Month: May 2008

ARMENIA’S NA ENDORSES 2007 STATE BUDGET PERFORMANCE

ARMENPRESS
May 22, 2008

YEREVAN, MAY 22, ARMENPRESS: By a vote of 84 to 4 Armenia’s National
Assembly (parliament) has endorsed today the government’s report
on 2007 state budget performance. The report was voted against by
members of the oppositional Zharangutyun (Heritage) party’s faction.

The parliament has also approved today a memorandum on making
changes to a 2003 Armenian-Greek agreement on participation of an
Armenian peacekeeping platoon in Kosovo under the command of the
Greek peacekeeping contingent.

A 34-member Armenian platoon has been in Kosovo since 2004 under the
Greek command. Under the agreement Armenia will increase the number
of its peacekeepers in Kosovo to 70.

Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian told the parliament yesterday that
expansion of Armenia’s participation in peacekeeping missions will
not only raise the country’s international image but will also boost
higher combat readiness of its armed forces.

MATTHEW BRYZA: EARLY TO EXPECT ANY RESULTS FROM THE MEETING OF AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS

armradio.am
22.05.2008 12:15

OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Mathew Bryza, Bernard Fassier and Yuri
Merzlyakov will have next talks in Moscow on June 3. They also plan
to meet with Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Grigory Karasin,
US Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza told APA.

He said that the Co-Chairs and Grigory Karasin will discuss the
continuation of the cooperation for completing the core principles
of the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

"Later Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents will have the opportunity
to get acquainted with each other within the framework of the 12th St.

Petersburg international energy forum. It is early to expect any
results from the meeting, it will be a familiarization meeting,"
he said.

Matthew Bryza said the co-chairs will later meet with OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Alexander Stubb in Helsinki. The American diplomat
noted that it is early to speak about the steps to be taken after
the meeting of the Presidents.

"Everything will depend on the meeting," he said.

MAYOR OF MANCHESTER ISSUES PROCLAMATION RECOGNIZING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

armradio.am
22.05.2008 10:36

At a New Hampshire Alderman meeting and the Manchester City Hall,
Manchester Mayor Frank C. Guinta presented a proclamation commemorating
the Armenian Genocide to the local Armenian activists at the event,
reported the Armenian National Committee of Merrimack Valley (ANC
of MV).

Present at the event were several members from the Armenian National
Committee of Merrimack Valley, who helped to organize the event,
the Armenian Assembly of America, the Knights of Vartan, the
American-Armenian Veterans, along with numerous community members.

When presented with the proclamation, ANC of MV representative, Aram
Jeknavorian thanked the City and the Mayor, pointing out, "that the
Armenian -American Manchester community is moved and pleased that,
that this City of Manchester, NH, which was a great save haven for
the Armenian Genocide victims of 1915, has taken action to proclaim
its recognition of the Armenian Genocide and will continue to renew
its proclamation annually."

Mayor Frank Guinta was elected mayor in 2005. Prior to that, in
2000, he was elected to the first of two terms in the New Hampshire
Legislature. The following year, Guinta was elected Ward 3 Alderman,
representing Manchester’s downtown. In January 2006, Business NH
Magazine cited Guinta as an "intriguing leader" in its "Powerful
People" issue and, in January 2007, named him one of the 10 most
powerful people in New Hampshire.

GOVERNMENT FIXES LIFE PENSION FOR SECOND PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARYAN

armradio.am
22.05.2008 15:31

In compliance with RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s decree of April 9,
the Armenian Government today took the decision to fix a life pension
for the second President of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharyan
equal to 80% of the President’s salary.

Head of the State Property Management Department adjunct to RA
Government Karine Kirakosyan noted at the Government sitting that it
is necessary to allocate means for the construction of a house for
the second President with further property rights.

The Government also instructed the Yerevan City Hall to provide area
for the Office of the second President and allocate necessary means
for its reconstruction.

EUROVISION SKEWED BY BLOC VOTES, SAY RESEARCH
By Stephen Adams

Daily Telegraph
12:15PM BST 22/05/2008
UK

Voting in the Eurovision Song Contest is being skewed by the emergence
of a new "blocs", according to research.

Western European countries like the UK and Ireland – which in the
past did well in the music contest – are being marginalised by their
new-found power, the study indicates.

The blocs tend to be voting in a more "clubby" way than before, leaving
countries like the UK with little chance of winning, according to Dr
Derek Gatherer, a data analyst from Glasgow.

He said three blocs now had such a significant effect on voting that
our prospects of victory had diminished over the last decade.

The biggest is the "Balkan Bloc", consisting of 11 countries including
Turkey, Bulgaria and Hungary.

Next is the "Eastern Bloc" of eight countries including Russia,
Poland and Ukraine.

The final big bloc is the "Viking Empire" of eight Nordic countries.

All tend to give their neighbours higher votes than other countries,
according to Dr Gatherer’s paper, Comparison of Eurovision Song Contest
Simulation with Actual Results Reveals Shifting Patterns of Collusive
Voting Alliances.

He said: "Statistically it is significant. Countries are exchanging
votes with each other."

He found vote-swapping has grown over the last 10 years and now only
seven of 43 countries can be proved to be ‘clean’.

Now about a third of votes come from bloc-voting, he concluded.

Despite a strong song and a proven voice, this year’s UK’s entrant,
former X-Factor runner-up Andy Abraham, was sanguine about his chances
of winning.

He said: "I believe the song is good enough for a top ten. Anything
more than that…well, if I win, I’ll probably collapse on the floor."

The contest is broadcast from Belgrade in Serbia this Saturday night.

The Balkan Bloc: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Macedonia, Turkey, Albania, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Hungary.

The Eastern Bloc: Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Poland, Belarus,
Moldova and Romania.

The Viking Empire: Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia,
Lithuania and Estonia.

TURKEY REPORT: EP REJECTS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AMENDMENTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.05.2008 12:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The European Parliament (EP) adopted on Wednesday
a report on Turkey urging the government to accelerate reforms.

In a plenary session the EP debated and voted on the report, prepared
by Dutch parliamentarian Ria Oomen-Ruijten. The report is a non-binding
and recommendatory one.

The parliament rejected amendments to the report regarding the
incidents of 1915 submitted by a group of French MEPs regarding the
1915 events.

However, the amendment on EP’s concerns about news reports regarding
Turkish riot police’s disproportional use of force during May Day
celebrations was accepted. The amendment also said that the changes
made in article 301 of Turkish Penal Code were not enough and urged
Turkish parliament to revise the article and completely remove other
restrictive stipulations.

The report, adopted last month by the European Parliamentary Committee
on Foreign Affairs, expressed concern about the potential consequences
of the recent dissolution case filed against Turkey’s ruling Justice &
Development (AK) Party.

Another amendment to the report said the EP expected Turkish
Constitutional Court to act in accordance with the Venice Commission
guidelines and European standards on the prohibition of political
parties.

It also called on the Turkish government to respect pluralism,
secularism and democracy while carrying out reforms and to reach a
compromise with political parties and urged the political parties to
distance themselves from violence and terrorist organizations.

The report says the parliament takes note of the process underway to
prepare a new, civilian constitution; regards it as a key opportunity
to place the protection of human rights and freedoms at the core of
the constitution and underlines the need for a broad involvement of
civil society in this process.

The report also says the parliament "welcomes the commitment of
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that 2008 is going to be the year
of reforms; urges the Turkish government to make use of its strong
parliamentary majority to resolutely pursue reforms that are crucial
for Turkey’s transformation into a modern democratic and prosperous
society."

It says "(the parliament) encourages the Turkish government to make
further systematic efforts to ensure that the democratically elected
political leadership bears full responsibility for formulation of
domestic, foreign and security policy and that the armed forces
respect this civilian responsibility; points out, in particular,
the need to establish full parliamentary oversight of military and
defense policy and all related expenditure."

The report also urges the Turkish government and the parliament
to abolish immediately article 301 of the Penal Code as a symbolic
and substantive step towards full respect of freedom of expression
in the country and underlines that, once the urgently needed
abolition of article 301 has been carried out, further legislative
and implementation steps will be required in order to ensure that
Turkey fully guarantees freedom of expression and press freedom in
line with ECHR and European democratic standards.

It says the parliament encourages the Turkish authorities to resolutely
pursue investigations into the Ergenekon affair, "to fully uncover
its networks reaching into the state structures and to bring those
involved to justice."

The report welcomes the recent adoption by the Turkish Parliament
of the Law on Foundations and says "the European Commission should
analyze whether the Law addresses all shortcomings faced by non-Muslim
religious communities with regard to property management and
acquisition, including expropriated property sold to third parties."

The report also calls upon the Democratic Society Party (DTP), its
members at the parliament and mayors "to engage constructively in
the quest for a political solution to the Kurdish issue within the
democratic Turkish state."

It strongly condemns the violence perpetrated by the terrorist
organization PKK and reiterates European Parliament’s solidarity with
Turkey in its fight against terrorism. The report urges the Iraqi
government and the regional Kurdish administration not to allow Iraqi
territory to be used as a base for terrorist acts against Turkey.

The report stresses the need to arrive at a comprehensive settlement
of the Cyprus question within the UN framework, claiming that "the
withdrawal of Turkish forces would facilitate the negotiation of
a settlement."

Mrs. Oomen-Ruijten’s report also calls on the European Commission and
the Turkish government to start negotiations on an agreement to ease
granting of visas to Turkish nationals.

ARMENIA-EU ACTION PLAN IMPLEMENTATION PRIORITY FOR YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.05.2008 14:25 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan held
a meeting with the Heads of Missions of the European Union member
states accredited to Yerevan, and representatives of the delegation
of the European Commission.

President Sargsyan said that these meetings are a proper format for
the discussions of the issues on the Armenia-European Union agenda.

According to him, further deepening of the relations with the EU
will undeniably expedite Armenia’s democratic as well as economic
development.

Viewing the implementation of the Action Plan in the framework of
the New Neighborhood policy as a priority for Armenia, the President
stressed that the Plan is in full agreement with the program of
the Government of Armenia and the logic of the planned large-scale
reforms. President Sargsyan also mentioned that experience of the
European Commission is very important for Armenia. President of
Armenia said that he is satisfied with the results of the first year
of the Plan’s implementation as well as with the assessment presented
at the EC’s Progress Report. He noted that the assessment is overall
balanced and fair. He also said that Armenia is striving to join the
EU’s General System of Preferences (GSP) trade regime, to receive from
the EU the status of the country with market economy, and to sign
with the European Union a free trade agreement. With this regard,
the priority directions in the coming years will be the improvement
of the investment climate in the country, improvement of business
environment, and fundamental changes in the customs administration.

Speaking about political developments, Mr Sargsyan said that
regardless the post-election developments, the implementation of
democratic reforms remains a necessity, and that we will continue
working in that direction. He told those present that right after the
presidential elections he had offered cooperation to all political
forces and received a positive response from the majority of them,
what allowed the creation of the political coalition. He mentioned
with pain the impossibility of preventing the events of March 1.

Regardless of the fact that one of the candidates was speaking
about the events months before they actually took place, President
Sargsyan stressed that the authorities are responsible for all the
processes going on in the country and that they see the elimination
of their consequences in the unequivocal implementation of the
recommendations of the corresponding PACE resolution. In addition,
they entirely correspond to the principles laid out in the President’s
pre-election platform and to the principles of cooperation of the
Political Coalition.

"The recommendations of the working group have been approved by the
members of the Coalition, and we are determined to fully implement
them," he underscored.

President Sargsyan spoke also about the simplifying procedures for
obtaining the entry visas to the EU member states and the EU regional
center for cultural issues to be established in Yerevan.

On behalf of the diplomats the Ambassador of France, Serge Smessov
expressed satisfaction that the tradition of conducting these meetings
keeps up and noted that they are very useful for them.

The Ambassadors welcomed the determination of the Armenian authorities
to fully implement all recommendations of the PACE resolution.

The Armenian President also provided clarifications on other issues
raised by the diplomats.

SERZH SARGSYAN: KARABAKH PEACEFUL PROCESS NOT EXHAUSTED

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.05.2008 14:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The potential of the Karabakh peaceful process has
not been exhausted yet, Armenia’s President said.

"Yerevan advocates peaceful resolution of the conflict on the basis of
comprise while the opposite side very often comes up with belligerent
statements. However, there is still a hope for a peaceful resolution –
as long as the negotiations are continued on the basis of fundamental
principles," Serzh Sargsyan said at a meeting with head of EU member
states’ missions accredited to Armenia and representatives of the
European Commission delegation to the RA.

Touching on the Armenian-Turkish relations, the Armenian President
said that ‘our country is ready to establish relations with Turkey
without preconditions and to discuss all contentious issues on the
base of intergovernmental relations and negotiations’, the RA leader’s
press office reported.

"ARION" THEATRE AT ‘APOSTROPHE 2008’ FESTIVAL

Panorama.am
15:17 22/05/2008

This year from June 27 to July 2 "Arion" theatre named after Edgar
Elbakyan will take part in "Apostrophe 2008" international festival
in Prague. It is 10 anniversary of the current festival.

According to the Ministry of Culture official web site more than 70
appliers wished to take part in the festival, "Arion" was selected and
listed in the best ten ones and received an invitation to participate.

"Arion" theatre will present "Shall we dance" play in the frameworks
of the festival.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MINISTRIES VS MASS MEDIA

Panorama.am
15:17 22/05/2008

"Ministries have serious difficulties with communicating with the
representatives of mass media.

We should meet the problem out," said the Prime Minister of Armenia
Tigran Sargsyan in Government session today.

He recommended the representatives of media to present their
recommendations and view points to the ministries. "Like other
developed countries we should also work effectively with the media
representatives," stated the Prime Minister. According to him if the
media makes some recommendation then a dialogue will be created with
its rules.

"What we do have today is something contributing to the development of
yellow media and we miss the analytical media from our reality," said
the Prime Minister. He said that the measures taken will contribute
to the psychological atmosphere.