Author: admin

There must be a roof to repair it

Anahit Danielyan
29-12-2007 12:46:07 – KarabakhOpen

In 2008 the government will allocate 100 million drams to repair the
roofs of blocks of apartments in Stepanakert, stated the vice mayor of
the capital Georgy Hairyan in an interview with the Azat Artsakh.

Over the past few years the government has not provided a cent for
repair of roofs, even though the former mayor proposed and demanded.
Meanwhile, the problem is urgent.

And the problem is that the opposition candidate won the local election
in 2004. Since Edward Aghabekyan was elected mayor, the relations
between the government and the City Hall aggravated day by day. As a
result, the problems of the citizens were not solved. Although rumors
on `bad’ relations were refuted, common people `enjoyed’ the fruits.

Vivid evidence was the problem of roofs. As soon as the candidate of
the government Vazgen Mikaelyan became mayor, 100 million was allocated
for the repair of roofs.

In addition to the sufferings of people, another problem has emerged `
the roofs the repair of which was delayed now require much more costs.

VAZGEN MANUKIAN: POWER IS GREAT RESPONSIBILITY

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The forthcoming presidential
elections will be held by two tours. Vazgen Manukian, the Chairman of
the National Democratic Union party, a candidate for presidency, made
such a prediction at the December 27 press conference. According to
him, though the authorities strive for solving the problem of their
reproduction at the very first tour, neverthelss each of opposition
candidates will take away some votes from a pro-governmental candidate
by securing holding of the second tour.

V. Manukian said that his striving for making changes in the country
coincides with the wish of the most part of society, on which his
confidence of winning is based. According to him, his political future
will be "cruel" after the elections. According to V. Manukian, striving
for power, many people do not imagine the burden of responsibility
falling on them as a result of it. He said that he has been in power
twice and remembers those years with horror up to present. "That is the
life I will not wish even to my enemy, but I wish it to myself," he
stated.

V. Manukian refuted the apprehension that an opposition President will
have a problem of working with the parliamentary majority. "The
majority is changeable: the personalities remain the same, but their
positions change very quickly," he said. Besides, according to V.
Manukian, a President elected by the people applying to the people will
have a possibility to exert pressure on the government and parliament.

"I do not expect holding of free, fair, clean elections, but I am
convinced that if the people is consolidated around serious ideas, the
electoral violations will not give the result they gave in the past,"
V. Manukian said. He expressed readiness to raise the people to fight
in case of obvious violations in the elections. At the same time, he
said that rally technologies should not be abused, as in most cases
rallies create a false impression about the real rating or possibilites
of their organizers.

Panorama.am

19:40 25/12/2007

RIVER ARAKS IN THE FOCUS OF ATTENTION OF BOTH COUNTRIES

New labor groups created by the initiative of the Governments of Iran
and Armenia to research the pollution of Araks River. According to
Aram Harutunyan, the minister of nature protection, seven labor
meetings were organized with the participation of both countries and
the activities were discussed which should be held next year.

According to him 30 million drams were disposed to assist the
development of the summer trout and other fishes. He said that 11
licenses were given to agricultural fishers and 6 contracts were
signed, besides 17 tickets for amateur fishing and 515 permissions
were prepared.

The minister said that they managed to find environmental violations
and registered 1682 violations. And totally 93.4mln.drams was sent to
the state budget from the taxes of those violations.

In the department of Syunik region one case of violation was
registered: hunting of Bezoarian Goat; this type of goat is registered
in the Red Book. The appropriate punishment was applied to the
hunters.

According to the minister 950 Christmas trees were imported from
abroad, particularly from Germany, Netherlands, and Russia. He said
that not a single case of tree cutting was registered from Armenian
fields.

Source: Panorama.am

Today, Azerbaijan
Dec 26 2007

Khazar Ibragim: "The statement made by the Foreign Minister of
Armenia is nothing but an attempt to mislead the community of his
country"

26 December 2007 [14:48] – Today.Az

Khazar Ibragim, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan,
commented on the statement of the Foreign Minister of Armenia Vardan
Oskanyan which says that the document discussed during negotiations
fixes the right of Nagorno-Garabagh people for self-determination.

He announced that there is no such concept as "peoples of Nagorno
Garabagh", there are only Azerbaijani and Armenian communities.

"The said issue was not discussed during the talks regarding the
peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Garabagh conflict and its discussion
will never take place. By such statements, the Armenian leadership
tries to mislead the communities of both countries", Kh.Ibragim said.

He noted that the talks on the said conflict are based on the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

"Azerbaijan has never discussed its territorial integrity and will
never do, as our policy implies restoration of territorial
integrity", the spokesman noted.

/Day.Az/

Related news:

Armenian Foreign Minister: "The right of Nagorno-Garabagh people for
self-determination is fixed in the document, discussed during
negotiations"

URL:

Russia & CIS Presidential Bulletin
December 25, 2007

KARABAKH SHOULD HAVE BORDER WITH ARMENIA – SARKISIAN

The self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh should have a border
with Armenia, Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian said in an
interview with the Izvestiya newspaper published on Tuesday.

The prime minister also pointed out that "we are not afraid of
fighting, but we do not want a war."

"We have always stated that the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement should be
peaceful. This issue does not have a military solution," the prime
minister said.

"Statements made by Azeri authorities that they can solve many issues
by military means, that they have a lot of money and that this money
will lead them to victory have become more frequent over the past two
or three years," Sarkisian said.

"We should have guarantees that a war will not resume," the Armenian
PM said.

Russia & CIS General Newswire
December 25, 2007 Tuesday 6:37 PM MSK

Armenia’s ex-president claims harassment of his supporters

YEREVAN Dec 25

Armenian presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian has said that law
enforcement bodies are exerting pressure on his supporters.

For nearly two months his supporters across the country have been
subjected to psychological pressure, persecuted and threatened by
police and security officers whose aim is to make them renounce their
support for Ter-Petrosian, the presidential candidate said in his
statement released on Tuesday.

"Apart from being a gross violation of the Election Code, they also
contain an element of an obvious violation of the criminal laws," the
document said.

"All such actions registered until now will sooner or later become an
object of a special inquiry and all who were in charge will face
justice. Not a single police or security officer has the right to
invite, whether orally or by phone, citizens to their divisions. A
written notice is the only legal form of invitation," the statement
said.

The presidential election in the country is due on February 19, 2008.

There are nine contenders for the Armenian presidency. They are Prime
Minister Serzh Sarkisian, Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Vaan
Ovannisian, the former president Ter Petrosian, former prime minister
Vazgen Manukian, former National Assembly speaker Artur Bagdasarian,
People’s Party leader Tigran Karapetian, former Nagorno Karabakh
presidential advisor Arman Melikian and National Accord party leader
Aram Arutiunian.

Ter-Petrosian was the first president of the independent Armenia.

AZG Armenian Daily #240, 27/12/2007

Industry

URANIUM EXPLORATION WILL START IN ARMENIA IN 2008

Exploration of uranium deposits in Armenia will start
in 2008, said yesterday on a press conference Armenian
Environment Minister Aram Haroutiunian.

According to the Minister, deposits are prospected by
a recently created Armenian-Russian joint venture
whose shares are divided equally. The license for
prospecting activities will be given to the company
for 5 years.

To be reminded, the Armenian Government recently made
decision on joining the agreement on creation of an
international center for uranium enrichment in
Angarsk. The founders of the center are Russia and
Kazakhstan.

Earlier, during his visit to Yerevan, head of RosAtom
Sergey Kiriyenko said that the latest research
discovered that Armenia may posses 1.5-2 times more
uranium resources than it wad been estimated in the
Soviet period. The deposit is located in Syunik region
of Armenia and contains about 30 thousand tons of
uranium bearing ore. Russia is ready to expand the
prospecting works.

For the first time the opportunity of establishing of
the Armenian-Russian uranium processing company was
discussed during the meeting of the Armenian and
Russian Presidents Robert Kocharian and Vladimir Putin
in Sochi, early 2007.

ARMENPRESS

U.S. EMBASSY CONCERNED BY INACCURATE PORTRAYALS OF
ARMENIA NATIONAL STUDY

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS: The U.S. Embassy
in Armenia said today in a press release that it has
watched with interest the recent press coverage
generated by the "Armenian National Study" funded by
the U.S. Agency for International Development.
`While the Embassy is encouraged that the study has
focused the attention of Armenian society and
political parties on the important electoral processes
underway in the country, we are nevertheless concerned
by the inaccurate portrayals of the study being
reported in some national media,’ the news release
said..
It said as part of the U.S. Government’s democracy
assistance program in Armenia, the "Armenia National
Study" is an opinion poll designed to be a neutral,
objective mechanism to assist political parties in
Armenia to better understand and respond to the major
political, economic and social concerns of Armenian
citizens. It is not meant to influence or predict the
way in which Armenians will vote during elections.
`In democratic societies, opinion polls provide
citizens with a forum in which to express their views
about major issues, both anonymously and objectively,
to elected officials and political parties that
represent their concerns. The opinion poll is also an
effective aid for elected officials and political
parties to develop programs and platforms that address
societal concerns and national issues.’
`Commissioned by the International Republic
Institute in 2006, the "Armenia National Study" is
being carried out in Armenia by the Vilnius-based
Baltic Surveys Ltd. / Gallup Organization with the
assistance of the Armenian Sociological Association.
It is common practice to work with local organizations
in carrying out such public opinion polls.
A total of seven quarterly opinion polls have been
carried out since May, 2006. The most recent poll was
taken in early December, 2007. An eighth and final
poll is scheduled for mid-January, 2008. Baltic
Surveys Ltd. / Gallup Organization is also planning to
conduct an exit poll during the presidential election
on February 19, 2008.
To ensure anonymity and objectivity of the opinion
poll, the Baltic Surveys Ltd. / Gallup Organization
uses a random sampling methodology that is the
mainstay of reputable Western polling organizations.
IRI has shared the poll results, including specific
information on respective political parties, with
party representatives.
The results of all seven polls conducted since May
2006, including more general information on the major
political, economic, and social issues, are free for
public examination on the IRI website ().
Neither the United States government, the
International Republican Institute nor Baltic Surveys
Ltd. / Gallup Organization endorses any particular
party or candidate. Non-party specific results are
made public; candidate and party results are shared
with the appropriate political parties.’

HASMIK POGHOSIAN: NO NOTICEABLE PROGRESS WAS REGISTERED ONLY IN
THEATRICAL LIFE IN 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 28, NOYAN TAPAN. 7bn drams has been allocated to the
RA Ministry of Culture in 2008 by the RA state budget. However, the
expenditures of cultural centers’ repairs are not included in it, as
they are to be implemented by the RA Ministry of Urban Development. The
amount of sum allocated to the sphere of culture has not been changed
considerably, compared with 2007 (6bn 793m 641.3 thousand drams).
Hasmik Poghosian, the RA Minister of Culture, said this at the December
28 final brief press conference. She said that the salaries of cultural
sphere employees will be raised from July 1, 2008.

According to the Minister, some of many foreign and local events held
in 2007, including the exhibitions and concerts dedicated to the Year
of Armenia in France, became the greatest success of the year. In her
words, these events with their high quality became a start for further
cooperation and programs.

H. Poghosian also said that in the cultural life no noticeable success
has been registered perhaps only in the theatrical life: "no work has
been created, which could become a subject of year’s conversation in
the sphere." "For me, the only work was producer Vahan Badalian’s
performance "Ofelia’s Shadow Theater," he said. The Minister mentioned
that the way of assistance provided to theaters will be changed in that
respect in 2008: "assistance will be provided to authors and theater
collectives of worthy programs."

Hasmik Poghosian also touched upon the legislative work in the cultural
sphere in 2007, in particular, mentioning two important legislative
initiatives, bills On Making Amendments and Addenda to the RA Laws On
Principles of Cultural Legislation and On Documents’ Compulsory Model,
which have been submitted to the government. The RA bill On
Non-material Cultural Heritage has been already submitted to the
government.

Azerbaijani Students’ Forum to be held in French Senate building

29 December 2007 [15:03] – Today.Az

A regular Forum of Azerbaijani Students in Europe will be held in the
French Senate building February 6-7 of 2008, as reported by one of the
Forum founders Emin Milli.

He noted that the permission to hold the meeting in the Senate building
was obtained owing to intensive work, carried out by Azerbaijani
students with French deputies.

"It is too difficult to obtain permission of deputies to hold a forum
of Turkish or Azerbaijani students in France. We have managed to do it
owing to the due work with French parliament members", he said.

E.Milli noted that meetings with several deputies of the French Senate
will take place in frames of the forum.

He noted that not all MPs of France support Armenians.

"If there are no Armenians in the okrug of a deputy, and if Armenians
do not account for a greater part of his voters, this is a neutral
deputy on the conflict. It means that we can work with such deputies
and explain our position to them", he said.