Month: October 2008

GAGIK TSARUKIAN’S SON-IN-LAW ELECTED ABOVIAN MAYOR

A1+
[02:16 pm] 13 October, 2008

Yesterday’s elections to self-government bodies in the city of Abovian
passed without major incidents and surprise. The election outcome
was known to voters beforehand as there was only one candidate for
the City Mayor – Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) member Karapet Guloyan.

The Territorial Election Commission (TEC) reported high vote turnout,
22 913 out of 39 303 eligible voters participated in the election. The
most striking is that yesterday evening the TEC informed A1+ that 20
125 people participated in the vote, while today morning the turnout
mounted to 22 913.

"Everything is predetermined. It is useless to run in an election
where all candidates are known in advance. It is a waste of time,"
Abovian citizen Seda Arakelian said to A1+.

"We aren’t given a choice as there is only one candidate standing
for the post," said Valerie Simakian.

"I am going to vote for my relative who runs for Alderman, otherwise
I wouldn’t participate in the vote," said Hermine Vardanian.

According to the Abovian TEC Karapet Guloyan has got 21 618 votes
for and 610 against. 660 ballot papers were found invalid.

Eleven BHK and four non-party candidates have been elected to
Abovian’s Municipal Council. Reminder, 47 candidates were running
for the local Aldermen.

WINTER TIME IN THE END OF OCTOBER

Panorama.am
17:01 11/10/2008

On October 26, the last Sunday of the month at 3:00 the time in the
Republic of Armenia should be slowed down for one hour, reported the
Ministry of Economy.

Hence, Armenia will pass to winter time. Note that the time is
regulated by the law on "regulating the time in the Republic of
Armenia".

COMMITTEE ON SUPERVISING MILITARY ACTIVITIES IN DEFENSE

Panorama.am
17:02 11/10/2008

By the decree of the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan a committee
has been established on supervising the military activities in defense
field, said Arthur Baghdasaryan, the secretary of Security Council.

According to him the first session of the committee is scheduled
on October 13, when the members of the committee will work on the
reforms in defense.

A. Baghdasaryan has also presented the results of session holed by the
Security Council. He said that during the session they have assessed
"Rubej 2008" military exercises highly.

Although the members of the council have discussed the reforms in
court and legal aspects, the secretary of the council said that another
session will be organized to discuss the current issues more in detail.

TIGRAN SARGSYAN AT US VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY

Panorama.am
17:03 11/10/2008

The Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan who is currently in
United States of America has had a meeting with the Vice President of
the US Dick Cheney. During the meeting Mr. Sargsyan and Mr. Cheney
discussed bilateral relations, prospects and possibilities of their
development, as well as issues of regional security. In particular, the
meeting covered the South Ossetian conflict and its negative effect on
the economy of Armenia; relations of Armenia and Turkey, the visit of
the President of Turkey Abdullah Gul to Armenia, ways of the Karabakh
conflict settlement, implementation of the Millennium Challenge
Corporation’s programs, as well as the international financial crisis.

Speaking of the consequences of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict,
Mr. Sargsyan said that the economy of Armenia has been materially
damaged in the aftermaths of the current conflict about 670 mln USD
as uncollected taxes and delayed investments.

The Prime Minister has affirmed that Armenia is willing to continue
the peace negotiations on Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict in the
frames if OSCE Minsk Group and Madrid principles.

Mr. Sargsyan and Mr. Cheney also discussed the results of the visit
of President of Turkey Abdullah Gul to Yerevan. The Prime Minister
said that the visit might give a positive impulse to the improvement
of Armenian-Turkish relations. At the same time, he said that he
was concerned over the statements made by Gul and the Azeri Foreign
Minister in the UN. Constructive approaches both inside Armenia and on
the international arena are often regarded as weakening of positions
in negotiating process while, in fact, this is expression of political
will and readiness for concessions.

EDWARD NALBANDYAN RECEIVED RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY GENERAL DIRECTOR

Panorama.am
17:07 11/10/2008

The Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandyan has received the
delegation headed by the General Director of Russian Foreign Ministry
Doku Zavgaev, reported the information and public relations department
of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia.

According to the source, the officials have discussed Armenian-Russian
relations, in particular principle issues between the Foreign
Ministries of Armenia and Russia.

U.S PLANNING GAS TRANSIT TO EUROPE BYPASSING RUSSIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.10.2008 12:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A U.S. official said that a deal may soon be sealed
allowing natural gas from ex-Soviet nations to reach western Europe
bypassing Russian territory.

Boyden Gray, the U.S. special envoy for Eurasian energy issues, told
reporters in Rome that an agreement on a pipeline could be completed
in as soon as six months.

"I think there will be an understanding for transit through Turkey
for a pipeline," Gray said, without elaborating. "Completely firm
details and shovels underground no, but the outlines of a deal, yes,"
he added, the AP reports.

The Nabucco pipeline is a planned natural gas pipeline that will
transport natural gas from Turkey to Austria, via Bulgaria, Romania,
and Hungary.

The pipeline will run from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten an der
March in Austria with total length of 3,300 kilometres (2,050 mi). It
will be connected near Erzurum with the Tabriz-Erzurum pipeline,
and with the South Caucasus Pipeline, connecting Nabucco Pipeline
with the planned Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline.

Polish gas company PGNiG is studying the possibility of building a
link to Poland with the Nabucco gas pipeline.

In early years after completion the deliveries are expected to be
between 4.5 and 13 billion cubic meters (bcm) per annum.

Construction of pipeline is expected to begin in 2010 and is planned to
be finished in 2013. It estimated to cost around â~B¬7.9 billion. The
company leading the project is OMV from Austria.

–Boundary_(ID_Au8yRUNwchpeojuAy4l2Sw)–

COMMITTEE ON COORDINATION OF STRATEGIC ACTIVITIES IN DEFENSE SECTOR FORMED IN ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.10.2008 14:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The National Security Council of Armenia discussed
Saturday the outcomes of Rubezh 2008 command and staff exercise and
the republic’s juridical system.

The Security Council NSC gave a positive assessment to the maneuvers
and pointed out to a number of shortcomings which will be addressed,"
NSC Secretary Artur Baghdassaryan told reporters.

"By President’s Sargsyan’s decree an interdepartmental committee to
control and coordinate strategic activities in defense sector was
formed in Armenia," he said, adding that the process of conscription
and civil defense reform will be in the highlight.

Baghdassaryan said issues referring to Armenia’s chairmanship in the
CSTO were also considered.

Commenting on reform in the juridical system, he said that
the population will soon notice considerable changes in the
field. "Presently, only licensed attorneys had the right to address to
the court of review. We should give up this practice," Baghdassaryan
said.

NKR: ELECTION PROCESSES ABSENT IN AZERBAIJAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.10.2008 14:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Chairman of the NKR National Assembly Standing
Committee on state and legal affairs Garik Grigoryan issued a
commentary on the election situation in Azerbaijan.

"The characteristic feature of democratic election is, first of all,
healthy competition between the authorities and the opposition. The
election process in Azerbaijan passes quite the contrary. There are
enough presidential aspirants; however, all of them, except for the
incumbent president, play the role of passive observers. And it is
not accidental that interest in the elections both in political and
in wide public circles is insignificant, and it is obvious that the
elections will be uninteresting and predictable. Everything is so
predetermined that, in fact, it is useless to vote. It is no wonder
that the majority of the respondents in the capital of Azerbaijan
cannot call the names of all the presidential candidates," he said.

"The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
(ODIHR) observation mission reports limited public interest in the
elections. The ODIHR observers connect it with a perceived lack of
genuine competition. The document, in particular, reads that the
president has been touring the country extensively in his official
capacity and it is difficult to distinguish between his regular
activities and his campaign. At that, it is particularly emphasized
that the Baku municipal authorities interpreted provisions of the law
"On Freedom of Assembly" in a restrictive manner when they refused
the request of opposition parties boycotting the election to be
allocated a venue for an outdoor meeting in central Baku. EU Special
Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby also stated the
fact that there was not a hint of elections in Azerbaijan.

At the same time, many international organizations prefer to observe
how constitutional rights are being violated and democratic freedoms
are suppressed in Azerbaijan. Implementing a policy of "double
standards" the West considering itself a defender of human rights and
freedoms, voluntarily or not, furthers this country’s moving far away
from the pan-European standards. It produces an impression that the
West is ready to waive "the democratic principles" in favor of their
mercenary interests in Azerbaijan, and the election processes became
for them only an instrument of influence and fractional currency in
political game," Grigoryan said, the NKR MFA press office reported.

TURKEY DESERVES A NON-PERMANENT SEAT IN THE UN SC?

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.10.2008 14:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said his
country deserves a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council
because of Ankara’s growing influence on international affairs.

Ali Babacan was speaking Sunday before departing for New York for a
final round of lobbying for the seat which comes to a vote on Oct. 17,
the AP reports.

The UN General Assembly will elect five nations to serve two-year
stints on the council. Turkey is racing against Austria and Iceland
for two Western European seats.

The mostly Muslim country which is seeking European Union membership
has been acting as a bridge between the West and the Muslim world,
is involved in peacekeeping missions and has been working toward
Middle East peace.

RA FM: ISSUE REFERRING TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH STATUS SHOULD BE RESOLVED ON BASIS OF KARABAKH PEOPLE’S FREE EXPRESSION OF WILL

DeFacto Agency
2008-10-13 15:35:00
Armenia

YEREVAN, 13.10.08. DE FACTO. A tripartite meeting of Armenian, Azeri
and Russian FMs was held in Bishkek on October 10.

Upon completion of the meeting the RA FM Edvard Nalbandian commented
on Karabakh conflict’s current stage.

Answering a question if key points of Karabakh conflict settlement
were coordinated RA FM said details of Karabakh talks being held on
the basis of Madrid proposals had been discussed in the course of
the meeting. "As for the statements, according to which key issues of
Karabakh conflict settlement have been coordinated I have said and I
would like to repeat that the issue of NK status should be resolved
by the Nagorno-Karabakh people, via free expression of will. And if
there are opinions that key issues have bee resolved, one can conclude
that there is mutual understanding around these issues". As for some
analytics’ opinions that Armenia’s stands are unfavorable at the talks’
current stage RA FM noted he did hot consider the statements serious
analysis, moreover, they are like ill imagination.

According to the RA FM, after presidential election are held in
Azerbaijan the talks will enter more active stage, there will appear
the possibility to organize new meetings, the RA MFA Press Office
reports.