Author: Boshkezenian Garik

ARMENIA ‘GENOCIDE’ VOTE IS SNUB TO BUSH
By Daniel Dombey in Washington

Financial Times, UK
Oct 11 2007

US legislators on Wednesday defied the Bush administration and angered
the Turkish government when they voted to describe the mass killings
of Armenians more than eight decades ago as genocide.

The 27-21 decision by the House of Representatives foreign affairs
committee, which paves the way for a vote in the full House in coming
weeks, came in spite of a warning from George W. Bush, president,
and his top officials that co-operation with Turkey and the fate of
US troops in Iraq could be at stake.

It also comes as the US seeks to convince Turkey not to carry out a
large-scale military incursion into northern Iraq to crack down on
Kurdish militants.

Proponents of the measure, which has vigorous support from the
Armenian-American population, argue that its call for Mr Bush to
"accurately characterise the systematic and deliberate annihilation
of 1.5m Armenians as genocide" is essential to putting the historical
record straight.

"The sad truth is that the modern government of Turkey refuses to
come to terms with this genocide," said Representative Christopher
Smith of New Jersey, at an emotionally charged session attended by
four survivors of the mass killings that began in 1915.

"Let us do this and be done with it," said Representative Brad Sherman
of California. "We will get a few angry words out of Ankara for a
few days, and then it’s over."

But only hours before the committee voted Mr Bush warned that passage
of the resolution "would do great harm to our relations with a key
ally in Nato and in the global war on terror".

According to US commanders in Iraq, including Gen David Petraeus,
Robert Gates, defence secretary, said: "Access to airfields and to
the roads and so on in Turkey would be very much put at risk if this
resolution passes and the Turks react as strongly as we believe they
will." He added that about 70 per cent of US air cargo going into
Iraq went through Turkey.

US officials say passage of the resolution by the full House will make
Washington’s bid to convince Turkey not to launch a military incursion
into Iraq much harder. Public outrage against the Kurdish separatist
PKK has flared in the wake of an attack in which 13 soldiers were
killed on Sunday.

Washington’s push for Turkey take a more collaborative approach on
combating PKK has also been complicated by the resignation of Joseph
Ralston, the retired US general who had been seeking to increase
Washington-Ankara co-operation against the militant group.

"For his own reasons he decided that he was going to be moving on,"
said Sean McCormack, state department spokesman, this week. "Any
continuing presence of the PKK or the continuing activities of the
PKK is not because what he did or did not do." He added that he was
not yet aware of a possible replacement for Gen Ralston.

Pontifical Visit Media Advisory

His Holiness Karekin II
Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians

Pontifical Visit of the
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)

630 Second Avenue New York, New York 10016

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate

Pontifical Visit
Media Relations Office

Michael O’Hurley-Pitts, Ph.D.
Director
Telephone: 212.686.0710 ext. 154
[email protected]
Facsimile: 212.689.1934
Cellular: 212.533.0335

Sylvie Keshishian
Public Relations Director
Telephone: 212.686.0710 ext. 160
[email protected]
Facsimile: 212.689.1934

PRESS RELEASE

11 October 2007

His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians

Leads Ecumenical & Interfaith Delegation Delivering Remarks on Steps of
Jefferson Memorial

Washington D.C. – On Thursday, October 11th, 2007, the day after delivering
the opening prayer in the United States House of Representatives, His
Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians,
delivered a message on the importance of religious freedom on the steps of
the Jefferson Memorial. The Catholicos was joined in his remarks by other
ecumenical and interfaith leaders, including (in order of the deliverance of
their remarks), His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern); Maureen Shea, Director
of Government Relations for the Episcopal Church; Dr. Weldon Geddy of the
Interfaith Alliance, Rabbi Arthur Schnier of the Appeal of Conscience
Foundation; Dr. Rajwant Singh of the Sikh Council on Religious Education,
Dr. Dayyid M. Syeed of the Islamic Society of North America, Bishop Martin
Holley of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington; Rabbi David
Saperstien of the Religious Action Center; and, Father Leonid Kishkovsky of
the Orthodox Church of America.

Prior to delivering their remarks, the group of religious leaders toured the
Jefferson Memorial, each reflecting on the writings of Jefferson eblazoned
on the walls of the Memorial and sharing their thoughts with His Holiness
the Catholicos of All Armenians. Descending the grand, marble stairs of the
Jefferson Memorial, the event was commenced with a prayer by His Eminence
Archbishop Khajag Barsamian who welcomed each member of the distinguished
delegation and petitioned for cooperation, tolerance, love and understanding
between all peoples and nations.

The following is the message delivered by His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme
Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians:

"It is our pleasure to be here today in Washington , standing before this
monument which honors Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States
, founding father, author of the Declaration of Independence and architect
of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom.

We are happy to be joined today by our ecumenical and interfaith brothers,
representing different Christian Churches and various faiths, and extend to
you all our greetings and best wishes from the center of our faith – the
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

During our pontifical visit to the Armenian Church Diocese of the United
States, we wished to visit the capital city of this blessed land, to meet
and pray with members of our community, and to express our appreciation to
the caring American people and authorities, because it was the "land of the
free and the home of the brave" that opened its hospitable doors and
embraced our sons and daughters fleeing the first genocide of the 20th
century, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire on the Armenian population living
on the territory of their historical homeland.

America gave the children of our nation shelter, refuge, opportunity and
freedom to re-find its Christ-bestowed strength, stand upright once again,
create and contribute greatly to the building of the civic, social,
economic, cultural and political life in their adopted new world.

We thank the United States for also giving to my people all opportunity and
freedom to openly practice their ancient Christian faith, to build churches
and schools, to create and make abundant their national and spiritual life,
and to avail themselves of all rights and liberties afforded to all
religious and ethnic minorities in America.

As the head of the Armenian Church and representative of my Armenian sons
and daughters, we are proud that our people have lived peacefully and
fruitfully in the midst of societies and countries whose predominant faith
was not our own. Where we have had that freedom, as we do in the United
States , we have flourished. When that freedom has been curtailed, stifled
and oppressed, we have suffered.

In our daily lives, we are graced by the Almighty to witness the fruits of
religious freedom. In the past few years alone, we have been blessed to
receive in Armenia and Holy Etchmiadzin the Chief Rabbi of Israel , the
Chief Mufti of Syria and members of the Buddhist and Hindu faiths. Last
month we had the pleasure to host the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury , as
well as the Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches, and offer
our combined prayers to heaven, asking for peace and reconciliation for all
peoples. Perhaps the most memorable ecumenical events in the recent history
of our Church were the pilgrimages of Ecumenical Patriarch His All Holiness
Bartholomew I, Russian Orthodox Patriarch His Holiness Alexei II and Roman
Catholic Pope His Holiness John Paul II to Armenia in 2001, when our Church
and people were celebrating 1700 years of official Christianity in Armenia.

Today, in our small country of Armenia, where more than 95% of our citizens
are members of our Mother Church, more than 60 different religious
organizations are legally registered and operate free of any restriction to
practice their faith. We have sought to ensure the rights of all of these
religious organizations and respect their beliefs. In 1960, President John
Kennedy said, "Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs;
rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others." This is the
model which we hope all countries in our region of the world will adopt.

Praise and glory to God, that we have insured religious freedom in our
country without sacrificing the ancient Christian heritage and dignity of
our Holy Armenian Apostolic Church, for we must be conscious that in
granting religious freedom to all and to the new, we do not reduce the
rights of the one or the established. Religious freedom must not become the
great leveler of religious relativity, but must be a resounding affirmation
of the free pursuit of faith.

Lasting regional stability, elimination of conflict, poverty, crime and
tragedy can only be established when we learn to respect each other enough
to allow for the diversity of ideas and beliefs, and when faith is allowed
to flourish for the good of mankind and in service to the peaceful
co-existence of all nations.

Thomas Jefferson said, "I like the dreams of the future better than the
history of the past". Let us pray for a world filled with both dreams and
history: Dreams to see mankind prosperous, free and secure; combined with
the history of Christian morality and national values leading humanity to
greater and greater heights.

May the grace, love and peace of our Lord be with us and with all. Amen."

The text of the remarks delivered by each religious leader will be published
shortly on the website: <;
www.pontif icalvisit.org

Daily coverage of the Pontifical Visit can be found online on the official
Pontifical Visit Web Site (). The site provides a
wealth of information about His Holiness Karekin II, the Armenian Church,
and the Diaspora and includes daily photographic and video updates to allow
the faithful throughout the United States and the world to stay abreast of
events, activities and worship services.

For more information on the Pontifical Visit of His Holiness Karekin II,
including supplemental media advisories and background papers, please visit:
and

# # #

DO YOU WANT TO DISCREDIT OUR COUNTRY?

A1+
[02:19 pm] 11 October, 2007

The residents of North and Main Avenues organized a protest action
in front of the Government building with "We demand to reinstate
our violated rights", "Residents of Yeznik Koghbatsi Street demand
privatization" posters.

Today they demanded the Prime Minister to receive them after six months
of break. They demanded not only to reinstate their rights but also
to punish the violators. "We cannot live in the streets any longer,
we need shelters", they announced.

"We want to understand whether the Prime Minister, who has broad
competences, has laid the nation and does not want solve our
problems. He has not done anything during the six months. I consider
that the Prime Minister either doesn’t want to solve the problem or
he cannot do that". The Prime Minister cannot solve the problem of
20-35 citizens, then how is he going to become a president? Another
powerful person – the Yerevan Mayor ignores his orders, then maybe he
will put forward his candidature?", complained Sedrak Baghdasaryan, the
resident of Buzand Street and the Head of "Victims of State Needs" NGO.

The demonstrators were complaining of the Government.

They insured that they would appeal to all foreign ambassadors in
Armenia if the Prime Minister didn’t respond today.

"Maybe the Government wants to discredit our country, but we do not
want. We have to apply to the European Court of Human Rights. We will
do our best to change the authorities for the sake of our country",
said Sedrak Baghdasayan.

TER-PETROSYAN – A POLITICAL STAR
Harutyun Gevorgyan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
Oct 10 2007
Armenia

But From The Previous Century

Interview with the MP of the National Assembly Armen Ashotyan

"Mr. Ashotyan can we state that the developments in the internal
political arena are conditioned only by the forthcoming presidential
elections and don’t have any profound significance?"

" It is quite natural that both the internal and external political
developments are first of all conditioned by the upcoming presidential
elections. But here we can separate two types of approaches. Some
political powers, the number of which is less than desired, are well
conscious about their goal and how they are going to be represented
in the elections, by whose leadership they are going to start their
campaign.

It is also clear for those powers, what should the succession of
the steps be in order to win the elections, what program should they
introduce to win the people’s vote of confidence and finally who is
the candidate for presidency who will shoulder the responsibility of
implementing this program.

The largest sector of the political arena also realizes that they
must do something before the presidential elections but they don’t
know exactly what. Society anticipates certain actions from the
political powers, but many of the parties haven’t oriented themselves
yet. Overwhelming majority of the political powers hasn’t yet found
answers to many questions and they don’t even think about winning.

The before mentioned phenomena will be more vivid during the official
nominations for presidency, registrations and the campaign.

Anyway the parties with sensible political approaches have time to
orient themselves. I mean those powers that are able to criticize
themselves, not those whose political activity is an end in itself.

They should do their bests not to find themselves in a ridiculous
situation.

I don’t think there will be any unexpected nominations.

Occasionally people listen to tasteless music but they always prefer
to participate serious concerts. During the coming elections as well
the candidates that turn the elections process into a show can arouse
interest, and on this background serious political programs will
become more preferable. During the political choice the important
and the trustworthy is always more preferable than the entertaining."

"Mr. Ashotyan do you think Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s meetings first with
Dashnaktsutyun then with Vazgen Manukyan is a political show or a
political process?"

" Some people want to attach an artificial political timbre to those
meetings, others consider it a cheap show. For me both stances are
unacceptable. The first President of Armenia is simply exercising
his constitutional right and has submitted a claim to return to the
political arena. His silence during the previous ten years makes him
more interesting. Many people think that the rest period of those
ten years contributed to the re-evaluation of the path bygone.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan is a political star of the 20th century."

TWO COMPANIES BID FOR ARMENIAN RAILWAYS

ARMENPRESS
Oct 9, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS: Transport and communication minister
Andranik Manukian said today a tender for concessional management of
the Armenian Railways will be announced on October 15.

Manukian said two companies, one from Russia and the other from India,
have shown interest in the Armenian Railways. They have asked for
tender packages and sent all required documents.

Manukian said the winning company will be announced on December 15 and
the subsequent talks are expected to be over by January 15 next year.

The winner of the tender will have to transfer $10 million as
concessional payment and pay 2 percent of its incomes to the
government The railway tariffs will be set by the Pubic Services
Regulatory Commission.

Manukian said the Railway will remain under the government’s ownership.

"In a couple of years Armenian Railways will lose its carriages and
locomotives as they are in their last days. Armenia does not have
extra $170 million to repair the railroads and buy new carriages and
this is the main reason that prompts us to hand it to confessional
management,’ Manukian said.

CE COMMISSIONER IN ARMENIA TO ASSESS HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 9 2007

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg,
who has been on a five-day visit to Armenia since Sunday, says his
fact-finding mission is focused on a broad spectrum of issues related
to human rights in the country and is a routine practice for all
Council of Europe member states.

Hammarberg said his main meetings would be held in Armenia’s capital
Yerevan and second largest city Gyumri. He also announced that he
would submit the summary report on the human rights situation in
Armenia to the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers no later than
in three months.

But before that he promised to "summarize his impressions" at a press
briefing just before leaving Armenia.

Hammarberg avoided voicing any opinions yet pertaining to the human
rights situation in Armenia, but said the mission would focus on the
country’s judicial system and corruption risks in it, as well as a
broad scope of issues related to free speech, trafficking, the rights
of vulnerable social and economic groups, and others.

"Of course, we have gone through all the reports from others, but I
would like to see myself and have discussions myself for pronouncing
any clear opinion," Hammarberg told RFE/RL before leaving for Gyumri
on Tuesday.

Apart from gathering information about human rights issues in the
country the mission is also due to review the country’s progress in
solving issues highlighted in the previous reports.

According to the commissioner, the Armenian authorities will be
offered to draw a plan of action to follow the guidelines presented
in the report to redress the existing shortcomings.

The Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner is due to pay another
visit to Armenia in three months’ time for additional discussions
around these issues.

The Armenian Weekly On-Line
80 Bigelow Avenue
Watertown MA 02472 USA
(617) 926-3974
[email protected]
menianweekly.com

The Armenian Weekly; Volume 73, No. 39; Sept. 29, 2007

Literature and Art:

1. A Playbook for Morality
‘Extraordinary Evil: A Short Walk to Genocide’ Lays the Anatomy of Genocide
and the Battle Plan for Combating it
By Andy Turpin

WATERTOWN, Mass. (A.W.)-If every buck private, UN peacekeeper and armchair
general were to read Barbara Coloroso’s logistical history of the genocide
process in Extraordinary Evil: A Short Walk to Genocide [Nation Books, 2007]
they would have an invaluable tool and manual to combat the process from
resurfacing at such short intervals in recent history.

Coloroso brings home the nuts and bolts of the origins of genocide, and some
of the best hard facts and recent scholarship on the Armenian, Rwandan,
Jewish and Roma (Gypsy) genocides in a way that is understandable to the
masses.

Seldom do you find a book on comparative genocide that you could thrust into
the hands of an uneducated 18-year-old being shipped off to Iraq, or to a
grad student in Harvard Square, and say to them both: "If you read this, you’ll
have no excuse to say you don’t know about genocide and what it means to
cross the line in combat."

Coloroso is a speaker and educator on bullying, as detailed in her most well
known book, The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander. After a speaking visit
to Rwanda in the years following the genocide there, she began researching
how genocide is the same as bullying, yet on a grandiose and heinous scale.
"Conflict, when not resolved nonviolently, can escalate to armed conflict
and to all-out war. Conflict does not escalate to genocide," she writes in
Evil.

Coloroso covers much-treaded territory when explaining the Armenian
genocide, though still manages to throw in some facts that intrigue the
reader. "The first president of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton,
mobilized sophisticated relief teams to the Armenian provinces of the
Ottoman Empire," she writes-an amazing fact considering that during the
genocide, Barton was well on in her antebellum pre-Medicaid years to
energize such efforts, though she clearly believed in the cause.

Akin in chapters to Hannah Arendt’s seminal work Eichmann in Jerusalem,
Coloroso cites both the banality of evil and banality of good when she
writes about the record number of Jews saved by the Danish citizenry during
the Holocaust: "Just as there is ordinariness about those who commit
extraordinary evil, there is an ordinariness of those who commit
extraordinary goodness. By studying the words and actions of those who not
only did not succumb, but railed against it, we can begin to see a way out
of the morass of contempt."

"The more one does good, the easier it becomes to do more good. The more one
acts cruelly, the easier it becomes to be cruel again," she adds.

Coloroso writes of the ineffective UN mandate to prevent the genocide in
Rwanda, and of how presence of such bureaucracy hindered the work done by
the peacekeepers. She notes the harm of imposing conflict-resolution models
on genocide, and how such behavior never serves those being killed.

Instead, she defines the six criteria for involvement as: "the pre-existence
of a ceasefire; a commitment to a peace process between the parties in
conflict; co-involvement of regional or sub regional organizations; the
formulation of a precise mandate; the existence of a clear political goal;
and the reasonable assurance of the safety of UN personnel."

"All of these criteria make sense if dealing with warring parties willing to
come to the peace table; none of these make any sense in the face of
genocide," she writes.

Coloroso ends her work with an example of biblical language-without being
preachy-in order to cite the modes of facing and combating genocidal
behavior: "Hope for humanity is bound up in a relationship of caring. This
relationship is premised on what philosopher Martin Buber called ‘meeting
one another as an I and a Thou.’ To see another as a ‘Thou’ is to honor our
uniqueness and our individuality, and at the same time to recognize our
common bond, our solidarity and interdependence."

Don’t be surprised if you can’t find a copy of Evil at a bookseller near
you. Though the true merit of a book isn’t how fast it flies off the shelves
by some people, rather how many important people would have it fade away.

FIRST BUDGET OF THE SECOND PHASE OF ECONOMIC REFORMS
Harutyun Gevorgyan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily, Armenia
Oct 5 2007

Interview with Head of the Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary
Affairs Gagik Minasyan

" For a long period of time our economy has been recoding an
unprecedented growth, due to which we provide a dynamically developed
state budget. We have recorded an unprecedented high rate also due
to tax-GDP ratio. And I must mention that during the coming years
this growth will not only be continuous but also rapid.

All this is the verification of the fact that our economy and business
atmosphere is improving. In the sum of taxes, the sector of direct
taxes grows more swiftly than the general volume of the tax income. The
tempo of tax income growth exceeds the tempo of GDP growth. During
the coming years we are going to face two principal challenges.

Firstly we must reduce the volumes of shadow economy. We have always
struggled against shadow, but we intend to progress in our achievements
in this sphere.

The next not less important issue is to create equal competitive
conditions. Thus we will get rid of oligarchy, which will promote
the development of economy and will shift market relations to a new
qualitative plane.

The draft budget of the coming year has recorded certain mechanisms
and formulae for the settlement of these problems. It particularly
envisages bringing tax-GDP ratio to 16,2%, which is an unprecedented
index for Armenia. It is impossible to achieve such results without
a principled, serious, and effective struggle against shadow.

"Do you think the reproach of the opposition activists saying that
you could have started this struggle against shadow and corruption
long ago, is justified?"

" If we evaluate our opportunities from the height of our economic,
legislative, social and cultural achievements, with a retrospective
glance, it seems that we could have started to struggle against all
the defective phenomena earlier and more effectively. But those who
observe the issue from that point of view they forget that, years
ago we lacked this civil society, legislative field, this knowledge
and opportunities and why not this Mass Media level."

"Recently Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan announced that the punitive
measures for economic violations and abuses would be criminal and
maximum strict. Does this suggest beneficial preconditions for the
entrepreneurs to come out of the shadow?"

"The reforms of the second generation are the pre-conditions that
are in the stage of implementation. Legislative activity, in this
respect, is of great importance. The thing is there are loopholes
in the law as well. And many dishonest entrepreneurs and officials
make use of these loopholes. I don’t think any entrepreneur can work
in shadow without cooperation with a state official. In this respect
the struggle against shadow and corruption must be multi-plan.

Law is one of them and we have already made certain amendments and
supplementations that demolish the opportunities of similar criminal
cooperation. Particularly the law on "Simplified Tax" was aimed
at the development of small and medium enterprises. But after some
period of time negative aspects of this law were also manifested and
those working by this law managed to evade taxes more easily. Thus
the framework of the "Simplified Tax" was limited."

" Mr. Minasyan, can the weighty surplus of budget lead to undesirable
social consequences?"

"The expenditure of 2008 state budget will make up 820 billion 800
million drams. For a comparison I must underscore that the budget of
the current year makes up 583 billion 700 drams. It is a consequence
of shadow reduction and increase of tax debit. Thus we will mainly
solve social problems.

Hence we can state that the surplus of the budget will definitely
have consequences but they will be desirable and positive. It is
a false statement to say that after shifting to the taxation field
the entrepreneurs will increase the prices. Competition is one of
the positive manifestations of market economy, which lacks negative
consequences. The opposite statement is only a political speculation
and is very far from the logic of economy.

During the previous years the social allowances, pension and salary
have increased, which will continue during the coming years and with
high paces and effectiveness. In parallel with the reduction of shadow,
market economy will have new qualitative manifestations.

And I would like our society to call the budget of the coming year
"The First Budget of the Second Phase of Economic Reforms."

DPA LEADER: IT IS HURTFUL TO THINK THAT ARMENIAN PEOPLE HAVE FORGOTTEN THEIR YESTERDAY OR THEY CHOOSE THE LEAST OF TWO EVILS

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Oct 5 2007

ArmInfo. Leader of the Democratic party of Armenia Aram Sargsyan
considers the recent meeting of ex-President of Armenia Levon
Ter-Petrosyan with representatives of ARF "Dashnaktsutyun" strange,
he expressed his opinion at today’s press-conference in "Tesaket" club.

"The situation is strange enough and unexpected for me. No one knows
what they discussed during a 40-minute meeting", DPA leader said
and added that in view of absence of specific information, different
assumptions can be made. A. Sargsyan hypothecate that it is profitable
for ARFD not to remember "the problems of the past years", while it is
profitable for ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosyan "to forget" his own
deeds (with respect to this party- ed.). Asked about possibility of
creation of an election bloc between ARFD and the Armenian National
Movement party, A. Sargsyan replied: "I rule out nothing".

As for possibility of L. Ter-Petrosyan’s participation in the
forthcoming presidential election, A. Sargsyan recalled that the
"issue of nomination of the ex-president’s candidacy is still unclear
despite the attempts of Ter-Petrosyan’s relationship to reanimate
him as a political figure". "My attitude to his personality and his
organization is well-known. The people elected him, indeed, in 1991,
and this is a fact. However, if he enters the political arena today,
he can receive the voices only. The people’s attitude towards him is
also well-known. It is hurtfully to think that the Armenian people
have forgotten their yesterday or they choose the least of two evils",
Aram Sargsyan said.

RA PARLIAMENT RATIFIED ARMENIAN-IRANIAN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT ON COOPERATION FOR CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF HYDROPOWER PLANTS ON ARAKS RIVER

ArmInfo Agency, Armenia
Oct 4 2007

ArmInfo. Today, RA Parliament ratified an Armenian-Iranian
intergovernmental agreement on cooperation for construction and
operation of hydropower plants on Araks river.

As RA deputy Energy Minister Ara Simonyan told parliamentarians,
the agreement has been signed on March 19, 2007, in Meghri within the
frames of the meeting of the Armenian and Iranian Presidents Robert
Kocharyan and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Meghri. On behalf of Armenia’s
government, the document was signed by RA Energy minister Armen
Movsisyan. The document is aimed at efficient use of the hydroenergy
potential of Araks river. In particular, it is scheduled to build two
hydropower plants on the boundary territories of Armenia and Iran
(one in RA territory, the second one in the territory of Iran). It
is scheduled to start construction of two HPPs in 2007 and complete
it within 6 years. As Araks river is boundary, all the issues on
development and construction are solved by joint efforts of the two
states. According to the agreement provisions, each party obliges to
defray all the expenses related to the development of a feasibility
study and construction. The parties will cooperate in solution of
technical issues, rendering of services and other issues.

It is scheduled that each party will select areas in its territory for
HPP construction, for which it is envisages to facilitate the terms
of entry in the two states’ boundary territories. Construction of two
HPPs will not cause changes of the two countries’ borders. The work
over development of the project’s feasibility study has been already
completed. The design capacities of each plant will make up 130-140
MW. The annual generation of electric energy will make up 840 mln
kWh. One tunnel with length of 13- 14 km and width of 6 m will be built
in the territories of both countries. The plant will become a property
of Armenia. Talking of the project of construction of two HPPs on Araks
river by Iran together with Azerbaijan, the deputy minister said that
the matter concerns creation of generating capacities of 50 MW. After
operation, the water will subject to return to Araks river. There is a
water pool in the boundary territory of Armenia and Nakhichevan and,
as a result of the agreement signing, the Iranian party undertakes
to assure all the necessary water flows and will not affect the level
of electric energy generation at Meghri HPP in Armenia.

In accordance with the intergovernmental agreement from December 27,
2001, the project’s feasibility study was developed by "Mahaborts"
Iranian Company and a contractor represented by the "Armgidroproyekt"
Armenian Institute.