Month: December 2008

IRAN-ARMENIA RAILWAY PROJECT WAS EXTENDED TO CHINA

Lragir.am
18:13:17 – 16/12/2008

The speaker of the Armenian parliament Hovik Abrahamyan visiting China
said in a meeting with the president of the state council of China
Li Keqiang that the feasibility study of the Iran-Armenia railway has
been extended to China to consider participation in the project. The
speaker underscored air communication between Armenia and Chine, which
would foster economic relations. Hovik Abrahamyan thanked Li Keqiang
for the annual assistance of the Chinese government to Armenia. This
year the Chinese government has allocated 20 million yuans, and the
speaker of the National Assembly said it would be useful if in the
framework of this assistance fire extinguishing equipment and sports
equipment for schools were provided. They discussed cooperation on
tackling the global economic crisis.

MEMBER OF COALITION CRITICIZES OFFICE CARS AT THE EXPENSE OF TAXPAYERS

Lragir.am
17:57:00 – 16/12/2008

Is it expedient to buy a new car worth over one hundred thousand
dollars for the Central Bank’s president considering the global
economic crisis and its impact on Armenia? The reporters asked this
question to Member of Parliament Vardan Bostanjyan, Bargavach Hayastan,
economist, who was hosted at the Hayeli press club on December 16.

Bostanjyan condemns the officials of the small country with
great social problems who ride in cars bought at the expense of
taxpayers. Bostanjyan said it is necessary to avoid luxury when there
are so many problems in the country. The reporters asked Bostanjyan why
in that case he does not come up with a legislative initiative. Vardan
Bostanjyan said he is not that ingenuous and he is the author of some
"magistrate laws". Perhaps the member of parliament means that making
laws about office cars is not his caliber.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH AUTHORITIES HAVE RECEIVED NO DOCUMENT

Lragir.am
17:27:31 – 16/12/2008

NKR foreign minister answers the questions of reporters

At the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Helsinki, 4 and 5 December,
the Azerbaijani delegation circulated a document, summarizing
its viewpoints on the principles of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement. What is Stepanakert`s position with respect to those
principles?

The attempts of the Azerbaijani party to impose on the mediators
and the world community in general, using different international
forums, its own vision of both the conflict between Nagorno Karabakh
and Azerbaijan, and the ways of its settlement are not a novelty. In
the framework of this policy, Baku resorts to different techniques,
in particular, presents itself as a victim of its own aggression
launched against the people of NKR and uses slogans for European
values and democracy as a cover for its goals.

Meanwhile, the latest statements by the Azerbaijani leadership, in
particular, the peculiar interpretation of provisions of the Moscow
Declaration by Ilham Aliyev, i.e the political settlement of the
conflict does not exclude use of force, as well as the above-mentioned
Azerbaijani principles of conflict settlement demonstrate all the
hypocrisy of the Azerbaijani diplomacy and thwart all the efforts
of the international community to find ways of peaceful resolution
of the conflict. Moreover, this kind of ac tions by Azerbaijan show
not only disrespect for the international mediators` work, but also
create an impression of Azerbaijan as an improper partner, which is
ready to denounce a previous agreement the very next day.

Have there been any changes in the position of official Baku towards
the settlement of the conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan
since 1988?

At all stages of the conflict development, Azerbaijan has been and
continues to be the main bearer of the idea of military resolution
of the conflict.

Counting on power turned into ethnic pogroms and expulsion of Armenians
from Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad and other parts of the former Azerbaijani
SSR, which was followed by operation "Koltso" (Ring) on deportation
of the population of Armenian villages of the Shahoumian, Hadrout
and Shoushi regions of Nagorno Karabakh. During the military phase
of the conflict, Baku time and again moved away from restrictions and
termination of hostilities, frustrated cease-fire agreements, was the
first and repeated violator of the four UN Security Council Resolutions
on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, and did not comprehensively and
promptly fulfill a single requirement of the resolutions. After the
cease-fire, the leadership of Azerbaijan has been actively and in
quantity purchasing offensive weapons, thus promoting arms race,
as well as continues threatening the Nagorno Karabakh Republic with
resumption of hostilities.The readiness to risk regional peace, a
basic precondition for social-economic development and realization
of international investment projects, makes the policy of official
Baku a serious threat not only to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic,
but also to regional peace and security.

Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of the intention to impose a fait accompli
based solution.

The current status quo is the result of aggression and consequent
hostilities of Azerbaijan against NKR and its people. As an
initiator of the war, Azerbaijan carries full responsibility for the
consequences. The existing status quo is the minimum that allowed
guaranteeing the security and independence of NKR and its people
under Azerbaijani aggression. The policy of the NKR authorities is
directed to maintaining peace and guaranteeing the irreversibility
of the process of establishment of long-time stability in the
region. Changing the status quo, as we see it, will inevitably lead
to destabilization of the situation and escalation of tensions with
a possible resumption of hostilities.

During the years of Soviet rule, the leadership of the Azerbaijani SSR,
including "national leader" Heydar Aliyev, was trying to make Nagorno
Karabakh not self-sufficient and dependent on Baku, first of all with
their attempts to change the demographic composition of the population.

This was also the case while drawing the borders of the former Nago rno
Karabakh autonomous region. Today, they are trying to return Nagorno
Karabakh into the past. However these attempts are doomed to failure.

Has the Nagorno Karabakh party received the "technical document",
which according to the information, provided by the French Co-chair
of the OSCE Minsk Group, was presented to the parties in Helsinki in
the framework of the OSCE Ministerial Council?

The Nagorno Karabakh authorities have not received this document yet;
however as a party to the conflict, acknowledged as such in accordance
with OSCE basic documents on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, we expect
to get it soon from the Minsk Group Co-chairs.

WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE MCC PROGRAM IN ARMENIA?

Lragir.am
16:54:19 – 16/12/2008

Background information on the status of the MCA-Armenia program.

What is the status of the MCC program in Armenia?

On Dec 11. 2008, the MCC Board met in Washington and reviewed progress
made on reform measures initiated by the government of Armenia in
recent months.

The Board reiterated its concerns about the status of democratic
governance in the country and underlined its expectation that
the government of Armenia will fulfill commitments to implement
substantive reforms. The Board noted that it would again review
Armenia’s performance and examine continued collaboration with the
country at its March meeting.

â~@¢ The MCA-Armenia Compact continues to operate. However, as an
expression of MCC’s serious concern about recent developments in
Armenia, last Spring MCC halted the contracting process for the major
273 km Compact-funded road works. In response, the Armenian government
proposed and formally agreed to use $16.8 million of its own resources
to proceed with the initial phase of the road program. That decision
gave Armenia extra time during which MCC hopes to see signs that
the Government of Armenia is committed to improving the performance
criteria central to MCC eligibility.

At the moment, the $16.8 million provided by the Government of Armenia
has not been fully exhausted.

â~@¢ MCC is monitoring the situation closely, along with the rest
of the US government. It is proceeding with implementation of all
other aspects of the $236 million Compact, while maintaining a close
dialogue with the Government of Armenia on policy performance issues.

General Background: The $236 million Armenia-MCC Compact signed
in March, 2006 focuses on one goal: the reduction of rural poverty
through a sustainable increase in the economic performance of the
agricultural sector.

This is a five-year program of strategic investments in rural
roads, irrigation infrastructure and technical and financial
assistance to improve the supply of water and to support farmers and
agribusinesses. The Compact was signed in March, 2006 and entered
into force in September 2006.

On Dec 12, 2008 MCA-Armenia submitted its tenth disbursement request
for approximately $6.8 million to the MCC. This request pertains to
all MCA-Compact related expenses for January through March, with
the exception of funds for the major 273 km road works contract
which were halted last June (see below). MCC is reviewing the $6.8
million disbursement request according to established procedures and
a decision is expected shortly.

There have been nine quarterly disbursements from MCC totaling about
$25 million since the compact entered into force in September 2006.

The MCA-Armenia Compact is beginning its third year of implementation
and progress on the ground is already evi dent. Construction of the
first 6.5 km of irrigation canals has been completed and the design
of major irrigation infrastructure works is proceeding. Training for
over 18,000 farmers has been completed and $1.5 million in small
credit loans have been disbursed to agribusinesses and farmers. A
pilot rural road rehabilitation of 24.5 km, located south of Gyumi
city is nearing completion.

Despite the progress in Compact implementation, MCC continues to have
concerns about the conduct of the recent election in Armenia and
the post-election situation, including violence, the imposition of
a state of emergency, mass arrests, and restrictions on the freedom
of assembly and the press.

–Boundary_(ID_0YLAO2AkwMJVeXoGcMHHLg)–

OBSERVATION MISSION: MEANS VS. A TOOL
Lilit Poghosyan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
16 Dec 2008
Armenia

After the meeting held in the Foreign Ministry yesterday, OSCE
Secretary General MARK PERRIN DE BRISCHAMBO and Foreign Minister
EDWARD NALBANDYAN answered the questions of the journalists

The first question was addressed to Ed. Nalbandyan. In particular, it
concerned the issue whether the Azeri Foreign Minister’s statement that
the parties had been proposed additional options related to the Madrid
Principles during the meeting in Helsinki corresponded to the reality.

Touching upon the Azeri official’s "disclosure", the Foreign Minister
noted that Mr. Mamedyarov’s statement did not correspond to the reality
this time either. "There was nothing of the kind. This is the first
thing to say. The second thing is that in this period, different
approaches and proposal are being advanced during discussions, and
the process may last long. It is done within the scope of the Madrid
Principles, and there is nothing new there."

What does Armenia do "towards the implementation" of the strict
recommendations of the ill-famed Bryza, the Commissioner for Human
Rights and others who demand that the issue of the "political
prisoners" be settled urgently.

In the estimation of the Foreign Minister, "Armenia has undertaken
quite a lot of steps towards the implementation of t he clauses of
Resolutions # 1609 and 1620. I can say that their major part has
been implemented. There are question over which the authorities are
making efforts. However, it is impossible to solve some questions
within a couple of days. I don’t think it is possible to carry out
so much work in any country in cooperation with international experts.

But we managed to do that in Armenia, and we are determined to continue
the reforms not because some people may announce we must do that but
because such reforms are necessary for our people. We make that choice
consciously, and we’ll follow that path, deepening and carrying out
all the plans that derive from the interests of our people."

One of the journalists looking forward to the speedy settlement of the
Karabakh conflict tried to find contradictions in the statements made
by the OSCE officials. For instance, Chairman of the Parliamentary
Assembly said that this might happen till spring, whereas, French
Co-Chair Bernard Fassier, expressed an opinion that the document
might be signed till the middle of the coming year, according to the
time-schedule submitted to the parties.

"You cannot find any contradictions in the document adopted by us. Both
the statement made by the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE member states
and the joint statement of the Foreign Ministers of the MG Co-Chairing
countries were elaborated in the same spirit and on the=2 0basis of
the same principles.

I cannot say anything on behalf of separate OSCE officials, but I
strongly hope that the communications on the highest level may continue
in future provided the parties demonstrate practical flexibility. Of
course, the situation is quite complicated, but the important thing
is that there is a political will to continue the peaceful settlement
process. I think this is what is essential. The 56 Foreign Ministers
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are ready
to support the continuation of the process," the Secretary General
said without, naturally, specifying a "concrete" time-limit.

What attitude does the OSCE Secretary General have towards the
radical activists’ heart-breaking complaints that by making "mild"
assessments, the OSCE and PACE observers gave the green light to the
acts of violence committed on March 1?

Touching upon this question, Mr. Bricshambo made it clear that the
task of an observation mission did not absolutely consist in making
assessments on the pre-electoral or post-electoral situation of the
given country or in estimating the elections as good or bad. The
task of the observers is to record "whether or not there has been
any progress and whether a step forward has been observed during the
elections. This concerns all the countries where we carried out an
observation mission.

The observation mission is n ot a tool for speaking about negative
phenomena; it is a means for ensuring the transition to democracy
and continuing democratic processes in the given states."

In response to the question whether during the meeting in Helsinki
the Ministers touched upon the issue that Georgia and Azerbaijan are
assiduously arming themselves in breach of all the quotas prescribed
by the European Agreement on General Armaments, E. Nalbandyan referred
to his speech, "I specially touched upon the fact that Azerbaijan
has increased its military budget several times and continues its
efforts in that direction.

Unfortunately, many countries that have acceded to the agreement do
not make a relevant assessment on the policy conducted by Azerbaijan
in contravention to international treaties. That fact was clearly
mentioned, and we once again drew the international community and
Foreign Ministers’ attention to the fact that such policy may really
lead to undesired consequences."

When any country, increasing its military budget, speaks about peace,
it is half of the misfortune, but "What Azerbaijan says is quite
different, and there is a possibility of war. In such conditions,
any incident on the border may go be beyond control and have harmful
consequences for both Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the whole
region and generally, it may pose a threat to security and stability,
the principal task of the Organization for Security20and Cooperation
in Europe," the Foreign Minister is convinced.

THE RADICALS BECOME ACTIVE BY THE DIRECTION OF THEIR MASTERS
Armen Tsaturyan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
16 Dec 2008
Armenia

The end of the political passiveness of the Armenian National Congress
is conditioned by the "signals" received from the West.

During the last two months the representatives of the organizations,
member to the congress, who were disapproved of L. Ter-Petrosyan’s
indifference toward the issue of the settlement of Karabakh conflict,
hinted, in their private conversations, that the reason of the
passiveness manifested by the leader of the radicals is far not
Karabakh issue, he is waiting for "signals" from overseas. The reason
of this very tough expectation is very understandable: after March
1 neither the West nor Russia did support the political camp headed
by the first president.

The fact that during their visits to Armenia in summer and autumn
the European and American officials were not very anxious about the
tempo and the contents of the investigation of March 1 events, and
that the situation has changed during the recent times couldn’t have
been overlooked by Ter-Petrosyan and his supporters.

The visit of the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Tomas
Hammarberg to Armenia on November 20-22 during which he gave very
harsh assessments to the investigation, served as good reason for
the before mentioned.

Moreover it came clear after the warning s of the European high
ranking official that they can be repeated in the report to be made
by Tomas Hammarberg during the monitoring session of Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly, to take place on December 17, in Paris.

Because hardly had the European official left Armenia, when on December
3 the congress submitted a claim about allocating a session hall for
the conference previewed on December 3, threatening that otherwise
they will hold the conference in Georgia.

It is also noteworthy that the date of the conference of Armenian
National Congress matches with the end of PACE monitoring session in
Paris, which means they have calculated that they will be the first
to inform our people about the "historical decisions" of the session,
representing it as the "evident success of the consistent struggle
of the congress".

And finally we shouldn’t overlook the fact that OSCE American
Co-Chairman Mathew Braze has also joined the before mentioned. He
recently made an epochal "announcement" saying: "We are seriously
anxious about the detained in Armenia. There are still 67 detained
pro-oppositional activists."

Mathew Braze’s brains have become so bright that he has shifted his
controversial announcements regarding the Armenian and Azerbaijani
lands into the sphere of opposition-ruling power relations in Armenia’s
internal political domain: "People call political20prisoners those
who are detained on political charges. What we believe is that no
one should be detained for their political motivations."

A question arises here: "What is the reason of this much attention
of the American Co-Chairman towards the so-called political prisoners
in our country?"

Is it really a manifestation of true anxiety? That is why he states
that: "There should be no political prisoners in Armenia, for the sake
of Armenia." In that case why does he shift the issue into the PACE
monitoring committee on the one hand and to the agenda of the council
of directors of the corporation "Millennium Challenges" on the other,
meanwhile friendly and sincerely informs us about it.

After all if the problem is in the investigation of March 1
developments then we must underscore that this process is not new
and is not yet over. So what does Mathew Braze mean?

Moreover, the radical opposition, extremely enthusiastic about the
political and economic pressure on Armenia, not only doesn’t have
any intentions to give an answer to what they did on March 1, but
also intend to aggravate the situation.

So why are they so nervous both "outside" and "inside", when in
reality it is not yet clear what will the "case of the 7" and all
the other cases end with.

If we examine the before mentioned cause-effect relation we can
conclude that we deal with the western scenario of putting a "total
influence" on Armenia by means of making the opposition active. Which
makes the internal lever of the "total influence" break his promise
of not hindering the settlement of Karabakh issue, and the external
lever – to forget about their traditional policy of maneuvering
between the ruling power and the opposition of Armenia.

And because the participants of this performance are short of memory,
in the created situation the moment of truth has approached for
Armenia, thus there are only two options, either to refresh the
memories of some people by demonstrating the foreign levers used for
the organization of March 1 developments or based on the most powerful
"diplomatic interests" to announce general amnesty even for those
who evidently planned and used violence.

THE MINISTER REFUTES

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
16 Dec 2008
Armenia

There have been no discussions about allocating money to Armenia,
during the session of the council of the corporation "Millennium
Challenges" held on December 11.

Commenting on the rumors circulated in the press regarding the delay
of the financial assistance shown to Armenia Minister of Economy
Nerses Yeritsyan underscored that it was the regular meeting of the
council of the corporation "Millennium Challenges" during which they
have touched upon certain indexes in Armenia.

The Minister said "Millennium Challenges" is guided by certain
principles: firstly they assess the criteria of the country based on
which the corporation decides whether or not to allocate money for
that country.

N. Yeritsyan expressed surprise regarding the false information
spread about that meeting, even saying that the claim submitted for
the allocation of financial assistance to Armenia has been refused.

He touched upon the report made by the corporation "Millennium
Challenges" which says that the council has discussed the reforms
initiated by the Armenian government and has expressed concern
regarding certain indexes: democracy, corruption, political freedom
and supremacy of law. The council has also underscored that during
the recent months Armenia has recorded progress, but they hope that
the Armenian government is ready to implement essential and serious
reforms.

The Minister said according to the assessments of the corporation
"Millennium Challenges" Armenia doesn’t have serious problems in terms
of the quality of life, economic policy, the management of the natural
resources and the realization of investments: "Armenia has already
started to carry out reforms, they have already recorded this and they
are following the process. We have already formulated the problems
and the actions to be taken during the coming two years," he said.

According to the Minister the report made by the corporation
"Millennium Challenges" doesn’t mention anything about the sum to be
allocated to Armenia, as certain Mass Media report.

"ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS" MAY HOLD ITS CONFERENCE IN GEORGIA

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
16 Dec 2008
Armenia

Yesterday, the Government rejected "Republic" party’s request for
holding the conference of the Armenian National Congress in the
session hall of the Government (situated in Melik Adamyan street)
on the 21st, 22nd or the 23rd of December.

Earlier, the Government had rejected the appeal for providing
the session hall to the Armenian National Congress on the 19th of
December. Last Friday morning, David Sargsyan, Head of the Government
staff, had a telephone conversation with Avetis Avagyan, manager
of L. Ter-Petrosyan’s office, and informed him that he couldn’t
provide the session hall of the Government on the date specified in
the request.

The Armenian National Congress continues its discussions over the
option of conducting the conference in Georgia.

OSCE NOT APPROVING OF EVERYTHING

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
16 Dec 2008
Armenia

OSCE Secretary General MARK PERRIN DE BRISCHAMBO is on a visit
in Yerevan.

According to Mr. Brischambo, the OSCE supports the idea of not
using force.

The Secretary General finds that one of the principal rules of the
member states’ behavior should be the principle of settling problematic
issues through a dialogue and peaceful talks. "Unfortunately, not
always do the things go the way we want," Mark Perrin de Brischambo
announced yesterday.

That’s to say, the OSCE is unable to put Azerbaijan in its place and
curb the country’s bellicose ambitions.

NKR PRESIDENT MET PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE…

Azat Artsakh Daily
16 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR

On 15 December NKR President Bako Sahakyan met personal representative
of the OSCE chairman-in-office Andrzej Kasprzyk Issues related
to the current situation in the region, Nagorno Karabagh conflict
settlement process and the planned monitoring of the line of contact
between Nagorno Karabagh and Azerbaijan armed forces were discussed
at the meeting.