Month: May 2008

Banker.am banking portal congratulates ARKA Agency on 12th anniversary

YEREVAN, May 6. /ARKA/. Dear Mr Petrosov,
The Banker.am banking portal is congratulating you and your staff on
the 12th anniversary of your brainchild ` ARKA NEWS agency.

The Banker.am portal highly appreciates ARKA’s professional skills and
contribution to the development of high-quality and reliable mass media
outlets in Armenia.

We wish you further success and prosperity.

Andranik Barseghian, Pavel Sargsian
Founders of Banker.am project

Armenian Banks’ Total Assets Reach AMD 800165.3 mln by Late March

YEREVAN, May 6. /ARKA/. Armenian banks’ total assets reached AMD
800165.3mln by late March after growing 4.7% or by AMD 37706 from the
beginning of this year, Central Bank of Armenia says in its review for
the 1st quarter of 2008.

The banks’ cash grew 2.8% or by AMD 1112.6mln to AMD 40204.1mln as the
corresponding accounts grew 14.3% or by AMD 5854.7mln to AMD
46679.2mln.

Demands to the Central Bank have reduced 25.7% or by AMD 19373.6mln
over the mentioned period to AMD 56103.2mln by late March while demands
to banks and other financial organizations grew 3.8% to AMD 33789.5mln.

Loans provided to individuals rose 12.1% or by AMD 24938.7mln to AMD
231194.2mln and those provided to individuals connected with banks and
banking workers grew 22.7% reaching AMD 12332.3mln by March 31, 2008.

Loans given to legal entities grew 12.7% or AMD 24354.8mln to 216779.1
million.
According to the Central Bank’s report, investment in state securities
grew 2.2% or by AMD 2480 million in total assets and reached AMD
109710.2mln.

The report says leasing and factoring operations grew 5.6% to AMD
8374mln while investment in other securities reduced 3.9% to AMD
2599mln by late March.

Armenian banks’ total assets reached AMD 42889.5mln by late March after
growing 0.8% over the quarter, gained interests totaled AMD 5578.5mln
and other assets AMD 3160.7mln.
The rest of reserve on possible losses totaled AMD 9228.3 million by
late March 2008 against AMD 7701.6mln earlier this year.

ARKA News Agency’s analysis singled out Ardshininvestbank with its AMD
104.6 billion, HSBC Bank Armenia with AMD 101.1bln, ACBA Credit
Agricole Bank with 85.8bln, VTB Bank (Armenia) with 84.6bln and
Converse Bank 56.2bln as the largest asset owners among Armenian banks.

22 banks with their 358 branches function in Armenia now. ($1 ` AMD
306.95). –0′

Prices for maintenance of aircrafts and service of air passengers in
‘Zvartnots’ Yerevan airport are highest in region

2008-05-06 19:51:00

ArmInfo. The prices for maintenance of aircrafts and service of air
passengers in "Zvartnots" Yerevan airport are the highest in the
region, the preliminary data of competitiveness of Armenia’s air
transport, carried out by experts of USAID programme "Competitive
Armenian Private Sector" (CAPS) testify this.

As CAPS consultant for Politics and Law Arsen Nazaryan told journalists
today, the surveys were carried out in April-May, 2007, and 12
countries were selected for comparative analysis. He said that the
expenses for maintenance of one "Boeing" or "Airbus" aircraft in
"Zvartnots" airport total $4 thsd, which may be compared only with the
expenses in Baku airport. He also said that these expenses in Vienna
make up $5,6 thsd, in Tbilisi – about $2 thsd, in Moscow "Domodedovo"
airport – about $1 thsd. Service of air passengers in "Zvartnots"
airport is also the most expensive. As A. Nazaryan said, the expenses
per one passenger in Yerevan total about $60, while those in Vienna are
equal to $30-35, in Baku – $50, in Tbilisi – $30, in Istanbul – $15, in
Moscow – about $20.

The consultant also said that almost half of the passenger carriage
market in Armenia falls on the national carrier, the "Armavia" Company,
followed by "Siberia Airlines" and "Aeroflot" – 11% each, "Ural
Airlines" and "Austrian Airlines" – 4% each. Moscow (40%) is the main
direction of flights from Armenia, that indicates a great
centralization. Prague (9%) and Paris (5%) are the next, and the rest
46% of directions have been distributed among 34 countries. The flights
to Moscow are served by four air companies. 91% of regular flights from
Armenia and back is carried out over the air space of Europe, only 5% –
over Near East and only 4% – over Asia.

Head of CAPS: Armenia has to carry out targeted marketing to conquer
new markets in tourism

2008-05-06 13:55:00

ArmInfo. Presently, more than ever before, Armenia has to carry out a
targeted marketing to conquer new markets in tourism, Head of the USAID
programme "Competitive Armenian Private Sector" Hayley Alexander said
today during opening of conference in Yerevan on Armenia’s
competitiveness in tourism.

He said that the propaganda of Armenia’s tourist attractiveness of
should be carried out not in chaotic but addressed manner. Thus, as a
result of a specific work carried out in Italy in 2007, Armenia
succeeded to twice increase the Italian tourists’ inflow. In
particular, fact-finding visits to Armenia were organized last year for
the Italian tourist operators and journalists. Such a targeted
marketing should be carried out also in France, which is also a
prosperous direction for development of tourism in Armenia, he said.

Director of USAID’s Economic Growth Office Rolf Anderson said in his
speech that the USA is interested in development of tourism in Armenia,
since this sphere is of great importance for the country’s economy,
especially for development of the economy in regions. Tourism promotes
creation of new workplaces and forms a country’s friendly image. He
expressed satisfaction with the fact that over half of Armenia’s
visitors are pleased with their visits and they express desire to visit
the country again.

RA Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsyan added that the Armenian government
expressed the state policy in the concept of tourism development for
the next 10-30 years. He thinks that the problem of formation of a
favourable business-climate, increase of the tourist attractiveness and
competitiveness in the region, growth of the services quality to the
world ones should be solved to assure stable growth in this sphere.

The conference has been organized by RA Economy Ministry, USAID
programme "Competitive Armenian private Sector" (CAPS) and the Armenian
Tourism Development Agency. The participants intend to discuss the
following: how the management of the country’s brand may assure
competitiveness and promote tourism development in the country; are the
services in tourism too expensive in Armenia; what is Armenia’s
position in the world tourist rating and other questions.

Issue of creation of Armenian National Congress being discussed, APNM
representative says

2008-05-06 20:33:00

ArmInfo. "Levon Ter-Petrosyan has recently made a proposal to create
Armenian National Congress, and this issue is currently being
discussed", Karen Karapetyan, a member of Board of the Armenian
Pan-National Movement (APNM), said to ArmInfo correspondent.

Speaking of the APNM’s present activity, Karapetyan said that by
arresting the leadership of the party, the authorities made an attempt
to paralyze its activity. "However, they failed as the APNM continued
the fight. The arrests by no means weakened the Armenian Pan-National
Movement, and the ruling regime once again demonstrated its inability
to gain its goals", he said.

Asked whether a certain recession is observed in the oppositional
movement after the known events, the oppositionist stressed that
despite the authorities’ efforts to restrict the rights and freedoms of
citizens at any price, even by means of legislative amendments, "no
tendency for weakening of the Nationwide movement is observed. On the
contrary, there is enthusiasm, aspiration and resoluteness to keep on
fighting up to the victorious end".

Armenian Foreign Minister confirms readiness for normalizing relations
with Turkey without preconditions

2008-05-06 14:14:00

ArmInfo. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan confirmed the
country’s readiness for normalizing the relations with Turkey without
preconditions. The minister made this statement to media in Paris after
meeting his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner on May 5.

The minister stressed that the present generation of Armenian and
Turkish peoples inherited a heavy burden from their past. In order to
turn this black page in their history, political leaders must
cooperate. ‘For its part, Armenia is ready for it. We propose
establishing relations without preconditions, which will be in favor of
both the region and the two countries’, the minister said.

AND YOU SAID THEY DON’T ALLOW MEETING RELATIVES
VREJ AHARONYAN

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on May 06, 2008
Armenia

According to the latest information received from the General
Prosecutor’s, from the 89 criminal cases under the proceeding of the
special investigative service, 60 people were detained as a
precautionary measure and 29 people gave signatures on not leaving the
country, by pledge. Another 44 cases have been sent to the court – 9 by
the National Security Service and the others by the special
investigative service.

It’s worth mentioning that the before mentioned number changes very
frequently and swiftly, because lots of cases are being sent to the
courts, in some cases the precautionary measures are being changed (a
fresh example is Yerjanik Abgaryan, the latter’s precautionary measure
has been changed to a signature on not leaving the country), many facts
are clarified during the court procedure.

In parallel to all this some Mass Media continue to spread
misinformation saying that: `They torture and torment the detainees,
the human rights are violated and they don’t allow the detainees to
meet with their relatives¦’ and so on and so forth. These people are
trying to make an impression that they torture the detainees and they
don’t even allow them meet with their lawyers.

But, as it turned out in reality, the inquest bodies have put
restrictions on only 20 detainees to meet with their relatives,
considering the interest of the inquest.

Of course these people can meet their lawyers. They can meet with their
defenders any time. The before mentioned restrictions are conditioned
by the fact that, in the beginning there were cases when, some people
introduced themselves as the relatives of this or that person trying to
meet with them, but as it came clear later they were not their
relatives. Thus they were trying to put pressure on the investigation
process or the detainees

The restrictions lasted around a month, and even less, but during this
period the before mentioned detainees have received lots of parcels
from their relatives and after lifting the restrictions they have met
them many times. Whereas many of them have met their relatives more
than two times in a month, in a manner envisaged by the law.

By the way the detainees can receive only a 20 kg parcel, and not more
than 70 kg during a month.

As it came clear Davit Matevosyan, for example, has met his relatives
three times and has received 16 parcels.

Sasus Mikaelyan’s relatives, his wife, his daughter and son, have
exceeded others in terms of their visits. They have visited him four
times. He has received 7 parcels.

In this regard a former Chief Prison Officer Mushegh Saghatelyan also
doesn’t leg behind ` three meetings, 19 parcels.

Former Assistant to the Head of the National Security Service Gurgen
Yeghiazaryan had three meetings with his relatives and received 8
parcels.

As for the former Judge-Advocate Gagik Jhangiryan, he met with his
relatives two times, as envisaged by the law and was satisfied with 8
parcels.

The same is about Karapet Rubinyan and Yerjanik Abgaryan, in terms of
their meetings with the relatives, and they were satisfied with 7
parcels.

Hakob Hakobyan had three meetings with the relatives and received 7
parcels.

Aram Karapetyan met with his relatives once and received 8 parcels.

As for Harutyun Urutyan, from Shirak marz arrested for beating Serge
Sargsyan’s entrusted individual, he has established a record. Urutyan
met his relatives 8 times and received 16 parcels.

A question arises here: Doesn’t all the before mentioned testify to the
fact that the rights of the detainees have not been violated, they meet
their relatives and get parcels. The only thing left to do is to allow
money transfers.

TER-PETROSYAN CHOOSES THE INOPERATIVE OPTION
GEVORG HAROUTYUNYAN

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on May 06, 2008
Armenia

Interview with political scientist EDUARD ANTINYAN, Secretary of the
political council of the `Liberal Progressive Party’

`What are your comments on L. Ter-Petrosyan’s speech delivered during
the second congress of the `pan-national movement’?’

`Some way or another, L. Ter-Petrosyan had to respond to the political
situation that emerged more than two months ago. He can’t remain silent
forever. Otherwise, who’s going to give an answer for the victims and
ravages? Ter-Petrosyan was forced to initiate a certain process ` to
justify himself and persuade his proponents that the struggle continued.

Naturally, the struggle could not go on with the aggressiveness he had
initiated. Life showed that it is impossible to come to power by such
methods. Silence would have meant to assume the entire burden of
responsibility. The `new movement’ which has begun will undoubtedly
encourage some people and disappoint others. But he has the opportunity
to say `if you believe me, let’s go on with the struggle.’

If we, for a moment, ignore the motives, we can say that the movement
does really have certain positive features. Despite the fact of
recognizing or rejecting the election results, he admits the existence
of the ruling authorities. Besides, he makes no urgent demands for
organizing new elections on the state level, admitting that society and
the international structures are not ready for such a test. Entering
into the atmosphere of community elections, the internal political
tension will essentially decrease.

Public tension, however, will not decrease because the people have not
yet realized what has really happened. An ordinary citizen doesn’t know
why he was pushed to a conflict with the authorities, why the situation
was exacerbated and why they are beginning a new process now. In such
situation, a lot of strange things may happen for the people. This is
L. Ter-Petrosyan’s second bluff.’

`Is Ter-Petrosyan trying to find some justification or does he pursue
other goals by resorting to bluff?’

`Before the presidential elections, I had the occasion to say that L.
Ter-Petrosyan served for Robert Kocharyan’s interests only. During the
past ten years, he remained silent, and his silence greatly served in
favor of the authorities. During the recent years, the press supporting
the Armenian Pan-National Movement was fiercely criticizing the ruling
authorities; it was doing its best to prevent the pro-opposition camp
from becoming accomplished. Activeness in this period was a message to
the next president, by which L. Ter-Petrosyan wanted to say that in the
course of the coming 10 years he will be a factor whose opinion has to
be considered.

Ter-Petrosyan is doing his best to persuade the people that his time is
not over yet. But there has emerged a situation when someone has to be
held accountable for the victims. In such situation, the ex-President
is actually attempting to create an impression that he is not to blame
for the events which happened; all that was the fault of the
authorities, and the only person who could have given an instruction
was Robert Kocharyan.

This is an attempt of introducing a new idea in jurisprudence ` the
precedent of post-development evidence. An attempt is being made to
prove a person’s guilt by the conduct he displays after the event. And
by imitating an incessant and continuous struggle, he will consistently
try to avoid responsibility.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TER-PEROSYAN TRIES TO WIN TIME
ARMEN TSATOURYAN

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on May 06, 2008
Armenia

In an attempt to make the opposition join the Armenian Pan-National
Movement

L. Ter-Petrosyan’s proponents, who were looking forward to his speech
in the 2nd congress of the `Pan-National Movement’, are obviously
disappointed.

The speech-lecture that lasted an hour and a half came to show that L.
Ter-Petrosyan’s task to the revolutionaries is much more modest, while
its political trend is contradictory.

After criticizing the authorities for the March 1 events and making
attempts of self-justification, Ter-Petrosyan was satisfied with the
accusations addressed to the West and some contradictory assessments
regarding the country’s internal situation. That is, `Authorities, you
should comply with the requirements of the PACE Resolution, and we will
continue insisting that you are not legitimate. We will be in favor of
any political pressure against the Armenian authorities, but we will
fight economic pressure. And in case Azerbaijan allows any encroachment
upon Karabakh, we will unanimously settle down to the protection of our
motherland.’

However, muddled up in his own questions, the ex-President never
explained the potential impact of the Western pressure upon the
Karabakh peace process.

Thereafter, the proponents of the ex-President were anticipating him to
clarify his future political steps, but that never happened. It turned
out that Ter-Petrosyan had nothing to say in that connection, at least
at the moment of making his speech, and he continued insisting on his
unilateral conditions for initiating a dialogue.

The following question comes up: what was the purpose of convening the
congress? Judging by all, Ter-Petrosyan’s speech was directed at the
goal of maintaining the political position he had gained during the
electoral campaign. In this regard, we can understand Ter-Petrosyan’s
concerns since it is impossible to maintain so many political alliances
formed around one personality in the pre-election period. Clearly,
controversies and disruptions inside such artificial unions become
inevitable.

Moreover, maintaining the alliance is a much more difficult task than
changing its image, as the latter always contains an anticipation of
new and interesting solutions. This may account for the new idea
proposed by Ter-Petrosyan, i.e. the initiative of setting up an
`Armenian National Congress’ which is supposed to `unite’ but never
assimilate different political factions that supported the
ex-President’s candidacy during the recent presidential elections. The
Political Council and the Executive Body supporting Ter-Petrosyan are
supposed to fit themselves into a new political `framework’ before
further clarifications.

Trying to find a justification for the `Armenian National Congress’,
Ter-Petrosyan mentioned in his speech that they had taken into
consideration `both the glorious traditions of national democratic
movements and the multi-layer ideological and social representation’.
That’s to say, the imitation of the international experience pursues
the goal of protecting the pro-Ter-Petrosyan camp from ideological
disagreements and conflicts of interests which become inevitable in the
post-electoral period.

Of course, the proposal of setting up a `National Congress’ did have
its precedent in the world history, but only in the form of the
structures characteristic of the era of national-liberation movements.
`The Indian National Congress’, for instance, was one of them. The
latter was characterized by its tactics of struggling against the
English colonists through peaceful, bloodless methods, as well as the
aspiration of protecting the national values.

But what does the experience of India and other countries have to do
with the political goals of Ter-Petrosyan and his proponents who have
found themselves in uncertainty after the unsuccessful attempts of
staging a `colored revolution’? It may seem to some people that by
doing this, the participants of the March 1 events wanted to imitate
the peaceful and democratic methods adopted by the Indian leaders.
However, we should keep in mind that the objectives of Ter-Petrosyan,
i.e. the `creation of a free, democratic and prosperous state governed
by rule of law’, is not absolutely the task of a national liberation
movement which is based upon nationality, language and other
fundamental values.

We believe the given name deriving from the rich experience of the
national-liberation movements of India and other countries has been
chosen just as some attractive framework that may lead to the solution
of the problem of winning time and making the forces that supported
Ter-Petrosyan’s candidacy during the elections join the Armenian
Pan-National Movement. This will help them to finally clear themselves
of the label of `flawed activists’.

As to the other parties which supported them, they will simply make
`The Armenian National Congress’ a springboard for quitting the
political arena by disguising their own weakness and final
depersonalization.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE MEDIATORS

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on May 06, 2008
Armenia

During the meeting between OSCE Minsk group Co-Chairs and the Foreign
Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan Edward Nalbandyan and Elmar
Mamediarov the parties will discuss the issue of the possible meeting
between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the visit of the
Co-Chairs to the region. Minsk group French Co-Chair Bernard Fassier
reported about this to APA agency.

He said there are different versions for the meeting between the two
Presidents. It can take place on July 6-8, during the 12th
International Energy Conference in St. Petersburg. The French Co-Chair
underscored that the mediators are not planning to make any fundamental
proposal during their meeting with Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministers. The meeting bears the nature of familiarization. However, he
said, the meeting will show to what extent the two sides are ready to
continue the work.

`We see unilateral desire to work on the process of the negotiations,’
Bernard Fassier said.