mass killings of Armenians during Ottoman rule.

"Nabucco is an extremely important project for us and the process is
continuing normally. Gaz de France has not been suspended from the
project," Guler said.

But he said economic, strategic and political issues, including the
French bill, would be taken into account when selecting the sixth
partner for the project.

The 4.6-billion euro ($6.14 billion) project envisages transporting
natural gas from Turkey to Austria, passing through Bulgaria, Romania
and Hungary and would reduce Europe’s dependency on Russian gas.

The four other countries have already approved a partnership with
Gaz de France in the project.

Austrian oil and gas group OMV heads the consortium planning to build
the pipeline.

Bulgargaz, Transgaz from Romania, MOL of Hungary and Turkey’s Botas
are also partners in the project.

Turkey remains angry at the French national assembly’s approval last
year of a bill making it a crime to deny that the mass killings of
Armenians during World War One amounted to genocide. The bill has
not become law.

Ankara rejects claims by Armenia and other countries that Ottoman
Turks committed a systematic genocide against 1.5 million Armenians
during World War One.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MEETINGS OF OSCE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OBSERVATION MISSION IN ARMENIA

National Assembly of RA, Armenia
April 11 2007

On April 11 the members of the delegation headed by Mrs. Tone
Tingsgaard, Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Head
of the OSCE PA Observation Mission of parliamentary elections in
Armenia will arrive in Yerevan.

On April 12 the members of the delegation in the National Assembly
jointly with the PACE Ad-hoc Committee members for the observation of
the parliamentary elections in Armenia will have meetings with the
representatives of RPA, ARF, ULP, Justice, Country of Law, National
Unity factions and People’s Deputy and Entrepreneur deputy groups.

The meetings of the delegation are scheduled on the same day with
the representatives of Bargavach Hayastan (Prosperous Armenia)
and Zharangutiun (Heritage) parties and Aylntrank (Alternative)
political movement.

On April 13 the members of the delegation headed by Mrs. Tone
Tingsgaard, Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Head
of the OSCE PA Observation Mission of the parliamentary elections in
Armenia will meet with the representatives of the main group of ODIHR,
NDI, IFES, USAID IREX, Counterpart Consortium organizations.Mr. Robert
Kocharyan, President of the Republic of Armenia, Mr. Tigran Torosyan,
President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia,
Mr. Garegin Azaryan, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission
(CEC) will receive the delegation on the same day.

On April 14 the delegation will leave Yerevan.

RUSSIA INVESTING HEAVILY IN ARMENIA’S ECONOMY

RosBusinessConsulting, Russia
April 11 2007

RBC, 11.04.2007, Yerevan 13:59:18.Russia is Armenia economy’s
largest investor, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said at
today’s joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Serge
Sargsyan. According to Ivanov’s data, trade turnover between the two
countries surged 70-80 percent and exceeded $500m over the previous
years. He also said that Russia invested heavily in energy, nuclear,
transportation, and communication industries. However, Ivanov added
that there were some problems in bilateral relations, which had to
be solved.

Ivanov also said that Russia’s military base in Armenia provided
security for the two countries and served as a means of bilateral
strategic cooperation.

TURKISH GOVT DENIES SUSPENDING TALKS WITH GDF OVER NABUCCO PIPELINE

ABCmoney.co.uk, UK
April 11 2007

ANKARA (Thomson Financial) – Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler had
denied that the government has suspended talks with Gaz de France
(GDF) about its involvement in the Nabucco pipeline.

Last week, Turkish news agency Anatolia reported that the talks had
been suspended because of a French draft law that makes it a gaolable
offence to deny that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenians
during World War I.

‘Nabucco is a very important project for us and the process is
proceeding normally. Gaz de France has not been suspended from the
project,’ Guler told reporters.

Even so, he said Turkey would make a decision ‘in line with its
national interests’ and that economic, strategic and political matters
would be taken into consideration — including the French position
on the alleged genocide.

Armenians claim up to 1.5 mln people perished in systematic
deportations and killings between 1915 and 1917 under the Ottoman
Empire, modern Turkey’s predecessor.

Turkey categorically denies claims of genocide and says thousands of
Turks and Armenians were killed in civil strife when Armenians took
up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian
troops invading the crumbling Ottoman empire.

The Nabucco project involves the construction of a 3,300 kilometre
pipeline by 2012 to supply western Europe with gas from the Caspian
Sea, bypassing Russia.

The partners in the scheme are Turkish state oil and gas company Botas,
Austria’s OMV, Hungary’s MOL, Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz and Romania’s
Transgaz. They are seeking a sixth partner for the project.

UN STOPS RWANDAN GENOCIDE EXHIBITION

AngolaPress, Angola
April 11 2007

New York, UN 04/11 – The UN has postponed an exhibition on the Rwandan
genocide after Turkish diplomats objected to references to the Armenian
genocide in Turkey during World War I.

The exhibition was earlier scheduled for opening by the UN Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon on Monday at the organisation`s headquarters in
New York.

However, a UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters Tuesday the
exhibition was delayed because the normal process was not followed.

"The exhibition has been postponed until the regular review process
is completed. Normally the United Nations has to review exhibitions,
in order to take into account all positions, as it does in any
exhibition," Haq said.

Asked whether a dispute over Armenians in Turkey was responsible for
the stoppage, he said that "it was not the sole issue".

"As for Turkey, the United Nations has not expressed a position
on incidents that took place long before the United Nations was
established," he noted.

Panels of graphics, photos and statements, which were installed at the
weekend in the visitors` lobby for the exhibition by the organisers,
British-based Aegis Trust, were later dismantled.

The trust campaigns for the prevention of genocide and runs a center
in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, and its exhibition was organised in
memory of about 800,000 Rwandans killed 13 years ago.

PANA gathered that hours after the show was assembled, some Turkish
diplomats at the UN were said to have spotted "offending wordings"
in a section of a passage entitled: "What is genocide?" and raised
objections.

The passage said: "Following World War I, during which one million
Armenians were murdered in Turkey, Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer
credited with coining the word genocide, urged the League of Nations
to recognise crimes of barbarity as international crimes."

ARMENIA’S PRIORITY IS ECONOMY, SAYS NEW PREMIER

Turkish Daily News
April 11 2007

Armenia’s priority is economic development, not human rights
improvements, the country’s new prime minister said in an interview
with The Financial Times on Monday.

"Jobs are more important than rights," said Serge Sargysan, who was
promoted to premiership last Wednesday, after the death of the late
prime minister Andranik Margaryan from a heart attack last month. "It
is hard to talk about democratic and human rights when you need to
solve the social and economic needs of the population," he said to
the Financial Times during a visit to Brussels.

A third of the 3 million-strong population of Armenia lives below
the poverty line. Sargysan said the Armenian diaspora should get more
involved in the country, reminding that only 1 percent of investment
came from them.

Sargysan named another priority as concluding a peace treaty with
Azerbaijan, which lost Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia in 1994, after a
three-year war.

"Turkey – which has been offered talks without conditions – has
shown no willingness to compromise" on the Nagorno-Karabagh issue,
claimed the article.

Sargysan added that Armenia would remain friendly to Russia and would
not support a United States military base in the region.