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"IT IS A MISTAKE TO CONSIDER ARMENIA PARTIALLY FREE"

A1+
[04:46 pm] 13 January, 2009

According to head of the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Citizen’s
Assembly Artur Sakunts, the Freedom House evaluation of Armenia
doesn’t correspond to reality.

According to Sakunts, Armenia is not a partially free country as
stated in the evaluation of Freedom House this year; rather, it is
completely not free.

Artur Sakunts listed a number of conditions that allow him to
disagree with the evaluation given by the Freedom House experts,
including prohibition of halls for the opposition, ban on marches
and demonstrations, as well as limits set on freedom of speech and
use of electronic media.

"There is a large scale of violations in Armenia, including assaults
against political prisoners and others regardless of political views,
as well as average citizens. It is simply a mistake to consider Armenia
half-free when there are political prisoners," Artur Sakunts goes on
to say.

According to the Freedom House international law defense organization,
there was a decline in freedom last year in Armenia. Last year,
Armenia’s reputation went down in terms of political rights. As stated
in the "Freedom in the World-2009" report, it is due to the events
that took place in the wake of the February 19 presidential elections.

Artur Sakunts believes that the decline in reputation in terms of
political rights was registered before and not after the presidential
elections.

"There has been no freedom in Armenia since the state overturn in
1998 and it reached the peak on March 1," said Sakunts.

Freedom House has observed 193 countries of which 89 were considered
free, 62 were partially free, while 42 were not free countries. Georgia
and Turkey were considered partially free, while Azerbaijan is not
a free country. Russia was also considered as not a free country,
while Ukraine is in the list of free countries.

ERGENEKON PLANNED ASSASSINATION OF ALEVI FEDERATION LEADER

Today’s Zaman
Jan 11 2009
Turkey

The operation conducted on Wednesday within the scope of the
investigation into the Ergenekon terrorist organization has also
revealed assassination plans intended to create chaos in the country.

It has been understood that former Special Operations Department Deputy
Chief Ibrahim Sahin, who gave directives to individuals loyal to him
to "finish off Sivas Armenian community leader Minas Durmaz Guler,"
had formed teams to conduct a series of killings. According to the
information obtained, a four-stage assassination plan was found on
a computer seized in Sahin’s Istanbul residence. The individuals
targeted were Alevi Bektasi Federation (ABF) General Chairman Ali
Balkiz and Pir Sultan Abdal Culture Association (PSAKD) General
Chairman Kazim Genc. It is stated that these people were selected in
order to create Alevi/Sunni tension prior to the local elections. It is
claimed that Ergenekon planned for two first lieutenants apprehended
the day before yesterday to lead the four-person assassination teams
established for the killings. It is alleged that the directives were
conveyed personally by Ibrahim Sahin to the officers. The assassins’
escape plans, their concealment, and the disposal of the weapons were
planned in detail separately. According to the plan, Balkiz and Genc,
known for their stances in opposition to the government, were to be
killed, and incidents were to be provoked at their funerals. It has
been learned that Ibrahim Sahin has availed himself of the right
to remain silent in his questioning at the Istanbul Department for
Combating Organized Crime. Meanwhile, it has been learned that special
security protection has been assigned to Ali Balkiz and Kazim Genc.

GEORGIA RESUMES RUSSIAN GAS TRANSIT TO ARMENIA

ITAR-TASS
Jan 13 2009
Russia

TBILISI, January 13 (Itar-Tass) – Georgia resumed Russian gas transit
to Armenia after specialists of Georgia’s gas transportation company
late on Monday completed the repair of a damaged trunk pipeline in the
Gardabani district, a source at the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation
said on Tuesday.

The trunk pipeline was damaged over high pressure and gas leak on
January 9. As a result the transit of Russian gas was stopped.

RUSSIAN GAS SUPPLY TO ARMENIA RESUMED

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.01.2009 12:04 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The delivery of Russian gas to Armenia was resumed
on January 12 evening, ArmRosgazprom press office said.

The gas supply was suspended on January 9 for repair works.

According to Izvestia daily, the line was damaged due to over-pressure
that resulted in gas loss. Georgian Energy Ministry informed the
Armenian and Russian sides of the failure and sent specialists to
the site.

REPUBLICAN PRESS SECRETARY SAYS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT ARMENIAN PREMIER’S ACTIVITES

ARKA
Jan 12, 2009
YEREVAN

Press Secretary of the ruling Republic Party of Armenia (RPA) Eduard
Sharmazanov said he approves of RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan’s
activities.

"Tigran Sargsyan copes with his task well," the republican said,
urging both public and political parties to help the premier to
perform his duties.

Sargsyan is the person who is able to implement necessary reforms,
Sharmazanov concluded.

686.1BLN AMD INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT SOLD IN ARMENIA IN JAN-NOV

ARKA
Jan 8, 2008

YEREVAN, January 8. /ARKA/. The RA National Statistical service
reports 686.1bln AMD worth industrial output was sold in Armenia
this January-November, an annual increase of 2.9%. 70bln AMD worth
industrial output was sold in CIS countries, 147.3bln AMD in other
countries.

The industrial output reached 693.4bln AMD this January-November
(current prices), with metal mining output being 96.9bln AMD (101.7%
against corresponding period last year), manufacturing 465.5bln AMD
(101.6%), chemical 14.2bln AMD (88.3%), production and distribution
of energy, gas and water 114.8bln AMD (110.1%).

NONFOOD COMMODITY PRICES FALL BY 2.3% IN ARMENIA IN DECEMBER 2008

Noyan Tapan

Jan 8, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. 2.3% fall in prices in Armenia’s
nonfood commodity market in December on November 2008 was directly
affected by the fall in prices of gasoline (14.3%) and diesel fuel
(15.4%) respectively.

According to the RA National Statistical Service, prices of jewelry,
domestic electric appliances, furniture, detergents, cultural goods,
footwear, and carpets declined by 0.1-5.1% in December on November
2008.

Prices of fuel, textiles, cosmetics, clothing, fabrics, kitchen
utensils, stationery grew by 0.4-1.3%, while prices in the other
commodity groups under observation remained at the level of the
previous month.

FORMER SPOKESMAN OF ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY: "THE YEAR OF 2008 WAS MARKED BY THE UNWILLINGNESS OR INABILITY OF ARMENIAN POWERS TO PROPOSE NEW IDEAS ON THE KARABAKH CONFLICT"

Today.Az
politics/49992.html
Jan 8 2009
Azerbaijan

Vladimir Karapetyan, the former spokesman of Armenian Foreign Ministry
and coordinator of external ties of oppositional Armenian National
Congress, considers that the year of 2008 was primarily marked with
close negotiation process and unwillingness or inability of Armenian
powers to propose new ideas and positions on the Karabakh conflict,
clear for the people.

"The inability of powers to refute definite comments, voiced by
Turkey and Azerbaijan, weakened positions of Armenia in the result of
a loss of the image of the country, the growing threat of sanctions
and unusual passiveness of Karabakh are obvious", noted Karapetyan.

He said the culmination of this situation was the adoption of
the Moscow declaration without participation of Nagorno Karabakh
representatives.

"It was explained by the fact that the declaration fixes commitment to
settle the conflict peacefully, but Azerbaijan did not stop voicing
bellicose statements. In fact, we have made a unilateral concession,
signing a document without Karabakh’s participation for the first
time since 1994", noted Karapetyan.

This year, he thinks, Armenia must do everything possible to strengthen
its positions in the negotiation process.

Grayr Karapetyan, vice speaker of the Armenian parliament and member
of Dashnaktsutun, is optimistic about the process of the conflict
resolution.

He noted that in 2008 they managed to exclude the conflict resolution
by armed way while in 2009 efforts on the conflict resolution will
continue under the auspices of the Minsk Group.

In turn, secretary of the faction of "Flourishing Armenia" Aram
Safaryan, head of the parliamentary delegation of Armenia in OSCE,
noted that the rapporteur of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on
Nagorno Karabakh Goran Lennmarker will present a regular report on
the resolution of the Karabakh conflict on February 19-20 and in
this connection on February 9-10 he will visit Armenia, then Baku
and perhaps Nagorno Karabakh.

Safaryan also voiced hope that the development of the process of
the conflict settlement will continue in 2009 and also did not rule
out involvement of new mediators to the process. At the same time,
he noted that international organizations to work with OSCE may also
be mediators.

"New mediators will appear depending on the rates of the resolution
process", said Safaryan.

MUSIC IS A FAMILY AFFAIR FOR ACCLAIMED VIOLINIST PERFORMING IN PRINCETON
by By Mark Mobley

The Star-Ledger
009/01/music_is_a_family_affair_for_a.html
Jan 8 2009
NJ

Sergey Khachatryan with Lusine Khachatryan. When: 8
p.m. Wednesday. Where: Matthews Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, 91
University Place, Princeton. How much: $35-$44. Call (609) 258-2787
or go to mccarter.org.

Listening to the debut CD Armenian violinist Sergey Khachatryan
recorded as a teenager, it seems he was born to play the instrument
extraordinarily well. But the critically acclaimed winner of two
major competitions, who at 23 has already appeared or been scheduled
with many of the world’s greatest orchestras, says he’s a fiddler
by default.

"It came very naturally because everyone in my family plays piano
besides me. My dad, my mom, my sister," he says by phone from his home
in Frankfurt. "My father always joked I was the most untalented one,
so that’s why he gave me the violin."

It proved to be a good choice for Khachatryan, who appears in recital
at McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton on Wednesday with his pianist
sister Lusine. He is on an extremely steep rise that began with winning
the International Jean Sibelius competition in Helsinki in 2000 and
continued with finishing first at the Queen Elisabeth competition in
Brussels five years later. In recent seasons he’s performed with the
New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra,
as well as the leading ensembles of London, Amsterdam and Tokyo.

Khachatryan was born in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, in 1985. In 1993,
the family moved to Germany — where, he says, he found little support
from the musical establishment. "All the career I have now I built by
myself," he says. "I didn’t have a father who was a millionaire. All I
achieved I did through my playing." He acknowledges not every budding
soloist has to enter competitions, but "for me it was the only way
to get world recognition."

Winning the quadrennial Queen Elisabeth came with an important
perk. Each first-place finisher gets to play the 1708 "Huggins"
Stradivarius until the next champ is crowned. "This instrument (gave)
me so much possibility that I didn’t know exists," he says. What he
loves about its sound "is just warmness, how it carries in a big hall."

Tone color and volume are just two of the countless issues he has to
consider in rehearsal with his sister. "We feel very close as people,"
he says. "The same blood is inside of us. Of course we argue and have
had disagreements, but we both look at what is right for the music."

On Wednesday, they will play the only violin sonata by Shostakovich,
whose violin concerti Khachatryan recorded with the Orchestra National
de France and Kurt Masur. They will also perform the violinist’s
favorite Brahms sonata, the first. "Brahms is famous for being very
dramatic," Khachatryan says. "This is so different, really intimate."

The program opens with the second partita by J.S. Bach, a suite of
solo pieces that ends with one of the composer’s most challenging,
moving and heroic pieces, a chaconne. This set of variations is the
"To be or not to be" speech for violinists, a test of technical skill
and sustained musicality.

Khachatryan says his favorite composers may vary from season to season,
and his interpretations change from day to day, but he never strays
very far from Bach, whose complete solo violin works he is recording
over the next two years. "I have a special relationship with him,"
he says. "When I play his music I literally purify my soul. I forget
the real world and go to a different world, which is pure."

WARWICK MAYOR AVEDISIAN TAKES OATH FOR 6TH TIME
By Barbara Polichetti

Providence Journal
N_INAUGURATION_01-07-09_5TCSGBT_v13.3c7df92.html
J an 7 2009
RI

WARWICK — Redcoats marched on City Hall last night, but it was
not a British invasion. It was the measured steps of the Pawtuxet
Rangers Fife & Drum Corps as it provided a splash of color and sense
of history as Mayor Scott Avedisian was sworn in for his sixth term.

More than 350 people filled the City Council chambers for the ceremony
that included the oath of office administered to the City Council
and School Committee members.

The event, which consisted only of speeches and choral selections
in the council chambers with no reception afterward, was austere
compared to years past when parties and formal balls marked the start
of new two-year mayoral administrations. Still top state officials,
including Governor Carcieri, were in attendance to applaud Avedisian
as he retained the helm of the state’s second-largest city.

"I always come here and say, ‘Scott, just keep going — keep doing
what you’re doing,’â~@~B" Carcieri said, looking out at the audience
that included Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts, General Treasurer Frank
Caprio and Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis. Jurists and members
of the General Assembly were also in attendance. And, in a sign that
Warwick will continue to enjoy good relations and joint ventures with
its municipal neighbors, newly elected Cranston Mayor Allan W. Fung
and longtime East Greenwich Town Manager William Sequino Jr. could
be found in the front rows.

In his inaugural speech, Avedisian, who turns 44 this month, reminded
residents that the city has much to celebrate.

Noting that yesterday was the day Armenians celebrate Christmas,
he wished the audience and his family "Medz Avedis," a traditional
holiday greeting that means "I bring you good news." He then proceeded
to cite many of the good things that are happening in Warwick:

â~@¢The groundbreaking for an intermodal train station that will link
T.F. Green Airport to rail and bus transportation, and represents a
more than $120-million investment in the local economy.

â~@¢The arrival of new businesses including the NYLO Hotel in the
historic Pontiac Mills and the opening of the state’s first Trader
Joe’s on Route 2.

â~@¢And, the recent acquisition of 41 shoreline acres, which will be
preserved as public open space at the site of the former Rocky Point
amusement park.

Avedisian did not shy away from hard facts, such as the faltering
economy, recurring school deficits and the need to find relief for
taxpayers. With Carcieri expected to announce cuts in state aid to
cities and towns this week, Avedisian criticized the approach.

"The current system of cutting funding to every community — even those
that budget correctly and post surpluses — is archaic and unfair,"
Avedisian said.

There were personal touches throughout the night. Avedisian was
sworn in by his cousin, Judge Haiganush R. Bedrosian, a Family Court
judge. And he took the oath with his hand on a leather-bound 1830s
family Bible that was so hefty that 10-year-old Matthew Boulet, a
friend of the family who recently lost his father, had to use both
hands to hoist it.

Avedisian concluded by challenging Warwick residents to use these
tough times as a reason to aspire, not despair.

"I am calling on all the people of this city to continue to join
together for the common good," he said. "[We need] to make sure that
the painful cuts that are being foisted upon us do not distract us
from our mission — to care for one another and to ensure that the
frailest and most vulnerable in our community are not forced to bear
the largest burden of an economy in crisis."

–Boundary_(ID_3/hdpbgPShRLsC9SIKfl ow)–