Author: Antonian Lara

WEALTH GAP
by Rovshan Ismayilov

Transitions Online, Czech Republic
Aug 15 2007

Much of Azerbaijan is left behind as Baku flourishes. From EurasiaNet.

BAKU, Azerbaijan | Two separate worlds uneasily coexist within
Azerbaijan. One is Baku, the country’s oil boom capital, a metropolis
increasingly slick with skyscrapers, ritzy clubs and high-end
boutiques. But travel not too far outside this city of 2.9 million,
and the picture suddenly changes.

Azerbaijan’s regions – especially in rural areas – are trapped by
the twin troubles of unemployment and underdeveloped transportation.

Monthly salaries (about $120 to $150) are less than half what they
average in Baku, according to official statistics. Driving a private
taxi is one of the most common jobs for local males.

An irregular rate of economic development drives the disparity. Jobs
for qualified specialists may be hard to come by in Baku, but
opportunities for ordinary workers in construction, restaurants and
retail abound. While official data do not exist, young people are
increasingly coming to Baku for university, and then staying in the
capital for work afterwards.

"As a result, we have an abnormal economic misbalance when up to 90
percent of the country’s GDP is being produced by Baku, while the
rest of the country produces about 10 percent," says Rasim Huseynov,
a Baku-based independent economic expert.

A man dances at the Le Mirage nightclub in Baku. Photo by Rena Effendi
for EurasiaNet

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY

The growing economic gap can be seen most vividly in lifestyle
differences. Baku is packed with bars, nightclubs and discotheques,
bowling clubs and entertainment centers attended equally by men and
women. By contrast, not a single nightclub or discotheque exists
outside of Azerbaijan’s capital.

"It is boring to live in the village," complained 17-year-old Mobil
Mammadov, a resident of Asrik near the Armenian border. "There’s no
Internet, newspapers are not delivered. We can only watch the state
television channel, which is not interesting at all."

Entertainment for young people in Mammadov’s village amounts
to "Futprognoz," a take-off on the computerized betting system
Totalizator, which can be accessed in towns throughout the South
Caucasus.

Mammadov’s dream is for an Internet cafe to come to his village – the
closest one is 25 kilometers away in the regional center of Tovuz. "I
heard about the Internet from friends who use it in Baku," he said.

"It seems exciting."

A whopping 77 percent of Azerbaijan’s estimated 700,000 to 800,000
Internet users live in Baku, with only six percent living outside of
major regional cities, according to Osman Gunduz, head of the Internet
Forum of Azerbaijan. The government has launched a program to diversify
computer access by providing what Communications Minister Ali Abbasov
terms "preferential prices" for the machines, but its impact on the
regions is not yet known.

Economic expert Huseynov, however, cautions that focusing on the
obvious disparities between town and country in Azerbaijan can distort
the picture.

"It is wrong to allege that the oil boom did not touch the provinces
at all," he said. "The economy is growing throughout the country,
major infrastructure in regions is improved, new industrial facilities,
and hotels are being opened there, tourism is developing."

PLAN FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT

The State Program on Social and Economic Development of Regions,
introduced in 2004, aims to address these imbalances by promoting
the economy’s non-oil-dependent sectors. Huseynov and other experts
see the program’s main value as introducing competition between local
government heads.

The Program’s 2006 report states that 80 percent of the 174,000 new
jobs created in Azerbaijan last year were located outside of Baku. At
the same time, state spending is building new roads, factories,
schools, hospitals, and making some improvements with utilities.

But outside of large regional cities, that situation deteriorates.

Agriculture, the economic mainstay for Azerbaijan’s regions, has
a relatively bleak outlook, one expert argues. Importing food is
now cheaper than growing it domestically, said Inglab Ahmadov,
director of the Public Finance Monitoring Center. "Paradoxically,
our farmers are getting poorer while prices in the agriculture market
are growing," Ahmadov elaborated. "The cost of products increases
with their transportation to market and at the market itself."

That situation contributes to a high rate of unemployment for women
living in the regions. "Women have no jobs in the provinces, so
they have to sit at home," says Saida Hojamanly, chairwoman of the
Bureau of Human Rights Protection, a Baku-based non-governmental
organization. "There are no places except with family and children
where women can apply themselves."

As a result, outlets are few, she continued. "Even in relatively
big regional cities like Mingachevir or Guba there are not a lot
of women walking on the streets, not to mention sitting in cafes or
restaurants. Everything in the regions is designed for men – sport
facilities, cafes, restaurants, chaykhanas (tea houses)."

While Azerbaijani legislation on gender may meet international
standards, the reality falls short in the regions, added Mehriban
Zeynalova, head of Temiz Dunya (Clean World), a support group for
women. "The passivity of the local executive authorities and municipal
governments too is a big problem," she says.

A similar misbalance mars the overall human rights situation in
the provinces, say activists. "The offices of all International
organizations as well as the lion’s share of local human rights
NGOs are located in Baku, so they operate more in the capital,"
says Hajimurad Sadaddinov, president of the Baku-based Azerbaijani
Foundation on Democracy Development and Human Rights. "People’s rights
in the regions are being violated more often and crudely."

Will these two "countries" ever become one? For now, economic expert
Huseynov is skeptical. As long as the energy money continues to flow,
he says, "Baku will remain the center of the country in all senses."

Photo: A woman smokes a nargili pipe at Konti Cafe in Baku. Rena
Effendi for EurasiaNet

Rovshan Ismayilov is a freelance journalist based in Baku. This is
a partner post from EurasiaNet.

WATERTOWN VOTES TO SEVER TIES WITH ANTI DEFAMATION LEAGUE CITING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL

AZG Armenian Daily
16/08/2007

The Watertown, Massachusetts Town Council voted unanimously this
evening to cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, citing concerns
about ADL National Director Abraham Foxman’s denial of the Armenian
Genocide and opposition to Congressional legislation reaffirming that
crime against humanity, reported the Armenian National Committee of
Eastern Massachusetts (ANCEM).

"The ANCEM applauds the Town Council for stating clearly and
unequivocally that there is no place for Armenian Genocide denial in
Watertown," stated ANCEM chairperson Sharistan Melkonian "We hope that
this action will prompt the ADL and its National Chairman Abe Foxman
to rethink their flawed policies on this issue, recognize the Armenian
Genocide and end their efforts to stop its reaffirmation by Congress."

The proclamation, introduced by Watertown Councillor-At-Large Marilyn
Petitto Devaney, stated: "The Town Council has become aware that
the ADL, denies the facts of the horrific Armenian Genocide, that
occurred from 1915 to 1923, in which the premeditated, systematic and
deliberate murders of more that one and one half million Armenians
from 1915 to 1923 took place, as well as continuing to deprive the
Armenian people of a right to their history – The Town Council can
not continue to join with such an organization."

The proclamation went on to reaffirm Watertown’s commitment to
"celebrate its diversity and continue to honor its tradition of
tolerance and respect for all people for which it has always been
known."Watertown residents spoke poignantly before the capacity
crowd in attendance to express their concerns about local affiliation
with the ADL’s genocide denial policies, moving Town Council members
to take decisive action and encourage other Massachusetts towns to
follow in their footsteps.In her remarks before the Town Council,
ANCEM representative Grace Kulegian stated that "We are confident
that the just resolution of this matter will deepen Watertown’s
commitment to tolerance, strengthen No Place for Hate’s ability to
speak with real moral clarity, and – for the sake of its members and
its own future as an organization – end the ADL’s truly unfortunate
affiliation with genocide denial."

The Watertown – ADL controversy erupted in recent weeks, with Boston
area civil rights advocates, and local Armenian and Jewish American
community members expressing disappointment and outrage at recent
statements by ADL National Director Abe Foxman denying the Armenian
Genocide. Editorials and community letters in the local Watertown Tab
and Boston Globe cast a shadow on the credibility of the anti-racism
program, No Place for Hate, due to its affiliation with the ADL.

COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO APPROVE 15 MILLION EUROS TO ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT FOR SECONDARY PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION REFORMS

arminfo
2007-08-13 13:16:00

The Council of Europe will allocate 15 million euros to the Government
of Armenia for reforming the secondary professional education sphere,
Head of the Armenian Ministry of Education and Science Department for
Secondary Special Education Samvel Pipoyan said at a press conference,
Monday.

CE program will be implemented in three stages within three
years from 2008 to 2010. The first stage will include fundamental
reconstruction and re-equipment of the professional technical colleges
in Armenia. Then, over 3,500 teachers will be retained. The final
stage of the program provides for elaboration of an educational and
methodical concept meeting European requirements in the sphere.

The concept will reckon with real need in labor force in the labor
market.

Pipoyan said the ministry’s calculations showed that the real
demand for labor force and the data of employment agencies are quite
different.

At present, there are 81 state and 22 private secondary special
educational establishments in Armenia. The number of relevant students
is some 34,000 people. Some 5,000 teachers work in these educational
establishments at average salary of 25,000 drams ($73).

NO HIGHLAND FLING
Soumitra Das reports

Calcutta Telegraph, India
Aug 10 2007

The Scottish Cemetery in Karaya is in need of immediate attention.

Caretaker Vincent Isaac and his little daughter Agnes guided me through
the knee-high tangle of grass and weeds into the heart of the Scottish
Cemetery at 3 Karaya Road. Beyond this point the jungle of parasites,
shrubs and trees in the embrace of creepers was impregnable.

The Scottish Cemetery map in the custody of Isaac shows that almost
every inch of this sprawling ground was covered with masonry (pucca)
graves, but when it comes to grandeur, these are no match for the lofty
monuments which line South Park Street Cemetery. The ones here are
of humble dimensions and in spite of an occasional ornamental cross,
tablet or marble flowers rising above the shrubbery, most are just
plain slabs of unembellished stone.

There is another possibility. Since this cemetery has been lying
neglected for so long, they could have been stripped of richer material
by vandals.

The Scots once dominated business and industry in Calcutta but like
many hardworking people they were known for their parsimony. Which
perhaps explained the lack of marble or any impressive structures in
this necropolis.

As I discovered from the legends on the headstones and the entries
in the ancient register with pages that will crumble into dust in a
few years’ time, those interred here -including many Indians, mostly
Bengalis, besides Scots and Brits – were on the staff of the mills
and factories which had come up in and around Calcutta and Howrah in
the 19th century and early 20th century.

The Church of Scotland cemetery is the property of St Andrew’s church
in Dalhousie Square and is under the management of the kirk session.

The Scottish Cemetery at 3 Karaya Road is encircled by open-air
anywhere-everywhere kerb-side car repair "garages" which create
impediments both for pedestrians and the traffic.

A high wall runs around the ground but this too is not in good repair
and is unable to ward off unwanted elements and vandals.

The arched portal is a brick-and-mortar structure and the name of
the cemetery is written in bold letters on it.

There is no mention anywhere of the date on which it opened to
public. A small plaque on the outer wall of the caretaker’s humble
quarters declared that some "historical tombstones" had been removed
to South Park Street cemetery in 1987. But the caretaker did not have
the list of graves removed, as the plaque declared.

The kutcha pathway leading to the graveyard is neat but the tombs look
as if they had been dug up for some nefarious purpose. Stone slabs lie
scattered all over with clumps of grass and weeds growing in between.

I tried to decipher some of the indistinct letters on the tombstones
in the hope of discovering the identity of those interred. I could
read "Apcar" (but aren’t they Armenians, I wondered) and quite
understandably, a sprinkling of surnames beginning with either "Mac"
or "Mc" dating mostly back to mid- or late 19th century.

To the left of the pathway was a clearing where I found the memorials
to two men buried in Ilford cemetery and at Richmond, Surrey. Close
to that was the marble headstone of Niroj Nolini Pyne who died in 1937.

The greenery washed by the occasional spells of rain and under the
glaring sun had turned into a wall of glowing, translucent jade
exuding a strong smell of chlorophyll.

The only grave that seemed well looked after was that of Rev Thomas
Jones, who had created the Khasi alphabet and literature. He died
in 1849.

The ancient register yielded "the quality of trade or profession"
of those buried – manager of jute and flour mills, foreman, engineer,
tea planter, mechanic, ship carpenter, port commissioner employees,
evangelist, stockbroker and to my surprise, "Kiron Shoshi Banerjee,
lady doctor,1922" and "Muriel Webb, telephone operator, 1923."

I could not find the name of Rev Kalicharan Banerjee, who was Pradesh
Congress sabhapati and first registrar of Calcutta University. He
was buried here. Neither could I find out the exact date on which
the cemetery opened. A good guess is some time in the 1830s.

TRADE GROWS BY 11.6% IN ARMENIA IN FIRST HALF OF 2007 ON SAME PERIOD OF LAST YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Aug 08 2007

YEREVAN, AUGUST 8, NOYAN TAPAN. Trade turnover amounted to 583 bln
587.7 mln drams (over 1 bln 636 mln USD) in current prices in Armenia
in January-June 2007, growing by 11.6%, in comparable prices, on the
same period of 2006.

According to the RA National Statistical Service, retail trade made
364 bln 570.5 mln drams in current prices in the first half of 2007,
growing by 11.4% in comparable prices on the index of the same period
of 2006.

Services amounted to 244 bln 812.7 mln drams in current prices in
January-June 2007, increasing by 18.5% in comparable prices on the
same period of last year.

OPPOSITIONIST WANTS WEST TO SPONSOR TV CHANNEL AHEAD OF ELECTIONS
By Anna Saghabalian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug 8 2007

A veteran opposition member believes international organizations
and embassies of western states in Armenia should request the
local authorities to establish a new television channel that would
propagandize democratic values to Armenian society ahead of next
year’s presidential elections.

At a meeting with journalists on Wednesday Arshak Sadoyan also called
on Armenia’s political parties and nongovernmental organizations
to seek the establishment of such a channel that would further the
democratic processes in the country by "broadcasting the sessions of
the National Assembly and events connected with the government and
political parties."

This failing, Sadoyan suggests that international organizations
should hire at least one hour of airtime on a television channel
with a nationwide coverage to "advocate democratic values before the
presidential elections and enable opposition politicians to present
their views."

The veteran oppositionist, who fared poorly in the last parliamentary
elections, is confident that the Armenian authorities will not reject
this request if international organizations get involved in the process
"officially and financially".

Another oppositionist, Hrant Khachatrian, who leads the opposition
Union for Constitutional Rights (SIM), suggests picking the single
opposition candidate for the presidential race using a western
technique. He believes the primaries, which are widely used in some
western democracies, will help choose the worthiest candidate from
the opposition for next year’s presidential election.

Khachatrian admits that the process will requires additional time
and effort, as well as much more financial resources, but says it
will prove worthwhile in the final analysis.

"My vision is that first an opinion independent of the political
conjuncture and different financial sources should be formed, and this
opinion will have its weight in society," Khachatrian said vaguely,
without giving any details of the proposed measure.

ARMENIA: RADIO LIBERTY TO REMAIN ON AIR
Gayane Abrahamyan

EurasiaNet, NY
Aug 6 2007

A new agreement signed between the US Broadcasting Board of
Governors and an Armenian private radio company will allow Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty to continue broadcasting in Armenia.

The new contract, signed July 31 with the privately owned AR Radio
Intercontinental, will be in force from August 15, 2007 until September
14, 2008. AR Radio Intercontinental claims 80 percent coverage in
Armenia. The station, ironically, belongs to the executive director
of Armenian Public Radio, Armen Amirian. Its programming primarily
consists of re-transmissions of public radio’s Radio Yerevan programs.

Alexan Harutiunian, chairman of Armenia’s Public Television and Radio
Council, told EurasiaNet that the deal was envisaged as a next-best
option to a contract with the US government-funded broadcaster
that would have allowed RFE/RL to continue transmitting in Armenia
via public airwaves. Radio Liberty’s broadcasts on Public Radio are
slotted to end August 9, due to the failure of contract talks in late
July. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

AR Radio will reduce the time for public radio programs by two hours
and five minutes per day to make room for re-broadcasts of Radio
Liberty programs, Harutiunian said. The broadcast fee to be paid
under the contract was not immediately available.

The broadcast reach for RFE/RL, known within Armenia as Radio Liberty,
will be considerably reduced under the new arrangement – a detail
that some critics argue was the government’s goal. "The fewer people
listen to Liberty’s programs, the less they will be informed about
what’s going on in the republic," commented Yerevan Press Club Chairman
Boris Navasardian. "This is one of the few media in Armenia that says
what the authorities want to conceal."

RFE/RL Armenian Service’s Prague Bureau Director Harry Tamrazian
told EurasiaNet that the station cannot yet predict the size of the
decrease in audience, though stated that a decrease is expected.

Public Radio has three times as many transmitters in Armenia as AR
Radio, he said. An RFE/RL press release put the number of AR Radio
transmitters at 23, and stated that they "cover Yerevan and a number
of outlying districts."

In the August 1 announcement to announce the deal, RFE/RL President
and Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Gedmin indicated that the station’s
sights are still on Armenia’s national public radio. "We remain deeply
committed to nationwide coverage of Armenia," Gedmin said.

Opposition parliamentarian Larisa Alaverdian, a former ombudswoman
of Armenia, sees the new contract as a sign that limitations on
freedom of speech are simply becoming more sophisticated. "They have
even taken care of the timing so that there is as little noise as
possible: August is the time when the majority of the media are on
vacation as are the human rights and civic activist organizations,"
said Alaverdian, a member of the Heritage Party faction.

Despite numerous attempts, pro-government parliamentarians and
government representatives involved with the Radio Liberty issue could
not be reached for comment. Despite the signing of a new broadcast
contract for Radio Liberty, some government critics believe the
station’s difficulties are not over yet. They suggest that fresh
legislation could be introduced to block Radio Liberty’s broadcasts
when parliament reconvenes in September. Said Shavarsh Kocharian,
head of the opposition National Democratic Party and a former member
of parliament: "New adventures are still ahead."

Editor’s Note: Gayane Abrahamyan is a reporter for the online weekly
ArmeniaNow in Yerevan.

OUT WITH THE OLD
by Sara Khojoyan

Transitions Online, Czech Republic
Aug 6 2007

Is Yerevan State University’s decision to give the boot to its older
lab workers a matter of fairness or simple demographics?

Several women sit in a lecture room in Yerevan State University’s
biology department. In angry voices loud enough to be heard down the
corridor, they recount their recent firing by the university.

"If I was fired because there is not enough work in our department
for all the lab workers, or if a younger worker was about to be
hired instead of me, I would leave [willingly], because I receive a
[government] pension," says Amalya, who, like the rest of the dismissed
workers, asked to be referred to by a pseudonym for this article.

"I’ve done this job for 42 years. During the dark and cold years
[the Armenian depression of the early 1990s] I defended the honor of
the university, and I’m sorry to be leaving it now under this kind
of governance."

The women are being dismissed in a purge of 65 laboratory workers age
65 or older. They have spent years as assistants in the university’s
chemistry, biology, and physics labs, but they are now under orders
from the rector to leave the university before the next school year.

The university says it’s trying to trim down a staff that became
bloated during communism. Still, some of the fired workers will be
replaced, and the university rector says he wants the empty jobs to
go to young people, in a country where there are nearly three times
more young people than senior citizens.

The older workers bitterly resent being shown the door. Back in the
biology lab, they all talk at once. "The most offensive thing is the
way they’re firing us. I wish they would give us the slightest bit
of respect. I wish they would gather us and thank us for working 40
or more years," says Anna, 67.

"But what are they saying? ‘Go away.’ … They just gave us the sack,"
Amalya says.

Karine, who has worked in a university lab for 44 years, says, "People
who come to work only for the paycheck haven’t been fired, but we
work all day long and we’re the ones who are being fired. For example,
there are seven workers in our laboratory but only four of them work."

Amalya adds, "They haven’t even asked the deans of the departments
who should be fired, who the valuable workers are and who aren’t.

They didn’t even bother to find out."

"IF YOU ARE 65, YOU SHOULD LEAVE"

University rector Aram Simonyan defends the wholesale firings as
legal. "It is my right as an employer to expel lab workers who receive
retirement pensions. This has been done within the framework of civil
and labor codes," Simonyan says.

He said he did not review employees’ performance in an attempt to
be evenhanded. "If I decided to carry out a review, and if I made an
exception and decided that the qualification of this worker is higher
than another worker who is being fired, it wouldn’t be fair. I think
I should be fair to everyone. I can’t choose one worker over another.

… The main condition here is age; if you are 65, you should leave."

The university conducts regular performance appraisals of professors
but not of lab workers, and the rector acknowledged that the
across-the-board firings are likely to mean that some good workers
will be dismissed.

National labor law is on Simonyan’s side. It gives an employer the
right to cancel contracts with workers based on the national retirement
age, which is 61 for women and 65 for men.

University trade union president Armen Avetisyan says his organization
can be of little help to the workers, as neither the law nor the
university’s contract with the union has been violated.

Avetisyan has met with the workers. He says he told them they are
raising moral issues that the law does not address. "The labor code
does not say that if a person receives a pension you must weigh moral
issues before firing them. If it did, then I would fight this. But
I don’t have a leg to stand on."

The workers have appealed to President Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister
Serge Sarkisian, the Education Ministry, the country’s ombudsman,
and other officials and institutions.

In response, the Education Ministry asked Simonyan to explain the
dismissals. He responded that the law gives him the right. "This is
a legal decision and we can’t do anything," ministry spokesman Artur
Baghdasaryan said.

Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan has declined to take up the matter,
saying he cannot consider cases that do not violate human rights or
basic liberties.

In a letter to the women, however, he advised them that the same law
that bars him from hearing the case mentions the courts as a possible
remedy instead. The women considered this option but have since ruled
it out.

But if they must go, they say, then so should older members of the
teaching staff.

"Why should associate professors or professors stop working only at
70 or 75 and laboratory assistants at 65? When I teach a professor’s
class by myself, the students don’t ask how old I am," Anna says.

"Age should not be the only criterion, and the law should apply not
only to laboratory assistants but also to professors."

To some extent, the rector agrees. He admits that the university has
"many unqualified professors" but says he cannot fire them.

One-quarter of the university’s 1,225-strong teaching staff is under
age 40. Nearly 9 percent of the staff is 70 and older.

"If I had replacements, I would fire the associate professors from
[age] 70 and the professors from 75, but I don’t have replacements,
that’s why they work half time," Simonyan says. "For now I have to
keep these professors, and I think I should use this time … to
prepare replacements. Getting rid of unqualified workers isn’t easy
but I can’t just dismiss the whole staff of professors, like I did
with laboratory workers."

OLD AND BLOATED

But if lab workers are easy to replace, Simonyan says that is not
the only reason they were let go.

"This is being done because [during the Soviet years], they loaded
the laboratory staff but now the university can’t carry the heavy
load of lab staff."

Of the 456 laboratory assistants who work at the university, the
rector estimates that only 250 or 300 are necessary. "This is a state
institution; we can’t keep this number of laboratory staff with our
budget." Simonyan said by firing the older workers, he can give a 17
percent raise to the remaining workers. "That’s better than having
a lot of lab assistants who get low salaries," he says, calling the
dismissals a decision of the head and not the heart.

The rector said keeping so many older workers in the labs has closed
off opportunities for younger people.

"A lab worker should be young, someone who has just graduated,
and then he or she can become a professor step by step. But we have
blocked their path; the old people have blocked young peoples’ path.

They don’t allow young people to come in. The generational change is
not taking place."

On average, about 100 people graduate from each of the affected
departments each year.

Armenia’s unemployment rate stands at just over 7 percent, but the
rate for those ages 16 to 30 is significantly lower, at 2 percent.

Official figures are notoriously sketchy in Armenia, however, and
Yerevan State University economist Tatoul Manaseryan says youth
unemployment is a much bigger problem than those numbers suggest.

"The real figure for youth unemployment in Armenia is 10 times
higher. Official numbers don’t show this because not everybody gets
the status of an unemployed person in Armenia and some young people
even don’t apply for this status. They think it kind of shameful,"
Manaseryan said.

Those aged 16 to 30 made up about one-fourth of Armenia’s population
in the 2001 census, compared to just under 9 percent for those aged 65
to 80. It is a significantly younger population than in the European
Union, where those 15 to 29 made up 19 percent of the population and
those 65 and older accounted for 17 percent in 2005.

But those numbers, and their implications, carry little weight with
the dismissed workers, some of whom say they are not impressed by
their younger counterparts.

"There’s a young woman working in my lab. I tell her to stand by my
side and learn, and she says, ‘No, I have to finish my dissertation
so I won’t be expelled,’ " Amalya says.

"They tell us new teams will work, but I don’t think young people will
work for 42,000 drams [90 euros]" per month, Marine interrupts her.

The average monthly pension in Armenia is 10,854 drams, about 23
euros, but these women are likely to take home more, about 35 euros,
after 40 years of working, according to the state pension fund.

Other higher education institutions in Armenia have faced a similar
problem. Several years ago Yerevan Medical University dismissed its
older workers and gave them university pensions, to supplement what
retirees get from the government. But Simonyan says his university
doesn’t have the means to do that.

"If the dismissed worker is alone or lives in poor conditions we will
help her through the trade union, but it won’t be permanent."

Sara Khojoyan is a freelance writer based in Yerevan.

LEBANESE OPPOSITION WINS SEAT
By Bassem Mroue – Associated Press Writer

AP
Aug. 6, 2007, 5:49AM

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The government suffered a blow Monday when a
little-known opposition candidate defeated a former president in a
tense parliament by-election that showed the divisions among Lebanon’s
once-dominant Christians.

The vote Sunday to replace two assassinated anti-Syrian legislators
turned into a showdown between the pro-U.S. government and opponents
supported by Syria and Iran.

One seat, in Beirut, was won by a pro-government candidate who ran
virtually unopposed. The second took place in the Christian stronghold
of Metn, north of Beirut, in which a political newcomer allied to
Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun defeated Amin Gemayel, who
was Lebanon’s president from 1982-1988.

Lebanon has been locked for months in a political standoff between
the government and opposition that also has largely fell along
sectarian lines.

Shiite Muslims, led by the pro-Syrian Hezbollah, are predominantly
opposition while the Sunnis form the backbone of the anti-Damascus
ruling coalition.

Christians have been nearly evenly split between the two camps. The
fierce division was clear in Metn’s vote. Before dawn Monday, Interior
Minister Hassan Sabei announced the results, declaring Aoun’s ally,
Kamil Khoury, the victor by a margin of only 418 votes, with 39,534
votes against Gemayel’s 39,116. Turnout was 46 percent.

The defeat was a blow for Gemayel, the head of one of Lebanon’s most
powerful Maronite Christian families, who was running in his home
district to fill a seat that his son Pierre held before he was gunned
down in November.

The loss could severely hurt the elder Gemayel’s hopes of running
for president again. Aoun, a former army commander who is the most
prominent Christian leader in the opposition, already has said he
intends to run to replace pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, who term
ends later this year.

The country’s traditional power-sharing agreement among the country’s
various religious sects requires that the president by a Maronite
Christian.

The impact of the vote is largely symbolic. Because of the political
deadlock, parliament has not met in months.

Pro-Syrian Parliament speaker Nabih Berri has said he would not
recognize the results of the two by-elections because they were called
by what he and the rest of the opposition consider an illegitimate
government. The by-elections were held despite the refusal of the
president, Lahoud, to approve them, as required.

With the results, the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora still
clings to its small majority in parliament, with a five-seat edge
over the opposition.

Before the final results became clear, both sides in Metn accused
the other of fraud. Each had supporters celebrating in convoys on
the streets in Beirut and the Metn region.

Witnesses and security officials said partisans of Aoun and Gemayel
faced off in a neighborhood east of Beirut late Sunday, with scores
of Lebanese army troops and riot police deployed to prevent trouble.

One Aoun supporter was wounded in the hand when he was shot at by
Gemayel supporters near the town of Bikfaya, Antoine Nasrallah,
a spokesman for Aoun, told Al-Jazeera. Security officials said one
person was slightly injured but did not say from which camp. Voting
took place in a "calm and democratic atmosphere," said a statement
from the Interior Ministry.

Government supporters blamed Gemayel’s loss on the large Armenian
community in the Metn district, suggesting that Khouri was not
representative of the powerful Maronites as a result. Armenians are
largely Catholic or Orthodox Christian.

"Two-thirds of the Maronites vote for Gemayel and their seat goes to
Aoun with 418 votes edge," the pro-government Al-Mustaqbal newspaper
said Monday.

Gemayel on Sunday accused the major Armenian party, Tashnak, of fraud
saying the group "wants to impose its will on the people of Metn." He
called for a revote in the mainly Armenian Bourj Hammoud area of Metn.

His comments received harsh criticism from legislator Hagop
Pakradounian of Tashnak who denied Gemayel’s accusations of fraud. The
former president later said that he did not mean to insult anyone
adding that "Tashnak is a Lebanese party. No one doubts that."

The opposition painted the win as a rejection of Saniora’s
coalition. "Metn democratically defeats Amin Gemayel and the
(parliament) majority with him," the pro-opposition daily As-Safir
said.

The results could be a boost for Aoun as he prepares to stand for the
presidency later this year — likely be a deeply divisive and bitter
race. The president is chosen by parliament, and Saniora’s backers
see it as a decisive chance to put an anti-Syrian figure in a post
that has remained the strongest ally of Damascus in the country.

In Sunday’s by-elections, voters were replacing legislator and cabinet
minister Pierre Gemayel and lawmaker Walid Eido, a Sunni Muslim who
was killed in a Beirut car bomb in June. Both were government allies
and vocal opponents of neighboring Syria, which controlled Lebanon
for 29 years until it was forced out in 2005.

In Beirut, the vote for Eido’s seat was easily won by Mohammed al-Amin
Itani, a candidate of parliament majority leader Saad Hariri’s Future
Movement, particularly since the Hezbollah-led opposition did not
officially sponsor a candidate.

Gemayel and the government have accused Damascus of being behind the
assassination of his son and a number of other anti-Syrian politicians
and public figures over the last two years, part of what they deem
is Syria’s plan to end the majority’s rule through attrition. Syria
has denied the allegations.

SIXTY HIV CASES FOUND IN ARMENIA THIS YEAR

Armenpress
Aug 06 2007

YEREVAN, AUGUST 6, ARMENPRESS: Some 25,463 women and 6,629 men, all
Armenian citizen were examined in the first six months of 2007 by
experts of the National AIDS Prevention Center for a trace of HIV
According to a summary, released by the Center, 11,297 women and
4,290 men were from the capital city Yerevan, the rest from regions
beyond it.

The majority of examined people were aged 30-39.

Only 113 females and 174 males were beyond 15, while 491 women and
575 men were beyond 60. Some 18, 152 women were pregnant.

According to AIDS Prevention Center summary, HIV was diagnosed with 14
women and 46 men. The infection was found to have transmitted mainly
through sexual contacts and intravenous drug injection.

In one case HIV passed to a child from infected mother. The infection
was also found in a man who worked abroad for 2 months and in three
convicts.