Author: admin

OFID TO PROVIDE A $14 MILLION LOAN TO ARMENIA

Trend News Agency
Dec 25 2008
Azerbaijan

Armenian Ambassador to Austria Ashot Hovakimyan and the Director
General of OPEC Fund for International Development Suleyman Al-Harbish
signed an agreement on provision of a $14 million loan to Armenia
from the Fund, reported Public Radio.

The loan is provided to the Armenian government for the implementation
of the ââ~B¬Å~[Farmers of marketing opportunitiesââ~B¬Å&#xA5 ; program. The
program is meant to promote the economy of the urban regions of
Armenia.

The Director General of the Fund noted that this is the second program
jointly implemented with Armenia. Mr. Al-Herbish expressed appreciation
for he cooperation with the Armenian Government and expressed hope
that the cooperation will continue in the future.

On behalf of the Government of Armenia, Ambassador Hovakimyan expressed
gratitude of the provided grant and support. He highly assessed the
cooperation with the Fund and noted that during his visit expected
net year the Director General will have an opportunity to personally
assess the results of the programs implemented.

–Boundary_(ID_nQxRjbRAnG6KMxN6nZPRr A)–

CONTROL OF BREAD WEIGHT AND QUALITY TO TIGHTEN IN ARMENIA

NOYAN TAPAN

Dec 25, 2008
YEREVAN

At the December 25 sitting, the government approved the bill on
making an addition and an amendment to the RA Code of Administrative
Infractions. The bill will be submitted to the RA National Assembly
in envisaged order. According to a press release of the RA Government
Information and PR Department, the bill’s goal is to tighten control
of bread weight at trade facilities and control of bread quality at
bakeries in Armenia.

HOW HAPPY FOR THOSE WHO FEEL THEY ARE TURKS

Sabah
8D047B7B2DD0567A3F2FB84.html
Dec 24, 2008
Turkey

Prime Minister İnönu came to pay Ataturk a visit at around 18:00
in the Florya Kosk:

– Well, hello Ä°smet… You came without calling.

– Honorable Pasha, it is the minority issue. We are planning to bring
the issue up in the parliament. What do you think?

– Ä°smet, it’s too late today. Come by early tomorrow morning and
let’s discuss it.

When İnönu left, Ataturk called on all of his staff to gather
around: – Leave only the tulips… Pick out all of the other flowers
and throw them out, immediately.

Ä°smet Psa came again in the morning and saw the state the garden
was in and asked the staff:

– What happened here?

– It was the Honorable Pasha’s orders sir, so we pulled them out.

Prime Minister Ä°onu, went into President Ataturk’s chambers:

– Honorable Pasha, what is the situation with the garden?

– We pulled out all of the minorities and threw them away Ä°smet.

Ä°onu bowed his head down in a manner that stated "I get it."

Ataturk:

– Ä°smet, I didn’t say the words "How happy for those who feel they are
Turks" for nothing. Anyone who feels they are Turks is this nation’s
own children. I want it to be known this way for as long as I live. And
don’t dare take out a new law that deals only with minorities.

We were told this story by Ates_ Unal Erzen yesterday. He stated;
"I heard it from İnan Kırac". Municipal Mayor Erzen, during an
Armenian celebration named the "Affection Table" told this story. The
guests listening began to cry.

After Ates_ Unal Erzen left, we spoke with Ä°nan Kırac. "Yes, it’s
true, he said."

Ä°nan Kırac’s father Ali Numan Kırac "was sent to America
to study for six years by Ataturk, and he became Turkey’s first
ever agricultural engineer." Ataturk named him the director of the
"Ataturk Forest Farm." The story that was told turned out to be one
İnan Kırac had personally heard from his father.

How sad it is that there are still those that do not understand
Ataturk’s lesson.

Well, it was an occasion to honor and remember "Ataturk and Ä°nan
Kırac’s father Ali Numan Kırac."

–Boundary_(ID_PP6AjlV9on clzqZQH8daKw)–

AZERI MEDIA MISLEADS: ARMENIANS REJECT

Panorama.am
17:06 24/12/2008

According to Azeri mass media publication Armenian Armed Forces
murdered Afig Shaldiev a citizen of Azerbaijan who was pasturing his
cattle near Heyrakh village.

"They want to mislead and that does not correspond to the reality. In
the front line of Artsakh-Azerbaijan the armed forces of Karabakh
did not break the armistice," said the press secretary of NKR Defence
Ministry Senor Hasratyan to Panorama.am.

TURKISH PEACE ASSEMBLY SUPPORTS THE APOLOGY TO THE ARMENIANS CAMPAIGN

BIA
Dec 23 2008
Turkey

The Turkish Peace Assembly describes the campaign to apologize to the
Armenians as a right move in the direction of facing the past. They
claim that the citizens did what the state should have done and they
accuse the counter campaigns for making living together impossible.

The Turkish Peace Assembly sees "the campaign to apologize to my
Armenian brothers and sisters" as a "development that strengthens
the hopes and demands for peace."

The assembly announced that this campaign was part of the process of
facing the past and the campaigns that include racist and impatient
approaches make living together impossible.

"The citizens did what the state should have done" Calling upon the
authorities to take a step towards the social peace by facing the
history and the problems, the Peace Assembly characterized those who
participate in the campaigned as "the citizen who are doing what the
state should do."

Describing the announcements by the Prime Minister, the Chief of Staff
and the heads of the political parties as "the counter campaign", The
Peace Assembly says, "The fact the President felt forced to reveal
his ethnic origin to the public shows what kind of danger a normal
citizen and the society are facing."

The number of the signatures is 20 thousand In the morning hours,
when this news was being written, the number of the signatures in
the campaign to apologize to the Armenians (ozurdiliyoruz.com) was
over 20 thousand.

CHP UNDER FIRE FOR TOLERATING RACIST ARITMAN

Today’s Zaman
o?load=detay&link=162099&bolum=103
Dec 24 2008
Turkey

The lack of any serious action from the Republican People’s Party
(CHP) administration against reckless statements made by a party
deputy about the ethnic roots of President Abdullah Gul has angered
many intellectuals and politicians.

The row started last week, when CHP İzmir deputy Canan Arıtman
harshly criticized Gul for not objecting to an apology campaign
launched by Turkish intellectuals over the killings of Anatolian
Armenians at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire in 1915,
which Armenians claim constituted genocide. Arıtman said Gul was
rubberstamping the campaign because of his ethnic origins. "We see
that the president supports this campaign. Abdullah Gul should be the
president of the entire Turkish nation, not just of those sharing his
ethnicity. Investigate the ethnic origins of the president’s mother
and you will see," she said.

In response, President Gul released a statement in which he said that
both his mother’s side and his father’s side were Muslim and Turkish,
according to centuries of genealogical records. Gul also filed a
lawsuit against Arıtman.

Gul’s statement, however, fell short of stopping Arıtman from
stepping up her criticisms. The CHP deputy subsequently said Gul should
prove his Turkish origins through DNA tests. Arıtman’s incessant and
reckless statements about Gul’s ethnic roots have drawn harsh reactions
from the Turkish society, with many accusing the CHP deputy of acting
like a fascist politician. Many intellectuals and politicians, however,
have directed their criticism at the CHP administration for failing
to impose any sanctions on Arıtman to stop her from making any other
racist statements.

"Arıtman’s statements about President Gul are no different from
those of a racist. She is explicitly saying that being Armenian is a
fault. Such a statement necessitates moral and political sanctions,
as well as legal ones. The CHP administration reacted to Arıtman’s
statements, but this reaction was not strong enough to stop her. What
the CHP administration should do is take action and make Arıtman
stop talking about sensitive issues through an intra-party sanction,"
said Ali Bayramoglu, a columnist for the Yeni Å~^afak daily and also
one of the supporters of the apology campaign.

The CHP administration issued a warning to Arıtman earlier this week
after she appeared on two TV programs to discuss her remarks about
Gul’s ethnic roots. Party leader Deniz Baykal asked Arıtman not to
make any other statements to the press without the CHP administration’s
permission.

Ä°hsan Dagı, a professor at the Middle East Technical University’s
(ODTU) international relations department, pointed to increasing
racism among secularist segments of Turkish society as the origin
of Arıtman’s remarks. "The CHP deputy shows us all the extent to
which the trend of racism has expanded among secularists. Arıtman
is a female deputy from Ä°zmir, known as Turkey’s oldest cosmopolitan
city. Given the fact that she is a woman coming from Ä°zmir, I would
have expected her to act in a more reconciliatory manner on such
issues," Dagı said.

Yıldıray Ogur, a columnist for the Taraf daily, called on CHP
officials to immediately expel the reckless politician from the
party. "I am not sure if the CHP dares do such a thing. What is more
fearsome in the debate over Gul’s ethnicity is that a so-called modern
female politician is acting like a fascist," he argued.

Ogur is not the only Turkish intellectual to ask the CHP administration
to expel Arıtman from its ranks. Hasan Bulent Kahraman, from the Sabah
daily, wrote in one of his columns earlier this week that what Arıtman
had said about President Gul is could not be accepted by any decent
democratic organization, let alone a social democratic political party.

"Social democracy does not question ethnic identity. Unfortunately,
we don’t have such an understanding of social democracy. For now,
let’s just put aside the question of what kind of harmony could emerge
between neo-nationalism and social democracy, because Arıtman’s
approach is beyond that question and is related to an issue of ethnic
origins in the real sense. Arıtman is a racist. What place can racism
and questioning ethnic origins have in social democracy?" Kahraman
wrote.

Milliyet’s Semih Ä°diz criticized CHP leader Deniz Baykal for falling
short of strongly criticizing Arıtman. "Baykal’s attitude, although
he had said people’s ethnicities and religious beliefs were not
important to him, undoubtedly pleased Arıtman. Or else she should
have been immediately expelled from the party, which claims to be a
social democratic party," Ä°diz remarked.

Politicians object to Arıtman’s racist stance

Several politicians from diverse ideological backgrounds have expressed
disapproval of Arıtman’s statements, saying the Turkish nation would
not agree with such a racist discourse.

Two deputies from the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP),
Sırrı Sakık and Å~^erafettin Halis, said labeling people based on
their ethnicities is unacceptable. "It was a similar stance that led
German dictator Adolf Hitler to burn thousands of people of Jewish
origin. Arıtman sees Armenians as enemies. The CHP should rid itself
of such beliefs," they said.

Edibe Sözen, from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party),
deemed Arıtman’s remarks "disrespectful." "Politics is an art of
discourse. Hers is not a discourse that can be appreciated," she said.

Arıtman drew the ire of CHP politicians, as well, with many
stressing that they don’t share her ideas. "Arıtman made a very
wrong statement. I don’t approve of such talk of ethnicity," CHP
Chief Accountant Mustafa Ozyurek said.

CHP Adana deputy Hulusi Guvel criticized the party administration
for failing to act in the face of Arıtman’s statements. "I asked CHP
officials to take action against Arıtman. However, I don’t know what
they will do. No step has been taken against her yet. But we cannot
turn a blind eye to what she said. These remarks do not conform to
the political line of a social democratic party," he said.

Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP) leader Ufuk Uras indicated that
it was a shame to see people engaging in politics based on ethnicity.

Democratic Left Party (DSP) Ä°zmir deputy Recai Birgun recalled
that the CHP keeps criticizing the pro-Kurdish DTP for its ethnic
politics. "There is a difference between criticizing people and
disdaining ethnic groups. I don’t think that CHP administration
will punish Arıtman, because they are not sincere in any of their
initiatives," he remarked.

–Boundary_(ID_skeJqNwonUTsofZDVdrU/A)- –

FORGET ARMENIA, TURKS SHOULD CONDEMN AMERICAN INDIAN GENOCIDE
by James (Cem) Ryan

OpEdNews
RGET-ARMENIA-TURKS-SHOU-by-James-Cem-Ryan-081224-4 48.html
Dec 25 2008
PA

Turkey is beset on all sides by the shock doctrine strategy
of the west, and from within by its US-backed marionette
government. Now the Armenian Genocide issue has once again bubbled
to the surface. Apologize! Apologize! yell the so-called Turkish
liberals, egos stroked and, no doubt, palms greased by their western
puppeteers. It’s the same old drama with the same stodgy cast burbling
the same trite lines. As usual, the government does nothing, thus
contributing to the confusion, apathy, and fear that stalk the
land. But that’s the whole idea isn’t it?

Turkish people, instead of handwringing and moaning, ACT! Turkish
people, you heirs of the Ataturk Revolution, Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk gave you the right (and responsibility) to save your
country. ( e2.html
) Fight the rush-to-judgment efforts of the Armenian Genocide
lobby. Every "Turkish child of future generations"- should demand
that their parliament immediately enact a resolution that condemns
the American Indian Genocide. Turkish people"-ACT! Defend your country
against the dark powers that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk foresaw over eighty
years ago. The facts of the catastrophe done to the American Indians
are in plain sight and beyond dispute. Spain, Portugal, England,
and, most importantly, the United States of America should stand
condemned in the eyes of the world for the crimes committed against
the aboriginal population in the Americas.

Upwards of 200 million Indians lost their lives on the combined
North, Central, and South American continents after Columbus landed in
1492. The Indians in South and Central America were mostly enslaved to
extract precious metals. The Indians in North America were displaced,
starved, and slaughtered to make way for the enormous flow of European
immigrants. Vast numbers died from European diseases, perhaps the first
weapon of mass destruction, in this case, biological warfare. Surely
Turkey has the right to defend itself from the Western claims of
genocide, given the historically bloody hand of the West.

>From approximately 15-18 million North American Indians present in
the days of Columbus, only 190,000 were left in the territorial
United States in 1890. The destruction of the Southern Indians
(the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creek tribes) resulted in
the seizure and clearance of their enormously fertile forest lands
(the Southern black belt) in order to expand both slavery and cotton
production in Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi. In this manner,
the red and black races were displaced, enslaved, and murdered in
order for white America to prosper. The proof of this assertion is
fully documented and unassailable.

On the other hand, Turkey has welcomed warmly the persecuted minorities
of many nations. The same year that the destruction of the American
Indians began, 1492, Turkey’s Sultan Bayezit II accepted the Jews
expelled from Spain and Portugal. Similar compassion was render to Jews
centuries who fled Hitler’s genocide. Surely Turkey has the right,
the responsibility, and moral authority to counter the orchestrated,
poorly documented, rush-to-judgment of the Armenian Lobby and its
collaborators, both western and Turkish.

The horrific destruction of the sophisticated Native American
cultural system was encouraged by the government of the United States,
particularly under the administration of that so-called champion of
so-called democracy, Andrew Jackson. By 1890, the American Indians
were finished. Their numbers had been reduced by 98 percent over the
400 years since Columbus landed. By 1890 the United States government
had seized 98 percent of their land. No greater genocide or land grab
has existed in the history of the world. Surely Turkey has the right
to challenge the unproven claim of so-called genocide by affirming
through parliamentary resolution the well-documented genocide of an
entire race of people by an act of policy by the government of the
United States of America.

It is high time that Turkey takes the offensive on the matter of
genocide. In this day of widespread destruction, it is high time to
remind America, Americans, and their government, that they are up
to their ancestral elbows in the blood of the American Indians. The
Turkish government must condemn the American Indian Genocide, or itself
be condemned. And if you, the Turkish people, think that makes you
a traitor, then read again Nazım Hikmet’s magnificent poem, Vatan
Haini ("Traitor"-) below, along with Ataturk’s statement of your
"primary duty."- Cem Ryan, Ph.D.

–Boundary_(ID_5I/imjieqO1BtQHmiZEozQ)–

ARMENIA: GOVERNMENT GEARS UP FOR POSSIBLE DEAL WITH AZERBAIJAN ON KARABAKH
Emil Danielyan

EurasiaNet
Dec 23 2008
NY

With international efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
gaining fresh momentum, Armenia’s leadership appears to be preparing
ground for a possible breakthrough in its long-running negotiations
with Azerbaijan. It has pushed through parliament an amendment paving
the way for a nationwide referendum on the issue reportedly promised
by President Serzh Sargsyan.

The move came amid increasingly vocal domestic opposition to a
framework Armenian-Azerbaijani peace accord proposed by international
mediators. The Sargsyan administration faces an uphill battle in
overcoming opposition from nationalist groups in and outside the
Armenian government as well, as the ethnic Armenian leadership of
Nagorno-Karabakh.

The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Helsinki
on December 3 for more talks on the basic principles of a Karabakh
settlement proposed by a team of US, Russian and French mediators
co-chairing the OSCE’s so-called Minsk Group. In a joint statement
issued the next day, Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov of Russia and
Bernard Kouchner of France and US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel
Fried urged the conflicting parties to finalize those principles
"in coming months."

They also emphasized the "positive momentum" which they said was
established by Sargsyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev during
their most recent meeting — hosted by Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev outside
Moscow on November 2. Aliyev and Sargsyan issued a joint declaration
there pledging to "intensify further steps in the negotiating
process." The mediators hope that they will meet again soon to close
remaining gaps. Aides to the two presidents have said that the next
Armenian-Azerbaijani summit would likely take place early next year.

Bernard Fassier, France’s chief Nagorno-Karabakh negotiator, told RFERL
on December 9 that Lavrov, Kouchner and Fried presented to Baku and
Yerevan a "technical document" that puts a settlement within reach
by next summer. The chief stumbling blocks to date have centered on
details of a proposed referendum on self-determination in Karabakh,
and a timetable for the liberation of at least six of the seven
Azerbaijani districts around the disputed enclave that were fully or
partly occupied by Armenian forces during the 1991-1994 war.

Meeting with leaders of nearly 50 Armenian political parties behind
the closed doors on November 19, Sargsyan reportedly indicated that an
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace accord is still not imminent. According to
some participants of that meeting, he also promised to put a possible
peace deal to a popular vote.

Two weeks later, Armenia’s parliament passed a government-drafted
amendment to an Armenian law on referendums that enables the government
to hold non-binding plebiscites on any policy issue. Prior to passage
of the amendment, parliament and the president had responsibility
for calling referendums, and authorities were obliged to abide by
their results.

Opposition politicians and independent observers see a direct
link between the adopted amendment and the Karabakh peace
process. Government officials and pro-presidential MPs have not ruled
out of the conduct of a Karabakh-related referendum in Armenia in
the coming months.

A senior member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF,
also known as the Dashnak Party), a nationalist party represented
in Sargsyan’s coalition government, asserted at a December 9 news
conference that the signing of a framework agreement on Karabakh in
early 2009 is "not unlikely." Giro Manoyan also reaffirmed the ARF’s
opposition to the mediators’ existing peace proposals that seem to
allow for continued Armenian control over Karabakh. "What we wanted in
1988 (at the start of a popular movement for Karabakh’s unification
with Armenia) can not be a basis for today because a lot has changed
since then," he said. "Azerbaijan is chiefly responsible for that and
it must pay a price." Manoyan and many other nationalists generally
would no longer be satisfied with the formalization of Karabakh’s
separation from Azerbaijan. Now, they also want Armenia to keep much
of what is now occupied Azerbaijani territory.

Another ARF leader, deputy parliamentary speaker Hrayr Karapetian,
insisted that the Armenian side should be happy with the Karabakh
status quo and that Azerbaijan will not attempt to win back its lost
territories by force in the foreseeable future. "If this situation
continues for 10 or 20 years, we will still be in a winning position,"
Karapetian told the Yerevan newspaper Pakagits in an interview
published on December 18.

Hard-line opposition groups, though, are even more vocal in
opposing any territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. Like the
ARF, they believe that the occupied Azerbaijani districts are so
vital for Armenia’s security that they must not be traded even for
international recognition of Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan. As
talk of a Karabakh breakthrough intensified in late October, a group
of opposition politicians and intellectuals launched a new movement
called Miatsum (Unification) to campaign against the return of what
they call "liberated territories."

"If we cede any of those lands, we will disrupt the security system
that has served us well for the past 15 years and will make another war
inevitable," Zaruhi Postanjian, a Miatsum leader and parliament deputy
from the opposition Heritage party, told EurasiaNet. "Even if the
international community recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence."

Significantly, government officials in Karabakh seem to share this
view, raising more questions about Yerevan’s ability and willingness to
implement the peace formula currently on the table. Armenian Foreign
Minister Eduard Nalbandian visited the Karabakh capital Stepanakert
on December 19 to meet with the self-proclaimed republic’s president,
Bako Sahakian. An Armenian Foreign Ministry statement said Nalbandian
briefed Sahakian on details of the Helsinki talks and discussed with
the Karabakh leader other "recent developments" in the negotiating
process. Sahakian’s office also gave few details of the talks, saying
only that the two men discussed "the current phase of the Karabakh
conflict resolution." Incidentally, President Sargsyan twice traveled
to Karabakh shortly before and after his last encounter with Aliyev.

The secretary of Sargsyan’s National Security Council, Artur
Baghdasarian, has been a rare conciliatory voice in the Armenian public
discourse on Karabakh dominated by outspoken nationalist figures. In a
December 19 interview with the newspaper Iravunk de facto, Baghdasarian
again made a case for mutual compromise with Azerbaijan, saying
that it would give Armenia "unique opportunities for political and
economic development." He said the Armenian leadership will not
accept any agreement that stops short of legitimizing Karabakh’s
independence or unification with Armenia and giving the Karabakh
Armenians "international security guarantees."

Baghdasarian, whose Country of Law Party is also a junior partner in
Armenia’s ruling coalition, further confirmed Sargsyan’s reported
referendum pledge. "God willing, we will arrive at a mutually
acceptable variant of settlement that the authorities will present
to the people’s judgment," he said.

Editor’s Note: Emil Danielyan is a Yerevan-based journalist and
political analyst.

IRAN-ARMENIA OIL PIPELINE PROJECT TO KICK OFF IN SUMMER ’09

Tehran Times
Dec 24 2008
Iran

TEHRAN – Armenia Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan announced on Monday
that the construction of the Iran-Armenia oil pipeline will begin in
the summer of 2009.

The Armenian City of Yeraskh will be the receiving terminal of the
pipeline running between the two neighboring countries.

According to IRNA, the 300-kilometer pipeline will run from Iran’s
northwestern city of Tabriz to Yeraskh to deliver the petrol and
diesel fuel from the oil refinery in Tabriz to Armenia.

Movsisyan estimated that the pipeline would be completed in two years
and would cost $200-240 million with each country covering half of
the cost.

"In order to secure the country’s needed energy, we intend to increase
the number of our suppliers," Movsisyan continued.

The two countries constructed a linking gas pipeline in 2007 and
agreed to transfer 36 million cubic meters of gas to Armenia within
20 years and in return Iran will receive 3.3 billion kilowatts of
energy from Armenia.

Armenia and Iran enjoy cultural and historical ties dating back
thousands of years. There are no border disputes between the two
countries and the Christian Armenian minority in Iran enjoys official
recognition.

TEHRAN EXPRESSES WILLINGNESS TO BUILD IRANIAN SECTION OF IRAN-ARMENIA RAILWAY

NOYAN TAPAN

Dec 23, 2008
YEREVAN

The idea of building an Iran-Armenia railway was discussed once again
at the recent sitting of the Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental
commission in Tehran, and Iran expressed a willingness to build a
raliway from the Iranian city of Tabriz up to the Armenian border,
the co-chair of the commission, Armenian minister of energy and natural
resources Armen Movsisian said at the December 22 press conference.

In his words, Armenia is now carrying out work on finding financing
sources for construction of the railway’s Armenian section. It was
mentioned that various schemes of constructing the Armenian section
and the opportunities of participation of various investors in the
construction are being discussed. The minister expressed an opinion
that solutions will be found in 2009.

As the Armenian minister of transport and communication Gurgen Sargsyan
stated earlier, out of three versions of constructing the Armenian
section of Armenia-Iran railway, the version of a 447-km railway is
most preferable.

In case of two other versions, the railway will be either 373 km
or 443 km long. Each of the three versions envisages constructing a
railway from the border of the two countries to Jermuk, and by the
preferable version, it will go through Selim mountain pass, Martuni,
Gavar and up to the operating Gagarin station. In the minister’s
opimnion, it will take 5 years to build the railway.

It should be mentioned that an agreement on allocation of a one
million dollar grant by the Asian Development Bank to Armenia was
signed recently, by which design work of the indicated railway and
a motorway to be built in parallel will be done.

According to experts, construction of Armenia-Iran railway will cost
1.5-2 billion dollars.