Month: October 2008

NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan’s congratulation of Teacher’s Day

armradio.am
04.10.2008 17:39

President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Hovik
Abrahamyan congratulated the teachers on their holiday. The
congratulatory message states, in part:

`After the invention of letters the most essential task of maintaining
the national identity has been entrusted to teachers. For centuries
teachers have kept bright the comprehension of necessity of knowledge.
More than ever, today we attach importance to education and knowledge
for the development of independent statehood.

Issues of education and science have always been at the core of
attention of the National Assembly and the Parliament will continue
doing its best to improve the existing laws in line with requirements
of the time and legally solve the problems of the sphere if necessary.

Dear teachers, on your Day I want to wish you the most important `
patience, vigor and love for carrying out your important mission. The
future of the citizen of our country starts from you, and let this
understanding be a support for you every day you enter the classroom.

I render my warmest congratulations to thousands of our teachers of the
Diaspora, who solve the issue of maintaining of our national identity.
Thank you and good luck.’
From: Baghdasarian

PM Tigran Sargsyan congratulates teachers

armradio.am
04.10.2008 18:02

Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan issued a congratulatory
message on the occasion of the Teacher’s Day. The message states, in
part:

`Dear teachers,
I warmly congratulate you on the occasion of Teacher’s Day. This
beautiful day is the guarantee of the great attention and care for the
teachers and their devoted work.

The field of education is one of the most important priorities of the
Government, where we are going to be exigent, taking into consideration
that the shaping of the deserved citizen, the qualified specialists
starts from here.

The state reforms in the sphere of education are targeted at the
reinforcement of respect and love for knowledge, school and education
among the society, ensuring high-quality education corresponding to
contemporary demands, the raise of the teacher’s role and continuous
improvement of the teachers’ living conditions. Dear teachers, you have
a great and responsible role to play in all this.

Once again congratulating you on Teacher’s Day, I wish you health,
success and high spirit. I’m sure that the task of educating and
bringing up the younger generation is in reliable hands.’

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian prime minister: In the conditions of not simple geo-political
situation human resources gain strategic significance for Armenia

2008-10-04 14:24:00

ArmInfo. In the conditions of not simple geo-political situation human
resources gain strategic significance for Armenia, Armenian Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan said at the opening ceremony of the annual
ArmTech IT congress. limited because of different reasons. This means
that intellectual potential of our citizens is our main resource. I
would like to assure you it will become the main privilege in the world
economic competition over the next years. The countries which will
manage to gain maximal efficiency of their economy, will become the
winners. Effective economy cannot but be science-driven based on
innovations. Our country can build a science-driven economy. This will
require much efforts, but we own the most important – internal
potential and the will to act>, – Tigran Sargsyan concluded.

Government of Armenia proposes amending state property privatization
program to sale state share in Ameriabank

2008-10-03 14:26:00

ArmInfo. Government of Armenia proposes amending the state property
privatization program for 2006-2007 to sale the state share in
Ameriabank (former Armimpexbank), Karine Kirakosyan, Head of the State
Property Department said in the parliament Thursday.

She said it is the only bank of Armenia at present with state share.
The state holds just 2.35% stake in the bank and cannot influence the
activity of the bank. Thus, it is quite reasonable to sell the stake.
Amendments to the given law are expected in three weeks at the next
4-day session.

Ameribank told ArmInfo the state stake in the bank was 2.35% in Feb
2008. The bank issued equity twice in the current year and the share of
the majority shareholder, TDA Holdings Limited, reached 99.6%. The
first issue totaled 4.4 billion drams, the second – 10.6 billion drams,
which allowed the bank to raise the authorized capital from the initial
2 billion drams to 17 billion drams. Due to it, the bank became the
leader in the banking system of Armenia. The capital base rose to 18.6
billion drams ($62 million) after the second issue and the bank rose
from the top ten banks to the top five leaders. The third issue of
equity for 1.2 billion drams is scheduled for October 2008. Due to it,
the authorized capital will be raised to 18.2 billion drams. The
capital base will be increased also due to the envisaged profit. Thus,
the bank will overfulfill the strategic development plan for 2008 and
stay among leaders in the banking sector of Armenia. In future, the
bank will raise capital at the expense of profit for it envisages over
$5 million profit in 2009.

Activation of institution of customs brokers has dual effect,
representatives of private sector of Armenia say

2008-10-03 16:47:00

ArmInfo. Activation of the institution of customs brokers has dual
effect, Executive Director of Armenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Araik Vardanyan told ArmInfo. ‘If a businessman has no right to customs
clearance without relevant license in conformity with the new rules, it
means that he must make additional expenses for broker services. On the
other hand, mediation in customs operations considerably reduces the
temporary expenses for business registration and the response of the
private sector is positive’, A. Vardanyan said. The key condition of
successful reforms is professional operation of brokers and customs
agencies, he said.

An amendment to the Customs Code of Armenia in April 2007 allowed
economic subjects-importers not to be present during customs
registrations. At present, a regional customs of international traffic
of the State Customs Committee of Armenia operates in the
self-declaration regime. As a result, the transactions at the given
customs for Jan-Oct 2007 totaled 5.100 as against 3600 in 2006.

At present Armenian Finance Ministry has issued license for Mediation
in customs activity to 35 legal entities.

THE BARTER OF THE MONITORING COMMITTEE
KIMA YEGHIAZARYAN

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
04 Oct 2008
Armenia

An Extremely Absurd Statement

As we know, the main issues discussed during the session of the PACE
Monitoring Committee concerned the recent report submitted by CoE
Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg and the process of
Armenia’s implementation of Resolutions # 1609 and 1620. After
finishing the activities of the session, the Monitoring Committee
yesterday made its statement.

There was such an impression that the Committee would try to `keep
balance’ while preparing its statement and include in it the two topics
discussed. However, choosing the `optimum’ methods, it leaned
exclusively on Thomas Hammarberg’s report which, at the same, absorbed
the second topic. That statement, as a matter of fact, is the brief
composition of the conclusion concerning the March 1-2 events.

So, leaning on Mr. Hammarberg’s report and applying it to our country’s
general commitments to the Council of Europe, the Committee has made
such a mess that one hardly make out what the principal requirements of
the Assembly are.

As far as we remember, Resolutions # 1609 and 1620 contain countless
clauses concerning democracy and human rights in general, as well as
reminding about the implementation of the successive stages of the
activities required for achieving the solution20of numerous problems.
They also contain appeals addressed both to the opposition and the
authorities, particularly on the necessity of initiating a dialogue.

Whereas, circumventing these issues and focusing only on the
individuals detained within the frameworks of the `March 1′ case, the
Monitoring Committee expressed concerns over the facts and conclusions
publicized in the Commissioner’s report, as they `show only limited
progress in terms of implementation of the Assembly’s key
requirements.’ And if they hadn’t observed the `positive steps towards
conducting an independent and reliable investigation’, they might not
have recorded any progress at all.

We should note once again that all these statements are made in the
context of evaluating the process of the implementation of Resolutions
# 1609 and 1620. However, judging by the general contents of the
statement, there actually remains only one commitment we are required
to comply with.

That is, to release the `political detainees’ and dismiss the cases.
Furthermore, the Committee does not even conceal the fact that it is
ready to close eyes to all the imperfections if the authorities display
tolerance towards the revolutionaries and release them from prison. In
that case, the committee will record an `important progress’ and will
probably discontinue the monitoring process.

Expressing regret that the Arme
nian authorities haven’t considered the
possibilities for granting the detainees amnesty or pardon or applying
other legal procedures for solving the problems of the individuals
detained within the frameworks of the `March 1′ case, `the Committee
appeals to the authorities to discuss such possibility, as this will
lead to a significant progress in the process of the implementation of
the Assembly’s requirements.’

Well, just imagine what `barter’ the Monitoring Committee proposes:
recording a high level of democracy in our country in return for the
release of the individuals who organized and participated in mass
disorders accompanied with murders. And we, for some reason, imagined
the process of the accomplishment of democracy in a different way.

Whereas it turns out that for being considered a state complying with
democratic standards it is just necessary to allow the authorities to
create a chaotic situation in the country, and then exempt the authors
of such mass disorders from liability. Otherwise, they will have to
hear the pro-democratic organizations and individuals say all the time
that they are `strictly anxious’ and `deeply’ and `extremely’
concerned. And at the end, they will threaten the country with
sanctions, as mentioned in the statement of the Monitoring Committee.

Sometimes you ask yourself the following question: when these people
visit=2
0Armenia, why do they waste time on meeting with the
representatives of the ruling coalition, the Prosecutor General or the
leader of the country? It isn’t as though all that didn’t make sense.
Returning to Strasburg, they set aside all the argumentations achieved
during these meetings and lean only on the facts and data submitted by
the centre of the Ter-Petrosyan-led movement. Both Mr. Hammarberg’s
report and the statement of the Monitoring Committee are full of such
facts and data.

And what does the Armenian delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe do? To what extent does it try to prevent such
kind of unfavorable reports and statements from being published? Or,
does it take any steps towards changing the disputable issues contained
in those papers? These are questions that need to be considered
properly.

THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW TRADITION
ARMEN TSATURYAN

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
04 Oct 2008
Armenia

The President’s Messages To Be Regular

In the person of Serge Sargsyan’s message of October 2 we deal with a
whole complex of conceptual approaches, which need separate study.

To clarify the main principle of the new government’s approaches, in
the beginning of his speech the President introduced the conceptual
guidelines of his policy, which he summarized with the new commentaries
given to the three categories of the political sciences ”stable”,
”realistic”, and ”balanced”.

From now on political categories will not be observed in our reality as
absolute values, because as the President underscored: ”we must uproot
any possibility of crises in any sphere.” Which means at the moment
the country is ready to pass on to stable-dynamic regime, which
necessarily demands new approaches towards the mistakes of the ruling
power and the realistic decisions taken by them.

By reminding us of the famous truth saying that ”the authorities that
do nothing never make mistakes” the President underscored that, very
often, when we go beyond the limits of realism we make the limits of
this realism greater.

So, in fact the authorities intend to implement a creative, dynamic and
flexible policy, which necessarily presumes wider involvement of the
public and the political forces in the discussion of fatal issue
s.

By advancing this new principle the President pointed out those
problems faced by the country regarding which really pragmatic
discussions will start in the form of the messages delivered by the
president and the proposals made by the political forces and the
public. Serge Sargsyan says all the before mentioned is summed up in
`About Us and the World’, `About Us and Our Economy’, `About Us and Our
Course of Action’, `About Us and Our Society’, `About Us and Our
Problems’ and finally `About Us and Our Future”.

By opening all the brackets of those, for the present, conditional
problems Serge Sargsyan introduced the internal and external problems
faced by the country.

First: when estimating the country’s external-political sphere, based
on the new challenges, including the arms race, which continues in the
region and the absence of Peace agreement between NKR and Azerbaijan
the President came to the conclusion that the fact that Karabakh war is
not over should become a matter of concern for all of us and we should
all become more sensible.

This fact over again demonstrates how primitive are the conclusions of
the external and internal critics who expect concessions from Armenia’s
new authorities.

By summarizing the second point of the message ` `About Us and Our
Economy’ the President came to a conclusion that=2
0the period of the
implementation of super-programs has come for Armenia. From which he
separated the construction of the new nuclear station, Armenia-Iran
railway and the establishment of the Pan-Armenian Bank.

This fact demonstrates that in the near future our country will be able
to solve the issues of the modernization of its economy and raising the
blockade.

Third: In the point: `About Us and Our Course of Action’ Serge Sargsyan
introduced the new methodology of the collective discussion and the
adoption of the future goals, which will be the guideline of the new
government. It previews raising the role of the National Assembly,
political parties and the Security Council, and the involvement of the
society in those processes by means of the Public Council.

In the fourth point of the message ` `About Us and Our Problems’ the
President brought the attention of those present on the vital issue of
discussing the budget of 2013.

The proposal made by the President in the fifth point about changing
the quality of social relations and avoiding the competition that has
been rooted in our reality was rather noteworthy.

In the last point of his message ` `About Us and Our Future’ the
President spoke about the very important issue of overcoming the `wrong
dreams’ by which the coming generations are living. He said our work
would be senseless if the20`hero’ of Armenian children will be not the
one who won in the Olympic games but the one who has an expensive car.

Thus by his first message the President enumerated all the challenges
faced by our country and the concrete recipes to overcome all of them.

The concept of the message displays that the country’s leadership
really intends to make the whole society active, in order to solve all
the external and internal challenges. In such circumstances the
formation of our political culture will be based on the principle of
shouldering joint responsibility for any decision.

WHY ARE THEY AFRAID OF INDEPENDENT EXPERTS?
ARTHUR HOVHANNISYAN

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
04 Oct 2008
Armenia

As claimed by the co-thinkers of L. Ter-Petrosyan, the number of the
people killed as a result of the March 1-2 incidents exceeds the data
presented in official reports. Over the recent period, they circulated
such kind of unfounded rumors through almost all the possible media.

In witness of their statements, they have now released a video disc
prepared by the so-called `Public Committee Investigating the March 1
Incidents’. The disc contains films showing different parts of body
(jaws, tongues and cheekbones) `found’ in the vicinity of the `Fish
Store’, i.e. material evidence on the existence of the 11th victim.

Naturally, it was necessary to send the video disc for expert
examination. And that was what the relevant bodies did. They carried
out the examination and found out that the details shown in the films
were not parts of a human body.

During the September 26 session of the NA Interim Committee
investigating the March 1-2 incidents and their causes, Shota
Vardanyan, Head of the Scientific-Practical Centre of Forensic Medicine
of the RA Ministry of Health, gave an official report as to what had
been found out as a result of the expert examination carried out with
the participation of the best specialists of the republic.

According to Sh. Vardanyan,
the expert examination helped find out that
`the given bone fragments are not human; they belonged to a piglet. As
to the tongue, it belonged either to a sheep or a calf, but not to a
human being. The same can be said about the jaw; facial bones, in
general, are not so thick, whereas that thickness is vividly seen on
the picture. And the same is true for the structure of the teeth. Those
are stemmed teeth i.e. six teeth with two stems, which are peculiar to
pigs only.’

If some of L. Ter-Petrosyan’s co-thinkers and the media supporting the
Armenian pan-National Movement considered the results of the expert
examination false and not corresponding to the reality, i.e. an attempt
of concealing the crime committed, they should have made claims for
conducting a new expert examination with the participation of
independent international experts. Whereas we didn’t hear or see any of
them make any claim of the kind. What we saw instead was false
statements becoming more and more widespread and defamatory
publications about the NA Committee and Sh. Vardanyan.

Let’s note that the new expert examination will provide answers to many
questions or at least help find out who or which of the parties makes
false statements. Despite the absence of the jaw and the other parts of
body, the up-to-date computer technologies, the methodology of
conducting examinations and the relevant professional background20make
it possible to find out whether those parts of body belong to a human
or some animals.

Unfortunately, instead of assisting the NA Interim Committee in
revealing the truth and making claims for a new expert examination with
the involvement of independent international experts, the relevant
European structures and officials have, politely speaking, chosen a
strange mode of action.

Their unconstitutional and illegal demands for releasing the detainees
accused of certain publicly dangerous crimes and terminating the
prosecution against the individuals who weren’t directly involved in
the acts of violence are, as a matter of fact, undisguised attempts of
interfering in the inquest, prosecution and generally, the internal
affairs of a sovereign state.

We believe it’s high time the Armenian authorities made relevant
statements on the impermissibility of such actions.

The above-mentioned attempts are a striking evidence of an interested
and impartial attitude as well as a confirmation of the hypothesis that
the March 1-2 incidents were an attempt of staging a colored
revolution, with the visible `ears’ of the west lying behind.

RUSSIA NOT CONCERNED

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
04 Oct 2008
Armenia

Yesterday RF Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov underscored that Russia is
not concerned about Armenia’s intentions to continue cooperation with
NATO and moreover to develop economic and other relations with Georgia.

`The danger is in NATO’s movement to the East, with the intentions to
take the territories. We don’t have any disagreements with our Armenian
partners,’ RF Foreign Minister said.

As regards the arrangement between Armenia and Georgia to develop
economic ties, Russia can only welcome this step and hope that this
arrangement will lead to the annihilation of the artificial prevention
of the Georgian side to transport the loads to Armenia, during the
times of crises.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NOT RIGHT AND NOT FAIR

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
04 Oct 2008
Armenia

According to Hrayr Karapetyan: `The court procedures have not yet
started. Only the inquest is in process. All the cases are handed over
to the courts. So it is too early to say whether or not there are
political prisoners in our country. One thing we should all understand:
it is impossible to grant amnesty to everyone. Ten people died.
Hundreds were injured and became invalids. Massive disorders have been
organized. So there are guilty ones, and we shouldn’t pretend that
nothing has happened and everyone should be released.