Author: Antonian Lara

SERZH SARGSYAN REAFFIRMS ARMENIA’S LOYALTY TO EUROPEAN VALUES

Noyan Tapan
May 18, 2009

YEREVAN, MAY 18, NOYAN TAPAN. Reaffirming Armenia’s loyalty to
European values, RA President Serzh Sargsyan at the May 18 meeting
with EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby
recorded with satisfaction that the Eastern Partnership Summit held
lately in Prague is a successful start for giving a new content to
the Armenia-EU cooperation and for expanding further contacts.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA President’s Press Office,
S. Sargsyan and P. Semneby gave assurance that frequent meetings and
discussions are evidence of the expansion of Armenia-EU partnership
agenda, as well as give a possibility to quickly respond and to give
solutions to emerging problems.

They positively assessed stipulation of balanced approaches on
the Nagorno Karabakh problem in the final statement of the Eastern
Partnership Summit.

At the meeting S. Sargsyan and P. Semneby also touched upon the
Armenian-Turkish political dialogue, prospects of Nagorno Karabakh
peaceful settlement, and further deepening of democratic reforms
in Armenia.

S. Sargsyan reiterated that Armenia sees Nagorno Karabakh conflict’s
peaceful settlement only within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group,
on the basis of Madrid proposals, all principles of international law
and of basic documents, self-determination right, exclusion of use
of force, and principles stipulated by the OSCE Foreign Ministers’
Helsinki statement. He emphasized Armenia’s readiness to normalize
relations with Turkey within the framework of reached agreements
and in fixed time constraints. S. Sargsyan said that any attempt of
intervening into the Nagorno Karabakh settlement process by Turkey
can only have a negative impact on the Nagorno Karabakh settlement
negotiations process.

ARMENIAN DATACOM COMPANY REDUCED ITS MONTHLY FEES FOR INTERNET OFFICE MINI

Noyan Tapan
May 17, 2009

Yerevan, May 17, Noyan Tapan, Armenian Datacom Company CJSC (ADC)
has reduced its monthly fees for Internet office mini services,
a broadband Intenet access specially designed for small and medium
sized businesses.

As ADC’s public relation department reported, signing a one-year
contract between May 13 and June 12, corporate customers will be able
to pay heavily reduced monthly fees during the whole year, and will
benefit from the advanced fiber-optic Internet connection without
traffic limitations.

"Monthly service fees are quite affordable for small and medium
companies and traffic capacities are relevant to their requirements,"
ADC’s management assures.

Internet office mini service delivery is based on a last mile
connection from the nearest node of ADC network to the customer
premises via optical fiber cable including installation of relevant
end-point equipment.

Besides, end-to end professional fiber-optic connection, customers
will benefit from: 24 hours availability of all Internet applications
(including unrestricted VPN connections), Data/Voice/Video traffic
priority system, 24/7/365 support, which is a best combined offer in
the market.

"I believe by the early summer of this year the company will have
started providing services to apartment subscribers," told recently
ADC Chief Commercial Officer Avetik Kalantaryan in an interview to
Noyan Tapan.

Established in April 2006, the Armenian-Norwegian joint venture ADC
has already invested USD 3.4 million in the venture. Since the early
2009 Dubai-based Delta Partners has become a stake holder in ADC.

The company operates a large fiber-optic network in Yerevan and
has a significant business subscriber portfolio: banks, hotels,
supermarkets, drugstore networks, state bodies and other multiple
organizations, requiring virtual private LAN services. Market survey,
conducted in late 2007, revealed that the company managed to gain a
strong foothold in the market of data transfer: 50 to 54 per cent of
the market of data transmission lines and 6 to 6.5 per cent of the
market of Internet service provision.

ADC’s network is based on state-of-the-art IP/MPLS technology with
total infrastructure length exceeding 400 km. The company’s investment
strategy is to continuously develop and extend services in line
with market demand and the network continues to be extended both
geographically and in terms of its service portfolio capabilities,
ADC’s press office reported.

AZERBAIJAN ACCUSED OF NIXING ARMENIA VOTE IN EUROVISION

MosNews
May 18 2009
Russia

Armenian Public Television has submitted a complaint to the
organizational committee of the Eurovision 2009 song contest accusing
Azeri contest officials of gross violation of the contest rules,
RIA Novosti news agency reports.

The Azeris were virtually deprived of the possibility to vote
for Armenia’s song in the final tournament, Armenian website
PanARMENIAN.Net reports.

According to a group of Azeri Internet users, during broadcasting
of the Eurovision contest, the part of the screen with the phone
number to call and vote for the song of the Armenian performers was
hidden. The voting results showed that Azerbajan has not given Anush
and Inga Arshakian a single point, PanARMENIAN.Net points out.

Anush and Inga Arshakian, who represented Armenia at the Eurovision
international contest, are reported to have taken tenth place.

It is worth mentioning that Armenia gave 1 point to the song of the
Azeri participants, Aysel Teimuradze and Arash, who scored 207 points
and took third place.

The Azeris’ biased attitude towards their Armenian counterparts
was also noticeable during the preparation for the song
contest. PanArmenian.net reports that Azerbaijan urged the Eurovision
2009 organizational committee to remove the We and Our Mountains
monument in Nagorno Karabakh from the video representing Armenia.

At the same time, the showing of the Iranian Maqbaratoshoara (mausoleum
of poets in Tebriz) in the video representing the Azeri contestants
was not considered inappropriate by the Azeri participants.

PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN VISITS "NAIRIT" FACTORY TO GET ACQUIANTED WITH THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE ACCIDENT

ARMENPRESS
May 15, 2009

YEREVAN, MAY 15, ARMENPRESS: President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan
visited today "Nairit" factory accompanied by the Energy and Natural
Resources Minister, Health Minister, Emergency Situations Minister,
Yerevan Mayor and other officials.

The president walked in the burnt territory, got acquainted with the
circumstances of the accident. The president was informed that works
are being carried out to find out the causes of the explosion and
the fire broken out as a result of it. Serzh Sargsyan underscored
the necessity of finding out the causes of the accident to exclude
them in future.

The president also expressed his condolences to the families of
the victims.

TURKEY WILL NOT OPEN BORDERS WITH ARMENIA UNTIL ARMENIAN TROOPS WITHDRAWN FROM KARABAKH – PM

Interfax
May 13 2009
Russia

Turkey does not intend to open its borders with Armenia until Armenia
withdraws its troops from occupied territories of Azerbaijan, said
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"We closed our borders after Nagorno-Karabakh’s occupation. As long as
the occupation continues, we will not open the borders," Erdogan said
following talks with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Wednesday.

GEAGEA: NO CRISIS WITH INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES AND NO VETO ON BOUEIZ

NaharNet
May 14 2009
Lebanon

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea denied Thursday reports of a crisis
between LF and independent candidates in the second Kesrouan list.

In an interview with al-Markazia News agency, he described the
relationship as "excellent" with some of the contenders, "acceptable"
with others and "normal" with candidates such as former MP Mansour
Ghanem al- Bon.

Geagea denied to asked independent candidate to join a Christian
gathering as a pre-condition for being part of the list. He also called
on all independent runners to check the veracity of such reports.

Regarding the delay in the formulation of the Kesrouan list, Geagea
said: "everybody waited for the closure of candidacy registration
door and for the formation of another Kesrouan list before starting
the actual work on a new ticket that includes independents and March
14 members."

"The Kesrouan list will be unveiled in a matter of days and not weeks,"
he added.

"There is no veto on anyone even former minister Fares Boueiz," the
LF leader said, denying "evil" rumors that Boueiz was conditioned to
join Geagea’s bloc before being endorsed in the ticket.

As for the Beirut 2 constituency and negotiations with MP Saad Hariri
over the Armenian-Orthodox seat, Geagea said that "negotiations with
Armenian parties are ongoing.

"The meetings so far held with MP Hariri focused on other matters as
well," he added.

As for the failure of the Cabinet to approve key administrative
appointments on Wednesday, Geagea said "this is the experience of
the veto power." He added: "I hope the Lebanese would stop at the
meaning of this concept."

Geagea commended security forces for uncovering Israeli spy rings
saying "the government and the official bodies were able to accomplish
an excellent work."

"The majority of these rings were uncovered in Hizbullah’s area of
operation," he added.

CONFLICT BETWEEN GEORGIA AND RUSSIA WAS UNAVOIDABLE

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
14.05.2009 18:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Conflict between Georgia and Russia was unavoidable,
as the states support opposite positions. I believe, that no political
force would agree today to the existing status quo," Head of Caucasus
Studies at the French Institute of Anatolian Research, Tornike Gordadze
told at international conference entitled "South Caucasus security
reconsidered: regional conflicts, stability and transformation". "One
of Georgia’s goals is creation of a national state of European type,"
he noted.

"Here we’re up against a paradox. On one side, Russia is trying to
reconsider its role, but still create an empirelike state. Georgia
is trying to create a national state – two19 century categories,
still relevant in the region."

"There’s also a major ideological confrontation. After Russia
established itself as a strong power, upholding principles of
democracy, western democracy appeared like geographical and historical
property of Euro Atlantic territory. When a state located next to
Russia tries to base its policy on principles of western democracy,
Russia gets irritated," Tornike Gordadze concluded.

GREEK EMBASSY IN ARMENIA HOSTED GAGIK ALTUNYAN’S EXHIBITION

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
14.05.2009 21:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On May 13 Greek Embassy in Armenia hosted Gagik
Altunyan’s exhibition dedicated to victories of the Armenian
people. The exhibition was attended by representatives of Greek
government, Armenian clergy, entrepreneurs and representatives of
Armenian Diaspora in Greece.

Ambassador of Armenia to Greece, Vahram Kajoyan gave a high assessment
to artists’ works. Gagik Altunyan’s exhibition will last till May 22

TURKEY’S CHAMBER OF COMMERCE NOT INTERESTED IN OPENING BORDER WITH ARMENIA

ARKA
May 13, 2009

YEREVAN, May 13. /ARKA/. Turkey’s Chamber of Commerce is not interested
in opening of Armenian-Turkish border, representative of the Turkey’s
Chamber of Commerce Selcuk Yilmaz told journalists in Yerevan.

"We are not interested, personally our organization is not interested
in it," he said at the opening of the 15th meeting of the Union of Road
Transport Associations (URTA) in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
(BSEC) region.

Yilmaz pointed out that the opening of the border is a political
problem and should be solved by political means.

The opening of the border will be of advantage to Armenia, he said.

"Trade is above all. It will ensure peace between Armenia and
Turkey. It is international rules, and Turkish citizens will have to
obey the laws of their country," Turkish representative said.

No diplomatic relations exist between Armenia and Turkey, and the
Armenian-Turkish border has been closed since 1993 initiated by
official Ankara.

The first warming of the relations occurred on September 6 2008 when
Turkish President Abdullah Gul arrived in Yerevan for the first
time on the invitation of the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
for watching together the football match between the nationals of
Armenia and Turkey in the scope of the 2010 championship qualifying
games. During this visit, the t wo countries’ presidents discussed
possible normalization of the bilateral relations.

On April 22, foreign ministries of Armenia and Turkey, together
with the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs made a joint
statement about normalization of relations. The statement reads
that the parties reached an agreement on a wide-ranged settlement of
bilateral relations. The sides also agreed on establishing a "road map"
for normalization of the relations.

IRAN STARTS SUPPLYING GAS TO ARMENIA IN EXCHANGE FOR ELECTRIC ENERGY

ArmInfo
2009-05-14 13:09:00

ArmInfo. Iran starts supplying gas to Armenia from May 14 in exchange
for electric energy, in accordance with the earlier signed agreement,
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Armenia Armen Movsisyan
told ArmInfo on Thursday. He said a quadripartite agreement on the
beginning of the programme "Gas in exchange for electric energy" was
signed in Yerevan on May 13 by the Armenian Companies "Yerevan TPP"
and "HPP Vorotan Cascade" CJSC and the Iranian Companies "National
Iranian Gas Export Company" (NIGC) and "Tavanir".

According to the minister, the gas is still supplied to "Yerevan
TPP", where from it will be also delivered to other TPPs for power
generation. The minister added that the volumes of gas supply will
gradually grow. He also said it will hardly succeed to reach the
earlier announced volumes of supplies of 1,1 bln cub m of gas in
2009. A. Movsisyan preferred not to say on what basis Armenia will
pay for the Iranian gas. He assured that gas supplies in the agreed
volumes and regimes are advantageous for both Iran and Armenia. Gas
is received through Iran-Armenia gas pipeline which is considered
by Armenia as an alternative to the northern gas main "Northern
Caucasus-Transcaucasus", through which Armenia receives gas from
Russia through the territory of Georgia.

Earlier it was informed that Iran will supply 1,1 bln cub m of gas
to Armenia started 2009 in accordance with the agreement, and up to
2,3 bln cub m of gas per year started 2019.