Month: December 2008

EBRD EXTENDS $10 MILLION LOAN TO VTB BANK ARMENIA

ARKA
Dec 24, 2008
YEREVAN

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has
extended a $10 million loan in three tranches to enable VTB Bank
Armenia to offer credit to micro-and-small-sized enterprises (MSEs)
across the country.

The project will enable the creditworthy MSEs in Armenia to access
to medium-term reliable sources of finance.

"Micro and small enterprises are the backbone for a developing economy.

There is a significant unmet demand for MSE finance in the country",
said Chikako Kuno, director of the EBRD’s Group for Small Business.

"This facility gains particular prominence in the current environment
of global liquidity constraints and with VTB Bank’s wide regional
presence we hope to increase financial access for the rural, micro
and small entrepreneurs in the country," he added.

Established in 1923, the VTB Bank (Armenia) (formerly the
Armsavingsbank) had been member of the USSR Sate Savings Bank by
1993. Later, the bank was renamed Savings Bank of the Republic of
Armenia. The bank’s absolute shareholder is the Russian VTB Bank.

The chartered capital of VTB Bank (Armenia) totaled 13.9bln drams, with
its own capital amounting to 23.2bln drams on November 1, 2008. The
bank’s assets and loan portfolio reached 98bln drams and 74.8bln
drams respectively, with total liabilities amounting to 74.8bln drams.

A The bank’s net profit exceeded 2.4bln drams.

On December 7, 1992, Armenia became EBRD member with 10mln eur share.

As a chief investor, the bank has allocated 202mln eur for 52 programs
in Armenia.

HERITAGE PARTY IS FOR DISMISSAL OF MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND PROSECUTOR GENERAL

Lragir.am
16:00:01 – 25/12/2008

Does the Heritage Party, like the Armenian National Congress, demand
the resignation of the minister of justice Gevorg Danielyan? The
reporters asked this question to the chair of the board of the Heritage
Party Anahit Bakshiyan on December 25 at the Hayatsk press club. She
said they are for the dismissal of not only the minister of justice
but also the leadership of the judicial and law enforcement agencies
in general, including the prosecutor general.

In this context, Anahit Bakshiyan wondered why "the president does
not make a realistic evaluation of the activities of the prosecutor
general and tolerates the outrageous justice in the country." However,
according to her, the answer is known to everyone: it is tolerated
because those people with their actions do favorS to the government.

Anahit Bakshiyan said they are for the dismissal of the prosecutor
general and the minister of justice. She says the country would
benefit from every single day without those officials.

A CONFERENCE ON THE KARABAKHI ISSUE TOOK PLACE IN BERLIN

Azat Artsakh Daily
25 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

Recently, a conference on "The variants of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement from the Azerbaijani viewpoint" had taken place
at the Conrad Adenauer Foundation’s office in Berlin. Elhan Nuriev,
director of the Center of Strategic Sciences under the Azerbaijani
President and Johannes Rau, member of the International Security
Forum under the German Military Academy were invited to have speeches.

NKR Permanent Representative in Germany Gayane Apinyan and Ambassador
of Azerbaijan in Germany Parviz Shahbazov also partook in the
conference, held by senior officer of the Conrad Adenauer Foundation
Peter Hefele. The Azerbaijani representative developed his speech in
the context of the Azerbaijani territorial integrity and threat of
the Karabakh conflict settlement by force. In response, officer of
the German International Institute on Security Issues Uwe Halbach
and representative of the Union of the Christian-Democratic and
Christian-Social Parties in the Council of Europe Rayner Dornzaifer
noted that they treated the Azerbaijani territorial integrity with
understanding; however the existing new realities and facts should
be taken into account in solving the conflict. Uwe Halbach added that
the demand of territorial integrity is not absolute and sometimes not
realistic, exemplifying Georgia. Rayner Dornzaifer advised Azerbaijan
to learn a lesson from the history of Germany that, according to
him, after The World War II had to accept the existing reality, thus
guaranteeing peace and security in Europe. He expressed confidence
that in case of refusing the territorial integrity, Azerbaijan will
contribute to the peaceful settlement of the conflict and together
with Armenia will be given great assistance from the Council of
Europe for liquidating the consequences of the conflict. In response
to Nuriev’s threatening to solve the Karabakhi issue by use of force,
Gayane Apinyan in her turn reminded how many people from both sides
sacrificed during the previous war and in what unfavorable conditions
the people of Nagorno Karabakh managed to uphold their natural right
to liberty.

"Today, in spite of Azerbaijan’s furious armament, Nagorno Karabakh,
due to its high state orderliness, is incomparably stronger and is
ready to defend its independence", she said. Gayane Apinyan advised
the Azerbaijani representatives to refuse the revanchist aspirations
and respect the right of the people of Nagorno Karabakh to independent
existence.

PRESIDENT OF THE NKR MET RECTOR OF THE ARMENIAN STATE AGRICULTURAL…

Azat Artsakh Daily
25 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

On 25 December President of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic Bako Sahakyan
met rector of the Armenian State Agricultural University Arshalouys
Tarverdyan. Issues related to developing science in the republic were
discussed at the meeting. Within this context it was mentioned that
from January 2009 a branch of the university will start functioning in
Nagorno Karabagh. The Head of the State considered important opening
of the new educational establishment In Artsakh and the role it is to
play in developing the main branch of the NKR’s economy, the sphere of
agriculture. NKR minister of education and science Vladik Khachatryan
partook at the meeting.

THEY RAPED FEMIDA AND ENJOYED IT – 2
KIMA YEGHIAZARYAN

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
24 Dec 2008
Armenia

Only Closed Hearing

Yesterday Yerevan Criminal Court, under Mnatsakan Martirosyan’s
chairmanship, tried to continue the hearing on the "Case of the Seven",
in the Court of General Jurisdiction of Shengavit Community.

We should remind you that the seven defendants, Alik Arzumanyan,
Myasnik Malkhasyan, Hakob Hakobyan, Sasun Mikaelyan, Suren Sirunyan,
Grigor Voskerchyan, and Shant Harutyunyan are charged with the
organization of the mass disorder and attempts to usurp power.

Why we said, "they tried to continue" because the hearing that started
40 minutes late, was broken after a very short period of time.

Because of the uproar of the relatives of the defendants and the
revolutionary activists, the judge presiding over the hearing, M.

Martirosyan was obliged to stop the process.

We should underscore that the defendants of the "Case of the Seven"
and their supporters, the revolutionary activists who have occupied
the hall of the court, were trying to carry out their strategy of
dismantling the third power.

Yesterday the Chairman came to a decision to apply judicial sanction
against the seven defendants (asked them out of the hall), because
the seven defendants didn’t stand up when the court entered the hall.

The group of the lawyers headed by Arsenyan rebelled against the
sanction and started to shout, saying the behavior of the defendants
is not "hooliganism". They simply wanted to show that they are under
"political persecution" and they don’t trust the Chairman.

No doubt, a very "substantiated" argument. The before mentioned seven
defendants, who consider themselves "political prisoners" are simple
detainees and in this case they must respect the judicial procedure.

Not to jump from their chairs every now and then and fly at the judge,
only because the latter dared to call them "defendant". During the
hearings they become furious when addressed as "defendants".

In general these people’s behavior during the court procedure (they
use all the possible and impossible means to torpedo the process),
wouldn’t be tolerated in any country.

The "political prisoners" who usually hold forth on international
conventions, implementation of laws and legal state, their supporters
and companions-in-arm, actually don’t care a bit about the letter
of law. It is the third hearing under this case, but the judge can’t
even introduce proper order, because the revolutionaries continue to
pressurize the court and the plaintiff, by blackmail and intimidations.

And in the street LTP’s followers are ready to swallow all the
strangers" passing by. As for example last Friday when the furious
activists flew at Albert Bazeyan. Had he not fled the territory on
time the furious crowd would have butchered this political figure.

After all that happened, these people are trying to isolate themselves
from "March 1".

Whereas the impudent behavior that they are manifesting during
the hearings was used with ten times more energy during the spring
developments.

Not only have they privatized the territory of the court, but
also the hall. Yesterday, for example, Arzumanyan’s wife Melissa
Brown was furious by the fact that besides the relatives and the
companions-in-arm of the defendant, there were lots of strangers in
the hall, who have engaged their seats. And as a sign of a protest,
Brown rushed out of the hall shouting something. So they were not
satisfied with the presence of their relatives in the hall they wanted
to house the entire "village" there.

And what about the aggrieved and their relatives? Their presence in
the hearing is also important, isn’t it?

Yesterday the correspondents belonging to Armenian Pan National
Movement organized a protest demonstration; only because the court
attendants didn’t allow them enter the hall.

In any European country, moreover in their favorite European Court,
the journalists follow the court procedure by the monitor installed
in the room near the court hall. Our court has also provided those
conditions but the journalists belonging to Armenian Pan National
Movement didn’t want to sit quietly in the adjacent room, complaining
that the court is hindering their work.

It is evident that one of the leaders of March 1 mass disorder and
the main leader L. Ter-Petrosyan are absolutely not interested in the
normal process of the hearings. Because despite their statements they
don’t want to see the case revealed.

The main court procedure will start only after the "isolation" of
the participants.

There is no other way for shifting the process into a normal path,
than holding close hearings. We will over again become confident of
this fact during the next session on December 27.

THE WEST "FENCES" ARMENIA FROM INSIDE AND OUTSIDE
VARDAN GRIGORYAN

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
24 Dec 2008
Armenia

A few days after the strict warnings issued by the Monitoring Committee
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (December 17),
the heated developments in the South Caucasus come to reveal the true
motives of the "concerns over the situation with democracy".

The exacerbations observed in the Russian-American relations over
the past week currently receive responses on the "regional level."

On December 22, Georgian Foreign Minister Grogol Vashadze and the
representative delegation of the Turkish armed forces (headed by
Hasan Iksiz, Deputy Head of the General Headquarters) arrived in Baku.

The former did not even try to conceal the fact that his visit pursued
a goal of extending the Georgian-Azerbaijani cooperation with the
aim of ruling out the possibility of Russia’s new aggression. "The
aggression launched by Russia in August revealed the fragility of
peace in our region and the need for cooperation for being able to
rule out such tragedy in future," G. Vashadeze announced.

Having paid a three-day visit to Baku during the Georgian-Azerbaijani
talks, the delegation of the Turkish armed forces has started an
intensive Turkish-Azerbaijani dialogue. What is meant here is the
prospect of signing a Turkish-Azerbaijan imilitary cooperation
agreement in the near future.

The fact that this step of the Turkish General Headquarters is not
coordinated with the United States is also confirmed by the Azerbaijani
military experts. One of them – Uzeyir Jafarov, openly makes the
following statement, "NATO has probably decided that the United States
will take Russia and Ukraine under its patronage." Moreover, the
Azeri expert believes that this is the first stage of the formation
of the military-political alliance which will probably be followed
by the signature of an agreement between Azerbaijan and United.

In this connection, both the Turkish and Azerbaijani experts are, to
a certain extent, anxious about the possibility of Moscow’s adopting
a tougher stance on the Karabakh issue, but they believe that after
the signature of the Georgian-American defense agreement envisaging
security guarantees for Georgia, Azerbaijan will also be able to
enter into a bold dialogue with its northern neighbor.

Thus, the rumors on the formation of a Russian-Turkish alliance in
the South Caucasus after the Russian-Georgian war will lose their
actuality.

However, we believe that it is still early to speak about the freezing
of the Russian-Azerbaijani relations. It is obvious that Baku has
become faced with the undesirable prospect of making a choice between
Turkey and Russia.

Here is the second reason accounting for the activeness o f the United
States and NATO. Involving Turkey in the game, they are trying to
push Ankara to normalize its relations with Armenia on the one hand
and a taking Azerbaijan under their political-military patronage on
the other.

Realizing that fact, Khazar Ibrahim, Press Secretary of the
Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, has already adopted "understanding
approaches" with regard to the steps towards the normalization of
the Armenian-Turkish relations, considering them as the right of the
two countries.

But can Armenia also have an "understanding approach" towards the
possibility of signing an Azerbaijani-Turkish agreement, in view
of the continuing Karabakh conflict? Obviously, not because in that
case Turkey will automatically assume the responsibility of realizing
Azerbaijan’s aggressive ambitions in relation to the self-determined
state of Nagorno Karabakh. Therefore, the signature of an Azeri-Turkish
military agreement may impede the bilateral and unilateral efforts
towards the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations and at the
same time, cause a sharp deterioration in the Russian-Azeri relations.

Thus, the serious geo-political motives of the current efforts towards
"fencing" our country on all sides and leaving open only the "door
to Turkey show the primitiveness and shabbiness of the opposition’s
‘serious expectations’ from the PACE Monitoring Committee and the
winter se ssion of the Assembly. The issue of the existence of
prisoners in Armenia is nothing more than a motive of intensifying
the pressure upon Yerevan, the ally of Moscow."

WE SHOULDN’T CLOSE THE DOORS

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
24 Dec 2008
Armenia

But We Shouldn’t Also Be "Too Open"

"In February 2008, in his speech delivered for the Turkish community in
Kyoln Erdoghan called the Turks to be real Muslims, to learn Turkish
language, to open Turkish schools in Germany. Erdoghan even quoted
with triumph the religious poem: "Mosques are our barracks. Their
minarets – our bayonets. Their domes- our helmets. The believers –
our soldiers." And what are we doing? We shouldn’t close the doors,
but we must understand that we shouldn’t also be too open, in the
present conditions of lots of unsettled problems linked with security,"
Armen Ayvazyan believes.

COUNCIL OF EUROPE NOT TO SUCCUMB TO PRESSURES

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
24 Dec 2008
Armenia

The media supporting the Armenian Pan-National Movement have
long ago fallen into the habit of distorting the statements of
politicians and disseminating misinformation. GALOUST SAHAKYAN,
Head of the RPA parliamentary faction, has also become a target of
such speculations. In an interview with the correspondent of "Hayots
Ashkharh", Mr. Sahakyan yesterday touched upon the "accusations"
addressed to him.

"Even if the Council of Europe deprives our delegation of the right
to vote, it will not mean that Armenia does not have a European system
of values. The path towards the European development is beneficial to
our nation and state. Besides, we are the participant of such positive
progress, and have had our investment in the process over centuries.

At different stages of our history, the foreign forces have tried
to coerce us into adopting the European system of values, but they
never succeeded in their efforts. They didn’t even manage to reach
their goal by committing massacres and Genocide.

Europe has to realize that Armenia is not solving technical problems
by joining different European structures. The thing is that the system
of Armenian values in major part coincides with the European ones. We
ourselves have undertaken certain commitments, and we do not renounce
them . The neighboring Muslim states have closed the borders and roads
and encircled our country. Therefore, Europe should not continue the
practice of isolating our country.

It’s not accidental that only 10 out of the 80 members of the PACE
Monitoring Committee are participating in the discussion devoted
to Armenia.

At the same time, it is visible how many of them succumb to the
foreign pressures and to what extent the task of depriving the Armenian
delegation of the right to vote is valued in the Council of Europe.

I do believe that the Council of Europe is a sensible organization
and will not succumb to the pressures of the Muslims, as it did last
year and in 1915.

OSCE HOPES FOR PROGRESS IN KARABAKH PROCESS IN 2009

Azat Artsakh Daily
25 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) hopes
for progress in settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict next
year. "We hope we will see progress in 2009," new OSCE chairman, Greek
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said. The OSCE chairman-in-office
and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb officially handed over
office of the chairman to his Greek counterpart Dora Bakoyannis
at the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on
Dec. 4. Greece’s chairmanship in the Organization will start on January
1, 2009. Bakoyannis said Greece believes that frequent meetings
between representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia will lead to the
establishment of mutual confidence which is essential to resolve
the conflict. "Greece fully supports these efforts and encourages
constructive engagement from both parties, in line with the Statement
delivered at the Helsinki Summit earlier this month by the French
Foreign Minister on behalf of the European Union," Bakoyannis said,
Trend Azeri news agency reports. "We hope we will see progress in
2009," new OSCE chairman, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said.

The OSCE chairman-in-office and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander
Stubb officially handed over office of the chairman to his Greek counte
rpart Dora Bakoyannis at the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council
in Helsinki on Dec. 4. Greece’s chairmanship in the Organization
will start on January 1, 2009. Bakoyannis said Greece believes that
frequent meetings between representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia
will lead to the establishment of mutual confidence which is essential
to resolve the conflict. "Greece fully supports these efforts and
encourages constructive engagement from both parties, in line with
the Statement delivered at the Helsinki Summit earlier this month
by the French Foreign Minister on behalf of the European Union,"
Bakoyannis said, Trend Azeri news agency reports.

ARMENIAN REVOLUTIONARY FEDERATION MARKS 118TH ANNIVERSARY

Yerkir
25.12.2008 11:55
YEREVAN

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation is marking its anniversary in
many places all over the world. The 118th anniversary of the ARF and
the 90th anniversary of the First Armenian Republic were celebrated
at Yerevan’s Gabriel Sundukian Theater on December 24. A documentary
on the ARF’s history was screened during the event.

ARF Bureau representative Hrant Margarian said that during the 118
years, there were many changes in the approaches of Dashnaktsutyun,
but one thing is unchanged: "the dedication to the people."

The keynote speaker, ARF Supreme body of Armenia representative Armen
Rustamian spoke chiefly about the party’s activities in the past
year. He said that past year will be remembered as a very active
political year: presidential election, the shameful and tragic
events of March 1, a new political coalition and government, war in
our region, Armenian-Turkish communication after years of turmoil,
activeness in Karabakh talks, the world crisis.

"Realizing the seriousness of the challenges that the country is
facing, we participated in the presidential election with a goal
to create a civilized ideological and political competition, to
contribute to the fact that with the election of a new president,
the county would enter a stage of stable growth, avoiding turmoil,"
Armen Rustamian said. He added that the people, unfortunately, did not
accept the Dashnaktsutyun alternative and chose to make an election
between the old and the present. This resulted in turmoil.

Rustamian also spoke of the Armenian-Turkish relations, the Karabakh
conflict and other issues of concern for the Dashnaktsutyun.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress