Author: Antonian Lara

President’s Spokesman suggests not to disguise the non-constructive
approaches under `brilliant’ ideas

armradio.am
29.03.2008 14:48

RA President’s Spokesman Viktor Soghomonyan declared in an interview
with Mediamax that `official Yerevan has not applied to Baku with any
request.’ The Spokesman said this, commenting on the statement of the
Head of the Department for the International Affairs of the
Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan Novruz Mamedov that
`Azerbaijan must present the grounds for the meeting of the Presidents
of Armenia and Azerbaijan’ and that `such a meeting is primarily meant
for the reinforcement of the Armenian President’s position incide the
country."

`Mamedov’s statement includes such nuances that it seems that official
Yerevan has applied to Baku with some request. We have not come forth
with an initiative to organize a meeting, although we are ready to
continue the dialogue. It’s clear that the proposal to use the NATO
Summit in Bucharest as an opportunity to organize the meeting between
Serge Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev came from the Co-Chairs. If Baku does
not wish, it’s their problem. There is no need to conceal the
non-constructive approaches with Mamedov’s `brilliant’ isea,’ Viktor
Soghomonyan said.

ARMENIA TO OFFER A 3RD GSM LICENSE

Cellular-News
March 28 2008
UK

Armenia is expected to launch a tender for the country’s third GSM
license this coming May – reports local newspaper, Panorama. The
newspaper reports that the the tender details are still being
confirmed, but will include spectrum in both the GSM900 and GSM1800
bands.

According to some rumors cited by the newspaper, the tender results
will be announced in August and Russia’s Megafon is likely to win
the tender – which rather suggests that it might not be an open
competition.

Armenia currently has two mobile networks, Armentel (majority owned
by Russia’s VimpelCom) and VivaCell (majority owned by Russia’s MTS).

Figures from the Mobile World show that the country ended last year
with a shade under 3 million subscribers – representing a population
penetration level of 61%.

ARONIAN WINS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

A1+
27 March, 2008

Armenian GM levon Aronian is still in sole lead ahead of the final
round of the "Amber-2008" Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament held in
Nice, France. The Armenian GM tied with Vladimir Kramnik 1:1 both in
the blindfold and rapid games. Presently, Aronian is the first with
13.5 points, followed by Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Veselin Topalov
(Bulgaria), Peter Leko (Hungary) and Magnus Carlsen

AN OPERATIVE RESPONSE TO THE NATURE’S NEXT SURPRISE
N. Hovsepian

Azat Artsakh Daily
Published on March 26, 2008
NKR Republic

The unprecendented wind of March 22nd harmed also Shushi. For getting
more complete information about harms we applied to the leader of
regional board of adminisration Vardan Gabrielian. Our interlocuter
informed, that roofs of many buildings were partly harmed and the two
were wholly deprived of roof. Two cases of fire were fixed at that
moment and these two cases were operatively suspended. Villages of
the region were also harmed.

According to the leader of board of administration, preliminary sizes
of the harm will be clear already in the evening of March 24th. The
problem of electricity was difficult. Restoration of electricity
supply demands rather serious works. Fortunately, nobady suffered.

NEW PROGRAMS AIMED AT EXPANSION OF RA-WB COOPERATION ENVISAGED

Noyan Tapan
March 26, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 26, NOYAN TAPAN. A number of issues of bilateral
interest were discussed during the March 26 meeting of Vardan
Khachatrian, the RA Minister of Finance and Economy, and Donna
Dowsett-Coirolo, the World Bank (WB) Regional Director, who has
arrived in Armenia on a working visit. As Noyan Tapan was informed
by the Press Service of the RA Ministry of Finance and Economy, the
sides, in particular, touched upon the process of implementation of
joint programs aimed at development of various economic spheres.

Highly estimating the positive developments recorded in the process
of WB-RA cooperation, the sides also discussed the possibilities of
launching new programs aimed at expansion of cooperation.

ARONYAN SECURES VICTORY WITH ONE ROUND STILL AHEAD

armradio.am
27.03.2008 13:54

Armenian Grand Master Levon Aronyan played a 1:1 draw with Vladimir
Kramnik of Russia in the 10th round of the 17th Amber Blindfold and
Rapid Chess Tournament underway in Nice (France).

Aronyan, thus, became the sole winner of the tournament with one
round still left. The Armenian Grand Master has 13.5 points in the
overall standing and 7.5 – in the rapid chess tournament.

In the overall standing Aronyan is followed by Vladimir Kramnik
(Russia), Peter Leco (Hungary), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) and Magnus
Carlsen ( Norway) who have 11 points each.

In the rapid chess tournament Aronyan has 7.5 points is 2.5 points
ahead of Ivanchuk, Carlsen and Leco who share the 2nd to 4th places.

In the blindfold tournament the Armenian Grand Master shares the 1st
to 3rd places with Kramnik and Morozevich.

TAX SERVICE TO CARRY OUT LARGE-SCALE CHECKINGS IN CHORRORD ISHKHANUTIUN

Noyan Tapan
March 25, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 25, NOYAN TAPAN. From March 28 the State Tax Service under
the RA government will carry out large-scale checkings in the editorial
office of the Chorrord Ishkhanutiun opposition newspaper. Noyan Tapan
correspondent was informed about it by Shogher Matevosian, the newspaper’s
editor. Mentioning that it is not a regular checking, she gave assurance
that by acting so the authorities have the goal to find "ways" to hinder the
newspaper’s further printing, just like they acted against the Gala TV
Company of Gyumri.

According to S. Matevosian, the idea of Tax Service’s conducting checkings
is especially conditioned by the circumstance that henceforth Chorrord
Ishkhanutiun will be published as a daily. "This is conditioned by the home
political situation: this newspaper will hinder them," she said.

Nevertheless, as the newspaper’s editor added, it is good that the employees
of the above mentioned service visited the editorial office in a civilized
way and introduced a notification. Formerly, according to S. Matevosian,
they just used to "burst into" the territory of the editorial office.

US OFFICIAL WARNS ARMENIA AGAINST RECOGNIZING BREAKAWAY KARABAKH

Mediamax
March 25 2008
Armenia

Yerevan, 25 March: The US co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group, Matthew Bryza,
stated that the recognition of independence of the Nagornyy Karabakh
Republic (NKR) by Armenia will be "very seriously undermining the
peace process".

Mediamax reports that the US diplomat said this in an interview
to Armenian Reporter newspaper, published in the USA, commenting
on the statements, according to which in the light of the recent
non-constructive steps of Azerbaijan, Armenia should recognize the
independence of NKR.

"I think any move that prejudges the outcome of the negotiations
that are underway and that are achieving some real results in terms
of moving closer to finalizing the basic principles would be unhelpful.

And we looked at the UN GA resolution of Azerbaijan in that very
light: that it was a one-sided resolution that did not reflect the
fair and balanced nature of the proposal on the table. Similarly, if
the Armenian side were to move unilaterally and prejudge the outcome
of the negotiations by recognizing Nagornyy Karabakh, that would
be something that is very seriously undermining the peace process,"
Matthew Bryza stated.

The US mediator expressed an opinion that this will become "a highly
asymmetric response" to the actions of Azerbaijan in the UN and
"potentially a highly destabilizing move".

Matthew Bryza said in connection with the possibility of NKR being
recognized by Armenia that "I do not know how that would leave space
for the continuation of negotiations".

WHO IS TO BECOME NEXT US AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA?
By A. Manvelian

AZG Armenian Daily
26/03/2008

Armenia-USA

This question, which remained out of sight for the recent months, is
again becoming actual. It became known that US President George Bush
represented to the Armenian side the new candidature for the office,
Marie Louise Jovanovich. It is also known that Ms.

Jovanovich has been working at the US Department of State since
1986. She studied at the Princeton University, specialized in studies
of Russian history, also graduated from the Pushkin Istitute, Russia
and the Military College, USA. According to information received, the
parents of Ms. Jovanovich came from Serbia and were of Russian descent.

At present Jovanovich is the US Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan. In 2002-2004 she worked at the US Embassy
in Kiev.

Anyways, there is still a long way from proposing one’s candidature
and appointing the person to the office. First of all the candidature
of Marie Louise Jovanovich is to be approved by the Armenian side
and then by the US Senate.

Here the difficulties begin. To be reminded, Richard Hoagland’s
candidature was declined because he refused Armenian Genocide, and,
evidently, Jovanovich shall hardly have the luck to avoid answering
questions on the Genocide at the Foreign Affairs Commission. The
position of the official Washington has not changed since then, while
the number of Armenian Genocide supporters has grown in the Congress,
therefore Jovanovich will have to make a difficult choice.

On the other hand, the US diplomatic mission in Armenia cannot stay
without a leader for a long time, and Armenia is interested in having a
new American Ambassador as soon as possible. According to information
received from Armenian lobbying organizations in the United States,
they are more or less friendly towards attitude to Marie Louise
Jovanovich, and it is possible that she won’t be asked questions
about the Genocide.

"Azg" also learned that the candidature of Jovanovich was suggested
by Bush at the time when emergency measures were announced in
Yerevan. This makes us think that the White House considers its
interests in Armenia threatened by the growing Russian influence and
aims at consolidating its positions in our country with the appointment
of a new Ambassador.

The Foreign Ministry of Armenia informed that the new candidature of
US Ambassador is now being considered, but unofficial sources assure
that President Kocharian has already approved it.

SERBIA’S PRESIDENT DENIED ALLEGED PLANS TO DIVIDE KOSOVO

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.03.2008 17:45 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Serbia’s President Boris Tadic has denied claims
that Serbia wants to divide Kosovo along ethnic lines by fomenting
violence and tensions in the Serb-dominated north of the newly
independent state.

"There is no secret plan to divide Kosovo," the Serbian president
said Thursday night on Pink, the private TV station.

In Kosovo, a province that is mostly ethnic Albanian, Serbs clashed
with UN and NATO troops in the northern, Serb-held town of Mitrovica,
on Monday, and a UN policeman was killed and dozens of people were
hurt.

The United Nations accused Serbian officials of orchestrating
the violence with the goal of trying to maintain control over
Serb-populated areas of Kosovo.

Tadic said that all Serbia wants is to be present in the north of
Kosovo to help minority Kosovo Serbs with their everyday lives,
the AP reports.

Earlier, it was reported that Serbia submitted to UN headquarters a
document that says the Serbian government recognizes UN jurisdiction
in Kosovo – but says only Serbs, not Kosovo Albanians, can control
the police, judiciary and border customs services in parts of Kosovo
where Serbs comprise the majority.